Tips & How To's

Fall Pruning Your Utah Garden – Basics

October 5, 2017 by Wendy Pettit

Time to do your fall pruning in your Utah garden along the Wasatch Front. Pruning your garden for winter is fairly simple. Follow two main basic pruning rules and then follow guidelines for various plants listed.

GENERAL Pruning Rules to Remember:

Rule #1 – Don’t prune plants until they are finished blooming.

Rule #2 – Prune dead or broken branches at any time of the season.

FALL Pruning Guidelines:

Fall Pruning of Flowering Shrubs

To keep with Rule #1, remember not to prune fall blooming shrubs until they are done blooming. Examples of fall blooming shrubs include Rose of Sharon, Hydrangeas, etc. Spring blooming shrubs (forsythia, spirea, lilac, etc) should be pruned in the spring or summer after they are done blooming. Often, these shrubs bloom on new growth, so prune them early in the season to get some good growth for the next year’s blooms.

Before you get started pruning your flowering shrub, keep in mind to retain and enhance the shrub’s naturally graceful habit. Take care not to cut the shrub into a boxy or unnatural shape (unless you want to sacrifice flowers and make a hedge). Remove dead and crossing branches. Cut ¼ of the oldest canes to the ground. This gives the plant renewed strength, letting light and air circulation into the center of the plant and provides growing space for new flowering stems.

Fall Pruning of Upright Evergreen Shrubs

Lightly prune to shape. Shrubs like Arborvitae may need wrapping or tying with twine to keep the snow from breaking off the branches.

Fall Pruning of Rose Bushes

Pruning depth depends on the type of rose. If a hybrid tea or a floribunda type, prune down to 24” above ground. Otherwise, prune to shape the bush. Prune out dead and broken branches. May mulch around the base of the bush in case of unexpected sub-zero winter temperatures. In the spring, if there has been winter damage, you will be able to prune off the winter-kill. Click here for a good article on how to prune your roses.

Fall Pruning of Vines

Pruning depends all upon the type of vine. Some clematis need pruning, other clematis do not. Follow the directions on the plant tag from a reputable local garden center, or ask the experts at the local nursery.

Fall Pruning of Berry Plants

Again, pruning requirements drastically vary depending on type of berry and cultivar. Ever-bearing plants require different pruning techniques than main crop berries. And even then there are different needs. You don’t want to trim back too far in the fall if you need to leave that newer growth for next year’s berries. Again, consult the expert gardeners at your reputable garden center. Be sure to know what variety of berry you have.

Fall Pruning of Fruit Trees

Do not prune fruit trees until winter when they are dormant, i.e. leaves have fallen and temperatures are in 30’s & 40’s. In northern Utah, we recommend pruning during January and February. Follow proper tree pruning techniques in the winter. Winter Pruning video. Remember that at any time, you can prune away dead or broken branches.

Fall Mowing “Pruning” of Lawn/Turf

Mowing your lawn is actually a type of “pruning”. Your last mowing of the season should be shorter than during the summer months when you want the shade of the blades to help retain moisture in the soil and more green for healthier roots. When you are ready to put your lawnmower away, set your lawn mower to 1½” setting and give your lawn a good pruning! WARNING: Don’t be overly ambitious and “scalp” the lawn. A nice short cut is desired, but you don’t want to injure the base of the plant.

Additional Fall Lawn Note: Now is a time to spread your fall fertilizer. If you have had issues with fungus, now is the time to apply a fungicide treatment. Also, weed control is still viable when daily high temperatures are higher than 55-60 degrees. Weeds love the forgotten fall lawn.

Fall Pruning of Perennials

Be sure to remember Rules #1 and #2 above. Not pruning until the plant finishes blooming also applies to dividing and transplanting in the fall. Don’t transplant until the plant is done blooming. This means that your fall bloomers like Autumn Joy Sedum, chrysanthemums, etc., need to finish blooming before you divide and transplant or prune. Be patient! You have plenty of other pruning and garden work to do. These are the last ones to prune before the beds are done for the winter.

Two Additional General Fall Pruning Rules for Most Perennials:

Prune when the plants begin to die back, leaving their greenery to continue feeding the roots as long as possible.
Cut them down to 3-4 inches above the soil. This is because most perennials die down to the ground in the winter. Leaving 3 inches will mark the plants during winter. Also in the spring the 3-4 inches is low enough you won’t need to go back and prune as the plant emerges.

EXCEPTIONS to Pruning Perennial Rules: Woody perennials like lavender need only light pruning to shape and evergreen perennials like candytuft should also only be lightly pruned. If you question what to prune or how much, follow the guidance from your master gardener at the independent garden center like Western Gardens. We would love to help you have a successful garden.

Fall Pruning of Ground Covers –

Simply trim lightly.

Fall Pruning of Ornamental Grasses

If you enjoy the silhouette of your grasses, leave them to admire throughout late fall. Later trim to 6-8 inches above ground.

Fall Pruning Questions:

If you have any questions about fall pruning for winter, please feel free to stop by our Western Garden Centers and visit with one of our expert gardeners. We’ll be happy to answer any of your questions.

Fall Reminder:

While you are pruning and cleaning up, breathe deep the fresh autumn crisp air and admire the changes taking place in your garden.

What fall pruning do you enjoy doing in your yard?

The beginner basics of fall pruning your utah garden for winter.

Photo credit: Pixabay

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Gluten and Dairy Free Peach Cobbler

August 26, 2017 by Vanessa Roush

Having someone over for dessert but you have no idea what to feed them because they’re Gluten Free, Dairy Free, or Vegan? Here’s a recipe for gluten and dairy free peach cobbler that will be sure to impress those with or without food allergies. And this recipe is just in time for the ripening of your Red Haven peaches from your tree.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups sliced fresh, frozen, or canned peaches
1-2 tsp lemon juice
3 Tbsp coconut oil
1/2 tsp almond extract
dash of cinnamon (optional, but highly recommended)
3/4 cups sugar
2/3 cup almond flour or brown rice flour
1/3 cup tapioca flour
1 tsp baking powder
dash of salt
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 tsp xanthum gum (you can omit this if you don’t have it, it just makes the flours stick together since they don’t have gluten in them)

DIRECTIONS

Peach preparation:

First, peel and slice your fresh peaches and place fruit in 2 1/2 quart dish and drip lemon juice over them. If you use canned peaches, drain and dump in dish.

Batter:

Cream together melted coconut oil and sugar, then add almond extract.
Add in coconut milk, then rice/almond flour, tapioca flour, baking powder, xanthum gum and dash of salt.
Mix well and spread over fruit. This will be thick and a tad lumpy.
After this, I like to lightly sprinkle the top with a little sugar and a little freshly ground salt.

Bake at 350 degrees F for about 25-30 minutes. I bake the cobbler until it starts to look caramelized on top, which gives a bit of a crunch to go with the chewy middle.

Serve warm plain or with frozen ice cream of choice. I personally like it served up with a little bit of coconut milk if I don’t have any dairy free ice cream on hand. My husband tells me it’s delicious with vanilla ice cream.

This recipe works great with using brown rice flour, or almond flour. After trying both, our favorite is the almond flour version.

Careful, it’s addicting and you might want to eat this entire dish of gluten and dairy free peach cobbler.

NOTE: Cobbler can be made with canned peaches, but it is always best made with fresh picked peaches from your peach trees from Western Gardens. Fall is a good time to plant trees.

3 Simple Tips for Picking Ripe Cantaloupe

August 22, 2017 by Wendy Pettit

If you’re like me, you can use some tips for picking ripe cantaloupe, because it can be hard to tell when it’s ready to eat!

I find it disappointing to be preparing a cantaloupe for dinner, only to take one taste and it is bland and flavorless. I’ve learned my lesson and discovered how to choose or pick a cantaloupe that is ripe and ready to eat. Now when I’m either picking fruit at the store or from my own garden, there are three simple tips to remember to help you wisely spend your money and time.

Follow these simple tips to choose a melon that is ripe and ready to eat.

LOOK – Cantaloupe should be a nice golden yellow color. Don’t pick cantaloupe that are greenish. They are not ready! Don’t worry about rough spots that may be on the outside of your cantaloupe. They don’t mean anything as to the ripeness.
FEEL – You should be able to feel the edges of the outer skin. A smooth skin means it is not ripe. The flower end (the end not attached to the vine) is soft. You should be able to press it gently in. If it springs back out after pressing, your cantaloupe is ready.
SMELL – Place the flower end or the “button” of the cantaloupe just under your nose and take a whiff. A strong sweet aroma indicates the cantaloupe is ready. Sometimes you will smell the strong aroma without smelling the button. If it doesn’t have a scent, don’t pick it or buy it. It is not sweet.

Cantaloupe from the store or market can be yummy, but my favorite is freshly picked from my garden. Now when I eat cantaloupe, it is like a little slice of heaven. Picked right off the vine, it is heavy, fragrant, juicy, and still warm from sitting in the sun. I love to garden!

TIP FOR GROWING: Be sure to begin your seeds indoors early spring so you can have good healthy larger plants when it is warm enough outside. Melons like a long hot growing season!

Planting New Trees 101- Secrets to Help Your New Tree Thrive!

July 26, 2017 by Vanessa Roush

Welcome Friends! Glad you dropped in.

In Utah, spring and fall are the best times for planting new trees. Here are a few secrets to help you find success with your new investment that will beautify and make your yard and home more enjoyable for a long time.

Planting New Trees Begin With Buying an Appropriate Healthy Tree

The first step to a healthy tree is to purchase from a quality local independent garden center or nursery. Big box stores tend to get trees that look okay for a season but suffer down the line because of poor soil, crowding, root chopping, inadequate root ball size, rough handling, and poor care. Often these warehouse stores don’t own the plant inventory; it is on consignment, so less care is given to the material. A local independent store, like Western Gardens, also has experts who can help you pick the right tree for the conditions at your house and your growing Zone. Check for trees that have 10’’-12’’ of root ball per inch in diameter of the tree trunk. When selecting a tree, take into account the mature height and width. Material from a quality grower usually has a tag indicating the mature height of the tree. Some trees may look cute now planted a few feet from the house and close to another one, but after a few years this can become very problematic. Also consider planting a tree of an underutilized species in your area.

Transport Your New Tree Home

Local independent gardening stores can deliver your tree for a nominal fee, and you can have the peace of mind knowing that it was transported carefully. If you are transporting your tree home yourself, make sure that it is properly secured and avoid going on the freeway or driving at high speeds. It’s preferable to transport them on their side in the back of a truck so that the leaves aren’t taking the brunt of the air flow as you drive. This can desiccate the leaves and put the tree into shock. As the tree is lifted in and out, be careful to handle gently. Dropping or rough handling can also put your tree into shock.

Evaluate the Branching of Your Tree and Decide Which Way It Should Face

This is often an overlooked step, or an after thought most of the time. Every tree has different branching and some have a better side than others when it comes to aesthetics. First place the tree in the spot where you’d like to plant it and turn it until the branching is how you like it . Take a few steps back, walk around, and look at it from different viewing angles. Consider the main viewing point for the tree, or other things like proximity to fences, driveways, side walks, and power lines.

Dig the Hole and Fill with Water

Dig the hole twice as wide and twice as deep at the root ball. If you are planting a tree that likes well drained soil, but you have clay soil, then be sure to dig the hole much wider and supplement with some good soil. Bumper Crop mixed in with your soil is one of our favorite recipes. The hole should not be deeper than the root ball itself. Use your hose to fill the hole with water and let soak down a bit. This insures that there will be good moisture deep down for the roots of your tree to take hold.

Planting New Tree in Hole – Rotate and/or Straighten

If your tree came out of a bucket, check to make sure the roots are not root bound, or circling around itself. If they are, take a razor blade or knife and cut an X on the bottom and make 4 cuts along the sides. If it was wrapped in burlap and/or with twine, remove any plastic twine because this will not decompose. Loosen the burlap. These steps are important so that the roots do not become wrapped around itself causing the tree to girdle itself and die. Place the tree in the hole and backfill it around the sides. Around the trunk, mulch can be 1’’ thick and then increase in depth up to 4’’ toward the outer edge of the rootball. Check and make sure the tree is straight. Also make sure that you can see the flare of the trunk; it should not be covered.

http://www.gardeners.com/how-to/tree-planting/8741.html

Image Credit: Gardeners.com

Watering A New Tree

Planting new trees into the ground isn’t the end. Watering is very important. The amount of water varies on the type of tree and soil conditions at the planting site. If you are unsure, ask your local gardening expert. Trees should be watered when planted and also the following day. Then follow with every 3 days or so. The first 2 years of the tree’s life are the most important for establishing roots. When you water, try to do a slow drip so that it can soak down deep and encourage deep roots. Some sprinkling systems may provide adequate watering, but try to avoid high pressure sprinkler heads from spraying the trunk of your tree. It’s not necessary to fertilize trees during their first season.

Monitoring Tree Growth and Health

Don’t forget to monitor the health of your tree as time passes by. If you notice the leaves or needles look sick, take a sample of the problem or at least a photo to Western Gardens where their experts there can diagnose most problems just by examining your sample. They can give you suggestions for chemical and/or organic methods to resolve the issue.

Planting new trees is a wonderful experience because you are investing in the future.

Harmful Garden Insects: Organic Management

July 18, 2017 by Marjorie Carter

Welcome, Friends! Glad you’re here for some tips to organically manage those pesky harmful garden insects so you’ll have produce left to harvest!

All yards and allotments will have harmful garden insects every year; it’s part of nature. These insects need to eat in order to feed the beneficial insects. Eliminating ALL the harmful insects from your garden would be time, labor, and resource intensive. You also run the risk of depleting the food source for beneficial insects and other animals that feed on the harmful critters.

Wise Goal – An important and wise goal is to control the harmful garden insects enough to reduce the damage to your garden to a manageable level. Meaning that by harvest time, there is something left for you to eat. Losing one or two tomatoes is manageable and probably hardly noticed, but an entire decimated crop means there’s a problem to address.

Aphids – One year we had aphids on our herbs which was easily treated by spraying the affected plants with neem oil, a wonderful organic product found at Western Gardens. This significantly reduced the number of bugs. They were further kept at bay by some helpful ladybugs, also found at your garden shop.

We were careful to thoroughly wash our herbs before eating them to remove any remaining aphids. Washing anything you harvest before eating it is always a good idea anyway.

Leaf Miner – Last year, our challenge was leaf miner larvae on our Swiss chard. In this case, we simply discarded any leaves that had been extensively chewed. Otherwise, we snipped off the parts that didn’t look as appetizing, like anything that had a visible egg attached to it (usually on the underside of the leaves), washed everything, and then enjoyed our tasty green salad.

This year, now that we know to look for the leaf miner eggs on the leaves, we were more attentive with our starts for our garden and inspected them daily, looking for them or other harmful garden insects. We found eggs on our pepper plants and did our best to remove them when the plants were small. We used a piece of duct tape wrapped around a finger to remove the eggs.

We found that using a gentle fingernail was still too rough for the tender young leaves, so gently touching the tiny eggs with the sticky duct tape easily lifted them off.

Once the plants were more mature and could withstand a little insect activity, we were less vigilant at egg removal, but still mindful of looking for eggs once in a while. Read more on homemade remedies for treating leaf miners by clicking here.

Squash Bug – This year, we planted pumpkins for the first time. We had heard of the dreaded squash bug and had been looking for them but hadn’t seen any damage to the plants. Then, just last week (late June), one of our pumpkin plants was nearly devoured overnight by something.

We assumed it was the infamous squash bug. This assumption was reinforced when, upon closer inspection of the plant, we found a mating pair of squash bugs with a third one waiting on the side-line and eggs attached to the underside of the remaining leaves and the stem. We posted photos of the damage to a Facebook gardening group and learned of some other likely culprits. That night my husband went out with a headlamp and a bottle of neem oil to investigate.

Earwigs – Someone suggested the damage looked like the work of earwigs. My husband found several earwigs eating on the plant and a swarm of them hiding in a nearby crevasse. Earwigs are a complicated insect in the garden. They are not only harmful, but also beneficial. They aid in breaking down organic matter (composting) and they also eat aphids and other harmful insects. However, when there are too many of them around a young susceptible plant, they can be very destructive. We could also see evidence of earwigs damage on a few leaves of nearby tomato plants. This minimal damage doesn’t pose a risk to a plant that has hundreds of leaves to perform. In comparison, the pumpkin plant had only a dozen leaves to start with and most of those were very damaged.

My husband sprayed neem oil on the earwigs on the plant, in the swarm nearby, and even in their nest. It’s still uncertain whether the plant will survive though it already shows signs of new growth. We monitor it closely to prevent another insect attack that would probably kill it.

Another organic alternative that works to kill earwigs is diatomaceous earth, which also now offers a nice dispensing bottle which helps cut down on waste and mess. Check it out at Western Gardens.

As for the squash bugs, not the main culprits to the pumpkin plant, they were probably snacking on it also. We’re still removing eggs as we find them (using the duct tape trick mentioned above) and killing any adults. Their numbers can quickly get out of hand. Again, diatomaceous earth works well to control squash bugs.

Beneficial vs Harmful Insects – Lady bugs, praying mantis, and birds are a few examples of creatures that feed on the harmful garden insects; hence, we like to see these around around the yard. When considering how to handle any harmful garden insects, the first reaction should generally not be total annihilation. Rather, try to reduce their numbers and also allow the beneficial insects and animals to do their part until the plant is mature enough to withstand the damage.

Good luck and happy hunting!

CLICK HERE to read about beneficial insects you want in your garden.

Fresh From The Garden Gift Tags

July 12, 2017 by Jenn Crookston

We’re heading into the very best time of the year when it comes to fresh fruits and vegetables. If you’ve got a garden you know how quickly, once things start to ripen, you can end up with lots of extras. These Fresh from the Garden gift tags may be incentive to get out and share your joy!

I have loved sharing my bounty with friends and neighbors over the years. It’s always nice when something I’m not in need of brings a smile to someone else’s face.

July 15th is National “Give Something Away” Day. I created these bright “Fresh from the Garden” and “From our Garden to You” printable tags to celebrate this fun day. Grab a small basket (or large, depending on your bounty), fill it with garden fresh fruits and veggies, print off a cute tag and deliver to one of your favorite people.

This would also be a cheerful tag to use with a fresh loaf of zucchini bread or other garden fresh treat.

Click HERE for the Fresh From the Garden tag.

Click HERE for the From Our Garden to You tag.

I think sharing is one of my favorite things about having a garden (and having chickens, I love sharing fresh eggs). In the past, a few neighbors and I were very intentional with our gardening. We looked at the things we knew we wanted to grow and used a lot of and then sort of split up the planting. Why would everybody in the neighborhood plant zucchini plants when we knew a couple well maintained plants would supply more than enough for us all. Same with tomatoes and cucumbers. As I’m trying my hand more at canning having a couple plants each of my own has been awesome and there is still plenty to share.

I hope you take advantage of National Give Something Away Day this July 15th. Remember while these fresh from the garden and from our garden to you tags are created for you to gift something from your garden this is also an opportunity for other ways to give something away.

Give Something Away Idea – Go through your home, find those items that are still in good repair that are just not being utilized by you or your family, then donate them as well!

Give Something Away Idea – Put together your own little farmer’s market where neighbors can gather and share their bounty.

Give Something Away Idea – Create a little swap-n-shop where people can bring things they no longer need and look through things others have brought that might be a perfect fit in their home.

You can download the free printable tags here and here. We’d love to see how you use them!
Happy Summer!!

June Gardening To-Do List

June 8, 2017 by Western Gardens

Welcome gardening friends! So glad you stopped by!

Do you love to work in your yard, but aren’t sure of all the things you should be doing? Then you’re in luck! We’ve put together a list of things to do in June!

You may not need to do everything on this list. For example, if you don’t have a cherry tree, you won’t need to worry about treating for Cherry Fruit Flies. Just pick what applies to your yard and plan out when you will do it all throughout the month!

June Gardening To-Do List

➺Plant shrubs, trees and evergreens

➺Fertilize vegetables every 4 weeks with a slow-release fertilizer, and
fertilize roses

➺Watch For Insects show a sample in a clear plastic bag to a garden expert if you suspect a problem

➺Fertilize Lawns and apply iron sulfate if needed (to green up your grass)

➺Watch For Insects like grasshoppers, potato bettle, squash bug & spider mites. If you suspect a problem, take a sample in a clear plastic bag to a garden expert.

➺Thin Out fruit trees for a better yield

➺Control Powdery Mildew on apples, apricots, cherries, peaches, nectarines,
grapes, peas, roses & euonymous

➺Treat For Cherry Fruit Fly when cherries begin to turn pink, unless already
using fruit tree spray

➺Control Peach Twig Borer once a month with spinosad

➺Watch For Slugs & Snails control with bait or other techniques

➺Adjust Sprinklers if needed, for increasing heat

➺Move And Replant Bulbs if the foliage has died down

➺Watch For Lawn Insects and treat as necessary

➺Prune & Fertilize flowering shrubs

➺Watch For Signs Of Lawn Disease take a sample to a garden expert if you
suspect a problem

➺Control tobacco budworm on geraniums & petunias

➺Control Weeds before they set & disperse seed

➺Plant Outside
Until June 15th: carrots & endive
Until July 1st: cauliflower, parsley, swiss chard, rutabaga
Until July 15th: beets & broccoli
Until Sept 1st: radishes

*This is not an exhaustive list. If we’ve overlooked something important, feel free to leave a comment and we will add it to the list!

If you’re local to the Salt Lake area, come in to any of our locations with questions or samples!

Marvelous Garden Mulch

May 12, 2017 by Heather Leister

Welcome, Glad you stopped by!

Garden mulch makes a yard look well kept, but there are other excellent reasons why it is good to lay down a layer of this simple garden basic.

If you give me the choice between spending a Saturday working in the house or working in the yard, I will choose my yard every time. The reason? For me, there is something deeply satisfying in pulling weeds and neatening up flower beds. Yes, I know that the weeds will eventually grow back, but it takes them longer to return than it does the messes in my house. Those will reappear before the day is over!

After I finish weeding my yard, I like to put down fresh mulch. Not only does it make everything look tidy, it’s an important step in taking care of the yard. Mulch provides several key benefits for your yard. If you’ve never put it down before, consider the following benefits that it offers.

Mulch under perennials and stepping stones for a finished look

Image credit: Flickr

Weed control: A layer of mulch on your flower beds and around your trees will prevent weeds from germinating and growing.

Moderates soil temperature: Mulch will help prevent the temperature in your beds from fluctuating between too hot and too cold. It’s a good idea to apply your mulch after the soil has had a chance to warm up.

Retains moisture: Mulch prevents moisture from evaporating out of the soil. This benefits plant roots and leads to healthier growth.

Prevents erosion: Mulch will also prevent soil from eroding when it rains. When it rains the water hits the mulch first and keeps the soil from washing away.

Image Credit: Pixabay

Adds nutrients to the soil: The definition of mulch is anything that you put down on your soil, but if you choose an organic mulch you will have the benefits of adding nutrients to your soil as your mulch decomposes. Even if you don’t select an organic mulch, the layer will prevent the soil’s nutrients from washing away.

Curb Appeal: Mulch gives your yard a polished look and the choices are endless. I prefer the look of a dark mulch, so we tend to use dark organic mixes that will decompose in our flower beds and around our trees. Other possibilities are rocks, compost, bark, wood chips, landscape fabric, or recycled rubber tires. Whatever you choose, pick something that complements your landscaping and gives your yard a finished look. Western Gardens has a variety of quality mulch products to recommend.

Image credit: Pixabay

DIY Porch Planter Box for Mother’s Day

May 7, 2017 by Jenn Crookston

Welcome – Glad you dropped in for a great idea!

Mother’s Day is just around the corner and I’ve got the perfect Mother’s Day gift that you’ve got plenty of time to create because it is such a fast build. Your mother/wife/friend will love this DIY Mother’s Day Porch Planter Box.
I’m pretty sure it’s a proven fact that anything is automatically cuter when it’s small. That fact holds true with this Mother’s Day Porch Planter Box. I am completely smitten with how cute it looks sitting on my steps and can’t wait to make it a couple of sisters. You’re going to love me when I tell you how easy this was to make too.
Because I wanted this planter box to be able to sit on a single step on my porch I needed to find materials that weren’t big and bulky. After walking around the home improvement store for a while and looking at the different options I went with wood fencing and stakes. Since both of these items are made to be outside in all weather conditions I figured they were perfect for this project and they aren’t bulky pieces of wood which means more room inside the box for flowers.
Here is a good photo of the box assembly. The fencing is less than $2 a board and the stakes we had on hand but I’m pretty sure were around a dollar each. I used just over 1 fencing board and 2 stakes for one box. I think with 4 boards and 7 stakes you could make 3 planter boxes, including nails I think you’re looking at 3 planter boxes for under $20, pretty awesome if you ask me!
I used our miter saw to cut my pieces, if you don’t have a saw at home here is your cut list and the people at the home improvement store can cut them for you.

Cut List:

10 #1 (side pieces) – 3.5″x 6″
4 #2 – (long side braces) 1.4″x 8 5/8″
1 #3 – (middle bottom) 3.5″x 11.5″
2 #4 – (side bottom) 1.5″x 11.5″
2 #5 – (short side braces) 1.5″x 5 1/4″
8 #6 – (corners/legs) 1.5″x 8″

Porch Planter Assembly:

I used a brad nailer to create the box with 1″ finish nails. If you don’t have a nail gun you can use tiny nails and a hammer to create the box it’ll just take a little more time. These nails are perfect because they’re easily painted over and hidden if you choose to paint your planter box.

To create my planter box I started by creating one side as shown in photo 1.

Once I got that side done I created the corners as shown in photos 2-4.

When I had the corners done assembly was easy. I placed the side brace against one corner piece and then nailed into place.

When it was attached I then placed the next side piece in place and attached it to the side brace.

Photos 5 and 6 show the bottom of the planter box. As you can see in photo 5 there isn’t quite enough room for 2 pieces of fencing on the bottom. Photo 6 shows how perfect once piece of fencing and two pieces cut from a stake fit leaving enough room between the pieces to allow water drainage.

As you can see in photo 7 I wasn’t too worried about a perfectly smooth surface, you can sand and paint/stain as desired, I love the little more rustic look so this was perfect for me.
Can’t you just picture a few more of these darling little planter boxes leading all the way up the stairs. I can’t wait to get them all finished and filled with beautiful flowers from my local independent garden shop Western Garden Centers.
You can easily make this planter box and fill it with flowers for less than you would spend on a bouquet of cut flowers for Mother’s Day and they’ll last all season long and the planter for years to come.

Differences between Perennials and Annuals – What’s Best for My Garden?

May 5, 2017 by Becky

WELCOME FRIENDS, Come learn with us!

image: Pixabay

As a novice gardener, I need to know what is the difference between perennials and annuals? Whenever I went to the nursery, I was confused by the terms “annuals” and “perennials.” When choosing plants for your garden it’s important to know the difference, so I thought I would share some of what has made it easier for me to remember.

Annuals

Annuals are plants that came from seeds earlier this spring. You can plant them as seeds or you can purchase them as seedlings or starts in flats and pots. Annuals usually bloom the entire summer until frost kills them. They don’t survive the winter. I remember the plants that are annuals because I have to buy them “annually.”

However there are exceptions, some tropical plants are perennial in a tropical climate, but in Utah’s colder climate, they are annuals. They die every winter and need to be replanted as a new plant. Geranium, Impatiens, and Bougainvillea are good examples of annuals.

Image: Pixabay

Image: Pixabay

Perennials

Perennials that do well in our climate are a different story. Perennials survive our Utah winters in the growing zone 5. They bloom again year after year. The tradeoff is that perennials have a definite blooming season and don’t bloom all summer long. Usually they bloom from a couple of weeks to a couple of months. There are many varieties from evergreen, to shade tolerant, or even drought tolerant. Most die to the ground in fall or winter and spend most of winter dormant. Most perennials like well-drained soil with plenty of organic material in it.

Image: Pixabay

Image: Pixabay

So basically, that’s the difference between perennials and annuals. How long they survive in the climate zone you live in. In the Salt Lake Valley, we are usually a zone 5, and sometimes can be a zone 6, so be sure and talk to one of our expert gardeners to make sure you get the perfect plants for your soil and landscape.

A Word about Placement

Placing a plant in a good site, in a place it will thrive, is one of the most important differences that will make your flower garden successful. In my yard I have hot, sunny sites, cool shady sites, and everything in between. I am always careful not to place a plant that prefers shade, like a Hosta, Fern, or Begonia in a hot sunny spot because it will do poorly. A hosta in the sun will show it’s displeasure with burned, scorched leaves. However, planting a peony, Petunia, or Sunflower in the shade will not produce good results either. Any of our gardeners can help you identify which plants do best in sun, shade, etc.

A Word about Soils

Most soils in Utah are either clay or sand based (like my garden) and will do very well with some organic amendments. For perennials create a 50/50 mix with existing soil. For annuals simply spread a 2-3″ layer of organic amendment evenly on top of the existing soil, then dig or till it in. The hole for perennials should be about twice as wide as the container and an inch or so less in depth. Place the plant in the hole after popping it out of the container. If it’s root bound (lots of white roots wrapping around the soil ball), use a short blade utility knife to make a few shallow, vertical cuts around the root ball to stimulate new root growth. Press the root mass into the hole to make sure there are no voids under the roots and water well using a root starter (we can help you with that at Western Gardens too).

Come see us!

Our garden experts at Western Gardens have a lot of great suggestions to help you get your flower garden blooming all summer long. From root starter to organic compost, we have everything you need. Be sure to visit us on Facebook for specials and daily tips.

What do some of you expert gardeners do to keep your flowers strong and healthy. Feel free to share your experiences here too.

Post revised by Wendy P 5/2017