Autumn gardening

Prescott Food Forest Continues to Grow with Your Support

July 31, 2023 By quadcities Leave a Comment

On behalf of our growing team of gardeners, volunteers and students, I want to invite you to join us, too! What are you waiting for? Let’s get growing!

An amazing phenomenon is happening at the Prescott Forest @ B Organic Farm in Chino Valley.

Passionate and inquisitive Quad Cities residents are pitching in to help manage and harvest our growing garden beds and greenhouse.

Each Saturday, there’s a garden project party, which brings together families and individuals that enjoy fellowship, food, music and of course, gardening projects that need to be worked on. This combination has proven successful as each week we have between 10 and 15 volunteers picking fruits and veggies, planting new crops and weeding. The indoor greenhouse has cooled air, so we offer both options to participate.

Another milestone was met when we hosted the first Gardeners Of Destiny Kids Boot Camp where Stephane Leon led a four-day introduction to kids, ages 5-12, and their moms. It was a total success and brought together like-minded moms who know the value of teaching their kids how to grow food. Our goal has always been to teach the next generation this important life skill.

I am proud to announce our next Gardening Course “Autumn Gardening,” including how to plant and care for fall and early winter crops. The class is $99 for eight weeks but we are offering full scholarships (limited) in exchange for 10 hours of volunteer time. This model was very well received in previous courses. Go to prescottfoodforest.com<http://prescottfoodforest.com for more information or to register. The classes run from 10 a.m. to noon, Aug. 19 to Sept. 23. These classes have sold out so reserve your spot today. Families are welcome too!

One of the great benefits of this program is all the fantastic people that want to help and learn more about gardening.

I’d like to give a big shout out to Doug and April Rich for their help and for sharing our mission. Also Nick and Kim Plancich and their daughter, Shelby, for volunteering and sharing our mission with their family and friends. That’s how this has grown, organically (pardon the pun).

We are seeking schools and clubs to work with to expand our greenhouse capacity and to lead a pumpkin-planting project as a fun competition with prizes and awards. If you would like to have your school or organization participate, call or email me directly.

On behalf of our growing team of gardeners, volunteers and students, I want to invite you to join us, too! What are you waiting for? Let’s get growing! QCBN

By John Murphy

John Murphy is the executive director of Make 100 Healthy Inc., an Arizona 501 c 3 non-profit. He’s also a Prescott-area realtor and can be contacted at John.teammurphy@gmail.com or 928-899-1341.

Eleven Fall Tips for Better Gardens

October 1, 2022 By quadcities Leave a Comment

Now you have my personal list of autumn garden tasks.

Autumn gardening is a great time to look back on garden successes and disappointments. There’s still plenty of time to do some garden maintenance. Fall gardening takes advantage of cooler temperatures and fewer weeds and insects. Putting the garden to bed is not as hectic as waking it up in the spring. You’ll have time to really see how your plants are doing.

Here are some tasks to do now, to make next year’s garden brighter and better.

Enrich garden beds with Watters Barnyard Manure. Spread a 2-3 inch layer evenly over any exposed soil. Earthworms, along with the winter’s freeze and thaw cycle, will work this nutrient-rich manure into the soil for you.

Collect dried seed from your flowers, vegetables and herbs. Save these seeds for planting next year’s garden. You might even try to expand your skills and try winter sowing this fall.

Clean bird feeders to get them ready for use. The birds have done a great job of feasting on garden pests and serenading you this year. We are on the migratory path for birds. It amazes me how many different birds visit the feeders through the end of the year.

Gather herbs and flowers for drying. Leave some flowers for the birds, but get a head start on your garden clean-up by cutting back plants like hydrangea, lavender and yarrow and bringing them indoors. I can smell the herbal fragrance now.

Clean cold frames for winter use. You won’t want to do it when the temperature hovers below freezing. Cleaning it out in the fall makes it more likely you will put it to use in the spring.

Winterize your water garden. Get ready to turn off the pump and turn on the ice breaker. Don’t forget to cover the water garden with netting to keep falling leaves out and the blue herons from getting in.

Keep trees and shrubs well-watered until the ground freezes. They may look dormant, but they’re still alive. If you have a mild, dry winter, continue watering throughout the season. This goes double for trees that were planted this year. A good rule of thumb is to irrigate your landscape with a deep soak at two-week intervals.

Cut back most perennials. Definitely cut back diseased perennials and remove all foliage and dispose of it somewhere other than your compost.

Clean, sand and oil garden tools before storing them for the winter.

Feed the entire yard. This is especially true for young landscapes. Feed everything in the yard with Watters 7-4-4 All Purpose Plant Food. This brings out the fall flowers and autumn colors. More importantly, your evergreens will maintain their rich green colors through winter and provide better growth next spring.

Treat your evergreen pine and spruce with Plant Protector. This easy-to-use plant drench keeps the bugs out of your trees and larger evergreens for the year to come.

Now you have my personal list of autumn garden tasks. You have plenty of time, but the entire list should be completed before Thanksgiving.

Until next issue, I’ll be helping locals grow better gardens here at Watters Garden Center. QCBN

By Ken Lain

Throughout the week, Ken Lain can be found at Watters Garden Center, 1815 W. Iron Springs Road in Prescott, or contacted through his website at WattersGardenCenter.com or Top10Plants.com.

Insider Secrets Your Landscaper Won’t Share

October 2, 2021 By quadcities Leave a Comment

The best autumn advice I can give you is to feed and care for the plants you do have. The most important feeding of the year is applied in the fall.

Whether it’s having hardscape features installed, performing chores or selecting plants for the yard, it’s helpful to understand the insider secrets landscapers won’t share. Thinking like a professional saves lots of money, time and frustration. Best of all, unlocking these pro tips will help transform your plantings from a mere collection of plants into a sophisticated landscape design.

Hardscaping is everything non-living, like irrigation, raised beds, ponds and retaining walls. Hardscape features are captivating, but not all are equally necessary. Some types of hardscapes are exceedingly expensive; it is essential to prioritize landscaping on a budget. Give priority to those projects critical to your enjoyment.

Everyone gets excited over the idea of having an elite terrace, complete with an outdoor kitchen. You may not enjoy it much when baking in the sun, though. A straightforward patio roofed with a covered pergola is often a better investment. It offers a permanent, shaded retreat for dining, chatting with friends or simply enjoying the flower beds planted nearby.

Save Time

Lawn care can be a chore. Here are some hacks those in the know use to save considerable time by laying down a mowing strip and using a mulching mower.

After you lay down a mowing strip and see how much time it saves, you’ll kick yourself for not discovering this landscaper’s secret sooner. It consists of a row of pavers separating the grass from an adjacent area or structure. You run the wheels on one side of the mower on top of this strip, giving you a clean cut along the border. No need to go back later to edge and touch up.

Save additional time by using a mulching mower rather than mowing with a bag attachment. No more emptying those dirty grass clippings. The finely mulched grass acts as lawn fertilizer, saving the time required to buy more fertilizer.

Strike a Balance

Every homeowner prefers variety in a landscape. A way to add style to your design is to vary the viewer’s sightline rather than keeping everything flat on one plane. A landscape berm is the easiest, but so will intelligent plant selection. Grow a variety of different plants in terms of height. Provide transitions between them for a smooth flow.

Let’s say a row of landscape trees lines the northern property line. To bring the viewer’s eye level down a notch, plant shrubs in front of them. Complete the three-tiered design with an edging of ground cover plants at the front.

A secret landscape designers swear by here at Watters Garden Center is planting a group of plants together in odd numbers and repeating this grouping elsewhere in the yard. This could be three Gold Star Potentilla grown together in a flower border at the driveway, complemented by a group of five more in a foundation bed. Each group achieves a more significant impact than a solitary shrub, while the repetition brings unity to the design, bringing different parts of the yard together.

Keep Plants Healthy

The best autumn advice I can give you is to feed and care for the plants you do have. The most important feeding of the year is applied in the fall. Feed everything in the yard with Watters 7-4-4 All Purpose Plant Food for better autumn colors and healthier plants next spring. Second, treat your evergreen pine and spruce with Plant Protector. This easy-to-use plant drench keeps the bugs out of your trees and larger evergreens for the year to come.

Feed and prevent at the same time or over several weekends. The two easy chores make for better gardening this fall and into next year.

Until next month, I’ll be helping locals design better landscapes here at Watters Garden Center. QCBN

By Ken Lain

Throughout the week, Ken Lain can be found at Watters Garden Center, 1815 W. Iron Springs Rd in Prescott, or contacted through his website at WattersGardenCenter.com or Top10Plants.com.

Autumn gardening

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