Finding fall bargains

When autumn comes, nurseries and plant centers will put plants and trees on sale. This is the time that the frugal gardener can make a killing on plant materials if you know generally what you're looking for. You have to be careful of course, because these plants have likely been in the garden centers all summer.

I would never buy an annual, like a petunia or marigold, at this point because their lives are about over. But annual pansies do well in cooler weather and there are often new crops of pansies available. This means that pansies usually aren’t sale material until the plant center is about to close for the season.

There are a couple of reasons that plants go on sale, beyond the fact that nurseries don’t want to take care of them over the winter. Often the nurseries will have an overstock of something that was popular last year but wasn't this year. Or perhaps something didn't bloom like it was supposed to and didn't sell because the color was not right. 

Other times, the plant looks puny. These are the ones to be wary of. Perhaps it was knocked over and the top or the roots were damaged. It might have insects or maybe it is so pot-bound that it cannot absorb enough water to keep it looking healthy.

A root-bound plant still in the pot.
Image from http://www.homedesigndirectory.com.au

So if you find healthy perennials on sale, you need to look at the bottom of the pot and see if the roots are sticking out of the drainage holes. The biggest challenge with ‘end of the season’ bargains is that they are often root bound or pot bound. Both terms mean about the same thing- lots and lots of roots circling the sides and bottom of the root ball. When you remove the plant from the pot, you will see mostly root and not much soil.

These can be successful in your garden and if you like the plant, buy it. Just know that it will take more effort to plant it since it is root bound. You have to cut the roots in several places and spread the root ball so the roots will grow out into the native soil.

Trees are often a great deal and if planted well, can be a successful investment. Remember when buying trees to be aware of problems in shape or trunk damage which have resulted in many trees not selling at full price. 

When you plant in the fall, the soil is warm enough to allow some new roots to develop. But you MUST water these new plantings over the winter on warmer days because they won’t have enough root system if we have a dry winter. Also, mulch them to reduce the likelihood of frost heave.

All this being said, I cannot pass up fall plant clearance sales. I have gotten great bargains which thrive and I have lost some of these bargain plants over the winter. But there is a bit of a thrill to come home in fall with five plants that would have cost twice as much in June. And I have succeeded far more than I have failed, which always pleases my thrifty soul.

How to use herbicide effectively on perennial weeds

I am having guests for most of September, so I did a cursory clean-up. I moved all the piles from the guest room to other locations, flicked a dust rag around and vacuumed. And I spent more time in my garden. No one who stays with me expects to see a ‘Martha’ home, but I take pride in my garden - even in its chaos.

Bindweed on the roadside, healthy even bone dry in bad soil.

I got down on my knees and finally pulled the bindweed out of my chipped-wood path. Bindweed is this amazing vining weed with a little morning glory flower. It is the scourge of gardeners with endless underground roots. I realized early on in my gardening life that bindweed would always win the battle, so I don’t stress about it. We have an understanding – I will leave it alone until it starts to bloom, then I will pull it up. I don’t need it going to seed and spreading that way in my garden.

Because of its extensive root system, it seems no matter how you much you pull it up, you never get the entire thing. Herbicide seemed an easier solution, but I usually opt for hand pulling. I have a friend who used to fight bindweed with herbicide, mainly glyphosate– known by the commercial name Roundup.

Roundup is an effective all-round plant killer and is widely used by home gardeners and in agriculture. It has the reputation of being fairly benign- so much so that a friend used to spray in sandals and shorts, in spite of my suggestions to wear protective clothing. (Happily, she became a beekeeper and this totally changed her weed control techniques.)

It is not benign, it is an herbicide. It is found in much of our food and if you start to research it, there is a huge amount of solid research and ridiculous misinformation out there. I am not advocating for or against herbicide use, just telling you that you need to be aware of its long term impacts and to use it wisely. Use it when it is most effective and realize it takes several days to kill the plant. More is not better.

Don’t spray it as if it is water and has no lasting impact on you or the environment. Spot spray, don’t broadcast spray. READ the label so you understand: when to spray so that it is most effective; how much to apply; and how to dispose of the container.

You'll be much more successful if you can control your seedling weeds early in their life, especially the annuals – which mean paying attention to what is growing, especially after summer rains. I use glyphosate mostly in the fall (before the first killing frosts) when the perennial weeds are starting to go dormant, but are still actively growing. Herbicides are absorbed deep into the plant as it pulls nutrients into its roots for winter storage. This is an effective application technique for many of  your perennial weeds which have large underground root structures.

Fall application on annual weeds doesn’t do any good. Folks around here are busily spraying annual weeds like kochia and another tumbleweed, Russian thistle, which have already lived their lives and made their seeds. These annuals break off at the ground and roll along in the wind, spreading their seed for miles. Spraying them now does nothing but give you a brown weed and waste herbicide. Their seed is ripe, they will still break off and roll.

Here is an example of useless herbicide application. Notice all the healthy kochia, covered with mature seeds and ready to die, break off and roll around, dropping seeds wherever it rolls. The herbicide on dead kochia in the background did nothing to prevent seed dispersal.

In your yard, it is better to cut the stems at the ground while these plant are younger, green and still developing their seeds. Bag the plants, and any annual weeds, to control the spread of their seeds. It takes more work certainly, but it is far more effective for control and far better for the environment.

Update on my end of season bulbs

I wanted to share an update after the post about buying cheap bulbs at the end of their bloom season. I bought two lilies on sale after they had bloomed and planted them in my garden in late spring. After watching my garden grow this summer, I realized I wanted to move my iris toward the back of my garden, into the space where I had put these bulbs. So, I dug up and replanted the two lilies at the front of my garden. They have a more attractive vegetation than the iris and seem better suited for the more visible front of the garden.

They are the same kind of lily but have established themselves quite differently. This bulb simply grew bigger. The four small scales I pulled off (on the left) will be planted and will grow into an exact copy of the original lily. This is asexual reproduction, a type of cloning. The new plant will have the same genetics as the parent plant. This is one species that lends itself to increase easily because of the scales. I will have many lilies coming up in a cluster next summer since I left most of the scales on the bulb. It was really this brilliant yellow color – how cool is that?!!

Notice the smaller white roots growing off the green stem compared to the fewer but larger yellow ones growing from the bulb. I could have cut off the green stem and planted it separately, another way to increase the number of plants for my garden.

This is the same lily, or at least it was sold as the same. However, it has developed quite differently over the summer. It has two possible clones, though I could separate the much smaller scales off of these bulbs. I don’t know why it put its energy into two new stems instead of a larger bulb – maybe I knocked off a lot more of the lightweight potting soil that it came in and my heavy native soil restricted bulb formation. In any case, it was fun to see the difference. I put both of them back in the ground and will cover them with a card board box for a couple of days to keep them out of the August sun until they can settle in.

A step by step guide to dividing iris and other perennials

Most perennials, plants that come up every year, need to be divided at some point. They grow outward at their base, usually with new plants or stems coming up at the edge of the root mass. If not divided periodically, the root system becomes crowded and the plant has fewer blooms. This includes perennials like daisies, coreopsis, phlox, daylilies, peonies, and ornamental grasses. Plants that have only a single stem or which are woody like roses don’t get divided. I have never heard of anyone around here who has successfully divided a lavender or rosemary, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do it.

Dividing is a great way to expand your plant material since you can immediately replant the divisions in your garden. Or you can make friends and give the divisions away.

The trick to dividing is to get enough roots on each division, cut back the foliage to about half, to plant it well and keep an eye on it. You should water it as if it is a new plant from the store, enough but not too much. The division has the advantage of having grown in your soil, so it doesn’t have to adjust from the commercial lightweight potting soils to the heavier native soils in your garden. 

I usually divide my perennials in the spring, just as they start greening up. But late August is the suggested time to divide iris.

I have a friend who is a great gardener. She is very detailed oriented and know exactly when to divide her iris. So every 3 years she divides it. This is ideal, but few people, including me, are as attentive to a 3 year schedule as she is, though her iris are always beautiful. I often help her divide and go home with new colors to add to my garden.

They are quite tough to dig up, especially if you haven’t divided them in a while. You need to get a sharp shovel and start digging. Dig up around a big clump and take a look at it.  Iris grow off a bulb structure called a rhizome. Buds grow on these rhizomes and develop into a fan of leaves, which is the characteristic shape of an iris plant. These rhizomes become tangled and breaking apart the large mass takes muscle.

They are surprisingly resilient so you can also place your shovel in the middle of the clump and cut downward. Sometimes, I have found it necessary to jump on the shovel to get the mass to cut apart. Don’t worry, there will be enough new plants that any cut rhizomes can be thrown away.

You need to knock the dirt off so you can see the mess of rhizomes. Each of these cluster of leaves, called a fan, will become a new plant.

This is a clump - free of soil. You can see how the rhizomes are connected and where you can break them apart.

This fan now breaks easily off of its neighbor. Notice its strong roots emerging from the rhizome. It will easily reestablish in a new spot in your garden.

All of these fans came off one clump. Each should be planted separately. The flower stems should be discarded. They are round, not flat like the fans. The flower stem from this clump is horizontal in this picture. Not every clump will have a flower stem.

Usually there will be an old “mother” rhizome that the younger ones are attached to. This will have no roots or dead roots on it. Or sometimes, many holes where roots used to be. There is one of these next to the stem in the above picture. Discard this when all the young fans have been removed from it.

Even though there are live roots on this flower stem, throw it away.

I cut off the tops of these leaves in mid-summer because I planted them too close to the front of my garden. They blocked the sun and water from the back part of the garden. I cut them down even further for transplanting – leaving about 7” of leaf. This seems like a lot to remove but it makes it easier for the fans to grow if they don’t have to support so much leaf with their smaller root system.

To plant these, I dig a wide trench, add a bit of compost, gather up the roots like I was making a pony tail and lay them all out in one direction. I repeat this for all the fans I want in that area. This way the roots are all running in the same direction but not touching each other. This gives me right spacing because I put another fan at the end of those roots. You can also spread the roots out in all directions. Space the fans about 6-8” apart to allow for new growth, but close enough to give a good mass planting.

THIS IS IMPORTANT! Don’t plant them too deep. This seems counter-intuitive if you are used to planting tulip and daffodil bulbs deep, but the iris rhizome needs to be almost to the surface or it won’t bloom. Some experts even suggest having the rhizome exposed. However, I find it gets sunburned in our harsh sun, so I always cover mine with less than an inch of soil. After you have watered them in, if you find they are too deep, just go in and gently pull up on the fan until the rhizome is closer to the surface and gently tamp the soil back around the small roots.

If you are lucky, you will get blooms next year. If not though, they will give you joy the following year.

Cucumber blooms but no fruit? Here's why.

The bees love these early male flowers.

A friend recently asked me why her cucumbers had lots of blossoms but was not setting fruit. All the members of the cucumber family like squashes, pumpkins and my favorite, the gourds, bloom in the same way. The first flowers that appear are male.

Young male flower. 

The plants won’t waste energy producing a female until there is pollen available. So if you look closely at the first flowers that appear you will not see any indication of a teeny fruit at the base of the flower. 

Soon there will be female flowers and these are easily identifiable once you know what to look for. At the base of each female flowers are the future fruit that you are waiting for. Once these flowers starts, the bees will then carry pollen to the female flower and pollinate it and your baby cuke or gourd will start to grow. Sometimes the little fruit doesn’t get pollinated and will drop off.

Young, unopened female gourd flower with the teeny fruit.

Male and female flowers will continue to develop along the lengthening stem until forever, I guess, or the first killing frost. If you are getting close to the end of the growing season and there are still a lot of too-small fruits, cut off the growing tip of the vines. That way the plant will put its energy into the growth of the existing fruit and not into producing more flowers that will never have a chance to develop.

Getting a gigantic pumpkin is determined not just by the kind of seed that was planted, but also by removing all other fruit from the plant so all the energy goes into the Big One.

You can see the faded male flowers and maturing gourds from
the seed mix that I planted.