Color & Texture In The Garden

All of the above are perennials and shrubs that have been in this garden for years. This picture was taken on June 22, 2010 showing the color and texture that happens with just a little planning. It is located in our Ashcombe American garden adjacent to our parking lot.
Pictured above are yellow Euonymus, front and center, blooming white yucca amidst grasses, and behind are Perovskia, (Russian Sage) and Salvias’ May Night and Caradonna. The background for this garden is evergreens, which give a soft touch to the garden. This is of course a sun garden and a dry garden. For a shade garden the one pictured below is a combination Hostas, grasses and a water feature that attracts birds. It is located in our bird garden in the same area as the picture above but with shade from bushes and trees.

Ashcombe Dog Days

Make plans to join us at Ashcombe for our annual "Dog Days"... a morning dedicated to dogs and organizations that work hard to help them. Our list of special guests keeps growing, but currently we will have these organizations on hand:

Brookline Lab Rescue

Canine Rescue of Central PA

Cocker Spaniel Adoption Center, Inc.

Miss Lucy's Dog Treats

Harrisburg Kennel Club

1 Life Rescue

Carlisle Area Dog Parks

K-9 Kozeez - Hand Made Fleeceware

Furry Friends Animal Network

Basset Rescue of Old Dominion

"Chill-Outz" Cooling Neck Scarves

Compassionate Hearts Animal Rescue

Bring your loyal companion for a dog wash between the hours of 10am and noon.

We will be giving away door prizes every half hour and will host a "dress your dog" contest and pagent. If you're hungry -- we will have a lunch special: Hot Dog and Soda for $2.00 at our indoor deli.

How To Prevent Blossom End Rot In Tomatoes

Blossom end rot is a disorder commonly found on tomatoes that is caused by a lack of calcium in the plant. This occurs when the tomato plant experiences periods of wet soil and periods of very dry soil. A balance needs to be maintained for roots to properly absorb calcium from the soil. You will recognize blossom end rot by the nasty looking brown spots that may begin as small spots on the blossom end (opposite the stem) of the green tomato. As the fruit matures, the spot spreads to cover larger areas and deepens in color. At maturity blossom end rot may take over nearly the whole tomato and appear black and leathery. Preventing blossom end rot takes a little time and effort, but the results are well worth the effort.

1. Choose soil that has good drainage. Tomatoes need to be kept evenly moist to properly absorb the calcium needed to promote fruit production.

2. Add plenty of composted materials to the soil before transplanting your tomatoes. These organic additions to the soil will help retain moisture and prevent the roots being exposed to overly dry soil.

3. Mulch tomatoes with straw, newspaper or black plastic to retain moisture. This will keep the soil moist even when the weather is hot and dry.

4. Water regularly. Even tomatoes that are mulched need to be watered on a regular basis. Avoid letting the soil dry out completely between waterings. Uneven watering seems to be the biggest contributor of blossom end rot.

5. Maintain a PH of 6.5 for optimum calcium absorption. You can purchase an inexpensive soil test to determine the PH level of your soil at your local gardening supply store. Follow the instructions with the kit to raise or lower the PH.

6. Bone meal or manure will increase the calcium in the soil, but this is seldom necessary. Generally low calcium content in the soil is not the cause of blossom end rot. It is the inability of the plant's roots to absorb calcium due to uneven watering that is actually the culprit.

Beautify Your Patio or Garden!

Does your garden or patio need a boost? Our greenhouses, nursery and courtyard are still stocked full with fresh, beautiful plants - ready to brighten and area with an instant splash of color.

Help your garden to survive this exhausting heat spell we are having...

1. Water sparingly, but also when the ground is best able to absorb the most moisture. Watering is best done in the early morning hours or in the late afternoon. When watering during the heat of the day, evaporation will steal much of the water.

2. If you mulched your garden this spring, this ground cover will help to hold in moisture until the rain comes.

3. If you have a large area to water, trickle irrigation puts the water right where it's needed...at the root of the plant. This saves much water and is also labor efficient. You can make your own trickle irrigation system by using old plastic gallon jugs and punching holes in them. Soaker hoses also work well. Be creative and your garden will flourish.

Seeding and Planting

There are array of varieties one can plant of any one category of vegetables. Read carefully the number of days from seed to ha

rvest so you have an idea when to expect picking your favorites. Often the long season ones will be larger and more productive, Good things take time. Also to insure a continuous harvest you may want to make staggered plantings. For example green beans can be seeded from May to late July ensuring you have some to harvest every week from late June until late September. The same can apply to Summer Squash, C

antaloupes and Sweet Corn. Cool crops like Leaf Lettuce, Peas, Radishes, Cabbage and Broccoli can be planted early spring and then again in August for a fall crop.

Bugs and Drought

The likelihood of disease, insects and drought are much less in highly organic loose soils. A soil that is healthy and rich will produce plants

that the insects and diseases aren’t interested in. Like a healthy body is less likely to be affected, plants growing in the right soil will fend off diseases and insects.

If however you do find problems with insects there are products that will control them. Pictured above is one of the most difficult ones the Japanese beetle which appears at the onset of hot weather mid to late June. They are attracted to certain trees and plants and usually over winter in the soil near these plants. To control the adult beetles in summer (when they feed on foliage and flowers) use Bayer Advanced™ Dual Action Rose & Flower Insect Killer Concentrate according to label directions. And to control the Grubs a one time application of Bayer Grub Control

Irrigation Most garden crops can make it on normal rainfall but you want to be sure to water your plants the first ten days or two weeks until their roots become established and then taper off to once a week when there is no rain, soaking the plants well and letting them get dry between waterings. The roots will go deeper to find moisture and nutrients to sustain them. Of course if your growing in containers this will vary somewhat and you need to look at your plants for signs of wilting.

PEAS, POTATOES & ONIONS

These mouth watering vegetables can be easily grown in your garden this year and will add to the healthy diet you want for yourself and your family. The nice thing about them is they are cold tolerant and can be planted in late March and April before your warm veggies need to go in.

Onions come as sets and should be planted about 5 inches apart in rows or solid square foot plantings. The reason they are called sets is because of the way you plant them, setting them just an inch or less under the surface of the soil pointing up toward the sky. There are four varieties of Onion sets we carry white, red, yellow and Stuttgarter.The first three can be pulled as “spring onions” or left to grow larger and the Stuttgarter can be also or left to mature into a larger onion because it keeps better than the other varieties.

Peas come in regular Hull Peas, Edible Sugar Snap, and Sugar Peas. At Ashcombe we carry a number of varieties in packets as well as bulk seed for the serious gardener. The earliest Sugar pea we carry in bulk is Dwarf White Blossom or 50 days from seed to harvest. The Hull peas are Progress # 9 at 62 days and Little marvel at 63 days. As a rule harvest begins late May from an early April sowing. All peas can be sown at 1 inch spacing’s in rows covering seeds with 1⁄2 to 1 inch of soil. For best results and easier picking provide support for them as they get six inches tall by putting a bamboo pole every six feet or so along the row and using sturdy twine in an X pattern along both sides of the row.

Harvest both hull and sugar peas before they become too mature for the sweetest flavor. Best way is to pick a few and taste them when their small. Potatoes a healthy root crop. Nutrients without skins (156 g) (% RDA) With skin (173 g) (% RDA) Vitamin C 33 28 Thiamin 11 7 Niacin 11 12 Vitamin B6 23 27 Folate 4 12 Pantothenic Acid 9 7 Iron 3 10 Magnesium 10 12 Potassium 17 26 Copper 17 10 Dietary Fiber 9 15

Potatoes A root crop that comes as a surprise several months later when you dig up the dead vines and find ten times as many potatoes as the seed you put in the ground in April. This is exciting as well as rewarding and you can have a choice of nine varieties here at Ashcombe--- reds. whites, blues and yellows. We carry the old fashioned Irish Cobbler , Katahdin and Kennebec all white varieties as well as the Norland and Pontiac Red varieties, and the new favorite Yukon Gold.

For those who want to grow Russets we carry the Russet Norkotah a long, smooth, shallow-eyed, russet-skinned potato cultivar with wide adaptation. It has a smooth golden russet-skin and produces a high percent of medium sized U.S. No. 1 tubers.

Planting guide: Be sure to use certified seed potatoes as store potatoes may have a sprout inhibitor sprayed on them and will not sprout for you.

Harvesting:

Days to Harvest: 2 - 4 Months.

The entire crop is ready to harvest once the tops of the plants die off. You can leave the potatoes in the ground for a few weeks longer, as long as the ground is not wet. New potatoes are small, immature potatoes. You can harvest a few of these without harm to the plant, by gently feeling around in the soil near the plant, once the plant reaches about a foot in height.

Harvest carefully, by hand or with a shovel. Turn the soil over and search through for treasure. The tubers can branch out and digging in with a fork is a sure fire way of stabbing a potato or two.

Pest & Diseases:

Beetles & aphids defoliate. Monitor early in season, before they become a major problem. The Colorado potato beetle larva, at left, is easy to spot. Also check for egg masses on the undersides of leaves.

Thin, red wire worms attack underground. I wish I had a better solution, but rotating crops is the only thing that has worked for me. A low pH will help control scab. Late blight, the cause of the Irish potato famine, turns the foliage black, then moldy. Burn the foliage. The potatoes can still be harvested, but you should wait several weeks. Use certified disease-resistant seed potatoes.

SPRING 2010

It’s that time of year when lettuce will soon be ready to put out and Pansies will cheer us up (with their bright faces) after a long cold winter. Onion sets and seed potatoes can soon be put in the ground and were thinking about warmer weather. Visit our web site at www.ashcombe.com for lots of good gardening information you can use this season.

And be sure to visit our Spring Open House Saturday March 20^th & 27th to see a preview of the wonderful season ahead. Seminars and displays and children’s crafts both Saturdays.

You not want to miss this event as it kicks off Spring here at Ashcombe. And see the beautiful selection of bulbs and flowers for Easter which is early this season. April 4th.