This week, we are featuring all annual flowers and annual foliage plants as our Plant(s) of the Week. That means they are all buy one, get one free. Why annuals in the first week of August? Because we still have 9 weeks left before our average first frost. Because it has been raining every day, and maybe you need a splash or two of brightness. And, if we get a late frost, or if you protect tender plants during those initial cold nights, we could be enjoying annual flowers for another 3 months. That is a long time! Our summers are short, and we want to help you make the most of it.
In the garden
The rain has done a number on our gardens. How about you? Diseases are starting to set in, a few plants are rotting in place, and the tomatoes are slow to ripen. Gardening is not for the faint of heart. I feel hopeful that it will all even out in the end and we will have a good tomato harvest, but in the meantime, I will be spending some time doing some garden clean up.
If you are growing sweet onions (Walla Walla or Ailsa Craig are the varieties we offered in the spring), I recommend you harvest those soon. They don’t do as well with lots of moisture. If your other onion plants look good, you can likely leave them in the ground a little longer.
The celery is nicer than ever, loving all this rain. If you have big celery plants, it is ok to harvest just the outside branches and let the rest of the plant continue growing.
The cut flowers are cheery and full, and I have started to take home buckets of flowers to make arrangements around the house. It is a nice way to spend a rainy evening, especially while listening to this.
I am leaving some bolting cilantro in the garden so that I can harvest the blossoms for salads and later, the green seeds for little flavor bombs. Bolting herbs and herb flowers are one of my favorite additions to meats and veggies hot off the grill.
We hope you come by for our Thursday garden walk. You will have a chance to walk around the gardens with Chad and with me. We will show you what is working well, what is not (this is Real Talk), and we will share strategies for pest / disease control and how to harvest for best results. You can ask all the questions you want such as “when is a cantaloupe ready?” or “how do I deal with Colorado Potato Beetle?” You get the picture. We will meet at 6 pm, and walk around the gardens, herb farm, and behind the scenes in the greenhouses. If you prefer riding in a golf cart, let us know. We are happy to help anyone who needs the mobility assist. Sign up with this button so that we know how many people to expect:
Wishing you a dry and sunny week,
Julie
P.S. Our Hinesburg greenhouses are open for in person shopping every day from 8 am to 6 pm. No appointment needed.
Our online store is available for Friday afternoon curbside pick up. Please have your orders in by midnight Wednesday. The full array of our plants is available only at our Hinesburg greenhouses. The online store just carries tools, seed, and a fresh herbs for pre-ordering.
Sara and Sophie have been bringing plants to our wholesale partners. You can find a list of those stores here.