The days are getting noticeably shorter.  We have lost about an hour of light in the morning and the evening.  During September plants begin the slow process of hardening down for winter.

Photosynthesis slows down and plant roots are storing strength for the winter.  If you plan to put mulch or bark down this is the last month to do it.  You don't want to trick your plants into a false bloom or a growth spurt.  The mulch or bark keeps the roots warmer signaling the plant that it's time to reverse the dormancy cycle.  Visit nurseries to pick out plants with fall color.  Your heather should be trimmed after flowering and prune out dogwood twigs affected by anthracnose (this is where the branch ends are dead) being careful to use correct pruning techniques that are available in any good pruning book.  Dogwood pruning cuts are slow to heal and quite hard on the tree.  Rake diseased leaves away from the tree as they fall and dispose of in your trash.  Do not compost or recycle them.

Bring houseplants inside, later in the month, spraying them off before you do and check for hidden insects.  Slugs breed now so keep after them.  Plant or divide peonies and other perennials for next spring's bloom.  You can choose and plant new ground covers where you had poor grass or a lot of weed growth.  There are a number of beautiful new ground covers available.  Keep your dahlias picked for continual bloom sand continue watering all you plants and lawn if rain is scarce.

You should also attend to your lawn by aerating, thatching and reseeding if needed.  Also early in the month is a good time to fertilize you grass.

You should begin to plant cool-season annuals and refrigerate or store you spring bulbs in a cool dry area.  You will need to continue to mow your grass weekly in September.  In October you can look forward to once every 10 days.  Don't do much pruning at this time of the year.  It promotes new growth that won't be hardened down for the winter and will most likely die if we have below freezing weather.

Add lime to soil now so it can decrease soil acidity during the winter.  This can substantially limit the moss growth in you lawn areas.  Lime does not kill moss but it raises the pH of the soil so the grass does better and the moss does poorer.

Veggie garden: Cover your tomatoes and peppers to keep warmth in for longer production.  Tomatoes can produce into November if covered and the leaves are protected from getting wet and too cold.  Sow seed for fall salads and cooked greens like spinach and chard.  Plant over-wintering onions, mustard, radishea, and turnips.  Plant  over crops like crimson clover.

Child's Garden:  Gather as many colors and shapes of leaves as you can find and pres them in you telephone book or leaf press.  Help pick tomatoes and squash.  Rake up leaves for compost and for winter mulch.  If you are going to mulch your leaves mix them with grass cuttings.  They will mulch better and give you better carbon to nitrogen ratio for better and faster mulching.

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Coming soon

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Make sure your lawns get approximately 1" of water a week, either by rain or by sprinkler.  Also most of your shrubs need to be deep watered every couple of weeks.  Many established shrubs and trees can tough it out for a month or so but the unusually warm dry weather puts extra stress on most of our shrubs that have developed shallow root systems because of surface watering and the abundance of rainfall.  July is usually the first of the drier months.  Water carefully, slowly and deeply.

Watch your sprinkler system carefully and turn it off if rain is expected.  Conservation can provide enough water so we won't have a total water moratorium.

Tidy annuals and perennial flowers before they go to seed.  Trim hedges, keeping the base wider than the top.  Cut back faded roses.

Plant annuals for fall bloom (cosmos, etc.).  Care for plants in pots; feed, cut back spent flowers and check drainage.  now and in August transplant iris.  Trim perennials such as delphinium after bloom so you can get a fall bloom.  Sow seeds for biennial plants such as forget-me-not, foxglove and viola.

Vegetable garden: Harvest young zucchini, carrots and beans while tender.  Pick and dry herbs.  Dig shallots and garlic when tops are brown.  When crops have been harvested, sow successive crops of bush beans, beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, chard, collards, kale, kohlrabi, leaf lettuce, mustard, onions, peas, radishes, rutabaga, spinach and turnip.  You can start fall and winter crops this month.

Child's garden: Pick, shell, and nibble peas, eat raw beans.  Make a toothpick doll with a hollyhock skirt.  Visit a U-pick farm to gather summer berries and make jam together or just enjoy t the available fresh fruit.

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June

You can prune the overlong rhodie branches after they bloom.  Remember that next year's flowers are in this year's growth, so if you prune heavily you may not get blossoms next year. 

Keep the black spot fungus on your roses under control if possible or plant resistant varieties.  Remember to irrigate rather than sprinkle.  Fungal receptive plants like roses and tomatoes need to be irrigated.  On your roses the problem is caused by a fungus, Diplocarpon rosae.  Avoid dense planting, avoid overhead spray and, if necessary, spray with a fungicide like Captan, Daconil, Funginex, Banner or Fore but switch every third or fourth application because the fungus develops a resistance if you use the same fungicide every time. 

Coordinate vacation plans with neighbors, trading gardening care services so you keep your flowers and grass alive while you're away.  Organize or join a yard cleanup for someone in need or someone in the service.

Slugs are coming on strong this year because of the mild winter and we will probably have more fleas than usual so watch and protect your pets.  Remember to consider native plants in your landscape as they are best adapted to this area.  They require substantially less water and are more insect resistant than imported plants.

Veggie Garden:  Mulch to keep down weeds and to prevent the soil surgace from drying and to keep your veggies clean.  Thin out carrots and other direct-seeded vegetables to recommended spacing and eat the thinnings.  As the weather settles, finish planting cukes, eggplants, peppers, squash and tomatoes.  Sow basil, beans, and corn now if you didn't get it planted in May.

Child's Garden:  Make a teepee with long heavy willow sticks or bamboo poles and plant pole beans or gourd seed around the circle.  Fasten them up a they grow to make a sheltering house.  Learn a bird's name.  Look for ladybugs.

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There's much to do in the April garden...

Add soil amendment to vegetable and flower gardens if it hasn't already been done.  Compost added to planting areas for summer annual beds also gives the plantings a boost and helps retain water through dry summers.

Bulk quantities are available through Cedar Grove, Red-E-Topsoils and Pacific Topsoils.

Fertilize shrubs and trees in your landscape if you didn't do it in March.  Established trees need very little if any fertilizer, but if shrubs are putting out very little new growth, fertilizer may help.  Do no fertilize when the soil is dry; be sure to water the granules into the ground.  Go easy on the nitrogen on plants that you want to flower.  Nitrogen will stimulate the green growth and limit flower production.

Plants begin to respond to warmer temperatures and more daylight by growing vigorously.  Choose and set out new container plants from nurseries.  If planting in low, wet areas, choose plants that will thrive under less than ideal drainage conditions.  Selecting plants for water conservation is a wise way to plant as the population in the Northwest grows and the demand on water resources becomes stronger.

Check stored dahlia tubers and sprinkle a little water on them if they are dried or shriveled.  Most dahlia experts recommend planting them in mid-May after soils have warmed a bit.

Gladiolus corms can be planted in April.

Moss seems to be bad this year again and many lawns have been trashed.  April is the ideal time to do any lawn work.  You should fertilize late in the month.  If installing new lawn, be sure to prepare the ground deeply and well.  Even the best quality sod will languish if it isn't given a root run of well drained soil of a minimum of 4 inches with 8 inches preferred.  Choose grass seed adapted to Northwest conditions.   Research has shown that perennial rye grasses and tall fescues, in combination, produce a good quality lawn.  Blue grass does not grow well here.   Fertilize the lawn this month using a 3-2-1 ratio fertilizer.  Check your thatch, if over 1/2 inch it's time to have it thatched.  After thatching, the lawn may look bare and scruffy in sports.  Apply grass seed and rake the seed into the bare ground.  Put a bit of peat moss or a bit of mulch over it and water well until in is established.

Late in the month, move fuchsias and geraniums outside.  Place in a sheltered spot and give them sun during the day but take them indoors if nights are still in the low 40's.  In mid-May set them out in permanent spots.

Summer annuals will be in the garden stores but it is still too early to plant them.  Resist the temptation until after Mother's Day.

Vegetable gardens:  Add organic material to gardens now, putting 3-4 inches and mix it in before planting.  Sow any cold tolerant veggies like beets, carrots, chard, collards, lettuce, mustard, peas, radishes, and spinach.  Get your potatoes in and tie raspberry canes.  Be sure and rotate crops to new locations so disease and insect problems don't build up.  Plant some new fruit trees if you have room.

Child's Garden:  Choose a warm, bright place to start squash and pumpkin plants indoors.  Plant a smaller cultivar like "Jack be Little" or "baby Bear" (about 3 inches across)

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