Freshen up that garden!
One of the most frequent questions we get here at Johnnye Merle’s relates to how keep a garden looking ‘fresh’ and healthy year round. While there will be times of the year – such as a late summer heat wave – when all gardens are going to look a little less than great, the to maintaining your garden is consistency. Rather than wait for your garden to reach ‘critical mass’ where nothing short of a bulldozer will do the trick, chip away at it! A little pruning here and there, composting along the way, and weeding a bit each week will work wonders and save you time. This is probably true for a lot of things in life (laundry, school work, cleaning…) but at least in the garden the ‘a little bit here and there’ is fun, and you can get a tan!
Fall Plantings
We LOVE fall for a lot of different reasons, but most of all because it’s a GREAT time to garden!
By planting in the fall, you give your spring blooming perennials the chance to take root and soak up winter rains so that you get extra hardy plants in the spring. Cottage favorites such as campanulas, columbines, delphiniums are all great plants to start planting in cooler fall months. This is also the ideal time to plant hollyhocks, foxgloves and other biennials. Have you seen some of the hollyhocks we carry? You need them in your garden! Plant ‘em this fall!
This is all the time of year to hit your garden with some organic fertilizer, a bit of compost and soil amendments. After the summer months, that dirt needs a bit of support to give you lots of healthy plants.
Autumn is also a season for veggies in southern California. Carrots, peas, spinach, lettuce, broccoli and beets are just some of what can be grown during this time of the year.
Prune back salvias (sage) and other similar California natives this time of year if they are done blooming, and you’ll likely get another round of blooms out of them. This is the time of year when marigolds, mums and echinacea start to show off and show their blooms, too!
Welcome back, Chapman!
Welcome back to school, Panthers! Ah, the dorm life…did you know that plants can make the best roommate of all? They are quiet, clean, and purify the air! Succulents, house plants, and even herbs for cooking can all be grown indoors. We have a great selection of all of the above – come in and check them out!
We hope to see you soon!
Country Roads Antiques & Garden 