John Shelley's Garden Center Roots and Shoots Online
Summer 1999
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Milk Jug Watering - Liquid Assets

Re-cycle the milk jugs In your garden as a Drip-irrigation system

Save those 1-gallon plastic milk jugs! They're invaluable for watering plants. After planting perennials or small nursery stock (use several jugs for shrubs and small trees), simply put 3-5 pin holes in the bottom of the jug, remove the plastic cap and sit the jug right next to the plant. In five or six hours, all the water will slowly drip into the ground and can be uptaken by the plant. Adding a fertilizer 5-25-5 or something similar with a high phosphorous number) is a good idea. To keep the jug from blowing away after its water is exhausted, simply tie a piece of string through the jug's handle and to a bamboo stake driven into the ground near the plant; never tie the jug to the plant.

In addition to having a wonderfully easy drip system at your disposal, you've helped to recycle plastic from the landfills and dumps, since the plastic will last for many years.

Remember to keep the cap to each jug, so that when you fill it and take it to plant for irrigation, you can turn it upside down with the cap in place until you sit it next to the plant or shrub.

Wildflowers - It's Not Too Late

Installing a wildflower field or meadow is best done in either Early Spring or Late Summer, when temperatures aren't so hot that seed dries out, water is plentiful from natural rains and the plants have a chance for a foothold for next year's growth and display.

Instead of using hay or straw, try ground-up Peat Moss as a mulch to hold-in moisture, feed the seed with nutrients and fool the birds (who see straw and a meal of seed just below the chaff). Simply crumble the peat by hand and broadcast, or lightly shovel it over the newly sown seed. Straw must be raked-off or it'll rot the new shoots; Peat is absorbed, feeds and disappears quickly into the new plants' system.

Our Wildflower Mixes come in several formulations: Roadside, Meadow, Hummingbird & Butterfly and Cutting. We'll help you select the right one(s) for your specific application. Just ask.

In This Issue:

Page 1:

Our 9th Annual Open House

Biological Integrated Insect Control - Updated

Beat the Heat With Drought-Resistant Plants

Page 2:

Planning for the Fall Garden

Specimen Cactus

Viburnums

Page 3:

Milk Jug Watering - Liquid Assets

Wildflowers - It's Not Too Late

Page 4:

Mulch Well and Water Less Often

Garden Center is Available for Meeting, Tours and Events

www.gdnctr.com Mousepads Available

Page 5:

1999 Workshop Schedule