Happy St. Patrick’s Day and welcome to a new season of Garden Time.  William, Judy and I were talking about how much we missed doing the show.  It was nice having the winter off, but we recently did a special from the Yard, Garden and Patio show and had a great time doing it, and that just made us eager to get back to work bringing you some great new gardening information.  We would also like to welcome the viewers in Eugene on KEVU.  We had a bunch of requests to take the show south.  We hope you enjoy the show and we welcome your comments. 

But back to the show… since it is early spring, our show talks about things you can do this time of year to get your garden ready for the coming summer.  We also want you to enjoy the blooms of early spring so we showcase those as well.  Sit back and get ready for the fun to begin!

This week we featured...

The true sign of spring, daffodils!  We start our new season in the fields of daffodils and visit with Patti Iverson from Wooden Shoe Bulb Company (1-800-711-2006) to talk about how they can add an early touch of color to your garden.  We talked about care and feeding of these early bloomers and how you can use them in your yard or garden.  Wooden Shoe cuts and ships daffodils all over the country so they have to know how to make them last!  Patti also gave us a tip for keeping deer away from your prized tulips; surround them with daffodils.  Deer hate the ‘daffs’ and will ignore your tulips to avoid the daffodils.  They are a great cut flower with one warning.  Don’t place them in a vase with other cut flowers right away.  The sap from the daffodil will cause other flowers to plug up!  The sap doesn’t allow the other flowers to draw water.  If you have any more questions about daffodils or tulips you can contact Wooden Shoe.

Believe it or not now is a good time to do some light pruning on your hydrangeas.  We traveled to Hydrangeas Plus (866-433-7896) to get some tips from Kristin VanHoose on making those cuts to your hydrangeas.  This time of year you will see the buds for this year's flowers, so you want to do some light pruning to shape your plants.  Kristin VanHoose showed us where to make those important cuts. If you bought a hydrangea a few years ago, you also may have noticed the color of the bloom starting to change.  Hydrangeas are very sensitive to soil conditions.  Kristin told us to add lime to the soil to make your flowers pink again.  If you want to turn a pink into a blue, you add aluminum sulfate.  You may also add a light fertilizer at this time.

Our first show of the season and a perfect time to give you a heads up on things you can do in the garden.  Jan McNeilan from OSU Extension joined us to cover the things you need to do right now.  Judy found her planting onions.  This is a good time to plant so you can harvest a little later this summer.  When you harvest, plant some more so you have an on-going crop.  Some other things you can be doing, planting strawberries, enjoy early blooming plants by cutting the flowers for inside displays, harvest winter crops, and plant your roses.  This is the time of year when everything is waking up, so take some time and wander through your garden.  Assess what happened over the winter, make plans for the coming season and contact the OSU extension office if you have any questions.

There is nothing like ‘REAL’ grass in your Easter basket.  In this Kindergarden segment we saw how easy it is to grow grass for your Easter (or spring) baskets.  All you need is weed fabric, potting soil, any type of grass seed (rye grass works well), and water.  First you line the basket with the fabric.  Remember the fabric will allow the water to drain so make sure it is a basket that can get wet.  Next put in the potting soil and keep it an inch or so below the edge of the basket.  Then sprinkle grass seed in the soil.  Don’t go too light on the seed; you want it to be really full looking!  Mix the seed into the soil and water lightly.  The seed should start growing in a week to 10 days.  Keep the soil moist until the seed germinates and it will be ready by Easter morning!

These plants are true winter bloomers and were old garden favorites many years ago.  They have become popular again and bring wonderful winter color to the garden.  We visited with Ken Korpowski from Extra Perennial Nursery (503-628-1492) in Scholls.  These plants are true evergreen woodland perennials and Extra Perennial has a wonderful selection of them.  Ken showed us a couple of his favorites.  He had Helleborus ‘Slate Blue’, Mardi Gras ‘Parade Yellow’, Hellebores ‘Party Dress’ and one plant that makes a great companion plant, the Hepatica ‘Blue Jewel’.  The nursery is also offering a special on all trade gallons until the end of the month, 25% off.

Now is the time to start planting your summer garden, indoors!  You can get a jump on the growing season by starting your plants now and it is easy to do if you have the right supplies!  Michelle Moore from the Greenhouse Catalog (800-825-1925) walked us through the materials you will need to be successful.  First we started with a seed tray.  This one had 72 cells to get your seed going.  Next she added a growing medium.  She recommended a CocoLite Brick. The brick breaks up into a highly water absorbent potting type soil.  Michelle told us to remember to transplant the seedlings or fertilize them once they start growing since the coco contains no nutrients. Next was heat.  A seedling heat mat will help keep them warm and cozy.  Then the final touch, lights.  Some seeds may require additional lighting to be successful; check the variety to see if you are using one that does.  They also have the right materials if you want to try propagating cuttings from your existing plants.  No matter where you live you can get everything you need at GreenHouseCatalog.com.