I was walking in the garden last week and I stopped to enjoy a fountain we had installed about seven years ago. And except for a little maintenance a couple of years ago, it is still going strong. It is that sound of water that makes our backyard so nice and relaxing during the hot days of summer. I get that same feeling when I walk through Hughes Water Gardens (503-638-1709) during their annual Waterlily Festival and Invitational Art show. It is going on this weekend and next. Stop by and enjoy the serene setting! Another event that is happening this weekend is the Tour de Coop. This event is happening from 11:00am-3:00pm in the Portland area. You can still get tickets on Saturday at the Westminster Presbyterian Church at 1624 NE Hancock. Plus, don't forget all the great farmers' markets around the area. There are so many great things to see and do, you should get out and enjoy this great time of year.


This week we featured...

Dog Landscaping

Having a welcoming garden for you and your pet can be a challenge, sometimes. We went to one of the local experts in landscaping, ProGrass (800-776-4727), to get some tips to help you and your pet. Steve walked Judy through a yard to show her some of the things that the pet-owner can do to create a safe pet environment. First we looked at shade areas. Pets love to lay in the shade on those hot days so provide an area for them to do that. Next, protect your annuals from being damaged by using pots and containers when possible. Because animals like to dig, use a solid fencing that can keep them in and remember to add a base so they can't dig under the fence. Hardscaping with stone or brick instead of wood decking will help protect their paws and is lower maintenance for you as well. Also be careful about using edging so they don't cut their paws on that. If you have urine burns in your lawn just use a grass seed and mulch to fill those holes. Finally, pick all-natural or organic products to create a chemical free environment for your pet. If you have any more questions you can contact ProGrass or your local garden center.

PPA Summer Containers

If you think that building a summer container is tough, then we have some people that you need to meet. The Perennial Plant Association is in Portland for their annual meeting and to help make them welcome some of the top designers got together to build containers for the convention. Judy dropped by Cornell Farm where they were working to get some tips for the home gardener. The first designer she caught up with was Dawn Hummel who had just finished 2 containers and had some great tips for us. Her first container took her about 10 minutes to build. She just walked around and picked a bunch of plants and made them look good on the cart before planting. This planter was her 'female' container and the other a 'male' container, but both containers used her 3 rules of container design; Thriller, Filler, Spiller. The Thriller is the tall or 'signature' plant. The Filler is the plants in the middle that accent and complement the tall piece, and the Spiller is the plants that spill over the edge of the container to really create a flowing effect. We then visited with Deby from Cornell Farm (503-292-9895) to see some of the other containers that were built for the Symposium. These were all wonderful and very different. The rules that Deby shared with us was the 'right plant, right place' rule. That means you want to keep plants that share the same requirements together. Shade plants with shade plants; sun with sun. If you would like ideas on creating a great summer container you can stop by your local independent garden center. If you want to see the names of the plants in the containers we featured you can click here.

Smith Summer Jam

Saving the taste of summer is made easy if you capture the flavor in a homemade jam or jelly. Joelle from Smith Berry Barn (503-628-2172) invited us into her kitchen to show us how quick and easy it is to make a jam from fresh fruit. All we needed was 3 ingredients, fresh fruit, pectin and a sweetener. The pectin we used was Pomona Universal Pectin which is great because you can use any type of sweetener (Equal, Splenda, Honey or even Steevia), so it is great for diabetics. First we crushed the berries and then added the pectin, next we added the calcium mixture (part of the Pomona product) to our sweetener. After bringing the fruit to a boil we added the calcium/sweetener to the pot and kept stirring. After a couple of minutes we pulled the mixture off the stove and poured it into out containers (in this case it was sterilized jars). Joelle went one step further when she added a sprig of lavender to the mix during cooking to add an additional unique flavor. If you would like to try this at home, you can call Smith Berry Barn, or pick up a packet of Pomona's Pectin; the instructions are in the box.

Bauman Corn on the Cob

One of the true tastes of summer is corn on the cob, and one of the first places to get it is Bauman's Farm and Garden (503-792-3524). We found Brian Bauman out in his fields checking on this year's crop. Farmers this year had the same problems that the home gardener did with the cold wet weather. Brian told us that they had to replant their corn a couple of times before it started to grow. They are two weeks behind their normal harvest time, and that makes me feel better about my garden! Now that the corn is in the store we stopped by to pick some up and head to the grill for some tips on preparing it. There are three main methods for preparing corn. The first is Brian's dad's favorite way of eating corn and that is to boil it. Brian told us that the #1 problem with boiling corn is that people boil it too long. You should get your water to a rolling boil and then stick the cobs in. Let them boil for 8-10 minutes and you are done. Too much longer and they will get rubbery. The next 2 methods involve the grill. The first method is a 'steam' grilling. You first need to soak the corn for about an hour in the husk. Then you wrap it in foil and place it on the grill for about 10-20 minutes. The final way to grill your corn on the cob is to peal it open and tie the husks together at the end. Place a piece of foil on the grill under the tied husks. This foil will keep the husks from burning and protects your hands from burning as well. You can how baste the corn in butter and turn it until the kernels are nice and cooked.

Mosquito Solutions

The wet spring has really created a great environment for one of worst summer pests, the mosquito! There are ways you can cut down on the number of mosquitoes in your backyard and garden areas. First you have to walk around your garden and look for standing water. Standing or stagnant water is a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes. If you can dump out the water, that will go a long way to getting rid of the problem. It you have standing water in your bird baths, water feature or pond then you can add a mosquito dunk. These 'dunks' contain Bt which is an organic compound that helps kill the mosquito larvae. We found these dunks when we were at the Waterlily Festival at Hughes Water Gardens (503-638-1709), but you will find them at all your local garden centers or nurseries.

Grass Seed Plant

The Willamette Valley is one of the largest growers of grass seed in the world. Conditions here are very good for growing some really high quality seed. We took a trip down to Lebanon Oregon to the Pennington Seed processing and packaging plant to see how this high quality seed starts it journey to destinations around the country. Doug Miller gave us a first hand look at the process of packaging. This plant can handle about 100 million pounds of grass seed a year. It was great to watch them working on getting these different seed blends out to the consumer and knowing that it all started with Oregon farmers.