by Janet Lee Harrold

Get a head start on next season now!

I know, I know…we are certainly not ready for summer to be over so the last thing we want to start thinking about is preparing our yard for the fall, or even better next spring. I’m thinking we should  ease in to it slowly, while you are out there grilling your burgers this summer, just take a glance around your yard and take inventory of what needs to be done. Now is a good time to fill in those voids that you noticed this year.  In fact now is actually the perfect time to get perennials on sale and what do ya know, we just so happen to have them on sale at Cedar Grove Gardens in the garden center right now, what perfect timing! Though you may not want to spend the last few dog days of summer planting for next year, come next spring you will be so glad that you did. We have a pretty good selection of day lilies, heuchera coral bells, astilbe, ferns, hosta and a few shasta daisys, gypsophila, foxglove, butterfly bush, ladies mantle…shall I go on?  Any way save a buck now and be thankful for the beauty you will see in your garden this spring, after all it will be here before you know it! While you are out there, think about fertilizing your grass, this is typically done around labor day. A low-nitrogen, slow release fertilizer is always a good choice. it keeps the grass from eating up all the nitrogen at once. Keep in mind that there is no need to fertilize shrubs and tree’s this time of year and also, you may want to put off pruning until spring, you don’t want to give your plants a fresh wound as winter will make them vulnerable to damage. So see, it’s not all work this time of year, just a little preparation that’s all.

It’s also a great time to plant a couple dozen bulbs. Remember that smile on your face after a long New England winter when that first sign of crocus, tulips and daffodils force there pretty heads through the cold ground to greet you, it’s as if they really know that you just can’t take anymore of the bitter cold weather and everything is going to be o.k.

So enough about next year, let’s talk about what you can expect to see this year in the garden center as we transition from summer to fall….autumn in your garden should be as abundant as spring and we are expecting shipments of beautiful mum plants, kale, seedum, ornamental grasses any day now and as soon as the heat breaks our usual load of pumpkins,corn and haystacks will fill the yard as we prepare for our annual Harvest Festival.