Garden tips for October Garden tips for October (October 21, 2005)

Knowledge is power -- and control over your garden

By Jack McKinnon

If the essence of gardening is control, as Hugh Johnson says in "The Principles of Gardening," then the secret to control is knowledge -- knowledge of plants, soils, climate, light, pests, weeds and a myriad of other elements involved in gardens and gardening. Some gardeners rely on instinct and do quite well, many don't.

In this month's tips, I will try to list some resources for increasing one's knowledge and how to use them. Here are the tips:

1. Own at least one good garden book with a plant encyclopedia. I worked for Sunset Magazine and am still biased toward them for western gardening techniques and plant descriptions. Buy the "Western Garden Book."

2. Visit nurseries on a fairly regular basis. They are always getting new products in and the plants coming into the market are always interesting. Make a field trip and visit several nurseries ending with lunch out.

3. Subscribe to a good gardening magazine. Scrutinize them at the local bookstore. Buy and read one of each. When you find the most informative one for your area send in the subscription card found inside.

4. Take a plant identification class. You will learn about 100 plants' common and botanical names and the teacher will be a great resource for botanical queries.

5. Join a garden club in your area or find one that fits your personality. Gardeners are wonderful people; I know and like hundreds of them.

6. Buy used and out-of-print gardening books. Some of the pest-control methods may be out of date but the garden wisdom, anecdotal stories and history is amazing.

7. Plant bulbs and over-plant the beds with primroses, pansies and violas. Plan your color scheme to compliment both varieties. Look in nurseries for tulips, daffodils, narcissus, anemone, ranucula and freesia.

8. Plant winter vegetables such as cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, garlic, onions and peas. Divide artichokes and replant to give them a fresh start.

9. Divide dietes, agapanthus, phormium, and any other clumping perennial that is getting unruly. Dig all around it to at least one shovel blade depth, and then pull the whole plant out of the hole. Once out, the root ball can be chopped through from the side, dividing the whole clump into manageable sized segments. Replant just what looks good and healthy.

10. With this list of tips to work with, plan on getting out in your garden on a regular basis, say three times a week. Also plan on shopping for your garden at least once a week. The cost of one latte can buy you six bulbs that will give you flowers in the spring that come back every year indefinitely.

Good Gardening.
Jack McKinnon writes a column for the Palo Alto Weekly, the Voice's sister paper. McKinnon worked in the Sunset Magazine gardens for 12 years and is now a garden coach. He can be reached at (650) 879-3261, or by e-mail at jcmckinnon@earthlink.net.

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