YORKTON - It is hard to believe how quickly our gardening summer is going by, isn’t it!
The Yorkton and District Horticultural Society will be holding their Annual Fruit, Flower and Vegetable Show on Wednesday, Aug. 9, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Parkland Mall, Yorkton. Come out and see interesting entries in a variety of categories including, flowers, vegetables, flower arrangements, houseplants, and containers. Everyone is welcome, admission is free! Bring a friend!
Does it seem like our containers suddenly are looking not quite so lovely? They’re still beautiful, no mistake, because by now they are well-established and truly coming into their own. But they might also be getting a little leggy, a little shaggy.
So what do we do?
The biggest challenge at this time of year is to keep all the containers well hydrated. The plants are bigger, and that means the roots are that much more developed, filling that much more of the container. So our first task is to be sure that the containers are well-watered, and because they are bigger now, the plants would appreciate a treat of a balanced fertilizer. (A quick review: a ‘balanced’ fertilizer means that the three numbers are the same, offering the same amount of nutrients to our plants. Remember, the three numbers mean the amount of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium that is in the fertilizer…so a ‘balanced’ fertilizer offers the same amount of each of these nutrients).
Even plants that we deadhead regularly can still look a bit untidy, not maintaining that nice shape or cascade that we are hoping for. What to do? We find our hands tremble at the thought of this, but yes, we might need to give our container plants a haircut. There is still lots of growing time left for them to fill in again, and many plants will actually benefit from being trimmed. Their energy will go into healthy new shoots, rather than maintaining gangly or broken stems. I know, it seems like the opposite of what we want to do: cut them, just when they are ‘filling out’. But they will thank us with increased growing enthusiasm!
Back in the spring, when we were planting our containers, probably most of the plants we used were more or less the same size. But by now, that has changed, hasn’t it. Some plants grow more quickly and more aggressively, so they might be shading or dwarfing other plants.
Sometimes they do so to the point where some smaller plants do not survive. We might have to replace the odd plant here or there.
It is a good idea to peruse our containers every once in a while and see if this is happening. Maybe we can remove a smaller plant that is struggling and put it into its own container, where it will probably do better since it has its ‘own room’! This will give more room to the plants in the original container. If one or two plants are outgrowing the others by leaps and bounds, we may want to remove one or two more of the smaller plants and create a new container that will do better when plants are not competing against brawny roommates for water and nutrients!
A gardener’s work is never done, is it, even when we are talking about our containers! Container planting is such a great aspect of gardening; so many things can be grown in containers, they can suit whatever space is available, and we can use a variety of interesting planters that add even more beauty!
Thank you to our friends at YTW for their great work. Enjoy your containers and have a lovely week! Visit the hort society at www.yorktonhort.ca .
