Our fall bulb shipment has just arrived, so stop by soon to take advantage of the fresh selection!  Spring blooming bulbs like Tulips, Daffodils, Crocuses, and others need to be planted in fall for optimal spring results.  These bulbs do best with a winter’s chill before their bloom time, so by fall planting you allow them their needed chilling and plenty of time to settle in.  We carry a wide variety of colorful spring bloomers that you will really enjoy after the gray days of winter!

The Sunset Western Garden Book has been one of my favorite go-to gardening resources for more years than I care to share – suffice it to say that I have more than one edition on my shelves.  Since it is specific to the western states, it is very applicable for our Pacific Northwest conditions.   There are maps with their own Sunset zones (and frankly, that is my only problem with Sunset – why can’t they use the USDA zones like everyone else?), as well as lots of lists of plants for different situations:  Plants that attract butterflies; Plants for tropical effects; Plants for dry areas; Rock garden plants…you get the idea.  The plant encyclopedia is quite extensive – it lists climate, exposure requirements, watering needs, toxicity issues, and cultivars.  The feature I like best is the cross-referencing of both common names and botanical names, which makes it very easy to find the information you are looking for, but are unsure of the “correct” name.

If you don’t already have one, I very much recommend this latest edition – it is a beautiful as well as functional book, and good for both novice and veteran gardeners.  And as luck would have it, we have this hardbound gem on sale now, $19.99, reg $39.95.  This would make one terrific and affordable gift – for yourself or a friend!

What a terrific follow-up class we had here yesterday!  After last month’s class on concrete leaf casting, this time Jackie Flowers helped us take it to the next step with COLOR.   Here are some pictures of how fabulously us amateurs did for our first project.  Thank you Jackie, for a great class.

Are you up to your eyeballs yet in zuchini?  By this time in August, I’m looking for new ways to use this prolific vegetable.  Martha Stewart has this yummy-sounding recipe on her website – think I’ll be making it tonight!

Zuchini and Yellow Squash Gratin

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 medium zucchini (about 7 ounces each), sliced crosswise inch thick
• 2 medium yellow squash (about 7 ounces each), sliced crosswise inch thick
• 2 shallots, minced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 450. In a large skillet, melt butter over medium heat; add zucchini, yellow squash, shallots, and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until zucchini and squash are crisp-tender, 4 to 6 minutes.
2. Add cream, and cook until thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove skillet from heat; stir in 1/2 cup panko and cup Parmesan.
3. Spoon mixture into a shallow 2-quart baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining panko and Parmesan; season with salt and pepper. Bake until top is golden, 8 to 10 minutes.

This sale list is no longer valid

We’ve currently got some great plants on sale, so now is the time to fill in those gaps in the garden.  The autumn rains are coming soon, and the new plantings will get well settled before spring.  Here’s just SOME of what’s been recently reduced:

• All roses – 60% off
• All perennials (1 gallon and larger), except ferns - 20% off
• All planted hanging baskets - 25% off
• All magnolias – 25% off
• All Flowering Dogwood trees – 25% off
• All heuchera, 1 gallon size – 30% off
• All agaves, 1 gallon and larger – 60% off
• All hardy fuchsias, 1 gallon – 40% off

Remember, sale items are limited to stock on hand, and when they’re gone, they’re gone.  We never know how long these prices will be around, so shop early!

Our annual Tomato Festival is coming soon – one of our favorite days of the year!  This free event originated as a way to celebrate the wonderful diversity of America’s favorite.  No longer must we be resigned to hard, tasteless, storebought tomatoes – we can grow dozens of flavorful, colorful varieties right in our own gardens.  Come taste for yourself the differences between Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, Green Zebra, Sun Gold and dozens of others – and discover your own favorites.  We provide lists to make note of your favorites, so you will know what to grow next season.  (Do you know that Farmington Gardens sells over 100 different varieties of tomato starts each spring?  We have become known as a favorite destination for veggie shoppers in the region!). 

Here is what we have planned ~

• Free tomato tasting, over 80 varieties, all locally grown.  We group similar types together, so you can sample them side by side.   Tasting table will be open at 11 AM until 4 PM.
• 11 AM – Chef Dan Brophy cooks up tomato recipes – taste samples!  Chef Dan, from the Oregon Culinary Institute, has been cooking up tomato recipes here since we began our festival, and his concoctions always get rave reviews.  He will send you home with his recipes.
• 1 PM – Tomato Talk – Want to know which varieties have been the festivals’  favorites over the years?   We will cover the crowd fav’s, as well as how to grow your own, and which are the best varieties for this climate.  A few tricks of the trade, and you will be well on your way to growing tasty tomatoes of your own next year.
• 2 PM – Chef Dan returns for a second cooking segment – more great samples and more recipes!
• Red Ridge Farms local olive oil tasting throughout the day. www.redridgefarms.com  

  

  

  
  

  

  

  
  
  

For those of you interested in concrete leaf casting, this Saturday we are having the second in our series on this topic.  We’ve already done the actual casting, and on Saturday Jackie Flowers will be teaching her painting techniques.  If you’ve seen her garden art here  at Farmington Gardens, you know she has a terrific color sense, layering colors and adding details that bring cold concrete to life. 

This class is suitable for everyone:  if you took her earlier class, you can paint the casting you made.  If you missed that class, you will be able to purchase a cast piece for an additional $7, so that you can practice her techniques.  Space is still available for this class; call to register and save your spot:  503-649-4568, or email us at events@farmingtongardens.com.  Class is $45, or both for $80.

It’s hard to believe that we are getting so close to the fall season!  It seems like summer was very short this year, after a spring planting season that never seemed to want to start.  Nevertheless, kids will head back to school in a few weeks, the temperatures will gradually lower, and we will see an increasing amount of rainfall as we head into the fall months.  So what does fall mean to a gardener?

Fall is the best time to plant hardy trees, shrubs and perennials.  Fall is the season to plant spring flowering bulbs, cool season vegetable crops, and root crops like onions and garlic.  Fall is the season for maintaining, renovating, or planting lawns.  Fall is the best time of year to control slugs and root weevil.  And fall is a season of harvest.

So while spring may get most of the attention and try to make others believe that it is the most important gardening season, we are really just now heading into the season that is the most important in the life of your garden.  A little bit of effort in fall will bring more benefit than a lot of hard work in spring and summer.  This is the time to start planning your fall planting, because it will be here before you know it!

Come visit us in September for Le Tour des Plants and our Tomato Festival!

We are still a few months away from the holiday season, but this is the time for groups and organizations to start thinking about holiday fundraising programs!  Farmington Gardens is one of the largest producers of handmade holiday products in the country, and we have a wonderful wreath fundraising program that is a great way to raise funds for your cause.  To find out more information about our fundraising program, you may visit our online fundraiser packet here, or contact us at 503-649-4568.  Pricing information is not available online, but we would be more than happy to send you that information on request and discuss how we can help you with your fundraising goals this year!

I follow the Kitchen Gardeners International webpage (http://www.kitchengardeners.org/).  Their mission is “to empower individuals, families, and communities to achieve greater levels of food self-reliance through the promotion of kitchen gardening, home-cooking, and sustainable local food systems. In doing so, KGI seeks to connect, serve, and expand the global community of people who grow some of their own food.” 

And there’s more:  “With the world in the grips of intersecting food, fuel, financial and environmental crises, it is clear that we need to make a shift in the way we eat and live. Kitchen gardens, food gardens, Victory Gardens – whatever term you prefer – have been an important part of our past and will play an even more critical role in the future as we work to feed a growing world population using a dwindling and increasingly polluted natural resource base. Over the past 100 years, we have lost a great deal of cultural knowledge about the production, preservation, preparation and enjoyment of healthy, whole foods. The good news is that we can bring it back and help those who would like to have a healthier, closer relationship with their food to do so.”

That’s a tall order, but I’m an optimist, so I think these societal changes are possible.  I am encouraged by the interest we’ve seen this year in edible gardening – it is obvious that our customers are interested in being more self-reliant when it comes to feeding their families.  And please remember that Farmington Gardens is here as a resource to help you along in this venture.

Kitchen Gardeners International has marked August 23 as Kitchen Garden Day — an annual celebration of food produced on a human-scale. It is an opportunity for people around the world to gather in their gardens with friends, family, and members of their local community to celebrate the multiple pleasures and benefits of home-grown, hand-made foods.

So, here are our suggestions for activities for the day:

• invite your friends or neighbors together for a backyard feast from your collective gardens – it feels great to feast on the bounty of your own garden!
• organize walking tours of the neighborhood gardens, so that you can see how each gardener incorporates edibles into the landscape
• arrange for a vegetable exchange with your neighbors – trade surplus produce over the fence.
• visit the terrific display garden at the Washington County fairgrounds which is maintained by master gardeners
• take the beautiful drive to Champoeg State Park and visit their pioneer kitchen garden and apple orchard with heirloom varieties; and bring your bikes, because there are some great bike trails!
• stop by Farmington Gardens to see how our demonstration vegetable garden is producing – the tomatoes, peppers and eggplant are loaded with ripening fruit; the cucumber trellis has vines clambering up its sides; the Red Russian kale is billowing in the breezes…come check it all out!

And remember, NOW is a great time to stick some seeds and starts in the ground for your fall and winter harvest.  Refer back to our earlier post on appropriate fall veggies….

Here’s to self-sufficiency!!

By this time, your Swiss chard should be huge and gorgeous!  This is one of my favorites in my garden, for many reasons:

• it is easy to grow, with very few pests or diseases that bother it
• it is colorful and beautiful, adding lots of visual interest to the garden
• with such dark green foliage, it is packed with nutrients -Vitamin A and C, calcium, and iron
• and best of all, it just keeps on producing – I usually pick chard all fall and a little over the winter as well

So, what to do with all that bounty?  You can use it much like you would spinach, although you might find its cooking time to be a bit longer, since they are sturdier leaves.  Here is a recipe from the Catalan region of northern Spain:

Swiss Chard with Raisins and Pine Nuts

1 large bunch Swiss chard (about 10-12 stalks)

1/4 cup pine nuts

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1/3 cup raisons

1/4 tsp salt

dash of pepper

1. Rinse chard; shake to remove excess moisture, but do not pat dry.  Cut leaves from stalks; discard or reserve stalks for later use.  Very coarsely chop leaves.  Set aside.
2. Place pine nuts in 12-inch skillet; cook over medium heat for 2-4 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring constantly.  Remove from skillet and set aside.
3. Add oil to same skillet; heat over medium heat until hot.  Add garlic; cook and stir 30 seconds.  Add chopped chard; cover and cook 3-4 minutes or until chard begins to wilt.
4. Stir in pine nuts, raisins, salt and pepper.

It seems like most people don’t consider hops when they are looking for an interesting vine for their garden.  I am a new fan, now that we have been growing them in the front of our store.  We positioned four wine barrels in the corners of a square wrought iron pergola, and planted a hops plant in each barrel, along with morning glory and petunias.  It has created quite an attractive display, especially now that the purple morning glories are blooming and are intertwined with the green blooms of the hops.

Hops (Humulus lupulus) are an herbaceous perennial, which means it will die down each year, or you will cut it to the ground, but it will return in subsequent years.  Hops are  fast-growing, sun-loving vines, reaching 20-30 feet in a season, so it is perfect for covering a structure where you would like to create a shady, private alcove.   And as a bonus, the dried vines are very useful in creating interesting autumn displays – use them for wreaths, garlands and door swags.  

You don’t have to be a micro-brew aficionado to be a fan of hops, although we have lots of folks in the area doing just that.  With the increase in micro-brewing has come a real shortage of hops, and so the popularity of growing one’s own has taken root.  And with names like Cascade, Centennial, Chinook, Willamette, and Mt. Hood, you can tell this is a local crop!  Each one has different atttributes – if you are interested, Tony here at FG is our hop guru, and would be happy to share what he knows.

What a great spot to enjoy a glass of wine at the end of the day – or maybe more appropriately an icy beer.  (Clicking on these photos will give you a close-up view of how gorgeous they are!)