Daily Inspiration: Hops!

The hops are in their full glory right now! 

I have a garden space out at my parents country home where I grow my corn, potatoes, vine crops and onions. The fence surrounding it is COVERED in hops. 

Dad will be able to brew up quite a few pints with the hop crop this year (that is, unless mom and I get to them first--wouldn't they look gorgeous in a fall wreath?)!

~Laura

Daily Inspiration

I really do need to find a place for a Caryopteris in my garden! Of course, I usually want one of everything that we unload off of the delivery trucks, but sometimes I wonder how I have made it so many years missing something this pretty! The promise of cooler temperatures for this next week is giving me a little more oomph to do a few new projects outside: plant a few things for late summer/fall color, freshen up a few pots and windowboxes, stake up my tall grasses and Joe Pye weed, spray for spider mites & powdery mildew, and maybe I will even edge the lawn! I hope that you are beginning to feel re-inspired to get back out in the garden again! 

Daily Inspiration: Siberian Blues!

I love the 'Siberian Blues' Dianthus! I have a small drift of them in the full sun along one of my pathways. They bloom almost nonstop and require little care. As an excited gardener, I just seem to end up with quite a few 'special care' plants, but I definitely can't handle a whole yard full of them which makes me appreciate these Dianthus all the more! Get some for your garden!!!

~Laura

Daily Inspiration: Fall Wreaths!

It's wreath-making time down here at Andrews! We have had fun gathering up all our wreath-making goodies over the past couple weeks from obliging ditches, fields, roadsides, and our own gardens (i.e. we scrounge around looking for dead and/or dying things that others would pass over. We even have a few friends and customers call us when they have a particularly pretty crop of grass seed heads, tree pods, or pine cones). We like to amp them up even more with a few feathers, moss, burlap, and some spray paint!

We have several wreaths already made up in the store, you can custom order one, or we can show you how to make you own! 

If you would like to make your own, please call ahead so we can be sure to be ready for you (541-889-9109)! Remember to bring your gloves, hand clippers, paddle wire, and a wreath form (supplies are also available for purchase in the store)! You can also bring along any cuttings from your own garden that you think would be pretty in a wreath! We LOVE new ideas!

~Laura

Compost Update!

We are now at day 25 and it looks as though the traditional compost (right) is catching up with the worm compost! We are going to plant these pumpkin starts out into a raised bed which we will amend with our composts later on this week. It's been a fun project! 

~Laura

Garlic

I can't believe it's garlic time already! We harvested garlic about a month ago, let it dry down, cleaned it, and now it's in the store ready to go! Time flies when you are having fun!

Daily Inspiration

A few pre-work day shots from my garden...

Don't forget to drop by the Malheur County Fair and see us at our booth in the red barn sometime this week! Have a great day!
~Laura

Daily Inspiration

'El Desperado' Daylily

I could take so many pictures of beautiful blooms in the nursery right now, 

but this one is really lighting it up today!

Compost Update!

Here is what our pumpkins are looking like 14 days after planting! 

(Worm compost on the left, traditional on the right)

Daily Inspiration

Bees love echinacea, and so do we! 

I have actually back-planted some of my earlier-blooming, tall perennials (like my delphiniums) with echinacea so that when I cut back the early bloomers, the echinacea can be seen and fill the otherwise colorless void! They are tough and beautiful!

Daily Inspiration

Miscanthus 'Caberet'

This grass amazes me. It is a zone 6 (we are a solid zone 5), and it comes back year after year and gets HUGE- reaching over 6' (it's only supposed to get 5')! It must love the spot it's in. I give it a 16-16-16 fertilizer a few times per season along with everything else, other than that it gets no special treatment. Because it gets so big, I usually have to fashion some sort of staking system around it to keep it from falling over late in the season. It is such a full grass, though, that you usually can't see the stakes. 

I wish I had such great luck with everything else I planted!

~Laura

Daily Inspiration

I love walking around in the garden first thing in the morning, coffee in hand, to enjoy the beautiful summer flowers before it gets super hot out! These are a couple I thought were especially pretty this morning...

'Astolat' Delphinium

'David' Phlox

Today I am going to replant some tired pots, replace a boxwood in a new hedge that went in earlier this spring, gather cattails and ditch daisies for indoor arrangements, and plant a 'Sugar n' Spice' Arborvitae to hide electrical/sprinkler gadgetry in the side yard (the very first variety of arb that I actually like)!

~Laura

Daily Inspiration

I have a love-hate relationship with cyclamen. They were one of those houseplants (along with begonias) that I had to learn through trial and error how best to take care of them. Cyclamen can be tricky, but once you find a spot they like, they will perform with abandon! I have found that they like to be moved to the sunniest spot possible in the winter months, and moved to a bright spot, but without direct sun, when it heats up. They don't like a lot of water, and prefer to be watered from underneath when they do get dry. After you get those details figured out, they are a wonderful and colorful houseplant! You should give one a try! 

Planter's Palette!

I just finished my planter's palette project! This one was super easy and fun! 

I used two 4x4 pieces of wood (we have pallet lids hanging around), a jigsaw, wood stain & sealer, 5 plastic pots (the kind with a lip), a couple tools to represent paintbrushes, plants & soil, and small dabs of whatever color paint you can find for the center! I was going to stick with one color per pot, but I was having too much fun and got carried away!

~Laura

Daily Inspiration

Cabbage has such a cool texture. I love to tuck it into my flower beds for almost instant, bold texture. The key to keeping your cabbage really nice looking is to begin bug prevention really early in the season, before there is even a problem. I usually sprinkle an insecticide around the base of the plant every couple weeks (Corey's Insect Killer or Diatomaceous Earth).  

We will be planting our cabbage for fall harvest in about 2-3 weeks (depending on weather)! 

Daily Inspiration

The hydrangeas are gorgeous right now...GORGEOUS! Give them some shade and a little acidic fertilizer and they are happy campers! This is a 'Limelight' Hydrangea. 

This one grows 6-8' tall and wide. I would love to have a hedge full of blooms like this!

Daily Inspiration

We love succulent planters! 

You get the best of both worlds with these--a great outdoor planter in the warm months and an easy-care indoor planter in the cold months! You can also really play with texture and color with succulents (there are literally thousands of choices)!

Daily Inspiration

Summer blooms at their finest...

Update!

We have FINALLY updated our Compost Chronicles! (Well, at least we can't ever be blamed for doing things in too much of a hurry! :)

Click the link above to see what we are doing!

What's Next in the Garden!

It's been an age since the last post, and for that we apologize! Spring and the beginning of summer (before all of this insufferable heat) are incredible busy (thank you, thank you, THANK YOU)! While spring and the mild part of the summer are some of the best days of the year, we always look forward to times like this, when we can sit down for a few seconds and try to plan out what's next!

We have been hard at it planning for our Pumpkin Palooza! which happens this October (Saturday, October 19th, to be exact). We are looking so forward to it, and hope that lots of you will be able to come out for it! This event will be full of fun food and activities, but it is first and foremost, a fundraiser for the Oregon Food Bank. We are raising funds by holding several different pumpkin growing, baking, and carving/decorating contests. I can't wait to see what everyone has come up with! If you haven't yet, start planning out what contest you want to enter!

Okay, now for what's actually going on in the garden. At the moment, many of us are in 'maintain' mode. When the temps are above 100 degrees, our main goal at the nursery and at home is to keep everything healthy and alive. Water, water, water! We are refreshing pots and little areas in our flower beds as they need it, but what we are really excited about is starting our next round of veggies! In no time at all, we will need to be back out in our gardens with our seed packets and garden hoes, seeding our fall crops! I began to compile the list of fall crops I want to grow this morning--so exciting!

Here is a refresher of the things you can be growing in your own fall garden: 

Beans, Beets, Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts,

Bunching Onions, Cabbage, Carrots,

Cilantro, Kale, Kohlrabi, Lettuce (& other greens),

Peas, Radishes, Spinach, & Turnips

We always wait until the heat isn't quite as intense, so sometimes we don't seed until mid to late August (especially peas, radishes, & greens, unless you have a semi-shady area). 

And remember, the crops with the longest days to maturity should be planted the earliest to avoid the first frost damaging your crop!

Save the Date!

Our May seminar is right around the corner! We are excited for this one! You will not only learn the key design elements of container design, you will also get to dig in and get your hands dirty creating your own! You can bring your own pot(s), or you can choose one from our selection! Remember to bring your gloves!!! We will have potting soil on hand, lots of beautiful and unique plants, and we will be able to help you as much as you need! 

Another Date to Save!

We are trying to let you all know as much about our events as early as possible! We know that everyone's lives are busy, so be sure to get this date penciled in!

Save the Date!

We are definitely ready for spring around here! Be sure to put this date in your calendar!