It's Raspberry Time! |
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 Filling with ripe, luscious raspberries, the fields at the
Salman Raspberry Ranch in La Cueva, NM are ready for picking. July 26 saw the first berries of the 2006 season. Our U-Pick-It Field should open Aug. 12.
 The Ranch Café opens August 5 with our traditional homemade chile, tamales, tacos, salsa, guacamole, salads and sandwiches served on homemade bread. A favorite is soft serve ice cream drizzled with raspberry topping and fresh raspberries.
 The Ranch Store
If you can’t make it to the store or field, call us for jars of raspberry jam, topping and vinegar. Or design a gift basket with any of our gourmet food items.
Call for field conditions, store and café hours: 1-866-281-1515 and visit our website:
www. salman
raspberryranch.com for more details. |
David Salman's Secrets to Waterwise Gardening
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Gardening News
For more information about soil, plants, garden history, botanical news, watering and much more.
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The Garden that Re-seeds Itself
By Cindy Bellinger
 I'm a lazy gardener. I love plants that re-seed themselves. Years ago, before I knew marigolds returned, I planted a bunch among my tomato plants. The following year all these tiny seedlings showed up. Marigolds on their own. Great! I didn't have to bother planting more.
When it comes to perennials, I try for the same effect and choose plants that self-sow. Before my recent gopher invasion, I had the best luck with
Yarrow and
Echinacea. It's not necessary to fuss over these; they do just fine on their own.
Not for Neat-nicks
 Not everyone likes plants that re-seed, though. A friend of mine prefers a tidy, organized garden so plants coming up on their own willy-nilly don't belong there. A re-seeded garden definitely carries a touch of wildness. It's a garden that stays close to the natural cycles, randomness and all.
David Salman, President of Santa Fe Greenhouses and High Country Gardens, says, "In general people who want plants that re-seed need to be prepared for a naturalistic style of gardening. It's fun to see where new plants show up and what plant combinations materialize. It’s a little wild."
Choosing Plants
 Nearly any perennial in the catalog listed as “seed propagated” can be encouraged to reseed in your garden, although some are far more willing to self sow than others. Be aware that some species can become garden thugs (marked with an *) because they can reseed so prolifically that they can become weedy and crowd other plants. However, this may be a virtue in very harsh conditions where previous efforts to establish other perennials have failed.
The following are good ones to plant if you want your perennials to re-seed readily.
Natural Cycles
Fall is an excellent time to plant seeds and plants of re-seeding perennial species.
 Many perennial seeds will germinate in the fall and their plants will bloom the following spring and summer. Some wild flowers such as the penstemon need moist, cold conditions to overcome the natural germination inhibitors present in their seeds. The cold breaks it down. "Fall is a good time to sow perennial seeds and
wildflower seed mixes," said Salman. "as some of those seeds need that winter dormancy to help them germinate the following spring."
When spring planting penstemon and others that need chilling (cold stratification), he says you can replicate winter cold by refrigerating seeds in a plastic zip-lock bag mixed with slightly damp sand or vermiculite for about six weeks prior to planting.
 Salman also suggests planting some seeds of your mix in a separate pot so you can recognize the seedlings that come up and be able to identify them in your garden. "You don't want to mistake them for weeds and accidentally pull them," he said.
Design
Several design considerations need to be noted when planning for re-seeding plants.
- Give re-seeding plants some room; let them spread. In time some thinning may be necessary as some may have a tendency to take over.
- Plant biennials two or more years in succession so you'll have several plants blooming while others are only in leaf. After a few years of reseeding themselves, you will always have some plants in bloom.
- When planting different species together, match their cultural requirements: needs for water, sun, and soil needs should be similar.
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For gardeners who like more casual landscapes, planning spaces for plants that re-seed themselves is ideal. Besides, it lets you feel like you're working right alongside nature, and there's nothing more natural than that.
Encourage Re-seeding
By Mary Ann Walz
 Plants in their natural setting always propagate in some way, often by reseeding. You can do the same thing with many perennials. If you want your perennials to re-seed, don’t deadhead them. Allow the seed heads to mature and turn brown. Once brown, they can be cut and set on the ground or the seeds shaken out.
Methods
There are several ways to encourage re-seeding:
- One is to use gravel mulch. The mature seeds fall into the gravel, making it difficult for birds or other creatures to find them. The gravel creates a moist environment which maintains a more constant temperature that is ideal for propagation. Perennials that are particularly fond of this method include most
Penstemon,
Aquilegia,
Hymenoxys,
Ratibida and
Agastache.
- If you're not fond of gravel mulch, you can top dress the perennial bed with compost or organic mulch. This helps with reseeding but it’s not quite as effective at hiding the seeds from birds and small animals.
- Another way is to leave the soil bare. Scratch it around the reseeding plants to create a seed bed. This way you're duplicating nature.
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Time
 Don't expect to see any baby plants the first growing season after you plant the parent perennials. You’ll often have to wait until the following spring or summer. Some seeds need a period of cold stratification (being outside during the winter) to help them germinate.
Suggestion
If you encourage perennials to re-seed, you’ll have lots of baby plants to start new beds or give to friends. But don't forget to keep some of the baby plants for yourself. Some mature plants are short lived such as Penstemon, Aquilegia, Coreopsis and Tanacetum niveum and need to be replaced. Volunteer seedlings are the answer.
Spring Flowering Bulb Combinations for Great Garden Designs
Following are our easy pre-planned bulb gardens that bring color to your garden before the perennials begin. All come with planting diagrams.
 Early Spring Flowers Bulb Garden will wake up your perennial flower beds by integrating them with this colorful, early-blooming bulb garden. The short, perennial bulb species multiply to form a carpet of harmonious colors, blending white, yellow, purple and blue. Add weeks of early-season color to your garden before your perennials begin to bloom.
Early Surprise Deer Resistant Garden is a delightful blend of white, soft yellow, violet and blue colors that easily multiply and make a more pleasing display with each passing year.
White Bouquet Bulb Garden brings a beautiful carpet of moonlight-white flowering bulbs into your perennial beds. These bulbs bloom early-to-mid-spring and are the perfect compliment with many of our pre-planned perennial gardens like the Cold Hardy Mediterranean or the August Afternoons Garden.
Mid-Spring Delight Deer Resistant Garden is a mid-spring blooming collection that creates a cheerful display. It contains three vigorous perennial bulb species that multiply and bloom reliably year after year.
Fragrant Spring Bulb Garden brings together a collection of sweetly-scented, mid-spring blooming perennial bulbs in shades of white, blue, yellow and orange. Plant this bulb group along walks and pathways to enjoy the sweet fragrance when you walk by.
Gardening Lingo -- terms for the horticulturist
Herbaceous: Types of plants that have soft tissues as opposed to woody stems. These plants also die back to the ground during cold months.
Hardy Annuals: Plants that complete their life cycle in one year, but are cold-hardy enough to take frost. They can be planted in fall in mild climates or earlier in spring while night temperatures are still frosty (such as Pansies).
Biennial: Plants that live for two years. The first year they grow only leaves; the second year they bloom, set seed and die.
Perennial: An herbaceous (soft stemmed) plant that lives for more than two years. Numerous species live for many years. Most perennials usually bloom for a limited time each year.
View all the Gardening Lingo from our Monthly Ezines
More Gardening Articles
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Fall is an excellent time to plant seeds and plants of re-seeding perennial species.
