Fall Guide to Herbs & Vegetables

Garden Supply Co.- Cary, NC

Now that the season has changed and cooler weather is arriving, it's time to think about harvesting the last of your summer vegetables, and start work on your fall and winter gardens. Here's a few of our top tips for getting the most out of your seasonal herb and vegetable gardens this month.

Planting

Extend the gardening season well into the winter by planting fall and winter vegetables now. Good candidates for winter harvest include lettuce, radish, spinach, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, pak choi, swiss chard, collards, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts.

Plant garlic now for harvest in late summer. It likes a sunny, well-drained spot. Set bulb tips 2 inches beneath the soil surface.

For the most successful winter gardening, we suggest using cold frames when planting. Cold frames are simple bottomless boxes with a removable glass or plastic lids that protect plants inside from excessively low temperatures, wind, snow, and rain. In doing so, it creates a micro-climate that is a zone and a half warmer than your garden. The result is a harvest of fresh vegetables all winter long.

Harvesting

Listen for frost warnings and be prepared to cover tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, and other tender vegetables. The weather often warms up again after the first frost, so this protection can prolong the harvest for weeks.

When there is a threat of frost, harvest your cucumbers, eggplant, okra, pepper, and summer squash before the vegetables become frost-damaged.

Bring in tomatoes for ripening when the daytime temperatures are consistently below 65 degrees F. Pick only those fruits that have begun to change color.

Harvest sweet potatoes before frost as well as gourds, pumpkins and winter squash. If you'd like to store pumpkins, be sure to pick only solid, mature pumpkins that are deep orange in color. Try not to injure the rind as decay-causing fungi attack through wounds. Dip them in a chlorine solution of 4 teaspoons bleach per gallon of water. Allow to dry, but do not rinse until ready to use. Cure them at room temperature for a week to harden the rind, then store in a cool place. They will keep for about two months.

When you can no longer protect your plants, pull them and add them to the compost heap.

Herbs

By now, most herbs have lost their best flavor. Discontinue drying for winter use at this time. Exceptions, however, are chives and parsley, which thrive now and taste better than ever in cool weather.

Chives, coriander (cilantro), dill, and parsley can be direct-sown in the fall in the milder areas of the Piedmont for harvest in the fall and winter months.

For more gardening tips, stop by the garden center and speak with one of our friendly experts. We're open 7 days a week to help with all your gardening needs!

Herbs & Vegetables

Cary, NC Spring has sprung down at Garden Supply Company. Throughout the garden center you'll find beautiful, fresh flowering perennials, annuals, shrubs and trees. And for all you herb and vegetables gardeners out there, we've got a huge selection of new plants just for you.

Herbs:

Catnip Chives- garlic Cilantro Curry Dill Fennel Lemon Balm Lemongrass Oregano Parsley- curled, & Italian Rosemary- prostrate, Tuscan blue, Logan's big blue, & hill hardy Rue Sage- Berggarten, & cooking Salad Burnett Spearmint Stevia Thyme- silver, golden-edged lemon

Also in stock are eversweet, everbearer strawberries, in both baskets and smaller pots.

Vegetables:

Arugula Beets Cabbage- solid blue, pak choi Chinese cabbage, early Jersey Wakefield, red, & early flat dutch Cauliflower Celery Endive French Sorrel Kale- red Russian Leeks Lettuce- new red fire, iceberg, red butterhead, buttercrunch Mustard Greens Scallions Spinach Swiss Chard

Now's a great time to start your herb and vegetable garden! Our experts are on hand seven days a week to help. Hope to see you soon.

Herb Fest

Hello everyone and happy Friday! It's time to kick off another wonderful weekend. We hope you can join us tomorrow, the 15th, in downtown Cary for the 1st Annual Friends of Page Walker Herbfest.  Festivities begin at 9 am and include cooking demonstrations, crafts, live music, and activities for the kiddos. We'll be there selling a huge selection of herbs at a great deal. Stop by and say hello!

We would also like to give a big thanks to everyone who stopped by our Wine & Design Trunk Show last evening!  A big thanks as well to NYFO Boutique, Lynne Ogburn Designs, Surcee, and Moon and Lola for sharing your gorgeous and unique fashions and jewelry designs.  We couldn't have done it without you all.

NYFO Boutique

NYFO Boutique

Surcee

Moon and Lola

Surcee

Our own Master Gardener Allison modeling fashions from NYFO

And lastly, our heartfelt thanks for all of you who registered last night for our "Gardeners for the Cure" team as part of the Susan G. Komen 2010 NC Triangle Race for the Cure.   Our gratitude to Surcee and NYFO for donating fabulous prizes yesterday for a special raffle drawing for our team registrants.  And take a look at our cute team logo. Perfect for us gardeners!

Even if you cannot be present at the race on June 12th, you can still join the team and receive all the bennies Deborah is offering, including a special team Tee shirt, an after-party, and a 12% discount card for all your Garden Supply purchases for the rest of the year. Here is the link again for our team. Together, we can help find a cure for breast cancer.

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope to see many of you at the Page Walker tomorrow for the Herbfest!

Fresh Herbs

Good afternoon everyone!  For those of you interested in herb gardening, we have received several wonderful shipments of plants this last week.  Just about any herb you may be familiar with, and perhaps a few varieties you  haven't heard of, have made their way to Garden Supply. 

And although our last frost of the season is scheduled for April 15th, you can get started on your gardens now with just a bit of tender care.  Come talk to our friendly experts.  They are always on hand to answer all your questions.

You are going to love our herb variety.  We've got 4 types of thyme: Silveredged, Archer's Gold, Golden Lemon, and English. 4 types of sage: Common, Tricolor, Berggarten, and Pineapple.  Hidecote and Goodwin Creek lavender.  Parsley, catnip, mint, orange mint, spearmint, chives, and cilantro.

And don't forget the rosemary, or the Italian and Greek oregano. So many choices to be found here!

Another newcomer to the garden center this past week which I find absolutely charming are these fun strawberry baskets.

These adorable baskets can sit on your patio or deck table as is.  The plants will bloom and berry right in the basket, giving you an instant, edible centerpiece.  When the plant is done for the season, you can transplant them to your yard where they will happily return next year.

Those are just a few of the arrivals this past week.  As always at this time of year, new plants are showing up daily.  Hope you'll stop by the garden center and check us out.

And for news from the Greenhouse, we still have a few Easter decor items in stock, although hurry in....these little beauties are hopping out of here.

Be sure to stop by our Facebook page.  Upload your favorite Garden Supply photos and enter a random drawing to win two free tickets to the upcoming Chapel Hill Garden Tour on April 17-18th.  Show us your favorite plants you've planted from our garden center, your kids potting up their new tomato plants, or a shopping trip using our totes.  We'd love to see!  All photos uploaded between now and April 15th are eligible for the prize drawing.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  We'll see you back here soon!