Emerald City Gardens

Fall is just over a week away...for so many people, their favorite time of year. Yeah, heartless people who don't pander posies for a living! :b Oh well, you're forgiven - especially if you're smart enough to know what a great season this is for planting stuff. Here's what's going on at the store right now -

• We've still got a nice selection of perennials, shrubs and even a few trees for sun or shade, wet or dry.
• House plants have been very, very good to us. We're going on a major buying expedition tomorrow; you keep buying 'em and we're trying to keep up!
• We just got in a shipment of shiny new pots for indoors and out, with more expected later this week.
• Remaining annuals are 70% off, including the coleus collection...they won't take nights below 50 F but they're awesome houseplants given a sunny window and if you keep the ratty little flowers pinched off.
• COVER CROPS have arrived! Crimson clover should be planted between now and late October while there's still some warmth in the soil but our 3-way (clover+rye and vetch) and 5-way (clover+rye, vetch, buckwheat* and Austrian peas) blends can be planted even later if your veggie patch is still producing useful things into November or even December. These "green manures" add humus content when you till them under in the spring and help fix nitrogen, reducing the need for fertilizer next year.
• GARLIC AND SHALLOT SETS are on their way, sez the grower. We'll have red and white Dutch shallots and six varieties of garlic - three hardneck, three softneck - all organic, of course!
• FLOWER BULBS!...yeah...wish they'd arrived two weeks ago. *grumble, grumble* They should ship this week but I'll be surprised if they get here before Monday the 22nd. The good news is, if you can wait that long, we'll have a small but dazzling collection of our favorite tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, crocus, alliums and more. Some very cool species tulips in this shipment, the smaller "rock garden" types that are truly perennial and don't peter out after a few years like their hybrid offspring. In mid to late October, we'll get in our first paperwhite narcissus bulbs, and amaryllis, so there's more to look forward to!

Don't put away your garden gloves just yet. You've still got some work to do.

* - hmm, I'd always been told buckwheat prefers warmer soil temps, too, but what do I know?