13 Tips Inspired by the Chicago Flower & Garden Show

Did you miss the Chicago Flower & Garden Show? You did? I’m sorry. I can help you with your loss by providing some of my favorite take-aways from the show. I can’t recreate the fragrance of hyacinths or beauty of a rose garden, but there is always more to learn about gardening. Let’s go there.

1. It’s time to plant lettuce outside. Start NOW as most lettuces will be bitter if harvested once the weather becomes hot. Mine is in my coal buckets, with my hyacinths. They are out of bunny-reach on the back porch.

Hyacinths and lettuce in coal bucket

2. Hankering to grow blueberries? Try Northcountry in a container so you provide the acidic soil and good drainage this winter hardy variety requires. It also has beautiful flowers and fall color. Though it is self-pollinating, it’s best to have more than one.

Tools clean in basket3. Sharpen and clean your tools. It’s easier for you to work with the tools and creates a nice clean cut for your plants. Beth Botts uses a diamond file to sharpen tools and Lysol to clean them.

4. Jack Barnwell and his staff succeed in maintaining 150 gardens on Mackinac Island without the advantage of motorized vehicles. If Jack says Proven Winner plants make their job easier, then I’m betting they can make my job easier. I too am in favor of strong plants that survive and thrive without a lot of deadheading and care. Proven Winners, here I come.

5. Attracting hummingbirds starts oh so soon. Use 1/4 to 1/3 cup sugar to 1 cup hot water and set your feeders out in mid-April. No red food dye. None.

6. Stacey Best, author of “Garden for the Health of It” says that gardening and worrying are both functions of the right side of the brain. They can’t coexist. It’s true for me – when I am in my garden, the stress of everyday life disappears.

7. August 8th is National sneak a zucchini into your neighbor’s porch day. I’m not making this up.
Burlap plant girdle from SeedKeepers.com

8. Short on winter storage space for your containers? Try a burlap girdle from Seed Keepers. Slip the cuffed and stitched burlap over the grow bag and you have an attractive, lightweight, alternative to heavy, hard-to-store pots.

9. Hellebores (Lenten rose) have come a long way, baby. I’ve avoided these early blooming perennials because the flowers faced down. Tony from Chalet Nursery tells us they now come in an incredible variety of colors and forms. One of the few truly evergreen perennials.

10. Miniature roses do well in 5 gallon pots. At the end of the season, bury the plant. You can also bring the whole pot into your garage, and water it about every 3 weeks over the winter.

11. Consider a fern for your container. Kimberly Queen is an annual that takes full sun and is drought tolerant.

12. Shawna Coronado told us about Freecycle. I found a free 48″ round resin picnic table in my area. Did I mention free? Items at Freecycle are free. Yes, free.

13. You can grow a salad a day in a 2’ x 4’ hydroponic garden. Contact Shawn Odneal of Root66 in Brookfield to learn how.

Yes, Chicago weather will become hot. Perhaps not today. Perhaps not tomorrow. But the Chicago Flower & Garden Show was a pleasant reminder that spring, and even summer, WILL come to our gardens.

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