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Conquer and Divide: Why June is a gardener’s dream!

Everything we have been waiting for is here, IT’S JUNE!!!

Master Gardener Carrie Petty says, “June is a gardener’s dream. This is the time to try new garden plants, divide what you have to make more and learn from mistakes.”

There is the hard stuff like weeding, watering and fertilizing. But the fun stuff to like planting and harvesting veggies from early varieties planted in frosty months.

One of the tasks I love this time of years is working with summer bulbs and digging up post blooming Irises and dividing them to create more for next year. The Iris is not a bulb though, it is a Rhizomes. Crazy word, Rhizome. The National Garden Association says that,  “Rhizomes are stems that grow sideways rather than up, running along the surface of the soil or just below it. Plants that use rhizomes for food storage have fatter, more bulblike rhizomes, covered with a dry base of leaves. Rhizomes branch out, and each new portion develops roots and a shoot of its own. Familiar rhizomes include iris, lily-of-the-valley, and cannas!” Dig up the Iris, cut off any parts that look bad or soft. Then gently snap them apart where you can see a natural sectioning of one Iris to another. Make sure you cut the greens off about 2″ above the Rhizome. Replant with the Iris just below the surface. Water and firm in nicely. Perfect! Now you can expect more blooms for next season because you took the time to do this one easy task in the month of June.

But make sure you are not all work and no play, so get out there in the garden kids, but most important this June is to get together with friends and family and celebrate people! It is all part of helping you, “Grow a Beautiful Life!”

Biography:

Carrie Petty is a fourth-generation Hoosier! She is a lecturer, Master Gardener, as well as a top Garden and Lifestyle Blogger. An amateur naturalist, painter & photographer, Petty loves teaching families how to, “Grow a Beautiful Life.”NEWS: Now booking spring 2017 lectures, contact Carriepetty@comcast.net

Through her gardening & lifestyle blog: http://www.CarriePetty.com she can also be found on Twitter @Caroline_Garden

To learn more, visit www.CarriePetty.com.