Happy 4th of July from Behnke’s

From Stephanie

As we wake up to another 4th of July, I hope that you are able to take some extra time to walk through your garden or a park somewhere. Maybe you’re going home to Mom’s or Grandma’s? Take a peak at what is going on in their garden. Just driving down the road to where you’re going you will also be able to see beautiful plants. The lush lawns with a splash of color between evergreens. Do you see the hot pink petunias? What about the the Purple Coneflowers in full bloom everywhere?

Do you have a spectacular perennial grass that is so full and beautiful this year? For me, I love the backdrop of our Smoke Tree with my Shasta Daisy waving in the wind. Better yet but not seen here are the butterflies that seem to have popped up everywhere.

So as we celebrate the 4th of July and head out to family time with great food and fireworks (please be careful and leave the fireworks to the professionals) I wish you much joy in what we have that surrounds us. Our freedom and our love of gardening.

Don’t forget to save the date for July 21st. See you at the auction!

Behnke Nurseries, VP

What Was That?

Last week I shared this picture of two old strainers I found at the nursery. The question was, what did we use them for? Only one person got close and he was still wrong. We used to grow Belgian Giant tomato plants in the ground so we could harvest the tomatoes and collect the seed, in order to grow next year’s seedlings which we sold to our customers.

We harvested a lot of tomatoes because it was a popular strain and they didn’t produce very many seeds per tomato. To improve germination, we let the tomatoes rot, which removes some chemical seed inhibitors in tomato seeds. We then strained the disgusting mess with these strainers to get the few seeds for the following season. Nasty, smelly business that was! We were like tomato prospectors, panning for tomato seeds! Thanks to everyone that sent in their guesses!

July Gardening To Do List

Here is a simple printable check list of what you should be taking care of in your garden this month.

July To-Do List

Stephanie Fleming

Stephanie Fleming was raised at Behnke’s Nurseries in Beltsville. Her Mom, Sonja, was one of Albert & Rose Behnke’s four children. She was weeding from the moment she could walk and hiding as soon as she was old enough to run, so many weeds, so little time. Although she quickly learned how to pull out a perennial and get taken off of weed pulling duty.