Hello again,
Well today I had an off day from Skillin's (back to work tomorrow) and what a gorgeous day it has been!
The day dawned cool but dry so I was able to get an early start on completing my outdoor painting project. I paint one side of the house per year which works pretty well for me. But the good news today is that I am done, done, done painting for the year. I peaked around to the next side and I can already see much scraping ahead for the late summer/fall of 2008 but we will pay that no mind for now. It is time to get back to the gardening chores and that is what I love.
First project was the weekly lawn mowing and I got that done. I need to tell you though it is dry out there and if we get no meaningful moisture in the coming week the growth in the lawn might be so slow that it will not be necessary or wise to mow next week. A dry lawn should not be mowed low; that will only accelerate any scorching.
I had quite a few leaves that had dropped on the lawn from some of my large maple trees in front of my house. Two things to note here:
1. I will grind up many of the fallen leaves with my lawn mower in the early going of autumn. Some ground leaves do provide some nice organice matter to the soil. But soon, the fallen leaves will be thick on the lawn. That is when I rake. I guess I am strange because I actually like to rake leaves. I do bag my leaves as the town will haul them off where they will be processed for compost somewhere. So raking and bagging leaves is good exercise and also a good environmental thing to do in most towns. Many people also rake them onto a tarp and haul their leaves into the woods and that too is a way of returning good organic matter to the earth.
You can add some leaves to your compost pile but in that scenario leaves add up quickly in volume but do not break down quickly; always add shredded leaves to the compost pile. They break down a little more quickly that way especially if you add some natural Compost Booster (sold right here at Skillin's). Either way you probably don't want to add too many leaves to the compost pile.
2. Large shade trees are an excellent investment here in Maine. The shade they provide your house in the summer gives a tremendous cooling benefit and over the course of time can save you thousands of dollars spent to cool your warm house. Also of course, these shade trees do a nice job of providing oxygen for us to breathe. Here at Skillin's we call these concepts "Planting for the Planet". Then in the winter once all those leaves have fallen there is a clear path for the rays of Mr. Sun to warm your house; you can spend much less on heating costs than if your house is trapped behind a big stand of evergreens for instance. This is called Smart Planting for the Planet. Let us help you out!
The second project was feeding my evergreens with Holly Tone by Espoma. We at Skillin's love Holly Tone--it is a wonderful organic based fertilizer that provides a good base of slow yield nutrients to the soil. Holly Tone is designed for evergreen trees and shrubs like rhodys, azaleas, mountain laurel and also blueberries and the wonderful Endless Summer Hydrangea and they all got a good feeding today.
Holly Tone also provides some nice organic matter to the soil that will encourage good fungi and bacteria development in the soil and that is a good thing! Some wonderful natural organisms like worms and microscopic nematodes feed on the fungi and bacteria and their existence provides soil aeration, a healthy carbon dioxide exchange with the air above and in the case of the earth worms some very nutritional castings that really make the soil rich for the long-term. Feeding your soil naturally is truly best for our planet and it is truly the best long haul practice for your garden plants.
My next stop was an inspection of some rose bushes I am growing. I have them in a protected southeastern spot that gets lots of sun during the summer and they have been good performers for the most part. Actually this has been their best year for me. I have fed them more this year and also tried to give them regular deep waterings slowly out of the garden hose. Today I side dressed them with some Rose Tone by Espoma--that is a close cousin of Holly Tone. For the reasons I just wrote about this will help the soil around the roses and should help the roses get off to a good start next Spring. I have side dressed them 3 or 4 times this season and also fed them every other week with Fish/Seaweed fertilizer by Neptune's Harvest. I know this seems like a lot and it is more attention than I have paid my roses before but darn it they are demanding! They need food and we have a very short season here in Maine; I wanted to naturally optimize the season and I have been pleased with the results. For several weeks in June and July and I guess well into August I regularly sprayed them with Serenade, an all natural fungicide and I was really pleased with the results.
Next on the list was disposing of my now tired Pickling Cucumber plant that produced so well for me in a large pot. Spring at Skillin's is very consuming and I did not get any vegetables planted in a garden during the Spring. So, in late June I grabbed some large pots and filled them with Coast of Maine Bar Harbor Blend (the BEST bagged soil I have ever seen--I recommend this for outdoor containers AND houseplants) and also a few handfuls of Plant Tone by Espoma that I put in layers throughout the Bar Harbor Blend.
I planted one pickling cucumber plant, two tomato plants and several combinations of different flowers. (More on the flowers later). I top dressed the soil a few times with the Plant Tone through the summer and also early on I watered once weekly with the Fish/Seaweed fertilizer by Neptune's Harvest. Hey, it was getting late and I had some catching up to do! Natural stimulation needed!
That pickling cuke did a great job with much encouragement and sun. As the summer drew into August every other day waterings were needed so I plunked more Plant Tone on the soil and did not use the liquid Fish/Seaweed anymore as so much water coming through would just leach out the liquid food. But the wonderful soil, much sun and the consistent feedings of Plant Tone did the trick. Many sweet tasting pickling cukes. I prefer the pickling cukes; you pick them small; they taste great; less seeds and juicy! But in the last week or so the plant petered out and the soil and the plant have found their way to the compost pile. Job well done!
As I noted above, folks it is dry out there. So, then it was time to get some water to the rose bushes. I like to do this by just getting the water running slowly out of the hose and placing the hose at the base of each bush. This allows the water to run slowly down into the roots of the plant and the slow running of the water makes runoff very unlikely. I keep the hose at each plant for even up to an hour if it is really dry and then the plant is okay for days and days. I think this type of watering really helps my roses, also my flowering hydrangeas.
Alert, alert! Trees, shrubs and perennials planted this year should not be allowed to dry out. As soon as you can give them a quality watering. These plants should get quality waterings once or twice a week from now until the ground freezes!
I do have an annual bed of flowers on which I will turn up the volume and let the water run over parts of the bed for a few minutes. I don't water my perennial beds often but it got so dry this summer they needed some water as they were wilting and I have soaker hoses set up for that.
That about finished today for me. I have more I want to do in the next few weeks. I need to turn my attention to my lawn. I recently wrote about Nature's Turf fertilizer a wonderful organic lawn food by North Country Organics; it is time to get some Nature's Turf down on my lawn. We recommend two to three feedings per year and my lawn is due.
Also our good friend Paul Tukey of People, Places and Plants magazine (http://www.ppplants.com/) and Safe Lawns.org recommends using Mira Cal by Jonathan Green as a great soil supplement instead of lime. The purpose of products like lime or Mira Cal is that they "sweeten" our soil; another way of raising the pH of the soil to a more neutral measurement of 7.0. Our soil will best and most efficiently use the nutrients we provide through our fertilizers with a neutral pH of 7.0 or just below, that is why lime and now Mira Cal is so often recommended. Plus our soils are often found deficient in calcium and other important minerals that Mira Cal and lime provides. Paul Tukey recommends Mira Cal because it works faster than lime and he believes that it is better designed for our lawns with less emphasis on magnesium. Paul feels that too much magnesium encourages weed growth more than lawn growth. So, I will try some of that Mira Cal. Check out more about Mira Cal at http://www.jonathangreen.com/.
It has been a productive gardening year and the soil around my flowering perennials and shrubs have been tapped pretty hard. After I deal with the lawn, it will be time to do good cutting back of many of my perennials. Then once some space is cleared I want to get a good feeding of either Plant Tone by Espoma or Pro Start by North Country Organics to the soil. Either are a great natural fertilizer that will really improve that soil around my flowering perennials and deciduous shrubs as this year draws to a close and the next year gets underway. A more healthy soil helps plants to better withstand summer drought and winter cold and Maine offers plenty of both!
That is not all folks! There will be more to do before winter hits and we will have much to discuss between now and then. So, I will be talking to you soon!
Please send me any questions or comments at info@skillins.com or click on comment just below!
Thanks,
Mike Skillin
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