Autumn
once again…...time to refresh and renew
The
season has cycled around to fall once again. Time just continues
to zoom by. Mother Nature has been rather brutal this summer.
Temperatures soaring to 99° and above has literally cooked
some plants. Others just said “ok I won’t die,
but I sure as *#% won’t bloom”. The sun/heat loving
plants said “ohhh, bring it on”. This season taught
some gardeners that you can’t get by with putting shade
loving annuals in the hot sun. As always gardening is a learning
experience. We may not always end up with the results we thought
we would, but we gained knowledge for the future.
Remember: it’s all good!. Even what we ourselves would
deem not a successful garden or pot. Gardening can be challenging,
and sometimes mystifying. But always worthwhile and enjoyable
if you want it to be.
Pansies
& Violas
LOVE THE COLD!
And
here we are again, we have come to autumn and the opportunity
to have a beautiful fall garden. Pansies and Violas are on
the top of the cool/cold loving list of plants. They love
the cooler temperatures, and can even go through the winter
giving you a few blooms off and on during the warm ups of
winter. Not all pansies will do this, but our Sub Zero ones
will. The S & G Company offers a guarantee that they will
survive the winter. Save your receipt and the tag..the information
is on the tag for your guarantee. They will refund you up
to $15.00 if they do not survive the winter.
When you are looking at our beautiful array of colors on the
pansies...remember ….that the fall crop is limited and
if you see a certain variety you like, get it right on the
spot, we may not be able to reorder and get more of them.
Fall Decorating & Fun
It’s time to have fun! This is the time of year that
you can relax without the stress that other holidays/seasons
bring. Let your self go, mums, straw bales, corn stalks, gourds,
and the other fun decorating things for fall will brighten
the mood, and give you that break you need from too much stress!
Pots filled with pansies, ornamental kale/cabbage, ornamental
peppers, marigolds, ornamental maize, sunflowers, dusty miller,
millet, dianthus, snapdragons and cyclamen will turn your
outdoor living spaces into magically enjoyable getaway spots!
Try to spend as much time as possible outside this fall. Winter
will be coming and we will be inside for a long time!
Beginning in August Heartland Nursery
transforms into a autumn spectacular. With over 80 varieties
of mums, asters, ornamental peppers, dianthus, ornamental
cabbage & kale, pansies and violas the greenhouse again
overflows with wonderful plants for you to select from. Maybe
it’s just me but I have a different ‘feeling’
planting for the fall garden and containers. It is a more
relaxed time (probably because my springtime is filled with
stress) and it doesn’t seem as difficult or demanding.
Time in the garden is different, the days shorten and if you
notice even the ‘light’ is somewhat different.
Don’t neglect a little fall clean up in the garden as
well. Cut back perennials that have finished blooming, clean
out and throw away plants from containers that look bad. Empty
the soil from the pots into beds if you can. It is best to
start each spring with fresh soil. Move unused pots into the
garage or basement. Leaving them out in the weather shortens
their life span. The big pots you can not move in should be
emptied of soil. The freezing and thawing of soil is what
will crack and break a pot. If you purchased the Crescent
brand plastic pots from us they can be left out full of soil
no problem. The large ones we have out in the front of the
building stay out all winter! We even stick small fresh cut
Christmas trees into them and they make wonderful Winter containers.
Throw in a few greens around the base and a few pine cones
and you’re set. You will be amazed at the ‘lift’
you get during the cold winter months when you have a winter
pot out there even if it only has some greens in them.
FALL
LAWN CARE
This
summer has taken a toll on lawns. With all the rains we had
lawn fungus ran wild. Then we had baking hot sun. All in all
lawns should have some TLC this fall.
Overseeding and Full Lawn Renovation:
Fall overseeding and full lawn seeding should be done in August/very
early September. Waiting will usually mean that the grass
will not take hold and grow. Quality seed is a must, and buyers
need to beware of the ‘bargain’ seed. Sometimes
it is actually what is swept up off the floor at the packaging
facilities. We have knowledgeable staff to help you select
the right seed for your area when you come in, and information
sheets available for you on the information rack.
Fall Lawn Soil Conditioning:
Apply Earth Right Super Stuff before you
begin your fall fertilizing. Earth Right does a lot of great
things to the lawn. Not only does it “soften”
it up by breaking up the clay, it also conditions it so that
it will enable the grass to utilize the nutrients in the fertilizer.
It doesn’t do much good to apply fertilizer if the soil
becomes “locked” and the fertilizer just stays
in a sort of limbo in the soil. Use Earth Right Super
Stuff each spring and each fall.
Another good product for your lawn & gardens and often
overlooked or forgotten is Natural Guard Lawn &
Garden Soil Activator. It is a product containing
Humate. Humate is an organic material found in different parts
of the world. It improves the quality of the soil, unlocking
soil nutrients, improves soil structure, and promotes decomposition
of thatch in your lawn. It looks like soil and is applied
easily with your spreader. Be sure to wear some old shorts
and shoes, because it sends out a black dust. When I applied
mine I was wearing shorts and my legs were totally coated.
It rinsed off easily with the hose but it was a shock to look
down and see the mess on my legs. It is not a fertilizer but
helps the fertilizer you add work better! Remember the healthier
your soil is the better lawn or gardens you will have.
Saving
plants over the winter…..be careful when bring
your favorite plants into the house for winter. They probably
need to be repotted..so do it outside where you won’t
make such a mess. Use the Heartland Growing Mix for all your
repotting, remember you save 10% on it when you use your purple
Shopper Card. They also need to have a little preparation
before you wind up bringing in a bunch of bugs! All plants
coming indoors should be sprayed with Insecticidal Soap
at least once. They should also be sprayed with the home made
solution of 1 tablespoon Palmolive Original Green dishsoap,
with 1 tablespoon white vinegar to 1 pint of water. Spray
on and do not rinse off. To prevent insect attacks for 8 weeks
at a time use Bonide® Systemic Housepland Insect Control
in the soil. Prevention is the key...so much easier to prevent
than control once you have the problem. Pick only the plants
you know will be happy in the house..you only have so much
space in your house and unhappy plants are messy!
Bayer
Season Long Weed Control for Lawns
This product will change the way you deal with broadleaf weeds
in your lawn. Up until now we have had to wait until they
germinated and were actively growing in the lawns and then
we had choices of a granular product used with a spreader,
a liquid used in the jar with the garden hose, a pump up sprayer,
or the RTU products that make life so much easier.
Bayer Season Long Weed Control for Lawns kills current broadleaf
weeds, and PREVENTS new broadleaf weeds for up to 6 months!
A pre emergent for broadleaf weeds! And 3 of our worst broadleaf
weeds germinate and grow in the fall and winter. Dandelions,
chickweed, and henbit are such horrible weeds to have in the
lawn so this product will revolutionize lawn care. Just think
of the time and money you will save by not having to go out
and spot spray off and on all summer long for dandelions.
I have sprayed this month and will spray again in spring.
Each 32 oz bottle covers 5,000 square feet.
Bayer
12 Month Tree & Shrub
PROTECT & FEED
Now! Is the time to prevent heart ache and woe next spring
and summer of insect attack and possible tree or shrub death
due to borers, thrips, scale and aphids.
I almost lost a very old Lilac this year due to borers. So
I have already used, and will yearly apply this product to
that Lilac.
If you have honeysuckle, it’s almost a 100% bet you
will get aphids next spring….but not if you apply this
product this fall. If you have Euonymus and you have not had
a problem with scale before, it’s only a matter of time.
Scale is no fun trying to get rid of it. Fertilizes as it
protects for a full year!
Bayer 12 Month Tree & Shrub
PROTECT & FEED
Now! Is the time to prevent heart ache and
woe next spring and summer of insect attack and possible tree
or shrub death due to borers, thrips, scale and aphids.
I almost lost a very old Lilac this year due to borers. So
I have already used, and will yearly apply this product to
that Lilac.
If you have honeysuckle, it’s almost a 100% bet you
will get aphids next spring….but not if you apply this
product this fall. If you have Euonymus and you have not had
a problem with scale before, it’s only a matter of time.
Scale is no fun trying to get rid of it. Fertilizes as it
protects for a full year!
Easy to use...mix in your watering can or bucket and pour
around the base of the plant...1 year of protection!
random
thoughts…...
This season brought many strange happenings.
Sudden death of trees and shrubs being one of them. I lost
a Holly in about 4 days. I still do not know what happened
unless all the moisture this year finally caught up with it.
There were no borer holes..but I did have an attack of borers
on a Lilac. I have applied Bayer 12 Month Tree &
Shrub Protect & Feed.
The time to feed perennials and roses is gone. They are starting
to prepare for fall, so new vigorous growth is not wanted
at this time. You can go ahead and start cleaning up the garden.
Cut back all the perennials that look bad or have finished
blooming. Remember that you will NOT mulch them over until
the ground FREEZES (which is usually December).
Nutsedge has been growing abundantly this season. If you still
have it now, it might be better to get rid of it in the spring
when it first emerges. It is harder to eradicate if it has
been growing longer than 6 weeks.
Sedgehammer is the best product to use. It
takes 2-3 weeks for it to completely work and kill the nutsedge.
People often think its not working because they forget they
need to be patient.
Planting trees, shrubs and perennials in the fall will give
you a full season head start. Roots continue to grow all winter
long. For best success, plant as early in the fall as possible.
Mix in Heartland’s Best Compost w/humate,
and water in with Mushroom Stuff root stimulator.
If you did not do a grub application this summer it’s
not too late to prevent grub damage for next year. Use
Bayer® Advanced Grub Killer. It is effective
for 24 hours, and that’s all that’s need to kill
the grubs that are there munching away on your roots. Grubs
can do a lot of expensive damage to your lawn, and preventing
that is important in your lawn care program.
Rosie says check us out on Facebook. She’s in charge
of that. It seems that everyone has a Facebook page.
Be on the lookout in November for the next mailer. Info about
Cliff’s Christmas Bough Basket class (Dec 4th &
5th) will be in it. Sign up early...they fill up quickly.
Also info about the next point redemption that will be
December 13th thru December 24th. Remember if you don’t
use your points then you will lose them.
If you need questions answered this fall, please come in and
see us at the info counter, and we will be glad to help you
with all your questions. I look forward to seeing you all
once again! Until then..
I bid you peace…………………..Sherry
