KRAUTTER’S KORNER NEWS LETTER – NOVEMBER 2016
KRAUTTER’S YEAR ROUND VEGEATABLE GARDEN
My big project was to produce a video of Krautter’s Year Round Organic Vegetable Garden. This project was built in the fall of 2014 and has now been tested for over 2 years. It has been an amazing project with many amazing facets to it. We have over 500 views so far but need much more if we are to make a national impact. It’s an important message that needs to go to the general public. We have been able to construct a structure that has captured compost, solar and thermal energy in a unique way that will not pollute our air. This video addresses global warming, growing and eating healthy organic food all year round and recycling water to grow vegetables. It is a great learning tool for any institution of learning providing hands on experience that will provide hundreds of valuable lessons. Curriculums can easily be built around this project to provide involvement, excitement, understanding and the opportunity to build on forward thinking concepts and experimentation to make it better. Once the youth of our nation grasps the understanding of following organic programs they will learn the many lessons Mother Nature can teach us. The organic way is the right way and we need to develop a mindset that solves problems by thinking this way.
For anyone who would like to learn more and dig deeper into this project I have posted a package on our website which includes my book, ’12 Steps To Natural Gardening, my Organic Garden Calendar to go along with the book, a 32 minute instructional video showing every step as it was built and a 19 step Instructional Booklet with a list of all the materials needed to construct it. From these detailed written descriptions and visuals anyone will be able to build this project or write grants to build it. There are detailed lists of the items to be purchased. Labor to build this can be expensive but we feel anyone handy can build it on their own. If it is a school project, the student body and the school staff can easily handle it. Involvement is the key to any successful program you build. Building it is an excellent learning process.
I am excited to get this out and into the media so any publicity you can give this project will be greatly appreciated. The answer is in our youth for they are our future. We are all in this together and together we can solve our climate and health problems.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE VIDEO
TIMING IS IMPORTANT
We have one more month of the year to plant and transplant. The fall colors are moving slowly south, and in early November, Westchester County is usually a blaze of color. Nowhere in the Country are the colors as intense as in the North East. The recent rains and strong winds has intensified leaf drop and shortened our season. This is the time of year to marvel at turning leaf colors and to add some plants with this trait to your garden. After fall color comes leaf drop, a process that has already started. November is a month when we must diligently pursue the clean-up of leaves before they damage our lawns, ground covers and other low growing plants.
Leaves are an important product for the organic gardener to recycle. If the leaf drop is not too heavy, you can recycle them back into the turf by cross cutting your lawn with several passes until the pieces are small enough to decompose. Leaves are also an essential carbon component to add to the compost pile. Try to shred them into smaller pieces for quicker composting. This can be done by running your lawn mower over a small pile. Add green material such as grass or other herbaceous plants to the leaves to accelerate decomposition. Remember 1/3 greens, 2/3 browns. Read my chapter on composting page 79 in “12 Steps To Natural Gardening”. Learn how to compost and produce a product that my father called black gold. Compost is the best thing you can do for your soil. Mother Nature rewards us with products to put back into the earth. Compost piles need to be turned at least once a month. Check out “Krautter’s Korner Year Round Organic Vegetable Garden’, composting is an integral component of this formula.
Most landscape gardeners will blow the leaves and in the process they will blow away most of your mulch. It is important to replace this mulch after the final clean- up and before the harsh winter weather sets in. Bare ground becomes worn out ground. Protect the life in your soil. Mulch prevents alternate freezing and thawing and conserves moisture in the ground. It helps prevent winter injury and erosion.
We have a chance at this time of the year, when top growth stops and root systems continue to grow, to build up the root systems of our plants. Nature’s Source fertilizer and Liquid Feedback are our recommendations for plants that have suffered stress. Plant-tone is our recommendation as a general fertilizer for everything that is bacterial dominated (alkaline) in the garden and Holly-tone for everything fungal dominated (acid). Roots continue to grow all winter even though top growth has stopped. It is important to feed your plants in order to develop a good deep root system. A plant is only as strong as the roots that support it.
November is the month when the first hard frost usually occurs. This is our signal that it is time to plant spring blooming bulbs. Daffodils should be planted first, usually going in the ground by the end of October or early November. Tulips and small bulbs can be planted somewhat later. This is a task you don’t want to neglect. After a long dreary winter there is nothing more uplifting than early spring bulbs coming into bloom. It is easy to run out of planting time. Winter can unexpectedly come early; so don’t procrastinate. Don’t be let down in the spring because you did not plant in the fall.
Now that the colder weather has arrived, plant Ornamental Cabbage and Kale to extend your season of color. This year I grew our cabbage and Kale in leafmold that was harvested from my leaf composting program over the last 50 years. The results are amazing and I consider it to be the best Cabbage and Kale I ever grew. Make sure you plant some in your garden and enjoy them well into winter. They will stay in color until Christmas and in mild winters well beyond.
EVERGREENS, TREES, SHRUBS
November is still a good month to plant. It is the best month for large trees and shrubs. Take advantage of our large tree specials. All trees that are left in the Nursery are sixty percent off. They are beautiful specimens and worth owning. Feed Evergreens, Trees and Shrubs with Plant-tone and Holly-tone. Cool weather and long nights have forced this group of plants into their dormant state. Although the top is dormant, the roots continue to grow and that is why it is important to feed late. The inner foliage of many evergreens will turn yellow and drop. This is a normal sequence of events. If excessive yellowing takes place, it is an indication that the plant was stressed at some time during the year. Some evergreens will turn a bronzy foliage color for the winter. Hot summers and dry periods can be very stressful on plants.
Don’t put your hose away. Continue watering throughout the month of November, as difficult a chore as this may be .I hope that everyone learned the lessons of harsh winters. When a brutal winter hits, many plants die or are severely winter burned. When you stop watering too early, plants lack the proper moisture in their cells. We have gone through a very dry fall and we need to put moisture back into the soil. So if the rains don’t come in abundance, stretch the hoses out and give your plants a good watering.
PERENNIALS
Most perennials need to be put to bed after the last heavy frost. Cut them down, clean up all the dead debris, compost the cut back plant parts and cover the bed with a 2-inch layer of mulch. Make sure you save the plants with winter color such as the grasses and late bloomers. Grasses can give you color all winter long and the late plumes should be cut back in the spring. Feed with Plant-tone to help develop a strong root system during the winter.
ANNUALS
Dead plant material should be removed to avoid contaminating the soil for the following year. Add all plant parts to the compost pile. Everything from nature should go back into nature. Plant bulbs for early spring color. Condition your soil with organic amendments for spring planting. Per 100 sq.ft. add 1 Lobster blend, 1 Penobscott blend, 1 Cow Manure and 5 lbs. Mineral Rock Dust. The key to successful organic gardening is to feed the soil with rich organic matter added to the top of the soil feeding the food web from the top down. Remember good soil is a living matter and we don’t want to disturb or destroy it but we want to enhance it. Nature has taught us these lessons and shown us the way to sustainability.
ROSES
As the rose leaves fall off, make sure you take them away as they are breeding grounds for insects and diseases. In late November or early December your roses need to be hilled. I usually like to do this by adding pine bark mulch to create my hills. In the spring I level it out as mulch. Feed with Rose-tone for added root growth.
LAWNS
Add Love Your Lawn-Love Your Soil, a Jonathan Green Humate product that stimulates soil microbes and creates a biologically healthy soil. Apply Gypsum. You can grow better turf by creating better soil. Applying this product will release trapped nutrients and loosens heavy, hard packed soils. Your lawn will become more alive and porous, allowing water, air and grass roots to enter the soil. We recommend that you add this product to your lawn now. This is an important step in our organic program for developing a better root system. After your last leaf rake-up apply Mag-I-Cal, a high calcium lime
Westchester soils are acidic. Grass grows better in a soil ph. of 7, weeds and clover grows better in an acidic soil. Clover, not grass, is what creates grass stains on your children’s clothing. Liming is the natural way to get rid of clover and to give grass a competitive advantage over weeds. Also, keep your grass free of leaves or recycle them back into your lawn, by finely chopping them up by running your lawn mower over the area several times.
VEGETABLE GARDENS
I recommend that you apply 2 cow manure and 2 lobster compost bags per 100 sq. feet into the top 2 inches of your bed once you have finished harvesting all of your crops. If you kept cultivating your area weekly prior to this application, this keeps germinating weeds from going to seed. This is a method used by many growers to reduce weeding for the following year. If you have a inexpensive source for wood chips add a 2 Inch layer to the top of this. You will be amazed at the fantastic crop of vegetables you will be able to grow. Wood chips rob nitrogen from your soil as the bacteria need nitrogen to multiply and they play a key role in the breakdown process. This is why organic nitrogen is important to incorporate with wood chip top dressings but once the wood chips are broken down you get their benefits back more than two fold. Many organic growers utilize this method to grow great nutritional vegetables. Top dressing increases microbial activity and will also help reduce fungus problems the following year.
HOUSE PLANTS
Grow fresh air in your home and in your work place by adding house plants. An alarming health problem is developing in our homes and in the work place. In our desire to conserve energy we have created tightly sealed buildings which trap toxic gases from synthetic materials and other sources in the air we breathe. The problem is referred to as “sick building syndrome”. Many people spend more than 90% of their time indoors. Long time exposure to these chemicals is causing major health problems. This is a growing health problem which can be solved by adding plants which will purify your air.
Don’t miss reading the chapter ‘Indoor Gardening’ page 257 in my book ‘12 Steps To Natural Gardening’. Flowering plants add color throughout your house, are great decorations for the holidays or centerpieces for special occasions. They are less expensive than cut flowers and last longer. Flowers add a smile to your day. Europeans have learned this and can’t live without flowering plants in their homes. With the stressful life we live, Americans also need to learn this simple lesson. Foliage plants add color to dull areas and we grow these plants in all sizes, shapes, textures and colors. Plants help purify the air. They provide added oxygen and moisture to the room. They remove toxins from your air and add humidity to a dry atmosphere.
Through tiny openings in the leaves called stomata, plants absorb carbon dioxide which they convert into oxygen. Along with this process they absorb chemicals in the air. These toxic chemicals can be utilized by the plant or translocated to the roots where, in an organic soil microbes will ingest them and break them down. Plants release psychochemical’s that suppress mold spores and bacteria found in the air. Growing fresh air is our challenge. House plants are the answer to healthier living. Many people will name their plants and will talk to them. This type of communication is beneficial to both.
Our plants are organically grown, and lots of the microbial activity takes place in our soil. The quality of our plants is incredible. We grew our plants with Nature’s Source organic fertilizer, a fertilizer you should use on all indoor plants.
PRUNING
Pruning is an important garden practice that needs to be done throughout the year. Now is an ideal time to prune hedges, evergreens and summer blooming plants. Once your plants go into their dormant state, pruning should take place. Use a Felco 2 hand bypass Pruner to preserve the natural look; and keep your gardener with his electric trimmers far away from your foundation plants. Pruning is an art you can learn. You learn by doing and knowing your plant material. Plants that have set their buds for next year require minimal pruning at this time of the year. Cut out only old growth, dead branches or runaway growth. Pruning should not be done on plants that have initiated flower buds for next year unless you are willing to sacrifice their bloom for one year. The purpose of pruning is to keep your foundation plants full and thick and at the height you desire. Pruning here and there needs to take place throughout the year. Prune to keep your hedges full and thick to the bottom. We see so many hedges that have been neglected. They are bare at the bottom and overgrown at the top. There are tree branches growing too low where they block views or where they provide too much shade for vegetation underneath. We see shrubs that have become overgrown and ruin a foundation planting. Small trees need to be topped and shaped as they are growing.
Oscar Flores, our former landscape foreman for over 30 years, can help you solve these problems through pruning. He is now on his own and his number is 914 907 3352. To become effective at pruning you need to know your plant, understand the importance of timing and know what your goals are. Each cut should be an educated cut. If you are doing it on your own, we can help you with any questions you may have. My chapter on pruning is on page 65 in my book ‘12 Steps To Natural Gardening’.
PLANT FEATURE
Ornamental Cabbage and Kale. After the Chrysanthemums fade away, there is not much color left in the garden. This is where Ornamental Cabbage and Kale are useful. I have seen them hold their color up to the first snowfall. They are best planted in large groupings mixing the colors or creating designs
MOST ASKED QUESTIONS
“Why are my evergreens turning yellow and dying?” On most evergreens, the inner foliage turns yellow in the fall. This foliage will drop and replenish itself
with new spring growth. If the plant has suffered stress, the problem is accentuated. Apply liquid Feedback for root development and Nature’s Source fertilizer to promote more root growth. Holly-tone should be applied to the rest of the area. Develop a good root system and the plant will flourish again next spring.
“What can I do to repel Deer?” Each year the Deer problem becomes more severe. The Deer population is exploding and the wooded area is diminishing as more houses are being built. I like Deer Stopper which is sprayed on the plants, contains Rosemary and Mint oil and affects the deer’s sense of taste. Deer Scram, acting on their sense of smell, seems to be the hottest Deer repellent on the market right now. It is safe, natural, biodegradable and organic and is a highly effective repellent. People keep coming back to buy more because it works. It is a granular formula that is simply spread around the plant area, making it very easy to apply. It is effective in up to 24 inches of snow. It will not harm humans or animals and costs less than two cents per square foot. A 6 lb. pail covers 3,000 sq. ft. I like to affect both taste and smell. We recommend alternating taste repellent sprays.
HOLIDAY GIFT SUGGESTION
My book ‘12 STEPS TO NATURAL GARDENING’. Try to include this one on your gift list. The main reason for writing my book is to make it easy for everyone to garden organically. Following an organic program is something we all have to learn to do. We need a quick reference book to show us the organic path to follow. The future of our world depends on it. Growing plants organically reduces global warming and growing them chemically increases global warming. We should consider this to be our greatest tool to combat global warming. Global warming is becoming an increasing threat. We all need to become advocates for following the Natural approach.
AFTER THANKSGIVING
We will be closed the day before Thanksgiving Day and will not open again until March 1, 2017. Oscar will continue to work out of our yard and will continue to plant trees throughout December. I will continue to send you my weekly emails tackling gardening subjects. My book can be purchased on Amazon. I will be able to sell and sign any book you purchase at the Nursery prior to our closing date. Winter time is a great time to read a gardening book and dream about spring. On page 331 of my book I have listed some of the great books that I have read that have influenced my thinking. On a cold winter day you will enjoy reading them in front of warm roaring fire.
