KRAUTTER’S KORNER NEWSLETTER – DEC 2016
This will be the last weekend we are open for this year. Everything at the nursery is FIFTY PERCENT OFF. Stock up for your spring needs at these incredible bargains.
The Nursery is closed for the winter and will open, again in early March. Meanwhile we will provide you with Krautter’s Korner each month and an email weekly. We are now in the process of winterizing Krautter’s Year Round Organic Vegetable Garden. We will be testing it for the third year. It is an amazing structure and a great addition for any school system to invest into. It is a teaching laboratory on how to harness solar energy in upright supporting poles, on how to harness compost energy by circulating 1’ poly pipes to capture the heat and run them into raised beds to grow organic vegetables. Of how to capture thermal heat from the earth and how to set up a system of recirculation water to grow crops without using any additional water. This is the energy of the future that does not pollute our environment. This teaches us how to grow plants organically, sequester carbon from the air and show us a path to reverse global warming. Nature can teach us more than we can learn from books and we need to introduce this to our children at a young age. The link will also be posted on Naturalgardennews.com.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE VIDEO
Oscar will have access to the Nursery and will continue to work during December. Call him at 914-907-3352 for help. If you need bark mulch or other supply items call us we will probably be around or can meet you by appointment. Remember all supply items are fifty percent off.
December is a very unpredictable month filled with sunny warm days, freezing cold days, snow storms or heavy rains. The recent rains are much needed and hopefully will help replenish our low reservoirs. It is a Holiday month filled with lots of extra chores. There are things that need to get done before the winter sets in. Plan your time carefully. Once winter comes, your garden gets shut down. Make sure your plants receive proper winter protection. It is important that they are turgid (filled with moisture) going into a cold winter. Make sure the leaves are raked off your lawn or finely ground up by going over them 2-3 times with a lawn mower so that they can be incorporated back into the soil to add nutrients for the following year. If you have extra leaves, find a spot to compost them. Read the chapter on composting in my book ‘12 Steps To Natural Gardening’ page 79. Pruning should be done now to avoid snow breakage. If you need help to winterize your garden, call Oscar 914-907-3352.
Services they provide include: Wilt Prufing of broadleaf evergreens, winter fertilizing, mulching, pruning and deer proofing. If your leaves were removed with a blower, chances are that much of your mulch was blown away. It is important that plants go into the winter with a good 2 inch layer of mulch. Roots grow in the winter, so feed with an organic fertilizer before winter sets in. As food gets scarce, Deer venture out into a broader area in search of food. Use Deer repellents throughout the winter months. Examine your evergreens for potential snow breakage. Prune and tie plants that you think may become a problem. Don’t neglect your winter chores, it can be costly. Ask for help if you find yourself overwhelmed. Pruning your hedges is a must. Remember what happened to us in years past. Much of this could have been avoided through proper pruning. Oscar and his crew are probably the best pruning team you could find in the County. Oscar was taught by Sprainbrook and uses hand clippers not machines. Remember each cut is made through an educated decision. Read the chapter on pruning in my book ’12 Steps To Natural Gardening’, page 65.
SPRING FLOWERING BULBS
It’s imperative to get your bulbs planted now before the ground freezes solidly.
EVERGREENS, TREES AND SHRUBS
Evergreen, tree and shrub beds should be covered with a 2-inch layer of mulch. Remember organic mulches as they break down in time; add food to our food web. If you haven’t done so yet, feed with an organic fertilizer to benefit root development before winter sets in. All broadleaf evergreens should be sprayed with Wilt Pruf to reduce water loss from the plant. When the ground freezes solidly plants can’t absorb water and broadleaf evergreens continue to lose water; this causes winter injury. If broadleaf evergreens are located in a windy location, then both burlaping and Wilt Prufing would be advisable. If the ground remains unfrozen and there is not adequate rain, make sure plants receive water once a week. Plants need to be well watered to survive the winter.
ROSES
Roses need to be put to bed for the winter. In a warm fall wait until temperatures drop to allow stems to properly harden off. Remove all fallen leaves so that they will not contaminate the area next spring. Roses grown on their own root such as Landscape roses and Knock Out roses need only two inch mulch for winter protection. Roses that are grafted need to be hilled. The simplest method is to use bark mulch like pine bark mini chips and mound it over the crown of the plant. This protects the graft union of the shoots from severe cold and wind in the winter. In the spring the chips can be pulled away and used for additional mulching in the rose bed. Another method is to cover the crown with soil and cover the soil with hay. Tree roses should be brought to a protected location in their container and placed out of the wind in an unheated garage or a 16pxtool shed. Once a month they should be watered well. If this is not feasible, lay them down and bury them in the soil. Except for long branches which might break in the snow, roses should be pruned in the spring.
PERENNIALS
Perennials should be cut back or cut down for the winter. Leave your grasses and enjoy the plumes swaying in the wind during the winter months. Clean the beds of all weeds and debris add a thin layer of compost and mulch them with a two-inch layer. A light layer of Christmas tree branches will give additional protection to the top portion.
LAWNS
After your last rake up of leaves, apply the high calcium lime called Magi-cal. Lime is one of the most important ingredients in growing a good lawn. Your PH should be around seven. Most Westchester soils are acid. Weeds grow well in an acid soil, and grass grows well in an alkaline soil. Give your lawn the competitive advantage. If you neglected to apply Jonathan Green Humates, do it now, as it will greatly improve the root system. If bare areas persist in your lawn, try what we call dormant seeding. Just prior to the first big snow fall, spread a liberal amount of seed on the bare areas. Hopefully you bought extra seed and have it on hand. If not buy some at fifty percent off. What you don’t use now you can use in the spring. The alternate freezing and thawing and melting snow will work the seed into the ground and condition the seed so that it will germinate in the spring. This is particularly important in areas where leaves have been left on the perimeter of your property and smothered your grass; or where you have a heavy crabgrass problem. Make sure your grass is not too tall; mow it one last time to an inch and a half height.
VEGETABLE GARDENS
Add organic matter to the soil over the winter so that it will break down and enrich the soil for next spring. Enriched microbial activity will reduce disease problems next growing season. We recommend adding Cow Manure and our new soil mixture of 1/3 leaf mold (Black Gold as my father referred to it) and 2/3 of our diverse compost mixture. Top dressing the bed with these products will add additional nutrients to the soil and prevent erosion. Top it off with a thin layer of organic mulch.
PLANT FEATURES
Purify your indoor air by adding plants to your home. The key to purification is to buy organically grown plants for it is the microbes in the soil that ingest and get rid of the toxins. Feed your plants with Nature’s Source an organic fertilizer which has been yielding us incredible results. Buy your plants and supplies at fifty percent off.
MOST ASKED QUESTION
Is it too late to plant? As long as the ground is workable, it is not too late to plant. There are several precautions that should be taken with late planting. Beds should be covered with a 2-inch layer of mulch. Broadleaf evergreens should be sprayed with an anti-desiccant and as long as the ground is not frozen, the root ball should be watered.
Buy my book: “12 STEPS TO NATURAL GARDENING”. By now, hopefully, all of you have a copy of and have read it. If you liked it, consider giving it as a gift to your fellow gardening friends. It is important to me that we spread the word and help save our Earth by following an organic, sustainable green approach. We all need to be part of this effort. The book is available on Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble and The New York Botanical Gardens. I would appreciate adding a review to the Amazon location as it would help sell more books.
In the Nursery there are still lots of beautiful large shade trees left. This is the ideal time of the year to plant a shade tree. As the leaves fall, trees can be moved without any transplant shock. They are now selling at a give away price of sixty percent off on all trees. The plants left are thriving in our beautiful organic soil and looking for a home. I hope you will have a chance to take a look at them and consider buying one. Call Oscar 914-907-3352 who will come to your home for a free consultation. His crew will install them the organic way. Oscar was our landscape foreman for over 30 years and is now in business for himself.
I wrote this piece on Christmas decorating several years ago when we were still in the Christmas business. I thought it would be part of my book on organic gardening. It never did make it into my book so I would like to share it with you now. It will teach you how to use things from your garden and make your own Christmas decorations. This is what we did at Sprainbrook at this time of the year. They were secrets handed down from my Mother over the years. We filled our Nursery with beautiful centerpieces, wreaths, kissing balls and roping. We used natural products that came from the evergreens in our Nursery. Bringing nature into a home was our goal. We produced our own material that we made with our own hands. If you have the time to make your own decorations, you will enjoy them much more. People will marvel at your creative accomplishments. Click here to view this article and learn how to make your own Christmas decorations. CLICK HERE
