It's Time for FREQUENTLY ASKED Questions!!

There are so many people coming in to the store with all kinds of summer challenges to gardens, pets and livestock!  We thought it might be helpful to put together some of the questions and answers so that everyone can see what’s happening in the region…

First the house pets – in this case dogs:

A lot of dogs are having a hard time with the heat…stomach problems mostly, but also some general lethargy as the heat sucks the life out of older animals (ours included!! – he just doesn’t want to go for his morning walk…)

Q:  My dog has a wobbly stomach and isn’t interested in eating – has a touch of diarrhea – any suggestions?

Here’s our suggestion for wobbly stomachs (and, PLEASE, we are not vets!!  If you’re dog has a real health issue – take it to your vet!) … cut back on the food and add some pumpkin (or other squash) with a little broth mixed in.  We have Weruva’s pumpkin, but any pumpkin will do the trick.  The extra fiber helps to ease the stomach cramping and the broth helps with hydration.  You can also use something like the Woof Pupsicle to make cold treats that can entertain dogs for at least half an hour and cool them down at the same time.  Fill the mold with your dog’s favorite soft treat, freeze solid and you’re good to go!!  You can even use a basic ice tray if you don’t mind the mess as the treat melts – or the dog is sent outside to enjoy the treat!

Q: My chickens have stopped laying – or are otherwise acting lethargic.

First – make sure that there is plenty of air moving through doors, windows, fans, ceiling vents etc.  We’ve had a couple of people who only had the opening at ground level.  There must be air escaping from at least mid-way up the coop and preferably at the peak or soffit level.   Hot air rises – make sure it rises all the way out of the coop!!

Second – make sure the chickens are drinking their water – water can “turn” fast on these hot days and the water can become undrinkable or mildly toxic to drink if it starts to ferment.  Clean and rinse the waterers daily.  Also, think about adding frozen “wet” fruits like watermelon to their snacks and treats.  This gets cold and wet hydration going in to the birds.

And finally – make sure there’s enough protein in your layer feed. Read the tags and ask questions!  You need a minimum of a guaranteed 16% protein.  Anything less will send your birds out of lay.

Q:  My ____ (take your pick of almost any garden vegetable!!!) isn’t looking good, is diseased, has insects of some kind, has something wrong with it, just isn’t doing well…

Everyone wants a quick killer of whatever problem they’re having – and we do have all kinds of controls available from microbial, to classic organic to synthetic…but…the real problem is usually a mix of lack of nutritional support (fertilizer) and water challenges (we’re brutally dry both air and soil – with 5 major “heat” events so far this summer).  No one’s plants ever had a deficiency of any of the pest control products available, but all plants can easily be deficient in both water and nutrition!

We’re late in the season to put down a second granular application but – a few weeks ago – would have been the perfect time to put down either Pro-gro (from North Country Organics) or Tomato-tone (from Espoma).  Either will do the trick at that earlier point in the season.  For now, make sure you have your plants well-watered and then add a liquid fertilizer to the next day’s watering.  Look at Neptune’s Harvest’s Tomato/Veg, Canna’s Biocanna or Canna Terra, Foxfarm’s Grow Big and Tiger Bloom… Rachel and I experimented with the Canna products last year and found that the Canna Terra series in particular can really help to pick up weakened plants.  I’ve also used Tiger Bloom and the whole Neptune’s series with success. You get the point – there are options and we can walk you through them to help make the best decision for your garden! 

And then there are the chemical fixes…these are much easier to trouble shoot at the store…please bring in either the live plant or insect (in a zip lock bag!) or very clear pictures and we can help you trouble shoot what product will work best for your specific problem.  We do have Spinosad, Bt (several species), cold-pressed Neem, insecticidal soap, horticultural oils and much more!

It’s important to know WHAT you are trying to eliminate so that the right product is applied.  A mole and a vole sound similar in our ears but have NOTHING to do with each other and the elimination controls are COMPLETELY different!!  The insects have the same problems – and some of the insects brought in are NOT the problem!!  They’re the cure!!!  Like lady bug larvae that eat aphids (the larvae look REALLY scary – much worse than the aphids they’re eating!!).  On that last point – look up some of the Youtube shorts and watch for yourself – here’s one to check out https://www.youtube.com/shorts/pRsa6fg9wjk  - short and to the point!!!

Q:  The drought is really affecting many of my plants…I have lilacs that almost look dead, hydrangeas with burned edges.  Is there any hope? 

Short answer - yes, but it will take work now and in November.  I’ll cover the work for November when we get closer to those dates but for now, I’m going to go over how to get enough water into the core of the plant’s root system that you want to save.  How much of this you use is dependent on the size of the plant you want to save…I’m giving you the basic 5-gallon pail recipe but this can be expanded and diluted all the way up to 300 gallons/tree (which has been used on the library beeches on the Westminster Library lawn).  A lot of bigger trees may need a couple of 32-gallon trash cans worth – you get the drift…

Per 5-gallon pail of water:

2 cups of molasses or simple syrup

(equal amounts of white sugar and water melted together)

1/3 cup liquid humates

(the closest thing you’ll ever work with that’s a “magic” drench!)

And a good squirt of dish soap

(doesn’t matter what kind for this formula -does matter a lot for other formulas)

Mix this well.  You’ll know if you have enough soap if you put your arm in (won’t hurt you!) and the water slicks against your skin.  That’s what you want the soap to do – open up the soil system to allow the water, sugar and humate to get in to the plant’s root system.  By-the-way, the molasses and humates are CARBON – and that’s the energy that drives all systems (including your car and your own body!!).  This drench gets critical energy and water where it desperately needs to be – at the core of the plant.  Happy to tell you more if you’re interested

Two quick words – and then we’ll wrap this up!

Curiosity and experimentation…these are the background of any endeavor that you care about.  For me, plants, animals, gardens, ecosystems and where those interact with human communities is the place to be.  There is ALWAYS something new to learn!  We experiment all the time at the store and are happy to walk you through what we’re “playing” with right now.  Check out our veggie pots that are really producing well – and our new cucumber planting in the HK bed and the buffer we built around the tomatoes on the block wall.  Get curious yourself and try something new – like fall veggies instead of letting the garden drift.  We have a whole series to plant and more to sow (like spinach and kale and lettuce!).  The wicked heat is easing so there’s room for new thoughts -come and think with us!!!