Welcome to Mid-Summer’s Joys and Challenges!

The weather has been its classic up and down self.  We’ve had real heat and humidity, then bright and cool weather down from Canada – along with some smoke -and then rinse and repeat – a classic New England summer. 

Unfortunately, we’re still in drought and that’s putting a real strain on a lot of trees -especially the very young and the very old trees.  Any woody plants that are in-ground less than 5 years need an eye on them now and again to make sure that drought stress is not weakening them.  The same is true for the old or damaged trees that you might be caring for.  Remember that soil carbon sponge I mentioned in the last newsletter? Well, it’s real!!  It does take some time to develop the sponge but it REALLY makes a difference!  If you’re still curious and need some clarification – stop in and we’ll see what we can do to clear up the confusion J 

And - while you’re visiting, be sure to check out the new plants that are arriving!  We’ve got a whole summer veggie line up – cukes, zukes, peas, beans, lettuce and more veggies still to come that we are sowing and growing on at the store.  AND – we have a new delivery of summer perennials coming is as well.  These are the classics along with a few that most people don’t know.  There are also some “4 way” pots with 4 specific true native species perennials selected for late summer pollinator support.  You’ll find Rudbeckia laciniata, Phlox Jeanna, Pycnathemum muticum and Mondarda punctata all tucked in to one pot – ready for you to put the pot on your deck and enjoy it or break it apart into 4 very healthy plants ready to do their job.

Having started with the weather and the variety of plants, you might like to know that we manage the plants at the store carefully.  They get watered as needed (of course!!!) but they also get fertilized and dosed with a foliar application using either Micro 5000 or PZ 1000 as needed to keep their leaves at their healthiest.  If you’re curious about these foliar sprays – we have a workshop coming up that walks you through the hows and whys of foliar plant management:

August 8: Managing Gardens for Health and Production-Working with Foliar Sprays, 10:00-11:30 am Here’s where the rubber really hits the road – or should I say leaf??  Foliar sprays can kill insects and diseases directly, but they can also be used to prevent problems from developing and can directly increase the base line health of your plants.  If you’re planning on eating anything from your plants then you’ll also see an improvement in flavor.  limit 10 – and includes enough foliar support for you to spray a gallon when you get home. ($30/person includes leaf inoculants) 

Now on to a topic very close to my heart – weeds!!  Well – you knew it was going to be something off the wall! It’s that time of year when just a few days away from the garden can lead to a deluge of weeds…so I thought  A Different Perspective on Weeds might be in order. :)

Did you know that there is no word for weed in any native American language recorded?  The whole concept of weeds is both a very old European and a modern American construct…  Everyone has heard the old saw that “a weed is just a plant out of place”, which is true as far as it goes, but weeds are also diagnostic tools for major mineral imbalances and soil instability, food for a huge host of beneficial insects, carbon pumps for soil microbes and nutrient accumulators that can help to move minerals up to the surface.  You can look at a weed as nature’s first aid kit.  Weeds act as Band-Aids, splints, rehabilitators more reliable than any human therapist, although their patient is the planet itself…

Now – having said all of that – there are times, of course, when you do have to weed, but do take the time to really LOOK at what you’re pulling and perhaps try and figure out WHY you have it in the first place – and does it have any value independent of the human emotions involved…

Cases in point…the much-maligned dandelion and the even more maligned crabgrass.  As I type these words – I can almost hear some of you groaning…  “She’s defending THOSE plants???”  Absolutely, and let me tell you why.

A lot of people now know that the dandelion is a critical early season pollinator support plant.  Some know that the taproot pulls up minerals from deep in the soil and that the taproot also acts like a wedge to open up space in the soil for water and air to move – very useful for waking up compacted suburban soils!

I think crabgrass is the more interesting plant so I thought I’d go in to a bit of detail – feel free to gloss over this if it distresses you too much!  I’m not saying that I don’t pull it out when it’s in the way in a nicely managed garden, but have you ever really looked at the plant that you pull up???  You’ll see why you should…

So… let’s look at some crabgrass biology and see how it makes the world’s best Band-Aid….

*Crabrass grows horizontally–that means it shades/cools/ protects from ultraviolet light the ground in which it’s growing thereby keeping whatever soil biology that is there functioning. Ultraviolet light is a sterilizing agent – death to the top layer of the soil…

*Crabgrass is one of the few plants that can live in massively compacted soil with minimal resources to support it – think about the median strips of roads like I190 – crabgrass is growing in (and on) the Jersey barriers (as is ragweed, some goldenrods etc.). Look at the picture that accompanies this newsletter.  Those are baby crabgrasses doing what they do best – surviving and helping that horrible mangled soil to start surviving too!!!  Awesome!!!  Now, examine those lawn areas in your own world that will only grow crabgrass – any similarities??  These are the plants that can slowly turn dead zones back to living systems…

*Crabgrass is an annual grass – that means a couple of things…

• You get a chance every year to improve your soil so that crabgrass doesn’t grow

• The plant produces masses of seeds so if you want to reduce the crabgrass population in your yard, then you have to pull them BEFORE they flower (usually starting in late July – end of summer)

• The seed has a high oil content, and the birds LOVE it, more than niger and black oil sunflower seed and it’s fantastic for putting excellent body condition on our small seed eating birds as the season wraps down – watch who comes to visit the seed heads.

• All domestic herbivores LIKE crabgrass. It’s a high energy grass and, in fact, can be sown as an annual forage for all farm animals – who knew??

*Crabgrass preventer only works for part of the season.  How many of you have put on Halts or some other chemical when the forsythia blooms (just like the package says) and have found yourself dealing with crabgrass anyways by the end of the season?  So, this is where you (the gardener!) figure out what is making your lawn or garden more comfortable for the crabgrass and not for the plants you WANT to grow, and change the conditions to match the desirable plants.

*Crabgrass pulled before it flowers and composted makes an EXCELLENT compost, add any of the other weeds (before flowering), and you’ll really have a great compost.

*And speaking of soil biology, crabgrass is a C4 plant –that means that it has the capacity to pull more carbon out of the air through its version of photosynthesis (and that version of photosynthesis uses less water so crabgrass is very drought tolerant).  That means that crabgrass pumps much more carbon down into the soil as sugars and feeds the soil microbes.  The next time you pull up a healthy crabgrass plant, take the time to really look at the soil both around its roots and remaining from where you pulled it up.  Check out the soil structure that the plant developed. 

Ok, OK!!  – I can hear everyone – “Enough about the crabgrass!!!”  Still – you have to admit that it’s a more interesting plant than you originally thought - right??  :)

A couple more thoughts…

So many of you have new puppies!  Thanks for bringing them in to the store!  There are some really great dogs growing up around Gardner and surrounding towns.  We’re always happy to greet any dogs of course and there are some that we know well and they know us just as well - let the treats roll!!

And – we have mushroom kits!!  Including ones that can be “planted” outside to inoculate piles of wood chips for longer harvesting.  We actually have one “planted” out behind the greenhouse near the hugelkulture bed.  We’ve harvested two clusters of oyster mushrooms so far and are hoping for more as the rains (maybe!!!) come along and soak the wood chip.

There’s a lot going on - stop in and see for yourself!  See you when you visit :)