Believe it or not, you can still plant some cold weather vegetables at this time of the year. Plants in the cabbage family like cold weather.
Consider putting in kale, hardy lettuce and spinach.
While cauliflower, broccoli and Brussels sprouts like the cold, there isn’t enough time for them to produce the veggies that you love.
Now is also the time to plant your garlic crop for next year. It also likes the cold and will be ready to sprout and grow in the spring.
The Wild Ginger plant that is native to our area is not related at all to the plant that produces the roots we use in cooking. In fact, wild ginger is toxic.
John Clayton of early Williamsburg named the plant “Ginger” because the variety he found has a similar smell to culinary ginger. Worldwide, there are about 1,600 varieties.
This woodland plant has attractive foliage and makes a great ground cover and landscaping plant for shady and semi-shady areas.
Many essential oils can be extracted from the plant with quite a few different scents such as ginger (obviously), pine and rose. Some are used as insecticides.
Please do not ingest this plant in any form! It may taste and smell nice, but it has the potential to cause permanent kidney damage.
Enjoy it in your garden – not in your stomach.
Now is the time of year when the black walnut trees in our area start dropping their nuts on the ground. Don’t let them go to waste.
Let the nuts fall to the ground on their own. Crack the yellow-green outer husk using a hammer and remove the walnut inside. (Green husks mean the nut isn't quite ripe yet.) Let them dry for several days where the squirrels won't steal them.
Wear gloves and an apron whenever you handle the nuts in the husk or they will stain your hands, clothes, shoes and skin. I found that when you hit the green husk with a hammer, juice will fly everywhere so be careful. The juice that comes out of the husk is used to create the stain that is used by furniture companies. It is permanent.
Don't use the husks in your compost. They contain a compound that prevents some plants from growing – something called the allelopathic effect.
Crack them like the English walnuts you buy in the store.
I think they are tastier than the English walnuts, or maybe it’s just that the nuts are fresher. Either way, enjoy them.
This isn’t just a passing fad. This is a big deal!
You may have seed articles about turning your lawn into a clover field or allowing “weeds” to take over your yard. This has a significant effect on your local ecology.
People plant grass and mow the lawn. The ground under the grass becomes clogged with thatch. Grass needs fertilizer and extra care to keep it looking nice.
When a farmer plants crops, they rotate the crops every couple of years to keep from depleting the soil and skewing the chemistry. Keeping a grass lawn does exactly what the farmer is trying to prevent.
When you plant a variety of clover and native plants, you have a lot of different species with different needs. Clover is a ‘nitrogen-affixing’ plant which means that it enhances the soil.
Plus, these plants shouldn’t be mowed. Let them grow and the extra height and greenery will make your yard much more drought-resistant. You’ll get more pollinators and feed more native creatures.
Think about it!
So you may have been reading all of our articles and checking out our website with their lovely landscape designs but did you ever wonder about us?
We are small company. There are three of us in the office and we have a crew of three guys. In addition we have our Mason and his crew and that's it.
We also have a group of people we use to subcontract certain jobs such as plumbing and electric. We know them all and they know us. They are like our extended family.
Because we're so small it means that we all have to wear many hats as the saying goes. We all have to know how to do bits of a LOT of different jobs.
That means when you first meet us and talk about your project and your vision we are more than capable of giving you suggestions and ideas and what's good and what's not good. We've done it all before.
Since we are small we are also very invested in our local community. We donate where we can and support community projects. We have donated a good bit of time and materials to Cohome in Morristown. This is a charity that helps handicap people learn to live in society. We donate to some of the local PTA organizations and have participated in Morristown's "grow it green" program.
We've won awards many years in a row with our designs and are execution.
Not only that, all of us in the office are women.
Pamela Dabah, the company founder has worked in some form of landscaping most of her life. If you read her bio on the website you'll know that she went from University to living in a teepee on an Indian reservation to working in New York City designing parks for the city.
She understands how everything goes together she can design a concrete wall, and outdoor kitchen, a hidden garden or lavish landscaping. She knows when our equipment needs to be maintained and she knows all the good places to buy materials to get the most out of a clients budget.
Shannon has worked as a landscape designer for well over 10 years. Her specialty is her eye for new plant varieties, how to take care of them and how they look best in your yard. She likes to wander through the local nurseries in her spare time searching for what would best fit in a project.
Sue the office manager is a hobby gardener with a long career in information technology. When she first started she had to teach the crew how to backup a truck and trailer. She understands vague ideas and is able to break them down into component parts and convert them into estimates. If you need to research something she is the one to go to as she can find darn near anything on the internet or other resources. She maintains the website and finds more efficient ways to run the business.
It may look innocuous or even pretty but the Japanese Knotweed is invading our landscape. Most people aren’t even aware of how noxious it can be until it’s too late. According to Wikipedia it is listed by the World Conservation Union as one of the world's worst invasive species. It was brought into the USA as an ornamental shrub and for erosion control.
This shrub looks a bit like bamboo and can grow up to 15’ tall but it often appears as a much smaller plant. It has large oval leaves 3-5.5” long and clusters of small cream-colored flowers. It is in bloom now in mid-September and you’ll often see it growing along the side of the road and in fields and the edge of the woods.
If you’ve ever had it in your yard and tried to get rid of it, you will know about its “secret weapon.’ This plant spreads by underground runners. BUT … these aren’t your typical underground runners. The roots grow quickly and they can grow almost 10’ down with a horizontal spread up to 65’. The plant itself can grow up to 8” per day.
it steals water and nutrients from other plants in the area and quickly kills or weakens other plants it encounters. Even though it was introduced to control erosion, it actually causes erosion by crowding out any low-growing plants and leaving bare ground near its base. It can also affect wildlife by eliminating native food plants and changing native habitat.
You can try to dig it out, but leaving even a ¼” piece of root will allow it to reappear. The recommended treatment is to apply a glyphosate weed killer such as Roundup. Even this can take up to 5 years of reapplications to completely eliminate the plants. If you choose to use a different type of herbicide, be sure to verify it will be effective against this particular plant. Some herbicides only put the roots into a dormant state and don’t actually kill them. The best time to spray is when the plant is in bloom and its circulation system is most active.
Do not mow it as some small pieces may actually take root elsewhere. Any parts of the plant that you cut down need to be bagged and put in the garbage. It can also be burned if that is allowed in your area, but be sure that every bit of the plant has been incinerated.
For those who prefer not to use chemicals, it will be a long process to eliminate these shrubs. Cut the plants to the ground and dig out the rhizomes. Be sure to bag all plant matter and dispose of it in your normal trash. Leaving even a ¼” piece of root will allow it to regrow. This plant can grow in literally any conditions and is tolerant to salt.
If you find this in your yard, try to get rid of it before it’s a huge problem and if you see it growing wild, report it to your local Parks Department or read the USDA brochure on controlling this scourge!!
https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs142p2_017951.pdf
It may seem early but now is the perfect time to prepare your garden for the coming winter.
They’re predicting a tough winter ahead (but then they always do) and your plants need to prepare and gather their strength.
They should have already been given fertilizer so please don’t feed them now. Fertilizer at this time of the year will encourage foliage growth when the plants need to fortify their foundation.
Be sure they are well-watered. The 4” or so of rain that we had a week of two ago isn’t enough to get them by. Keep on watering.
Trim any dead foliage and deadhead the flowers – unless you want them to go to seed.
Mulch the plants to help hold in the moisture. When you mulch, you should never pile it around the stem higher than it grows naturally from the ground. Keep the mulch back a couple inches to avoid too much moisture.
There also needs to be space between the ground and the underside of the foliage to provide air circulation or you’ll have issues with mold and fungus.
The last thing is to plant new perennials so they can get established before winter. Don’t wait too long!
Things are winding down garden-wise. A lot of your vegetable production is slowing down. After the heat and drought of this summer, things are looking a bit ragged despite the recent downpours.
At least the fall flowers are starting to blossom. We have something to be happy about. Asters take center stage. There are lots of wild asters along with any you’ve planted in your garden. Place them with the Chrysanthemums that you see in every garden center and grocery store for a beautiful array of seasonal color.
The Autumn Joy Sedum are starting to bloom. You’ll be able to watch them transition from the newly opened green flowers through the dark burgundy colors of cooler weather.
Vitex trees are in full bloom and about mid-way through their season with lilac-like clusters of flowers that let us hang on to summer just a bit longer.
Black-eyed Susans are also making their appearance – at least until the deer find them and have a tasty snack.
Get ready – cooler days are coming.
