Transition Katonah/Bedford: April 2012

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From: "Sprainbrook Nursery" <sprainbrooknews@yahoo.com>
Date: April 20, 2012 2:31:57 PM EDT
To: pepki@aol.com
Subject: Remember Earth Day

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448 Underhill Rd, Scarsdale, NY 10583 - (914)723-2382

Remember Earth Day

WHAT'S LOOKING GOOD AT SPRAINBROOK

To celebrate Earth Day I will be at Barnes and Noble book store on Central Avenue in Yonkers New York this Sunday from 6:00 -8:00 pm. I will be signing and promoting my book "12 Steps To Natural Gardening and answering gardening question. Being kind to our earth and promoting healthy living is something we all need to be conscious of.

Earth Day is an important time to reflect on and remember our obligation to the health of our planet. We often do not understand how or why we are causing damage to our soils and our environment and in the end to our own health and well being. I was taught the chemical approach in college, followed and believed in it but in time realized that this was a mistaken approach. My book describes my awakening, my understanding of and my transition to a Natural approach. I tested my newly formulated organic programs and was amazed at the results. Nature has set up a system for us to follow. When we destroy that system we are fighting against her. Each of us can make a difference and together we can create a change. Each of us can play a part from our own back yard.

It is time to plant and add seed to your lawns and your vegetable gardens. This weekend predictions are for rain on Sunday. As long as it is not a wash-out, seeding prior to rain is very helpful in germination. The key to germination success is keeping your seed moist. Saturday should be a good planting day. The Nursery is filled with beautiful plants. A great selection of perennials, nursery stock, vegetables and herbs are available. Our greenhouses fare filled with beautiful selection of annuals which we have been growing and propagating all winter long. We are three weeks, weather wise, ahead of schedule this year and because of global warming our hardiness zone has been changed to 6. This means in a normal season our frost free date would be May 1st. This is not a normal season; my eye phone does not list frost in the future so it seems pretty safe to plant just about everything.

Bulk Deliveries: We have set up a system for making bulk deliveries to you direct from a wholesaler. We will take and process your credit card and have the item delivered directly to you. The supplier will call you and set up a time to deliver. Delivery charge: 5 yard minimum $75.00 3-5 yards $100.00. Greater distance from sources such as New Rochelle, mid Yonkers $100.00 and for some areas even more.

Brown Mulch: double ground organic $39.50 yard
Sweet Peet: $69.50 yard
Top soil: $50.00 yard
Gravel: 3/4" stone. $59.50 yard.

APRIL CHORES

April is the month when the plant juices are flowing and growth and flowering take place. Cut back any dead stems down to the portion of the stem that is green, mineralize your soil,   feed your plants with Plant-tone for alkaline loving plants and Holly-tone for acid loving plants, and keep them well watered and properly mulched. Our soils need water at this point but the weather can change. Water is the most important ingredient in growing a good plant. Turn your outdoor water on early, make sure your outdoor sprinkling systems are on and pray for our traditional April showers not torrential downpours. Make sure everything is well mulched and if the rains don't come, make sure adequate water is there for your plants as they start maturing with their new spring growth. It is important to start early and get your yard in order. Clean up any debris lying around from the year before to avoid breeding disease. Perennials should be cut back by now, fed, mulched, new beds prepared, transplants completed and new plants purchased and planted. Evergreens, Deciduous Trees and Shrubs should be fed and mulched. Roses should have been pruned by now, fed, mulched, and beds totally cleaned of any of last year's fallen leaves and new beds prepared. Corn Gluten should be applied for Crabgrass and weed control.

PERENNIELS

Top dress with Fundy Blend (a Coast of Maine compost which adds important micro nutrients to the soil). And mulch to a depth of 2 inches. Cleanliness is essential in Perennial beds. All dead tissue must be removed and plants should be cut back or trimmed as necessary. The beds should be clean of any leaves. Fertilize with Plant- tone if you haven't done so in March. This will supply your plants steadily with food during their growing period. As soon as your perennials leaf out, spray with Messenger which is now called Employ. B Harpin protein is cutting edge gardening – boosting your plant's blooms and overall plant vigor and providing disease resistance. Before new growth takes place, divide existing plants that have become overgrown; or transplant some to a new location in the garden. Mulching has tremendous benefits but do not exceed 2 inches in depth as you will smother your plants. New beds should be prepared by digging deeply and mixing into the soil the ingredients recommended in "Preparation of the Planting Bed". This formula is the secret to developing a sustainable garden. Best of all, it's time to plant perennials. Select the right plant for the right location. We dedicate a great deal of space in our Catalogue giving cultural directions for all the plants we grow. There are many microclimates on your property. If you pick the right plant, it will thrive. Try our finder key on the web which will select plants for a certain exposure, such as shade. Ground cover can fill in bare areas, flowers can add color to an otherwise dull view and cut flowers can add color to the interior of your home. Check out our list of newly added perennials.   MINERAL ROCK DUST (Azomite):   50 pounds covers 10,000 square feet. Mineralize your soil every three years. Plants require more than fertilizer (NPK) and water for proper nutrition. Often plants are not able to produce healthy growth due to deficiency in key micro nutrients. The malourished soil leads to weakened plants. Weakened plants lead to insect and disease problems. Applying mineral rock dust mimics the actions of Mother Nature by replacing minerals once spread by glaciers, flooding and wind. Using mineral rock dust on your land is a sound organic practice beneficial to living soil. The results are astounding and speak for themselves. Optimal organic soil produces prime, healthy plants. This product provides the soil with a large variety of minerals which re-mineralize depleted soils, improve soil structure and catalyze soil biology.

Make sure your beds are clean of any leaves or dead tissue.   If you did not fertilize in March, make sure evergreens, deciduous trees and shrubs are fed with PLANT-TONE or HOLLY-TONE If you need to transplant, do it before new growth takes place.

Now that the ground is workable, it is an ideal time to purchase and plant nursery stock.   For new plants, check the watering twice a week and more frequently during the heat of summer. Make sure your evergreens are well mulched but do not bury them.    Flowering trees, fruit trees and shade trees should also be fed with Plant-Tone or Myco-spikes or Jobe's Organic Spikes. Using a crow bar to make a hole and adding an organic fertilizer into the hole can also be very beneficial.   Before new growth starts, transplant.   . For the installation of a new plant follow our Organic Approach to planting a tree. When planting, always make sure the soil level of the plant matches the soil level of the ground. Never plant too deeply but rather slightly high. Dig your hole three times the size of the ball and mix 1/3 peatmoss or 1/3 organic soil   and BIO-TONE STARTER PLUS into the soil mix. Make sure BIO-TONE STARTER PLUS is mixed into the soil so that beneficial microbes come in contact with the roots. Add Myke for additional Mychorrhizal fungi which are of special interest to us. They affect the root's ability to survive, reducing transplant shock and ensuring the plant's ability to acclimate. Fill the soil on the side, packing it tightly to prevent air pockets. Make sure soil is not packed above the existing root ball. Top dress with a 1/4" of your own compost or Penobscot Compost and apply Plant-Tone, an organic fertilizer to the surface. A two inch layer of mulch completes the planting. Water your plants well for the first five days and then soak your root system twice a week.    Make sure you always plant soil level to soil level; planting too deeply will cause the plant to die a slow death.

ROSES

Apply Rose-tone using 1 cup per bush. This is an organic fertilizer that addresses both soil health and plant nutrition. MINERAL ROCK DUST:   50 pounds covers 10,000 square feet. Mineralize your soil. Plants require more than fertilizer (NPK) and water for proper nutrition. Often plants are not able to produce healthy growth due to deficiency in key micronutrients. The soil is malnourished leading to weakened plants. Weakened plants lead to insect and disease problems. Paramagnetic rock use is gaining popularity for its positive influence on soil and plants. Spray roses with Foliar Ecolizer EM: Spray every 2 weeks for disease control. It can be mixed with Employ.      Roses should have been pruned by now and winter protection removed. Beds need to be totally cleaned of last year's leaves which will carry the spores for black spot. Those who used Employ last year reported heavier flowering and very little black spot. Buy and plant new Roses. All rose varieties we are carrying this year will be disease resistant types.   Spray Employ every three weeks as soon as your plants have leafed out. Knock Out Roses are gaining popularity as they are more disease resistant and survive with a half day of sun. If you give roses the proper location and proper bed preparation, they will reward you for many years.

LAWNS

Apply Corn Gluten as found in Jonathan Green Crabgrass Control. Apply this when Forsythias are in bloom.   Crabgrass is an annual which occurs in sunny locations and tends to take over. It usually occurs where you have had a crabgrass problem in the past.   If you need to do patching, seed over the barrier by using a Jonathan-Green product called "Lawn Repair Made Easy" or apply a 1/4" soil and seed above the barrier. Corn Gluten will support root growth. However if you need to do a major re-seeding project, do not apply this product as it will also prevent grass germination. Moss is an indication of acidic soil. Moss and weeds grow better at a low PH while grass grows better at a PH of 6.5 -7. Add Mag-I-Cal if your PH is too low.

PEST MANAGEMENT

Wooly adelgids continue to be prevalent on Hemlocks. Those who have been following a spray schedule have been successful. Dormant oils in spray form give the best control. As your Apple trees leaf, spray Sulfur as the organic control for Cedar Apple Rust and Apple Scab.   Keep a vigilant eye out for other potential problems and treat early with an organic control.

PLANT FEATURE

We grow our pansies in frames without any added heat. They are well hardened outside and will be able to go out into the garden early. We all long for spring, and the thought of planting early is intriguing. Here is a list of cold tolerant annuals. Download this list if you are interested in trying to beat the season with some early planting;

African Daisy 25F

Bidens 25F

Bachelor Buttons 20F

Dianthus 20F

Diascia 'Miracle Red' 0F

Dusty Miller 25F

Felicia variegated 25F

Phlox intensia 25F

Euryops 25F

Helichrysum 'Icicles' 0F

Nemesia 'Angelart' 20F

Pansies 20F

Primroses 10F

Salvia gargantica and leucantha 25F

Snapdragon 25F

Stocks 25F

Verbena 'Magalena' 20F

Vinca Vines 20F

A great combo for early window boxes - Pansies, African Daises, trailing Snapdragon, Diascia, Verbena, Nemesia for texture and color, Icicles for silver tones, Felicia for variegation and Vinca Vines for trailing.

MOST ASKED QUESTION

What can we do to help our damaged plants? Re-plant, prune, clean, balance and feed them; top dress with a compost and add a mulch that matches their dominance. If there are broken branches or dieback from the tip, cut back to where the stem is green. Keep the plant growing. Keep it well fed, add liquid compost to the soil, Daniels fertilizer in summer and keep it well watered. New leaves will grow and replace the damaged plant with new branching. Train these branches to take over the damaged portions.

BEST VALUE

We have kept the prices low while producing a superior plant. Our greenhouses are filled with plants that we have been working all winter to produce.
We also offer the best value on Quality, Selection and Information. Spend some time browsing our online Catalogue at Sprainbrook.com. It can be downloaded on a PDF file. You can browse the colored pictures. Each year we add more color to our site. We have put lots of effort into making this the best Garden Center site on the internet. Bookmark it as a favorite site. The information is invaluable. The Sprainbrook Nursery Catalogue contains years of experience and it is free as are our weekly emails.

TOUR OF THE NURSERY

We increase our perennial and annual selection every year. I have added many new and exciting plants. Our landscape designs are great because our selection is incredible. We are packing the plants into Sprainbrook by propagating and planting heavily each day. A customer once said "I never saw so many plants in one location". We carry the better varieties that over 60 years of experience has taught us to choose. We are spraying our plants every three weeks with Employ – they have been triggered to perform better for you. I suggest you keep the process going by also spraying every 3 weeks – you will see a tremendous difference in your garden. One ounce covers 1,000 square feet. The greenhouses are filled with plants and look beautiful; the Nursery is being filled with specimen plant material; and our garden supplies remain the best quality items you can buy at very competitive prices. We are proud of the quality we carry throughout the Nursery and of our ability to care for our plants so that their quality increases rather than decreases with time. We are proud that through our many years of experience we can choose the best tools for gardening. You may want to browse gardeningthings.com, our internet online buying site for garden supplies. It gives you an in-depth look at the products we carry and why we carry them.
Our Landscape Designers and our Crews are very experienced and can carry any project from conception to completion. We follow an organic approach when installing plants. This results in wonderful sustainable gardens. We fill our designs with color. The birds, the honey bees and the butterflies come back. The garden becomes a cheerful place where you will want to spend a lot of your time. Check out the sprainbrook.com site Landscape Department for interesting photos of completed projects.

DEER PROBLEMS

Deer are becoming an increasing problem. These are several suggestions for those living in deer country. Use deer repellents. Best control for deer is to affect two of their senses. We recommend that you use Deer Scram to repel them by smell and Deer Stopper to repel them by taste. Familiarize yourself with plants that deer do not like to eat. Refer to Sprainbrook.com for our helpful lists. Try to break their path by forming barriers to their grazing route.   Three rows of thin fishing line strung at different heights from tree to tree can act as a deterrent. If you can't take it anymore, think of putting up a fence. Fencing in your back yard and leaving your front yard open is a good solution. Plant an evergreen hedge on the inner side of your fence. Stick to deer resistant plants for the front yard while treating yourself to all of your favorites in the back yard.

MY LIST OF TOP 20 PERENNIALS

ACHILLEA 'Moonshine'

AGASTACHE 'Blue Fountain'

ALCHEMILLA 'Mollis'

ASTILBE

COREOPSIS verticillata 'Moonbeam'

CORYDALIS 'Lutea'

GAURA,

HEMEROCALLIS 'Stella d'Oro'

HOSTA sieboldiana 'Elegans'

LEUCANTHEMUM 'Becky'

MONARDA 'Raspberry Wine'

NEPETA fassinii 'Blue Wonder'

PAEONIA,

PEROVSKIA atriplicifolia, Platycodon,

RUDBECKIA fulgida 'Goldsturm'

SALVIA 'Ost Friesland'

SEDUM 'Autumn Joy'

SCABIOSA "columbaria"

VERONICA 'Sunny Border Blue',

PREPARATION OF A NEW PLANTING BED

Our formula for 'Preparation Of A Planting Bed' should be followed.   The formula transforms the worst possible soil to the best possible soil.   Per 100 square feet dig in and mix to a depth of one foot. This is the formula to build a sustainable garden.

Per 100 square feet dig and mix into the top one foot area:

1 bales of Peatmoss 3.8 cubic feet.
1 block of Coir
2 bags of Lobster Compost: 40lb bags.
2 bags of Penobscot mix: 40 lb bags.
2 bags of Cow Man
2 bags of Fafard Humus
1 lb Mineral Rock Dust
5 pounds of Lime
5 pounds of Bone Meal
8 pounds of Plant Tone (Espoma)
1 Myke 15 oz. Note for vegetable garden use 3 Lobster and 1 Penobscot

UPCOMING APPEARANCES BY AL KRAUTTER

SUNDAY APRIL 22 - EARTH DAY

6:00pm TO 8:00pm

BOOK SIGNING AND QUESTION & ANSWER PERIOD

Barnes & Noble

2614 Central Park Avenue, Yonkers, NY

http://store-locator.barnesandnoble.com/store/2889

(914) 771-6400

Alfred H. Krautter's New Book

12 STEPS TO NATURAL GARDENING

includes information on:

Composting, Lawns, Annuals, Perennials, Vegetables, Roses, Watering, Drought, Shrubs & Trees, Soil Formula, Indoor Gardening, Deer-Resistance, Pruning, Garden Calendar & much more

With extraordinary compassion for nature and a growing alarm at the direction and toll chemical gardening was taking on the soil and human health, this book was written to encourage the change from chemical to natural gardening. For over 50 years Al Krautter has worked in horticulture, having grown up in his family business and carried it long into his adult life. A graduate of Cornell University, and well schooled in the post-war approach to horticulture, Al made the switch to natural gardening and found his true relationship in "working with Nature, not against Nature." Regardless of your level of gardening or the size of your gardening project, here you will find invaluable advice and clear direction

"This book is an extension of Al's heart….he always impressed me with his common sense and breadth of knowledge."

—Jeff Frank (The Nature Lyceum)

"Al has perfected an organic approach based on time-honored horticultural principles coupled with new product availability. Adaptable to any growing region, this comprehensive guide combines practical advice with a personal philosophy of respect for nature that will have your garden flourishing—naturally—in no time."

—Aiken Tompkins (Tompkins Organic Gardens)

Available now at

www.gardeningthings.com

Visit Us On-Line At

www.sprainbrook.com

www.gardeningthings.com

www.facebook.com/sprainbrook

Links

The New York Botanical Garden offers over 850 classes in gardening, landscape design, horticulture and more. Browse the course offerings at www.nybg.org/AdultEd. New students receive 10% off their first class by using the code SS12PC. Please call 800.322.6924 to redeem discount.

Sprainbrook Nursery

448 Underhill Rd , Scarsdale , New York 10583

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