Archive for April, 2010
How To Make Healthy Compost
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010
A compost pile is home to a living, growing community of organisms. Experts agree that home composting of organic kitchen and garden waste represents the lowest financial and environmental cost method of diverting bio-wastes from landfills.
Factors that contribute to the success of the composting process:
1. Temperature
Bacteria in a compost pile create heat as they work and grow. The best temperature for speedy composting is about 140* at the center. To maintain good temperatures, an ideal compost pile should be at least 3′x3′x3′. You can start a small pile and build as you go.
Check the center of your pile – is it hot?2. Oxygen
Aerobic, “oxygen-loving” organisms work quickly and without odors. If a compost pile does not have enough air, anaerobic organisms will take over and odors will develop. Encourage aerobic decomposition by turning the pile whenever you add materials.
Odor? Turn pile to add oxygen3. Moisture
All organisms, including those in a compost pile, need water for growth. A dry compost pile will decompose slowly. If it is too wet, the oxygen supply will be limited and anaerobic decomposition could occur.
Do the “Squeeze Test” – composting materials should be about as moist as a wrung-out sponge.4. Food
The creatures that do the work of decomposition view our waste as their food. Microscopic organisms need a mixture of carbon and nitrogen to grow & reproduce.
Generally: “green” materials are high in nitrogen (decompose rapidly), “brown” woody materials are high in carbon (break down slowly).
When Is Compost Finished?
Finished compost is a brown, crumbly, earthy-smelling, soil-like material. It takes between six months and one year for a pile to yield a finished product, depending on how much attention it is given. You should not be able to recognize the waste materials that went into the pile. Screen before using for finer compost & put un-decomposed materials back into the pile to break down further. Once the compost process is complete, you can work it directly into your garden improving the soil structure & soil biology. Sprinkling it on the lawn will keep it green & reduce the water needs of your grass.
The Benefits Of Compost:
- increases the organic matter in soil and helps build sound root structure
- balances the pH of the soil
- makes nutrients in soil more readily available to plants
- attracts earthworms, considered the “earth’s greatest recyclers”
- makes clay soils airy so that they can drain better
- improves the ability of sandy soils to hold moisture and resist erosion
- raises the vitamin and mineral content of food grown in a compost-rich garden
- reduces reliance on petroleum-based fertilizers
Compost recycling does indeed start in your own garden!
planting for the future.
-By Maggie Oldfield Thayer Nursery
Why Should I Start My Lawn on a 4 Step Program?
Sunday, April 18th, 2010
The key to creating a weed free lawn is having healthy soil. Healthy soil creates a healthy plant and a healthy plant resists weeds. Having poor gardening practices create an opportunity for weeds to become established. For example, lawns that are weed infested are usually thin with not enough grass plants per square foot and which are not very well fed. Cutting the lawn too short also allows weed seeds to germinate. If you feed the lawn properly, sow grass seed to thicken it up, cut the plants high enough to shade out the soil, your lawn will naturally resist weeds all by itself with only a little help from you.
But if you have been battling crabgrass in previous years, spring is the time to control it. A pre-emergent should be applied on lawns between March 15th and April 30th. Crabgrass starts to germinate when the soil temperature reaches about 55 degrees. A good indicator of when to apply the preventer is when the forsythia is in bloom.
Corn gluten is an all natural product, a by-product of corn milling that researches discovered that when applied to soils, it stopped the newly-emerged root from orienting & establishing itself. So, the seed tries to grow but can’t.
Spread corn gluten evenly, at a rate of twenty pounds per 1,000 square feet of lawn. Water it lightly into the soil in order to activate it. The corn gluten should remain effective for five to six weeks each time you apply it. A second application should be done in the fall.
On a lawn, it could take up to 4 years or so to get control of weeds. Remember that it doesn’t kill existing weeds; it only stops the new ones, so you have to remove the established weeds. Think of it as an incremental type of control – year one it will control a few – year two there will be fewer survivors and by year 4 or 5, you should have good control.
The only possible downsides to corn gluten is if it rains a lot in the first two weeks after application, it will be dissolved and it will be less effective. It also will stop grass seed from germinating so you can not seed and apply corn gluten at the same time.
We recommend using Organica Lawn Booster. Not only does it contain corn gluten for crabgrass control but it is a great spring fertilizer. It is slow release for continuous greening that feeds both the soil and the grass plant. It helps the grass plants absorb nutrients as well as strengthens your grass so it withstands foot traffic.
planting for the future.
-By Maggie Oldfield Thayer Nursery
Come hear Guest Speaker Bruce McCue April 17th!
Tuesday, April 13th, 2010
Join Us this Saturday April 17th at 11AM
The term native refers to plants growing in North America before European settlement and includes trees, shrubs, perennials, ferns & grasses. Natives are the most sustainable choice for the home gardener. By their very nature, native plants have adapted to the climate of the area, making them naturally hardy. Beautiful, interesting and varied, they evoke a sense of place and are essential for creating garden habitat for wildlife. Wildlife has evolved using them for food, cover and shelter.
Landscaping with native plants may require gathering more information so join us for a discussion with Bruce McCue. Bruce has owned & operated McCue Gardens in Connecticut for 43 years this spring. He took four years of horticultural school in two years and taught classes on perennials at college. He was the founder of the growing system for German Iris in containers, which is now in use nationwide. He has also created a system for propagating yellow lady slippers that takes six years off the bloom time. He started by just growing a few items in the beginning to now growing and propagating 1,500 different varieties.
Proper selection, care and placement of natives produce a landscape that is both visually attractive and beneficial to wildlife. Plant conservation is key and it begins right in the home landscape with native plants.
Thayer Nursery
270 Hillside St
Milton, MA 02186
This Spring’s Most Un-Wanted: Winter Moth
Tuesday, April 6th, 2010
Wanted For: defoliating & weakening trees ultimately causing death after several years
Description: young are 1” green inchworms with white stripes on sides; adult males are grayish brown with 1″ wingspans and appear hairy; females have no wings
Hangout: ornamental trees (crabapples, cherries & birch), fruit and shade trees (oaks & maples)
Kryptonite: Horticultural Oil, Bt, Spinosad
Research from UMass Amherst is indicating that Winter Moth is expected to be in very large numbers this spring and the potential for defoliation this year might surpass last year. Begin peeling the buds open and start inspecting for the presence of tiny larvae, which wriggle into swelling buds to feed.
Horticultural oil spray should be applied now when temperatures are above 45°f. Hort oil is an organic control that works by suffocation. Eggs that are protectively hidden within crevices and under lichen will not be covered by the spray thus will not be killed.
Winter moth eggs hatch anytime between late March and early April. This is the time when the most damage occurs. There is great potential of injury when the buds stay swollen but unopened. Winter moths will enter both leaf and flower buds.
Once the buds open, the caterpillars are known as “free-feeders” given that they are now on the foliage and free to move easily from one area to another. Winter moth will be in this stage until late May or early June. While still on the plant, however, they are exposed and very treatable with Bt or Spinosad.
Bacillus thuringiensis, Bt, is a bacterium which must be ingested to be effective. Bt produces proteins that paralyze the digestive system of the winter moth. The infected insect stops feeding within hours thus starving to death in a couple of days. Bt works best on the younger stages of caterpillars; older ones are much less affected.
Spinosad is another organic control that is derived from a naturally occurring soil bacterium that was collected from soil in an abandoned rum distillery in the Caribbean by a scientist on vacation. Spinosad kills damaging insects by causing rapid excitation of the nervous system. Spinosad is fast acting – the insect dies within 1 to 2 days after ingesting. It works well as both a contact spray as well as by ingestion. Spinosad products work well on caterpillars of all ages.
The winter moth will then be out of sight until adults emerge in late November or early December when they are seen fluttering in your headlights or by your back door light.
-By Maggie Oldfield Thayer Nursery
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