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SEASONAL TIPS
 Late
September/October winterize Fertilize your lawn, gardens, trees and
shrubs.
Check your
strings at the base of newly (and oldly) planted trees and shrubs. To
avoid choking and eventually killing your trees, pull back the burlap and
cut strings at the base of the tree. Dig a little. Sometimes the tree has
started to grow around them.
Plant Bulbs.
The largest selection of spring blooming bulbs are available in early
September. Try to purchase bulbs at real garden centers. They have higher
quality, better performing bulbs than bulk discount stores. Don’t waste
your time putting puny bulbs in the ground. Small bulbs produce small
color and, they have a shorter life span - especially tulips. Buy your
bulbs in a ‘real’ store where you can touch and feel the texture of the
bulb. FIRM and LARGE! Buyer be aware. Mail Order and on-line shopping is
great fun but, nothing beats reality -no waiting, no risk.
Planting
Pansies now is common practice in milder climates but. . . at this
elevation they are only good for a little bit of fall color and then they
usually die. Rarely will they actually come back the following spring.
PLANT trees
and shrubs that have been at elevation all summer. Try to avoid buying
plant material that has not ‘hardened off’ naturally at this elevation.
Excellent
time to use herbicides as long as the unwanted vegetation is actively
growing, you can kill it.
You can seed
turf grasses until about September 20th.
Decorate for
Fall.
Pamper
yourself.
Take a hike
up Guardsman’s Pass. Check out the fall color.
Cut back on
watering. Call to schedule an appointment for a Sprinkler Blowout but,
continue to keep plants moist. We want them to go into late fall and
winter Damp but not soaked.
MONTHLY SPECIALS
10% off “THE
THYMES” lotions and potions - stock up now for yourself and your friends.
(See Products section
of our Website for a
complete list of ‘flavors’ we carry!)
Call (435) 649-1363
with any questions or - check in weekly to see for yourself!
Please add to
our guest
book and e-mail us at
info@parkcitynursery.com
© 2002
Park City Nursery All Rights Reserved
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MONTHLY ARTICLE
Time
to start planning your spring garden!
Although it is early to plant our spring bulbs, it is time to buy them but
remember to consider elevation when making your purchases. The best
varieties for performance in the mountains are: Crocus; Grape Hyacinths;
Snow Drops; Dutch Iris; Daffodils; Narcissus; Tulips – Darwin, Triumph,
Parrot, Rock garden and Lily-Flowering. For optimum color plant a variety
of bulbs with different bloom times, anytime between late April thru
June.
Planting depth at this elevation is different from other climates. The
bulbs should be planted 2 ˝ times the width of the bulb, regardless of any
other instructions. Never plant them any deeper or they may not come up,
due to the heavy soil and slow warming of the soil in the spring. It is
best to plant the bulbs when the ground has cooled off but it still
workable, usually by mid October. When planting your bulbs a general
design would be to plant in groups of 5 or more, for blasts of color.
Remember, after the long winter there is nothing more delightful then the
first colors of spring, BULBS, BULBS and more BULBS! (You really never can
have enough!)
If
you know you have a rodent problem, plant bulbs inside a chicken wire
box. Rather than using bulb food when you plant, use bone meal, blood
meal, super-triple-phosphate at the base of the plants in the spring when
they are blooming.
Besides spring bulbs, it is time to think about forcing flower bulbs for
your indoor pleasure. Any container will work, so long as it has a drain
hole and is at least 5” deep. The bulbs can almost touch each other and
you should follow the uneven number rule for the best effect. Partially
fill the pot with potting soil, press the bulbs into the area, cover and
water. Place the container in a cool, dark room (48 degrees) for 12 to 15
weeks. After the cold treatment you can bring the bulbs to room
temperature and wait for another 2 to 3 weeks for the bulbs to bloom.
Hyacinths are especially suited for indoor forcing. Daffodils or
Narcissus, plus several varieties of tulips such as Pinocchio, Red Riding
Hood, Monte Carlo and Princess Irene are also easy to grow indoors.
Amaryllis and Paperwhites will be available in the next couple of weeks as
well; these bulbs do not need cold treatment to be grown indoors.
Looking for some fall color besides mums? Use fall blooming crocus, they
can be planted now and will bloom this season. They are hardy too. When
choosing all of your bulbs, look for firmness and size (large).
PLANT OF THE MONTH
AMUR MAPLE
Acer ginnala Zone
2
Amur
Maple is one of the few maples that will actually flourish at elevation.
It is described as a small tree or large shrub. It gets 15'-20' tall by @
10' wide. It has a small, maple shaped leaf that turns brilliant red in
Fall.
Characteristically,
an Amur Maple may die back a little bit the first couple of seasons,
especially in unprotected sites but. . . once established, it does quite
well.
Responds
well to pruning and shaping.
TROUBLESHOOTING
SYMPTOM: You don’t want the Moles and Voles
and other underground creatures to eat your Bulbs. . . (click here for
pages 78-82 of High Altitude Planting)
COMMENT: You can use the chicken wire
technique describe on page 78. You can plant with Repellex Tablets -
designed to fertilize and systemically repel rodents by being absorbed
through the root system. (It works)
SYMPTOM: Your Spruce were completely
stressed out last Spring from “WINTER”. . .
COMMENT: Stock up on Wilt-pruf . Spray
next month . . .
SYMPTOM: Your garden is starting to look
worn out and tired. . .
COMMENT: Clean it gently. Careful not to
cut plants back too far. The foliage provides winter protection for the
plants.
SYMPTOM: No Fall Color. . .
COMMENT: Add some mums to your flower pots
- Be sure to cover at night against frost!
SYMPTOM: Your Iris and Peony did not Bloom
Last Spring. . .
COMMENT: If it was not a frost related
failure, and the plants have been in the ground for more than 2-3 years,
you may have planted them too deep. Re-plant them now with the crowns of
the tubers just at or slightly above soil level.
ORGANIC LESSONS
Organic Based Fertilizers: More and more
people are becoming conscientious about what they put on the Earth. There
are a few brands we have discovered to be effective. . .
-Milorganite
-Baicor
-Natural Guard
-Composts
The advantages to going organic are numerous. Environmentally friendly.
Don’t mess with the micro-organisms in the soil. Allow for gentle grazing
in your herb patch without worries. Better for soil health and well being
by cultivating worms and other helpful organisms.
I am not an expert on this topic but, it is another one of those common
sense topics. The closer we stay to nature’s natural balance, the better
it is for us in the long run.
One disadvantage I have found is that many of the organic fertilizers are
lacking phosphoric acid - the third number on the chemical analysis of
fertilizers:
i.e. - 16 * 16 * 8
Nitrogen Potash Phosphoric Acid
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