Monday, September 14, 2020

Fall Gardening Tips and Tricks

Fall is an especially important time for your gardens.  It is a great time to make changes and take a few steps that will ensure your garden looks great next spring.  Throughout September and October, the soil’s temperature is still warm enough that transplanted and newly planted plants can still establish themselves.  
It is a great time to add some more color to your garden or containers.  Annual Fall Chrysanthemums are an excellent way to add some color to those annual areas that are looking tired.
 
Now is the time to relocate plants that are in the wrong spot.  If that perennial is hidden in the back behind everything else, move it up front where it can be seen.  Are your Hostas in too much sun? Or a rose bush in too much shade?  Now is the time to move them.  When transplanting plants, it is a great idea to apply Myke Root Supplement around the roots.  This will give them an extra boost.
Perennials should be divided when they are overgrown.  Dividing a perennial when it is not doing well will result in poor establishment.  Some perennials will start to die out in the center of the mass.  This is a sure sign it is time to divide.  This is quite common among grasses, irises and sedum.  Most perennials can be divided in fall or spring. As a rule of thumb divide spring and early summer flowering varieties in the fall and fall flowering varieties in the spring.  If you are willing to sacrifice some blooms you can divide most fall flowering varieties now.
 
 The following is a brief outline of how to divide your perennials.
* Dig out the perennial in question using a spade, at the plant’s drip line - where the leaves end.
* Clean off the larger chunks of soil, looking for insects and signs of disease.
* Using a sharp knife (an old steak knife works great) cut the perennials into several divisions.  Each new plant should contain two to four eyes (new buds).  
  This will give you a nice size plant in the spring.
* Now replant the new sections.  Adding some organic matter such as peat moss and manure around the new plants is an excellent idea, as well as using Myke
Root Supplement
* Water the plants thoroughly once planted.
 
Fall is an excellent time to plant new shrubs, trees and perennials.  The temperatures are not as extreme as they are in the summer months.  This will allow for less transplant shock.  Again, using Myke's Root Supplement is very beneficial with new plantings.  
September and October are the best months to clean up the shrub beds and add amendments to the soil.  This will help get them ready for spring.  Keeping shrub beds and gardens free of weeds will limit the number of seeds and roots that will over winter and start growing next spring.  Also having a clean shrub beds and gardens will reduce the number of pests and diseases that will over winter. 
In late October it is essential to mulch your perennials and shrubs.  This will help them over winter.  We suggest the use of GARDEN STRAW.  This comes as a clean, weed, pest and disease-free product.  It will help protect those tender perennials as well as keep moisture in the ground.  
It is also essential to protect your plant from wildlife.  Bunnies, deer and mice love to feed on your shrubs and trees over winter.  This can severely damage or even kill some plants.  For example, an apple tree that has been chewed around the trunk will not regrow in the spring.  One of the best methods of protecting your trees and shrubs is to apply SKOOT in late fall. (available in October)  This is a repellent that will repel deer and rabbits.  Skoot can be applied to trees, shrubs, and evergreens.  Remember to spray high enough to account for the winter’s snow fall.  As an extra measure using one or two tree guards around a tree’s trunk is also recommended. 
 
Finally, remember to clean out your annual containers in late fall to remove some of the soil, to prepare for a winter arrangement.  This will allow you to place a winter arrangement insert into the pot.   In early November we switch out our front door décor to winter arrangements.   Removing approximately 15” soil from the pot easily allows you to place an insert into the pot.  Using an insert allows you to make your arrangement in the comfort of your house or pick up one of our custom-made pots.
Best Wishes & Happy Fall
 
Susan Jensen Stubbe
Jensen Nursery and Garden Center.
 
 
 
Posted by Tammy Jensen at 3:41 PM 0 Comments

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Deer, Rabbits and Other Critters

 Deer, Rabbits and Other Critters.
 
It's fall time in Winnipeg and as I looked out my front window this morning I am reminded it is soon time to apply Skoot 
to our trees and shrubs to repel deer, rabbits and other critters like mice.  The reminder is the huge buck that is standing 
in my front yard eating my Hostas. There must be a large population this year because the deer in my neighbourhood don’t usually 
venture across the street.  The forest area along the Seine River is usually enough of a food source for them.  But this year I 
am seeing them up on the road and down the Streets leading off Egerton Rd on a daily basis.
 
Skoot is a repellent that was developed to taste bad to the animals, after one taste they won't come back for more.  It is can be 
applied  once the trees and shrubs are dormant.  But before it gets below zero during the day time.
 
You can apply Skoot by painting the undiluted product directly on the bark or by diluting it with equal parts of water and 
spraying it on the plants using a pump sprayer.  This is the easiest way by far.
 
For shrubs, you want to apply a light spray of Skoot starting at the base of the plant and going approximately four to five feet
high. You have to picture how high up can a rabbit reach when it is sitting on top of the snow in mid winter.  
 
For trees you want a light spray on all sides of the trunk and on the lower branches again in the 4-5 ft range.  Make sure that 
you get all sides of the trunk.  
 
 
SKOOT Repellent for Rabbits, Mice and Deer concentrate when applied, will protect on an 
average the following number of plants, according to size: 
 
 Age Approx. Height Trees/litre 
 
 1yr. 0.3-0.5 metres 250-400 
 2yr. 0.5-1.0 metres 125-200 
 3yr. 1.0-2.0 metres 60-100 
 4yr. 1.0-2.5 metres 40-60 
 5yr. 2.0-4.0 metres 20-40
 
Animals tend to like younger trees and once your tree goes to the point that the trunk is 4-5" in diameter (caliper) there is a less
likely chance that the deer and rabbits will harm them.  
 
shrubs of all ages can be vulnerable.
 
You can apply Skoot to the following types of plants that tend to be animal favorites:
- Apple , Plum, Cherry, Pears
- ash
- elm
- birch
- poplar
- Rosyblooms
- Lilacs
- roses
- Hydrangea
Basically Skoot can be applied to most deciduous type of trees and shrubs.  But apply Skoot to the plants once they are dormant.
 
 
Skoot tends to dry quite quickly thus you want to full your sprayer out immediately with warm water.  Make sure you also flush out the nozzles
as well. Skoot will dry in the nozzle and hose parts clogging the sprayer. 
 
Happy Spraying
Susan Jensen Stubbe
 
Posted by Tammy Jensen at 1:04 PM 0 Comments