Radish- I’ve heard em’ called fire crackers because of how fast they grow from planting to maturing and splitting. These red bulbous savory savages are great on salads. When planting, we plant and leave in a tight row planting new rows every couple weeks. Both the greens and bulb can be eaten.

 Spinach- easy to grow and a favorite of Popeye, this vegetable can be eaten fresh, boiled, cooked or canned. 

 There are many other small garden seeds, however, the ones in these blogs are the ones that did the best for us easy to cultivate, high producing, long seasons, and ended up on the table.

 Large Garden seeds- much easier to plant individually some of these seeds are still better pre-planted in a tight row then transplanted into the field. Many of these larger seeds do produce a larger volume of harvest however they also generally need more space and light.

 Corn: aka Maize was originally cultivated by the Mayan and Olmec civilizations in South America before 1250 BC. Corn maze- fresh roasted buttered ear, rolled, dried, corn flour, etc, and popped corn a fan favorite at the movies once popped by native Americans tossing an ear on the fire. With so many uses for corn (which can last years in its dried form) it’s no wonder why it was soon used as a commodity to trade and consequently its cultivation has spread worldwide. In the NW we usually plant ours on or about May 5th and can continue planting a new row every week or two until we have 4-5 separate plantings. Rule of thumb is knee high by the Fourth of July or forget it for good corn, however, the last several years just having it a couple inches tall by the fourth has been OK due to good weather. Corn should not be pre-started as this tends to stunt growth and give you 3′ tall puny plants rather than 8′-9′ strong healthy producers.

 Beans: Leguminosae family if you can say it, horticulturally speaking, humans have been eating this wonderful vegetable (the fruit thing can be put to rest) as far back as 7,000BC and there are more than 4,000 types just in America. Is a green bean green? Well, that depends on when it was picked, the term “green bean” refers to a bean that has not matured within the pod whereas a “bean” has fully developed within the pod, most of us unknowingly knew what we were saying when we wanted fresh “green beans” for dinner. We plant Blue Lake beans which do very well here. They’re a great fresh or cooked variety. You can plant Blue Lake Bush or Pole beans, Bush are short growing and will require some bending over to pick they can be planted close together in a long row, Pole beans will need something to climb. I worked for a lady who simply used a pole for her pole beans and that worked great until the beans grew up the pole and headed down the telephone wire (true story) 2 great methods of growing pole beans are: 1st tying three equally long sticks together at an end then putting the three loose ends in the ground to create a tee pee, the tee pee can be a comfortable 6′ tall or whatever you desire, the 2nd method is to plant two posts in the ground 6′-8′ apart and string a rope or cable across tightly then every 5″-6″ tie a string on the main line letting it hang down within an inch or so of the ground, when the beans grow about 3″, just twist the growth around a string lightly.  This may need to be done on a couple of occasions but the beans will eventually happily grow up the string and produce lots of beans to eat, enjoy!  

 Beets: Grandma enjoyed laying a slim red sliver of the bulbous mass on my plate as a youth and anyone who would encourage maybe require a child to put such a thing worse than broccoli in their mouth must be up to no good. Well I couldn’t “beet ‘em”, I guess maybe that’s why I love a nice boiled red beet from time to time on my plate. Beets grow very well here and are a great source or your b9 vitamin unless you’re an ancient roman you won’t likely dig one from the mud to relieve constipation or fever. We plant them year-round unless the ground is frozen.

When it comes to planting vegetables we often find the seeds so small that planting them individually becomes a momentous task, back breaking, pain-staking, misery. We found the solution very simple, time saving, and actually the plants did better later on. Using a small area of the garden about 10″-12″ wide, 1′-20′ long, and tilled with a mini tiller. We would make a couple trenches lengthwise with a rake/shovel handle approximately 1/4″ deep. Then using the packet of tiny seeds we would sprinkle the entire packet out in our trenches with the seed virtually side by side. Then cover the seed with 1/4″ of soil watering in and leaving for 2 weeks or so. The result is a very distinguishable line of your planted seed sprouting. When your seed has reached 1″-1 1/2″ tall simply using a shovel scoop up the row of seed starts, dig only about 2″ deep. We would just dump the scoop onto a board or cart and easily remove our starts individually. These starts need to be planted as soon as possible, so don’t dig unless the ground is prepared for final planting. The advantages of this method is knowing what and where exactly your starts are, not having to weed a large area while the starts are developing, being able to use less water while watering well your starts, and when the starts are transplanted they’re going into fresh tilled ground.  

Tiny Seeds that worked well for us:

Onions – My Dad enjoys those pickled onion pearls in a jar, makes my mouth cringe and stomach turn at the thought, however I could not live life to the fullest without my onion. Make ‘em Blooming, Chopped, Baked, Boiled, Fried, Dried, Pickled, or into onion salt. Brings tears to my eyes thinking about it, or at least when I’m cutting them. Rumor has it that cutting down from the top and not the root end prevents the tears or by chewing gum.

Onions have been discovered as far back as 5,000bc and Ramsey’s IV had traces of onions in his eye sockets “weird” when his mummy was discovered – Egyptians believed the onions rings symbolized eternal life. You can plant onions year-round and harvest as needed. They don’t store well inside very long. To protect from freeze damage in winter simply lay an inch or two of mulch over the top of your row.  

Carrots- Carrot Cake, Carrots – fresh, dipped, baked, or juiced can be grown year round and left in the ground for later use if needed. Most people who have tried growing carrots complain of the pitiful little knobby stubs they discovered at harvest. The importance of ground preparation cannot be understated with bugs bunny’s favorite snack, you didn’t see him chewing on a carrot that looked like an uneven ball. The ground should be tilled deeper the necessary with above ground plants, if you expect an 8″ carrot then make sure the ground is tilled at least that deep. Mixing in compost also helps loosen the soil.

Cucumber – Very easy to grow, generally heavy producers, and great for fresh eating alone or in salad. We also grow pickling cucumbers, they’re great especially if you add a couple red chili peppers to the jar when canning.

Cabbage – Saving sailors from scurvy during the days of old Sauerkraut or fermented cabbage is high in vitamin c, has a long shelf life, and was found in china more then 2,000 years ago. We prefer cabbage fresh, baked or boiled. Cabbage is easy to grow and can be planted most of the year however deep freezes do stop plant growth.  

Lettuce – We grow Black Seeded Simpson, Romaine, and Butter Crunch lettuce. When we lived on the farm in Monroe, we planted 3 oz. packages of lettuce seed starting the seed in a small bed then transplanting into the field after a few weeks. To our amazement we soon had hundreds of lettuce and couldn’t even sell it all at the farmers market. Unfortunately after selling, giving away, and eating it ourselves, much of it went to the farm animals. You can grow lettuce much of the year although I’d recommend planting small amounts at a time. 

Celery – This great for dipping fun for kids peanut butter and raisin bot hull grows very well here in the NW. we planted our fist celery in the spring and it grew through the winter, we harvested mature stalks and the remaining plant kept producing. the mature stalks will break and die with heavy frost or snow however the crown of the plant did very well in the cold and would immediately put off new shoots. Celery has been a favorite for so long that in-fact celery leaves were found in the tomb of pharaoh Tutankhamen. The crowns can be divided into halves or quarters in the spring and re-planted.

Tomato – Besides being good for you the glorious tomato (originally from the mountain region of Peru) is everywhere in American food today. Most of my life I gave tomato credit to the Italian’s likely because of Italian foods like pizza and spaghetti, who would have thought Peru? Where would we be without ketchup for French fries, tomato sauce for pizza or spaghetti to name a few? Tomato products are in so many of the foods we buy today, I couldn’t imagine going long without.

Tomatoes are very easy to grow and produce a large continuous harvest.  Starting seed indoors a month to six weeks before the last frost works well. Then plant outdoors in well tilled earth preferably with some compost tilled in and about 16″ apart in a row. If you get worried about a cold snap you can cut the top off a milk jug turn it upside down to cover your tomato, this helps protect the plant from a freeze. As the plant grows above 1 foot, I occasionally pinch off the stem a few inches each week or so to help the main stem become stronger. The stem you pinch off can be stripped of lower leaves and planted in the ground often surviving to become a clone of the first plant. The fruit of the tomato can be stored for years if canned properly.

During the past few years there has been a growing number asking me the question and seeking the answer to fulfilling ones sustenance.

While living in Monroe a few years back and not long after the tragedy of 9/11, my wife and I took on the nearly impossible task. Raising our own meat, vegetables, fruit, and herbs, we found ourselves depending much less on the grocery store and eating fresh, healthy food more often. I can’t tell you that growing ones food is without effort or is even a simple task as we put in hard work and learned what not to do on a regular schedule. Fortunately, farming and plant propagation come more naturally to us then say “inventing the light bulb”. So you don’t need a thousand ways finding out what doesn’t work to discover what does, but if you do, I’m certain there’s therapy for that. Since the focus of this blog is plant related I will not be discussing farm animals and will focus on vegetables, fruit, and herbs. Although feeding one’s self by the “fruits” of one’s labor may seem daunting at times, the real story is a minimal, however consistent, effort on a weekly basis.

In The Beginning: We tilled the earth, planted our seeds, trees, shrubs, and vines and waited for our fruits.

The ground is not always as important as what you are planning to do. In Monroe, we lived in the Tualco Valley where the soil was silty clay about a foot thick and pure sand below. The solution was to add compost and aged manure to lighten the soil and add organic nutrients that were not otherwise present. We then tilled the soil together, added lime and had good ground. People often, when consulting with me, mention their “bad soil” and more often than not the solution is far simpler and faster than the years they stared at the dreaded “dead zone” from the house where nothing did well. Soils are generally too wet, too dry, too rocky, or even hard pan and the solutions are usually staring us square in the face:

Hard Pan= Build. That is “Build Up” raised beds (10″-14″). It may be your best bet. Being The Great Northwest, raised beds do have a bonus feature as they tend to have warmer soil temperatures then ground beds and tend to be free draining helping to protect roots in a cold snap. 

 Too Rocky= Living on a gravel pit certainly is challenging unless you’re a fearless rock chucker which is one solution. Fortunately rocky ground is often free draining ground so a mounded bed or a raised bed can also work. Mounding a bed is simple compared to picking out rocks or building a raised bed. Choose your target area, get a truck load or several of soil, dump it and spread evenly where you plan to grow your dinner. When mounding a bed, I prefer 10″-14″ of soil and usually have a dump truck deliver the specified quantity of soil.

 Too Dry= Generally too free draining or silty and in need of moisture retaining components such as compost and/ or aged manure.

 Too Wet= Usually there’s a clear reason for this problem. I can’t help you if you want your corn to grow in a lake. Kidding aside, this is one of the most common problems we find in the NW. When the area is prone to being wet i.e. high water table, base of the hill, next to a water source, or limited soil atop hard pan, the best that you can do short of moving mountains is do what you can with what you have. I don’t usually mix in sand when I have water issues and don’t usually create a garden where there is standing water in summer as both often require a drainage solution or raised bed with gravel walks. When the ground is just damp enough to be a nuisance I like to till in good topsoil and sometimes peat moss. Although peat moss is the product of a swamp and we use it to retain moisture in our nursery beds it also helps lighten/loosen the soil helping to reduce rot damage.   

 “Seed”. Amazing isn’t it? You have a very tiny seed or hundreds in the palm of your hand, one by one placing them into the earth, covering them with a dusting of soil and by some miracle you find your super market is weeks or months later, minutes closer and days fresher. You feel healthier and much accomplished, the envy of garden loving friends.

Twas a great story. Like any simple description, the journey has greater detail and the adventure can be momentous. Planning in life isn’t everything but always amounts to something of importance and I termed this years ago as “Complex Origination with Simple Replication”. Deciding what-where-with-when to plant takes careful planning and consideration while replicating the process becomes much simpler. I will list the primary plantings that we have had great success with including do’s and don’ts and why.

Potatoes: Infamous “Crown Jewels of the Dirty Depths” or at least that’s how I revere the tater. Where would we be without French Fries, Tater Tots, Hash Browns, Potato Salad, Potatoes Scalloped, Baked, Fried, Beaten, and POTATO CHIPS to name a few. 

From southern Peru and Northwest Bolivia the potato is believed to have been in cultivation as far back as 7,000+ years ago. The average human consumes upwards of 73 pounds per year. This earthly tuber can be grown from sea level to 10,000 feet in elevation.

Growing well in many different environments and being so versatile in the kitchen, the potato is a staple good. Due to their dependence on the thin skinned meal sometimes confused for a rock, The Great Irish Famine of 1845 droves thousands from their homeland many coming to the United States. The famine was caused by Late Blight, a type of fungus destroying crops.

Buying Seed Potatoes:

Seed potatoes can be purchased on-line, or at feed stores and many garden departments in the spring. The quantity you’re planting can be increased dramatically by cutting your seed potatoes into halves or quarters letting the cuts dry for 30 minutes or so and then dipping in a fungicide to prevent rot. Your seed potato can be soft and should have one or more eyes developing in the divots of the skin.

Soil:

Tilled loose soil helps allow the tubers of the plant to develop and grow freely. After tilling I rake or shovel away a row whether it’s a foot long or 200 feet long down to the bottom of the tilled earth hopefully 6″+ deep and 2″-3″ wide.

Planting:

We plant the seed potatoes every 8″-12″ along the row and rake the removed soil back over the top until there’s 3″ or so above the tuber. Once the tuber puts off shoots 5″ tall or so we then rake a little more of the soil from the sides covering all but an inch or so of the shoots. The newly covered area will produce new potatoes where the leaves would have developed. This process can be replicated multiple times until there’s a good mound developing above your row of tubers perhaps 12″ taller than surrounding ground and about 14″-16″ wide at the base. The process of mounding your row greatly increases the amount being produced. We expect a 1-pound bag of seed potato quartered and mounded to produce greater than 100 pounds if weeded, watered, and pruned. Weeding usually takes only a few minutes per week.

Watering:

Your potatoes, being mounded, have an extra benefit versus level ground planting. Besides requiring less weeding the mound keeps the tuber from sitting in moisture and rotting. We water on hot days for a few minutes and we don’t usually water on cool days unless we’re going to be gone a few days.

Pruning:

Using a machete, or large kitchen knife and after we’ve finished the mounding process, we cut off new growth like swinging a golf club, leaving 6″-10″ of green growth above the mound. This only happens two or three times a season. What we don’t want is the plant to spend it’s energy growing leaves instead of taters. Late summer the leaves will die to the ground and you can harvest your crop a plant at a time as need until spring or all at once.

Storage:

Potatoes can be kept in a cool dark place for months if cleaned well after harvest. We prefer leaving them in the ground until needed.

“Primrose” or Primula botanically speaking is by far my favorite winter/spring flower each like a flower bouquet amongst the dormant drab background of winter. Primula can be traced to the Latin word “Primus” meaning first (Prime) one of the first to open in spring. In-fact although we commercially plant the fabulous primrose from late Feb-March they have been found blooming late December into May here in the NW.

Primula are generally a perennial flower low growing and clumping. You can leave most varieties for years at a time enjoying a seasonal burst of color from an ever more crowded clump of individuals. We usually dig our primroses each fall (late Aug- late Oct.) breaking up the original plant into several new individual plants then replanting them for next season. Worry not as they will not spread and take over.

Planting your primula is easy and they grow well in most soils from semi wet to nearly dry, though they tend to produce more new plants when planted in an area where beauty bark or compost is present. If you are really adventurous and patient the crown of each plant can be cut into fourths across the top like a pie, dipped in fungicide and planted on to grow 4x the excitement.You don’t have to baby these plants as they’ve been frozen- run over- tilled up- leaves burned with summer heat, or weed-whacked down and still come back strong.

Cold Hardiness, Amazingly these spectacular splashes of color thrive in cool weather even when being pretty frozen for days at a time.

Prolong blossoming by fertilizing with a low nitrogen fertilizer and picking of dying blooms weekly. You can find fertilizers tailored to blooming at most plant stores or even rose fertilizers work great.

First, we’re having a sale on gutter cleaning now through the month of February 2012. Gutter clean-out is $100 for most single story homes and $200 for most two story homes.

Next, we are proud to announce that we have launched our landscape construction division this month. We now construct new landscapes, retaining
walls, ponds, fences, irrigation, and ground level decks. So be sure to call Sure Lawn for those needs.

I’ll start posting a recommended flower around the middle of each month. This month’s recommended flower is the primrose. You can expect to get vibrant colors and long lasting blossoming from this great flower and as a bonus they return each year with another bouquet display.

That’s it for now – have a great day!

Due to several people commenting lately that they enjoyed reading our blog — “The Blog is Back Baby!”

I have missed writing the blog myself and there’s never a shortage of things to write about or discuss; it’s been more about the lack of time to put the words in print. I know some of you wordly wizards write a mile a minute, all ten trigger fingers blazing away, but this writer is stuck pre-tech or to be honest stone age, one finger entering one letter one at a time. Don’t get the idea that I’m turtle slow its more like just not rabbit fast.  In fact i once tried my hand at the mortgage business and my manager came around the corner one day and gasped in amazement that I had kept up pace with the in-house correspondence using my one quick digit and the other hand holding coffee.

Some time has past since my last blog and there just isn’t time to recover all the time lost, so we’ll focus and review the past week, then maybe we can keep it going into the future.

This past week we began new accounts on three golf courses, Snoqualmie Ridge, Mill Creek, and Harbour Pointe. Amazingly I met with the first potential client at Snoqualmie last Tuesday morning and was hired, then headed to Mukilteo and was also hired there at Harbour Pointe, and then while going towards Woodinville, I received a bid request in Mill Creek.  And there you go — three new golf course jobs in the same day and 100+miles of driving. Since last Tuesday, we’ve been spending a considerable amount of time in Snoqualmie cleaning-up our new client’s home near the 18th hole in preparation for the Boeing Classic golf tournament this weekend. Although I know golfers and worked for Allen Geiberger “Mr 59″ until he moved to California, I had no idea how big PGA related events were. Crews have been building huge tents around the green for weeks with fancy new Cadillacs strategically placed everywhere for best advertising. With all the people feverishly working you can really feel the excitement in the air.

Despite the economy we have been having one of our best years. Thank you to all of our clients who have enthusiastically referred us to your friends and co-workers.  We have also very much appreciated your emails and reference letters.

“Our clients know the difference between those who know and those who oughta know better”
These past few weeks I’ve met with many potential clients and keep repeatedly finding simple mistakes that make the difference and people in our line of work should know better. For instance and fairly common if you don’t know better, having thick bark piled around/against tree trunks and rose/shrub canes/stems is the reason many people have been concerned about dying trees and shrubs and the majority were preventable. Bark is great not just being attractive but also keeping down the weeds and preventing moisture loss.  It’s these attributes that also directly make it a killer when piled high against trunks/stems/ and canes. Where the roots meet the surface and your tree or shrub rises from the earth, there is a transition from a woody root desiring warmth and moisture to an above ground trunk, stem or cane that needs to breathe.  When beauty bark gets piled up in this situation it doesn’t allow the plants bark to breathe.  The heat — a result of decomposition — and moisture deteriorate the protective bark and destroy the Cambium layer responsible for healing the plant, which results in an untimely passing of your precious plant(s).

A client’s wife once told me that her husband “spends more money trying to save money then he would have ever spent doing it right the first time”. More often then not, I find this to be true of people hiring the cheapest, fastest talker, or only getting one bid. I know that sometimes we’re the least expensive and maybe that’s because you were getting overcharged.  I don’t consider myself a fast talker as much as one who simply enjoys good conversation usually involving plants.  We might be the one bid you take a chance on, but I would always like my potential clients to get multiple bids and really compare apples to apples, line by line to see we’re the best fit.

From BenK and Sure Lawn, Enjoy your week!

Apple-Rhubarb Dumplings anyone?

These sweet treats are a favorite in our home every spring when the rhubarb is in heavy production mode. Some people cast aside the red/green pucker up sour stalks of rhubarb while others as myself love it fresh, frozen, or especially in apple-rhubarb dumplings. Surprisingly the sweetness of the apple and sourness of the rhubarb are toned down in this delicacy that is nothing like a standard dumpling or like the short cinnamon roll it resembles. Because both fruits are not harvested in the same season one will be frozen. We enjoy chopping some rhubarb and freezing it for an apple-fresh Fall treat while using frozen apple slices in the Spring for a rhubarb fresh spring treat. You can exchange the fruit used throughout the season and use peaches, blueberries, blackberries, etc.

These three quick easy recipes create one spectacular desert for any occasion:

(1) Sauce:

1 ½ cups sugar

1tablespoon flour

½-1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups water

1/3 cup butter

Stir and boil 1 minute. Add 1-teaspoon vanilla.

(2) Dough:

2 cups flour

2-3 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

Mix dry ingredients then cut in 2 ½ tablespoons cold butter. Then stir in ¾ cup milk. Roll dough into a 9”x12” rectangle.

(3) Filling:

2 ½ tablespoons soft butter (Spread butter over dough)

1 cup finely chopped apple

1 cup finely chopped rhubarb (Sprinkle apple and rhubarb over dough evenly scattered)

½ cup sugar

½-1 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix sugar and cinnamon then sprinkle evenly over apple/rhubarb pieces. Roll up dough and filling then cut into 12 equal slices. Place slices in greased 9”x13” greased baking dish (glass recommended). Pour sauce over the top and bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

Enjoy this treat and experiment using other fruits.

 Thank you for stopping by, from everyone at Sure Lawn. Have a great week!

“An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” Growing up many of heard the stories of Johnny Appleseed. The stories were usually about how old Johnny traveled the country planting apple trees. We’ve visited old homesteads whose owners sometimes joked their apple trees were planted by Johnny Appleseed. Although some believe he was a myth, Johnny’s real name was John Chapman. John was born September 26^th 1774 in Leominster, Massachusetts. Johnny Appleseed planted apple trees  in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio and died at the age of 70 at Fort Wayne, Indiana. When thinking apples we remember apple pie on Abraham Lincoln’s birthday and various rhymes like ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’ or ‘squish squash applesauce.’ Whether you like your apple fresh, juiced, sauced, candied, or baked, most of us love our apples.

Apple trees come in many varieties.  Some of the most common are Granny Smith, Gravenstein, Red or Golden delicious, Fuji, Jonagold, Crabapple and so on. It doesn’t matter if your favorite is a sweet old granny or sour old crab, every variety has its own purpose and fan club. Each variety has an ability or use best suited for it, some are best fresh, while others are best in sauce, baking, juice etc.  These differences are due in part to sugar content, density, and skin thickness.

Although the trees you see in old orchards are very large and pruning is a huge undertaking, apple trees of today have changed drastically.  You can buy apple trees espaliered (flat on two sides), Columnar (little to no branching on a vertical fruiting trunk), Dwarf (not likely to grow above 10’) Orchard pruned (generally a compact dwarf) or Multi-variety producers (having 2-6 other apple varieties grafted onto the same trunk). Of course you can still by the original type trees which can grow very large.

Planting location:

Plant in full sun and no closer than 10’ apart (with the exception of columnar). Apples do well in a variety of soil types although well draining is often best.

Pruning:

Remove suckers in fall and spring. Suckers, or water suckers as some call them, produce little or nothing at all. You may not be a car salesman but you’ll know a sucker when you see one. Suckers grow straight up and can grow several feet per year. These fast growing suckers steal away nutrients that would otherwise go into fruit production. Without removing these unwanted guests your apples will not grow to full size, and the decreased air circulation and light within the tree canopy is a breeding ground for moss, mildew, and fungus. When pruning apples all vertical cuts should be made at a 45-degree angle. This angle reduces the chance of water sitting, causing rot. We recommend removing crossing branches from the center of the tree as well as all new vertical growth (columnar the exception). Over time this method encourages the formation of a nice tree canopy and low growing fruit.

Water:

During the winter and spring, watering is not generally necessary. As fruit begins to develop and the weather warms, watering can become important. Without watering your apple is usually pretty hardy even during hot seasons; however without watering in hot seasons your apples may not grow to full size and can shrivel up and drop off in the driest cases. Watering the root areas from the trunk to just beyond the edges of your tree canopy is best.  We like to see a deep watering at least 2-3 days per week in hot seasons with daily water during very hot spells.

Fertilizer:

Use a well-balanced fruit fertilizer found at most nurseries and Home Depot/Lowes.

Pesticides:

Treat for most diseases and pests early in the spring before blossoms open. Many orchards spray the trees with either copper or sulfur before blossoming. There are many forms of pest control on fruit trees from chemical to organic. Consult your local nursery for your best options.

Choices, choices. These are the varieties we sell and recommend the most: (most come standard, dwarf, espaliered, columnar, or with multi-variety)

Braeburn: Reddish-yellow skinned apple that’s mid sized and crisp, has a long storage life and bears late in the season.

Fuji: Another great late season apple Fuji is prized for it’s medium to large fruit which has a yellow/green skin with red stripes.

Gala: An earlier season apple Gala is a great all around apple. Fruit is mid sized red/yellow color and yellow flesh, Sweet, juicy, and crisp.

Golden Delicious: Great fresh or in baking, these golden beauties are mid-large fruit with yellow skin producing mid-late season.

Granny Smith: The reliable old granny makes great pies, sauce, and of course is great fresh off the tree. This apple is a large mid season type.

Gravenstein: This apple produces early in the season large yellow skinned fruit with red stripes. Best fresh or in applesauce.

Honey Crisp: This mid sized/mid season producer like its name is sweet and crisp. Honey Crisp is a great all around apple.

Jonagold: When located in Monroe we had rows of these trees on our farm. They’re a mid/late season heavy producer of very large yellow skinned fruit with reddish stripes. We used Jonagold for fresh eating, baking, and juice.

Red Delicious: This mid season producer of large red apples is often a favorite. Although not related to the Golden delicious you can bet that these apples are tasty treats.

Spartan: These apples are deep red mid sized/mid season producers. These apples are a crisp and sweet wonderful treat.

Don’t see your favorite? Just contact us and we can usually find it.

From all of us at Sure Lawn,

Thank you for your patronage.

This past week has been a very busy one for our company.  We began year-round service for several new clients whose landscapes all have great potential.  We also have been planting and placing our Herb planter displays.  These displays allow you to enjoy an edible display garden all year.  Although there are a few herbs that disappear during the winter, there are many that continue to produce.  Some of our favorite year-round (most years) herbs are:

Rosemary – great for its flavor and beautiful blue/purple flowers, this herb is a favorite for small hedges and planter centerpieces.  Cuttings can be dried and used in arrangements, and prostratus varieties of rosemary make a great overhanging plant.

Thyme – this great ground cover has been a desired seasoning for poultry and soup since the beginning of thyme.  All kidding aside, this herb is a very dependable and flavorful addition to your garden.  Some varieties, such as lemon thyme with its crisp lemony taste, have a very distinct flavor of their own.

Parsley – flat leafed Italian or moss curled French, parsley has been said to be good for your heart and found its way to your plate.  Parsley is a popular garnish as well as a great addition to your salad, and is excellent on fish, in chowder, or most any Italian food.

Oregano – usually found in Italian or Greek varieties, oregano is an essential part of Italian and Greek cooking.  Some of our favorite varieties for planter displays are the yellow and green variegated types, as they add extra color as well as texture to the mix.  Whether it’s pizza, Greek pasta, or spaghetti, you’ll find oregano in the best of dishes.

Celery – the fresh or dried leaves of celery are great in clam chowder.  Dried leaves tend to give the strongest, somewhat peppery flavor and can be stored for months.

Chives – if you like onions then you like chives.  I really enjoy walking past a clump of chives in the heat of  summer and picking a few stems to chew on.  The onion-like flavor is not too strong and has a pleasant aftertaste.  Chives are great in soup, salad, atop baked potatoes, and sprinkled on chicken about to be baked.

There are several more great herbs that do great in our climate, but these basics will do any herb garden proud.

From all of us at Sure Lawn,

Thank you for your patronage.

The time has come for planting roses!

Most nurseries have received the bulk of this year’s rose order, and some will be getting more as we get further into the season.  This last week, we visited one of our favorite nurseries, Flower World, and purchased some fine quality roses.  Besides having many quality plants, Flower World also carries one of the largest selections of “Weeks” brand roses.  From our experience, Weeks roses are of the finest quality and have performed very well.

After choosing your favorite color, preferred stem length and petal count, you’ll need to plant.  Plant your newfound rose factory in a sunny location with well draining soil.  We prefer to plant in a sandy loam type soil and add some compost or composted cow manure to the mix.

Some of our friendly old-timer rose enthusiasts swear by some strange methods to coax out the finest blossoms of the season.  Although we’ve not used all of these and don’t guarantee any results, you might do a little experimenting of your own.  These include:

• 1 teaspoon dish soap to 1 quart water for spraying aphids;
• leftover tea and used tea leaves turned into the soil to improve the soil;
• used coffee grounds around the root area is supposed to improve beneficial soil microorganisms;
• we have heard, but do not recommend, chicken manure because of the high nitrogen content and often, chicken manure is hot and can cause root damage near the surface.

Maintaining your rose

This takes a little regular attention to pests and some good maintenance practice in the way of pruning and watering.  When you see aphids crawling all over your future blossom, pick them off or spray them with a rose friendly but aphid not so friendly spray.  When you see little black spots on the leaves, remove those leaves and treat your rose with the proper spray to inhibit the spread of black spot.  A great way to prevent black spot is planting in a sunny location with good, but not strong, airflow.  Planting against a wall or solid fence/structure is not recommended in most cases.  When airflow is restricted and slows, the black spot spores tend to settle and can take a lot of work to get rid of.  Another good practice is to thin out the center inside your rose bush.  Allowing airflow through the center and additional light reduces several problems, including black spot.

Prune out dead canes in the spring and keep the ground beneath your garden flower shop free of debris.  When dead canes are left from year to year and debris accumulates, these are breeding grounds for disease and pests.

Fertilize your rose with a good rose fertilizer found at your local nursery or Home Depot/Lowes.  Do not simply throw lawn fertilizer on your roses.  This high nitrogen fertilizer will greatly increase the growth of the stems and reduce good rose production.  Roses need a low nitrogen fertilizer with iron and potash or phosphorus.  Good rose fertilizers will be marked as such.

Whether you are purchasing a rose named for your favorite president, movie star, or just for their beauty, every moment should be enjoyable.  With proper care, your future garden flower shop will produce to your pleasure and amaze your friends.

Great tips for March:

• Schedule your spring window cleaning and gutter cleaning.
• Fertilize most plants mid Feb.-March with a balanced fertilizer such as 16-16-16.
• Apply Lime on turf areas to help balance soil pH.
• Remove dead rose and raspberry canes, tie this year’s raspberry canes.
• Divide dahlia and daylily tubers throughout march and prepare planting area.
• Remove 1-2 old trunks from bush type lilacs.
• Keep ahead of the weeds now so you don’t fight them all summer.

In addition to our landscape maintenance, flower displays, and window cleaning, we will be promoting our container herb, vegetable, and fruit farming. Over the past two years many of our clients and their friends have asked that we plant Herbs, Vegetables, and Fruits in small container gardens. Through much study, trial and error the result is a bountiful harvest of homegrown healthy foods. Over the coming months we plant to update our blog and our website with pictures of these modern day farmers and their crops.

From Every One at Sure Lawn,

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