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Dear Friends of the Mulch,
Summer may be winding down, but gardening doesn't have to! While you might still be nurturing the last of your summer flowers and produce, there's plenty of time left to enjoy their cool weather counterparts.
There are lots of plants, from trees to flowers to vegetables, that enjoy the crisp, cooler air of autumn. In this issue, we'll discuss a few.
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Warm regards,
Lars Hundley
Clean Air Gardening |
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Seasonal Transitions
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| Here we are in September, just about to tip over into fall -- and about time! Now that the temperatures are starting to drop (if ever so slowly), most of us are seeing the last of our warm weather flowers and vegetables. But if you're not ready to give up gardening yet, there are plenty of vegetables and flowers that you can plant and tend to keep yourself going.
Before you get started, of course, you might want to check out information about your planting zone and your area's average frost dates, so you won't run afoul of the really cool weather when it comes.
Try to select early vegetable varieties, so that you can enjoy their bounty before the cold slows down or kills them. Good cool weather crops include cabbage and its many relatives (broccoli, cauliflower, and kale, for example), collard greens, turnip, spinach, lettuce, and Swiss chard. All will do quite well through light freezes. Spinach can even overwinter if it's large enough and you provide it with frost protection.
As always, check with a local county extension agent or nursery for the planting choices to match your climate -- and follow seed packet instructions for planting success!
Finally, remember: this is the time of year when you need to plant bulbs for spring flowering. If you check with some bulb growers, they can tell you the best time to plant bulbs in your area, as well as how to prepare the garden area prior to planting.
Enjoy your fall garden!
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Garden Hod Harvesting Basket
This little number should come in handy right about now. Our Garden Hod Harvesting Basket is specially constructed to limit harvest-time messiness. Root crops especially are notorious for dirtying up your sink and kitchen counters, and of course bugs often hitch a ride inside. This basket helps avoid most of the mess by allowing you to rinse off the produce outdoors, before you bring it in for processing.
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Garden Kneeler Seat
Inventers do tend to come up with a lot of great things for the garden, don't they? This Garden Kneeler Seat is a prime example. Whether turned over on one side to act as a little seat or flopped over to provide a place to kneel, this item is ideal for cutting flowers, transplanting, harvesting, or any of a dozen other garden tasks. The thick foam pad protects your knees or backside from the hard ground, and when you're done, the kneeler seat is easy to fold up and store.
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Fox Gloves
If you're looking for some extra protection for your hands, these sturdy Fox Gloves will come in handy. They fit snuggly to provide a superior fit, but because they're made of Supplex nylon and lycra, they offer an amazing level of dexterity and fine motor control. In other words, unlike most gloves they protect without getting in the way much. Even better, you can toss 'em in the washing machine for quick cleaning, and they'll dry within a few hours.
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Raised Bed Gardening System
 If you're looking to extend the season now that Jack Frost is on the way, check this out. This Raised Bed Gardening System is the kind of innovation that makes cranky old gardeners mutter about how us young whippersnappers have it easy these days. This easy-to-use item combines a raised bed, insect net, and greenhouse in one slick package. You can even add on an extra module to make it bigger, easily doubling the ground space (it's normally 4 x 4 feet by 4 feet high). Come to think of it, maybe we do have it easy!
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It's quick to scan and delete if you don't see anything you like for any particular email. And it's always easy to unsubscribe at any time if you ever get tired of it!
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What Would You Like to Read About?
Since we added this section to the newsletters a while back, we've gotten some great responses. We appreciate your suggestions, so we've been publishing some in the feature article section and many more in this section. Here's this week's entry:
Q. I'm interested in learning more about using native plants in my organic garden. What can you tell me?
A. Great question! It's a big topic; we'll cover some basic information here, and more in a future issue of Clean Air News.
Landscaping with native plants is generally referred to as naturescaping. The primary difference between this and traditional landscaping is that native plants grow naturally in an particular environment, and can thrive without all of the external help we normally give our plants, such as excessive watering, pesticides and fertilizing. Native plants are also less susceptible to diseases. These factors benefit not just you, but also the plants and animals that share your garden space.
Natural landscapes are fluid, following their own seasonal cycles without much intervention on our part. Furthermore, due to the greater genetic diversity of native plants, sizes, shapes and colors will be more elaborate and less predictable than with other plants.
Since what constitutes a native plant varies from one region to another, we recommend that you speak with your local garden center or county extension agent for more information on growing native plants in your garden.
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We'd love to hear what you'd like to read more about! So far we've had a great response, so please keep those ideas coming. Just click here, and tell us what you'd like to know. We look forward to hearing from you!
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Contact Us!
You can contact us in the following ways: Email | Telephone: 888-439-9101 | Website Clean Air Gardening, 2266 Monitor Street, Dallas, TX 75207  
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Happy New Year family and friends!!! I love you all and wish you peace, love and happiness. Make 2012 awesome!
1 day ago
avocadoexperimenter created a new topic Seeking dwarf avocado pits or rootstock... in the forums.Anyone have viable pits or rootstock from dwarf avocado trees? Trees can be either grafted or ungrafted, and I'll gladly pay for them..
