Some timely garden tips for you:

 

*To lead off our Garden Talks section, Melissa S asked me to mention the selection of candles we have here at Skillin's! Colder weather makes for warmer nesting and with the economic times we are all spending more time in our Skillin's Country nests. Nothing wrong with that! We are drawn more than ever by the earthy colors of both tall and plump safe burning soy and beeswax candles. "What a neat color this is! I wonder what scent it brings!"  We have long carried dripless Colonial Candles and safe to burn soy Beanpod Candles. In the past few years we have added the rustic and earthy (yet simply elegant and exciting) Vance Kitira candle line. These candles are unscented yet their hues definitely make you feel warm and just the sight of these reasonably priced candles chase away the blues! A brand new addition to our Skillin's Nest of Candles is the Library Collection by Paddywax. Looking for intense fragrance and a classy look for gift or for home? Paddywax has it and Skillin's has Paddywax!

 

*Fall to us avid gardeners with our grass and dirt stained knees and our dirty hands can be difficult to adjust to. However, fall is a great time of year to actually improve your garden. One of the first steps you should take is to apply lime to your lawn and gardens. Generally at the end of the growing season the production effort leaves a garden with a pH of 5.5 to 6.0, so we advise adding lime at a rate of about 5 pound per 100 square feet to eventually raise the pH to about 6.5 to 7.0. This higher pH level will allow your plants to receive a wider range of nutrients. Generally, we should only lime our areas one time per year. Also your garden may well not need lime every year. If you have limed for 2 to 3 consecutive years pick up a simple pH tester at Skillin's. Check out that pH. If your soil registers at about 6.5 to 7.0, do not apply lime that year. The lime we recommend is Mira Cal by Jonathan Green-it is a calcium based lime that is better than most limes for at least two reasons: 1) Calcium is an excellent organic additive to your soil. It benefits your plants tremendously by helping to "keep free" the flow of beneficial nutrients to your plants roots. 2) Magnesium based lime can actually aid weeds as magnesium adds a natural soil compactor. Many of the plants we prefer don't like growing in compact soils but unfavorable weeds like plantain, dandelions, crabgrass and ajuga don't mind compact soils a bit! A dark, rich green lawn is a great Autumn Hue and Mira Cal will help!

 

*It is vital to thoroughly CLEAN your yard of dead and dying plant material in the fall. Growth that "has passed on" serves as a great home for insects and disease spores. However, just don't admire those newly cleaned wide open spaces in your garden. Get to work! Fall is a great time for soil preparation! If you have not done so for a few months, get some Plant Tone by Espoma or Pro Start by North Country Organics worked into the soil. As I often write, these fertilizers are the safest, best and most long-term way to bring needed nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium to your soil.  Healthy rich garden soil is a deep, deep brown and this is another glorious Autumn Hue for you!

 

  

Then lay some compost as a top dressing in those open spaces and around your plants. If you have no compost, my favorite bagged compost and mulch to place around your plants is Fundy Mix by Coast of Maine. Fundy mix is an excellent product to lay around plant material as great organic matter. For VERY wide open spaces that is a future home to more plants, actually work some of your own compost material OR Composted Manure by Jolly Gardener or Quoddy Blend by Coast of Maine into the soil. We also sell some terrific compost blends in bulk that we can load into a truck or trailer for you.

*We have posted loads of easy to follow and truly reliable Fall Gardening Tips at www.skillins.com! Since 1885 we have helped many a gardener, many a generation really Garden Green. This is Fall 2010 and the Time is Now to make your Garden Better than ever! Cultivate those Autumn Hues to Chase Away the Cold Weather Blues!

 

 

*The whole point of good natural lawn care is to make your lawn the aggressor not weeds. Click Skillin's Lawn Care Program for an easy to do, sensible lawn care program by Skillin's! We will show YOU how to maintain a good quality lawn--safe for kids and pets and without a huge investment of time or dollars! By the way, The Best Time is Now to seed new grass areas or to "over seed" existing areas! Dark, rich green in the lawn makes for a deeply satisfying Autumn Hue!

*One of the best plantings you can make this fall is of  Flowering Cabbage and Kale and Paul Parent of the Paul Parent Garden Club just wrote an excellent post about this topic that we feature at the Skillin's Garden Log. Paul has a great Sunday morning garden radio show and he is a darned good writer to boot!

 

                                            (image from Paul Parent Garden Club)

 

*Good gardening friend and Skillin's associate David K posts a terrific garden blog called A Garden in Maine. I highly recommend you check his blog frequently as David is a wonderful local Maine home gardener who is exploring new garden techniques all the time, grows a great variety of plants in his home garden AND he loves to pass on what he learns!

 

*Find even more gardening tips throughout this month at "September Garden Talks 2010"!  We post some neat tips in this email newsletter but many many more tips at the Skillin's Garden Log and also our Skillin's Facebook page!