Give Your Garbage Disposal A Break!

Although composting meat or dairy products is a definite no-no, I plan on giving my garbage disposal a break this fall. I'm taking measures to learn the best materials for natural and organic compost. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency provides a wealth of information on their website to get me started. Composting is the biological decomposition of organic matter into a product beneficial for plant growth and soil conditioning. Organic matter added to the soil as a compost, improves plant growth and vigor, soil structure, drainage, holds plant nutrients and releases nitrogen for plant and soil micro-organisms. University studies have proven that composting organic matter into a soil conditioner can be enhanced by using Hi-Yield Compost Maker to speed up the composting process and insure that the finished compost will provide the proper nutrients to plants and improve soil tilth. Compost Activator and Energizer is also a product proven beneficial for jump starting the compost pile. Manufactured by Gardener's Supply Company, this twin pack comes with a 5 lb. bag of energizer (a high-nitrogen blend of vegetable protein, including peanut meal, and natural nitrate of soda) and a 3 lb. bag of activator (a nutrient-rich blend of alfalfa, cocoa meal, kelp, fish meal, and yeast). With these products at my disposal I will no longer be feeding egg shells and coffee grounds to that drain in my sink; instead I'll be brewing my own organic soil conditioner and keeping chemical fertilizers out of my backyard!


Written by Ginny Gregory.
http://www.stranges.com/

Care for Autumn Perennial Beds

If colour in your garden seems to have languished after September rolls around, consider putting in some late-blooming perennials to spruce things up. Garden Mums are very popular for fall display, but many other perennials can provide much-needed colour at this time of year. Here are a few to consider: Rudbeckia, Echinacea, Russian Sage, Bugbane, Fall Asters, Toad Lilies and Autumn Monkshood.

Early Fall is a good time to do these jobs:

• Edge your perennial beds.


• Continue dead-heading any daisy-flowered perennials, especially ones like Echinacea, Rudbeckia and False Sunflower (Heliopsis). These will continue flowering for weeks if you prevent the flowers from forming seeds.


• Remove any perennial weeds that have invaded the garden. A non-selective herbicide is a good way to remove the spreading types, applied carefully while the weather is still warm and the weeds are actively growing.


• Remove any annual weeds that are going to seed. Throw these in the garbage, not in the compost pile or next year there will be ten times as many.


• Empty your compost bin. Early fall is a great time for this, since it makes room for all those leaves, dead plant tops, etc. that you will have on hand in another few weeks. If your compost is not quite ready, maybe there is some corner it can be stockpiled to finish rotting before spring.

www.Stranges.com


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Audobon Conservation and Rehabilitation Group to Visit Strange's!

On Saturday, Oct. 17th join us for a morning of birding!

Members from the Richmond Audubon Society will be visiting us and they're bringing along their feathered friends! Stop in at 10AM to learn what species of birds will visit your feeders and what other non-seed-eating birds are looking for in real estate. We will be providing you with a few handy tips and tricks to attract non-see-eating birds with feeders and bird baths. Don't miss this opportunity to learn from Kim Harrel of Phoenix and her local wildlife rehabilitation group --> she will be bringing a variety of predatory and native birds for show and tell! Learn about birds, their calls and their nesting habits. We will have wild birds here for you to see. Learn about bird seeds, feeders and baths. By working together we can all help preserve our natural wildlife and become involved in bird conservation!

www.Stranges.com

Turn Your Fall Leaves into Rich Spring Fertilizer!

"I'm so tired of bagging leaves!" "When is leaf pick up this month?" "I can't park in front of my house because of this huge pile of leaves!"

Does this sound familiar to you? Our neighbors and friends chime in all through the fall season; we're all doing the best we can to properly dispose of these natural autumn colors as they cover the lawn. Well most of us do anyway... "Hey! Stop blowing those leaves into my yard!" "I don't even have any trees in my landscape, but my lawn must be a magnet for my neighbors' leaves!"

Save a little on the expense of conditioning your soil for spring planting and brew your own compost from those clippings! On Saturday, Oct. 10th at 11AM, our Virginia Certified Horticulturists will be ready and willing with excellent advice on compost starters and proper containers. We're also offering 20% off composting products all day! Stop by our Composting Seminar for some 101 skills, tips, and tricks to create your own personal concoction and effectively condition your soil for spring planting.

Written by Ginny Gregory.
www.Stranges.com

Don't forget the Fall Folk Festival kicks off on Friday, Oct. 9th and runs through Sunday, Oct. 11th!

We will be joining the Children's Museum of Richmond to plant seeds with the kids

at the Genworth Financial Family Area.

Family fun at the festival also includes aspects of local farm life and agriculture, performances, green art activities, themed exhibits from the museum

and, of course, a petting zoo.

Mark your calendars for these family fun events and bring the kids along to join our Pea Pod Club.

We're giving you permission to get down and dirty together!

Join us on Saturday, Oct. 3rd for a fun filled morning with our Pea Pod Club.

We will be planting pansies in pumpkins

and making mud pies --> 9am-11am

We've invited some special guests with fuzzy faces too!

Fireweed Farm Alpacas will be visiting us

and these furry friends are ready for some hugs!
www.Stranges.com

Attract Gold, Purple, and House Finches!

Nyjer is a new trademark name for the familiar small black seed that is the favorite food for American Goldfinches, Pine Siskins, and other colorful finches. Small birds love the abundant food value and high oil content of this seed. Nyjer Seed is produced from a cultivated crop of yellow flowers that grow four to seven inches high. You may have heard people incorrectly call it "thistle" seed but it should not be confused with the thistle weed that has pink to purple flowers. Nyjer Seed comes from a plant native to Africa. It is the only major wild bird food ingredient imported from overseas. Due to concern by the US Department of Agriculture that foreign weed seeds could be imported with the Nyjer Seed, all Nyjer imported since 1985 is heat treated to devitalize any weed seeds that might be present. That is why plants will not grow from these seeds. With over 150 thousand seeds per pound it provides an exceptional value and many visits by colorful birds to your feeder.
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Overwatering? Dehydrated plants? Problem solved!

Overwatering is a common and detrimental mistake made by novice gardeners. Landscaping expert and entrepreneur, Ray Padula suggests that longer waterings at less frequent intervals allows water to penetrate more deeply, encouraging longer root growth, which creates healthier plants. Gardening experts world-wide agree that one inch of water every three to four days is adequate for most loam soil landscapes. With Ray Padula Time It! Deluxe electronic sprinkler timers, it's now possible to bring sophisticated automatic sprinkler controls to your hose end sprinklers. Designed for water conscious consumers, Time It! Deluxe allows you to set up to four automatic start times per day, includes manual and automatic operation, every day, 2 days, 3 days, or custom watering schedules, and run time intervals from 1 minute to 24 hours. With Time It! Deluxe you can fully water without wasting a drop! Stop in at our Strange's West Broad location to pick up yours today.
www.Stranges.com