A LATE FALL HARVEST
I snuck over to a friend’s house the other day with one mission on my mind... to harvest some persimmons. My target was a small persimmon tree in his side yard. For the last few weeks, it’s been showing off an abundant crop of beautiful orange fruits, just hanging from branches like they were ornaments on a Christmas tree. They were just begging to be picked!
Persimmons ripen late and are often not fully palatable until after the first frosts. If you’ve ever bit into one that wasn’t quite ready yet, you know what I mean. They are so astringent when they aren’t ripe, they’ll bring you to tears. But once they’ve fully matured... they are a sweet treat. I tried a handful a few weeks ago. They weren’t bad, but they weren’t quite there.
The current harvest was amazing. They’re soft and sweet... almost like eating fresh homemade jam. The question now is, what am I going to do with them? And the answer... I’m not sure yet! For now, I’m going to process their sweet pulp and then freeze it in small batches, leaving it easy to use for whatever I decide to do with it later. It may be cookies, bread or fresh preserves. I suppose I have all winter to figure it out. If you have any good ideas, let me know!
While I was over at my friends, I noticed something else, weeds in his lawn... lots of weeds. You see, he overseeded his lawn this past fall. The new grass was doing great, but unfortunately, anytime you plant grass seed, you also give all the weed seed that’s been hiding out a chance to grow, too. It’s a problem all lawn seeding projects face, and his was facing it big time.
Now, there’s good news and bad news.
Cameron Rees, General Manager
The good news is, these young weeds are very easy to control when the conditions are prime... and that time is right now. Just pick up some of the Fertilome Weed-Free Zone and follow label directions. You’ll be happy with the results.
The bad news is, if you don’t take care of those weeds now, they’ll keep growing in your lawn, relatively unnoticed until early next spring. Then they will explode into growth, choking out your lawn, and creating more seed for future seasons. Not a good thing.
The nice weather we’re enjoying now is perfect for taking care of this problem. This beautiful weather is also great for tackling all your other late fall projects too. We’re almost to the end, but we’re not there yet. Don’t let up!
—Cameron
What’s New?Christmas Trees
Christmas trees have arrived! We’ll be bringing them out when the time is right. In the meantime, we are keeping them in our refrigerated storage to keep them fresh. There has been a shortage of Fraser Fir the last few years. That’s typically what we like to bring in. We’ve added a few Balsam Fir this season, and that’s helping with the overall numbers, but we’re still running a little shorter than we’d be. That means we’ll have lots of nice-looking, freshly cut, Christmas trees to choose from, but not as many as we’d like. They’re going to go fast again this year, so don’t wait too long!
“thymely” advice: TRUNK PROTECTION
As we move slowly closer to colder weather, it’s time to think about trunk protection. Newly planted trees are vulnerable to winter sun-scald damage in their first few years. Feeding damage from rabbits and small rodents is also a major concern.
The solution is easy... trunk guards!
These are protective plastic guards, usually white in color, that can easily be put onto a tree trunk for the winter and then just as easily removed in the spring after they are no longer needed. Store them in your garage after you take them off and then put them back on the next winter—for the first few winters.
Both winter sunscald and pest damage can ruin a perfectly good tree. The damage left behind may not kill a tree outright, but typically it sets it up for a slow downward spiral until years later, when failure is the end result. By then, you’re not only out a tree, you’re also out several years of growth.
Trunk guards are cheap insurance, they’re easy to use, and it’s time to put them on. We’ve got them available in a variety of sizes depending on your tree’s needs. Just come see us!