Have you ever wondered how fertilizer affects your plants on a cellular level? Which nutrients are important and how do you choose? How can you tell which nutrients are lacking in your mix by looking at your plants!? Let us break it down for you! The three main components of fertilizers are Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium. They each have an incredibly important role in plant growth and production. Nitrogen Nitrogen (N) is a nutrient which helps a plant form its proteins. It is necessary for cellular processing of chlorophyll which supports photosynthesis. Lack of Nitrogen and chlorophyll means the plant will not utilize sunlight as an energy source to carry on essential functions such as nutrient uptake. Deficiency of Nitrogen is often seen in older leaves on the plants (shrivelled, pale yellow-brown). Abundance of nitrogen is often indicated by excess foliage and no blooms or fruit. By adding more of the other two nutrients you can counteract the effects of too much nitrogen. Plants that benefit from higher nitrogen: corn, soybeans Phosphorus Phosphorus (P) is essential for plant growth, and a plant must have access to it to complete its normal production cycle. It helps to capture and convert sunlight into energy for growth. Phosphorus promotes root development and early seedling growth. The highest levels of Phosphorus in plants are found in the [...]

Strawberry plants should be winterized once they have entered dormancy and the temperature gets cold enough to damage them. You don't want to do it too early risking dew beneath the mulch and freezing the plants if they are still actively growing. The plants have gone dormant when you have regular cold temperatures and plant foliage begins wilting. Be sure to keep watering regularly until this point to keep soil temperatures as even as possible. If strawberry plants have poor care or nutrition during the end of the summer, they won’t form many buds come spring. Remove all the dead and wilted leaves from your strawberry plants.  Next, clear any accumulated leaves or debris from the strawberry beds.  Finally, place a thick layer of mulch over the strawberry plants. Any material that allows water to drain and air to circulate is an acceptable mulch. The most common is clean straw, hay, pine needles, or dried leaves. Potted strawberry plants are a little bit more difficult to care for because the soil in pots is quicker to freeze. If you have the space, simply dig pot-sized holes and place the pots in them.  Pack the dirt down around the sides of the pot to simulate planting and provide insulation.  Then, mulch them just like you would if they were actually in-ground. Remove in [...]

Storing Your Harvested Vegetables Although you may use much of your harvested fruits and vegetables over the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend, us avid growers are bound to have leftovers. It is therefore important to consider the different storage needs of your fruits and vegetables.  To successfully store your harvest you must consider the different temperature and humidity requirements of each fruit and vegetable. Luckily for us, there are only four basic temperature and humidity groups to consider.  Group 1: Cold and Moist Pack your beets, carrots, turnips, radishes, and rutabagas in a cold area such as an unfinished basement or garage at a temperature between 0 and 4 °C. To ensure that your vegetables stay moist, wrap them in sand, newspaper or peat moss and continually spray with water.  Group 2: Cold and Dry  Consider storing apples, pears, cabbage, brussels sprouts, and potatoes in the same location as Group 1 but package them in such a way that ensures more air circulation and therefore drier conditions. Your potatoes need to be stored in complete darkness, while your apples and pears need to be wrapped individually in dry newspaper.  Group 3: Cool and Dry  Your onions, garlic, and shallots will keep best in a dry, unheated spare room or closet with a temperature ranging from 0 to 10 °C. You should dry and cure [...]