Herbal Events at Madison Earth Care
More details coming soon...
Fall is in the air and we are so excited to announce that fall bulbs will be arriving at the garden center the 1st week of October.
Selections are very limited so we suggest pre ordering with us to ensure that you get what you’re looking for. Don’t see what you want on the list below? Let us know and we can see about special ordering for you.
We’ve included a lot of deer and rabbit resistant favorites and some new, unusual and rare varieties to please even the gardener who “has it all.”
You can contact us here for all preorders and special order inquiries.
ALLIUM GLOBEMASTER
$7 each
THE SNOW CROCUS SPECIES MIXTURE
$.25 EACH
Our Snow Crocus Species Mixture is a wonderful blend of white, yellow, blue and violet varieties. They each have six-petaled flowers that open and close on early, sunny Spring days and grass-like foliage with narrow, median silvery stripes. They are the earliest Crocus to flower, about two weeks before their Large Flowering siblings.
Crocus Class: Species. Bulb size: 5 cm/up. Full to partial sunlight. Bloom time in horticultural zone 5: Late March/early April. Plant 4″ deep and 3″ to 4″ apart. HZ: 4-8. Height: 4″. (Crocus are also good for forcing indoors over the winter. Pot them up in mid-October and precool them at a consistent, dark 38°F to 45°F for eight to ten weeks with moderate watering. Bring them into the house, they will bloom about four weeks later.)
FRITILLARIA IMPERIALIS RUBRA MAXIMA
$7.5 each
FRITILLARIA MELEAGRIS ALBA
$.50 each
FRITILLARIA RADDEANA
$10 each
GALANTHUS NIVALIS FLORE PLENO
$.75 each
IRIS HISTRIOIDES KATHARINE HODGKIN
$.65 each
If you don’t have the proper soil pH, then you can be wasting between 20% and 70% of your lawn fertilizer nutrients.
Below is some great information on why soil PH is so important to your lawns overall health from our partner Jonathan Green.
Importance of Proper Soil pH
The pH level of the soil is vital to growing lush, green lawns. Many people have a basic understanding of a pH scale, knowing that it measures how acidic or alkaline something may be. If you own a pool, then you know that correcting and balancing the pH of the swimming water is important. On a scale of 1 to 14, a pH of 1 is very acidic and a pH of 14 is very alkaline (or basic), while a pH reading of 7 is neutral. Lawns grow best in a soil that is slightly acidic to neutral (between 6.2 and a 7.0 on the pH scale).
Seemingly small changes in pH readings can mean big changes for turfgrass plants. That is because the pH scale is logarithmic. This means that a pH reading of 5 is ten times more acidic than a pH reading of 6, one hundred times more acidic than a pH reading of 7, and so on.
Here in Madison and surrounding towns, we find that most all lawns fall into the acidic side of the PH scale, so we carry Mag-I-Cal for Acidic Soils which has about 25% more de acidifying power than Mac-I-Cal Plus Products.
Mag-I-Cal for Acidic Soils contains fast-acting calcium carbonate in a highly soluble form that immediately adjusts soil pH upwards. The carbonate in Mag-I-Cal Plus for Acidic Soils increases soil pH by removing hydrogen ions (H+ ions cause acidity) from exchange sites in the soil. This process creates water and carbon dioxide. The H2O goes into the soil and the CO2 releases into the atmosphere. Without the H+ ions, the soil becomes neutralized. The calcium, on the other hand, is used by grass plants for many key functions, some of which are:
- Cell division and elongation
- Cell wall development
- Nitrate uptake and metabolism
- Enzyme activity
- Starch metabolism
For lawns with heavily impacted clay soils and those suffering from salt water or road maintenance salt burns we also suggest adding Espoma Garden Gypsum into your lawn care routine, along with Mag-i-cal for Acidic Soils.
How can I determine my Soil’s pH?
At Madison Earth Care we keep soil testing kits from the UConn Soil Nutrient Analysis Laboratory on site for you to use at home. These kits come with a soil sample questionnaire to pinpoint the issues you would like to work on. Aside from lawn recommendations Uconn can also make recommendations for different shrubs, perennials and fruit crops.
For $12 plus postage these kits are worth their weight in gold.Allow 7-14 business days for results.
How Should I Gather my Soil PH Sample?
Go to four locations on your lawn. We suggest a sunny area, a shady area, a bare spot, and a weedy area. Using a garden trowel or spoon, dig one inch out of the soil and take a small sample. Follow the same procedure at the other testing sites. When you have four samples, mix the soil together in the bag to get a representative or average sample.
How Much Mag-I-Cal Plus Should be Applied?
For Acidic Soils:
- pH of 5.9 to 6.7, apply Mag-I-Cal Plus once per year.
- pH below 5.9, apply Mag-I-Cal Plus twice per year (at least one month apart).
For Alkaline Soils:
- pH of 7.0 to 7.5, apply Mag-I-Cal Plus once per year.
- pH over 7.5, apply Mag-I-Cal Plus twice per year (at least one month apart).
We are so excited to have a supply of these beautiful little bulbs available at the Garden Center. These small crocus Crocus sativas produce the most valuable spice in the world, Saffron, which is the dried stigmas from the flower.
This gardening season has certainly been unusual but what better time than now to introduce these small crocus into your Fall planting plans? These bulbs are a fun and unusual crop that you can plant now and enjoy the flowers in October before you go on to planting bulbs for Spring time flowering.
You can dry the Saffron threads at home and have an incredible gift to give out this winter or to savor them in your own home dishes, like the Perez Family Paella from Food52.
Below is some more great info from the premium quality Saffron bulb supplier ROCO on this incredible flower that produces what is known in the spice world as ‘Red Gold”
Saffron Production
- Only Crocus sativus provides saffron
- A delicate, highly valued spice with interesting medicinal qualities, prescribed in homeopathy
- Crocus sativa is a sterile plant making its lineage pure for over 3,000 years
- Crocus sativus has a reversed vegetation cycle, leaves come out in September and the plant flowers in October, then dries up in May-June of the following year.
- The saffron flower is composed of 6 purple tepals.
- The pistal is made up of 3 stigmas which when dried gives the spice saffron.
How To Grow Saffron
- Grow in well drained soil, avoid heavy clay.
- Saffron must be grown in a sunny place, especially in autumn during flowering.
- Prepare the ground by tilling about 8″ deep and add some compost or manure, like our Coast of Maine Lobster Compost or Composted Cow manure.
- Plant bulbs in rows or beds, 6″ deep and 6 bulbs per square foot.
- Plant from July until Mid-September as a 6-7 year crop. *Plant on the deeper side for protection from frost as the crop will move upwards over the seasons as new corms grow on the top of older ones.
- Keep your bed weed free; especially after planting.
- Keep soil moist, water if weather is dry in September
- Pick and collect in early morning when the flower is still closed. * Try to pick before flowers open to preserve quality
- Separate the stigmas and dry the saffron threads completely to maintain quality, dry an oven on the lowest heat setting for an hour, dehydrator or shallow baskets.
- Vegetative development occurs over the winter and spring, leaves will dry out by May