Volume 9 Issue 1
April 2010
Growing With Us
Garden Answers Online! LEARN!
SHOP!
SUCCEED!
Experts disagree on most things, gardening included. If you need proof try “Googling” for gardening advice. Sorting through the online clutter you can choose between “dry-as-dust” university research station websites and mail-order catalog hype, endless blogs and online chatter. It’s like a carnival midway. Cut right to the chase. Try www.goodseedfarm.com, click on our “weekly blog” and you’ll see an alphabetical list of helpful topics from “Asparagus Planting” to “Winter Reading for Gardeners”. In simple, plain language we make gardening easy. Need gardening supplies? In our dreams you’ll jump in your car and drive right out to GoodSeed Farm for an entertaining shopping trip, and we’d love to see you. If you’re too busy right now, save the ...You can find our weekly gardening gardening pilgrimage for a sunny weekend and order what you need to- column “Let’s Grow!” in six newspapers day from our online store. We’ll ship it the next day. around southern Ohio...and online You can find our weekly gardening column “Let’s Grow” in six newspapers around southern Ohio. Some of our readers clip and save the column, but there’s no need. Each week we post it on the “weekly blog” page at www.goodseedfarm.com, and you can look up a hundred gardening topics in the online archive. If you love gardening, why waste your time “Googling” and driving to ONLINE SPECIAL! get the solutions you need? Let us help you. If you love GoodSeed Farm, Get $5 off your first order at you can support us with your online purchases instead of waiting in line at www.goodseedfarm.com the big box. We can guide you right to the products you’ll need, from fertilizer to Milky Spore to planter boxes. Not to mention gift cards for your Just login and use this promo friends and family. code at the online checkout! Help us help you. www.goodseedfarm.com for garden answers online. NL42010
GoodSeed Farm Spring Hours: Spring Shopping Hours Monday through Saturday, rain or shine .............................. 8 AM to 6 PM Sunday................................................................................................Noon to 5PM
Maps, Directions & Schedules at www.goodseedfarm.com
Start Your Garden: •Colorful Pansies •Seeds, Onion Sets •Soils and Mulch •Fruit Trees
Growin g With Us
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“Steve’s Soapbox:” GETTING SATISFACTION... The essence of life is feeding your family and yourself. I challenge you to come up with a higher priority or purpose. It makes me wonder why so many people rush through their mealtimes without even tasting their food. An even bigger concern is the quality and nutrition of the food itself, or whether it is actually good for you. Then there’s the issue of how dependable our complex food supply system would really be in a pinch. You can get control of some of these important concerns. Let us help. It’s a well-known fact that growing and eating your own food is very soul satisfying and rewarding, a proven way to reduce the stress of everyday life. It’s elemental. As a society we’ve let the pleasure and satisfaction of growing our own delicious food slip away from us. We’re just so busy. For some of us it seems like an insurmountable challenge. For others it’s hot, dirty, hard Start with something simple... work to be avoided. It’s time to take stock of how we spend our days. Are we really doing what we’re doing because that’s our favorite thing? Or is it just a means to an end? Getting back to what’s most important, we find it’s feeding our family and ourselves. This can be a pleasure and an adventure, something to do for fun with the whole family involved. I’ve been reading this past winter about something called “nature deficit disorder”. The flip side of this coin is the absolute pleasure to be found in being close to plants, and how beneficial it is for children growing up. There’s lots of evidence that being close to nature lowers stress and improves our ability to learn. Growing plants means participating in the miracle of life itself, and when you succeed it is deeply soul-satisfying. Here’s a gift you can give to yourself and your children and grandchildren. It’s a deep-down smile. It’s healing, soothing, relaxing, rewarding, and delicious. You can start with something as simple as starting a few tomato seeds on a sunny windowsill. One step at a time you can get the knowledge of how to grow your own food, a truly healthy form of control that you can master. We’re here to help you and make it easy for you to succeed. Check out our garden tips column in your weekly paper or at our website www.goodseedfarm.com. We try to explain gardening in a few really simple words and pictures, keep it simple, focus on the truly important. The next step is to come see us at GoodSeed Farm where you can touch, see and smell live plants that are healthy and happy. Adopt some and take them home as a gift for yourself and your family. The attention you give them can be some of the best moments of your day.
LET’S GROW OUR OWN FOOD
At GoodSeed Farm we are focused more than ever on edible plants. We offer locally grown, earth-friendly, Ohio-hardy fruit and vegetable plants and seeds you can see and touch and smell, plus the personal experience to help you succeed. We’ve noticed that young people really like coming here, being around our plants and animals. This year, let us help you pass on your love of plants and gardening to a new generation.
SEEDS at www.goodseedfarm.com
GOODSEED FARM APRIL NEWSLETTER SPECIALS Offers valid now through April 30, 2010
GoodSeed Farm 200 Storer Road Peebles, Ohio 45660
937-587-7021
MULCH BUCKS
Are Back!!! Get one GoodSeed Farm “MULCH BUCK” for every scoop of our bulk mulch picked up in April! Save ’em up! Spend ’em in May!
Redeem your MULCH BUCKS toward any purchase at GoodSeed Farm during May! APRIL TREE & SHRUB SALE!
25% Off Specially Marked Shrubs, Trees and Evergreens! Choose from our huge selection of flowering trees and shrubs, shade trees, windbreak evergreens and more. These are all carryover stock from 2009; one year older and larger than incoming stock for less money. While supplies last; come early for the best selection. Sale Dates: Thursday April 1 through Thursday April 30, 2010
BOSTON FERN HANGING BASKET SALE! Save $8 on two ...or get two FREE wrought iron Hanging Basket Hooks ($9.90 value) Sale Dates: Thursday, April 1 through Thursday April 30, 2010
GOODSEED FARM APRIL NEWSLETTER SPECIALS Offers valid now through April 30, 2010
GoodSeed Farm
200 Storer Road Peebles, Ohio 45660
937-587-7021
- EARLY BIRD CERTIFICATE! SAVE $10Bring this voucher to GoodSeed Farm for an instant $10 discount on any purchase over $20 in our garden center.
For the Month of April Only! Valid: Thursday, April 1st through Thursday April 30th One coupon per family. Not to be combined with other discounts. Expires April 30, 2010
April HANGING BASKET SALE! Save $5 on any 2! Choose any two colorful 10”, 12” or fiber pot hanging baskets and get an automatic $5 discount at the register. Sale Dates: Thursday April 1 through Thursday April 30
SAVE $20 OFF DELIVERY CHARGE for any mulch order (minimum 6 scoops) delivered now through April 30th!
Order “Black Gold”, Red-dyed mulch, Shredded Pine Bark or Pine Bark Nuggets!
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Protecting Your Plants from
FROST DAMAGE We’ve all lost plants due to late spring frost, and we’d all like to get an early start with our garden vegetables without worrying. We also want to protect our treasured flowering shrubs, grape vines, berry plants and fruit trees. Let’s start by understanding more about frost damage. Frost damage occurs when ice crystals form inside the plant. The ice draws water out of the plant and tears open cell walls, causing wilting. It isn’t cold temperature but ice formation that actually injures the plants. How much damage depends on how fast the temperature drops before freezing, not so much on how long the freeze lasts. Young, actively growing, flowering, or dehydrated plants are most vulnerable. Because frost hurts new foliage most, the worst damage occurs in late spring, early fall, or after a warm winter period. A February or March warm spell can cause buds Late frosts can be fatal for tomato to swell and open, exposing them to damage from late spring seedlings and other garden plants. freezes. Keeping plants well watered helps. The damage will be less severe if the soil is moist and the plant is not already drought-stressed. The most drought-tolerant plants are also the most freeze-tolerant plants. This gives you a hint which plants to protect and which can make it without your help. Covering plants helps a lot. Seasoned gardeners don’t over-protect young plants, since plants are more frost resistant if they are used to cold weather, but covering plants traps soil warmth around them and protects from rapid cooling. Covering should be done when rapid drops in temperature are expected, and then removed as soon as possible. Old bed sheets work well because they breathe, and they are lightweight. There are products available to protect plants from frost damage. We are excited about a new spray “anti-freeze” for plants called FreezePruf, which is bio-degradable and non-toxic. Spraying this on plants can improve frost tolerance up to almost ten degrees Fahrenheit, and last up to six weeks. Actively growing plants should be sprayed more often, since new foliage won’t be protected. This is a breakthrough for tomato plants and other vegetables once they’re too big for the traditional upside-down Mason jar. Other uses include earlyblooming fruit trees, hanging baskets, and our treasured weeping Japanese maples. We’re also going to try it on our mums, planter pots and window boxes this fall, to extend the bloom season past the first frost. Get FreezePruf at GoodSeed Farm or order it from us online at www.goodseedfarm.com
Growin g With Us
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Calling Your Garden Club! We love to host small groups (from a dozen to a busload) and we’ll make it worth your trip if you give us a little notice. We can arrange a buffet lunch or dinner, a tour or presentation, door prize raffle, and a group portrait in front of the quilt barn mural. You can meet rain or shine in our café patio, surrounded by flowers. If you like you can hold your regular business meeting. Then we’ll give you a personally guided tour and make sure everyone leaves with a door prize. Meals are catered by the White Star Restaurant. They do a nice job, including sandwiches, salads, beverages and desserts for only $10 per person (minimum $100). Clubs pay White Star directly, based on the number of reservations agreed upon the day before you visit. Because it’s a buffet format and there’s plenty of food we can easily accommodate a few more or less on the actual day. Sound like fun? Call or e-mail us and we’ll put your group on the schedule!
Waverly Garden Club in front of the quilt barn mural ~ Spring 2008
Help Wanted! We are looking for a few good part-time associates who can work with customers in our garden center on weekends and holidays during the busy gardening season. The pay is modest and the work is taxing, so only the determined need apply. Our ideal candidate brings a lifetime of experience dealing with all kinds of people, grace under pressure, patience, resourcefulness, and most of all a quick smile no matter how trying the situation. If you think you qualify and are willing to give us at least one weekend day every week, call us at 937-587-7021.
Marjorie’s
Perennial Pick “Ruby Mist” Coral Bells (Heuchera) An improvement on the traditional coral bells, with striking red trumpet-shaped blooms on tall thin stalks above a mound of silver-trimmed green foliage. Coral bells are easy to grow in most soils, tolerate drought, and thrive in sun or part shade. They have a compact mounding shape that works well along the border, and can also be used as a groundcover when planted in groups or masses. The flower stalks are wonderful in arrangements.
Growin g With Us
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Learn Low Maintenance
LANDSCAPING We’re offering a night-school “crash course” in landscape design, installation and maintenance this April at Southern States Community College (South Campus in Fincastle, Ohio) in the Appalachian Gateway Center. In a few evenings we can share with you a lifetime of practical experience. Learn how to expand your living space, install like a professional and maintain your landscape the easy way, by “teaming up with nature”. The course instructor will be Steve Boehme, Owner of GoodSeed Farm Country Garden Center and writer of “Let’s Grow!”, a weekly column on gardening and landscaping. The course begins with a one-night overview “short course”, followed by three detailed sessions. Tuition for the course is $39. To enroll you can contact Russ Brewer at 937-695-9002 (rbrewer@sscc.edu) or John Joy at 800.628.7722 X 4555 (jjoy@sscc.edu)
“Short Course” Introductory Overview ................................................. Wednesday, April 7 Session 2 ~ Landscape Design Basics for the Home Owner.................. Wednesday, April 14 Session 3 ~ Selecting the Right Perennials, Shrubs And Trees.............. Wednesday, April 21 Session 4 ~ Planting and Caring For Low Maintenance Landscapes ..... Wednesday, April 28
7-9pm 7-9pm 7-9pm 7-9pm
Cat’s Meow
NUMBERED EDITION
Quilt Barn
A limited number of GoodSeed Farm quilt barn models are available autographed by Donna Sue Groves, originator of the “Clothesline of Quilts”. Her creation has become a national craze, inspiring almost 100 dedicated trails so far. Recently, health problems have taken Donna Sue out of circulation as she battles cancer and other challenges. Please support Donna Sue with your purchase of an autographed, limited edition numbered collectible. Cost is $49.99. Half the proceeds will benefit Donna Sue directly. To order yours call GoodSeed Farm, or order online at www.goodseedfarm.com.
Pictured above is the proof for the very first quilt barn mural in the country to be reproduced as a “Cat’s Meow MY WORLD” collectible. This is a model of the LeMoyne Star quilt barn at GoodSeed Farm, on the country’s first quilt barn mural trail, the Adams County “Clothesline of Quilts”. You can own one for $24.99. Pick one up the next time you’re at GoodSeed Farm, or on our website at www.goodseedfarm.com.
G oodSeed Farm COUNTRY GARDEN CENTER
200 Storer Road Peebles, Ohio 45660 937-587-7021 www.goodseedfarm.com
PRSTD STD US POSTAGE PAID PERMIT 5400 CINCINNATI OH
CALENDAR
COUNTRY GARDEN CENTER
GoodSeed Farm
Visit often for our many unadvertised specials on premium plants at their peak, different each week! PLAN TO VISIT GOODSEED FARM OFTEN THIS SPRING! Mark your calendar so you can enjoy our special events, take advantage of special savings, bring your family or friends for special times! March 1, 2010 Open for the 2010 Season: Seeds, Easter flowers and early season color as we kick off a new gardening year! Hours: Monday-Friday 8AM-6PM, Sunday Noon-5PM Now till April 30 MULCH MADNESS! Save $20 on bulk mulch delivery of 6 to 20 scoops of Black Gold, Pine Bark or Red Dyed Mulch. April 11-30 MULCH BUCKS! All month get “Mulch Bucks” toward your May plant purchases: One “Mulch Buck” for every scoop of bulk mulch picked up between April 1 and April 30. April 11-30 Boston Fern Special $8 off on two huge Boston Fern Hanging baskets! April 11-30 Early Season Tree Sale 25% off on selected evergreens, shade trees and shrubs! May 77-8-9 Country Garden Mother’s Day Party FREE PeeGee Hydrangea for every mother, live music, food and fun 8AM-6PM Friday and Saturday, 10AM-5PM Mother’s Day Sunday June 1919-2020-21 Father’s Day Tree Sale Huge savings on all woody plants including flowering shrubs, evergreens, orchard and shade trees! 8AM-6PM Friday and Saturday, 10AM-5PM Father’s Day Sunday