Unity Landscape Design/Build
After the heat and humidity of August, we are looking forward to the beginning of the Fall season. When it comes to landscaping, Fall is a very busy and exciting time of the year. With more moderate temperatures on the horizon comes the anticipation of more time to spend outdoors enjoying activities or just relaxing in the tranquility of a beautiful outdoor living space.
Whether creating or revitalizing an outdoor living space, there are many ways to customize and make the most of the space available – patios, walkways, fire pits, fountains and other water features, furniture and even low-voltage lighting can make a huge impact. Fall is also an ideal time for planting. During September there are several planting projects in the works with an emphasis on the installation of native plants and trees.
The Unity design team has been busy designing many personalized outdoor spaces that will be both functional and fun! Our landscape crews are hard at work turning these designs into a reality, putting the finishing touches on several projects that will provide enjoyment for years to come.
This month Unity Landscape Design/Build is excited to announce that Hannah Jensen will be joining the design team. She will assist with design and permitting, with a focus on shoreline and erosion control projects. Welcome Hannah!
Sandy Appel, Office Manager
Unity Landscape Design/Build
|
|
Unity Church Hill Nursery
Fall is for Planting! Did you know that fall is even better planting weather than Spring? Warmer soil temperatures combined with cooler air temperatures and more rainfall create perfect growing conditions. Plus, the plants aren’t putting energy into growing new shoots and leaves so they can focus their energy into root growth allowing them to quickly establish a robust root system. Once Spring comes around, plants will be larger and ready to put energy into new shoots and blooms. This is especially true for Spring ephemerals. Also, right now, how your garden looked throughout the season is still fresh in your mind, so fall is a great time to take stock and install plants to fill empty spots, add height, ground cover, or more blooms during a certain time of year. Check out our online inventory to see what we currently have in stock, and if you don't find what you are looking for or need advice for what might work best in your yard, please contact us.
|
|
In the area of nursery production, all our hard work this past year seeding, potting up, weeding, watering, trimming, and more has resulted in a wide variety of native plants ranging from landscape plugs of native grasses and perennials, to quarts of native cultivars, to 3 and 7 gallon-sized shrubs, and 7- to 15-gallon-sized trees now available to take home and plant in your home gardens. Check out our list of Unity-grown plants here.
Are you familiar with landscape plugs? They are commonly used in restoration of shorelines, wetlands, and meadows. When planting out a large area, they establish faster than seed, and are more affordable, easier to handle and quicker to plant than quart- or gallon-size plants. The plugs are grown in trays of 50 but can be purchased in smaller quantities. We are also working on creating custom trays that are pre-selected with plants that share similar growing conditions such as moist soil and full sun or collections to attract pollinators or hummingbirds. Have a specific request for a custom mix? Please let me know.
|
|
For many people, the end of August into September is a transition period with children and college students heading back to school, and cooler weather and longer nights signaling fall is just around the corner. For the produce garden, September is also a transition period where harvesting begins shifting from warm-weather to cool-weather crops. Just as our summer squash plants are starting to slow down, our butternuts are starting to ripen. We are pulling out finished summer crops and planting quick-growing fall greens and roots such as arugula, baby bok choy, broccoli rabe, lettuce mix, spinach, and radishes. Soon, we’ll be clearing the tomatoes out of our high tunnels and planting crops for this fall and winter such as beets, carrots, and more spinach to name a few.
Now is also a good time to plant cover crops. If you’ve driven past our nursery, you may have seen a large sheet of black plastic covering one of our fields next to Rt. 213. We practice no-till and we don’t use any herbicides on our property here at Unity, so we are using the tarp to kill back the undesirable vegetation. Once it has died back, our next step is to plant a mix of cover crops including oilseed radish, winter rye, crimson clover and winter peas, which will protect the soil from erosion and help improve the soil by increasing soil fertility and supporting biodiversity both in soil life and beneficial wildlife.
We look forward to seeing you here at the nursery or our stand at the Chestertown Farmers’ Market.
Theresa Mycek
Plant Production Manager
Unity Church Hill Nursery
|
|
HOURS: Monday-Friday 8-5, Saturdays 8-4, Sundays 10-2
Closed this Sunday (9/5) and Labor Day (9/6)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
