July is here and the days are long and surprisingly cool. It has been a delight to have so many cool nights this June but I don’t think we’re going to get away with that for too much longer. In the retail nursery we have been fine tuning our watering systems, working hard to keep things watered and healthy. As the summer creeps on plants in pots require more water and supplemental nutrients (ie fertilizers!). They are eating up their soil and replacing it with roots and above ground (/pot) growth. This can happen quite quickly in the growing season. When the pots have less soil in them there is less water retention and nutrient uptake. So we generally need to water more, and fertilize to keep the plants healthy and happy. Ideally all of them will get out of their pots and into the ground at your house before too long. 😊 |
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This is also the time of year when pest and disease threats ramp up. We are always on the look out for changes in plants that could indicate there is something going on to compromise the plant’s natural defenses. We practice Integrated Pest Management here where we opt to pick individual bugs off the plants and use things like baking soda, neem oil, castile soap and the power of a strong water spray to take care of what we can. This approach makes use of “common sense” practices to manage pests in ways that are as gentle as possible on people and the surrounding environment.
Another common nursery activity these days that is also applicable at home is deadheading. We spend a lot of time deadheading our blooming plants. Deadheading takes many forms but the most basic definition is taking the spent flowers off to encourage the plant to continue blooming. When you don’t do this the spent flower heads begin to develop seed and the entire plant switches gears, putting it’s energy into making seed. When you take off spent flowers before they begin forming seed the plant will continue to produce flowers because flowers lead to seed, and plants want to make more of themselves! Some basic tips for deadheading are to cut flowers off when they are about 1/3 of the way finished blooming. Cut them down to just above the closest node. This would be just above where the next set of leaves is, I’ve taken some photos to demonstrate. For plants with flowers akin to those of a pansy you would just pinch them off as they’re spent. Deadheading can bring a lot of joy as you're coaxing your plants into giving you more of a show!
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If you’d like to know more, come see us, and ask for a demonstration! I would also like to note that all of our hydrangeas are in bloom. We have so many varieties of native oakleaf hydrangeas and fun ice cream cotton candy varieties too. July really is the hydrangea time to shine so stop in for some gardening tips, plant purchases or organic fertilizers! We’re here for all of it!
Martha O'Neill, Retail Nursery Manager
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Food Production
And just like that, it’s suddenly July. This week marks half of the year already behind us and the days are now slowly getting shorter, yet the hottest weather is still ahead of us. Things around the farm are starting to feel routine and rhythmic, though there are still new and exciting additions to the harvest list each week.
July is the month in which we harvest our year’s crop of garlic, a crop that has been in the ground for the past 8 months. We planted this year’s crop in November 2021, though most of the growing of the garlic happens in the following spring and summer. The type of garlic that we grow is called hard neck garlic, which is different than most of the garlic that you see in the grocery stores, which is usually a type called soft neck garlic. The main difference between the two types is the size of the cloves of garlic that are produced. Hard neck garlic tends to produce fewer, yet larger, cloves, tends to be easier to peel, stores for a longer period of time, and they produce the springtime favorite, garlic scapes! Soft neck garlic tends to produce a lot of little cloves, that are, frankly, annoying and difficult to separate and peel.
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Here at Unity, we usually harvest our garlic around mid-July, and the way that you can tell when the plants are ready to harvest is when two thirds of the leaves have turned yellow. You do not want to wait until the whole plant is brown. When that happens, it generally means that the bulb itself is probably past it’s prime and has started breaking apart in the soil already. Garlic that has been harvested after this has started happening usually doesn’t store for as long.
Freshly harvested garlic is great for eating and cooking, however, to allow for longer storage, we usually like to hang the bulk of our harvested garlic to cure for a few weeks before selling it. When storing garlic, you simply have to choose a cool, dark and dry place to store it, and it should last you through the winter if stored correctly. Locally grown garlic is always a preference for me from a personal standpoint as a lot of garlic in the grocery store is grown in China, and then shipped halfway across the world to our grocery stores. The carbon footprint of that garlic alone is enough for me to not want to purchase it, regardless of the impossibility of telling how old or how long it will store.
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We also save some of our largest cloves of garlic to use as seed for the following year and to sell to others for seed. If you are interested in growing your own garlic, please come see us at the farmers market or the nursery and we would be happy to talk to you about starting your own garlic crop!
Lizzie Wilford, Production and Marketing Coordinator
Theresa Mycek, Production Manager
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Plant Production
Nothing slows down on the nursery production side of things during July either, however, things are starting to feel more rhythmic as we are routinely watering and weeding our plants. We are approaching the finish line for potting up of new plant material for the season. Currently, we are halfway through our shrub potting up and after that is complete, we will truly be in a rhythm of maintaining and observing.
One of the things that sets us apart as a retail and production nursery is that through raising our plants from bare root or rooted cutting to 3 gallon sized shrub or 2” caliper tree is that we get a very intimate view of the plants’ growing habits and preferences. We are taking care of these plants every day and get to know their preferences and what each specific variety needs to grow it’s best. We are also taking notes on which varieties and cultivars of shrubs grow best in this region.
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We started our production nursery in 2020, so we are only on our third growing season, and we are still trialing different species, varieties and cultivars and learning what each needs to do its best and what does best in our climate. Our staff is gaining valuable insight into the needs of the plants and can give you feedback on where in your yard a plant might do best. For example, this year we are growing five different varieties of physocarpus, we have five different types of oak-leaf hydrangeas, including multiple dwarf varieties, and we have three different varieties of the Kodiak series of Diervilla. Through having all these different varieties, we can learn what each one needs to succeed and thrive.
This year we are hoping to also expand our demonstration gardens to allow customers and visitors to be able to see how the plants will grow and mature when planted in their ideal setting. We are hoping to have a variety of demonstration gardens for different growing conditions on sight that can allow for customers to better envision what their yard could look like with more mature plants. If you have questions about what would work best in your yard, come in and speak to one of our knowledgeable staff members or feel free to give us a call.
Lizzie Wilford, Production and Marketing Coordinator
Theresa Mycek, Production Manager
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Unity Landscape Design and Build
Unity just wrapped up the restoration of a large scale residential living shoreline on the bottom of Kent Island. The project is an approximately 500 linear foot shoreline that was plagued by rising sea levels and incessant boat wake influence from large container ships. The property owners were losing close to 2 feet a year, but Unity stepped in to design and construct a living shoreline to mitigate the erosion.
We used a sill system accompanied with sand and marsh plantings to provide protection and prevent further erosion. This system also helps provide improved access to the water by creating an easy transition from the upland to the intertidal zone so that kayaks and other small watercraft can be launched. This Living Shoreline provides greater resilience to sea level rise and storms with increasing intensity that seem to be more prevalent these days.
Unity planted 2,500 Spartina alterniflora plugs and 2,500 Spartina patens plugs on this property to help prevent erosion. Additionally, we planted some oaks, maples, bayberries, grow low sumac and northern sea oats to help stabilize the shoreline. Check back in a few months to see progress photos from this planting!
Lucas Lees CBLP, ASBPA, Coastal and Environmental Design
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Shoreline before Unity's work. |
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Shoreline after Unity's work. |
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Close up of plug planting -- stay tuned for an updated photo in the coming months to see how this planting fills out! |
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Meet our newest team member!
Hello fellow plant lovers! My name is Natalie Calloway and I am joining the Unity Nursery team as Nursery Plant Production Assistant. With a passion for plants and the environment, and drive to make it better, I am beyond excited to be learning all that I can here at Unity Nursery! I am currently attending Chesapeake College for my final semester to graduate with my associates in Environmental Science. Excited for what Unity Nursery has in store for me!
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U-Pick Organically Grown Blueberries at Unity
Starting Tuesday, July 5th, our organically grown, no spray blueberries will be available for u-pick at Unity. Parking is up by the office and purchase your containers at either the farm stand or the office, then a staff member will show you where the blueberries are and which rows are ready to be picked.
U-pick is available during retail hours while the berries are in season.
$8/quart
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HOURS: Monday-Friday 8-5
Saturday 8-4, Sunday 10-4
CLOSED MONDAY JULY 4
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