Eric's Flower and Plant Emporium

Gourds for fall from Eric's

2011-10-08T11:05:00.000-07:00

Gourds are just one of those things that people can’t resist. With their colorful bumpy skin, unique shapes and interesting forms people scoop them up for use in fall decorating projects. Large gourds that have been dried and hollowed out can stand in for pottery pieces as decorative bowls, scoops, lamps and birdhouses.

Decorative gourds are as easy to grow. Visit a garden center in the spring, pick up some seed and follow the directions on the back. Thin skinned gourds that have yellow blossoms belong to the Cucurbita pepo cultivars, along with cucumbers and most other squash. Gourds with white flowers belong to the Lagenaria class of squashes. These varieties have been used as containers by many cultures for thousands of years.

Leave the decorative gourds on the vine until the leaves dry up and turn brown. They can stand exposure to a little frost. Use a sharp knife to cut them from the vine and leave a small stem attached to the gourd. This helps prevent disease organisms from entering the interior of the squash, which causes them to rot before they dry.
After you harvest them, spread them out to cure on a rack in a dry, dark, airy place. Drying time will vary with the size of the gourd, but plan on anywhere from 2 to 10 months for some of them to dry completely. Generally speaking, they are completely dry when the seeds rattle when you shake them. The thin skinned gourds will remain heavy and will not dry. Simply shellac these or leave them with a natural finish

"What makes a gourd desirable?" Everyone has her own answer to that question. My sister is fond of gourds with traditional shapes in the colors of red, butter yellow and persimmon orange. Others are intrigued by gourds with unusual shapes in different hues, like ghostly white and dusty gray-green. I'm especially enamored of gnarly, wart-covered gourds in crazy color combinations.

No matter your preference, gourds, pumpkins and squashes are here for a short time each fall. Make the most of these fabulous decorative elements. Visit us at Eric’s and harvest your favorites then try some of these ideas.

One way to create fall displays loaded with drama is to only use gourds and pumpkins that are the same color. For instance, for a fresh and fun fall dining-table display, gather some white pumpkins, gourds, and a few green accents. Cover the table with a green and white floral print or stripe pattern. Then place a white dinner plate with a green salad plate on top. Place a little white mini-pumpkin inside a white soup bowl on top of the plates. Repeat this for each place setting. For the centerpiece choose one: fill a green bowl with white gourds. Make a bouquet of green hypericum berries and place it in a low cube vase. Then toss a few white gourds and pumpkins around the base of the centerpiece.

For a white-pumpkin-inspired table that's a bit more elegant, start with a black-and-white damask tablecloth. Use silver chargers topped with gold- or silver-rimmed plates. Place a black iron urn in the table's center and fill with twigs, white hydrangea, and white gourds impaled on stakes for height. To create an interesting multilevel display use glass candlesticks and silver trophy cups, all topped with white gourds.

For another wonderful look for your fall table, group together gourds and pumpkins in traditional harvest colors of orange, red and yellow. Use inexpensive burlap as a table cloth. For a centerpiece, fill a tall wooden vessel with branches, fall florals and vine. Then add the color by loading a three-tiered server with an assortment of gourds, or place a small pumpkin on a wicker cake plate under a glass cloche. Place candles in small, hollowed-out gourds or use mini-pumpkins as place-card holders.

Blue is the complimentary color to orange so for a daring look: pair blue-and-white Asian ginger jars on opposite sides of a sofa table or a buffet, then fill them with fall foliage and flowers, resting additional gourds and pumpkins at the base. Freshen up your mantel with an undulating mélange of pumpkins and gourds of different sizes, shapes and colors. Give a few gourds added height atop candle holders, mint julep or votive.

No matter what you do with gourds it always looks good! Enjoy the New England fall

Spring is Here!

2011-05-05T05:13:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it seems hard to figure out our wonderful spring weather, but needless to say, it is spring with a mixed bag of weather. Yet we are in full swing. You should be trying to get some early spring chores in the yard and garden done.

A quick check list to help you get started:

1.) First and foremost, a PH test for both the lawn and garden to tell if you need Calcitic lime or not. We sell a .99 cent tester which works great. Only lime if needed.

2.) Prune any damaged trees and shrubs.

3.) Rake all debris out of beds and off lawn.

4.) All lawns should be thatched! Do not thatch if lawn is wet.

5.) Top dressing and over seeding lawns. We like to see soil temps around 55 degrees before seeding or applying Step 1, whether organic or not. You waste a lot of seed seeding too early.

6.) Fertilize all perennials, shrubs and trees. We have great early season pricing on all organic fertilizers (see www.ericsfloweremporium.com)

7.) You should start to prepare your vegetable gardens by, again, PH testing, adding compost and then lime if needed. You then can start to plant cole crops, including peas, lettuce, broccoli, etc. Direct seed any cole crops that are not already started.

8.) It’s never too early to remove all old soils out of window boxes and all other containers. This should happen every year because the soil is no longer sterile after it has been used. Contaminated soil causes lousy results with plantings.

This is just a beginning list. For those of you who need additional help and/or direction Dave, Tom and staff are always here to help.

For the bird lovers, it has been a long tough winter for the birds. Many people have a tough time getting to their feeders, however, keep feeding because the healthier our bird populations, the less bugs and the less bugs, the less chemicals needed to control them.

The hummingbird migration is now edging towards Massachusetts so time to clean the old feeders and get new nectar out. Another suggestion for attracting them is a big red bow. They love red. All our hummingbird feeders and supplies are 10% off for the month of April.

It is also time to clean out all the old stuff in your birdhouses. Watch out for mice that will nest in them. We have been receiving shipments of new birdhouses with a great selection of high quality houses.

Another often neglected chore for the bird lovers is to clean the bird feeders. The cleaner the feeder the less chance the birds have of getting a disease.

Hope to See You all in the Garden!

Tom, Dave and Staff

The Veggie Garden!

2010-06-01T11:26:00.001-07:00

I pick lettuce, radishes and spinach daily now, and I must say it is yummy. You should be wrapping up all your plantings and now be putting down salt marsh hay for weed control. I also use weed mat and other things. No weeds, no dust splash and just a much cleaner neater garden. Your vegetable garden can be a great learning experience. Every year I plant new items to try, asparagus and a few new tomatoes. I am also using red plastic mat around my tomatoes.

When planting tomatoes, it is best to plant them late. Dig a trench and lay tome on their side leaving the leaves exposed above the ground level. My brother David’s and my veggie gardens are very successful but we work at it. It is fun work.

Two products I highly recommend are Messenger, a natural hormone that triggers the natural defense mechanisms in the plant really works, and Neptune’s Harvest Natural Fertilizers. Come on in for more information.

Please feel free to come in when problems arise, do not wait, when you first see issues in the garden that is the best time to treat it. I had leaf miner on my spinach this week and wow does it spread fast. I used All Natural Spinosad and it cleared the problem up.

See Ya In The Garden
Tom & Dave

Vegetable Gardening

2010-04-29T09:13:00.001-07:00

By now your vegetable garden should be up and running. PH tested and adjusted accordingly.

Last year was the year for problems in the garden. June was very hard on the garden with all the rain. Included in that was a lot of diseased tomato plants. The box stores had many large issues with plants that had Blight. If you had such a problem, hopefully you removed the plants that were infected, put them in a sealed trash bag and threw them away. That being said, the soil is still contaminated and needs treatment. Fungonil is what is best to treat the soil. Covering this soil last year with black plastic is another method of treating the soil.

Be sure to rotate your plantings. Planting your plants in a different part of the garden each year helps limit the spread of disease and or when in doubt, ask your Eric’s garden coach!

The beginning shipments of all annuals, herbs and vegetables have begun but please beware of the full moon, what I call the farmers moon is 5/28. From 30+ years experience, after this date is when I would say it is safe to plant. If there is to be a late frost, it is usually near or at that last full moon in may.

See Ya In The Garden
Tom & Dave

2010-04-14T11:38:00.001-07:00

This is a real fun time for vegetable gardeners, where all the preseason planning now must be put into action.
Soil preperation is where it begins. Testing the soil for PH is a must to start the season. It is also a good time to beef up the soil. A good organic soil is dark, crumbly and has a rich earthy smell. If its not these things, COMPOST is the way to greatly enhance it. Our garden coaches can help with this, just bring us a sample of your soil.
If your early season cole crops are not in, they should be. We have a large selection in 6 packs ready for sale to get you started.
Along with the 6 packs, we have many seeds to be directly seeded or started indoors.

See you in the Garden.

Tom & Dave

Should I switch to organic?

2010-04-01T10:14:00.000-07:00

Now is the time to make the decision to go organic or not. The organic advantage is large. Whether it's for the lawn, planting beds or the vegetable garden, organics are where it is at. The only thing needed to make the switch from synthetics to organics is time. It usually takes at least a full year to see the benefits when you first make the switch.

Organics are all about the soil. By replenishing your soils you are creating a healthy living soil where all the beneficial bacteria, fungi and other organisms work symbiotically with your plants.

For more information on Organics, sign up for our seminar:
"Simple Steps to Organic Lawn Care and Gardening"
Speaker - Chip Osborne from Osborne Organics
being held at our Reading location on Saturday 4/24/10 @ 10 am

To get more information on all our workshops and seminars, visit us on the web:
http://www.ericsfloweremporium.com/events.html
or call us at 781-944-0547

Seed Starting

2010-03-24T12:21:00.000-07:00

Now is the time to think about seed starting and early season garden boxes. Cole Crops can be started now. You can condition them by putting them outside during the day and bringing them in at night. They will be ready to plant in mid to late April. Or these can be started in cold frames.

Seed starting indoors requires bright light with good soil and peat pots. It is fairly easy to do but be sure not to over water as this will rot the seed or slow the growth of the new seedlings. As the seed germinates, you can get your new seedlings acclimated to the outdoors. This will lessen the transplant shock when you plant them outside. Be sure not to leave your tender new seedlings outside on a cold, windy or rainy days.

The biggest mistake people make is starting a seed at the wrong time. Be sure you know when to start your seeds.

For seed starting advice, you can contact us via our webpage or speak to one of our many garden coaches.

We carry a large selection of both seeds and seed starting supplies at both our Reading and Westford locations.