With all this downtime, you'd think I'd be up to date with the blog. Nope. We have a lot to catch up on! Our spring was off to a great start. Was. Right?!?! The beginning of March we attended the West Michigan Home & Garden Show in Grand Rapids and spent a wonderful weekend with Grandma & Grandpa Pillywiggin on the farm. It was around this time that we received an unexpected gift from one of our customers. A box full of organic meal kits from Sun Basket. Thanks Steve & Jari! This was our first experience with meal delivery kits. Jason & I had a lot of fun preparing these meals together. They were healthy & delicious. Here's a look at what we made.
We saved the seeds from the organic peppers found in the Hot & Sour Chicken Stir Fry meal kit. They were really tasty peppers so we crossed our fingers and tried to sprout a few with the rest of our garden seeds. Success! Here's a look at our pepper sprouts. And our tomatoes!
Easter Peeps - I'm The Monkey In The Middle :) On the Work FrontAs of Friday afternoon, April 24th, 2020, the Governor's "Stay Home Stay Safe" Mandate has been eased to allow landscaping activities to resume. Hooray! Now we can get back to work in your gardens... just as soon as we finish our happy dance!
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A Message to Our Friends, Neighbors & Community, Pillywiggins love beautiful blossoms but our primary focus has always been creating and maintaining safe, healthy, environments for people, pets & wildlife. Pillywiggins are gardeners for life & we remain committed to this task. Pillywiggins Garden, LLC will continue to operate within the guidelines of all Federal, State & local mandates to provide essential services to our customers and our community. We are taking every precaution to keep ourselves & others healthy and will strictly adhere to all safety protocols and government mandates that may follow. Why are landscaping services essential? It's a matter of public health & safety.
Pillywiggins mastered the art of social distancing long ago, preferring to go about their business unnoticed, leaving only their gardens behind as proof of their existence. Our business operates much the same way. Pillywiggins Garden, LLC employs two Pillywiggins, my husband Jason & me. We work from our home-based office and are able to conduct the majority of our business without any physical contact with others. It's actually the norm for us!
We will be focusing on the essential needs of our customers & our community.
At this time, it is still uncertain how our supply chain will be effected. That being said, most of the materials we use are obtained locally and most can be obtained without direct physical contact. We are hopeful but prepared to make do with limited resources. Spring is a time new beginnings. A time for growth & change.
Spring is also a time to be hopeful, for beautiful things are on the way. Stay home, be safe and remain positive. With Love, The Pillywiggins Wow! Look at the size of that root ball. It's bigger than our ball cart! How do little Pillywiggins manage such large trees? They call in the machines to help. These trees were delivered in the morning & planted the same day! See how we did it below. Tree Planting 101We were called to a site recently to meet with a new customer and his neighbor to discuss their landscaping needs. Of particular concern were the new trees that had been purchased and installed about 2 months prior by another nursery/landscaping company. The owner said the trees looked healthy when they were planted but soon began to show signs of stress & decline. The trees were already beginning to die. A quick glance was all that was needed to determine the problem. When burlap is exposed (as shown in these photos) it acts like a candlewick drawing moisture from the earth up to the surface where it simply evaporates. The problem is the burlap underground completely surrounds the tree's root ball. Leaving a tail of burlap exposed like this is a direct attack against the tree's root system. Wicking moisture away from the earth surrounding the root system is starving the tree! Further investigation revealed all 8 of the trees installed had exposed burlap and/or large tails of attached burlap covered only by a light layer of mulch. (A few trees were left with the wire root basket handles poking out of the ground!) NONE of the trees were planted deep enough as you can see in the photo above. Note the highlighted area. That hump isn't a mulch volcano, it's the top of the tree's root ball covered with mulch! B&B trees (balled & burlapped) are larger trees with root systems too large to fit in a plastic container. Instead, the roots are bound in burlap to keep them safe. Burlap is a woven fabric made from natural organic materials such as jute or sisal so it is biodegradable and designed to be planted with the tree. However, when you unbind the twine that secures the burlap & root ball, you must also cut away all of the excess burlap at the top of the root ball. When planted, ALL remaining burlap must be buried deeply underground with the roots.
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