Now that fall has started to creep it’s way into Michigan, it’s time to shift our gardens into fall mode. One thing you should start thinking about is mulch. Mulch can have so many positive effects on your gardens – but I bet you’re asking yourself where do you even start?

First – let’s talk about all the benefits it provides:

1. Mulching helps maintain an even temperature throughout the seasons. In the summer, it helps keep your soil cooler. In the winter, it helps keep your soil warmer. Think of it as a blanket that moderates the effect the extreme weather has on your soil.  
2. It can help keep soil in place. When we have extreme rainfall – it’s easy for soil to puddle or start to run off. When you have mulch in place, it prevents that puddling and run off and the rain will be able to absorb into your soil.
3. A good layer of mulch can also help prevent weed seeds from germinating. The mulch prevents the soil from receiving a lot of sunlight, and without sunlight the weed seeds are less likely to germinate.

Now that you know all the positive attributes it has – let’s discuss which mulch would be best for you.

1. Inorganic mulch is one option people like to take, because they tend to last longer. Some examples of inorganic mulch would be: rocks, gravel, chipped rubber, landscaping cloths, etc.
2. Wood mulches are ones that are going to break down overtime – shredded bark for example. These are great options, because as they break down they can feed your soil. Obviously, a non-colored would be best for your vegetable or organic garden.

How much mulch will you need?
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Well, to be honest, we like to advise people to be generous when laying their mulch done because it will eventually settle. Anywhere from one to four inches will work. But here’s a fun rule of thumb we like to go by – one to two inches in perennial gardens, two to three inches in vegetable gardens, and three to four inches around your trees or bushes.
 
Obviously, mulch isn’t going to answer all garden problems, but I hope this gave you some insight on why we encourage mulching your gardens!

Remember that if you ever have any questions – OERTHER’S is always here for you. 

You know that you can always come in to ask questions at OERTHERS - and I'm so glad that you do! So, in the past few weeks, when we've had a handful of customers come in concerned about the rise of cases of the bird flu. So, we wasted no time figuring out what we should do. 

After a bit of research, in addition to reaching out to a few of my distributors, here's what I was able to find out. The bird flu can be transmitted from sick birds by sharing food and water with surrounding birds at a feeder - and although the cases in Michigan have been minimal, I'm sure you're asking yourself "How can you prevent the spread of sickness?" 

First, make sure your feeders are clean! 
      - scrub away any visible debris on your feeder
      - prepare a solution of nine parts water to one part bleach and soak the feeder. This is strong enough          to disinfect & loosen up additional debris you missed with the first scrub. 
      - make sure to rinse really well! 
      - and when you're done, let your feeder is completely air dry before setting it back out 

& voila - you've got a clean feeder! It's suggested that you clean your feeder once every two weeks... but let's try to be realistic. Try cleaning them once a month, unless you see a reason to do it sooner.  

Secondly, ensure that there is newer seed out - it's best to make sure your feeders seed is changed out every two weeks (although - we know that's not an issue with most of you!).

Those two simple tips are the best way to keep our wildlife safe and healthy - something that will always at the forefront of OERTHERS priorities. 

You might be noticing that the temperatures have been a little high lately, how are your gardens doing?


When temperatures start to feel higher than 90 degrees, sometimes your vegetable & fruit plants can shut down. If you notice that has been happening in your garden check out these tips:

1. Hang a shade cloth a few inches above the plants – this allows the plants and soil temperatures to lower. It can also protect your plants from burning!
2. Keep your garden weeded – weeds can rob moisture & nutrients from your plants!
3. Make sure not to OVERwater your plants – it can cause the fruit to have no taste at harvest. For example, a tomato plant once established needs less water as the fruit begins to appear – it allows the plant to focus more on ripening rather than grow more leaves. Make sure to water just enough to make the soil barely damp.

PROTIP: adding mulch a good layer of mulch around base of your plants decreases how much you need to water! (cypress mulch will be 25% off at the store through the rest of this month!)

Remember that OERTHERS is always here for you if you have any questions - so never hesitate to reach out!

Now that the first day of spring has come and gone – many of you are ready to jump right into your gardening projects! Here at OERTHERS we don’t blame you. This past winter was rough and we getting excited to see the grass is getting greener every day, but a there’s a few things you might be jumping the gun on.

Here is a list of things you can start on now:

Mulching – perfect to start now! It can even protect some of those perennials that are coming up during some of these cold spring nights.
Lime – absolutely!
Fertilizer – great time to green things up! Milorganite is our personal favorite as it’s non-burning.
Potatoes & Onions – there’s a farmers belief that they should be in the ground the full moon before Easter.
Seeds – there are some garden seeds you can start now: lettuce, spinach, radishes, and kohlrabi.

Things to wait on:
Crabgrass Preventer –  wait until the soil is 55 degrees. A good indicator on when the best time to lay this is when the Forsythia bush starts to bloom. That shouldn’t be too much longer now as most are starting to bud right now!
Preen – you can lay this after you first weed your garden. Remember that Preen is a preventer, not a killer, so it won’t kill weeds that are already established. It will prevent most of them from coming back once you’ve already cleared them all out though. It is recommended to be laid monthly after your first initial weeding.
Grass Seed – this one is a bit tricky to access. Spring seeding is an option for cool-season grasses. Aim to lay this seed down during the day when temperatures are between 60 – 75 degrees Fahrenheit to adhere to the optimal soil temperatures for cool-season grass seed germination.
 
As always, OERTHERS is here for you to answer any questions you have!
Your success is our success! 

Boxes, boxes, boxes…  

OERTHER’S show orders has begun to arrive; and the staff it starting to think Margaret and I may have a shopping addition with all the boxes we have been getting. You know what that means though, right? Despite the current snowstorms and negative temperatures… spring is on the way! And we just can’t contain the excitement to have you all see the fun stuff we have in store this year. 

Thanks to the dream team of Mark and Lacey - all our garden seeds are on the shelf and ready for you.  And in just a few more weeks our bulk potato and onions will be hitting the shelves, too!  

In the meantime, remember that OERTHERS is always here for your pet supplies and seed for your wild bird friends (now is the time they really count on you!) – with new product arriving all the time! Stop in anytime Monday through Friday between 9 to 5 or Saturday between 9 to 4.  
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Curbside delivery is also still an option for anyone who doesn’t want to brace these freezing temperatures. Just give us a call – and we can get your order together and bring it out to your car.  


Kathleen Oerther  

​As most have heard, despite all of efforts, our store was recently impacted by COVID-19.

It’s easy to prepare everything on paper, but all the preparation in the world can’t prepare you emotionally for a phone call informing you that someone you know has tested positive for COVID-19. I’m thankful enough for a staff who values, as much as I do, customer safety. As soon as we were aware one of us were positive – everyone took proper precaution and got tested.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it every day until the end of time, my staff and customer’s safety are of the upmost priority to me. I will always do whatever I can to make sure my store is a safe place to shop. If I were the reason that someone was to have fallen ill – I’m not sure I’d ever be to come to terms with that.
For that reason, in addition to all the testing – we took another precaution and sanitized the entire store. We were lucky enough to have a long-time customer, who is the local Clorox Territory Manager, offer to apply the Disinfectant Cleaner on all touch areas and stock in the store (with exception of dog treats and house plants). Clorox Total 360 is very safe chemical that has now utilized in over 1,000 facilities in Michigan (particularly at most school systems in the state).

I hope that with all these precautions OERTHERS has taken, you’ll feel comfortable shopping with us this holiday season. We still have Christmas trees, wreaths, swags, grave blankets, and roping available. In addition to all your evergreen décor, Christmas Tree Lane is OPEN! The greenhouse is currently filled with Christmas trees decorated with the handmade items, perfect gifts for friends and family, by local crafters. We have to support our small, local businesses this season - it's important now more than ever.
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Kathleen Oerther 

We held our tenth annual Pumpkin Something event just a few weeks ago, and over the past few days I’ve been reflecting on just how blessed I feel about how everyone came together during such a hard year to help raise money for our community.

I’d be lying if I said there weren’t challenges. Really… a few times I had to ask myself how this was all going to work? My staff was quick to help. I’m grateful to have such fantastic employees who went above and beyond to ensure this event was safe for everyone. It may have taken a few brains “storming” to be sure all of our activities were able to maintain safe social interaction, but they made it happen.

One of the first things we had to alter was our famous Pumpkin Bake Off, where people donate homemade pumpkin themed dishes to a silent auction. This year, we instead auctioned off handwritten recipe cards, donated by our beloved community members, and beautiful baskets donated from our lovely local Marshall businesses. I’m truly, very grateful to all my fellow small business owners who gave me such generous donation baskets during this trying time.

We had our first annual Howl-A-Ween Pet Parade. It was great fun to see all your pups in costumes strut their stuff down our runway. In fact, we had so much fun, we hope to carry this tradition on to future Pumpkin Something events.

In the end, with the help and support of all of you, we raised $2,245 this year for the Oerther Non-Endowed Fund.

If you’re ever interested in knowing where the money from the Oerther Non-Endowed Fund is donated to, you can always call Marshall Community Foundation for updates. As one example, the Oerther Non-Endowed Fund has recently made a $1,000 donation to preserve Wilder Creek. We will continue to make donations to benefit and preserve the Marshall community we all love so much.

Kathleen Oerther