The month of Thanksgiving is here. It hasn’t been the best of years, not the worst, but no one bats 1000 so I just keep trying anyways. It is a pleasure to see my customers keeping the service and quality standards up. I know it pays dividends down the road, usually sooner than later. It is simple economics, when people are really watching money they will not buy poor quality no matter how much “cheaper” it is.

This is the month for winter fertilizer. The soil temps should be between 45 and 50 degrees, (recorded daily on the website). You want the fertilizer to break down and go into the soil but you don’t want the grass to grow. Too early and the grass gets all lushed up and is more susceptible to winter diseases, if the sprinklers are still on then go ahead water but it’s not necessary. The soil is cool enough and nothing will burn and precipitation will handle it. Spokane and mountain areas might be ready now but areas along the rivers probably won’t be ready until late in the month. Just because it has snowed or the air feels cold doesn’t’ mean the soil is cold. ( I have fertilized right on top of snow before, spring and fall, with never a problem. Snow is just colder rain).

Right now autumn leaves are falling like psychedelic rain. A gardener will recycle them to the garden and flower beds to make leaf mold. Another way to dispose of leaves is to mulch mow them right on top of the grass. The ground up leaves sift right in to leave the soil amended, the grass at the right height, and creating more time for fishing. That is called getting three birds with one stone.

The price of oil is acting like it wants to go back up which make absolutely no sense. Diesel was right at $3 last week. I’ll have to see what goes on in the next month or two before I adjust any prices. One thing for sure, if gas goes back up to $3.50, the U.S. won’t ever get out of this recession.

I have no brilliant insights for this month but that is nothing new ( I am probably wrong about oil again). The fishing is pretty good and there are more Hungarian partridges than I’ve seen in many years. If the weather stays decent this looks to be a good month. I hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving.

And Thank You.