May 2011

Men's Garden Club of Wethersfield
May 2011
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NEXT MEETING - PLEASE NOTE SPECIAL DATE, SPECIAL LOCATION
Monday May 9 - Fred Odell's house at 41 Oldham Road, Wethersfield

Fred says it "will start at 6:30. Meal will be simple hot dogs (with an alternative), salad, beans, potato salad. Light beverages and on your own with BYO. Hopefully we can keep the meeting brief, eat while we meet, then get into the sale (and hopefully that will be brief also due to lack of goods). In the past this event included a "tag sale/auction" of GARDEN TOOLS (no trimmers allowed on the premises) which is fun; I will leave that up to your discretion to advertise or not. Rain is a problem I would rather not deal with so I won't. Fred 'I'm Trim Enough' Odell"

Today - Donate some perennials from your personal collection to the Plant Sale

Plants should be split and potted ASAP to look good for the sale. Please label all plants. Contact Fred Odell (860.529.6064) for official pots, potting soil, and plant labels.

Plant Sale Saturday May 7th (Rain Date May 14th)

7:00 - 8:00 Set Up Deliver homegrowns, unload plants, price plants, set up tables
8:00 - 1:00 Sell Help customers, total up sales, answer questions
1:00 - 2:00 Close Clean up, break down tables, pack up leftover plants
Volunteer! Contribute your own "homegrowns"
Call Tom Gibson @ 1-860-208-5195

Weston Rose Garden

Weekly maintenance will be done on Mondays this year - beginning Monday May 30 through Monday September 26 - 8:00 to 9:30 followed by coffee at a local bistro. BYO tools. Your help is needed - this is our club's major community service project. Questions - Call Rocco Orsini (563-3246)

Mark Your Calendars for These Special Events

Gardeners' Appreciation Day! - Saturday, June 4 at 2pm

Carol Quish, a Master Gardner, Master Composter and Horticulturist at UCONN Home and Garden Center will present "Compost Happens" at 2pm at the Keeney Memorial Cultural Center - sponsored by the Wethersfield Historical Society.

Join Ken Etheridge (Our Eagle Speaker) - Saturday, June 4

Nature Walk. 8:00 am to about 11:00 am. Connecticut River Floodplain, Great Meadows Conservation Area, sponsored by Connecticut Audubon Center Glastonbury and Great Meadows Conservation Trust. Easy 3.0-mile walk over flat terrain. Join Ken Etheridge, GMCT naturalist, for an exploration of the meadow, marsh, and wooded habitats of the floodplain where as many as 50 bird species can often be spotted. Meet 8:00 am next to ferry landing at Ferry Park on Route 160, Rocky Hill. Bring beverage, snack, and bug spray; dress for the weather and ground conditions (long sleeves, long pants recommended). Conditions may revise or cancel. Visit http://www.gmct.org or call CT Audubon Center, 860-633-8402, for up-to-date information. Leader Ken Etheridge, kee134@aol.com, 860-635-6751.

Compostable Matter
by Jim Meehan

The Mens Garden Club of Wethersfield wasn't always the world-renowned political and social juggernaut that it is today. Hard as it seems to believe, at one time this group was just one of many struggling civic organizations trying to build up its membership - and striving to get its name known by the public at large.

Which brings us to 21 May 1781, General George Washington, Lieutenant General Comte de Rochambeau, The Onion Maidens, and the event that first put the MGCoW on the worldwide stage.

As frequently happens when great ideas first come to fruition alcohol was involved.

Colonial American breakfasts were far different than the juice, eggs, cereal and bagels of today. The food was usually porridge, or cornmeal-mush and molasses. The "juice" was either hard cider or beer. Dinner was taken in the early afternoon and consisted in part of the same alcoholic libation.

So, by the time Ye Olde Mens Garden Club of Wethersfield gathered for its monthly meeting on that cold March evening in 1781 all of the members were pretty much buzzed, blotto and befuddled -- the three conditions that usually lead to someone shouting out one of these two sets of famous last words -- either "Hey guys, watch this!" or (even more deadly) "Have I got a great idea!"

All through the colonies word had spread that General Washington and the Comte de Rochambeau were searching for a propitious location at which to plan their latest strategy to win the Revolutionary War. Towns all across the northeast were hyping their best local attractions in an effort to lure the two warriors to their doorstep.

It was against that background that Roger Benjamin Enoch Dimmesdale, the first President of the garden club, rose unsteadily and in a barely intelligible voice, explained his "brilliant plan" to bring that pair of heroes to Wethersfield and, in the process, to lead his organization to the forefront of the organizational pack.

"Onion Maidens." He slurred loudly.

"Do you mean those sweet, innocent girls who weed and weep to harvest the red onions that grow so ubiquitously in our fields -- reaping the onions for the reward of a silk dress, or more likely, given the shortage of that lustrous fiber, things like chewing tobacco and snuff?" asked one of the more sober members.

"Well they don't know that. Now do they? For all they know the Onion Maidens could be even hotter than those Plowmates of the Month from that sordid Plowboy magazine that heathen Hughziah Hefner just started publishing. All it takes is a little creative PR campaign."

And it worked. Within two weeks both of the generals had made abrupt turns southward, and rushed to ye olde towne of Wethersfield as quickly as two entourages on horseback traveling badly marked dirt roads could travel.

The Onion Maidens however were not amused -- at all. They refused to participate in or even appear near any festivities involving the garden club or their distinguished guests. And the other women in town joined in the boycott.

Left to their own devices the MGCoW could only come up with a "Welcome Walk of Honor" through a cordon of club members and the few other townspeople that were still speaking to them. To decorate the route President Dimmesdale decided to strew the pathway with discarded skins from the Wethersfield Red Onions that he had desperately gathered from along the edges of the fields.

He failed however to anticipate the rain. It began two hours before the dignitaries' arrival and continued as a heavy mist throughout the procession.

The onionskins became slick with moisture. The generals -- already besotted in both senses of the word -- darted pell-mell up the slippery path in anticipation of socializing with the absent maidens. The inevitable happened.

First the French military hero, then the great American leader crashed to the ground ignominiously right at the feet of President Dimmesdale.

The location is today marked with a sign that reads "21 May, 1781 -- George Washington slipped here."

The Origins of Birth Month Flowers

The first flowers appeared on our Planet over 130 million years ago creating beauty, color and wonderful scents. Flowers have been given as gifts since time immemorial. It is believed that birthday celebrations originated in the Roman Empire and the origins of birth month flowers could be said to date back to these times. The birthday celebrations included honoring the Roman Gods and decorating their altars with flowers. During Roman birthday celebrations family and friends offered congratulations and brought gifts. The gifts included flowers - the first traditions and origins of Birth Month Flowers.

The language of flowers developed during the highly conservative period of the Victorian era. The Victorians were strongly restricted by the rules of etiquette when it was considered totally inappropriate to express feelings of love or affection. The "Language of Flowers" therefore evolved when a message was assigned to specific flower by which means a lover could send flowers which conveyed a hidden romantic meaning.

Flora was the Roman Goddess of flowers and her name continues to be used as a collective term for plant life and flowers. The festival of Flora, called the Floralia, was held in the month of April or early May and was marked with flowers. There were two temples dedicated to Flora in Rome, one was near the great Circus Maximus where chariot races were held and the other temple was on the slopes of the Quirinal Hill Month of January Flowers, the Carnation or Snowdrop, to celebrate New Year's Day, Epiphany (12 days after Christmas), Martin Luther King's birthday on the third Monday in January and even Golf Day on January 17

Month of February Flowers, the Violet or Primrose, to celebrate St Valentine's Day

Month of March, the Jonquil (aka Daffodil or Narcissus), to celebrate St David's Day on March 1,
St Patrick's Day on March 17 and Mothering Sunday, or Mother's Day ( the 4th Sunday of Lent)

Month of April Flowers, the Sweet pea or Daisy, to celebrate Easter, Good Friday, Palm Sunday and Passover

Month of May, the Lily of the Valley, to celebrate May Day on May 1 and Cinco de Maya on May 5

Month of June Flowers, the Rose, to commemorate D Day on June 6 and Father's Day on the third Sunday in June

Month of July, the Larkspur or Water Lily, to celebrate Canada Day on July 1 and Independence Day on July 4

Month of August Flowers, the Gladiolus or Poppy, to celebrate Friendship Day on the first Sunday in August , Sisters Day on Aug 5and Senior Citizen's Day on August 8

Month of September, the Aster or Morning Glory, to commemorate Patriot Day on 9/11 and celebrate Teacher's Day on September 4 and Grandparent's Day on the first Sunday after Labor Day on Sept 1

Month of October Flowers, the Calendula (Marigold), to celebrate Halloween on October 31 and Colobus Day on October 13

Month of November, the Chrysanthemum, to celebrate All Saint's Day on November 1 and Thanksgiving Day

Month of December Flowers, the Narcissus or Holly, to celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year's Eve

The May Flower
Convallaria or Lily of the Valley

Botanically known as Convallaria, but also known as May lily, May bells, Our Lady's tears, Convall-lily, Lily Constancy, ladder-to-Heaven, Jacob's Ladder, male lily, muguet. The Lily of the Valley signifies a "return to happiness". Lily of the valley is much used in bridal arrangements for their sweet perfume. Traditionally associated with May 1st, especially in France where the "muguet" is handed out at special events.

The leaves of this small herb, arising from a slender creeping rootstock, are 10-15cm long with sheathed stalks; the leafless flowerstems support a one-sided spike of drooping, bell-shaped, white, sweet-scented flowers. It is found in woodlands throughout Europe and Asia from the Mediterranean to the Arctic circle, and is cultivated and naturalised throughout the world.

First cultivated in 1420, and is mainly available in April and May.

The fresh leaves have the most powerful action. Convallaria is a valuable heart remedy with an action similar to Digitalis but without its potential toxic effects, and was used to treat victims of gassing during the First World War as it reduces blood pressure. Although a word of caution, these leaves shouldn't be used unless by a qualified medical practitioner as they can have very harmful side effects if not treated correctly.

The flowers are also used in perfumery. In Chinese medicine, related species are used as a tonic. The red fruits are also highly poisonous.

Horti-Culture Corner (Point)

"Every year, back comes Spring, with nasty little birds yapping their fool heads off and the ground all mucked up with plants."
- Dorothy Parker

Ann's Organic Garden: Mole and vole control (Featuring "The Rodenator")
By Ann Lovejoy - seattlepi.com

Some readers are not sure whether their garden damage comes from moles, voles or other tunneling animals. I recently asked naturalist Dave Pehling, an assistant Snohomish County extension agent and zoologist, about controlling these critters effectively, legally and safely.
Dave is something of an expert on the habits, damage, identification and control of soil mounders. He presents educational programs for Master Gardeners, who then teach the public what works and what doesn't.

Dave doesn't think much of the popular folk remedy of combining dish soap with castor oil (which has worked well for me). He says, "It does work for some people, but it doesn't produce consistent control. Some folks are lucky with it, others not."

He adds, "With a recent mole or vole invasion, something like that may drive them out, but with an established system of tunnels, it is not likely to work."

Dave explained that Northwest moles thrive on a diet rich in protein (rarely plant roots or shoots). They make large mounds of soil, and their tunnels may show up as depressions in a lawn or garden bed.

As insectivores, moles eat worms, slugs and bugs, including many garden pests. Though they favor prey that moves, moles also relish slug eggs, juicy tidbits that look rather like pop beads.

Though plants seldom attract foraging moles, an occasional Townsend's mole may eat tulip bulbs. However, most moles will refuse them even when the bulbs are offered to them in cages.
In contrast, voles are rodents, eating both plant material and some insects. The Townsend meadow vole makes tunnels but also cruises on the soil surface. The little creeping meadow vole is more apt to stay underground, often sharing mole tunnels.

"Gardens that border wild areas probably have both moles and voles," Dave notes. To find out what is bugging you, he suggests hanging a piece of apple from a stick laid across rocks to keep it above the ground. "If after 24 hours, you find the apple has been fed on, you'll know what you've got," he says. "Rodent teeth leave clear parallel marks. Moles would shred it; their teeth don't make the same line."

If voles are nibbling your tulips (often by borrowing mole tunnels), Dave says, "Plant tulips in baskets of quarter inch hardware cloth." Plant them right in the ground, and the bulbs will be safe (though deer might still eat the flowers).

He also suggests swapping tulips for daffodils. "All narcissus are highly resistant to voles and deer," he points out.

For reliable control, Dave recommends the kind of barrier described in last week's column. "Cut a trench and line garden beds with sheets of hardware cloth 18 to 24 inches wide," he says. "Bend half of it outward at the bottom of the trench and leave at least 3 inches sticking up above ground as well to foil Townsend's vole," which sometimes runs on the soil surface.

What about the many electronic devices on the market? "Many are noisy, and most offer variable results," Dave says. "The problem is that you must monitor behavior to succeed." Why? Well, moles spend most of the time underground, except when tunnel building in spring and fall. Surface-based vibrators and noisemakers simply don't bother moles living underground.

"If you have time, you can discourage tunneling moles by thumping an emerging mound hard with a shovel or a broomstick every time you see one being made," Dave notes. "However, moles are active 24 hours a day when tunneling, so not many people can keep up with them."

Flooding mole runs with a hose works well, but you need to stay vigilant, or the moles will simply return. The combination of mound flattening and tunnel flooding can be quite effective.
What about supposedly deadly imitation worms (rubbery things that look like candy worms)? Dave says, "They cost a couple of dollars apiece and are still only sometimes effective."

In the end, Dave suggests: "Try a variety of things. Moles are individuals, so experiment to see what works best." He cautions, "Even toxic baits are not consistently effective."

In small yards, Dave suggests placing a dozen mousetraps in existing mole runs, protected from other wildlife. "Bait them with apple slices to eliminate catches of shrews, which make excellent insect controls and don't tunnel or eat vegetable materials (except seeds). Shrews are voracious eaters of cutworms, slugs and slug eggs, and earwigs," Dave adds.

For sheer excitement, consider the "rodenator," a system that injects an explosive gas mixture into mole tunnels. A (licensed) operator then pushes a button that throws a spark and -- kablow! A long line of mole tunnel blows sky high. Check it out online at rodenator.com/videos.htm. It's pretty much a guy thing.

For the rest of us, Dave suggests aiming for management, not control. "Definitely don't overwater," he says. "That encourages moles and wastes water. If soggy lawns are attracting moles, modify your irrigation system to water deeply and less often; most lawns need no more than an inch a week."

Debate rages about use of squirrel-detonating Rodenator in Spokane, Wash.
(latimesblogs.latimes.com)

"For you animal rights activists and lovers out there, I want you to try this on for size," conservative talk-radio icon Rush Limbaugh said on a recent broadcast. "This is a story from Spokane, Wash. They're having a problem with too many ground squirrels at the Finch Arboretum. I've never seen this word. A-r-b-o-r-e-t-u-m, what the hell is an arboretum?"

Limbaugh went on to discuss the Spokane, Wash., Parks and Recreation department's use of a machine called the Rodenator Pro to "detonate" squirrels it says are causing extensive damage to the arboretum, which has about 2,000 ornamental trees and shrubs. But while Limbaugh doesn't seem to mind the tactic, many others are crying foul. The Associated Press reports:
[Spokane Humane Society] Executive Director Dave Richardson sent a letter to the Spokane City Council, saying the detonations are a temporary and unethical response to a problem that could be solved by limiting the animals food supply.

The parks department said an overpopulation of squirrels is causing destruction at the arboretum, and blowing them up is the best way to deal with the problem.

"We didn't take care of the issue well enough over the last couple years, and it just allowed [the squirrels] to multiply," Parks and Recreation department director Barry Russell told the Spokesman Review. "The coyotes just can't keep up."

Russell emphasized that the Rodenator method is "the quickest way" for the animals to die. Previous attempts by the department to control the squirrel population have included pumping poisonous gas into the burrows and even lining the burrows with chewing gum it hoped would destroy the squirrels' stomachs and bring about their deaths, spokeswoman Nancy Goodspeed told the Spokesman Review.

The Rodenator Pro pumps a mixture of 97% oxygen and 3% propane into squirrels' burrows, then sends an electric spark that causes an explosion that kills the rodents and collapses the tunnels. Its manufacturer, Idaho-based Meyer Industries, says the system is both humane and environmentally friendly.

In addition to squirrels and gophers, Rodenator is used to kill voles, moles, prairie dogs, rabbits, armadillos, marmots, badgers, foxes and coyotes. The best part of the Rodenator, according to its maker? "The nice thing ... is that you never have to handle or see the dead animal after the process is completed," reads a statement on the Rodenator website.

"... The saber-toothed gopher is in deep trouble, because this is war," proclaims a video on its website. "Rodenator to the rescue!"

Help...There's a Duck Nest in My Flower Pot! What You Can Do To Help
(www.npwrc.usgs.gov)

[Some of you may remember several years ago when a family of Mallard ducks set up a nest in the bushes near the Weston Rose Garden. Last year my neighbor Ed had a similar incident in his front yard. Now a pair of Mallards is hanging around our bird feeders.]

OK, so the nest is THERE...Now what?

First, assuming you can live with the location, and are willing to make some lifestyle adjustments for the next five to seven weeks, your only necessary contribution is to minimize disturbance around the nest site. If Ma has homesteaded on your front porch, consider putting a barricade on the sidewalk to direct traffic to the back door. If she's in the back yard, set up an exclusion zone. If she is nesting in the lawn, consider letting the grass grow to provide concealment and minimize disturbance. (Heck, one biologist here got by without mowing the lawn for 12 years by convincing his wife that they had a mallard out there somewhere!)

If you must work around the nest, keep in mind that Ma will only be at the nest a short time each day during the laying period, and will leave the nest a couple of times daily to feed during incubation. Try to do whatever you need to do in the vicinity of the nest during her absences. But be careful where you step...once she covers the nest, your first indication of trouble may be yolk on your shoes.

Also, be aware that Ma is very likely to permanently abandon the nest if disturbed early in the laying process, but will become increasing less likely to abandon in response to disturbance as time goes on. Also, anything you can do to prevent predation will raise the odds in Ma's favor. Fully 80-90% of all nests fail because of predation. Dogs, cats, raccoons, skunks, rats, squirrels, crows, gulls, and (possibly) bluejays are likely culprits in a suburban setting. Keep your pets leashed and ask neighbors to do the same.

Fencing generally is not practical, but if you want you can erect a chicken wire exclosure when Ma is gone; just keep it 10 ft or so away from the nest and be sure to remove it a couple of days before the anticipated hatch date so that the brood can leave without delay. Also, if you accidentally flush Ma off of the nest, you can help protect the nest from avian predators by folding the edges of the nest over to cover the eggs. This will also help maintain a constant temperature during incubation.

Don't worry about leaving your scent on the nest...birds in general have a lousy sense of smell; the idea that a bird will abandon a nest that has been touched by a human is just an enduring myth.

That's really about it. Stand back and let nature take its course. Don't worry about feeding Ma or the kids...she wouldn't have nested if she didn't have a reliable food source. So the nest is on the second floor balcony? Not to worry; a 15-20 ft jump is nothing to a down-covered duckling. If you want, let the grass grow below the balcony to further cushion the landing.

Horti-Culture Corner (Counterpoint)

"Horticulturally, the month of May is opening night, Homecoming, and Graduation Day all rolled into one."
- Tam Mossman

May Q & A from www.valecroftnurseries.com

Q. About 8 weeks ago, I was given some AMARYLLIS bulbs. I have kept them in a cool environment for 8 weeks and would now like to plant them in my New England garden. I understand that they can bloom again in about six weeks. Can you please give me advice on how to plant them and if you think they will bloom again?
Winnie
A. The Dutch hybrids bred mainly for pot culture can make good garden flowers in the South, but not so much in New England. There are garden versions of the amaryllis plant and these are hardier. The bulb as sold in the pot sometimes has a smaller younger bulblet attached to the main bulb, this often flowers later. Plant as you would a daffodil or tulip.
Q. Now that my tulips have lost their petals, they have gone straggly and generally makes my borders look messy. What is the best way to get rid of the unsightly stems? Is it safe to cut them down? Or should I tie them up with string? Or will they die off naturally? Also, the same question to Hyacinths. Should I cut down the stems and leaves?
A. Both tulips and hyacinths, cut off the flower stem straight after flowering but not the leaves, cutting off the flower stem stops seed production and allows the plant to concentrate on growing next years flower bud within the bulb, from the suns energy stored in the leaves.

April 2011

Planters Punchlines
Men's Garden Club of Wethersfield April 2011
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Uncover the Weston Rose Garden Saturday April 23 @ 8:00 a.m. -
Weed, spread composted manure and prune back. BYO tools & thorn-proof gloves.

Regular Saturday maintenance (deadheading ,etc) will begin at a date t/b/a.
Anyone interested in joining this elite group of gardeners and learning more about rose gardening while contributing to our town is welcome - regulars, part-timers, or drop-ins.

Monthly Meeting - Monday April 25 @ 7:00 p.m.
@ Wethersfield Community Center. Final planning for the Plant Sale. "Official" pots and labels for donated plants will be available.

Annual Plant Sale - May 7 (Rain Date May 14)

This is our major fundraiser. CRITICAL NEED - Club members are asked to contribute "home grown" perennials to the sale. If you do not have your own plants to donate - seek them out from friends, neighbors or relatives. If you need help splitting the plants contact Chairman Tom Gibson 1-860-208-5195.

Plants being donated should be split and potted as soon as possible in order to allow them time to develop in the pot and look good for the sale. Please label all plants. Contact Fred Odell (860.529.6064) for official pots, potting soil, and plant labels.

Compostable Matter By Jim Meehan

When we had a vegetable garden, my vernal equinox occurred on the morning that I manually turned the soil therein in preparation for the traditional Memorial Day planting of our crops. Since this event was determined my restless desire to resume my favorite outdoor avocation, rather than any calendar-based reason, it frequently occurred as much as two and one-half months prior to any practical need for it.

Now - except for eight or so tomato plants - we have gone perennial in that part of our horticultural kingdom. This is the direct result of my continued acceptance of "rescue plants" from friends, strangers, and about-to-be dug up public gardens. Plus the fact that year-after-year the ravenous rabbits of our neighborhood have totally ravaged our vegetable plot.

The remaining small amount of space reserved for the tomatoes doesn't provide enough exercise to count as a season-opening ritual. But the sun-warmed-yet-cool early spring air still screams for me to flex my landscaping muscles long before there is any practical work to be done by them.

So here is my solution.

In late autumn I have the exact opposite situation. The various plants in my various perennial beds have run their course for the year. They stand dry and desiccated in the declining warmth of the already ended season. They scream to put out of their misery

I have two choices. (1) I can garb myself in layers of flannel and down and cut the pitiful-looking creatures to the ground, thus letting them spend the upcoming cold part of the year buried totally under a blanket of equally cold precipitation. (2) I can do nothing and justify my lethargy with vague descriptions of mid-winter birds finding sustenance from leftover seeds and shelter in dead frozen stalks - and arty talk of "winter interest" gardens.

I opt for plan number two.

Which allows me to actually do my plant razing on that first warm day in March, combined with some winter leaf clearing - still clad in flannel and down. But only initially - until my bending, twisting, and snipping generates enough body heat to cause mild perspiration and the removal of the outermost layer.

It is not as taxing as my former tilling ceremony. But the sight of fledgling green buds in the midst of chopped-back deadwood tells me that they are as eager to get started as I am, and generates more than enough endorphins to get me pumped up for another gardening season.

Garden History Trivia www.uvm.edu

Every wonder when the first greenhouse was built? Who invented the wheelbarrow, the garden hose, the flower pot? Who had the first lawn? Try this quiz to learn some lesser known, but nonetheless important, persons and facts in the history of gardening.

1. When were the first garden hoses made?
2. When did the first European garden hose appear?
3. When was the earliest record of bonsai?
4. When did the first lawns appear?
5. Who invented the first greenhouse in 1619?
6. Who discovered the concept of "microclimates"?
7. Who was the first to popularize, if not invent, flower pots?
8. What firm produced the first garden catalog with prices?
9. When and where was the earliest western depiction of a wheelbarrow?
10. Who invented the wheelbarrow? Answer

Answers

1. around 400BC, of ox gut
2. in 1672 in Amsterdam, made of leather
3. in wall paintings from AD706, although then known as penjing in China and not brought to Japan until AD1195, and not called "bonsai" until much later
4. in the 1st century AD, promoted in Greece by Pliny the Younger
5. the mathematician Salomon de Caus, being a movable wooden framed structure to shelter orange trees at Heidelberg Castle in Germany
6. Nathaniel Ward in 1832 with his enclosed glass boxes known as Wardian cases, and used extensively on plant explorations after
7. the Egyptian pharoah Ramses III, about 1230BC
8. Telford family, Yorkshire, UK in 1775; previously, listings from firms had no prices
9. a stained glass window in Chartres Cathedral, France, dating to AD1220
10. Chuko Liang, a Chinese general, in AD231 for use by his troops in moving supplies through mucky soil. To that time carts had at least 2 wheels and were 2-person affairs. His had a large central wheel, flanked on either side by boxes to hold goods.

Tired of Mowing and Maintaining Your Lawn? What Can You Do? Clover, Flowers, Even Moss Offer Low-Maintenance Alternatives to Grass Lawns From Earth Talk

Dear EarthTalk: I'm sick of having to maintain my lawn, and I'm sure that all the chemicals I'm using are no good for the environment. What alternatives can I explore that will save time and money while keeping the property looking nice?
-- Sarah, Bethesda, MD

Grass lawns first appeared in Europe in medieval times, status symbols for the rich that had to be kept trimmed by fairly labor-intensive methods, often by grazing livestock and certainly not by polluting lawn mowers and poisonous weed killers. Lawns actually did not become popular in North America until the middle of the 20th century, but are now as common as the middle-class suburban homes they surround.

It Takes Water and Money to Keep Grass Lawns Green. Besides hogging public water supplies-over 50 percent of U.S. residential water usage goes to irrigate lawns-a 2002 Harris Survey found that American households spend $1,200 per year on residential lawn care. Indeed, the booming lawn care industry is more than eager to convince us that our grass can be greener-and then sell us all the synthetic fertilizers, toxic pesticides and leaky lawnmowers to make it so.

Groundcover Plants and Clover Require Less Maintenance than Grass Lawns

According to Eartheasy.com, which offers online insights on a host of environmental issues alongside books and green products for sale, there are many alternatives to a carpet of monochromatic grass for one's property. They recommend groundcover plants and clover, which spread out and grow horizontally and require no cutting.

Some varieties of groundcover are Alyssum, Bishops Weed and Juniper. Common clovers include Yellow Blossom, Red Clover and Dutch White, the best suited of the three for lawn use. Groundcover plants and clovers naturally fight weeds, act as mulch and add beneficial nitrogen to the soil.

Flowers, Shrubs and Ornamental Grasses: Eartheasy also recommends flower and shrub beds, which can be "strategically located to add color and interest while expanding the low maintenance areas of your yard," and planting ornamental grasses. Ornamental grasses, many which flower, have numerous benefits over conventional grasses, including low maintenance, little need for fertilizer, minimal pest and disease problems and resistance to drought.

Moss Plants are Another Alternative to Grass Lawns. According to David Beaulieu, About.com's Guide to Landscaping, moss plants should also be considered, especially if your yard is shady: "Because they are low-growing and can form dense mats, moss plants can be considered an alternative ground cover for landscaping and planted as 'shade gardens' in lieu of traditional lawns." Moss plants do not possess true roots, he points out, instead deriving their nutrients and moisture from the air. As such they like wet surroundings and also soil with a pH that is acidic.

The Benefits of Grass Lawns: In all fairness, lawns do have a few plusses. They make great recreational spaces, prevent soil erosion, filter contaminants from rainwater and absorb many kinds of airborne pollutants. So you might still keep a short section of lawn, one that can be mowed with a few easy strokes. If you do, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends avoiding traditional synthetic fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides.

The Best Ways to Care for Grass Lawns: A number of all-natural alternatives are now widely available at nurseries. Natural lawn care advocates also advise mowing high and often so that grass can out-compete any nascent weeds. Leaving clippings where they land, so they can serve as natural mulch, helps prevent weeds from getting a foothold.

With some other pollinators in decline, mason bees are garden helpers By Kym Pokorny, The Oregonian

Immediately outside her front door, Beth Rose communes with bees. She's not rewarded with honey for her hospitality, but her fruit bowl is piled high, and she's never felt the pain of a sting.
Rose, a master gardener who lives on six acres in Aloha, began her relationship with the friendly mason bees about 12 years ago when she noticed what she thought were flies in her barn. Not so unusual, except it was late winter, not summer. Curiosity edged her to look closer.

"I saw they were bees," she says. Once they caught her attention, she realized they were wriggling in and out of holes around the hinges that hold up the barn door. It wasn't much of an effort to figure out they were a species (Osmia lignaria) of native bees that have become more important -- or at least more appreciated -- since the serious decline of honeybees, and more recently, bumblebees.

"In the '70s, we started having a problem with the honeybee population," says Pat Smith, also a master gardener. "Mason bees became the buzzwords."

In the intervening years, these earnest pollinators -- which have a particular, but by no means exclusive, affinity for fruit trees -- have been welcomed by both serious and casual gardeners.
"Most people want them because they're friendly or because they want their fruit trees pollinated," says Rose, who likes them for both reasons.

In the 30 to 60 days of its life, a female orchard mason bee will pollinate thousands upon thousands of flowers. According to Rose, one or two of the insects can pollinate an entire mature fruit tree. Since you can't have fruit without fertilization and you can't have fertilization without pollination, the importance is clear.

But you've got to have them to feel the benefit. Since the bees are native, they'll sometimes be buzzing around and you won't know it if you're not familiar with their flylike appearance. They aren't too particular about where they nest, as long as holes are not too large. Cavities made by woodpeckers and insects or in wood piles or siding will do just fine.

To hedge the odds, some people buy or make nesting boxes, which are simply wood blocks drilled with 5/16-inch-diameter holes, or containers such as PVC pipe, soup cans or cottage cheese containers filled with straws.

Both Smith and Rose teach classes on mason bees and agree raising them can be as complicated or simple as you want to make it. The cheapest way, of course, is to do nothing or hang a nest box (under an eave on the east or south side of your house) and hope they'll find their way to your garden. Alternately, you can buy straws or tubes already filled with cocoons. But they've got to be outside in time for the waiting adult bees to come out and meet and greet your fruit trees, berries and whatever ornamentals are blooming.

"The first flower they'll encounter," Smith says, "is Pieris japonica. Forsythia is next, and pretty soon the apples start popping out. There's a continuous food supply for them from the first part of March toward the middle or end of May when it gets too hot for them."

As they're busily pollinating flowers, the females don't care that they're doing us such a great favor. Their only concern is gathering the pollen and nectar necessary to feed the larvae that hatch from eggs laid between walls made of mud -- another material the single-minded moms must haul back and forth, like going to the grocery store for a teenage boy.

But without realizing it, the mother bees are carrying predatory mites as well as food into the nest. After two or three years, the mites get numerous enough to eat the packets of pollen and nectar deposited by the females, and there's no food left for the babies. That's where the complicated part comes in. Real enthusiasts will remove each cocoon and wash it.

"Last winter, I sat at my kitchen table unwrapping each paper straw (each straw holds about half a dozen cocoons) -- hundreds of them," Rose says. "It took 10 or 12 hours. My husband thought I was crazy."

Smith cleans his cocoons, too, but says you don't have to if you're willing to replace nesting boxes every three years.

"It can be expensive and time-consuming," he says, "but it's fun."

Guarding the Garden Toad from Harm By Lois Tilton at davesgarden.com

Every spring, as the ground begins to warm up, I wait for the toads to begin singing down at the pond. Sometimes, when they are late emerging from hibernation, I worry. Existence is perilous for a toad. Environmental degradation has caused amphibian populations worldwide to decline. Closer at hand, the toads must face the effects of drought in the dwindling pond, and predators, including a burgeoning population of voracious bullfrogs. The children's book notwithstanding, Bullfrog and Toad are not really friends!

The toads that sing in the pond at the edge of my property are the American toad, Bufo americanus. The details in this article refer to this species, but they may apply to any member of the genus Bufo. The American toad's skin is mottled, usually brown with darker spots, and quite warty. A large female may grow to as much as 4 inches in length. Like many other members of this genus, it exudes a bufotoxin that coats its skin and makes it unpalatable to many predators [although not bullfrogs]. It is by any measure a common toad, the most widespread species in North America. While B americanus is not threatened or endangered in its range, individual populations can be put at risk by many local factors.

Most threatening are the effects of human activity. The gardener, who stands to benefit so much from the industry of the toad, can inadvertently do it more harm than any other agency. The toad's usefulness in the garden is measured by its diet. It exists primarily on common garden pests, such as slugs, grubs, snails, sowbugs, earwigs, cutworms, and destructive caterpillars. With its long, sticky tongue, B americanus is a successful predator that can eliminate as many as ten thousand of these undesirables in a growing season.

To safeguard the toad, it is important to understand its life cycle. Many people mistakenly believe the toad is an aquatic or semi-aquatic animal, like the frog, but for most of its life the toad is terrestrial. Only in spring, emerging from hibernation, does it make its way to the shallow edge of the pond to spawn. Toads prefer to return to the same body of water where they themselves were spawned, and may travel up to a mile to reach it. There, at night and sometimes during warm rainy days, the males begin their chorus of song to attract females. The male tightly grasps the female, who then releases her long strings of gelatinous black eggs into the water to be fertilized by the male. Each female can lay several thousand eggs that hatch into tadpoles within ten days or less, depending on the temperature of the water. It can take one to two months for the tadpoles to develop into toads; during this phase, they are entirely aquatic and highly vulnerable to contamination of the water, as well as predation by such creatures as bullfrogs. It is a profligate survival strategy; out of the thousands of eggs laid, less than a dozen will survive to maturity.

In summer, the toadlets complete their metamorphosis and hop out of the pond to begin their lives on land. In this phase, it can be hard to tell them from crickets, and they are now vulnerable to predation from birds instead of bullfrogs. Fortunately, even at this stage they secrete sufficient bufotoxin to repel many predators.

Except in the breeding season, toads are mainly concerned with finding food and shelter. They do not like the drying heat of the sun, which is why they are nocturnal and why they look for a damp, cool place to make their home. Since gardens tend to be watered or irrigated, they naturally attract toads, who usually find a plentiful supply of slugs and other toad-appropriate prey. If a toad settles into a spot and is undisturbed, it will not only remain but return, year after year, to the same location.

Toads are excellent diggers and often excavate dens in soft soil or mulch - toads love mulch. They dig out a cavity with their rear feet, appearing to sink backwards into the hole. There they will rest during the day and emerge at night to hunt for food. When the weather turns colder, the toads prepare to hibernate, either by digging out their den to a deeper level or by finding a more protected location. There they remain until the warm weather of spring brings them out again to spawn. It takes two or three years for a toad to reach breeding maturity, and if fortunate it may have another three seasons to live and reproduce.

So the toad lived in harmony and mutual benefit with the gardener for hundreds of years. Unfortunately, changes in gardening technology have been at the expense of the toads. While tilling and cultivating were carried on by hand, with spade and hoe or horse-drawn plow, these activities did not greatly endanger the toad. However, a riding mower at full throttle with a speed-crazed teenager at the helm is another matter. Lawnmowers, rototillers and weed-wackers all wreak carnage on the toad population. In the garden, a toad's natural camouflage can work against it, making it all too hard to distinguish from a clod of dirt.

What to do? Besides hiring a horse and plow? First of all, simply taking care will save a great number of toads.. These creatures are alert to danger, with acute hearing. They can tell when a weed-wacker is approaching the border where they are concealed in the overgrown grass or weeds. So when you are using machinery, be aware where toads are likely to be hiding, be alert to spot them, and give them a chance to hop out of danger. Don't be in such a hurry to get the job done that you run over the toads in your way.

Another effective way to protect your toads is to provide them a shelter. The classic method of making a toad house is to cut a toad-sized opening in the rim of a terra-cotta pot and set it upside down in the soil, preferably in a shady spot. The unglazed terra-cotta absorbs water and keeps the toad house nice and moist and cool in the heat of the day. It can be difficult to cut the opening without cracking the pot, however; some people claim to have success with drilling pilot holes or using a tile saw. I take the easy way out and simply prop up one edge of the pot with a couple of flat stones. The toads haven't complained.

Some people enjoy providing more elaborate houses for their toads. But many kinds of garden decorations and building materials can serve just as well as toad sanctuaries - flagstones, retaining walls, statuary. Toads are not demanding. A compost heap, a couple of rocks, a woodpile - any of these are likely to harbor a happy toad. Last year, I found a small colony of them living contentedly in the deep, damp straw covering my potato patch. They were not so pleased, however, when I raked away the straw and started to dig up the tubers.

The other great danger to toads is through the use of pesticides and other garden chemicals. Look on the label of these products, and you are likely to see an environmental warning that they are toxic to aquatic organisms such as tadpoles. Pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, even nitrogen-based fertilizers - any of these may be poisonous or harmful to amphibians if they contaminate the water in which they breed. This includes chemicals applied anywhere that runoff can carry them into the pond.

But adults are almost as vulnerable as the tadpoles, even after they have left the water. The skin of a toad is permeable; rather than drinking, it absorbs water by osmosis through the skin of its belly. In doing so, it also absorbs any chemicals it comes into contact with. While a toad shelter may provide some protection against direct application, these chemicals can still be deadly when the spray drifts onto the ground. There is simply no doubt: the more organic your garden practices, the safer it will be for toads.

There is one more thing you can do for toads: make them a pond. Without a body of water in which to spawn, toads can not breed. The pond need not be overly large or even permanent, as long as it does not dry out during the spring and early summer, while the tadpoles are growing.

The ideal pond should have shallow sloping sides where the toads can enter the water. Besides the toad pond here, I have a smaller ornamental pond elsewhere on my property, where for years I tried to attract toads until I realized that they did not care for its steep, straight sides. [Small bullfrogs, unfortunately, had no such problem with it, leaping to and from the lily pads.] There should be vegetation growing both in the water and along the margins of the pond to provide cover for the tadpoles and shelter for the mating toads, as well as attracting insects for them to eat.

If you build it for them, the toads will come. And if you keep the water safe from contamination, they will reward you in the spring with delightful song.

Horti-Culture Corner
Two Haiku Poems by Jim Meehan

April Showers

Swirling pink petals -
March winds in late April bring
apple blossom snow.


Zen Gardening

There is comfort in
the simple act of weeding -
if you're not the weed.