September 2012

Planters Punchlines

Men’s Garden Club of Wethersfield

September 2012

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Garden Club Kicks off 2011-12 Season

Monday Sept. 24 @ 7:00 p.m. Pitkin Community Center

“Honey Bees” @ Men’s Garden Club of Wethersfield September Meeting

Mark Creighton, Connecticut’s Apiary Inspector and an urban beekeeper, will discuss honey bees, honey bee health, urban beekeeping and more at the September Meeting of the Men's Garden Club of Wethersfield on Monday September 24 @ 7:00 pm in the Pitkin Community Center, 30 Greenfield Street Wethersfield, CT.  Mark knows all about what is required to keep bees in Connecticut and why these rules are in place, and is a firm believer that urban gardens and beekeeping are great ways to counter the problem of monocultures.  Open to the public – bring a prospective member!

2012-2013 Club Officers

President:  Tony Sanders            
Vice President:   John Swingen Jr.

Secretary: Fred Odell               
Treasurer: Richard Prentice

Please welcome new club members James Sulzen and Peter Griswold. 

       

Compostable Matter 

By Jim Meehan

     

It started as a joke – influenced by a little laziness.  A volunteer “flower” (more likely a weed – a real one – not one of those cutesy “just plants growing in the wrong place” type of weed but an invasive, unwanted, ugly invader) appeared in the midst of my border-defining arborvitae.

       

I could hear the voice of Paul McCartney singing in my head:

       

“Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be

There will be an answer, let it be.”

       

So I did. 

       

It had the large, floppy, green leaves of perhaps a skunk cabbage (not desirable but okay) or perhaps (in my dreams) rhubarb.  I could already taste the bittersweet sauce to be harvested. 

       

It was neither.

       

The plant grew taller and taller – each level like the one below with three or four long-stemmed, elephant eared leaves.  Walkers passing by our property stopped to talk and express if not admiration at least curiosity.  At around eight feet tall, golf ball-sized, purple hued thistles showed up at the ends of the branches.

       

And small animals in our hometown began to disappear.

       

Initially I didn’t make the connection.  Then I remembered the movie “Little Shop of Horrors” about Seymour a hapless florist shop worker who raises a plant (“Audrey II) that starts out sweet and innocent but quickly morphs into a genormous carnivore that feeds on human flesh and blood.

       

Marsha and I don’t have any pets in the normal sense of the word – but we do feel a certain responsibility for the birds, squirrels, rabbits and chipmunks that pass through our habitat.  I took a rough count and thought that the population looked a little depleted.

       

It seemed a little silly but then again, why take any chances?  It is almost autumn, and we have already gotten more enjoyment this year out of the thistle than from any of our planned plantings.  It’s all horticulturally downhill from here.

       

I armed myself with my Japanese pruning saw and waded into the surrounding cedar brush.  There was a brief struggle and I thought that I heard a plaintive moan as I severed the two-inch stalk from its firmly imbedded root.  My tee shirt was littered with prickly balls, including two that found their way onto the inside and poked into my flesh as I bent down to dismember my fallen foe.

      

 As I stood over my opponent’s corpse I felt a wave of pride and relief.   Then I remembered the ending of the movie wherein Audrey II is similarly destroyed.  (Actually it was immolated, but our town doesn’t allow such things.)  The camera focuses on a distant part of Seymour’s lawn where a miniature Audrey III with a big S.E.G. is popping up through the soil.

       

I probably should do something about that remaining root.   On the other hand some of the neighborhood cats can be really annoying.

     

How to Remove Daisy Seeds

By M.H. Dyer, eHow Contributor – ehow.com

With its bright white petals and sunny yellow centers, Shasta daisy (Chrysanthemum maximum) is a familiar annual, but the Shasta daisy is only one of several different daisy varieties. Other familiar types of daisies include the African daisy, ox-eyed daisy, Michaelmas daisy and gloriosa daisy. Because the seeds are easily found in the center of each daisy flower, harvesting the seeds at the end of the blooming season is a simple matter and a good starter project for beginning seed collectors.

Difficulty:

    Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need

    Red yarn

    Netting or paper sack

    Large tray

    Paper packet

 1 Leave a few daisy blooms on the plants at the end of the midsummer blooming season. Tie a piece of red yarn on the stem of the healthiest bloom, as big, healthy blooms net the best seeds.

        
2 Watch for the daisy flowers to shrivel and wilt at the end of the season. When the daisy petals drop, the seedhead remains on the stem. Allow the daisy seedhead to remain on the stem and dry naturally as long as possible, but don't wait too long. The seedhead will ripen and will gradually open and spill the seed on the ground. To prevent loss of seeds, wrap a piece of netting or a paper sack around the bloom.

        
3 Snip the dry seedhead from the plant. Spread the seeds in a single layer on a large tray, then place the tray in a shady, wind-free place for at least one week. It's critical that the daisy seeds are completely dry, as green seeds that sprout in storage may rot or mold. The dry seeds will be hard and brittle and may be brown or black, depending on the variety.

        
4 Pour the dry daisy seeds into a small paper packet, such as a paper bag or paper envelope. Note the date of harvest and the variety and color of the daisy on the outside of the packet. Alternatively, store daisy seeds in a glass jar, but don't store the seeds in plastic, as plastic may collect moisture and allow the seeds to rot.

        
5 Store the daisy seeds in a dark, cool spot until spring.

Gardening Q & A: Beneficial Insects and more

Master gardener Paul James answers gardening questions from viewers about dragonflies, organic products, poison ivy and more. (hgtv.com)

Q. Are dragonflies considered beneficial insects?

A. Dragonflies are extremely beneficial, and so are their smaller cousins, the damselflies. Sadly, however, both exist for a short 24 hours in the adult stage, but during that time they devour all kinds of critters, especially mosquitoes. And who doesn't enjoy watching them dart about in their quick, zigzag flying patterns?

Q. What's the most beneficial insect?

A. Frankly, I'm not aware of any research that actually answers that question. I suppose it may be lady beetles, but wasps also destroy a good many pests in the garden. However, if I could modify your question to what's the most beneficial arthropod--the group (phylum) that includes insects and arachnids — then the answer would be simple: Spiders are the unsung heroes in the garden. And their numbers are staggering. In fact, in only one acre, there can be as many as two million spiders.

So please don't destroy spiders. Instead, encourage them by mulching your garden beds and by avoiding the use of all garden chemicals, both synthetic and organic. Of course, you'll want to steer clear of poisonous spiders, and there are only two poisonous spiders in the U.S., the black widow and brown recluse and they rarely inhabit cultivated areas.

Q. Why do you call organic products chemicals?

A. Organic products are often referred to as chemicals because they are. Decades ago, the founders of the organic gardening movement sought to distinguish between synthetic products and manmade chemicals with those made from all-natural ingredients by calling the former "chemicals" and the latter "organics," but that's silly. The fact is that all gardening products — from pesticides and fertilizers to herbicides, regardless of how they're made or the ingredients they contain — are derived from chemicals. And that's why I refer to them as such.

Q. What's the difference between an herb and a spice?

A. Generally speaking, the herb comes from the leafy portion of the plant, while a spice comes from the bark or the seeds. However, some plants have dual personalities. Take dill for instance. The herb comes from the leafy portion. But later on, the plant produces seeds that can be used as spice.

Q. If exposed to poison ivy or poison oak sap, what should I do?

A. First, wash the affected area really well with a very strong soap, or use one of the relatively new commercial formulations made specifically to dissolve the sap of poison oak and poison ivy. If that's not possible, then wash the area with a solution made from two tablespoons vinegar and one cup of water or a 50-50 solution of alcohol and water. Remember to wash with cold water because hot water will open the pores of the skin and allow the sap to enter more easily. Chances are that you'll still develop the familiar and annoying rash. But if you react quickly, it will be less severe.

Q. What is piperonyl butoxide, and why is it found in so many organic insecticides?

A. Piperonyl butoxide, or PBO, is derived from sesame and it's used as a synergist in many different all-natural insecticides. Synergists don't have any insecticidal effects of their own, but they do enhance the overall insecticidal effects of many all-natural insecticides — in particular pyrethrine, rotenone and citrus oil derivatives. However, PBO is somewhat controversial because of fears it may affect the human nervous system. As a result, its use is typically not allowed on food crops that are certified to be organically grown.

Q. Which state has the greatest native plant diversity?

A. That's a very interesting question, and I had to do a fair amount of research to come up with an answer. But California takes the prize with a whopping 5,889 native plant species, followed by Texas with 4,663. And the state with the least amount of native plant diversity is North Dakota.

Horti-Culture Corner

The Wasp

by Ogden Nash

The wasp and all his numerous family

I look upon as a major calamity.

He throws open his nest with prodigality,

But I distrust his waspitality.

World\’s Largest Tomato

How To Grow The Biggest Tomatoes In Town in 6 Easy Steps - TomatoCasual.comBy Michelle Fabio

Ever look at some of your larger tomatoes and wonder if they’d be in the running for the Guinness Book of World Records?

       

Well unless they’re over 7 pounds, 12 ounces–yes folks, that’s a good-sized newborn baby–you’re out of luck.

       

Gordon Graham of Edmond, Oklahoma, holds the honor of growing the world’s largest tomato, which he harvested from his backyard greenhouse back in 1986.

       

Graham grew it on the theory that if he kept letting the plant get bigger, it’d be strong enough to hold, you guessed it, a big tomato.

       

And the theory paid off, although not before a storm blew over the entire 12-14 foot vine into his cantaloupes. He gave up on the tomato plant, but the future world’s largest tomato had other ideas and just kept growing on its own until one day, it came time to free it from the vine.

       

In fact, the entire plant became record-setting when it grew to 53 feet and 6 inches, the longest tomato vine ever grown.

       

Graham was honored for his efforts by Miracle-Gro, who presented him with an identical in size, weight, and shape epoxy replica of his perishable feat; he jokes that it’s great fun traveling through airports with it, as it never ceases to confound personnel.

      

 Not surprisingly, he also became the man to beat in Miracle-Gro’s $100,000 tomato-growing contest, but the closest competitors didn’t even come within a pound of Graham’s formidable fruit; the contest has since been discontinued, so now your only hope is to leap right into the hallowed halls of Guinness.

Best of luck!

Tomato Facts: Fun Information and Trivia

http://www.tomatodirt.com

Have fun! Enjoy these tomato facts and bits of interesting tomato trivia. You’ll get the dirt on who grows tomatoes, eating tomatoes – even tomato festivals.

American habits. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Americans eat between 22- 24 pounds of tomatoes per person, per year. (More than half of those munchies are ketchup and tomato sauce.)

       

Popularity. The tomato is America’s fourth most popular fresh-market vegetable behind potatoes, lettuce, and onions.

       

Increasing popularity. Americans have increased their tomato consumption 30% over the last 20 years (mostly in processed forms such as sauce, paste, and salsa).

       

Toxic? While tomatoes are perfectly safe and healthy to eat, their leaves are actually toxic!

How will you take your tomatoes? As of 2007, Americans spend more on salsa than tomato ketchup.

       

Processed tomatoes. Americans consume three-fourths of their tomatoes in processed form.  Fun tomato facts about growers

shovel and tomato sprout

       

The average Joe. 93% American gardening households grow tomatoes.

       

Fresh tomatoes. Fresh-market tomatoes are grown in all 50 states.

      

 Biggest worldwide producers. The largest worldwide producer of tomatoes is China, followed by USA, Turkey, India and Egypt.

      

 Biggest U.S. producer – processed tomatoes. California produces 96% of the tomatoes processed in the U.S.

       

Biggest U.S. producer – fresh tomatoes. Florida is the number one producer of fresh market tomatoes (except in 2008).

Fun tomato facts: names

       

How it all began. Tomatoes are thought to originate in Peru. The name comes from the Aztec “xitomatl,” which means “plump thing with a navel”.

       

Love and paradise. When the tomato was introduced to Europe in the 1500s, The French called it “the apple of love.” The Germans called it “the apple of paradise.”

      

 For the wolves? The scientific term for the common tomato is lycopersicon lycopersicum, which mean “wolf peach.”

       

Fun tomato facts: even the tomato has “family issues”

       

How many kinds? The U.S. Department of Agriculture says there are 25,000 tomato varieties. Other sources cap the number of types of tomatoes at 10,000. (Either way, that’s a lot.)

       

Tomato cousins. Tomato is a cousin of the eggplant, red pepper, ground cherry, potato, and the highly toxic belladonna (a herbaceous perennial, also known as the nightshade or solanaccae, that has historically been used as both a medicine and poison).

Tomato headliners

       

Heaviest tomato. The heaviest tomato on record weighed in at 3.51 kg (7 pounds 12 ounces). A “delicious” variety, it was grown grown by Gordon Graham of Edmond, Oklahoma in 1986. Gordon sliced the tomato to make sandwiches for 21 family members.

       

Largest plant. The largest tomato plant (a “Sungold” variety), recorded in 2000, reached 19.8 meters (65 feet) in length and was grown by Nutriculture Ltd. of Mawdesley, Lancashire, UK.

      

 Biggest tomato tree. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest tomato tree grows at Walt Disney World Resort’s experimental greenhouse and yields a harvest of more than 32,000 tomatoes and weighs 1,151.84 pounds (522 kg). The plant was discovered in Beijing, China, by Yong Huang, Epcot's manager of agricultural science, who took its seeds and grew them in the experimental greenhouse. Today, the plant produces thousands of golf ball-sized tomatoes that are served at Walt Disney World's restaurants, and can be seen by tourists riding the "Living With the Land" boat ride at the Epcot Center.

       

Official veggie and official fruit. The tomato serves as both the official state vegetable and the official state fruit of Arkansas, in honor of the South Arkansas Vine Ripe Pink Tomato, sometimes known as “Bradley Pink.”

       

Official state beverage. Tomato juice is the official state beverage of Ohio.

       

Under consideration:. A proposal to the NJ State Assembly in 2008 requested that the tomato be adopted as the state’s official state vegetable, but to date the bid has not been passed.      Fun facts about tomato festivals

       

Messiest. La Tomatina (B?nol, Valencia, Spain), held annually on the last Wednesday in August, attracts tens of thousands of visitors. The highlight is the tomato fight, in which 30,000+ participants throw an estimated 150,000 overripe tomatoes (100 metric tons) at each other.

       

Most tastings. TomatoFest (Carmel, CA), coined as “America’s Favorite Tomato Festival,” was launched in 1991 and features 350 heirloom tomato variety tastings.

       

Fast-growing. Bradley County Pink Tomato Festival (Arkansas) was founded in 1954 as a one-day event and now grown to a week-long celebration with dozens of activities from contests to pageants to entertainment, attracting more than 30,000 visitors.

       

Popularity. At least 19 states hold tomato festivals. Find a tomato festival near you.

Make the Most of Herbs by Harvesting and Preserving

http://20minutegarden.com/

       

Herb gardens are a fun way to ease into gardening. Most herbs are undemanding and hardy; for the most part, herbs will grow in poor soil, do well in sun and partly sunny spots, and don’t mind the dry or hot weather that often comes our way. They are thrivers and survivors, often neglected because they are just too easy to get along with.

       

My experience with herbs is that, being so easy to plant and grow, they can be underappreciated. Sometimes herbs are planted, in part because they are “useful” plants, but then forgotten about and not put to any use.

      

 Take our lavender, for example. We have several healthy plants around the garden, and we have continued to add plants to our garden because we like lavender.

       

One minor triumph in a season of irregular (for many reasons) gardening is that I’ve have been harvesting lavender flowers. The best time to harvest lavender is before the buds open, and I usually remember that when the plants are in full bloom. I’ve done better than that this year. A half a dozen nice bundles of lavender are drying even as I write.

       

Harvesting herbs gives a gardener the chance to enjoy the benefits of the plants, but it also is good for the plants themselves. Many herbs such as thyme, oregano, and basil will get “bushier” following a trim or pruning and make for a second harvest later in the season. Most herbs are at their peak just before flowering, so it’s a good idea to pay attention to the plant’s life cycle.

       

The best time to harvest herbs is in the morning after the dew has dried but before the full sun is on the plant. Wash the stalks gently under cold water and dry on towels or paper towels.

      

Preserving herbs is a simple and straightforward process. Herbs can be dried by being hung in bunches tied with string. Put them in a dry, well-circulating area out of direct sunlight. Another method of drying herbs is placing them on cookie sheets in the oven on a low temperature of less than 180F for 2 to 4 hours.

Some people like drying herbs in the microwave. This isn’t a method I use, but it is supposed to work fine for small batches of herbs. Place a single layer of clean, dry leaves between two paper towels and microwave on high for 1 to 2 minutes. Let the leaves cool and test. If they are not brittle enough to crumble easily, microwave them for another 30 seconds.

       

Some herbs, like mint or basil, may darken if dried in sunlight. To avoid that problem, place clean, dried herbs inside a paper bag and hang in a well-ventilated area to dry. It works surprisingly well, and the paper bag makes collecting the leaves as you remove them much easier.

      

 Herbs can also be frozen. Coarsely chop clean herbs and place them in a water-filled ice cube tray. Freeze solid and then place the herb ice cubes in freezer bags.

      

 When drying herbs, make sure that the herbs are completely dry before storing in air-tight containers. I like to use pint jars or recycle herb jars or other small jars to store and enjoy my garden herbs all year long.