Wednesday, April 24, 2013

May 2013


Men’s Garden Club of Wethersfield
May 2013
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NEXT MEETING – PLEASE NOTE SPECIAL DATE, TIME AND LOCATION

Monday May 13, 6:00 pm – Tony Sanders house @ 281 Garden Street, Wethersfield
Reminisce about the plant sale.  Pick from the leftovers for your own use or as a really cheap belated Mother’s Day present.  Hot dogs, beer & soda will be available.

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 11th (Rain Date May 18th)
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” 
President Tony Sanders will make the “go or no go” rain decision and get the word out.
                                   
Weston Rose Garden
No chairman and as a result no plan.  John Oldham and Charlie Officer are weeding on Saturdays – BUT WE NEED MORE WORKERS. This is the club’s ONLY COMMUNITY SERVICE PROJECT and we need to get our s*** together.

The annual Men's Garden Club Picnic will be held on Tuesday, June 18th, on the grounds (and porch) of The Solomon Welles House, from 5:30 until 8:00 pm.

Compostable Matter
By Jim Meehan

            (There is a pair of Broad-Winged Hawks nesting about 75 feet up and 100 feet away from our house in an oak tree on our property.)    
Mars and I hear the hawks more often than we see them.   That’s not unusual in our yard, especially this time of the year.   Even though light travels faster, the sounds of spring touch our ears long before the birds that are responsible for them flash before our eyes.  Over the years we’ve grown accustomed to the ground-bound early morning “coo” of the sun-seeking Mourning Doves; the daylong stereophonic “caws” of the attention-seeking crows as they migrate through the area; the sex-seeking hook-up pleas of the male Cardinal – high up and hyper – seeking the lowdown from some down-low female of the species; the cheerily, cheer up, cheer up, cheerily, cheer up” from flocks of Robins suddenly realizing that they forgot to go south for the winter; and the perpetual, overlapping chirping of finches and sparrows.  And to confuse matters more, a choir of mockingbirds arrives on the scene annually.
            How do these tiny animals put forth such bounteous ballads.  We heard the answer to this enigma on WNPR’s “Bird Note” early the other morning.  (We tune in public radio to drown out the outdoor sunrise chatter.)  They were talking specifically about the Carolina Wren – but it applies to all the avian songsters.
            ”The answer lies in the songbird’s vocal anatomy. Unlike the human voice, which comes from the larynx way up at the top of the windpipe, a bird’s song comes from deep within its body. Birds produce song in a structure called the syrinx, located at the bottom of the windpipe where the bronchial tubes diverge to the lungs. The syrinx is surrounded by an air sac, and the combination works like a resonating chamber to maintain or amplify sound.
“Evolution has given birds a far more elaborate sound mechanism than it’s given humans. Where we wound up with a flute, songbirds got bagpipes.”
             The first time we heard the hawks however we both thought it was one of the squirrels.  The thin, high whistled "kee-eee." sounded more like the frightened squeal of a quivering tree-rat caught in the soaring raptor’s shadow, than the warning cry of their taloned predator.  I myself expected a deep, bass sound – similar to the rumbling roar of an amped up eighty-pound black Labrador Retriever  – and certainly not something more reminiscent of the incessant yips of a petulant Chihuahua.
            The next time ever I heard their voice was when I saw the pair exchanging egg-warming duties at their nest.  Maybe it was a different call.  Perhaps it was the physical presence and threatening look on its face– but whatever the reason, this time the hawk-talk sounded much more Lab-like.
            Soon enough the early morning complaints of starved hatchlings awakening from their involuntary overnight fast – along with the angry responses of the sleep deprived parents – will shatter our pre-dawn dosing.
            We’ll immediately turn on our radio and hope “Bird Note” is there to explain what it is that is happening in our front yard hawk nest.  I’ve already seen the fear-inducing visage that goes with an irately uttered “kee-eee”.  So I am perfectly willing to let someone else peer into the raptor roost, and describe the action to me.

Hear the call of Broad-Winged Hawks at


Gardens: time for a hosta takeover – You can grow hostas that fend off slugs and snails if you pick the right varieties and get your tactics right
Ambra Edwards - www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/

As gardeners know, nothing is more tasty to a gastropod than a hosta, so is it worth growing them?
Of course, says Chris Bonanni of Purbeck Plants. While there's no such thing as a slug-proof hosta, some varieties are resilient, particularly those with blue or thick, puckered leaves. And Bonanni advises to treat them mean. "Don't overfeed, and keep them on the dry side, so the growth is less lush and the leaves stouter and thicker." Also, get your retaliation in first. Bonanni starts off with a St Valentine's Day massacre with liquid slug killer, to limit populations of the small, soil-dwelling slugs that do most damage.

Top 10 slug-resistant hostas

'Sum And Substance' Champion of hostas, nearly 1m high, with colossal, ridged and wrinkled, golden leaves. Likes morning sun. Lilac flowers.

H. sieboldiana var elegans This old favourite, with stiff, puckered leaves, takes some beating. Lilac-tinged white flowers. 60cm.

'One Man's Treasure' For Ian Scroggy of Bali-Hai Nursery, this is the top choice: "In all the years I've been growing it, no slug has touched it." The glossy, dark green leaves are slightly rippled, but what sets it apart are the exotic purple-spotted stems and purple flower stems and seedpods. 35cm.

'Devon Green' Dark, polished leaves, a cheaper and widely available alternative. "It's a very good plant for a beginner," Scroggy says. "You can just plant it and forget about it." 45cm.

'Praying Hands' White-edged dark leaves, folded into parallel undulations. The upright posture makes the leaves harder to get at, while their waxy texture seems unpalatable to slugs. Pale lavender flowers. 45cm.

'Sleeping Beauty' This hosta has the same steely elegance as its parent, 'Halcyon', but the blue-grey pointed leaves are set off by a creamy margin. Lavender flowers. 40cm.

'Stepping Out' A slow grower, but worth the wait, for few variegated hostas offer such reliable slug-resistance. Plumply quilted leaves are blue-green at the centre with gold margins. White flowers. 40cm. 'Toy Soldier' Clumps of blue, heart-shaped leaves with a two-tone margin that is more limey in deep shade and creamier in brighter conditions. Lavender flowers. 40cm.

'Dorset Blue' Elegant small clumps of neat, heart-shaped, powdery blue leaves that cup slightly, with large white flowers. 25cm.

'Blue Mouse Ears' Diminutive (15cm), dense clumps of thick, rounded, blue leaves, with large, almost double flowers in pale, clear lilac held on short, strong stems. Tough as old boots.
How to grow
Hostas will grow almost anywhere, as long they're not blasted by hot noon-day sun, but do best in dappled shade in a moist but well-drained, humus-rich, slightly acidic soil. Leaves with lots of white are apt to scorch, so need deeper shade, and blue hostas grow bluer in shadier quarters.
Mulch with well-rotted manure or compost in early spring, adding slow-release fertiliser or a handful of fish, blood and bone. For hostas in pots, several growers warn against Miracle-Gro; half-strength tomato feed, seaweed feeds or chicken pellets are recommended.
Best defences against slugs and snails
Slug pellets "Once they're up, you can always snip off the odd damaged leaf," Bonanni says, "but the key is to get them unfurled successfully – and for that you need slug pellets. If used correctly – that is, very sparingly, every three or four days – they won't harm wildlife."
The trick is to sprinkle half a dozen pellets round each plant, or to tuck them in small containers, such as open herb jars, under the leaves. Metaldehyde formulations still work better than iron-based formulas, and are less harmful than often supposed: a hedgehog would have to eat 2,000 poisoned slugs in a single night to be killed.
Nematodes There are two drawbacks to biological controls: soil must be at least 5C for them to work, and they don't affect snails. But they are wonderfully effective against slugs.
Copper Crawling over copper gives molluscs an electric shock, so stand pots on copper-impregnated mats, and stick a band of copper tape around the rims. Make sure leaves don't touch walls – a snail could climb up – and block the pot's drainage holes with fine wire to stop them sneaking in. Copper rings (try slugrings.co.uk) protect plants in borders, but only until a leaf touches the soil, forming a bridge for waiting marauders. They are, however, much more effective barriers than granules, clinker and eggshells.
Organic garlic wash Scroggy swears by a fortnightly homemade garlic drench, which deters slugs. Visit Bali-Haifor the recipe.
Night patrols Go out with torch and bucket, pick off the blighters one by one, then drown them in salt water. And don't consider throwing snails over the fence – they'd soon be back.
Keep chickens Small, feathery-footed bantams do little damage to the garden, and eat countless slugs. Ducks are even better.


The Seven Stages of (Hosta) Grief
http://www.landmarques.com

My friend, George, knows hosta. Not as a connoisseur of the species but as one who has gardened long enough to understand this plant’s true character. That’s why he, like so many other gardeners, has a healthy love-hate relationship with it. That dysfunctional relationship seems to evolve for most everyone through the same distinct stages.
Stage One: Shock. How could anyone throw away such a beautiful, carefree plant as a hosta? You marvel at the variegated beauty strewn akimbo atop a friend’s compost pile. You politely ask to rescue it, trying not to let your pleading sound too desperate. Much to your disbelief, your friend is willing – no! delighted! – to give you the clump. He attempts to explain the hosta’s ploy to take over the world.
Stage Two: Denial. You courteously listen to your friend, bemused by the mild look of panic in his eyes, and take the little plant home. You plant it carefully in a shaded, well-amended hole and backfill with extra compost and the best organic fertilizer. You water well. Then you visit the local nursery to purchase many other lovely hosta that beckon to you from the confines of their plastic pots.
Stage Three: Anger. The newly planted hosta have grown… a lot. No soil is visible in their immediate vicinity. The stone path is consumed. At least two feet of once green lawn has been lost under their leaves along the garden edge. Your shade garden is now a Darwinian science experiment. You cut back the hosta; it regrows. You shred it with the lawn mower; it regrows. You gather and unleash slugs; it regrows. You stop watering it; it still grows.
Stage Four: Bargaining. You dig out many of the hosta and divide the others, offering the surplus to friends and loved ones in exchange for other shade plants. Some naïve gardeners accept your offer. You peel out of their driveway faster than they can Google “hosta.”
Stage Five: Guilt. Your friends no longer talk to you. Your loved ones hate you. You realize now you should have mentioned – if only in passing – what the true nature of hosta actually is. But instead you stuck to attractive marketing terms: “easy care,” “low maintenance,” “shade lover.”
Stage Six: Depression. You have depleted your resources; there is no one left to give hosta to – even without a plant exchange. But, it saddens you to throw away perfectly healthy, happy, disease-free plants. An idea tempers your depression: You will plant all the extra hosta on the outskirts of your property as a salad bar for deer! They will certainly appreciate the hosta, a.k.a. “deer candy.”
Stage Seven: Acceptance and Hope. The deer also grew tired of hosta and instead have mowed down your gardens, starting with your most expensive perennials (now sad little nubs). Meanwhile, the hosta have grown to need dividing again. You rip out as many plants as the afternoon sun allows, divide others, and heap the remainder onto the compost pile. Night falls. You know there was no other solution. Yet, you also know they will survive and grow back…soon…much too soon. But you have your house on the market and hope to be long gone by the time the new owner enters Stage One.
Historical and Horticultural Info
Hosta are native to Japan, Korea, and China but were growing in the United States by the mid 1800s, just in time to provide Victorian gardens with their lush foliage. Today, our gardens enjoy hundreds of different species and thousands of cultivars, thanks to hybridizing and tissue culture propagation.
Hosta are generally grown for their interesting foliage and low-maintenance requirements. Flower stalks can be cut down at any time without damage to the plant. They are easily propagated by dividing crowns. The best time is in spring, just as the curled hosta leaves begin to poke through the soil. At this time, digging and dividing hosta is easier because the foliage isn’t blocking your view of the crown. However, hosta really can be successfully divided in any season but will require water and a bit of attention if divided during hot weather. Unless soil is extremely poor, hosta generally can be planted without additional soil amendments. They do best in shade but can tolerate some sun. Specifically, the greener the leaves the more shade they can generally tolerate; variegated varieties usually need some sun. Once established, they are hardy and relatively drought-tolerant. Slugs chew holes in the leaves, deer mow them to the ground, voles eat even the roots.

Using Beer in the Garden
Suite101.com

Whether there is old, flat beer taking up space in the fridge or perhaps a dozen half-empties after a party, beer is a form of gold to organic gardeners. From taking care of plants to exterminating pests, beer is a useful gardening tool.
Natural Slugs and Snails Pest Control in the Garden
Slugs and snails are attracted to beer, and will drown themselves in it if given the chance.
Dig a few shallow holes around the perimeter of the garden. Place shallow bowls in these freshly dug holes and fill with beer. Slugs and snails will stop for a drink on their way to demolish the garden, climb into the bowl of beer and never climb back out. It is best to check these slug and snail traps every day to see if they need to be dumped and replenished with more beer.
Mouse Pest Control
Gardeners who live in the country or have compost piles will have field mice around. Mice present the biggest problem when they are able to nibble their way through the walls of houses and enter people's homes. Beer is a useful tool in controlling mice populations. A mouse beer trap can be set up outside or inside.
Beer kills mice in much the same way that it does away with slugs and snails. In order to drown mice in beer, pour beer into a bucket at least one third of the way full. Leave this bucket on the ground wherever there are signs of mice infestation. Lean a board such as a 2 x 4 against the bucket. The mice will smell the beer, climb the board and jump in. They can't climb back out and will drown.
Natural Fertilizer
Beer is full of sugars and nutrients that grass and plants can absorb and use. Pouring beer on bare patches of lawn will cause the grass to grow.
For the garden, pour beer into a spray bottle and spray lightly on the soil. When sprayed lightly on the leaves, beer seems to have some anti-fungal properties. Use organic beer, such as Wolaver's brand organic beer, as organic fertilizer for an organic vegetable garden.
Composting with Beer
Students at Edgewood College in Madison, Wisconsin put together a study to determine whether beer was useful in compost piles. At the completion of their carefully controlled study, they concluded that beer is useful as a compost accelerant in the warmer months.
Therefore, pouring beer into the compost pile helps the compost break down more quickly than compost piles without beer. Even for teetotalers, beer is useful in the garden.

And The Best Beer for Slugs Is?
Give Your Slug A Drink – How To Get Rid Of Slugs
http://www.squidoo.com/

Give the slimy creatures a Beer to help get rid of slugs in your garden. Yes, it really does work. There was a study done at Colorado State University , yep a study, on the best brand of beer that slugs like the most. Kingsbury Malt and Budweiser came out on top, but you can use any beer.
My slugs like Bud Light, it's what we drink in our home and we like to share. Don't use stale beer, the slugs like it just as much as we do! Wait until dusk and fill an old margarine tub top with beer and place on top of the soil as close to the damaged plants as possible. The next morning they should be filled with dead drunken slugs.
If you are not a beer drinker and don't want to spend money on beer for your slimy friends. Spritz your slugs with some coffee. Research has found caffeine to be very effective at deterring slugs. Save your old coffee from the morning and spray them full strength directly on the beasts in the evening. You can even place your coffee grounds around your plants to deter the slugs.

Bring on the Butterflies
http://www.care2.com

Beer. It refreshes and relaxes, it fuels sociability and cools the burn of spicy food. It is the most-widely consumed alcoholic beverage in the world, and the third most common beverage overall. It is the oldest alcoholic beverage produced–and in fact, the oldest known code of laws (the Code of Hammurabi ca 1750 B.C.) called for the death penalty for drinking-house proprietors found guilty of watering down their beer. (Those Babylonians took their suds seriously.)
But aside from the numero uno use for beer–drinking! woohoo!–it is one of the most over-looked components of many a DIY solution to common household conundrums.
Although in my perfect world butterflies live on nothing less magical than flower nectar, ambrosia, and an occasional marshmallow, the truth is that many butterflies feed on rotting fruit, tree sap, dung, carrion, urine, and other not-so-pretty, non-nectar sources of nutrients. You can allow fruit from your fruit trees to decay on the ground, leave your pet’s droppings where they drop, or place a bit of raw meat or fish in a discreet part of your garden. Sweet! Or you can use beer to make this awesome butterfly bait to get some flutter-action in your garden

INGREDIENTS

1 pound sugar
1 or 2 cans stale beer
3 mashed overripe banana
1 cup of molasses or syrup
1 cup of fruit juice
1 shot of rum

Mix all ingredients well and splash on trees, fence posts, rocks, or stumps–or soak a sponge in the mixture and hang from a tree-limb.



Horti-culture Corner
a hosta poem Q and A
http://www.hort.net

Doctor, Doctor, it's all up to you!
I've fallen for Hostas & don't know what to do.
They seem to entice me and capture my thoughts,
With their stunning beauty I have been caught!
Is there no antidote for this sickness I've acquired?
It seems now Hostas are the only thing I've desired.
I fear for when winter comes?I shall go insane,
As there will be no Hostas for me to obtain.
Please help me dear doctor, I need some sort of "fix".
My collection has risen to 900 and six.
The neighbors all think I have flipped my lid
And hubby thinks I should put them all up for bid.
If you don't help me I don't know what I'll do.
I'll probably just sit in my garden and stew.
Great you will help me?!! Then what shall I do?
What's that you say?.GIVE them all to you?

Dear dear child I know just what to do.
I understand how you can feel so blue
Just remember we're not dealing with the flu.
I start by giving you just a clue.
Then you'll know just what to do.

At the end of summer, about the time the leaves begin to fade.
The flowers may have left some magic that's worth more than good jade.
Gather all the gold that the flowers have made.
Get soil-less medium or sterilized dirt
or you'll end up with a price to be paid
Place this medium in sterilized containers on this I must be obeyed
Now, in that gold is shiny black pearls that must be
sorted, checked and Okayed.
Take the pearls and make sure that in the medium they are carefully laid.
Now you need to wait just several weeks
and about the time your nerves are frayed
You have hostalets, which need tending
until spring planting with your spade.

By the way here's my bill.
This visit does cost a Dorothy Benedict still.

(Dorothy Benedict is a small, spreading hosta with heart shaped, deep green leaves and blue and yellow streaking between the veins.)

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