Planters Punchlines
Men’s Garden Club of Wethersfield
November/December 2014
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
HOLIDAY PARTY TIME! (In lieu of Nov/Dec Meetings)
The annual club Holiday Party will be held on
Monday December 1, 5:30 – 9:00 p.m.
@ the Solomon Welles House, in Wethersfield.
Catered Food, Drink, Fellowship, and
Entertainment by the Wethersfield High School Choraleers.
Spouses/guests are cordially invited.
$15.00 per person ($30.00 per couple)
Bring a potential member @ the above prices.
If they join the club, then their first year $15 dues are
free.
RSVP (including potential member-guests) to President
Tony Sanders at 860.529.3257 by Friday November 21.
WESTON ROSE GARDEN “WINTER OVER”
Saturday November 22 @ 8:00 a.m.
Branches will be trimmed, & piled next to the
driveway (town will pick up), and compost placed around the bushes. BYO pruners & work gloves please.
A Message from the Treasurer:
Plantsmen,: As
a member of this organization you have the unique position of belonging to the
oldest men’s garden club in Connecticut and perhaps New England. This state of being allows us to participate
in the dreaded rose garden, incredible parties, the thrill of plant sales,
informational encounters and communications, farmer’s market, and interaction
with some of the oldest people in town. Along with this euphoric privilege is
the duty to pay dues at the beginning of the fall season.
Failure to pay
the $15.00 contributes to disorder in the universe and could be punishable by
certain means in the botanical sense that can only be imagined (or not). In order to continue your societal advantage
please bring the correct change to the next meeting on December 1.
If not able to attend you may send the amount to
Richard
Prentice
1
Long Green Terrace
Cromwell, CT 06416
Thank you from the Treasurer.
Compostable Matter
By Jim Meehan
New York Times
columnist Thomas Friedman describes the modern-day, globally interconnected,
multinational economy by saying “The World is Flat”. The world of plants was flat long before the
21st century. This is particularly
apparent if you are a zone 6 gardener vacationing in zone 8.
In early
October Mars and I spent two weeks in coastal North Carolina – specifically the
South Outer Banks (SOBX on your white oval auto decal). We stayed in the town of Emerald Isle on the
barrier island of the same name in a beachfront condo unit. The grounds were neatly and attractively
designed and maintained with perennials that were totally foreign to my
knowledge base, except for some flora (the identity of which I am not certain),
which appears around Mother’s Day in Southern New England as one-summer-long
flowers in hanging planters.
The slope area
from the condo property down to the beach is protected dunes and, either in spite
of or because of its safeguarded status, it is chock full of shrubbery – two of
which I initially thought were also Outer Banks outsiders like us until I got
home and was made aware of the truth by the all-mighty Google.
The first, the
Palmetto, is ubiquitous in this part of coastal Carolina decorating everything
from highly landscaped, gated communities to the all-natural sand-drifts. This latter location should have made me
question my assumption about its foreigner status.
Sand mounds
are classified as stable back dunes; secondary dunes; primary dunes; or
foreshore depending upon the wind and wave activity patterns. The one at our condo is something in between
a primary and secondary dune, which allows shrubby or woody species of plants
to grow – many of them “low-growing and shrubby, despite their growing as
robust shrubs or trees in areas inland of the dunes…. Saw palmetto (Serenoa
repens), cabbage palm (Sabal palmetto), live oak (Quercus virginiana), and
prickly pear cactus (Opuntia stricta), are all common inhabitants of back dunes
and secondary dunes.” (http://www.sms.si.edu/irlspec/Dunes.htm)
I had always
thought of palm trees as being native to a much warmer clime, e.g. Florida, and
imported to e.g. the Carolinas by those who wanted to pretend they lived
someplace tropical. (BTW North
Carolinians refer to northerners who move to the “The Sunshine State”, and then
can’t take the heat so they settle in the Tar Heel State as “halfbacks” because
they move 50% of the way back home.)
The cabbage palm
in its full-grown robustness appears on the state flag of South Carolina, which
is where people assume Mars and I are going to when we mention that we are
going to North Carolina to play golf.
(“Are you going to Hilton Head?”)
I also find it interesting that both North and South Carolinians refer
to their home state as “Carolina” and to their neighbor to the South or North
(depending) by its full name. At least
they realize that we are staying in the United States – unlike when we travel
to New Mexico.
Speaking of
which – what is the desert-loving prickly pear cactus – which we became
personally familiar with on our travels to high-desert New Mexico – doing in
the dune?
Well it
turns out, according to davesgarden.com this particular genus/species also
grows in: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky,
Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Texas, and Wisconsin.
Actually Mars
and I now have one (perhaps not the same genus but close enough) in a “year
round” pot in our perennial sun garden.
We acquired it from a fellow garden club member early this summer after
unsuccessfully seeking them out at a show and sale put on by the Connecticut
Cactus Society where we did learn that prickly pears have been cultivated to
survive in various parts of the U.S. Our
donor’s crop has lasted in his yard for several years with no special care – so
we assume all will be well with ours after the snows and freezing temperatures
make their annual pass through our area.
It occurs to
me now that Mars and I also saw some on our first foray to Europe on the island
of Malta (the 122 sq. mi., largely limestone country in the middle of the
Mediterranean Sea) where it grows widely and is enjoyed as a summer fruit
(bajtar tax-xewk or “spiny figs”), as well as being used to make the popular
liqueur known as bajtra.
Full disclosure
– while I do remember the cactus it was Wikipedia that told me about the food
uses. I also recall that seeing a plant
whose identity I knew in the midst of confusing tropical flora and exotic
non-Western architecture gave me a sense of comfort that I was still on the
same planet.
So how did the
Prickly Pear get to be just about everywhere?
“During the
Pleistocene [about 2,588,000 to 11,700 years ago] many Opuntia species evolved
to become resistant to frost. Prickly
pear cactus thrives on poor sandy soils because they can retain water better
than most other plants. This would have
made them especially well adapted to southeastern North America during arid
stadials when sandstorms smothered many square miles of territory.
“A study of
prickly pear DNA determined that southeastern and southwestern regions of North
America provided refuges for prickly pear cactus during the Last Glacial
Maximum [26,500 and 19,000–20,000 years ago].
When prickly pear cactus recolonized the Midwest and Canada after the
retreat of the glacier, closely related species came into contact with each
other and hybridized.
This suggests that
many more species of Opuntia may be the result of hybridization events that
occurred when isolated populations reunited after thousands of years of
separation due to climate-initiated environmental changes.”
(http://markgelbart.wordpress.com/2013/03/18/the-biogeographical-history-of-the-prickly-pear-cactus-opuntia-sp/)
Then, once it
gets within a general area - “When an animal (or your foot) bumps the plant,
the barbed spine sticks-to and pulls a pad loose. Not happy with this new
ornament, the animal (or you) dislodges the pad, where upon it falls (or is
tossed) to the ground. It soon forms roots and grows new pads.”
(http://lee.ces.ncsu.edu/2007/08/north-carolinas-cacti/)
In other words
prickly pear is really, really old – and is equally at home in the desert
southwest, or the limestone land of Malta or the sand dunes of North Carolina.
On our way to
and from Emerald Isle, N.C. Mars and I spent a night in Pocomoke City
Maryland. It is about mid-way in our
trip and has a clean Holiday Inn Express, a nice pub restaurant on the banks of
the local river, and a walkable nature trail/historic area that allows us to
loosen our legs after eight hours of driving.
This year on
our walk we came upon a tall tropical looking tree that was lying across the
sidewalk. And standing at the base of
the plant was a woman in dirt-spattered garden clothes, who was
enthusiastically willing to talk to us about our strange horticultural
happening-upon.
It was a
banana tree of which she and her husband had several arranged around their
property – some laying on the ground, some in pots, and some in the
ground. Along with several more in
process down in their cellar. The trees
grow to about 8 - 10 feet, produce a few fruits, drop the beginnings of the
next plant on the ground, then wither and die.
She had been growing bananas in Pocomoke City for several years.
At home the
Great Google directed me once again to davesgarden.com wherein I read, “You
don’t need a greenhouse or a conservatory to grow bananas and other tropicals
north of zone 8. You do need a strong back and a willing shovel! I’ve been
growing bananas in my Maryland garden for the past two years. It’s an adventure
that’s worth a try.”
It turns out
that the Pocomoke banana growers have a son who lives about twenty miles from
Emerald Isle, N.C. and they themselves have vacationed on the island while
visiting him.
Who knows
where the little bits of the banana starter kit that sticks to their clothes
falls (or is tossed) to the ground? Next
year Mars and I will definitely be on the lookout for fresh breakfast bananas
among the prickly pears and palms of our back yard Carolina sand dune.
Cleaning soil the solar way
By Barbara Damrosch – Washington Post
It was a
difficult moment. I had walked into our greenhouse on a July day, and where
there should have been rich, dark brown earth, all I could see was plastic
spread out over the ground. Instead of an earthy smell there was a
petrochemical one. We were solarizing the soil.
Solarization,
a practice that’s been around since the 1970s, uses a sheet of clear plastic
film to concentrate the sun’s heat and burn out weeds, weed seeds, many plant
pathogens such as verticillium wilt, and even pests such as certain nematodes.
It works.
Ideally, you
cover the area long enough
to bring the top two inches of the soil to 140 degrees. If
the sunshine is good and strong, you’ll have freed the soil from the annual
weeds — the ones that germinate anew each year. (Deep-rooted perennial ones are
harder to kill.)
After solarization, your plants tend to grow better, too,
as heat-loving bacteria break down organic matter. It’s a bit like the
purification that goes on at the center of a compost pile, a cycle of renewal.
But after
spotting a desiccated worm that apparently had tried to flee, I wondered
whether it harms the life in the soil? What about those gazillions of
beneficial microbes? “They come back right away,” my husband insisted. “And
most of the worms just go deeper into the ground.”
I decided to
get a second opinion, so I asked Will Brinton of Woods End Laboratories in
Mount Vernon, Maine, a professional composter with a respect for soil life, not
just the periodic table. “The soil is not damaged,” he assured me. “A pause
takes effect. Soil organisms are resilient: The bacteria go dormant and the
fungi send out spores. Life quickly returns.” So I made my peace with the
process. Our crops came up, grew well and tasted just as good as ever. The
worms reappeared.
Solarizing the
soil is best done in the summer to kill the most heat-tolerant weeds and their
seeds. Even purslane seeds will die if you can maintain 140 degrees. (Another
reason to acquire a soil and compost thermometer.) If solarizing an outdoor bed
doesn’t result in that level of heat, you can double the plastic, laying one
sheet above the other with a support in between (wooden frames, PVC pipes) to
create a heat-trapping airspace.
By autumn — even a warm autumn — the sun is too low in
the sky to begin solarization. But now’s the time to take stock of how the
season went, and if numerous and persistent weeds were a problem, consider such
a treatment for next year.
It takes some
planning. In addition to getting the plastic sheeting and the landscape staples
to anchor it, the enterprise requires some advance steps.
Before
solarizing, amend the soil, rake it smooth and mark out the beds so they are
all ready for planting when the covers are removed. Irrigate the soil very
deeply, too. Moisture will intensify the heat and will also prompt those pesky
weeds to germinate — and quickly die. After the crops are in, hoe shallowly, lest
you bring up weed seeds from deeper below, where the heat has been less
intense.
Given the
choice, I’d still rather cultivate, hoe, mulch, plant cover crops and practice
all the other more homely, peaceful ways of keeping weeds down. But sometimes I
appreciate a quick boost from the sun.
Tip of the week
If core aeration is in your lawn’s near future, water the
turf deeply a day or two before the work to allow the aerator to reach an
optimum soil depth. Aeration reduces soil compaction and is useful for overseeding,
but it should be followed with another deep watering to prevent the grass roots
from drying. — Adrian Higgins
Damrosch’s
latest book is “The Four Season Farm Gardener’s Cookbook.”
GMO's - Pros and Cons
By Dr. Keith Kantor Sc.D, PhD – CNN.com
GMO’s are microorganisms, plants, and
animals that have their genes altered. Usually they are modified either to
further scientific research or to alter the food supply. Common genetic
modifications include: adding antibacterial genes to plants, introducing genes
that make the organism bigger or hardier, making new foods by adding genes from
existing foods, and adding animals genes to plants and vice versa.
Most American
crops are now genetically modified and the percentage of GMO’s in our food
supply is growing extremely rapidly. Products that are genetically modified do
not have to be labeled as such.
Pros
The government
and agribusiness tout the benefits of GMO’s to the public. They say that they
are doing this to increase the food supply, help underfed nations, and assist
farmers.
Some of the
benefits they claim are better food quality and taste, and making crops disease
resistant so we have higher yields and more efficient production. GMO’s allow
farmer to skip steps in the production process, like spraying herbicides and
pesticides, because the crops are already resistant. In some crops they claim
the foods are modified to contain additional vitamins and minerals.
These are
supposed to be beneficial to people in countries that do not have an adequate
supply of these nutrients. They claim that since fewer pesticides are used, it
is good for the environment. Their most important claim is that GMO’s are safe
for human consumption.
Cons
The biggest
concern is that there has not been enough testing of GMO’s and no real long
term testing to detect possible problems.
Another
problem is allergic reactions; genetic modification often mixes or adds
proteins that weren’t indigenous to the original plant, causing new allergic
reactions to the human body, according to Brown University.
Some GMO foods
have had antibiotic features added to them so they are resistant to certain
diseases and viruses. When humans eat them, these antibiotics features persist
in our bodies and make actual antibiotic medications less effective, according
to Iowa State University.
Another risk
is that the modified genes may escape into the wild. Brown University warns if
herbicide resistant genes cross into wild weeds, a super weed that is resistant
to herbicides can be created. Making plants resistant to bacteria can cause
bacteria to become stronger and harder to kill.
There have
been isolated cases of animals dying after eating genetically modified foods.
Dr. William
Davis says, “The new genetically modified wheat has a new protein call gliadin.
This gliadin binds to the opiate receptors in our brain and in most people
stimulates appetites, such that we consume 440 more calories per day.” Davis
claims clinical studies show this happening to hundreds of thousands of people.
He suggests totally avoiding wheat.
In my own
practice, while testing for food allergens using the elimination diet, I have
found several patients that improved when all GMO’s were eliminated from their
diet.
As you can
see, there are pros and cons to this issue. I wanted to try and discuss both
sides of the issue so you can make your own decision. At the present time I do
not recommend using any GMO foods until more testing is done, and true
long-term studies can alleviate my concerns.
Horti-Culture Corner
- Oliver Herford,
I Heard a Bird Sing
I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December
A magical thing
And sweet to remember.
'We are nearer to Spring
Than we were in September,'
I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December.
A sneak peek at the new product offerings
from W. Atlee
Burpee & Co.
http://www.streetinsider.com
Burpee's Top
10 for 2015:
•Summer
Squash, 'Cupcake' hybrid: Delectable oblate 2-5" fruits impart perfectly
calibrated flavor: somewhat sweet, somewhat savory. Go-to squash for roasting,
slicing, grilling, boiling, and stuffing, 'Cupcake' combines patty-pan's rich,
sweet flavor and zucchini's soft skin. Large, trailing plant yields dozens of
round, green squash.
•Tomato,
'Jersey Boy' hybrid: This 8-ounce super tomato hybrid is the brilliant combination
of the sublime sweet-sour tang of 'Brandywine' and the classic rich color,
shapeliness, yield and performance of 'Rutgers'. Indeterminate.
•Tomato,
'Cloudy Day' hybrid: Cool weather? Late Season? 'Cloudy Day' thrives in cooler
temperatures; indeterminate plant laughs off early and late blight. 'Cloudy
Day's juicy, flavorful, glossy 4-5 oz. pure-red cocktail fruits infuse salads,
soups, and sauces with tomato excellence. Indeterminate.
•Sweet Pepper,
'Long Tall Sally' hybrid: This succulent, flavorful Italian frying pepper works
culinary magic whether stuffed, fried, roasted or grilled. Hybrid yields an
abundance of glossy, thin-walled, light green 8-inch Cubanelle fruits.
•Hot Pepper,
'Big Boss Man' hybrid: Big, bold, dark green fruits deliver sensational flavor
and just-right mild heat. This disease-resistant ancho-poblano hybrid produces
an outsize yield of extra-large 7-by-3-inch fruits from the first harvest, with
a Scoville rating of 1,500-4,000.
•Lavender,
'Platinum Blonde': A fragrant masterpiece in mauve bred by Spanish breeder Juan
Momparler Albors. Leaves of gray-green are edged with wide, creamy yellow
margins. Perfect for containers and borders.
•Zinnia
haageana, 'Color Crackle': Gorgeous bicolor double flowers on vertical 16-24-inch
spikes create a sensation in a favorite sunny border. Hardy and floriferous.
Available for the first time as a single seed selection.
•Sunflower,
'Candy Mountain': Tall, branching sunflowers produce single head
"junior" plants blooming in all directions with vibrant burgundy on
yellow flame. Great variety for small space or used as vertical interest, or
for cut flowers.
•Blackberry,
'Prime Ark Freedom': Produces two blackberry harvests a year. The first-ever
thornless primocane fruiting blackberry, 'Freedom' delivers outstanding fruit
size and flavor. Fruits the very first year, early summer and fall (climate
permitting).
•Raspberry
'Glencoe': Velvety-purple, intensely sweet berries. Developed by the Scottish
Crop Research Institute. Bushy plants have spine-free canes for easy picking
(and snacking). Berries, amazingly sweet and favorable, are perfect for wines,
sauces and preserves.
Top 12 Garden Trends for 2014 (Excerpt)
1. Grafted
Vegetable Plants: Grafted plants are relatively new, but I have only seen
grafted tomato plants. A grafted plant simply means the top part of a separate
plant(scion) is attached to the root system of another plant(the rootstock).
2. Not Using
GMO Seeds
3. Planting
Raised, Stackable Beds, and Container Bags
4. Bee
Gardening: Bees have been in the news for the past couple of years and people
are concerned about their disappearance, wanting to do something about it. The
easiest solution is to plant a bee-friendly garden, using native plants. Native
plants continue to be a hot topic in gardening worlds.
5. Planting
for Health Benefits/Foraging: When I was ordering my tomato seeds, I noticed in
the Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds catalog, that they had a chart titled “Our 2013
Nutritional Study on Tomatoes”. That is why I ordered the variety “Black Krim”
which topped the list as best overall.
6.
Herbs-Medicinal and Culinary
7. Growing
Exotic and Unusual Vegetables
8. Themed Seed
Samplers: Renee’s Garden Seeds increases their themed seed collections every
year, such as the Basil Lovers Bonanza, Fabulous and Unusual Annuals, or
Collection of Collections, which is all twelve of the themed garden seeds
together for $155!
9. Growing
Small/Rooftops
10. Growing
“Super Foods“
11.
Fermentation: Fermentation is huge! Enjoying a resurgence are plants that can
be fermented such as hops for beer, grapes for wine, cabbage for kimchi, kombucha, and relishes.
12. Sprouts
& Micro Greens: Micro greens are an
“offshoot” of the sprouting scene and you have probably seen them on restaurant
menus, garnishing sandwiches, salads and soups. Micro greens are juvenile
vegetable seedlings that are between 7 and 14 days old that grow in soil.
Sprouts are seeds that germinate in water and are about 48 hours old. Micro
greens are harvested by cutting the plant off at the soil level. Arugula,
mustard, pea, beets, cilantro are some micro greens now on the market with more
to come. The nutrients contained in micro greens are four to six times more
intense than the mature vegetable.
I am sure that
you noticed that of the above movements, most of the options involved vegetable
or edible gardening. As a consequence,
when vegetable gardeners speak, the gardening industry listens!
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