November 2015

Planters Punchlines

Men’s Garden Club of Wethersfield

November/December 2015

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HOLIDAY PARTY TIME! (In lieu of Nov/Dec Meetings)

The annual club Holiday Party will be held on

Monday December 7, 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 20.

WESTON ROSE GARDEN “WINTER OVER”

Saturday November 14 @ 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.

Compostable Matter

By Jim Meehan

            Sometimes you are just in the right place at the right time.

            Had Mars and I departed ten seconds earlier we would not have seen the magnificent deer galloping across the otherwise deserted four-lane highway – or at best maybe caught a brief glimpse of a brown blur in our rearview mirror. 

            If we had left five seconds sooner we would have been an unwilling part of a roadside sculpture made up of red automobile metal and road-kill venison on Route 70 near New Bern, North Carolina.

            We went to the coastal part of the Tar Heel State in mid-October to extend our summertime at a beachfront condo that we have rented intermittently for the past ten years or so.

            Mars and I walked the grounds each morning around seven on our way to fetch the local newspaper at a nearby upscale trailer park resort.  But this year we noticed something was missing.

            As I wrote in 2010, “The grounds of the condo are landscaped with a mixture of southern perennials and annuals between the units, and a combination of prickly pear cactus and white trumpet-shaped flowers on squash-like vines along the sides of the driving area.

            “A few evenings into our getaway I noticed that these large white flowers were still wide-open, well after dark.  Then, one day around 10:00 a.m., I noticed that they were completely closed up.

            “Mars, who had observed all of this strange plant behavior days before, opined that they looked to be a form of Datura – a shrubby annual plant that we had previously seen in New Mexico (along with the prickly pear cactus).  It contains toxic or narcotic alkaloids and is used as a hallucinogen by some American Indian peoples.         

            “The Carolina species was the dusk to dawn version of the plant – sort of a “Deadly Nightshift”.

            “When I got home I typed “white trumpet night flower” into Google.

            “‘The Datura, or bush moon plant has six-inch or larger white trumpet flowers that open at night and remain open well into the following day.’”

            The late Paul Courchaine, a former club member, read this and was inspired to pot a few of these night bloomers in front of Lucky Lou’s restaurant in Old Wethersfield.  I think they lasted about a year before Lucas (the owner) decided that he preferred usable herbs rather than poisonous perennials at his portal.  Go figure!

            Now they are absent from the condo grounds also.  For whatever reason there time had come down there too.  Still the land is ‘scaped with an attractive assortment of plants – some unknown to our Damn Yankee eyes, and others that we are familiar with, but only as summer annuals in a pot.  And, even though all of the flowers have passed, there still is the pervasive perfume of gardenias throughout – even at the tee boxes of the golf course at which we hit the stupid little ball on five occasions.

            This is the latest in the year that we have gone to the Carolina Coast – so we were not sure what to expect foliage-wise on the return trip, or when we arrived back home.

            Being principally an area of oaks and pines (mostly Loblolly – my new favorite tree name) Mars and I did not see much color change while we were down at the beach.

            As always we drove home on the lesser highways of the DelMarVa area and as we moved further inland the shrubbery and forests became more varied and the leaf-show began.  This size and brilliance of this Technicolor tunnel intensified through Virginia and Delaware finally reaching a stunning crescendo of red, yellow, and orange on (would you believe?) the New Jersey Turnpike.  The fever pitch of foliage lasted through New York State, into Connecticut, down Griswold Road and into our driveway.  In spite of being lifetime New Englanders it was Mars and my first ever full-on foliage safari.  It was awesome.

            The next day broke sunny and chilly – my definition of autumn – and it took me no time at all to fire up my mulching mower and to shred the shedded leaves that blanketed my front lawn.

            This is perhaps my favorite act of gardening.  And my way of reconnecting with the spirits of those primitive plantsmen who have gone before me – returning to the earth the nourishing vestiges of nature’s high-rises, with the warm sun on my back and a gentle breeze cooling my body – while at the same time polluting the atmosphere with the noxious fumes and carbureted noise of my little red Toro. 

            Soon enough, if not already, all the leaves will be down and the skies will be gray.  And all of us will begin counting the days until that first bud of spring.  In fact I am already planning on setting up camp in my front yard sometime in the middle of February so as not to miss even one second of this big event.

            Sometimes you have got to put yourself in the right place, and then sit and wait until the right time comes along.

 

5 Weeds You Want in your Garden

by Amy - http://www.tenthacrefarm.com/

            Increase the productivity of your garden by knowing how to harness the power of these top 5 weeds.

            Weeds can overwhelm even the most patient gardener. Some weeds, however, actually increase the productivity of a garden if you know how to harness their power. Here are the top 5 weeds you’ll want to find in your garden.

The Benefits of Weeds

            Last week I wrote about the benefits of weeds. I used to be so frustrated by weeds until I learned about their benefits. I’m a much happier gardener now that my perception has changed!

            1: Weeds protect soil.

            Weeds are fast growing, so they can quickly cover bare ground to protect it. Their roots hold soil together and keep it from eroding away in the wind or rain.

            2: Weeds fertilize soil.

            Many weeds accumulate vital nutrients from the subsoil and bring the nutrients into their leaves. As the weed leaves die back, they make a healing medicine (fertilizer) for damaged topsoil.

            3: Weeds condition soil.

            Decaying roots–especially deep taproots–add organic matter to the soil, provide channels for rain and air to penetrate, and create tunnels for worms and other beneficial soil microbes.

            4: Weeds attract beneficial insects.

            Weeds are generally quick to sprout, but relatively short-lived. For this reason, they flower frequently in order to set seed for the next generation. The flowering and their dense foliage can attract beneficial insects looking for habitat or nectar.

            How I Chose the Top 5 Weeds

            It was really difficult to narrow this list down to just 5 beneficial weeds! I focused on the most common weeds (at least, in my area) that fill two important roles:

            They accumulate nutrients. This will reduce the amount of time and money I need to dedicate to fertilizer. And if I do decide to fertilize with store-bought products, the presence of these weeds may indicate what nutrients my soil is lacking.

            They attract beneficial insects. This will reduce the amount of time and money I must dedicate to battling pests.

            By fertilizing and reducing pest populations, these weeds will increase the productivity of my gardens, it’s simply a matter of knowing how to harness their power.

            All of these weeds also have medicinal properties and are nutritious edibles. I’ve mentioned where these properties exist but further study would be required for usage details.

Top 5 Weeds

            5. Plantain

            Brought into North America by colonists, plantain often pops up where soil is compacted.

            Nutrient Accumulator: Plantain accumulates calcium, sulfur, magnesium, manganese, iron, and silicon.

            Plantain has edible and medicinal properties.

            How to use plantain in the garden:

            Plantain will benefit the soil if left to grow and die back on its own. For a tidier garden, cut the leaves back monthly (but leave the roots intact) and tuck them under the mulch, or lay them on top of the soil to naturally decompose.

            4. Chickweed

            Chickweed shows up in disturbed soil such as garden beds and highly tilled areas, indicating low fertility.

            Nutrient Accumulator: Chickweed accumulates potassium and phosphorus.

            Beneficial Insects: Chickweed attracts pollinators searching for nectar in the spring and early summer.

            Chickweed has edible, lettuce-like greens and medicinal properties

            How to use Chickweed in the garden:

            Chickweed will benefit the soil if left to grow and die back on its own. For a tidier garden, cut the plants back monthly (but leave the roots intact) and tuck them under the mulch, or lay them on top of the soil to naturally decompose. Note: Cutting it back will reduce its availability to pollinators.

            3. Lamb’s Quarters

            The presence of lamb’s quarters is common in old farm fields, where chemical fertilizers were used in excess. Over time, these “weeds” will improve the  soil quality.

            Nutrient Accumulator: Lamb’s quarters’ deep roots accumulate nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, and manganese while loosening the soil.

            Highly nutritious edible properties when found growing in safe environments. The leaves go for a high price to local chefs.

            How to use lamb’s quarters in the garden:

            Lamb’s quarters will benefit the soil if left to grow and die back on their own, but one plant can set over 75,000 seeds. For a tidier garden, cut the plants back monthly (but leave the roots intact) and tuck them under the mulch, or lay them on top of the soil to naturally decompose.

            2. White Clover

            White clover voluntarily shows up in nitrogen-lacking, dry, abandoned fields and lawns that cover hardpan clay soil. Lawns where grass clippings are routinely carted away over time become lacking in nitrogen.

            Nitrogen fixer: Nitrogen is necessary for plant growth. It is present in the atmosphere, yet it must be converted into a useable form in the soil before it can be used by plants. Nitrogen-fixing bacteria live on the roots of clover and change the atmospheric nitrogen into a form that is useful to both themselves and other plants.

            Nutrient Accumulator: Clover accumulates phosphorus.

            Beneficial insects: Clover attracts ladybugs, minute pirate bugs, and pollinators looking for nectar. It provides shelter for parasitoid wasps, spiders, and ground beetles. Clover is a preferred egg-laying site for lacewings.

            White clover has edible flowers.

            How to use White Clover in the garden:

            Many clovers are used as a nitrogen-fixing cover crop which is planted in the fall and turned under in the spring before planting crops with high nitrogen requirements. White clover, however, is generally not used for this purpose. It is used more often as a permanent ground cover in orchard areas, where it keeps the soil and shallow fruit tree roots covered, attracts pollinators and beneficial insects, and provides a consistent source of nitrogen. In the vegetable garden, white clover is often used in pathways, fertilizing nearby garden soil.

            When white clover shows up as a volunteer in my vegetable garden beds, I allow it to remain in the spaces between plants. Since it voluntarily shows up in areas that are low in nitrogen, I trust that it is needed there. Prune it away from individual plants so that it doesn’t smother them.

            1. Dandelion

            Dandelion is one of the most common and arguably the most beneficial of all weeds. It often shows up in disturbed, tilled, hard-pan clay soils, whether in gardens, old fields, or lawns.

            Nutrient Accumulator: Dandelion’s deep roots accumulate potassium, phosphorus, calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, and silicon while loosening the soil.

            Beneficial insects: Dandelion attracts ladybugs and pollinators looking for nectar. It also attracts parasitoid wasps and lacewings.

            Dandelion has edible leaves, roots, and flowers with highly medicinal properties.

            How to use dandelion in the garden:

            Dandelion will benefit the soil if left to grow and die back on its own, though one flower seed head can set over 100 seeds. For a tidier garden, cut the leaves back monthly (but leave the roots intact) and tuck them under the mulch, or lay them on top of the soil to naturally decompose. Note: Cutting them back will reduce their availability to beneficial insects.

            Beyond the Five

            Weeds are nature’s way of healing itself. If you have a persistent weed that isn’t listed here, resources such as Gaia’s Garden or Edible Forest Gardens may be able to instruct you on other weeds.

            Consider the root structure of the weed in question: are they shallow roots and grow thickly on the ground, perhaps holding the soil together to prevent wind and water erosion? If so, mulching heavily might help. Or do the weeds have deep taproots, possibly loosening soil and dredging up nutrients? If so, adding organic matter and using a digging fork to loosen soil might help.

            Some weeds–like poison ivy--are a real nuisance, in which case it is better to eradicate them in garden areas.

            Do you see these 5 weeds in your garden? Has this changed your perception of them?

            Increase the productivity of your garden by knowing how to harness the power of these top 5 weeds.

The Amazing Yokohama Squash

By Randel Agrella - rareseeds.com (aka Baker Seeds)

           

            (Randel Agrella is the former manager of Comstock Ferre where the seeds are available.)

            Until the mid-19th century, Japan was seen as a mysterious Oriental land, closed to most westerners and virtually all Americans. In the 1850’s, with Commodore Perry’s forcible “Opening of Japan” the situation changed dramatically. Japanese trade goods and art became available, captivating the imagination of a generation of Americans.

            Plants were part of the cultural avalanche. One such is Yokohama squash, a superior winter squash that had evolved through centuries of painstaking selection by meticulous Japanese gardeners.

            In America, Yokohama was introduced by a wealthy New York City horticulturist, James Hogg. Hogg’s brother Thomas visited Yokohama, Japan on business, sending home seeds from Japanese varieties hitherto unknown in the West. In 1863 Hogg successfully grew the variety, naming it “Yokohama.” Hogg claimed it was superior to the Hubbard types which were at the time the standard in American gardens.

            Other horticulturists enthusiastically agreed, and Yokohama squash soon experienced a short-lived burst of popularity. J.H. Gregory, as quoted in The Garden, an Illustrated Weekly Journal, London, 1873 wrote: “It is quite flat in shape, with somewhat of a depression on each end...It is deeply ribbed, and the flesh, which is of a lemon colour, is remarkably thick, making it the heaviest of all Squashes in proportion to its size. The flesh is very fine grained, smooth to the taste, and has a flavor resembling the [Canada] Crookneck...In external color, before ripening, it is of an intensely dark green, covered with blisters like a toad’s back; as it ripens it begins to turn a light brown at both the stem and blossom ends, and, after storing, it soon becomes entirely of a copper-like colour, and is covered with a slight bloom.”

            Sadly, Yokohama fell out of favor after a couple of decades, virtually disappearing until being rediscovered in the early days of the heirloom movement. Modern gardeners were no less impressed. William Woys Weaver wrote in Mother Earth News that when he grew Yokohama it “resembled large chunks of hardened lava. Gray-black, other-worldly, yet hauntingly beautiful, this unique heirloom vegetable...was a visual study in the Japanese affection for serenity through form and texture.

            “Not only that, the ‘Yokohama’ possesses one of the most complex flavors I have run across in any squash or pumpkin I have grown. Everyone’s taste buds are different, but I detect hints of Asian pear, mango, avocado, lemon balsam, and if you have experience with tropical fruits, the unmistakable aroma of sapote. Can this be a squash?”

            Yes, it can be a squash, but of the most admirable kind. Not only is the variety possessed of singular flavor and texture, but the 3- to 4-pound fruits can be stored for many months with no loss in flavor. Disease- and pest-resistance come as a bonus, making Yokohama a world-class heirloom, deserving of a place in every garden.

 Horti-Culture Corner

"November comes

And November goes,

With the last red berries

And the first white snows.

With night coming early,

And dawn coming late,

And ice in the bucket

And frost by the gate.

The fires burn

And the kettles sing,

And earth sinks to rest

Until next spring."

-       Elizabeth Coatsworth

How to Save an Amaryllis Bulb

by Jenny Harrington, Demand Media Google - http://homeguides.sfgate.com

            Amaryllis flowers produce tall stalks topped with large, trumpet-shaped flowers. The bulbs respond well to forcing, so they are often used for potted winter flowers. Amaryllis bulbs require a dormant period to bloom again. By managing when dormancy occurs you can force the amaryllis to bloom when you want it to. Proper preparation and storage of the bulb allows it collect sufficient energy and nutrients for flowering while also surviving dormancy without damage.

            1          Trim off each flower as it begins to wilt so it doesn't form seeds. Cut off the top portion of the stalk after all the flowers finish blooming.

            2          Move the pot to a warm window where it receives all-day sunlight, or move it outside to a sunny area after frost danger passes. Water the soil when the top feels dry.

            3          Fertilize the plant once monthly with a soluble fertilizer formulated for potted flowering plants, applied at the package listed rate for the pot size.

            4          Stop watering the amaryllis 12 to 14 weeks before the desired bloom time. Bring the pot indoors and store it in a 55 degree Fahrenheit area. The bulb requires about eight weeks of dormant storage and an additional four to six weeks of growing time to produce new blooms.

            5          Remove the dead foliage after it dies back completely during storage. The bulb requires no watering and can remain in dry soil for the remainder of the dormant period.

            6          Remove the pot from storage after eight weeks of dormancy. Remove the bulb from the old pot and plant it into a new pot one inch large than the bulb's diameter. Water lightly and move it to a warm area with some light. New growth resumes within one to two weeks.

New Plants for 2016: First Impressions

Posted on October 15, 2015 by Mary Schier - http://mynortherngarden.com

            I’m one of those lucky garden writers who receives plants from several plant wholesalers to test before the plants are introduced to the public. The companies—Proven Winners and Bailey Nurseries this year—use feedback from writers (and many other plant testers) to make sure the plants will perform well in home gardens.

            These are plants that you will likely see in nurseries and garden centers next year. Maybe I’m getting better at growing these new plants or maybe this is just a particularly good year for introductions, but the plants I tried this year were overwhelmingly great.

            Here are five that you may want to look for next year.        

            Campfire™ Fireburst bidens was one of the most commented on plants when my garden was on a tour earlier this summer. The bright yellow and orange flowers add a dainty element to containers. The blooms were prolific and the plant bloomed most of the season. They took a bit of a break in August, but revived with some fertilizer and more attention to watering.

            Superbells® Holy Moly™ calibrachoa is a cousin to Superbells® Cherry Star, which I loved for its bright pink and yellow petunia-like blooms. Holy Moly is predominantly yellow with red-pink accents. It is a prolific bloomer and looked fantastic in several containers. This calibrachoa is known for continuing to bloom even in the fall, and that certainly proved true in this warmer-than-average October. The plant took a break in September, but has been blooming away since then.

            Another container plant I really liked was Lemon Coral™ sedum, a  short, chartreuse annual sedum. I used the plant in containers and it added a textural element as well as brightness. This sedum can handle part sun and is great for brightening up a shady corner. Some other garden bloggers have commented that the plant is a bit too aggressive, but I grew it only in containers and did not find that it took over. That may be because the containers were usually in part shade areas.

            I’ve never been a huge fan of potentilla, but I really liked the look of the new First Editions® Lemon Meringue™ potentilla from Twin Cities-based Bailey Nurseries. The blooms on this plant look like tiny, yellow roses and the foliage is neat. The plant grows 2 to 3 feet tall and wide, making it a good option for smaller landscapes. Potentilla is completely hardy to northern climates and virtually maintenance free. This looks like a great addition to potentilla options.

            The last plant I’d like to recommend is not new per-se, but is a recent introduction for those who love impatiens but are concerned about downy mildew on impatiens. Northern Gardener Plant to Pick columnist Debbie Lonnee recommended the Divine series of New Guinea impatiens in her column. Since my garden was on a tour and I have a lot of shady spots, I bought an entire flat of them to use to brighten up parts of the garden. They were a bit slow to get going, but once they took off they were gorgeous. (For the tour, I grew some of them in containers, which got them to a bigger size faster, then planted them on the edge of some of my tree, shrub or perennial beds.) While the small frosts we’ve had recently, have nipped some of the Divine impatiens, many are still going strong.

            Which plants did well in your garden this year?

           

September 2015

Planters Punchlines

Men’s Garden Club of Wethersfield

September 2015

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Garden Club Kicks off 2015-16 Season

Monday Sept. 28 @ 7:00 p.m. Pitkin Community Center

Master Gardener and Club Vice President Howard Becker will discuss "Invasive Plants in CT".   He will cover what makes a plant invasive, the damage done to habitats, identifying the most common invasives, methods of controlling them, and available internet resources.  The talk is free and open to the public.   Spread the word.

2015-2016 Club Officers

President:    Tony Sanders      
Vice President:      Howard Becker    

Secretary:    James Sulzen       
Treasurer:             Richard Prentice

Compostable Matter

By Jim Meehan

Most of Mars and my lawn is the color and consistency of straw.  Bees roughly the size of the MetLife “Snoopy” Blimp are all over my sedum.    Our uninvited but prolific pokeweed is pumping out fruit at a rate just barely fast enough to keep the block-long line of berry-seeking birds moving along.   And our many-headed Helianthus sunflower is as high as an elephant’s eye.  It is September 2015 in Wethersfield.

             

(Actually, according to “Yahoo Answers”, the median height of an elephant’s eye is 8 feet two inches putting Mars’ and my helianthus at least 24 inches above and beyond – but anyway, you get the point.)

             

The last rain we had here was somewhere around the time of the Garden Club’s June picnic.  Beginning early July I actually began watering my lawn (something that I basically never do) – but even that early in the season it was too little, too late.  There was no way to rescue the fescue.  I haven’t mowed certain parts of the yard at all in over two months.  Meanwhile other sections act like they are deeply rooted in an overflowing, infinitely nourishing aquifer.  These scattered areas are really, really, GREEN!  Unfortunately their growing cycles seemed to peak smack-dab in the middle of each of the series of weekly heat waves that we’ve suffered through this summer.  Fortunately I actually like to mow.

             

The poke weed first appeared several years ago during the involuntary conversion of one part of our yard from a heavy shade garden to a full-on sun baked flowerbed.  The poke weed was one of the new bushes that we did not plant – along with the Roses of Sharon whose count is now up to somewhere in the high eighties.  It is colorful.  It feeds the birds.  We like it.

             

The sedum on the edge of our next-to-the-garage garden has become a bee magnet extraordinary in the past few weeks.  I’m not an apiarist but there seems to be several varieties.  And there are a lot of them – hordes – way more than the total number of teeth in the front row of a professional wresting match.  The sedum also appears to be taller and fuller than in previous years.  Even though we have to brush against the pink star-shaped florets in order to enter our back yard, we are led to believe, these stinging insects are good for our garden – and horticulture in general.  An African friend of mine once told me, “If you want the butterflies, then you have to have the bees.”  We are still waiting for the butterflies.

             

But the hands-down hit of the season is our ten foot and still growing sunflower that towers over pretty much everything except one or two oak trees on our property. Unlike last year’s slightly smaller plant which, Mars and I believe, most likely arose from some seeds we received in the mail, and which she randomly scattered in the tomato ghetto that is nestled within our garage-side perennial flowerbed – this years prize-worthy Helianthus and its lesser brethren are totally the byproduct of our resident squirrels food-storage and/or digestive system.

             

At last count the plant had produced thirty-some-odd flowers.  (Actually, since a sunflower is a composite flower, i.e. several hundred smaller flowers combine together to create the illusion of one massive flower; we may have millions and millions of flowers.)  Whatever the number I have been cutting the mega-blossoms off of the plant when the yellow petals start drying up and leaving them on the ground at the base of our principal feeder – from whence they came originally.

             

 Usually within an hour the food offerings have disappeared – presumably into one of the squirrel dreys in the immediate vicinity.  Where else?  Maybe squirrel wives like it when their husbands surprise them with flowers.  Perhaps they are insulating the nest for the upcoming cold weather.

            

 Or they could be transplanting them somewhere else on our property.  If so I hope it is in the dead parts of our lawn.  A windblown field of Helianthus surrounded by pockets of neatly mowed green grass would make a might nice looking landscape for next September – rain or no rain.

Can Be Deadly But Oh So Delicious: Poke weed (excerpt)

From earthweeds.com

Poke weed will challenge your commitment to foraging.

            

 It is not the most commonly eaten food from a poisonous source. Tapioca or cashews would probably take that prize. But poke weed’s in the running. If prepared incorrectly or carelessly it can make you quite ill, or worse, put a ‘k’ in front of ill as in kill you.  But when picked and prepared properly, as millions have done over the centuries, it is perhaps the most delicious pot herb of all, one that makes you look forward to next season.

             

Phytolacca americana (fy-toe-LAK-ah  am-er-i-KAY-na) is native to the eastern United States. Americana means of America. Phytolacca is an international construct combining phyton (Greek for plant) and Lac (French for a dark red pigment.)  The word “poke” comes from the Virginia Algonquian (Indian) word “pakon” or “pucone” first recorded in 1708. Pakon refers to a plant used for dye or staining, and indeed a red coloring from the poke weed’s berries has been used as a dye for centuries. Indians used the juice to color feathers, arrow shafts, garments, even their horses. Berry juice was also used at one time to color wine, but that practice has been discontinued. In a modern twist, red dye from poke berries doubles the efficiency of certain solar cells.

             

While coloring foods with poke berry juice has been banned, because it is reportedly poisonous, Dr. Julia Morton says on page 51 of her “Wild Plants for Survival In South Florida” 1982 edition,  “The strained juice of ripe fruits may be safely used for coloring foods.” During her lifetime, Professor Morton was the most authoritative source in Florida on toxic plants and her works still the main references. In theory the juice could be made into jelly. While the berries are the least poisonous part of the plant, never eat the seeds or the root. Accidental poisoning have happened by people getting a little root with the shoot. And never eat a mature poke weed. What’s mature? For safety, I would consider any poke weed over 7 inches mature and off limits. And, or, any poke weed with deep red stems no matter how short it is.

             

Poke weed grew a good reputation centuries ago despite its dangerous side because it’s one of the first edible greens in spring, at a time when folks have been living on non-greens for several winter months. Many attempts were made to move the weed into the mainstream vegetable market — as it is in parts of Europe —  but it just never took off in North America. However, the demand for it was enough to keep two companies canning it up into the 1990’s. That southern tradition ended in the spring of 2000.  In April that year the Allen Canning Company of Siloam Springs, Arkansas, canned its last batch of poke sallet. The reason why they stopped canning poke weed was there were not enough people interested in picking it for them. So, if you want poke weed you really do have to pick it yourself or order it through Wild Pantry.Com.

             

A third alternative I’ve heard of which I haven’t tried because I live in Florida — where houses don’t have basements — is dig up a poke weed root and bury it in a sand box in a lightless area of your basement. In the spring it will send out white shoots which some say only need to be boiled once. While that may be theoretically possible, it would take a lot of roots to get enough shoots for even one meal. You’re better off harvesting it or collecting the seeds and growing your own. More on that in a moment.

             

When I go collecting poke weed, I take a ruler with me. It’s called my hand. From the tip of my middle finger to my wrist is about six inches. If the shoot is six inches or under, into the pot it will go, taller I leave it be. The second rule is pick nothing with red stems but that’s not so hard and fast because even two-inch shoots can sometimes be pink to red. And when I gather it I don’t pull it up, I cut it to avoid the possibility of getting any root. And do not handle raw poke weed if you have any cuts or abrasion on your hands.  It has mitogens which I will explain later.

             

Three historical notes: James Polk was a dark-horse candidate for president in the 1840’s. In one of the first PR gimmicks, his supporters wore poke leaves on their lapels. He became the 11th president of the United States. That’s Poke Power. And when the Constitution was written Tom Jefferson wrote it with ink made from poke berries on hemp paper… still legible after all these years. And during the US Civil  War many a letter was written home with a bird feather and poke berry juice. These letters, too, are extant for us to read because an herb called poke weed was valued not eradicated.

             

To make ink remember those ripe berries you brought home to rot for the seeds. You crush the berries, strain out the seeds, and let the rest ferment for a couple of weeks.  There is natural yeast on the berries or you can add a little wine or bread yeast. Then strain the liquid, once or twice depending on the thickness. You now have ink worthy of a constitution. You can mix fresh, filtered juice with vinegar to make a purple ink but it will fade. Fermenting turns the ink brown but sets it.

             

Lastly, I am doubtful about the presumed history of poke weed consumption. Poke weed certainly has been eaten for a few hundred years and that adds up to a lot of people. But I’m not sure about its use before the Europeans arrived in North America, that is, how the Native Americans used poke weed.

             

Consider: The Alabama Indians referred to Europeans as “those who eat poke weed.” That sounds as if the Alabama Indians did not. In fact, of the dozens of tribes we only know of four that used poke weed as a food, and those uses seem to break down into pre- and post metal pots. Also consider that boiling was a difficult task before the introduction of metal pots, particularly for a green that has far less nutrition than say a rat. I’ve got a suspicion that poke weed was medicinal (worth the difficulty of boiling) but not a food until it became easy to boil poke weed in changes of water in metal pots. In their different uses you can read pre- and post-metal pot use.

             

The Cherokee crushed the berries and sour grapes together, strained, mixed that with cornmeal and sugar to make a beverage. Leaves were gathered into a bundle and dried for future use. Those two uses do not require cooking. Crushed berries were used to add color to canned fruit. Young shoots, leaves and stems were parboiled, rinsed, and cooked alone or mixed with other greens and eggs. Peeled stalks cut lengthwise, parboiled, dipped in egg, rolled in cornmeal, fried like fish. Those require cooking. The Iroquopis, Malecite and Mohegans also ate poke but how was not recorded.  That’s not a lot of ethnobotanical evidence that native were eating a lot of poke weed long before Europe discovered America. I personally know two people who swallow one berry whole (no chewing) to treat arthritis. Beyound personal testimony I have no idea if it works or not.

Poison “Volunteer” Squash: Be Warned!

SwampyAcresFarm.com     

Well, we had an interesting experience with squash this past weekend…. We got poisoned! Here is our story….. I usually rototill up the garden at the end of the year and invariably there are a few extra dried-up, overgrown squashes that get mashed into the soil. This spring a “volunteer” squash plant appeared presumably from these left over squash seeds. Even though this squash plant came up in the middle of a row (very inconvenient for weeding), I thought it would be fun to let it grow and see what it produced.

             

This volunteer plant started putting out copious amounts of light green squash in the shape of a straight-neck summer squash (the variety I planted back in 2013).

             

All seemed well.. so far. This weekend, we picked a ton of squash and included one of these seemingly innocuous little green squash as well. The squash was sectioned and boiled all together in a medley along with some onions. It looked delicious. But the first bite soon gave a different impression. This squash side dish was extremely bitter.. to the point of being completely inedible. A few folks choked down a bite or two… and they were rewarded with stomach pains and explosive diarrhea later in the evening! Yours truly spit out the squash immediately and was spared any gastrointestinal distress…. I think I lucked out and bit into a “green squash” where the intense bitter flavor made it absolutely impossible to eat. Perhaps the others got a bite of a normal squash with only the juices of the poison squash mixed in. This made the taste somewhat more palatable.. and thus edible (but barely).

             

A bit of internet research pointed me to the fact that hybridized squash will sometime revert to a more “wild type” and produce copious quantities of a bitter compound called “cucurbitacin E.” I also read that some “normal” squashes will produce this if water stressed. Curcubitacin E is bitter, and poisonous with the symptoms of ingesting being… stomach cramps and diarrhea. I am convinced this is what happened! So to all those with a garden out there… let this be a warning! Do not eat squash from “volunteer” plants and be very careful if you save seeds from curcurbits… unless of course you enjoy spending all evening on the toilet.

Horti-Culture Corner

by Carl Sandburg

Hydrangeas

Dragoons, I tell you the white hydrangeas

turn rust and go soon.

Already mid September a line of brown runs

over them.

One sunset after another tracks the faces, the

petals.

Waiting, they look over the fence for what

way they go.

The 10 Stages of Clueless Gardening

By Jayme Metzgar - Thefederalist.com

             

If society ever collapses to where my family has to depend on my gardening skills, we’re in serious trouble.

             

A few years ago, I decided it would be a good idea to learn to grow vegetables. As a slightly-crunchy mom of four, I was on board with the idea of serving my kids fresh, organic produce, but the cost seemed prohibitive. Why not grow my own? Plus, it fit nicely with my overall “save-money-by-doing-everything-yourself” life theme, which I’ve also applied to cooking, family haircuts, and my kids’ education.

             

I confess that my desire to learn gardening had some political underpinnings as well. As a libertarian-leaning conservative who cares about economic issues, I’ve watched the country’s fiscal health rapidly decline from “middle-aged and overweight” level to “chain-smoking, 500-pound diabetic” level. So I’ve become more interested in hobbies that might help my family live through the undesirable event of a total economic meltdown.

             

No pressure, right?

             

Well, I’m happy to report that I am now in my fifth year of organic vegetable gardening, and I am more committed to our nation’s economic success than ever before. Because if society ever collapses to the point where my family has to depend on my gardening skills, we’re in serious trouble.

             

But although gardening’s perceived value as a survival skill has waned, I still keep going back out to the garden every year. I’ve learned that gardening is—and probably always will be—a continual cycle of defeats and triumphs, ups and downs. In fact, I’ve made a few discoveries that I’d like to share here as a benefit to other clueless gardeners like myself. (Not actual tips on growing organic vegetables. There are about a million better sources on the Internets for that.)

             

No, I’m talking about something I call the 10 Stages of Clueless Organic Gardening, which I’ve identified after my four-and-a-half years of extensive, hands-on research. Much like Kübler-Ross’s five stages of grief, I believe that being able to recognize these 10 stages of gardening can bring perspective, hope, and sanity to your fledgling attempts to grow your own food.

             

Stage 1: The Audacity of Hope

            

 It’s early spring, and heck, you’re in a great mood just being outside. Plus, you’ve learned from your failures of last year and have been faithfully reading your big organic gardening manual, so you’re pretty sure you’re going to kill it this year. And let’s just be clear, by “kill it,” we mean “keep it alive.”

             

Stage 2: Expenditures

             

This is the part where you buy compost, soil amendment, seeds, and a few plants (having previously learned you don’t have the knack of starting tomatoes indoors). It’s a bit painful to see the money going the wrong way, i.e. out of your wallet, but it will all be okay in the long run, because these bad boys will give you a great return on investment once you’re harvesting your own vegetables instead of buying them at the grocery store. Booyah.

             

Stage 3: Agnosticism

             

You spend an exhausting, sweaty day preparing the beds and putting the seeds in the ground. You stand back to admire your handiwork, and you see . . . dirt. Really. It looks pretty much the same as it did before. With the exception of the tomato bed, there is not a lot of visual gratification going on. You start to doubt whether you really even did anything at all. Over the ensuing days, you go out frequently to spray expensive town water on the beds of dirt. Your doubt grows. Is anything even happening out there? Does life exist under the dirt? Does anyone really know?

            

 Stage 4: Childlike Wonder

             

Your seeds have sprouted into beautiful seedlings! Yes, even the carrots! (At least, you think those are carrots; there’s a slight possibility they’re tiny weeds.) But the point is: wow! Life is miraculous. Seeds are miraculous. Nature is miraculous. You lavish more expensive water on the miracle.

             

Stage 5: Martha Stewart

             

You just made a salad using hand-picked lettuce from your quaint kitchen garden. While picking lettuce, you pulled the few stray weeds that were marring the aesthetic wonder of your neat, orderly beds. The children wander through the walkways, picking early vegetables to eat al fresco as they play. Tomorrow you will collect the first crop of sugar snap peas. You will put them in a white bowl, snap a photo of them in natural sunlight, and post them on social media, because a garden is a source of nourishment for the soul as well as the body.

             

Stage 6: General William Tecumseh Sherman

             

You just saw a squash bug on your zucchini plant. Yes. Somehow the enemy has infiltrated the carefully-sealed tulle barricade you constructed to protect your squash plants this year. Gingerly unsealing the netting, you check the underside of every leaf. Your jaw tightens. There it is: that little tell-tale, v-shaped bunch of eggs clinging to one leaf, a sight you came to know so well that terrible year you tried to grow pumpkins. Looking more closely, your jaw clenches even more tightly. (You’re starting to resemble a tetanus patient at this point.) The tell-tale entry point of a vine borer larva is clearly visible near the bottom of the stem. Your zucchini are under a double-pronged assault.

            

 Things look dire, but you refuse to let this six-legged enemy prevail. You shall grind them into the dust. You shall mercilessly wield your duct tape (for egg removal), your deadly jar of soapy water, and your knife (for vine-borer surgery), hunting down the rebels and all their cohorts wherever they may be found. You shall grant no quarter and shall relent for nothing less than unconditional surrender.

             

Stage 7: Bargaining

            

 “All right,” you say, “you bugs can have the zucchini, but just leave me the yellow squash, for the love of Pete.”

             

Stage 8: Depression

             

Gardening sucks. It’s not even worth it go out there and see your beloved plants, once so full of life and promise, baking in the 95-degree weather and serving as a thriving bed and breakfast for pests. You’re just trying to forget the garden exists at this point.

            

 Stage 9: Darwinism

             

You finally go back out there and see that your green beans are doing pretty well, actually. You can probably get enough to serve with supper. You also find a couple decent cucumbers and a few tomatoes that haven’t been sucked dry by stink bugs. The squash? You pull them all up and end their misery. And you feel remarkably better. Survival of the fittest, baby. If a plant can live through the onslaughts of nature without your constant attention and still produce something edible, it can stay. If not, buh-bye.

             

Stage 10: Historical Revisionism

             

Winter approaches. The season’s first late-October frost has finally killed off the last few garden plants, and there is something eerily peaceful about their shriveled forms. Before cleaning up the beds for the winter, you walk through the garden one last time. You fondly remember all the good times, the weeks of lettuce and peas, the strawberries the slugs didn’t eat, the green beans, the faithful basil, the small but edible crop of carrots, the six jars of diced tomatoes you managed to can for the winter (well, they should last through November at least). Thanks to these humble beds of earth, your children were sustained by fresh, nutrient-rich foods. You have grown your own food on your own land, and by doing so, you have connected in a deeply primal way with the independent, pioneer spirit of America. As for the struggles and setbacks, they were just opportunities to grow. To better yourself. To go into next spring armed with knowledge and ready to triumph.

           

Cross-pollination making you cross?

The Garden Professors

Science-based garden information

http://blogs.extension.org/gardenprofessors

           

No, your cucumbers have not hybridized with your melons.

             

I’ve been fielding different versions of the same question a LOT lately.

Three different people have sent pictures of “cucumelons” telling me they planted cucumbers next to their melons, and now the cucumbers look strange, so they’re concerned that they have cross pollinated with the melons. One person planted what was supposed to be a red raspberry next to their yellow raspberry, but the new plant is producing yellow fruit, so they think that it must be cross pollinating with their yellow plant, causing the fruits to turn yellow. Not to mention similar queries about tomatoes, peppers, and watermelons. It seems like every time a piece of produce turns out looking differently than what people expect, they blame pollen from the plant next to it.

             

I’m sure the highly educated readers of The Garden Professors know this already, but to clarify, there is a very simple reason why you don’t need to worry about one plant pollinating another plant and changing the quality of your produce UNLESS you are planning on saving seeds to grow for the next year.

             

When a flower is pollinated and starts developing into a fruit full of seeds, it is only the seeds themselves that combine the genetics of the two parents to develop into something new. Everything else – the flesh of a tomato, or cucumber or melon or raspberry – is produced solely by the mother plant, and the daddy of those seeds inside doesn’t matter a bit. Think about when a woman is pregnant… the identity of the father of the child inside her doesn’t change the character of the skin of her belly.

             

If you want to save seeds of your plant for next year, it is another matter, and you should be sure to isolate or (better yet) hand pollinate different varieties of the same species from each other to make sure they don’t hybridize unintentionally. You still don’t need to worry about your cucumbers and melons, however – they won’t hybridize by chance in your garden. If a plant doesn’t produce the right colored fruit or flower, most likely it was just mislabeled at the nursery. Grow a strange looking cucumber, chances are it was left on the plant too long. Cucumbers are harvested and eaten when young and immature, leave them too long and they get… strange looking. No need to blame it on the melons next to them.

             

There IS one exception to this, one common plant in the garden where the source of pollen makes a huge difference in what you harvest: Corn. Corn is the exception because what we’re eating is the seed itself, not the fruit produced by the mother plant surrounding the seed. That’s why if your sweet corn gets a dose of pollen from the field corn the farmer is grown next door, it comes out starchy and not sweet.