October 2016

Planters Punchlines

Men’s Garden Club of Wethersfield

October 2016

           

Next Meeting: Monday October 24  @ 7:00 pm in the Pitkin Community Center, 30 Greenfield Street, Wethersfield.  Carol Quish of the UConn Home & Garden Education Center will speak about “Insect Pests in the Garden.”  The talk is free and open to the public.

Mark your calendars – Holiday Party Monday December 5.

           

I am away on vacation for most of October so the Planters Punchlines newsletter is early this month.

Compostable Matter

By Jim Meehan

           

For most of the 39 years that Mars and I have gardened at our current location we have tried to attract butterflies and hummingbirds – with limited success.

             

It started in earnest with a butterfly house that our son Bram gave me.  Both he, who was a teenage non-gardener and had no reason to know better, and I thought that the homestead itself was the draw.  And that soon after it was put into place atop the pole with which it came, kaleidoscopes (aka swarms or rabbles) of large fragile-winged, colorful insects would literally flock into our yard to reside in our brand-spanking-new Lepidoptera dorm. 

             

We forgot the basic law of real estate, “Location! Location! Location!”

             

Not the street address – rather the physical location within which the landing pad was placed.  “Surroundings! Surroundings! Surroundings!”  We needed a butterfly garden to surround our butterfly house.

             

The wooden dwelling with vertical slots is intended as a resting place for insects, which happen to be in the area for another reason –an overnight pad within which to crash after an all-day nectar binge garden party. 

             

Not a problem.  There was no shortage of lists of what to grow in your butterfly garden.  We initially went, as I recall, with the usual suspects: butterfly bush and bee balm added to the daisies, cardinal plants, and false dragonheads that already occupied the area. We also acquired some kind of “prairie flower”.  I remember that the nurseryman imitated its movement in a breeze by flailing his arms back and forth and twisting his body like the inflatable “air dancers” that advertise the presence of car dealers and other roadside retail businesses.

             

We planted the garden in early spring.  By autumn the prairie flowers had been swallowed up by their fellow plants and never were seen again.  A few butterflies came by for a look and a quick sip – roughly the same number that came before we put in our alfresco nectar saloon.  None stayed overnight as far as we could tell.  But then again it would have been dark and the insects would have hidden themselves within their narrow bed apertures – so who knows?

             

To help with the attempt, my in-laws gave us a “Butterfly Growing Kit” with a cup of 5 caterpillars, caterpillar chow, and a cardboard container within which to grow them.  When the time came, on a warm summer morning, we released the quintet of Monarchs into our butterfly garden.  They surveyed the offerings and left.

             

Sometime during the first couple of years the butterfly bush was pushed out by its neighbors – and over time we have added and subtracted various other butterfly attractors – such as loosestrife, hollyhock, Queen Anne’s Lace, sunflower – with no appreciable increase or decline in the count of Lepidoptera.

             

I know I shouldn’t take it personally.  Most butterflies have only a few weeks of life as an adult, winged creature so they are really pretty focused on eating and mating during the short time that they have.  Even the well-traveled Monarch has a brief and very busy life.  Those born in the summer breeding season live only 2-6 weeks. But the ones that migrate to Mexico are born in late summer, stay alive all winter, and migrate north the following spring – so whatever extra time they have is spent planning their vacation (getting passports, shots, directions, etc.)  None of them have the time to be your friend.

             

But I have not given up just yet.  On the web I came across suggestions and recipes for “butterfly bait” to draw the little flitters into our yard.

             

“Many butterflies prefer rotting fruit, tree sap, dung, carrion, urine, and other non-nectar sources of nutrients. [And who wouldn’t?] You can allow fruit from your fruit trees to decay on the ground, leave your pet’s droppings where they lie, or place a bit of raw meat or fish in a discreet part of your garden.”

            

 Or perhaps just blend them all together and spray a thick coat of the resulting liquor all over the body of a purple-and-red thrashing air dancer man that is tethered to the spot where the butterfly house once stood.

             

And as a side benefit we might get a good price for our two decade-old cars.

Keeping Heirloom Apples Alive Is 'Like A Chain Letter' Over Many Centuries

By Melissa Block @ npr.org

It's apple season, and if you go to the supermarket you'll find the usual suspects: Red and Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, MacIntosh. But these big, shiny, perfect apples often look better than they taste. Thankfully, there's a whole world of heirloom apples out there — fruit that may look funky, but tastes fantastic, with flavors unlike any you've tried before.

             

Ezekiel Goodband, orchard manager of Scott Farm in Dummerston, Vt., has devoted his life to these heirloom apples. He's spent decades carefully grafting and tending historic varieties — some of which date back hundreds of years. Sprightly, with twinkly eyes and a long gray-brown beard tucked into a well-worn sweater, Goodband shows off his acres, which boast 100 different apple varieties.

             

Some apples are round and tiny; others are lobed or pear-shaped. They range from acid green to mousy freckled brown to rosy pink. And they have exotic-sounding names like Winter Banana, Red Astrakhan, Chenango Strawberry and Pitmaston Pineapple.

             

One tree bears a mutant-like fruit that only a mother could love: Goodband describes this Knobbed Russet as "a tree of shrunken heads." The fruit is gnarled, warty, brown and shriveled, but — Goodband promises — it tastes great.

             

Goodband compares these Knobbed Russets to shrunken heads. Others say potatoes or toads. They're all gnarled and warty and brown, but don't be intimidated: They taste great when ripe. They originated in Sussex, England, in 1819.

             

Goodband is helping to preserve historic varieties like the Knobbed Russet that have been handed down over the centuries. Like farmers for generations before him, he has painstakingly collected cuttings and grafted them to root stock. That's the only way to do it, to keep the exact DNA of these apples alive.

             

"It's sort of like a chain letter, and I like that connection," he says.

             

Like many of us, Goodband grew up on Red Delicious apples. His father grew them, and they'd eat them year-round. But he won't touch them now. Those leathery, indestructible behemoths were cultivated to be ever redder and bigger, but at the expense of flavor.

             

These days, lots of people are ecstatic about the Honeycrisp, a newish apple, created at the University of Minnesota in 1991. It explodes with juices and a crackling crunch.

             

Goodband grows Honeycrisp, but he isn't a huge fan of it himself. It's too one-note, he says. And get this: He claims that even his pigs don't like it. If he puts Honeycrisps in their trough, he says, they'll tip it over. "They just have gotten used to more complex flavors," he jokes. "They're interested at first, but then, you know, I can tell in their eyes that they're looking for something more."

             

The picking crew on Scott Farm is made up of six men, all from Jamaica, in their 50s and 60s. They'll pick 22 tractor-trailers of apples over the course of a season. Then, it's home to Jamaica and their own farms, where they raise sweet potatoes, sugar cane and bananas.

             

Their devotion to this place — and to Goodband — is clear: Some of the men have worked for him for more than 20 years. The workers say they're proud to know all of these uncommon apples, and they treat them almost with affection. When they prop their wooden ladders against the treetops they maneuver them gently, and they're careful with the fruit.

             

On this day — as they pick Hubbardston, Holstein and Red Cortland — they sing Bob Marley as they harvest fruit from the treetops.

             

With ripe fruit all around, you might think they'd be tempted to snack, but Michael Johnson says that's not the case. The apples at the top of the trees call to him, he says, and "it's fun to get them." And then: "Into the bin!"

             

Self-described apple geek Rowan Jacobsen traces his "apple awakening" to Goodband's fruit, which Jacobsen discovered years ago at his local food co-op. Jacobsen's new book, Apples of Uncommon Character, is an homage to these heirloom varieties.

            

 Jacobsen has brought a new apple — the Pixie Crunch, developed in a 1970s university apple breeding program — back with him from a trip to Washington state. It's small, round and bright red, the perfect size for a child's hand. Jacobsen thinks this small apple has a big future.

             

But these trends can be hard to predict. Jacobsen describes a conversation he had about this apple with some big industrial growers out in Washington: One grower was convinced the Pixie Crunch was the next big apple. The other grower was skeptical that they could find demand for such a small fruit.

             

"There's really this tension right now, even among big guys," Jacobsen says. "Some of them have this old-school mentality of what the market wants. There's kind of a disconnect — because the market that I know actually likes small apples, and likes different apples."

As for Goodband, he's not interested in the Pixie Crunch — too sweet, he says. And he's not interested in apples designed to travel well for long distances. His is small-batch agriculture, sold locally. His apples cost more than conventional fruit, but Goodband only grows fruit that delights him.

            

 "I've got to be dazzled," he says, and, he wants his customers to be dazzled, too.

             

He hopes to reintroduce people to fruit that customers might remember their grandparents growing. Or to introduce them for the first time to fruit that doesn't make it to stores because it doesn't ship well or because it is only at its peak for a week or two. This, he says, is the experience he's looking for:

             

"When I give people one of these apples, they'll come back next week and say, 'Oh, that was the best apple I've ever had in my life. I didn't know apples could taste like that!' "

             

At 61, Goodband says the heirloom trees he grows will last beyond his lifetime. Now, he says, it's his turn to teach someone else — someone younger — how to keep them going.

To Cut or Not to Cut

National Gardening Association @ garden.org

That is the question -- the one you ask yourself in the fall as you survey your flower garden, pruners in hand. Which perennials should you cut back and which should you leave standing? Although your initial impulse may be to cut all your herbaceous plants back to tidy things up when the weather turns cold, leaving the tops of some plants in place over the winter can add interest to an otherwise bleak landscape and provide food for seed-eating birds. It can also help some plants make it through the winter more reliably. But there are also good reasons for cutting back certain perennials as soon as their tops are killed by frost. Here's some advice on when to wield your clippers and when to wait.

             

Add Winter Interest: Some perennials that grace the garden with beautiful blossoms early in the season continue to enliven the garden with their interesting seedpods in fall and winter. Baptisia's elongated black seed pods stand out against the snow, as do those of Siberian irises, and both are useful in dried arrangements indoors. The dried flower heads of yarrow (Achillea) add a horizontal note, while plants such as 'Autumn Joy' sedum and Joe Pye weed (Eupatorium), with large, rounded flower clusters, remain as lacy globes over the winter.

             

Ornamental grasses are some of the most dramatic plants in the winter landscape. Tall plumes feather reed grass (Calamagrostis) and switch grass (Panicum) add vertical accents to the winter landscape. Just be sure to cut plants back in early spring before growth emerges to avoid damaging the new shoots.

             

Benefit Birds and Butterflies: Goldfinches and other feathered visitors will stop in winter to dine on the seedheads of plants such as black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia), heliopsis, and purple coneflower (Echinacea). The seedheads of many annuals will also provide treats for passing birds if blossoms are allowed to go to seed and remain through the winter. Cosmos, coreopsis, bachelor's buttons, and zinnias are some of the flowers whose seeds will feed sparrows, finches and juncos. But do keep in mind that plants like rudbeckia and purple coneflower may self-sow enthusiastically and you'll need to be prepared for some ruthless weeding come spring if you let their flowers go to seed.

             

Perennials left standing can also provide spots for butterflies and other beneficial insects to overwinter, either as pupae, caterpillars, or eggs, and offer them cover from predators like birds and spiders.

             

Offer Cold Protection: Some perennials are more likely to survive winter's cold if they aren't cut back until spring. Frikart's aster (Aster frikartii), Montauk daisy (Nipponanthemum nipponicum), chrysanthemums, agastache, and red hot poker (Kniphofia) all benefit from the insulation that the old foliage provides to the crown of the plant.

            

 Leave Basal and Evergreen Foliage: And finally, there are those plants that produce a clump of new basal leaves late in the season, like Shasta daisies and globe thistle. You can cut down the spent taller growth or bare flower stalks, but leave the basal foliage undisturbed. Also, don't cut back low-growing evergreen or semi-evergreen perennials, like some hardy geraniums, heucheras, hellebores, dianthus, and moss phlox. These can be tidied up in the spring, if need be.

             

Mark Late Sprouters: A few perennials are notorious for their late emergence in spring. If you leave at least a portion of the tops of butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa), rose mallow (Hibiscus moscheutos), and balloon flower (Platycodon grandiflorus) standing, you won't lose track of their location and accidentally damage them by digging into them before they sprout in spring.

             

Start Cutting!: Daylilies look pretty raggedy by the end of the season. They don't add anything visually to the winter garden and getting rid of their browning foliage and bare flower stalks improves the appearance of the landscape. The foliage of other plants, such as brunnera and veronica, turns black and becomes mush after its been hit by frost and from an aesthetic standpoint is best removed. I've also found that it's much, much easier to cut down the tops of plants that don't have tough leaf stalks, like daylilies and Siberian irises, when they are still relatively crisp and upright in the fall. By spring their leaves have become a fallen, sodden clump that can be a real challenge to cut away.

             

The tops of some perennials, such as bearded iris, peonies, bee balm, and garden phlox, often serve as reservoirs for overwintering insects or disease spores and are best cut down and consigned to the trash or sent to a municipal hot composting operation. It's a good idea to cut back and destroy any disease-infected or insect-infested plant debris. When I'm not sure if the pest organism overwinters in or on plant material, I err on the side of caution and get rid of it.

             

What About the Rest?: For many other perennials, it's up to you whether to cut back now or in spring. You'll offer the most benefits to wildlife if you leave the most plant material standing until spring. But spring is also a very busy time for most gardeners and you may choose to take advantage of the slower pace and pleasant weather in autumn to get at least some of your garden clean-up chores out of the way.

           

Weed: My most unwanted plant

by Cortney Moore (fortcollinsnursey.com)

The word weed makes me cringe. It makes my skin crawl. I am not talking about the weed that has been on the minds of most people in Colorado this year. The weed I am talking about is a plant growing where I don’t want it. It is a plant growing vigorously or in some cases in an invasive manner.

           

 Last year I started a major project in my yard. Think Bobcat Skid-steer Tractor, 7 tons of flagstones and a whole lot of soil moving going on. So much soil was moved from one area to another that by the end of the season the weeds had gotten out of control. At this point, I thought I needed to do something about them. I yanked as many as I could. While I was playing tug of war with the nasty buggers, a million lovely little pepper speck seeds dropped to the ground. I waited too long. I felt defeated, but fall was too busy to do much about the new problem I had created.

             

Through the winter I stared out the kitchen window and contemplated bringing in truckloads of mulch or covering the ground with cardboard to suppress the seeds. I never actually got around to this and with March upon us, the amount of moisture in the ground and all those seeds out there are on my mind. Visions of weeds springing to life as temperatures warm haunt me. In order to get a jump on the weeds before they become the headlining plant in my yard this year, I concocted a plan to take care of these green devils. I am determined to make my yard an enjoyable place fit for entertaining this season. Read on to learn my plan of attack.

             

Depending on what the weather decides to do, I will apply a pre-emergent product sometime in March. Pre-emergents do not kill seeds; they destroy young weed seedlings so the product must be present prior to germination. Initially I thought about using corn gluten, but the research I read said corn gluten is most effective as a pre-emergent weed control in an established lawn and is less effective in open and disturbed soil like my yard, so it appears that for my application I will need a chemical type. Pre-emergents stop all seeds from germinating and I am planning to sow a cover crop so I will have to be aware of the amount of time the product is active in the soil before I put my cover crop seed down. I am still deciding which cover crop to use and need to do more research.

             

My next line of defense will be post-emergent. I will incorporate as many post-emergent methods as necessary to put the smack down on these monsters. I prefer mechanical methods, such as using my long handle weeder, hula hoe and spreading mulch or other weed barriers. I know I have some fairly aggressive weeds out there and some chemical warfare will be necessary, especially on the cotton wood suckers from the tree my neighbor cut down last year. Yes, they are weeds too. Remember: A plant growing where I don’t want it.

             

I love my long handle weeder. I love it so much that I have been known to give it to friends who come over and have never had one. Part of the joy of gardening is sharing. So I just give it to them and buy another. This type of weeder doesn’t always get the entire root, but it can pop baby dandelions out as they emerge.

             

The Hula hoe is another one of my favorite tools for mechanical control. I also consider it a bit of an upper body work out when I use it so I can skip the gym that day.

             

Mulch is a must have in my yard. It not only suppresses weeds, it improves soil, conserves water, and has many other benefits. (Join us for The Magic of Mulch class on Sunday, May 18th to learn more.) For large areas I load my truck at free pick up locations. This leaves me more money to buy plants. When I want something more decorative or a specialty mulch, I visit my local garden center.

             

While I prefer mechanical weed control, I do occasionally reach for the bottle. The products listed below are what work for me. Please read labels thoroughly and talk with your nursery professionals before using any of the products. That is the only motherly warning you will hear from me today.

             

Fertilome Weed Free Zone is my go to for getting an early start. It works in cooler temperatures so I like it as weeds start to green up in the spring and the mornings are still in the 40s and 50s.

            

 Fertilome Brush and Stump Killer is potent but it is necessary for suckers when your neighbor takes an ancient cottonwood out and don’t kill the entire root system, or you try to dig honey locusts, choke cherries or aspens and they just keep coming back. I always try my trusty shovel on suckers first and use Brush and Stump Killer as a last resort. A word of caution: Brush and Stump Killer is not Sucker Stopper. It will kill the entire root system and plant. Do not use on suckers that are attached to a desirable plant.

             

Now don’t get the impression that I am a manic welding a sprayer full of poison. I am a realistic gardener who attempts all other methods before going for the heavy hitters but sometimes it takes what it takes.

             

I advocate for controls that are citric acid or acetic acid based too. They don’t kill the root and often have to be applied more than once. If you can burn the top growth enough the root won’t get fed and presto! No more weed.

             

As long as I stick to the plan, I imagine I will emerge the victor in my war on weeds. I figure it will take a full season of diligent weeding to really make a difference. The thing that keeps me going is inviting all my friends to see the progress and enjoy the relaxing setting of the living flagstone patio, mini orchard and various other garden rooms. I am always looking for more garden friends so connect with me and maybe you’ll get an invite!

             

For more gardening and more connecting with Cortney Moore check out mooregarden.com.

How to Plant Chinese Dogwood From a Seed

Homeguides.sfgat.com

Sometimes called kousa dogwood, the Chinese dogwood (Cornus kousa) is a deciduous shrub species prized for its showy flower bracts and purple autumn foliage. It is widely grown throughout U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 5 to 8, where it is used as an ornamental tree or shrub.

1.     Gather Chinese dogwood seeds in autumn after the fruit ripens to a bright, raspberry red color. Collect two or three fruit and place them in a plastic bag. Gently crush the fruit with a rolling pin to loosen the seeds.

2.     Place the crushed Chinese dogwood fruit in a bowl of water. Soak them overnight, stirring occasionally. Pick out the oblong, light-brown seeds and discard the remainder of the fruit.

3.     Fill a plastic sandwich bag with moist sphagnum moss. Bury the Chinese dogwood seeds in the sphagnum moss and seal the bag. Store the bag in the refrigerator for two to three months to cold-stratify the seeds. Remoisten the sphagnum moss, as needed.

4.     Sow the Chinese dogwood seeds in individual 6-inch greenhouse pots filled with a mix of equal parts sterile compost, loam and perlite. Sow them at a depth of 1/10-inch. Water them to a 2-inch depth after sowing.

5.     Place the potted Chinese dogwood seeds inside a lightly shaded, unventilated cold frame. Warm the pots with a germination mat set to between 70 and 75 F. Turn off the mat at night.

6.     Check the moisture level in the growing mixture twice daily during the germination process. Thoroughly moisten the top inch of the soil whenever the surface feels barely moist. Do not allow it to dry out completely on the surface.

7.     Watch for signs of germination in approximately three months. Turn off the germination mat after the Chinese dogwood seeds sprout. Open the cold frame to increase air circulation around the seedlings and to acclimate them to normal outdoor conditions.

8.     Move the Chinese dogwood seedlings to a sheltered area of the garden after the last spring frost. Provide 1-inch of water each week, if no rain falls for one week or longer. Protect the seedlings from direct midday sun until they produce several sets of mature leaves.

9.     Grow the Chinese dogwood seedlings under light shade during their first summer to prevent heat stress and dehydration. Water weekly to a 1-inch depth. Acclimate them to direct sun in early autumn to prepare them from transplant into the garden.

10.  Transplant the Chinese dogwoods into the garden in autumn after the first rainfall. Choose a sunny or lightly shaded planting site with moist, draining soil. Space multiple shrubs 15 to 30 feet apart.

11.  Things You Will Need: Plastic bag, Rolling pin, Bowl, Plastic sandwich bag  Sphagnum moss, 6-inch greenhouse pots, Sterile compost Loam, Perlite, Cold frame, Germination mat

Horti-Culture Corner

"Along the side roads the bright gold of thin-leafed wild sunflowers

gleams from its dust covering and attracts the eye as quickly as mention of easy money.   

Purple ironweed is diminishing in the pastures;

thistles are down to their last silken tassels;

goldenrod pours its heap of raw gold into the general fund."

-  Rachel Peden