Planters Punchlines
Men’s Garden Club of Wethersfield
March 2014
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Backyard Composting"
@ Men’s Garden Club of Wethersfield March Meeting -
Monday March 24 @ 7:00 pm in the Pitkin Community Center
The March 24
meeting of the MGCoW will feature Marty Sienko, President - Connecticut
Community Gardening Association, Master Gardener and Advanced Master Composter,
speaking on “Backyard Composting”. The
public is invited.
Compostable Matter
By Jim Meehan
I am writing
this on March 1, 2014 – hoping that the Groundhog was wrong and that the Old
Farmer’s Almanac turns out to be unnecessarily pessimistic.
Here is their
2014 Long-Range Weather Forecast for Hartford, Connecticut: average temperature
43° (1° below normal); precipitation 3" (1" below avg.); Mar 1-8:
Snow showers, cold; Mar 9-14: Sunny, then showers, turning warm; Mar 15-16:
Sunny, cool; Mar 17-21: Heavy rain, then sunny, cool; Mar 22-25: Rain, then
sunny, cool; Mar 26-31: Sunny, then rainy, warm.
I am itching
like crazy to get my long-dormant garden hands on those winter-dried perennial
stems that were left standing over the cold months in order to provide (a) food
and shelter for the birds; (b) “winter interest” – i.e. cool shadows and freaky
skeletal sculptures; and (c) something to do in early spring to get my frozen
horticultural juices flowing again.
I am
desperately looking forward to the first sunny day that requires no more
clothing than a flannel shirt and perhaps a light down vest (and pants of
course) – when I can retrieve my pruning shears and thin leather gloves from
the bottom of my yard-work basket, and hew these deliberately neglected and now
snow-crushed and pitiful looking desiccated twigs into piles of pick-up-sticks
to be consigned to the first trash bin of the growing season.
I am imagining
the feel of my large red plastic leaf rake dragging debris from the bare space
between my hacked-down herbage, and the gentle stroke of my hand-held shrub
rake as my knees feel the cool, damp earth for the first time in several months
–– and perhaps I uncover the first fresh-grown green anything of the year.
It’s all
happened before – at the same time, in the same way. So, even though as we all know “past
performance is no guarantee of future results” – it could happen again.
That’s what I
am hoping anyway – that as you read this at the end of the third month I will
have experienced at least some of my “OMG, spring really is here” garden dreams
– and you, yours.
Horti-Culture Corner
Ode to Compost (verses 1, 2 and 5) by Lucas Land
Leaf and rind sit silent
atop the pile of waste
lifeless leftovers lingering
piled together in an organic grave
still sits the mound
quietly surveying the hum of activity
planting, watering, tending, milking, feeding, pruning,
harvesting, dancing, laughing, weeping, hoping
There is magic at work in the rotten stench
There is mystery to behold
in the watchman of the farm
Killer Compost: Raised Beds – It Happened to Us!
By Joe Lamp'l Host of “A Way to Garden”
“A Way to
Garden” airs on Robin Hood Radio (www.robinhoodradio.com/) on Monday at 8:30 AM
Eastern, with a rerun at 8:30 Saturdays. It is available free on iTunes. Robin
Hood is the smallest NPR station in the nation.
I say it
often; it’s alright to make mistakes as long as you learn from them—especially
in the garden. Well, I made a doozy recently and have I ever learned from it.
If you watched
our Episode 406 on building out our GGWTV Vegetable Garden, you know how hard
we’ve been working. I was especially proud when the time finally came to fill
my beds with carefully selected, rich topsoil, organic compost and manure. And
I was feeling particularly resourceful about utilizing the manure from right
here on our farm. With horses, goats and chickens, we had a generous inventory
that was well rotted and ready for the garden.
As a full time
gardening communicator who prides himself at being in the know, I am also aware
of the potential current hazards of using manure to amend garden soil. In
recent years, it has become very apparent that some herbicides used to control
weeds in farm fields persist for a very, very long time. Even worse, they don’t
readily break down, even as composted manure!
So if I knew
better, why did I do it? Chalk it up to my haste to fill my new garden beds,
combined with the very unscientific assumption that it couldn’t happen to me
syndrome. My rational for proceeding prior to the proper testing was also
flawed. Conscience of the potential risk, I had been observing various weeds
and plants springing to life from this massive, aged manure pile for weeks
while failing to consider that not all plants are impacted by these herbicides
in the same way.
Giving myself
the green light to proceed with amending my soil with this free and abundant manure,
I blended about 20% total volume to each bed in my garden. Then I planted every
bed, including 20 varieties of tomatoes. And then I waited—and waited.
Herbicide
Damage on TomatoesSomething wasn’t right. As my new plants finally started to
grow, their leaves were so twisted and distorted, while other plants were
severely stunted. I knew what happened—I just refused to believe it was true,
and that it happened to me! To add insult to injury, even the hay I used as
mulch contained the bad stuff because it came from the same source.
About a month
later I finally confirmed my suspicion. The farmer that grows the hay that we
buy for our horses made his periodic delivery. I didn’t waste a moment; “What
type of herbicides to you put on your fields?” I asked. “Grazon” he replied—not
the answer I wanted to hear. It’s all I needed to know. The trade names for the
products you want to avoid are many. But the active ingredients of greatest
concern are picloram, clopyralid, and aminopyralid because they can remain
active in hay, grass clippings, piles of manure, and compost for an unusually
long time. These herbicides eventually break down through exposure to sunlight,
soil microbes, heat, and moisture. Depending on the situation, the herbicides
can be deactivated in as little as a few months yet complete deactivation and
breakdown can take several years!
So what will I
do now? Many people I’ve consulted with didn’t hesitate to suggest I remove the
soil from every bed and start fresh. I agree, it’s the best way to tackle the
problem head on. Yet, considering the time, energy and expense of filling each
of the 16 beds the first time, I can’t stomach the thought of removal and
starting over.
The other
option, and the one I’m taking, is to leave the soil in place, hoping through
bioremediation, I can heal the existing beds. I’ve grown out the plants that
are already there to see how they ultimately respond. After that, I’ll turn the
beds to expose the soil to more to sunlight and air, and promote the soil
microbe activity in each bed and hopefully deactivate the herbicides more
quickly. Then I plant cover crops in all
the beds to keep the biological systems running above and below ground.
Cover Crops
Thankfully, not all my plants were affected, yet hardest hit were the tomatoes,
eggplant, peppers and beans. Remarkably, the cucumbers, okra, herbs, chard,
beets, sweet potatoes and watermelon did fine, as did my ornamental annuals
scattered throughout.
What should
you do? Never use manure or even hay as mulch in your garden beds when you are
unsure of the chemicals used in the field. It’s unfortunate but for now, it’s
the only way you can be sure you are not transferring harmful, active
herbicides to your garden. And lastly, farmers have a big responsibility in
this as well. Please inform your customers if you are using herbicides that can
be potentially devastating to home gardeners. My hope is that by next year, my
soil will be restored and this is one mistake I know I’ll never make again.
If you want to
see the segment we did on this for the television show, where Joe shows the
actual damage and shows you how to test your manure before you put it in your
garden, be sure to watch it here, in episode 410.
(http://www.growingagreenerworld.com/weedless-gardening/)
What to do with a dead deer: Compost it
By Krisy Gashler (http://www.news.cornell.edu)
Composting
isn't just for veggie scraps. It's often the best way to deal with roadkill,
livestock mortality and even large-scale animal deaths due to floods, fires or
other catastrophes.
Many people,
including some farmers, assume it's best to bury animals underground. In fact,
it's safer and kills pathogens more effectively when carcasses are composted in
unturned piles, according to Jean Bonhotal, director of the Cornell Waste
Management Institute.
"Most of
the time they get buried, but that brings them 6 feet closer to the water
table," Bonhotal said.
Carcass fluids
from improperly disposed animals can leach into wells, creeks or drain pipes,
spreading bacteria and viruses.
"Composting
is a fairly forgiving process. If we do it well, we can make a 1,200-pound
animal disappear in three months. The bones will still be there, but the
carcass will be gone," Bonhotal said.
But there are
instances when composting is not appropriate. For example, animals with a prion
disease, such as mad cow or chronic wasting disease, need to be incinerated or
chemically treated. Cornell's alkaline hydrolysis digester, which uses high
heat, high pressure and a chemical bath to quickly digest animal carcasses, is
the state-designated facility to dispose of animals with prion diseases.
Most of the
time, however, composting is the best way to go. It's faster, easier, more
effective and, unlike burial, can be done year-round, Bonhotal said.
Rendering, a
process that converts animal tissue into value-added materials such as tallow,
is another option, but the industry can't manage as much of the dead stock as
they have in the past, she said.
Bonhotal works
with agencies and individuals to spread the message of proper animal waste
disposal. Several years ago, the Waste Management Institute teamed up with the
New York State Department of Transportation to address roadkill disposal; dead
deer picked up by the agency are now composted.
She also helped
organize the fourth International Animal By-products Symposium held in May in
Dearborn, Mich., and funded by the Department of Homeland Security through the
National Center for Foreign Animal and Zoonotic Disease Defense and Michigan
State University. Other topics discussed at the event included safely dealing
with euthanized animals; containing animal-originated food disease outbreaks;
and state, federal and international agency disaster response planning and
policy.
There's still
progress to be made in achieving best practices for animal carcass disposal,
Bonhotal said.
Earlier this
year, for example, 300 pigs were killed in a fire on an upstate farm and
buried.
"The day
after a disaster, the farmers just want to have the animals gone. And they may
not have the confidence that composting will work," Bonhotal said.
"But they may pay for it later with environmental damage."
The world's ugliest plants: Green and unpleasant ugly
plants
Ugly or
intriguing? You be the judge in this battle of the aesthetically challenged to
find the world's ugliest plant.
RHS [Royal
Horticultura Society] experts have scoured the planet to produce a list of the
world's 10 ugliest plants. Their choice spans the spectrum from the spiky to
the hairy. Given the conditions in which many of these plants live – extreme
temperatures and humidity – it's perhaps understandable that survival skills
win over looks.
The frightful
flora have also been handed the short straw when it comes to names: stinky
squid, bastard cobas, monkey cups and vegetable sheep are a world away from the
charms of the lily or rose.
However,
beauty is in the eye of the beholder and the RHS wants gardeners to vote in a
survey to find The World's Ugliest Plant. You can name your most objectionable
plant and also defend the homely specimens you love. To take part, visit the
RHS World's ugliest plant survey. The "winning'" plant may appear at
the RHS Show Tatton Park (July 22-26).
Ugly Top 10
1 Bastard
cobas (Cyphostemma juttae) A slow-growing, ornamental plant that can reach 6ft,
also called wild grape, tree grape and Namibian grape. Plants are found in
Namibia. The large shiny leaves tend to fall during winter and grape-like
bunches appear near the end of summer.
2 Birthworts
(Aristolochia gigantea) Also referred to as pipe vines, they are widespread and
appear in various climates. The basis of
the plant is an intertwining stem with simple leaves. The
flowers have a strong scent.
3 Elephant's
trunk (Pachypodium namaquanum) Found in the North Cape of Namibia, the plant
consists of a thick trunk, densely covered in spines. There is a crown at the
top appearing during the growing months of winter, and velvet- textured flowers
appear from August to October.
4 Corpse
flower (Amorphophallus titanium) This plant only blooms every four to six years
within its 40-year life expectancy. The flower is described as the world's
largest; reaching 5ft high and 4ft wide. For eight hours of the three-day
bloom, the flower emits a smell that is described as rotting flesh, attracting
a carrion-eating beetle, for pollination. The plant is also known as an
aphrodisiac.
5 Tree tumbo
(Welwitschia mirabilis) The plant, found in south-west Africa, specifically
Namibia and Angola, is considered a living fossil. Initially, the plant grows
two leaves from one thick trunk and, as the plant continues to grow, the leaves
may split. Some plants are estimated to be more than 1,000 years old.
6 Thorn of the
cross (Colletia paradoxa) Also known as gigs, curumamil, cross or crown of the
cross. From South America, this slow-growing shrub with greyish flowers blooms
in March and April. Often used as an ornamental plant for its fragrance, it is
under threat of extinction, due to a loss of habitat.
7 Stinky squid
(Pseudocolus fusiformis) A mushroom first reported in Pittsburgh, North
America, in 1915. Often found at the edge of woods, in parks and gardens,
usually in summer and autumn. The body first resembles a puffball, but later
splits to form a stalk with arms that taper.
8 Sea onion
(Bowiea volubilis) Also known as the climbing onion, this plant originates from
South Africa. The bulb is a pale green, with half growing underground. New
branches appear each year, making it look like an elongated asparagus, with
greenish flowers.
9 Vegetable
sheep (Raoulia eximia) Named because of the way it looks from a distance, this
is found in New Zealand's Southern Alps. This shrub forms grey-white mounds and
can spread 5ft. Tiny leaves are covered in hairs, with flowers beneath.
10 Monkey cups
(Nepenthes) [Shown Below] Also commonly known as tropical pitcher plants, this
plant comes from a family of more than 120 species. They are vine-forming,
originating from south China, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. The plant
grows as a climbing vine.
Here's the best new edible plants of 2014
By George Weigel http://blog.pennlive.com/
Just in time
for your plant-planning pleasure is my annual four-part series on best new
plants debuting in the coming season.
I'll start
today with the best new veggies, herbs and fruits, then pick up next week with
best new annual flowers, then move on to best new perennials the following
week, and finish off the last week of January with best new trees and shrubs.
Here you go:
Basil 'Try
Basil.' This is a new potted plant mix from Burpee Home Gardens that puts three
different basil varieties – a smooth, Italian 'Genovese' type, a crinkled
green-leaf type and a purple-leaf version – in one pot.
It's Ann
Hoffman's favorite new edible coming to Black Landscape Center in Upper Allen
Twp. in spring.
"What
took so long for someone to think of this wonderful idea?" she asks.
Lots of new
twists await tomato aficionados this year, but this line of sweet/small/striped
varieties from an independent California breeding farm is most curious.
The 'Tiger'
series of Artisans is oblong in shape, while the 'Bumble Bee' series is more
rounded. The seven total varieties range in color from yellow-green to orange
to pink to purplish-red.
All keep producing
all season until frost, and they're about as good-looking as good-tasting.
Seed is
available from Johnny's Selected Seeds and Totally Tomatoes.
'Indigo'
tomatoes. Oregon State University last year brought us a break-through new
tomato color – true dark purple – in 'Indigo Rose.' It's that color because
it's rich in anthocyanin, a disease-fighting antioxidant.
New
anthocyanin 'Indigos' debut this year in blends of dark red, blue/black and
dark purple, including 'Indigo Apple,' 'Indigo Blue Beauty,' 'Indigo Blue
Berries' and 'Indigo Kumquat Hybrid.' These are all cherry types and small
fruiters.
'Indigos' are
no slackers in the taste department either, based on early gardener feedback.
Seed sources include Totally Tomatoes, Harris Seeds and Territorial Seed
Co.
You'll also
find three other new varieties of 'Indigo' tomatoes in grafted plant form
through Burpee Home Gardens' new Bumper Crop™ tomato line. That line also
features a "Big Collection" of four grafted, large heirloom varieties
and an "Early Collection" of three grafted, fast-maturing varieties.
Tomato 'Chef's
Choice Orange.' This newcomer is one of two tomatoes to win All-America
Selections honors in nationwide university trials.
'Chef's Choice
Orange' is a hybrid bred using the orange-fruited heirloom 'Amana Orange.' Like
that one, it's bright orange in color.
'Chef's Choice
Orange' produces average 12-ounce fruits about 75 days after planting in the
garden – significantly earlier, and also more disease-resistant, than 'Amana Orange.'
Tomato
'Fantastico.' This is the other AAS tomato winner, and it's a red-fruited grape
type.
'Fantastico's'
attributes are: early to ripen, heavy in yield, resistant to late blight,
resistant to cracking and compact in size, making it a good choice for
container use.
Bean
'Mascotte.' The first bean to win an AAS award since 1991, 'Mascotte' is a bush
filet-type green bean that grows a compact 18 inches, making it a good choice
for pots as well as in the ground.
I test-grew
this one last summer and found that the beans were longer and slimmer than most
(a skinny 6 inches) and totally stringless.
The yield was
good. One other side benefit was that the beans formed high and toward the
outside of the plants, making them easy to see and pick.
Squash 'Green
Tiger.' This was my favorite new veggie that I test-grew last summer – a
compact zucchini that produces attractive dark- and light-green striped fruits.
But beyond
that, two practical advances impressed me more.
One was how
fast 'Green Tiger' got busy, producing ready-to-pick fruits just 5 weeks after
I direct-seeded in mid-May.
The other is
how this variety refused to die under the usual squash vine borer attack. Even
though the bugs nearly wiped it out, a couple of 'Green Tiger' stems kept fighting
to produce enough fruits for regular picking until frost.
I got my seed
from Harris Seeds, but W. Atlee Burpee Co. and Jung Seed are others that carry
it.
The healthful
fruits of this sprawling, viney shrub have long been popular in its native China,
but goji berries recently become trendy in grocery, health-food and nutrition
stores.
"Now this
antioxidant super-fruit is available to home gardeners," says Bryan
Benner, a grower at Dillsburg's Quality Greenhouses, which is supplying two new
goji berry varieties from Proven Winners.
Big Lifeberry®
was bred for its larger-than-the-species red fruits. Sweet Lifeberry® was bred
for its sweeter-than-the-species flavor.
Both grow 5 to
6 feet tall in full sun to light shade and benefit from some tying or trellising
to corral the plants' floppy growth habit.
The oblong,
pea-sized fruits ripen continuously from early summer to fall, flower purple
and produce with just a single plant (cross-pollination not required).
I think the
taste takes some getting used to, but apparently birds and deer are just fine
with it.
Finally,
here's a new blueberry that looks like a fruiting boxwood.
"This is
like nothing you've ever seen before," says Josh Howard of Oregon's Fall
Creek Farm and Nursery, which bred the whole line of cutting-edge BrazelBerry
fruit bushes. "Blueberry Glaze™ has really dark berries – nearly black –
and a boxwood-like habit. It's got glossy, glossy leaves, and you can shear it
like a boxwood."
The fruits are
high in antioxidants, the 2- to 3-foot size is compact enough for pot growth,
and fall leaf color is a rich burgundy.
David Wilson,
marketing director for Garden Splendor Plants, also likes this newcomer for its
spring flowers. "The plant really comes into its own with masses of
gorgeous pink, fading to white, tubular flowers that are produced all over the
2- to 3-foot mound," he says.
Just give
Blueberry Glaze™ acidy soil and at least one other blueberry nearby for
pollination purposes.
Horti-Culture Corner Bonus
By Roy Blount Jr.
Roy Blount Jr.
is a well-known southern humorist and sportswriter. Blount is reluctant to try and define what
southern humor is. But, when asked by a
northerner if southerners laugh at different things than northerners, he says,
“Yes, northerners.”
Here are his
thoughts on broccoli.
The neighborhood stores are all out of broccoli,
Loccoli.
Broccoli Versus Kale
Check out the
tongue-in-cheek “Broccoli versus Kale” ad campaign that’s showing up on highway
billboards around New Haven – shown in the following video
