Tree Identification
Posted on Wednesday, January 27, 2016 · Leave a Comment
Winter is a slow time for me – there is no weeding or mowing or transplanting to do – so I have time to cross country ski or walk almost every day. I love observing the trees and native shrubs of the forest, and try to know the name of everything I see. Trees without leaves are a bit of a challenge to most of us, but by now I should know almost everything I see, either by tree shape, bark or buds. If you don’t know the woody plants you see in winter, now is a good time to learn them.
I own a number of books that are sold as tree identification books, though most of them try to cover every tree in North America, and can be difficult to use. Last year I got one I really like and sometimes put it in my pack, just in case I see something out of the ordinary. It’s called Forest Trees of Vermont by Trevor Evans. It has detailed information about 82 trees native to Vermont or that have been introduced and are common in the state. Each species has 3 to 6 photos of the leaves, bark, buds, flowers, nuts and sometimes the entire tree, along with descriptions of important characteristics.
Whtie or paper birch
There are six species poplars, for example, that grow in Vermont (and presumably throughout New England), but only 4 are native. I know just 2 of the native poplars, the big-toothed poplar (Populus grandidentata) and the quaking aspen (P. tremuloides), and one non-native species, the Lombady poplar (P. nigra) So much for knowing all the trees of the forest. For each genus (a scientific grouping a closely-related plants), there is a chart that summarizes the differences and similarities of each species for their bark, leaves and buds (which are key for winter identification).
An interesting distinction for poplars is the difference in taste of the bark. I’d never read any reference to taste before as a distinguishing characteristic. Quaking aspen has ”very bitter” tasting bark, according to the book, while bigtooth aspen does not. That’s a very useful and easy distinction – from a tree farmer who clearly know his trees. Taste is not a distinguishing characteristic for most groups and is not mentioned, but the odor of twigs is used for cherries and plums. Again, very useful.
The book also has 2 dichotomous keys: one for summer identification, one for winter. In high school biology class I learned to use keys, and find them useful. A key has pairs of observable characteristics. So, for example, a useful distinction is whether a tree has needle-like leaves, or broad leaves. In the first group, all but the tamarack are evergreen. By dividing all trees into 2 those categories, the pool of trees is considerably reduced. In the first group you have pines, cedars, spruce, firs, hemlock and tamarack. Then a second pair of characteristics is used to divide each group into a smaller group, and so on until you find your tree.
Even though, as a well known geezer, I do not have a cell phone, I recognize the utility of including QR codes in the book. For you other geezers and geezerettes, a QR code is a little square with dots that you show your cell phone and, though the wonder of the internet, connects you to a database. In this case there are one or two codes per tree: one taking you to the U.S Department of Agriculture’s NRCS site, another to the Forestry Service site. There is a huge amount of information available there.
Long ago I learned another good distinction: whether leaves and twigs sit opposite each other, or staggered on a branch. There is a mnemonic to help with this: MADCap Horse. That stands for Maple, Ash, Dogwood, members of the group Caprifoliaceae (a group including honeysuckles, viburnums, elderberries and some other shrubs) and horse chestnut – those all have opposite branching. Eeverything else has alternate branching (with minor exceptions, of course).
I should note that the opposite branching distinction is not infallible. For example, a mature sugar maple has many twigs that do not appear to be opposite another. That is because one has fallen off. Look to the top of the tree, where younger twigs are present and you will see opposite pairing.
Gray birch
In winter bark is useful to me for identifying trees. Everyone can probably identify a birch by its whitish bark. But is it a white or paper birch (Betula papyrifera) or a gray birch (B. populifolia)? According to the charts in Forest Trees of Vermont, both have chalky or grayish white bark but gray birch’s bark is “dirty looking”. And paper birch bark separates into “thin horizontal papery layers”, while the gray birch’s bark does not. That should do it. Yellow birch also has papery layers, but the bark is “silvery gray or light yellow”. The book also notes that yellow birch gives off a “wintergreen odor when young branches are scraped”.
Although this book was aimed at Vermont readers, I think it would be useful anywhere in New England. So go for a walk with it or the tree book of your choice, and see what you can identify.
Henry is the author or 4 gardening books. His website is www.Gardening-Guy.com. He lives in Cornish Flat, NH.
Hudson Valley Seed Library
Posted on Wednesday, January 20, 2016 · Leave a Comment
It’s that time of year again. Time to buy seeds, either at your local feed-and grain store, the local garden center, or from a catalog. I like to buy locally, but catalogs do present a wider variety than most stores can offer. Recently I called Ken Greene, founder of the Hudson Valley Seed Library in Eastern New York State, to have a chat about seeds.
Hudson Valley Seed Library
The Hudson Valley Seed Library (www.seedlibrary.org) is a bit different than most seed companies. It was started in 2004 by Ken Greene to make locally grown seeds available to gardeners in his region, and to keep old local varieties from disappearing. He wanted to develop strains that are particularly good in the northeast, and to teach gardeners how to save seeds themselves.
Ken was afraid that the big companies would take over the seed market with genetically modified seeds (GMO’s), though that fear seems not to have materialized. Most seed companies refuse to sell GMO’s, though many farmers use them to grow grains and cotton.
Ken is a self-taught gardener. His education is in special education, but when he was working part-time in a library he offered patrons some seeds that he had grown. Take some seeds, he told them, grow them out and then bring some back for next year. He taught the patrons how to save seeds properly. It was sort of a slow-moving seed swap and no money changed hands. It was a big success, so in 2008 Ken quit his day job and started his seed company. He kept the same name he had used when he started, Hudson Valley Seed Library.
Most large seed companies contract with farmers to produce the seeds they sell in colorful little paper packages. Although a hundred years ago New England boasted many seed companies that produced seeds for local use, now there are just a handful of companies based here. Our summers are short, and often high in humidity which can encourage fungal diseases, so even local companies generally develop and test their varieties here in New England, but then send seeds to growers elsewhere for mass production. Idaho, New Mexico and other hot, dry areas are prime seed-growing areas. Hudson Valley grows its seed in New York and New England, much of it on Ken’s farm in Accord, NY.
Hudson Valley only sells open pollinated varieties, those that will breed true, year after year. You can save seeds from these. I save seeds from my favorite heirloom tomatoes every year, as they are open pollinated. Each tomato has both male and female parts, and they can be wind or insect pollinated. Heirloom just means that they are varieties that have been around for a long time – generally 50 years or more.
Some heirloom vegetables are open pollinated, but are susceptible to inadvertent crosses by insect or wind pollination. Cucumbers, squash and pumpkins are easily cross pollinated, resulting in those weird monsters that sometimes show up in your compost pile. If you want to save seed from the vine crops, you (and your neighbors) need to separate varieties by a quarter of a mile or more, or protect the blossoms from insects and hand pollinate blossoms yourself. Hudson Valley has a membership program that offers education to its members about seed saving, and opportunities to test new lines of seed.
I asked Ken about some of his favorite open pollinated varieties. He suggested that I try his New York Early Onion. He said most gardeners don’t bother starting onions from seed, but that this one is a great onion that keeps well and is worth the time and effort. You should start these indoors in flats anytime from mid-February to late March – and I will.
Summer Sunrise
A great container tomato, Ken said, is Summer Sunrise. It’s a small plant but produces full-sized salad tomatoes on sturdy stems, and has great heirloom flavor. He also likes growing ground cherries, a relative of tomatoes that taste like ”pineapple, citrus and tomato”. They are not ripe until they fall off, so you harvest them by picking them up off the ground. Each comes wrapped in a husk – to keep the fruit clean! I’ve grown them, but not recently, and might try some again.
One of my favorites from Hudson Valley is Piracicaba, a broccoli relative that only produces what, in a standard broccoli, we would call side-shoots. No big head. But Piracicaba is very productive and very tasty. It continues to produce long into the fall, too.
piracicaba
I will also try Hank’s Xtra Special Baking Beans. I’ve always found that dry beans are a lot of work to clean and get ready to use, but Ken gave me his method, which I like: let bean pods dry in the field, then pull them. Hang the plants in a hoop house or barn until the pods are brittle. Then beat the plants against the inside of a clean 30-gallon trash can to knock the beans loose, avoiding the task of shelling. To get rid of the extraneous material, set up a box fan so that it can be blown away as you empty the trash can into a bucket. Slick!
There is nothing wrong with buying hybrids or modern varieties, though I do find many of the old open-pollinated heirlooms offer wonderful flavors I could never find in the grocery store. So I grow both, and maybe you should, too.
Henry has been a UNH Master Gardener since 1998 and is the author of 4 gardening books. His website is www.Gardening-Guy.com.
The One-Day Cold
Posted on Wednesday, January 13, 2016 · Leave a Comment
I don’t often catch colds. Part of that may be that I eat well, and get plenty of sleep and exercise daily. Or maybe it is just that I don’t have school-age kids and work out of my house, so I don’t come in contact with all the germs that are floating about. But over the holidays I went to parties, saw the grandkids, shopped and had plenty of chances to catch a cold. And I did catch one.
Elderberry elixir
One morning shortly after the holidays I woke up with a sniffle, a scratchy throat, and a general feeling of malaise. So I got out the big guns: Fire Cider and elderberry elixir. I took about half an ounce of each of these herbal cures after breakfast, again at mid-morning, and then after lunch. As if by miracle, my symptoms started to go away. I continued the cure, and by bedtime I felt fine. Coincidence? Perhaps.
Several years ago I learned how to make Fire Cider from Vermont herbalist Rosemary Gladstar. She explained that the ingredients in this potion stimulate the immune system and help the body heal itself. That makes sense to me as the recipe (see below) contains garlic, horseradish and hot pepper – and more! Any one of these is likely to make my body wake up and pay attention!
Here’s the basic recipe as given by Rosemary Gladstar: In a glass jar combine the following ingredients:
- 1/2 cup grated horseradish
- 1/8 cup minced garlic
- ½ cup finely chopped onion
- ½ cup grated fresh ginger
- ½ to 1 teaspoon powdered cayenne (or other hot pepper)
- About a quart of organic vinegar, preferably locally made and containing the web of live bacteria that constitute the “mother” of the vinegar.
- ½ cup honey (or to taste), heated till well liquid.
Fire Cider before decanting
All ingredients are best if fresh, local and organic; I grew most of mine. Let this steep, preferably for 3 to 4 weeks, then pour through a sieve and it is ready to use. You can use it sooner than 3 weeks, of course. Seal with a plastic lid, or put a plastic bag over the jar and seal with a canning lid. The fumes are strong enough to eat through a normal canning lid over time. Keep cool or in the fridge.
For Christmas my sister-in-law, Lisa Goodale Brinton, gave me some Fire Cider she had made which was an enhanced version of the one I learned from Rosemary Gladstar. She made it by the gallon, adding rosehips, sun-dried shiitake mushrooms, rosehips, orange and lemon juice and zest, fresh thyme and rosemary and fresh turmeric root that she had fermented using kambucha. It tasted very good, and was the potion I used to help kick my cold.
After I made my Fire Cider I added some fresh rosemary and lemon juice: a sprig of the rosemary and the juice of a lemon. I added it after I first tasted it, and it only improved the flavor. I read that one can add powdered turmeric instead of macerated fresh fermented turmeric, so I added a teaspoon of dry turmeric powder. Spices don’t last forever, so it is always good to buy fresh spices regularly. My turmeric was several years old, so I got some fresher stuff to use.
While reading to see if anyone could explain why Fire Cider might help kick a cold I came across some amazing news: a corporation called Shire City Herbals has trademarked the term Fire Cider and has filed lawsuits to prevent others from using the term. Yikes, I could be in trouble now! But apparently lots of protest has been made; see www.freefirecider.com for more information. Rosemary has been sharing her recipe since the 1970’s and the recipe was included in her wonderful book,Rosemary Gladstar’s Herbal Recipes for Vibrant Health – which came out before Shire City Herbals even started their business.
I also recently made some elderberry elixir. I went to my freezer and got some of my frozen berries. In a saucepan I heated 6 cups of elderberries, 2 cups of water, a quarter cup of honey, a couple of tablespoons of lemon juice and half a teaspoon of cinnamon. I brought it to a boil and simmered it until the berries were mushy.
Jelly cone
I used a jelly cone to separate the elderberry pulp and the juices. This is an aluminum cone with lots of small holes. It comes with a pointed wooden masher that I use to crush the berries and extract the juice. The 6 cups of berries produced a little less than a quart of the elixir. I will keep it in the fridge as otherwise if would ferment and spoil.
I can’t promise you that Fire Cider or my elderberry elixir will prevent or cure the common cold. But at worst, they are great placebos: tasty and full of zing.
Henry can be reached at P.O. Box 364, Cornish Flat, NH 03746 or by e-mail athenry.homeyer@comcast.net.
Plans for the New Year
Posted on Wednesday, January 6, 2016 · Leave a Comment
I wonder why it is that so many of us make resolutions at this time of year: lose weight, keep a clean desk, be nicer to people working for political candidates that call us during dinner time … and so on. As a gardener, I don’t tend to think so much about resolutions, but more about what I hope to do in my gardens, come spring. What plants shall I try? What new gardens might I develop?
I recently got a catalog from a wholesale plant nursery, Van Berkum’s of Deerfield, NH, and spent an evening drooling over their catalog and thinking about all the plants I wanted. I made three kinds of notations: a star for everything I simply must have, a check for everything I’d like to have, and a dot for everything that sounds interesting. Needless to say, there were way too many marks to buy them all – I just don’t have room. Here are some of the starred plants.
Meehania cordata Credit: Van Berkum Nursery
Meehan’s Mint (Meehania cordata). I’ve never seen this, so I’m intrigued. It is for shade or part shade, likes moist soil, and spreads slowly by stolons (roots). It has showy lavender-blue flowers in May-June, and is a native wildflower that comes originally from Appalachia. I know where to plant this: under some old apple trees where my primroses bloom in pinks, whites and magenta. The foliage is just a couple of inches tall, and the blossoms stand 3 to 4 inches above it.
Dalea purpurea Missouri Botanical Credit: Missouri Botanical Garden
Purple Prairie Clover (Dalea purpurea). Browsing the on-line photos that are not included in Van Berkum’s printed catalog, the photo caught my eye. Nothing like the clovers I know, it stands 24 to 30 inches tall, and has showy cylindrical cones covered with tiny magenta flowers. The blossoms remind me of teasel flowers in that only part of the cone is blooming at any given time. Native to Missouri, it is hardy to Zone 3 (minus 30 degrees) and needs full sun.
White Cloud Calamint (Calamintha nepeta). I’ve seen this and even planted it for one of my gardening clients. I love it, and although it is listed as a Zone 5 plant, the one I planted wintered over last year, even with a cold winter. It forms a globe-shaped plant loaded with tiny white flowers, reminiscent of baby’s breath. I need one (or more)! Full sun, it tolerates dry soil.
‘Miss Manners’ Obedient Plant (Physostegia virginiana). I love obedient plant, but it is not obedient at all. It’s a thug! Tall, with wonderful pink flowers, it is great in a vase. But my goodness, getting it out of my garden was a struggle. But I miss it, and am tempted by this plant which is, allegedly, “not invasive”. Only 18 to 24 inches tall, it has white flowers and loves moist soil, and I have plenty of that. I’ll keep a sharp on it, and it if takes off, yank it!
Geum rivale Flames of Passion Credit: Van Berkum Nursery
Geum rivale ‘Flames of Passion’. This is a small perennial that does best in part shade and takes drought. I want it, largely, because it was introduced by one of my gardenheroes, Piet Oudolf. One winter when I was passing though Holland I visited him at his home in the countryside; I loved the fact that he had commissioned someone to carve life-size stone sheep and had them “grazing” around his property.
Piet Oudolf is a garden designer extraordinaire; among his projects is the High Line, a garden a mile and a half long built on an abandoned elevated railway line in New York. I plan to go there this year on my 70th birthday, April 23. Let me know if you want to join me for a garden walk there. It would be great fun to walk it with interested gardening friends – new or old.
Feather Reed Grass, ‘Karl Foerster’. I’ve got to try this tall grass, having heard it lauded by gardening great Bill Noble when I interviewed him recently. It’s his favorite plant. It grows 36 to 60 inches tall in a big clump, and is lovely from early in the season till late. Full sun.
I love delphiniums, but hate staking them up. There is a new group of them, the New Millennium Hybrids, that “shouldn’t need staking” if planted in full sun. I’ll give one or two a try, and see how they do.
Lastly, I absolutely must get an Itoh peony. This is a cross between a tree peony and an herbaceous peony, and at maturity can produce up to 50 blossoms over the course of a month. Expensive, but I’ve decided it‘s worth it. They come in a variety of colors, and I will buy mine when in bloom, so I will know exactly what I’m getting. I just need to figure out where to plant it. But, hey! I’ve got all winter to do that.
So make your gardening resolutions, or create a wish list for what you hope to plant. You can see photos of the flowers I mention on line at www.vanberkumnursery.com. They are strictly wholesale, but their website has a list of retailers that carry their plants.
Henry Homeyer can be reached at PO Box 364, Cornish Flat, NH 03746 or by e-mail at henry.homeyer@comcast.net.
One Gardener’s Plans for the New Year
Posted on Saturday, January 2, 2016 · Leave a Comment
Each year after the winter solstice I take some time to think about my garden of the past year and to make plans for the upcoming garden season. What worked? What didn’t? It’s good to think about such. I won’t say I’m making any gardening resolutions this year, but I’ll share with you my aspirations. But I won’t feel bad if I don’t accomplish exactly what I hope to do. Each year life has a way of getting in the way of best made plans.
The past year was a good one for me. In past years my vegetable garden has been getting shadier – trees have a way of getting bigger, and even relatively distant trees have been cutting down on the hours of sunshine in the garden. This past year I was lent a nice plot in full sun, a plot with good soil that belongs to a friend and that had been farmed organically. It was bigger than I needed, but a farmer agreed to till it and get it ready for planting. So my partner Cindy Heath and I planted all kinds of veggies including sweet corn and dry beans – crops I hadn’t had room for in past years. And we planted extra food to give away.
Our vegetables did well. There was sufficient rain and perhaps because the land had been fallow for a year or more, pests and disease problems were minimal. Even the potato bugs were few. We fenced off the beans (both dry and green, both loved by deer), and the raccoons didn’t do much damage to the corn. We had plenty for us, our friends, and the coons. (Maybe the coyote urine I put out in little Airwick containers helped keep the coons away.
So will I plant the “farmette” (as we called it) again this year? You betcha. It was a lot of work, but I really enjoyed having as much space as I wanted in full sun. I love having excess vegetables to share, and my little farmette allows me to do that.
My grandfather, John Lenat (1885-1967), had a regular vegetable route in his later years. He drove around his town (Spencer, Massachusetts) in his bright red Nash Rambler giving tomatoes, lettuce and cucumbers to his friends. He’d never accept a nickel for his produce. I remember being amused that he even brought tomatoes to give the checkout clerk at the A&P Grocery store. In those days there were no soup kitchens or homeless shelters, but there are now, and they are happy to accept what any of us can contribute.
This year I’ll also plant some flowers at the farmette. A dear friend gave me a gallon Ziploc bag of dried zinnia seed heads from her garden. She tills a patch of soil that is about 4 feet wide and 50 feet long each year just for zinnias. Big, tall, brightly colored zinnias. And each year she harvests enough seeds in the fall to plant it again – and to give away plenty, too. So I shall try the same.
I looked in my Johnny’s Selected Seeds catalog to see what zinnias might cost in bulk, for those of you who want to try a similar effort. A thousand seeds of the ‘Benary’s Giant Series’, costs $29.30, but the ‘Giant Dahlia Flowered Series’ costs just $12.15 for an ounce that has 3,200 seeds. Since I have never tried a mass planting like that before, I can’t advise you as to how many seeds you might need for a mass planting. I plan to scatter seeds on tilled soil, rake them in, and hope for the best.
Our farmette is about 6 miles from my house. I’ll plant most of our veggies for canning, freezing and dehydrating over there. But I’ll also continue to grow some veggies at my home garden, focusing on things that do well with less than full sun: lettuce, kale, herbs, leeks, carrots, and Brussels sprouts. I’ll also plant a few tomatoes and summer squash at my home garden for the convenience of being able to pick them for dinner.
This year I’ll try to slow down a little, too. By the time planting season comes I’ll be 69 years young. And although I’ve been gardening for others for a long time, I think I’ll try to minimize the time I spend in other people’s gardens this coming year. Become more of an advisor, and less of a digger, weeder and wheelbarrow pusher. I’ll try to focus on my own gardens, given that I have expanded them.
What else will I do in 2015? I’ll work hard at controlling the invasive plants that are always trying to get a foothold. Just cutting back purple loosestrife 3 times in the summer will do much to keep it from expanding its territory. And I’ll keep an eye out for garlic mustard, which so far has not made it on to my property, but is within a mile of my house.
The list could go on and on. Re-build the garden arbor that has started to fall apart. Dig out some of the biggest goldenrod that I (foolishly) have allowed to get too rambunctious. Try new kinds of flowers. Plant some early-season raspberries that will be done by the time that new kind of fruit fly arrives in late summer. And so on.
So take some time in your easy chair and make your own plans. And feel free to share them with me if you like, I’m always happy to get mail or e-mail. Maybe you’ll inspire me to try something new. My best to you all for 2015.
Contact Henry by e-mail at henry.homeyer@comcast.net or write the old fashioned way to P.O. Box 364, Cornish Flat, NH 03746. Please include a self-addressed stamped envelope if you have a question you want answered.
Eating My Own Veggies
Posted on Wednesday, December 30, 2015 · Leave a Comment
A dozen years ago I decided to become rich and famous by writing a bestselling book. I would travel the country, talking to farmers – some conventional, some organic, some using that “new” technology of the time, GMO agriculture. I thought my book would explain what eaters wanted to know about how their food was produced. It would outsell Fast Food Nation.
I outfitted my aging van with a bed, a fridge and a small battery-operated fan for those days when the temperatures exceeded 100 degrees (the van had no AC). I drove across the country, talking to farmers along the way. I had made arrangements to work on a 300 acre organic farm in Idaho for a few weeks, working alongside the Peruvian laborers. Unfortunately, I never found a publisher for the idea, so I never wrote the book. But I learned a lot about commercial agriculture.
In Idaho, I remember bouncing along on the back of a 4-wheeler to see a conventional potato farmer’s fields. He stopped and added 4 ounces of fungicide into an irrigation pivot that served 30 acres of potatoes. What would happen if one of his laborers, many of whom do not read English, had added a quart of fungicide instead of 4 ounces? And why, I wondered, did the farmer have a garden where his wife grew veggies for their use, including potatoes? That reinforced my conviction that I want to eat organic food, preferably food I grow myself.
This past summer I had access to a large field that been tended organically for years, but allowed to go fallow. I grew potatoes, tomatoes, squashes of all sorts, corn, beans and more. I called it my farmette.
Dry beans from Henry’s garden, and bean pot
In the past I had only grown beans for fresh eating or for freezing. But with plenty of space, I also grew beans for drying despite the fact that dry beans are not expensive – at least not the conventional ones. Still, I thought, wouldn’t it be nice to make baked beans or chili just using my own dry beans?
Dry beans are a lot of work – beyond just planting, weeding and protecting from the deer (who love them). The bean pods must get totally dry either in the field or in the barn or house. In good weather, letting them dry on the vine is best. Then they must be threshed or hulled. That means getting every last seed out of the shells, which can be tedious. And it is hard to get all the bits of the outer hulls separated from the beans. Winnowing outdoors on a windy day is the easiest way to do so. Fortunately my partner, Cindy, finds getting dry beans ready for winter use to be a nice contemplative task.
Invited to a solstice potluck, I decided to make a pot of baked beans just using my own ingredients – or as close to it as possible. The beans were a big success, so I’m sharing the recipe with you. And, obviously, you can buy the beans or anything else you lack from your own garden.
Henry’s Spicy Maple Beans
½ lb. bacon, chopped (optional)
2 cups dry black beans, soaked overnight in plenty of water
3-4 cups chopped tomatoes – frozen whole, or from a can
2 large onions, chopped medium to fine.
2 cloves, minced
2 cups dried pears or other dried fruit (apricots work well, too, but use less)
1 to 2 cups dried cherry tomatoes
3-4 ounces tomato paste
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon Herbes de Provence (or rosemary and thyme)
Dried hot pepper to taste – ½ teaspoon of chipotle is a good start. Jalapenos or Espellette are good, too.
½ cup maple syrup or more, to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
Water as needed.
I began by rinsing the beans that had soaked overnight, and cooking them for an hour with plenty of water. They soak up considerable water.
In a heavy enameled pot I fried the bacon, then drained most of the fat. I used a local thick-cut smoked bacon, Garfield’s, from Meriden, NH – just down the road from me. Then I added the onions, and cooked at low heat until translucent. If making vegetarian beans, use olive oil to sauté the onions.
To the onions and bacon I added the beans and immediately covered with water. I added the chopped tomatoes that I had frozen whole last summer, the tomato paste, the maple syrup, spices and garlic, and continued cooking at low heat. The beans should be covered with liquid at all times.
Dried pears or other fruit add a nice sweetness to the beans, but you can add more maple syrup instead. I chopped my pears into small pieces, and added them with the dried cherry tomatoes to the pot.
I cooked the beans on the stove top for an hour, tasting often to see if I needed more hot peppers, other spices or maple syrup. Then I transferred everything into a ceramic bean pot and put it in the oven, covered, for another 2 to 3 hours at 300 degrees. Watch out for juices bubbling over – I always keep a cookie sheet under the pot. Add water if the beans get too dry.
For me, at least, eating something wonderful created from my own veggies and fruits is a real treat. I know that it has no toxic chemicals and that the ingredients have been grown with love. So start planning your vegetable garden now – the days are already getting longer.
Henry is the author of 5 books. His website is www.Gardening-guy.com.
Buying Cut Flowers
Posted on Wednesday, December 23, 2015 · Leave a Comment
spider mum
Technically, winter is here – despite the lack of snow. The sun is often lurking behind gray clouds, and on a good day we get just 9 hours of light. I miss the colors of summer. I still try to keep fresh cut flowers on the table – even if they’re not flowers from my garden.
Cut flowers are among modern America’s true bargains. For the price of a bottle of wine – or even a few of cups of fancy coffee – you can buy flowers that will grace your table for up to three weeks. But there are some things you should know about getting good table-life for your investment.
First, you need to buy fresh flowers that have been carefully tended – and you can’t beat a florist for that. Yes, grocery stores sell bouquets, but many grocery stores sell bouquets in the fruit and vegetable department. Apples and some other fruits give off ethylene gas, which promotes ripening – or in the case of flowers, getting old and unattractive.
Cut flowers need to take up water to stay fresh and healthy. Stems tend to scab over after a day or two, which means they cannot take up replacement water, or not much, so they suffer. A floral shop has trained personnel who trim each stem in the store every other day, taking off three quarters of an inch each time. And someone who regularly changes the water to keep to keep it fresh. Chain grocery stores probably count on you buying their flowers before the flowers need to be trimmed or their water changed.
Lisianthus
When you bring your flowers home, get them right in water. And follow the 3-second rule: never take longer than 3 seconds to get your flowers in the vase after trimming the stems. Most florists give you packs of powder to put in the water, and the stuff works to keep flowers fresh longer. It inhibits bacteria from growing, which is good. Bacteria will impede water take-up.
If you want maximum life out of you flowers, NEVER let leaves enter the water. Leaves will rot, promoting growth of bacteria. And keep your arrangement cool if you can. Putting it near a radiator or woodstove will shorten its life. If you have invested in roses or tulips, you may wish to move the vase to the entryway or mudroom at bedtime to keep the flowers extra cool during the night – or put them in the fridge.
Some flowers are better picks than others if you’re on a budget and can’t afford to buy new flowers every week. Here are my recommendations for good cut flowers:
- Lisianthus: These look like silk flowers to me: perfect white, pink or lavender-colored bell-shaped flowers on long stems. Tough to grow in the garden, they are perfect in a vase – I’ve kept them for up to 3 weeks.
- Miniature carnations: Each stem has 2 to 4 blossoms. They come in a variety of colors. Mix dark red “minis” with red roses to make a bouquet of roses look fuller. And even after the roses go to
Alstromeria
Valhalla, the carnations will still be good!
- Chrysanthemums: These come in a variety of sizes and colors, from the huge spider mums to little guys. I love the scent of the flowers –it’s not overpowering, but it’s there if you sniff them.
- Statice. I grow these for use as dry flowers, which tells you that they really do last forever – even out of water. They come in blue, purple, pink and white.
- Spray roses: Instead of a single blossom per stem, these have 2-5 blossoms, giving you more bang for your buck. Will last about a week with proper care
- Alstromeria: Each long stem has clusters of 2-inch lily-like blossoms in pinks and reds, with yellow throats. Very long-lived. Great value.
- Kangaroo paws: These Australian natives are fuzzy and cute. They come in pinks, reds and browns, and last very well. Not every florist will have them, but ask.
Kangaroo Paw
Looking for a fun project with your kids? It’s easy to change the colors of chrysanthemums. Leave them out of water for 12 hours, then cut off 2-3 inches and put them in water with food coloring. Obviously, you should start with white chrysanthemums. The colors you get may not be exactly the color you see on the food coloring, but it can be quite dramatic.
Everyone loves to receive the gift of cut flowers, even guys. So treat your loved one – or yourself- to fresh flowers this winter. They’re cheerful, and can make winter less oppressive.
Henry is the author of 4 gardening books, including a new, revised second edition of The New Hampshire Gardener’s Companion: An Insider’s Guide to Gardening in the Granite State. His website is www.Gardening-guy.com.
Growing Fruit Indoors
Posted on Wednesday, December 16, 2015 · Leave a Comment
When I was a boy of eight or nine I planted a grapefruit seed, hoping it would produce a tree that would provide us with a nice source of winter fruit. Ten years later it was 3 to 4 feet tall, with nice shiny leaves. I went off to college, leaving it in the care of my houseplant-challenged mom. Unfortunately, it pined for me and died a slow death – probably due to overwatering.
Dr Fields’ indoor grapefruits
My grapefruit tree never blossomed in the 10 years I cared for it. So I was amazed to encounter a grapefruit tree loaded with fruit in the south-facing windows of my optometrist, Dr. Chris Fields in Lebanon, NH. He told me that he had planted seeds 22 years ago when his son was born, and that this was its second year of producing fruit.
Dr. Fields said it bloomed magnificently this past spring and that he went around with a paint brush, transferring pollen from stamens to pistils. The year before he had allowed moving air to do the pollinating, and he had fewer fruits. Some of his fruit felt heavy and full of moisture, others felt light – as if they were made of green Styrofoam. Huh. He’s not sure if they will fill up later.
Meanwhile, I am experimenting with my pineapple plant. I reported in this column last summer that I had bought a pineapple plant, even though I was told that after harvesting its one fruit, the plant would die. I ate the fruit in July and kept it going all summer, enjoying the large, shiny strap-like leaves.
Each fall I pick the “team” of plants that get to come inside for the winter, and competition for window space is tough. The pineapple did not make the team this fall, and after a few hard frosts I went to clean out the pot for winter storage. Much to my surprise, there were two new green shoots growing beneath the frosted leaves, and the root system appeared vigorous.
Pineapple starting to grow
So I cut off all the old, dead leaves and re-potted the youngsters and brought them in. We shall see what happens, but my mouth is watering as I think about the fresh pineapples I (may) get next summer, or perhaps the summer after. It’s always fun to experiment.
Back when I was a kid a common school project was to start an avocado plant by suspending a pit by three toothpicks in a glass of water, allowing the base to just kiss the water. But when I tried that a few years ago, I was unable to get one growing. I asked Mrs. Google, and she explained why: avocados need to be started soon after picking. And with modern refrigeration techniques, avocados can be kept edible for months – but older fruits will not start new plants from their pits. Makes sense.
In the fall of 2013 I spotted an avocado plant growing in the compost pile and rescued it, potting it up and giving it a place for the winter. These last two summers it has lived on the deck, getting sun and rain and generally enjoying life outdoors. It is now 30 inches tall, and the stem is half an inch in diameter. Of course I remember avocado trees from my time in the Peace Corps in West Africa – they were bigger than full-sized apple trees here when they were loaded with fruit, so I doubt that mine will ever be anything but a handsome houseplant.
I bought a small banana plant a dozen years or more ago, and kept it outdoors on my deck each summer, bringing it in for the winter ever since. It came with the variety name ‘Cavendish’ which is what most commercial bananas are.
My Cavendish Banana
In a 12-inch pot the banana plant got about 3 feet tall, but never taller. And it never hinted at producing fruit – though it did create several other small banana plants that could be dug and re-potted. This year I gave it to Dr. Fields – if he can get a grapefruit tree to produce, maybe he’ll get the bananas to produce, too. I told him that I want one of the bananas if it produces, though.
So Santa Claus, if you are reading this, here is my wish: I want a lemon or lime tree that will produce fruit for me here in Cornish Flat, New Hampshire. Yes, I know, Santa, that I have apples, plums and pears that produce nice fruit outdoors. But that is not the same. I want fresh citrus in winter, and know a number of people who have succeeded in growing lemons or limes indoors. And I’ve been a good boy this year … mostly.
Henry is a gardener who will try growing almost anything once. His email address is henry.homeyer@comcast.net. Let him know if you ever got a banana tree to produce. His mailing address is POB 364, Cornish Flat, NH 03746. He is the author or 4 gardening books.
Working in the Rain
Posted on Wednesday, December 9, 2015 · Leave a Comment
watermelon radish
After a cold snap recently we had 3 days of cold rain. By the second day, with no relief in sight, I went out to my garden and dug up the last of my root crops – carrots, watermelon radishes and purple daikon radishes. I figured that I’d better get them out of the ground while the getting was good. I came back wet and muddy, but feeling much more cheerful than before I went to the garden.
By day three, I was positively squirrely. I needed to do something outdoors. So I got dressed for an extended time in the garden: I layered on some Ibex brand wool long johns, two layers on top, and one on the bottom. Ibex makes its products from Merino wool, so they are not scratchy and seem to last forever. Then I put on rain pants and an LL Bean Gortex raincoat that keeps me dry and helps keep me warm. Rubber-palmed stretchy garden gloves protected my hands. Finally, I put on wool socks and my insulated Muck brand boots. I was ready.
I often warn gardeners not to walk on the garden soil when it is wet for fear of compacting it and ruining its structure. But I had some raised beds in the vegetable garden where I had harvested root crops – but not the late-season weeds that were there. I figured that so long as I worked carefully and never stepped off the walkways that I’d be fine.
I used a garden fork to loosen the soil near tap-rooted dandelions, then carefully tugged them out. How had so many escaped my notice? Well, I guess it was the “late-season weed blindness” that many of us suffer from. It is often spring before I notice certain weeds – because they’re blooming.
Vegetable beds ready for winter
I did know, however, that I had a fair amount of chickweed (Stellaria media) in my garden, as that weed grows whenever the ground is not frozen – including early and late in the growing year. I once interviewed author David Mas Masumoto (author of Epitaph for a Peach) who told me that chickweed is a ”good weed”. It’s good because it blooms early and beneficial insects like ladybugs depend on its nectar for food before the aphids turn up as lunch.
Chickweed is a low-growing annual that has very small pointed leaves, each only a quarter to half an inch in length. The flowers – and mine are present now – are small and white; on cold rainy days, the flowers are just like me – buttoned up tightly. With a hand lense or field scope you can see that it has fine hairs on only one side of the stem in a single band. It pulls easily, and best of all, it is edible in salads! I think it tastes like mache or miner’s lettuce – okay to mix in, but not as a prime salad ingredient.
After about 15 minutes my hands were cold, so I went in and found my Ibex glove liners, which solved the problem. Wool is warm, even if wet. And I put on another layer of socks, and that kept my feet warm, too.
I buy composted cow manure by the truckload, and still have a supply left from last spring’s delivery. So after weeding out two small beds I brought down a couple of wheelbarrows of compost, spread it on top of the beds and gently stirred it into the top few inches with a long-handled potato fork.
Late season harvest
I grow my vegetables in beds that are mounded up, or occasionally boxed in with planks. In either case, plants take out soil ingredients, and every time you pull a weed (or carrot) some soil goes with the roots, no matter how careful you are. So beds need new soil or compost added each year to keep their size.
Once the beds were all prepared for spring, I found some lawn that had been covered with late-falling leaves – oaks. Oaks are among the last to shed their leaves, and so had escaped earlier raking. I gathered them up and used them to cover the beds.
Pachysandra
During this period of cold, cloudy, dark, damp, dismal miserable weather I collected some greenery to use in vases this winter. Pachysandra is a common shade groundcover that will look good all winter in a vase of water. In fact, it will even set out roots into the water. Just keep the leaves out of the water, and change the water from time to time. It doesn’t need to be on a sunny window, and can complement any flower arrangement you buy at the store. So I picked some and brought it in.
What else did I do during the week of wet weather? I did a little pruning – nothing major, no ladders, I just tuned up a few shrubs and a small tree. I have a common ninebark, one called ‘Diablo’, which looks as neat as an unmade bed right now. But I resisted the urge to prune it as I know it blooms early in the summer, and pruning it now would remove the flower buds. Lilacs, forsythia, and rhododendrons: all these and more have their buds ready for spring. Some flowers I can sacrifice, others not.
So if you get tired of being indoors, go ahead, dress up warmly and get out there – even if it’s raining. It’s very restorative.
Henry can be reached at P.O. Box 364, Cornish Flat, NH 03746 or by email at henry.homeyer@comcast.net. Please include a SASE if you wish a reply to questions by regular mail.
Wreaths
Posted on Wednesday, December 2, 2015 · Leave a Comment
Lights, decorated trees, carols on the radio and in the stores: all these say the holidays are here. For several years now I’ve been too busy (or too lazy) to create my own wreath, but this year I was inspired to make one. I saw some simply amazing wreaths made by Gary Hamel and Amy Franklin of Riverview Farm in Plainfield, NH (www.riverviewnh.com) and called Gary to see if I could come and watch them work. Later I made my own – and you can, too.
Gary Hamel working on a wreath
Gary is an artist and Jack-of-all trades. His mother, Alice, made a wreath for their front door every year using materials from their farm to celebrate the solstice and brighten the season. On a flyer for wreath workshops at Riverview Farm, Gary wrote that a wreath is ”the symbol of unending years. The evergreen boughs represent the continuing presence of life in winter’s deep sleep. The dried flowers are the memory of the season past, and the grasses and seeds are the presence of the year to come”. I like that.
The Franklins at Riverview Farm grow and collect materials for their wreaths all year. Prime among the ingredients are dried Thai peppers – some red, some yellow – which grow several to a stem. They hang them in the barn to dry and get ready for wreath season. Also available for use in wreaths are dried miniature ears of corn, stems of rye and decorative grasses, shallots, rose hips, dried flowers, cones, nuts and and dried leaves. As Gary said, “this is not your grandmother’s wreath.”
Gary explained that the four herbs of the advent season are rosemary, sage, lavender and thyme, so he likes to use them in wreaths, too. Fragrant herbs like those four and others such as Sweet Annie (a vigorous growing perennial in the Artemesia genus) smell great when making the wreaths, but probably aren’t noticeable to most people once they are on the front door.
Making a wreath is not tough work at all. First I went to a Christmas tree farm and got a “reject” – a balsam fir tree that would not normally be salable. I wasn’t sure how many branches I would need, so I lugged the whole tree home. It turns out that I only needed about five branches.
Fir, winterberry, carrion berry, teasel ready to tie on
Balsam fir is probably the best tree for making wreaths, though Gary and Amy also mix in some cedar or pine in some of their wreaths. Spruce is also suitable, but a bit prickly to work with. Canadian hemlock is not suitable – the needles fall off too soon, even if kept cold.
I wanted some bright color for my wreath, so I put on my barn boots and headed off to a local swamp where I had seen the bright red berries of winterberry, our native deciduous holly (Ilex verticillata). Winterberry usually grows in standing water, and most years I get my feet wet, boots or not.
This year I got smarter: I brought my pole pruner. The one I use has a pistol grip like a pair of hand pruners which allows me not only snip off berry-laden branches, but also to grab the cut branches by squeezing gently on the handle. The one I use is made by ARS and sold by an orchard supply company in Massachusetts, OESCO (www.oescoinc.com).
Winterberry tends to drop its berries, but Gary Hamel told me how to prevent that: get a can of clear Rust-oleum paint and spray the branches. At the hardware store a helpful clerk suggested that of the various clear products, lacquer would work best as a glue, so that is what I used. When I made my wreath, only a few of the berries fell off.
I collected other dried plants for my wreath including goldenrod stems with galls, teasel (a weed with wonderful prickly seed pods), dried black-eyed Susan and bee balm stems, red-twigged dogwood and 2-inch spheres of blue-black berries of the wild vine, carrion berry (Smilax herbacea). I sprayed the carrion berries with the lacquer to keep them from falling off, too.
A key to a good wreath is making the stems secure. Buy a spool of green wreath wire from your local garden center or florist, and a wire wreath form. I used a double ring 18 inches in diameter. This year, instead of making bundles and then attaching them, I followed Gary’s technique of using one continuous piece of wire for the entire wreath, tying the bundles on as the wreath progressed.
First, I tied the wire securely onto the wreath form. Then I made and attached my greens and decorative elements. At the base of each bundle I made five tight loops of wire around the stems going one way, then another 3 or 4 turns going back the other. That made the greens very secure.
Each bundle I made started with 5 stems of balsam fir. Two were about 10 inches long, the other three were shorter. Then I placed a stem of winterberry in the middle, and added other elements. I alternated the various elements, some in one bundle, then skipping them in the next, repeating in the third. Only the red berries and fir were in each bundle. Each bundle should be about the size and shape of your hand.
My finished wreath
It takes about 20 bundles of greens to complete a wreath. The only tricky part is at the very end, to attach the last bundle. I see why people use red ribbons at the top: not only to look good, but to cover up the inevitable gap. I didn’t have a ribbon, so I used a brass bell. Gary’s mom insisted that her wreath come off the door on February 2, Groundhog’s Day, also known as Candelmas. She unwound the wire and burned the greens. Me? I’ll keep it up as long as it looks good.
Henry is the author of 5 books. His website is www.Gardening-Guy.com/.
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