Minimizing Work in the Vegetable Garden
Posted on Wednesday, May 4, 2011 · Leave a Comment
Getting older? Too busy with kids, dogs and a job? Don’t give up the idea of having a vegetable garden. Just simplify, minimize and be smart about how much you take on. Here are some ideas about what you can do to minimize work in the garden and still have the joy of ripe, red tomatoes or carrots just pulled moments before eating.
Grow what you really love, and forget about the rest.
First, be not so ambitious. A garden 10 feet by 12 feet will do. Grow what you really love, and forget about the rest. If you had a weedy 20-by-20 garden last summer, cut it in half this year. Cover half with black plastic and then a layer of straw (so it looks better and doesn’t have pools of water for mosquitoes to breed in).
Buy seedlings instead of starting plants in the house. And just because you buy a 6-pack of tomatoes doesn’t mean you have to plant them all. Give some away √ or put the extras in the compost.
Don’t rototill. Rototilling is hard work, and it brings up a lot of buried weed seeds that will make work for you every year. Hoe up the soil to make mounded, wide raised beds, 30 inches wide and 6 inches taller than your walkways. Keep them in place from year to year.
Add compost each year to improve the soil, and stir it in a little. It does its magic best near the surface of the soil where the roots are. I like a CobraHead weeder (www.CobraHead.com) for stirring in compost. Buy compost – by the bag or by the truck load. It’s worth every penny.
Mulch saves labor. Mulch with 6 sheets of this newspaper, and then cover it with hay, straw or grass clippings. Get the walkways done right away, as soon as you have the beds made. Then July 4th weekend, when the soil is warm and your plants are established, mulch around the plants. Mulch also holds in moisture.
Only water when the soil is dry. A little drought stress is not bad – it lets plants know they have to produce seeds – and food for you – as an easy life is not guaranteed. Buy a watering wand so you can water the roots, not the tops of the plants. That will minimize fungal diseases. Dramm is a brand that works real well for me. Water deeply, and less often.
Use tomato cages, and install them at planting time, not after the plants get big. Plants that flop over and lay on the ground don’t produce well. Tying to a stake is fine, but more labor intensive.
Look for a new tomato variety called “Defiant.” It is claimed to be highly resistant to the late blight that came early in 2009, melting vines and fruit. No point in growing tomatoes if the blight gets them. Grow at least one Sun Gold cherry tomato. It is tremendously productive, and the tastiest snack food in town.
Lettuce
Plant lettuce once a month, all summer. Start with a 6-pack from the garden center, or sprinkle a few seeds directly in the ground. If starting from seed, transplant them when 3-4 weeks old so they are 6 inches apart. Or just thin them out. Planted too close together they’ll never get to be big, juicy heads of lettuce.
Pole beans are great. You don’t have to bend over to pick them. And they produce most of the summer, once they have begun. Bush beans are good, but produce just one big crop of beans, then quit.
Don’t plant 6 zucchini. One is enough. “Romanesco” is a great variety – it is still tasty and not mealy when it gets big – and they seem to turn into small bombs overnight.
Potatoes are easy and wonderful. Kids love to dig them. Picking potatoes is like going fishing – and knowing you≠ll catch trout. Just pick the potato bugs every day in June, and they won’t be a problem. Look on the underside of leaves for orange egg masses and scrape them off, too. Drown in soapy water.
Rhubarb is easy, so grow some. It comes back every year with no work. And no self respecting bug will eat the leaves, which are full of oxalic acid and bitter. I’ve been told that our taste buds get more feeble as we age, but that rhubarb is the last flavor to go!
Small Garden
Put a garden bench or a couple of Adirondack chairs in the shade near the garden. Don’t be afraid to take time off to admire yourhandiwork. Gardening is not just about production. Get the kids or grandkids to hang out with you while you work. Give them some garden space to push trucks around in. Get worms from the compost pile, and go fishing! Gardening doesn’t have to run your life.
A Cold Wet Spring
Posted on Wednesday, April 27, 2011 · Leave a Comment
I’m tired of cold gray days, drizzle and downpours. My vegetable garden is so wet I should be fishing there, not gardening – though I am doing neither. Last spring we had hot weather early and our plants started off much too fast. Then a hard frost came that killed early fruit blossoms. Each year is different. Meanwhile, what can we do?
First, don’t worry about the fact that flowers are 2-3 weeks late in blooming. They will eventually bloom, and most early blooming plants are not damaged by a little frost, should we get some more, and we may. Last year I took pictures of my February Daphne (Daphne mezereum) in full bloom on April 4, and as of April 24 it still had not bloomed.
Don’t jump into your usual spring lawn and garden work yet √ or not unless your property is a lot drier than mine. If your shoes making dents in the lawn, or if you hear a “squish”, stay off the lawn. For flower beds, try using a 5-foot long plank to walk on if you must get in them to work. That will distribute your weight nicely. If you have two planks (each 6 inches wide), you can move from one to the next.
Rototilling now is definitely a no-no unless you have sandy soil on a hilltop. Grab a hand of garden soil, squeeze it with your fingers, and open your hand. Touch it lightly with a finger. If the soil does not crumble, it is too wet to rototill. Heavy clay soils hold water, and may never fall apart with a gentle touch √ unless you work in lots of compost. Rototilling too early can ruin soil structure.
You can, however, start seeds indoors now. I have about 300 seedlings started indoors, growing under lights. Lights are important. I know some gardeners grow a few tomatoes on the window sill, but growing plants without supplemental light generally results in spindly plants that are pale and reaching for the sun. A 4-foot, 2-tube fluorescent light will illuminate 2 flats (72 seedlings or more, depending on the size of the cells in the 6-packs). Lights are a good investment.
Keeping the light near the seedlings is important. I hang lights above the plants, keeping them 6-10 inches above the leaves and raising the lights as the plants get taller. It’s also important to let your babies sleep at night. Fourteen hours of light is plenty. It’s good to let temperatures in the room with the seedlings hover around 60-65 degrees, too and even cooler at night.
pruning
This is a good time of year to do some pruning. You can prune fruit trees and blueberry bushes now. Learn to recognize the flower buds of each, so you will know what you are pruning off. Apples and other fruit trees bloom on short (3-4 inch) fruit spurs that are more than one year old.
Fruit spurs
Fruit spurs are most commonly present on “scaffold” branches, those branches that extend outwards from the trunk at about a 45 degree angle. If you want to turn a small vertical branch into a scaffold branch that will eventually produce fruit, you can bend the branch by hanging a weight on it for a couple of months. Hang a plastic bottle on the branch, and add water to get the weight you want.
I recently attended a pruning workshop led by Bill Lord, a now retired UNH Extension fruit specialist. He said that older branches on blueberries that have no fruit buds this year probably won≠t have any in the future, and that you should prune off those limbs to stimulate new growth. The fat buds that will produce fruit are usually toward the tips of vigorous young branches – those 6-10 inches in length. Those branches generally produce the strongest buds. The smaller buds elsewhere are leaf buds. Bill said that each fruit bud can produce 5-10 berries!
This is also the time of year to get your soil tested. Call your Extension office, or ask Mr. Google where you can get it done. It only takes a few minutes to collect a sample, and a test can tell you much. Blueberries, for example, need very acidic soil (pH 4.0 to 5.5) to be productive. A soil test will tell you how much garden sulfur (approved for organic gardeners) to add around your plants. Blueberry roots grow in mats near the soil surface, so just sprinkle the sulfur on the soil to avoid damaging roots.
When getting soil tested, also have your soil tested for heavy metals like lead. It≠s an extra fee, but ingesting lead can harm you or your children. And get a test done to measure the amount of organic matter in the soil: you want 4-8% in for good vegetable production.
Spring will get here, eventually. Meanwhile, be patient. Take some time now to read a gardening book on a cold, raw day – perhaps even my new one. You might even recognize some of your favorite articles from this column.
Growing Grapes
Posted on Wednesday, April 20, 2011 · Leave a Comment
Each fall I enjoy a special treat: munching the sweet-sour flavor of grapes I have grown. I generally eat them outdoors as they are full of seeds, and I enjoy spitting out the seeds, much as I did as a boy. I like to see how far I can spit them, and whether I can hit objects accurately. That≠s puerile, for sure. But it≠s good to be a kid again, especially as an adult old enough to qualify for Social Security.
According to my best reference text on growing grapes organically, The Grape Grower: A Guide to Organic Viticulture by Lon Rombough (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2002), there are some 10,000 varieties of grapes, and less than 1% of those are seedless. Grapes are supposed to have seeds, that≠s how they reproduce. We have been spoiled by 3 common grocery store varieties that are seedless, most notably Thompson≠s Seedless, which dominates the market.
Here are in the Northeast we can grow grapes for eating or for wine, despite the reputation of California as the place for wine grapes. According to the catalog of Elmore Roots, an organic nursery specializing in cold-region fruit plants, there are several good wine grapes to choose from. I called David Fried, owner of Elmore Roots, to talk about grapes recently. He told me that King of the North and Sabrevois, both red grapes, were the best for making wine. Six plants can produce enough grapes for making wine.
And for eating? Fried says Bluebell is the best. The fruit is pinkish-purple, and is great for eating fresh, or for making juice or jelly. It is disease resistant and survives frosts quite well.
So what do grape vines need to thrive? Full sun and good air circulation. Air circulation is important because low spots that have poor circulation tend to encourage fungal diseases. Growing on a hillside is best, preferably a slope facing south or east. Growing them on a stone wall works well, too, as the wall provides extra heat.
According to Rombough≠s book, ≥The ideal soil for best vine growth and production, especially of table grapes, is a deep, light silty or slightly sandy loam.≈ Rombough suggests digging some test holes 2-3 feet deep to see what the soil is like √ if you are on a rocky ledge, see where the deepest soil is for your grapes. He says you rent a power post hole digger to make test holes. David Fried noted that sandy soil in full sun is best.
Test the pH, or acidity of your soil, before planting and make adjustments as necessary. Soils with a pH of 6.5 to 7.2 are best. Remove grass, weeds and other competitors for nutrition from the area where you will plant your grapes. Rombough suggests planting grapes so that rows go along with the prevailing winds, which for me is east-west. That will help to dry out the vines in wet times, minimizing fungal problems. He says to plant roots 8 feet apart, and rows 8-12 feet apart if you are starting an orchard. And if you have bought grapes grafted onto a root stock, do not plant them deeply. The graft union (place where the roots and the tops were joined) should be above ground.
prune grapes
This is the time of year to prune grapes. They produce grapes on shoots that were new last year. Pruning now stimulates new growth that will produce grapes next year. And if you do not prune each year, your grape vines will develop into an unmanageable mess. An un-pruned vine may produce lots of blossoms, but the quality and size of the fruit will not be good.
Grapes grow well on trellises or wires.
Grapes grow well on trellises or wires. I have 2 rows of wire attached to my barn for grapes to grow on, but they are so vigorous that if I didn≠t prune off new growth each year, they would engulf my small barn and cover the windows. I wouldn≠t be able to reach the grapes for picking. The Grape Grower: A Guide to Organic Viticulture has excellent drawings of ways to set up wires for your grapes, and how to prune.
I hesitate to give advice on how to prune grapes, as I am still learning. Rombough≠s book shows a thick stalk coming up from the ground, with sturdy lateral arms attached to the wires, which I have. Each year I am supposed to cut off most of last year≠s vigorous new growth, leaving some short spurs on those lateral arms to produce this year≠s fruit.
I have just 3 grape plants, 2 growing on a trellis in front of my barn, and one growing on a cedar arbor I built years ago. I have a very high water table √ there is a nearby brook √ and I am surprised that my grapes have survived. But in my experience all vines, including grapes, are tough and adaptable. I don≠t get a huge crop and I share it most years with the birds, as they do love grapes √ and some years they are more attentive to my grapes than I. A flock of cedar waxwings can √ and will √ eat all my grapes in one sitting, those greedy gluttons. Maybe I should rent an owl – or buy a plastic one to live near my barn in grape-picking season.
Making A Spring Wreath
Posted on Wednesday, April 13, 2011 · Leave a Comment
A friend recently pointed out to me that the evergreen spray I≠d put on the front door back in December looked pitiful. It did. Funny how I can not notice the obvious. I decided that the time had come to put something else on the front door, something that shouted, “Spring and summer are on the way.”
I like making wreaths. A spring wreath using pussywillows, red-twigged dogwood and alder branches seemed like a good idea, so I headed off to find twigs alongside the road. All three plants are native to New England, and plentiful in wet areas.
Pussywillows (Salix alba, S. caprea or S. discolor) are weedy little trees or big shrubs whose major virtue is that their male catkins are furry fellows that perk up an otherwise drab time of year. And pussywillows are tough. They will grow in water-logged soil that would be fatal to the root systems of most other trees or shrubs. On the other hand, they are weak wooded and often scraggly. But at this time of year they are in their glory.
Elsewhere along a roadside I’d noticed the brilliant red stems of redosier dogwood (Cornus sericea). The redosier dogwood is a native shrub that, like pussywillows, does well in wet locations. Tatarian dogwood (C. alba) is a landscape plant that is sold for its red twigs, too. New growth on either is brilliant red, particularly in winter. Second year growth turns gray, with just a hint of red.
Anyone who grows red twigged dogwoods needs to prune them severely each year to keep them from looking drab. The town road crew had done a good pruning job- early last summer their brush hogs had cut plenty of red-twigged dogwood right to the ground. The stems were bright red- and free for the cutting. A healthy dogwood can grow 2-3 feet in a single season.
I have generally considered black alder (Alnus glutinosa) a nuisance plant that fills in and takes over around my stream. In researching this article I learned that they do have a virtue: they are nitrogen-fixing plants, so they improve the soil. Alders have male and female flowers. The male flowers are typical catkins but the female flowers resemble cones. Last year’s seed producers are still visible and handsome.
Rather than using a wire form, I made a simple grapevine wreath that allowed me to squeeze twigs between the vines. This reduced the need to use wires to attach the twigs, though I did use some florists wire to help attach twigs in places. This very thin wire is green, and easily cut with scissors.
I went to the woods and cut a fifteen foot length of grapevine that was about as thick around as a pencil. It is important to use fresh, not dead, vines; the one I cut was a greenish white inside and flexible, so I knew it would work well. Grapevines are readily available and produce good food for our feathered friends, although they can choke out some trees if left to get huge.
To make the wreath I formed a vine circle about 16 inches in diameter by overlapping (or twisting) one half of the vine over the other half – the same way I start tying my shoelaces. Then grasping one of the loose ends I wove it around the vine circle in tight loops. When I ran out of vine I tucked the end into the circle and repeated the maneuver with the other end of the vine. When done the grapevine wreathe was about an inch and an a half thick and 18 inches in diameter.
Next I cut some pussywillow twigs 12 to 18 inches long and tucked them into the wreath one at a time, forcing them into the crevices between the vines. Sometimes it was tough to force a twig into the wreath as the bent vines make an almost impenetrable barrier in places. I used a screwdriver to pry the vines apart to make room for twigs if needed. The pussywillow twigs followed the contour of the wreath, but extended out beyond it.
Spring Wreath
Then I took redosier dogwood and alder twigs and tucked them into the wreath, again spreading the grapevines apart and letting the natural tension hold them in place. I cut them a bit longer so that they stuck out further from the grapevine portion of the wreath. I selected alder twigs that had the cones and catkins.
When completed the wreath was about 36 inches in diameter, and had a distinctly porcupine-like appearance. I ended up putting it on the wall near the front door, as it shows up better there than on the natural wood colored door.
Spring has been slow to arrive this year, and I’m more than ready for its arrival. Making a spring wreath has helped a little.
Selecting Seeds
Posted on Wednesday, April 6, 2011 · Leave a Comment
Buying seeds is just like getting tickets for a Rolling Stones concert. Well, maybe not exactly, but in either case itâ≈ s good to get them early, before they are sold out. I’ve already missed the boat on one variety, but think I have everything else I need – and some are already planted indoors.
Last year I grew a broccoli-type green called Piricicaba, that I got from Fedco Seeds (www.fedcoseeds.com).When I called them in late March, it had already sold out. Dang. They are the only supplier I know of that sells them, though I suppose that Mr. Google would help me find them if I were really keen on it. Fortunately I got a similar green from Johnny’s Select Seeds (www.johnnyseeds.com or 877-564-6697) called Happy Rich, which is a name I like. Hasn’t made me rich yet, but it does make me happy.
Happy Rich (like Piricicaba) makes broccoli-like florets but not big heads. It is only 50 days to harvest, and is very tasty raw or cooked – unlike broccoli raab, which is bitter until cooked. The stems and leaves are good to eat, too. It produced food until Thanksgiving and it froze well for winter eating.
This year I bought a packet of purple mustard greens, a variety called Osaka Purple. Many mesclun mixes contain a few mustard seeds, and Iâ≈ ve developed a taste for those very spicy leaves, so this year I will sow them in a bed of their own. I got mine at the Boston Flower show from a company called Landreth Seed Co from New Freedom, PA. Landreth is the oldest seed house in America, founded in 1784. Osaka Purple is fast â√˚germination in as few as 4 days and 40 days to harvest.
Also new to me this year is the southern favorite, collard greens. Visiting the diverse seed racks at Gardnerâ≈ s Supply Companyâ≈ s store in Burlington, VT I found them from Botanical Interests, Inc. â√˚another seed company I’ve not tried before. The package says collards grow under more adverse conditions than lettuce or cabbage. They can be picked small for salads or cooked. They produce well in hot summers even though they are related to kale, a cool-weather crop.
Another green I am trying this year is spreen. Its Latin name is Chenopodium gigantium, which tells me 2 things: it is related to the common weed, lambs quarters (and also to quinoa). And it should be a big plant if left to grow tall. The description says this variety, Magenta Spreen, has young leaves “dusted with a beautiful iridescent magenta”. And it says to pick when 6-8 inches tall – I will try it in salads and lightly cooked. I will be careful not to let it blossom and distribute seeds since it is related to a weed. I got it from Johnnyâ≈ s Seeds.
I am planting flint corn this year, the corn that you dry and grind for cornmeal or polenta. Corn takes a fair amount of space, and you cannot crowd it – plant it too close together and you get small ears. Seeds can be planted 8 inches apart in a row, but only one row per 30 inch-wide bed. And instead of one long row, itâ≈ s better to plant 4 short rows for better pollination. I got my seeds from High Mowing Seeds at the Upper Valley Food Coop in White River Junction, VT.
I haven’t planted flint corn before, and itâ≈ s been 25 years since I grew sweet corn, but farmers tell me that warm soil temperatures are critical. The soil must be warm at planting time. I’m thinking of using a “plastic mulch” – laying down a layer of clear plastic before planting.
Clear plastic mulch lets the sun rays warm up the soil directly (as opposed to black plastic which warms up, and then radiates heat to the soil, a less efficient way). I once tested the temperature under clear plastic spread out with the edges sealed off to contain the heat. On a sunny May afternoon in the sixties, it was in the 90s under the plastic. I”ll pull of the plastic before I plant.
I’ve never had much luck growing melons or watermelons. Talking to a seed tester at Johnny’s Seeds in Maine in February, I was told that there is a hybrid cantaloupe/muskmelon that will do in my short New Hampshire summer: Sarah’s Choice F1 hybrid. He sent me a packet to try, so I will.
Photo by Johnny's Seeds
By the way, the information on Johnny’s Seeds packets is more complete than on any others I have ever found. It says to start (Photo by Johnny’s Seeds) cantaloupes indoors in 3-4 inch pots a month before last frost, and to pre-heat the soil with plastic mulch to get a good start. The soil should be 65 degrees at planting, the pack said. And though I know this for all vine crops, it warns to plant with as little disturbance to the roots as possible.
Sometimes I wish I had an acre of sunny garden so that I could grow everything I wanted, and in quantity. Fortunately, I do not – so I have a life, in addition to a garden!
Self Watering Planters
Posted on Wednesday, March 30, 2011 · Leave a Comment
I recently got a copy of Ed Smith≠s revised and improved book on growing vegetables in self-watering planters, The Vegetable Gardener’s Container Bible (Storey Publishing, 2011), and decided that making one of his containers might be a good thing for a bored gardener to do before the gardening season begins.
Ed Smith has boiled down years of experience into simple language that anyone can understand. He recommends using self-watering containers instead of traditional pots because they do a better job of keeping the soil evenly moist- a key to success, particularly with veggies.
His book explains that plants are mostly water, so they need water to stay healthy. They need it for photosynthesis (to manufacture carbohydrates) and to carry soil nutrients throughout the plant. Ed explains that plants do best in biologically active soils, those that are “teeming with mostly microscopic creatures that supply plants with food, creatures that help them to assimilate food, creatures that help protect plants from predation and disease.” And those critters need moisture.
Self watering containers
Water is also needed to cool plants in the heat of summer by the process of transpiration – which is the plant equivalent of sweating. In the process of losing water, “transpirational pull” is created – a force that sucks up water from the ground, bringing along soluble nutrients. Ed’s book explains that “Transpiration is the plant’s substitute for a heart; it is the way a plant moves fluids within itself.” A mature tomato plant in mid-summer can use a gallon of water a day.
Self watering containers have water reservoirs so that plants don≠t dry out quickly – sometimes holding 4 gallons or more. And the bottom line is this: when the soil is too dry, all biological activity stops – both in your plants, and in the microorganisms that nurture and nourish your plants.
The Vegetable Gardener’s Container Bible explains that a light, fluffy soil is essential for growing veggies well in pots. Plant roots and soil organisms need oxygen to thrive, so a fluffy soil does better than a compacted one. Ed’s recipe for success is to make a 50-50 mix of potting soil or peat moss with good quality compost.
The potting mix I bought was a bit heavy with sand, so I modified that recipe a bit: I mixed 12 quarts of potting mix and 12 quarts of compost with 2 quarts of perlite, a heat-expanded mineral that looks like bits of white Styrofoam. Perlite holds water on its surface and keeps the mix fluffy but adds no nutrients.
Ed’s book suggests that you can offer a well balanced diet of plant nutrients by adding blood meal, rock phosphate and green sand to the mix. Unlike chemical fertilizers, these nutrients are taken up slowly by plants, so your plants get a nice even supply. He suggests a third of a cup of each for each 40-quart batch of planting mix. Me? I add a cup of Pro-Gro, an organic fertilizer that has all those ingredients, and a quarter of a cup of limestone.
Big self-watering containers can be expensive. A good quality 40-quart container with a 4-gallon reservoir that will be adequate for a big tomato or 4 peppers will cost you about $40. But you can make your own container if you prefer, and I’ve done so for a fraction of that cost. Here is what I did, using Ed≠s good descriptions and photos.
I bought an 18-gallon plastic storage bin that came with a lid, and a 10-foot section of 4-inch vinyl downspout (enough for 4 bins). I made marks on the inside of the container at the top of the water reservoir, 5 inches from the bottom of the bin, and measured the width and length. I wanted to cut the lid to fit inside the bin at the top of the reservoir, so I transferred the measurements onto the lid and drew lines to guide me. I used tin snips to cut the lid, which, admittedly, is a bit of hard work (a jigsaw might work better).
At the lumber yard where I bought the downspout I asked a fellow to cut some 5-inch pieces for me with the “chop saw” used to cut lumber. He accommodated my strange request and I ended up with perfectly cut pieces (I could have used a hack saw to do the job at home).My planter needed 6 pieces of 5-inch downspout (spacers) to adequately support the lid – now the base of the soil compartment – sitting inside the bin.
To wick the water up into the soil compartment, I cut 2 holes in the lid (each hole a little smaller than the downspout I used as spacers). I attached two spacers right below the holes and later filled them with potting mix. To attach the spacers to the lid, I drilled small holes in the lid and the spacers, and wired them in place. That prevents them from moving. The wicking spacers are perforated – each has a dozen three-eighths-inch diameter holes drilled in it. Lastly I cut a fill-hole in the side of the bin at the top of the water reservoir.
The Vegetable Gardener’s Container Bible is full of good information on growing specific vegetables √ including unlikely candidates for containers like sweet corn and artichokes. I may grow an artichoke or some hot peppers in containers this summer, and then see if I can overwinter them indoors as both are perennial in warm climates. And in the meantime, I≠m making more containers. Give it a try!
Early Spring Chores
Posted on Wednesday, March 23, 2011 · Leave a Comment
Spring in Cornish Flat
Spring in Cornish Flat comes in fits and starts. Warm sunny days are followed by cold rain – or even by snow. Spring is technically here, and I have started a few seedlings indoors (onions, artichokes, peppers, some early greens) but I will wait until April to plant most things indoors. No sense in babying tomatoes for 12 weeks – 8 is enough.
Each year the snowplows dump lots of sand and road dirt onto my lawn. I try to shovel the dirty snow back onto the road before it all melts. I do this because it is easier to shovel it now than rake it later, once it has all settled into the grass. And dormant grass in the early spring is susceptible to being damaged by my rake. It≠s important to wait until the grass is no longer dormant and the soil has dried before raking the lawn.
I haven≠t started pruning fruit trees yet, though the time is ripe. I wait until most of the snow is gone before pruning mainly because it’s hard to set up my ladder and carry off the branches in deep snow. Since I prune professionally, I can’t afford to wait too long – I need to finish all pruning before the buds open up in late April or early May. There is still knee-deep snow around my trees, so I haven’t gotten started anywhere.
I took my bucket of kitchen vegetable scraps down to the compost pile recently and found that the snow was deeper than I≠d thought – I fell through the compacted crust up to my knees. That happened despite some rain and warm days in the preceding days. Spring technically arrived on March 20, but winter in my neighborhood is being a bit feisty.
composting
Many gardeners give up on composting during the winter months. Not me. I keep a 5-gallon pail under the kitchen sink and I don≠t find that it gets odiferous even though I only empty it once every week or two in the winter. Still, my compost pile is far away, and I’ve been wearing snow shoes to get down there. My compost pile is enclosed by 4 wood pallets, the kind that freight is delivered on, and the winter’s accumulation – mixed with layers of ice and snow – is nearing the top.
During the cold months all the microorganisms that would normally breakdown the vegetable matter are resting. No matter. When warm days arrive, the critters will get to work. But unless the compost pile has the proper mixture of ingredients, moisture and temperatures it is a very slow process – a couple of years until it’s ready.
The bacteria and fungi that break down compost need both carbon-and nitrogen-based materials. Good sources of carbon are leaves, hay and most brown matter. Things with lots of nitrogen are green leaves or grass clippings, manure, vegetable scraps and coffee grounds. A little nitrogen added to a compost pile will help to get quite a bit of carbon-based materials to break down.
There are many kinds of microorganisms in a working compost pile. Aerobic bacteria are the workhorses of the process; they require oxygen to live and reproduce. Anaerobic bacteria are the “bad boys”. If your compost smells like sulfur or rotten food, you have bacteria that thrive in an environment that has little or no oxygen. Some gardeners turn their compost piles to aerate them, or use a harpoon-like “compost hook” to create pathways for air. I rarely do either, though I did buy one of the harpoons to see if it made a difference. I didn’t see that it was a worthy investment.
Later this spring, I’ll take a garden fork and poke around in my compost pile. If it’s too wet, I’ll add dry hay or leaves to help dry it out and let in more air. Or I may even turn the pile, moving unprocessed matter to one side and adding some aged manure to speed up the process. At the bottom of the pile there should be some good old compost to use in the garden.
early bulbs
This is also a good time to see where you need to plant spring bulbs next fall. Take some pictures or place tags to show where the snow melts off first, and where you need some early bulbs. I like having early bulbs to herald spring: the earliest white snowdrops (Galanthus spp.), rich blue and purple scilla (Scilla siberica) and glory-of-the-snow (Chionodoxa luciliae).
Crocus
Crocus are good, too, and some can be quite early – though nothing is as early as snowdrops. Actually, winter aconite (Eranthis hyemalis) flowers can be almost as early as snowdrops. They’re low yellow flowers, though they don’t do very well for me here in Cornish Flat. Instead of multiplying like my snowdrops, they seem to disappear one-by-one over the years. I need to replant some this fall.
In any case, don’t be discouraged by late spring snows or slushy weather. The sun has real strength now, and it won’t be long before we are in our gardens.
Planning and Designing a Serenity Garden
Posted on Wednesday, March 16, 2011 · Leave a Comment
I know that spring is on its way, but in my garden spring plants are still buried deep in snow. So I spend time reading and thinking about what I might do later when the darn snow finally goes away. Even if you are starting to see bare earth, it is still too early to do much. I recently attended a nice talk at the Vermont Flower Show by garden designer Jeanne Daniele of Barre Town, VT. She spoke about how to design a “Serenity Garden” and I≠d like to share some of her ideas.
Jeanne Daniele defined a Serenity Garden as an “escape room” – a place where you can go to relax and get away from the outside world. She noted that small spaces are conducive to serenity, and that you will want design something that is quiet and secluded. Begin now, she said, by measuring the space you wish to develop and doing some basic drawings.
If you live on a busy street, Jeanne suggested screening your serenity garden so that you have privacy. Plants are the ideal screen, but they take time to fill in and really do the job. She suggested a fence as a temporary measure – a wooden stockade fence 8-foot tall will certainly do the job. My suggestion? Plan your garden behind the house and away from the road so you won’t need a fence.
But Jeanne said you can plant visually interesting shrubs like lilacs or forsythia in front of evergreen trees to create privacy over the long term. She suggested using 2 rows of plants spaced so that plants in the second row are staggered in such a way as to fill in the visual gaps of the front row.
A thick hedge will do much to minimize the obtrusive sounds of cars and trucks on the street. She also suggested that you can create pleasant sounds to mask the noise of the street. A burbling, re-circulating water feature will create gentle sounds. She also noted that you can install speakers and play a tape of pleasing sounds. I vote for natural sounds, and Jeanne did note that a nice serenity garden can attract birds that will add to the ambience.
Clutter is the enemy of serenity, according to Jeanne. A lovely flower bed filled with dozens of blooming flowers may not enhance your sense of calm if the pattern is too busy. Select just a few colors and types of flowers, and grow them in quantity. Instead of having lots of small clumps of brightly colored flowers, have fewer, larger clumps. Blues, grays and greens are relaxing and soothing. Hot pink or red? They might be lovely flowers, but they can be visually jarring. Plant them elsewhere if you need them.
Where do we go to relax? For many of us it is to the beach or a lake. That makes sense in her framework: there is a vast expanse of blue or green water, and very little clutter. There is sand or rocks, water and sky. Very relaxing. Think of that model as you design your serenity garden.
Repetition is relaxing, too. Forests can be very serene, in part because there is the repetition of tree after tree as far as the eye can see. If you want to develop a portion of your property to incorporate a wooded area, get rid of the clutter. By that I mean get rid of the shrubby, weedy undergrowth and prune off low branches. I find visiting cathedrals very relaxing – they are quiet and have high ceilings. So I like to prune off branches up to 20 feet if I can, creating that same feeling.
Jeanne Daniele explained that the texture and shape of leaves can affect your mood, too. She said that round, fuzzy leaves are very relaxing, but that pointed, shiny leaves are much less so. Most perennials only bloom for a couple of weeks, so selecting plants with attractive foliage is important – the leaves will be there all summer, long after the flowers have faded and gone.
Another suggestion she had was to enclose the space of your serenity garden and have a defined entry point. A gate or an arbor tells visitors that they are entering a special place. We tend to feel most at ease when we have our backs to a wall and can see everything that is entering our space. “It gives us a feeling of reassurance and protection from the outside world,” she said.
Relaxing Space
In order to have a truly relaxing space we need to have a good place to sit down. You will want something truly comfortable. Stone is cold and hard, so put wooden Adirondack chairs or nice recliners for yourself and your loved ones – or a hammock if you are so inclined.
I find that shade is important for me – after working in the vegetable garden I like to have a cool shady spot to have a cold drink and relax before tackling the next project.
Lastly Jeanne suggested that your serenity garden be low maintenance. If you have to prune and weed constantly, you have the wrong plants, she said. Shady areas are generally less weedy, but select your plants with care to find ones that take care of themselves. Plant densely and mulch to keep down the weeds.
So take some time now to think about creating a special spot, a place where you can relax in serene surroundings.
Hastening Spring
Posted on Wednesday, March 9, 2011 · Leave a Comment
Most years I am picking snowdrops by early March. Not this year. I have more than two feet of snow on the south side of the house where I’ve planted my early spring bulbs. It’s a nice sunny spot on a gentle hillside, a place where no snow falls off the roof. I’ve read that a south facing slope with a 5% pitch will cause spring bulbs to bloom as early as if they were growing 300 miles to our south, say Philadelphia. I will probably shovel some snow off that bed to speed up the process, but right now there are still snow banks 6 feet tall to climb over to get there. Sigh. I’m so ready for spring.
daffodils
But I’ve done a few things to hasten spring – at least inside my house. Last fall I potted up daffodils and tulips and let them rest in a cold part of the basement. In mid-February I brought up the first containers of bulbs, and the daffodils are alreadyblooming. In addition to some nice rectangular Italian terra cotta containers (14 x 6 inches, and 6 inches deep that contain a dozen bulbs), I planted up my big cedar window box that I made years ago (and described in a column). It holds 30-40 bulbs and will be a great display.
I’ve gone to three flower shows already (Providence, Hartford and Vermont), and can’t leave any show without purchasing a few things in bloom. I bought blooming pots of crocus and Tete-a-Tete daffodils, those small ones that bloom early outdoors. At the Vermont Flower show I got a new variety of a perennial that I grow, a foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia) called “Lace Carpet” that should bloom well in the shade and spread by root. I’ll have to keep it indoors on a windowsill until the ground thaws.
forced bulbs
If you buy a small pot of forced bulbs, think about displaying them somewhere unusual, not just on the dining room table. My favorite way to get a giggle is to place them poking out from a pair of boots. It will cause you – and your friends and loved ones- to do a double take, and then pause to look more carefully. Other places might include in a crock pot or blender on a kitchen counter, or on the toothbrush holder in the bathroom. E-mail me pictures if you come up with something that pleases you. (henry.homeyer@comcast.net) Blooming flowers help me get through the mud season.
Ten days ago I cut some forsythia stems, brought them inside, and placed them in a vase in a sunny window. They are now starting to bloom, even though sometimes it takes three weeks or more for forsythia to wake up and start blooming. The trick for a good forsythia arrangement is to cut stems that have plenty of fat buds and good long stems that will display nicely.
pussywillow stems
If the snow were not so deep, I would go get some pussywillow stems to force, too. Right now I would still need snowshoes to get to the wild pussywillows near the stream, and since I have other things blooming, I have not bothered to do so. You can wait until the pussywillows are already fuzzy, but doing so now is nicer – you can watch them wake up indoors. Once they look good, pour out the water in the vase and the pussywillows will not change – they will remain just as they are for months. If you leave them in water they will produce pollen and spill it on your tablecloth.
Apple and crabapple trees force nicely, too. March is traditionally the month for pruning apple trees, though it will be late March or April before the snows melt enough for me to get at my apple trees, I think. When you do your pruning, be aware that blossoms form on fruit spurs that are 2 years old (or older). These are short stubby branches – 3 inches long or so – that generally are found on branches that are parallel to the ground, or up to a 45 degree angle to the vertical. Those straight up, vertical branches generally do not produce flowers and fruit.
Over a year ago I asked you, my readers, if I should start a blog, or go on Facebook and Twitter. Most of you suggested a blog, but not to bother with the others. Slowly I have investigated the social media and have started a blog at your urging. To see it, go tohttp://henryhomeyer.wordpress.com. The publisher of my upcoming book, Bunker Hill Publishing, has urged me to twitter, and though I think it silly, you can now follow me on Twitter. Facebook? Not yet.
I like blogging. My weekly columns can only be 900 words, and I often have more to say. Blogging is good for that. And now that I have started seeds indoors and soon will be gardening outdoors, I hope to be able to pass on useful information on a daily or weekly basis that is not related to the weekly newspaper columns. I was a school teacher in the late sixties and early seventies, and I still enjoy teaching. Blogging is just one more way to do so. And sharing info about plants helps get me through the mud season.
Beautiful Birches
Posted on Wednesday, March 2, 2011 · Leave a Comment
Driving down a wooded lane recently, I remarked on the striking contrast between the deep green pines and the snow-white bark of our native white birches (Betula papyrifera). There are several kinds of birches that do well in New England, and I like them all.
White birch (also called paper birch or canoe birch) is probably the most common of our birches. They can grow up to 50-70 feet tall in the wild, but most are not that large; the national champion is growing in Cheboygan County, MI is 107 feet tall and 76 feet across at the top, truly an exceptional tree. In the wild I see them everywhere from the rich soil at the edge of fields to the rocky, sandy soils on cliffs above the interstate highways √ and occasionally growing right out of rock ledges. From what I have read, it is not a city tree and does not thrive in areas with polluted air and water. It does best in full sun.
Before I knew better, I often wondered why I never saw any little white birches in the woods, only trees that were 15 feet tall or more. The answer is this: young white birches do not have white bark. They have reddish brown bark, which eventually turns white and develops the peeling habit that attracts boy scouts looking for fire starting material (it is very oily, and will ignite with a match even when soaking wet and freshly harvested).
Birches are often sold in clusters of threes, and look good growing together in bunches. Unfortunately, they often lean away from the center when growing close together, and sometimes get permanently bent down by wet snows or ice. I’ve seen them cabled together to prevent that. If you want a trio of birches, try planting 3 small birches about 30 inches apart- giving them enough room to grow.
Gray birch (B. populifolia)
Gray birch (B. populifolia) is sometimes mistaken for white birch, as it has a very similar bark. But as it gets older, the bark tends to become dirty looking, an off-white. But it is tough, and will grow in acid, sterile soils that verge on sand or rock. It is a small to medium sized tree (20-40 feet tall) that is hardy to minus 30 degrees. I see it often in mixed hardwood forests.
Sweet birch, also called black or cherry birch (B. lenta) is another native birch, one that is rarely seen used by landscapers despite the fact that it is a handsome tree, particularly when young and the bark is a shiny reddish brown. Older trees have a somewhat flaky dark color.
All birches are susceptible to a number of pests and diseases including leaf miners, leaf spots, and a variety of other pests. Most of those problems are not lethal, but can be unsightly.
Of all the birches, probably the least subject to pathogens and insects is the river birch (B. nigra). It is a fast-growing tree that can reach 30-40 feet tall in 20 years. The bark of young trees is light-colored and peels freely. Older trees have brownish bark that is≈ deeply furrowed and broken into irregular plate-like scales,- according to Michael Dirr’s Manual of Woody Landscape Plants, my tree bible. River birch is commonly sold as a landscape plant.
yellow birch (B. alleganiensis)
I love the yellow birch (B. alleganiensis) which has a shiny bark, first yellowish, then darkening as the trees get older, ending up with a “grayish to blackish brown plates” according to Dirr. I have observed them at the 6-inch diameter size still showing their yellow-gold color with the curly bits of thin peeling bark. It is, according to Dirr’s book, less susceptible to leaf miners than most other birches.
I’ve read about dwarf birch (B. nana), but I have never seen one. I will look for it, as according to Manual of Woody Landscape Plants, it is neatly rounded and only grows 2-4 feet high. It has very small leaves and sounds like a nice, dainty addition to any mixed perennial bed. It does well in moist soil, which I have, and it is hardy to Zone 2 (minus 50 degrees)! Anything that will survive those temperatures has got to be tough. Like most birches, it has leaves that turn a nice yellow in the fall.
So as you study your winter landscape, think about planting a few birches, come spring. They are wonderful in the wild, and can have a place in the garden as well. I grew up with a trio of white birches on the lawn, and have always liked them.
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