October 16 garden notes

Well we got some of that rain we needed.  Now I can complain about mud.  I got almost an inch of rain over the weekend.  We could still use some more, but the sun today was very welcome.  Looking out my window here I can see that the trees are getting bare, the wind we had really stripped them.  Winter is just around the corner.

 The new Farmers Almanac predicts a cold snowy winter for Michigan but they predicted that for last winter too.  They actually admitted that their weather forecast last year was pretty far off.  I still have some outside things to do so I hope it holds off a little while anyway.  I need to dig potatoes and Jerusalem artichokes still and get my dahlia roots out of the ground.  A few things are still blooming, including petunias, dianthus, mums, perennial sunflowers, salvia, some marigolds, landscape roses and sporadic blooms on the buddleia.

 The wind has been the major problem the last few days. They are working on a huge wind farm with 50 some windmills on the Tuscola-Huron County line.  They are having a hard time finishing it because of the wind!  It seems the cranes used to raise the turbines can’t operate when the wind is high.  Michigan is on the way to becoming energy independent and I hope the trend continues.

Bulbs

If you are still planting bulbs, (yes get them out of the garage and plant them) remember that recent research has found that adding bone meal to the holes where you plant bulbs attracts animals like squirrels and raccoons and makes it more likely that they will be eaten or thrown out of the ground. 

 If you have problems with animals eating the bulbs even though you don’t add bone meal you can plant the bulbs in a wire cage underground or lay wire or a grate on the ground above the planted bulbs.  Narcissus, daffodil and allium bulbs don’t get eaten by mice and the flowers don’t get eaten by deer either.

 While we all are familiar with the common bulbs like tulips, crocus and daffodils why not try experimenting with some of the “minor” bulbs such as snowdrops, English bluebells, Dutch iris, iris reticulata, foxtail lilies and other tiny treasures.  Plant the small bulbs near the house and in places where the snow melts first each spring. 

If you can plant some bulbs in pots and then put them outside in the garage or a shed, where they can get the cold treatment they need to bloom.  Once we have had 6 weeks of temperatures around freezing or lower- usually by January here- you can bring the pots inside to a sunny spot and start watering them.  They should bloom 6-8 weeks later for  early spring flowers inside.

 Halloween Honey

 Beekeepers in France were alarmed when they opened their hives and found red, blue and green honey.  Researchers quickly began to study the phenomena and the honey was not allowed to be sold.  It turns out that the brightly colored honey came from M&M’s.  Bees were flying to a biofuel plant where factory discarded M&M’s were being stored before burning.

Because the dyes in M&M’s are supposed to be safe for human consumption the honey probably was too.  However the government ordered that the piles of M&M’s be stored so that bees couldn’t get their sugar fix and the honey was still kept off the market.  I wonder if the honey would also taste like chocolate?

 Spud news

 Recent food research has shown that potatoes that were cut up before boiling lost much more of their nutrient content and in particular potassium, than potatoes boiled whole.  Unless you are trying to avoid potassium intake choose smaller potatoes and boil them whole for maximum vitamin and nutrient content.   Peeling potatoes also causes some nutrient loss.  

Did you know that storing potatoes in too chilly conditions, below 40 degrees, will cause them to have a sweet taste?  Frying potatoes or making potato chips from potatoes that have been kept in cold temperatures will cause them to be bitter and dark looking. Store your potatoes in a dark, 50-60 degree spot for maximum taste and storage quality.

Scientists are working on a genetic modification of potatoes so that they can be kept at the colder temperatures that inhibit softening, sprouting and greening and still maintain good taste and color.  The modification will come from breeding potatoes selectively that have less of the enzyme invertase, which is thought to cause the unwanted changes when potatoes are exposed to cold.

 Plants may help cure fungal meningitis

 With fungal meningitis in the news this month’s Agricultural Research magazine contains an important article about research that may help conventional anti-fungal medications work better at lower doses.  Researchers Jung Kim and Bruce Campbell were studying natural plant compounds that could help control fungal diseases that affect tree nut crops, peanuts and cotton when they realized their research could have implications for human medicine.

The researchers found that several natural plant compounds helped conventional fungicides work better.  One of the best plant derived products was thymol - from thyme plants.  Other plant products tested were cinnamic acid from cinnamon bark, salicylic acid from willows, and 2-5-DBA found in chard.  Different combinations of plant compounds and conventional fungicides worked better on different fungi.  The antibiotics tested were amphotericin B, fluconazole, and itraconazole.

The natural plant products seemed to work by sensitizing and weakening the fungal organisms, making them more likely to die from a lower dose of antibiotics.   This could help lower the drug side affects many strong antibiotics cause and make the antibiotics much more efficient.  It may also help keep fungi from developing resistance to various antibiotics.

One of the fungal organisms that the parings helped destroy was Cryptococcus yeast, which causes fungal meningitis.  It will be a few years before the laboratory results can be transferred to actual clinical trials although recent problems suggest there is a need to hurry this research along.

The cold weather makes it a good time for baking and cooking projects.  I had one bag of apple slices left from last year’s apple crop in my freezer and I turned them into “stewed” apples with some brown sugar and cinnamon in my crockpot yesterday.  They were really good.  I really miss my apple crop this year and apples are too expensive to buy for cooking this year.  But I have bought some HoneyCrisp for snacking on and I hope all of you have had the joy of fresh apples this year, even though they probably came from another state.


Speaking about thyme, read my new article on Examiner.

Thyme can be purchased as a dried spice or as a fresh herb or you can grow it in your own garden to snip as needed. It’s is an ancient cooking herb that is used in recipes from many countries. Thyme is generally combined with the herbs rosemary, marjoram and sage in cooking. Thyme is used as a seasoning for meat, particularly poultry and pork, but it is also used to flavor some tomato based sauces and it is sometimes used to flavor cheese as it ages.  Read more at the link below.

http://www.examiner.com/article/how-to-cook-with-thyme

Michigan has a bumper crop of black walnuts this year with walnuts piling up on lawns and driveways. Homeowners with a black walnut tree are wondering what to do with the generous harvest. Black walnut nut meats sell for more than $15 a pound and homeowners wonder if they could cash in on those profits. Black walnuts have a distinctive taste that many people enjoy in baked goods and are a rather gourmet food item.  Read more of my article at the link below.

http://www.examiner.com/article/what-to-do-with-all-those-black-walnuts