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Sunday, January 6, 2013

January 3, 2013 garden newsletter


Hello Gardeners

I hope your New Years is beginning as well as mine is.  I was wrong about the white Christmas, unless you went way south for the holiday you had one.  The cold spell we are having is supposed to moderate by the weekend and temperatures are supposed to be back above freezing early nest week.  We might even have some sun by Friday.  I can take the cold if I don’t have to be outside much, but give me sunshine!

Already the days are getting longer- but we aren’t really noticing it yet.  I have been getting tons of plant catalogs and its fun to dream over them and compare prices.  I saw a purple and white striped potato; I believe it’s called Jester, that I am dying to try.  (Actually I saw tons of things I’d like to buy.)

We are going to start a new vegetable patch over in the old horse pasture this spring if our health allows.  My old spot is gradually getting shadier.   I also have plans for new flower beds in the front yard.  Planning is so much fun.

I have been experimenting with bread recipes and making yogurt.  I will soon be writing something about the yogurt experiments and I’ll let everyone know how it goes.  That is unless the cost of milk goes up so much I have to quit the experimenting. Milk is predicted to go up to $8 or so a gallon because our inept lawmakers failed to approve a new farm bill- along with the budget fiasco.  I say - fire them all.

I was talking to a friend who lives in a desert region of Arizona.  She had a recent frost that killed her bougainvillea, at least the top parts, but she covered her garden and is still picking tomatoes and peppers!  I am already craving garden tomatoes; I don’t like the picked green and shipped 2,000 miles ones.  So here’s something about tomato plants I have been reading.

Grafted vegetable plants

Although they have been around for hundreds of years and very popular in English gardens for the past 10 years, grafted tomato and other vegetable plants are just beginning to become popular here.   You’ll see them in several garden catalogs this spring and probably at a local garden shop or two.

A grafted tomato or other veggie plant has the same benefits that a grafted rose or apple tree does.  It has superior disease resistance and vigor from the root part of the graft combined with desirable fruit or flower parts from the top part of the grafted plant.   Usually hybrid plants with excellent disease resistance and good growth in a variety of environments are combined with tasty heirloom varieties.

A grafted tomato plant is said to produce a lot of vegetative growth with large plants that need to be well supported and pruned.  You have to keep the grafted area well off the ground or it roots and the rootstock variety overtakes the top variety.  However grafted plants are said to be 2-3 times more productive than regular plants as well as more disease resistant.  In some cases 2 grafts are put on the root system and you can have red and yellow tomatoes, for example, on the same plant.

The grafted plants are pricey; I have seen them from about $7 to $9 per plant in various catalogs.  Tomatoes, peppers and eggplants are being offered.  Other plants like melons and cucumbers can be grafted but it’s very hard to ship those.  I have seen grafted plants in the Gurneys (http://gurneys.com/) and Territorial Seed (http://www.territorialseed.com/ ) catalogs.  In the Territorial Seed catalog they also offer the seed for a very good rootstock tomato; Supernatural, (20 seeds for $11.95), and they sell the special grafting clips that professionals use.  Johnny’s Seeds also sells clips and rootstock seeds http://www.johnnyseeds.com/ . You can even find the silicone clips on Amazon!

You could grow your own rootstocks and favorite heirloom tomato and combine them.  Here’s a quick synopsis of what you do.  (While waiting for the right time to start, probably April here, you can read up on it more).  First you grow your rootstock and “upper” or scion plants in individual pots until they each have 5-6 true leaves.  You select a plant of each type with straight, similar sized stems. Water them well.  Cut the plant that is to be the rootstock off just below the seed leaves (first set of leaves) on a right angle.  Use a razor blade or exacto knife.  Now cut off the scion (upper part) just below the last set of leaves on a right angle. Insert the scion in one end of the grafting clip and carefully line it up with the cut stem of the rootstock.  Then you squeeze the clip a bit and stake the newly created plant.  Discard the root part that’s left from the scion.  Make sure to label the plants.

You mist the grafted plants then place a plastic or glass cover over them to retain humidity.  Place the plants in a dark location for three days, opening the plastic cover once a day for a few minutes.  Remove covers after 3 days.  Gradually move them into brighter light so by 10-12 days they are in full light.  Expect about 90 % of grafts to “take”.


Phragmites

You have seen them growing all around Lower Michigan, the tall grasses in ditches and wet areas with the fluffy purplish seed plumes. (I actually like them for dried arrangements.)  Many people call falsely them pampas grass.   Phragmites australis is also called Common Reed.  Farmers hate them because they are extremely difficult to control and rapidly take over ground.  Lake shore property owners and environmentalists dislike them because they displace native plants, dry up wetlands and block the view of lakeside property owners. 

Michigan Technological University's Michigan Tech Research Institute (MTRI), the US Geological Survey (USGS), Boston College and the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in a joint venture, have recently finished a satellite survey of the extent of the pragmites invasion.  They mapped all stands of the plant within 6.5 miles of any coast of the 5 Great LakesLake Huron and Lake Erie had the most extensive coverage of pragmites, with some stands in Lake Michigan and Lake Ontario but few in Lake Superior.  The study group also visited random sites to confirm satellite observations.

There is a native form of phragmites in the southeastern coastal regions but it is not quite as invasive.  The University of Delaware did some extensive research in 2009 to find out why Phragmites is so successful in spreading through the environment; despite the fact it seldom produces viable seed in those fluffy plumes. (Lots of seed forms but little of it germinates.) They found that pragmites produces a chemical poison called gallic acid which in itself is quite toxic but when exposed to UV rays in sunlight also produces a poison called mesoxalic acid.  The one-two punch kills the roots or other parts of any plants that come in contact with it in just a few minutes.

The plant spreads by rhizomes (roots). Things like boat trailers, farm equipment and riding mowers pick up small pieces of the rhizomes and carry them to new places, where they rapidly conquer the area plants and produce dense stands.  Think of them as the Vikings of the plant world.

Scientists predict that as our planet warms and more UV rays pass through our reduced ozone layers, phragmites will soon dominate most wetlands and coastal areas, causing a great reduction of native wetland plant and animals species.  The plant is of little value to wildlife.  Most environmentalists would like to see property owners destroy this plant as quickly as possible and not protect it as some are prone to do.  If you have a chance to educate others let them know that phragmites is not a desirable plant.  You certainly do not want it in the garden where it will kill your plants much faster than walnut roots.

Recommended control of phragmites is an herbicide like round-up applied after the seed heads start forming and then a close mowing 1 month later.  It usually takes 3 years of this to eliminate a large patch.  A month after a herbicide has been applied you can also burn the stand, but burning without first killing the tops with herbicide will only cause the plant to respond with vigorous growth.

Something new for poison ivy

A new product is being developed that will help you determine if any of your tools or clothing have been in contact with poison ivy, so you can clean the urushiol oil off before you get those terribly itchy blisters all over you. The product can be sprayed on those items, or even on suspected poison ivy plants and will glow under an ordinary florescent light. The Journal of Organic Chemistry reports that the product is under commercial development and could be available soon.

Saving the whale barf

Ambergris, a very rare and expensive part of many perfumes, is a giant hairball vomited up by endangered sperm whales.  The whales eat sharp objects like fish bones and coral and their gut coats the sharp things with a sticky substance to protect the gut from being punctured.  This gets spit up and rolls around in the ocean where it hardens into a mass that washes up on shores and makes someone rich.  Surprisingly whale barf has a pleasant earthy scent and good fixative qualities that make it prized for very expensive perfumes.  But it’s rare and getting harder to find each year. 

Now scientists have found that certain genes from spruce trees or from clary sage can be spliced into bacteria and the bacteria will produce a substance much like ambergris.  The clary sage product may also have anti- cancer uses.  This method is still expensive but sustainable and researchers hope to bring the cost down with newer production methods.  Here’s a good use for genetic engineering.

Now go get some cocoa and try not to think of whale vomit.

Kim

More Information

Green recycling of the Christmas tree
Soon after Christmas is over those who had a real tree for the holidays face the fact that it needs to be taken down. And then the question becomes-“How do I recycle my Christmas tree?” After all you choose a green solution to holiday decorating and you want to keep the disposal options green too. And the good news is that there are many green ways to dispose of your Christmas tree.

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