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.
There is a native form of
phragmites in the southeastern coastal regions but it is not quite as
invasive. The University
of Delaware
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.
Read more at
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