Tuesday, April 30, 2013


April 30, 2013 - Kim’s Weekly Garden Newsletter


These weekly garden notes are written by Kim Willis, unless another author is noted, and the opinions expressed in these notes are her opinions and do not represent any other individual, group or organizations opinions.

Hi Gardeners
This newsletter is coming to you a bit later in the day than usual because my baby chicks arrived a day early and I had to get them settled this am.  What says spring more than baby chicks?  They are mesmerizing to watch too, you can waste a lot of time watching chickens.  Another sign of spring is all the baby calves on the farms around me.  They are so cute when they are tiny babies.

When I went out to feed early this morning I snuck in a quick trip to my pond.  The forsythia was starting to bloom out there and when I went into town to pick up the chicks I saw magnolias beginning to bloom.   My apricot will probably bloom tomorrow and the plums are not far behind. Tiny green leaves are starting to show up on some trees and shrubs, the coming warm weather should have them popping out like crazy.

I spent some time putting up new bluebird houses this weekend and was pleased to see a pair of tree swallows checking them out this morning.  They like the bluebird houses. I get them more than bluebirds but that’s ok they are so graceful and they eat a lot of bugs.  I have still not seen any orioles or hummingbirds but my feeders for them are out.

Work is progressing on my new vegetable garden.  We have three of the five beds filled with soil and I planted potatoes in one.  I also planted romaine lettuce, spinach and beets in a mixture for greens.  I have been digging up huge clumps of comfrey that had been growing at the fringe of the spruce that we cut down to make room for the new garden.  I want to get them dug out instead of just trying to smother them with wood chips or soil.  The roots of some of those clumps were 3 inches in diameter.  Talk about an invasive plant!  

Plant Shopping tips
I talked to my sister a few days ago and she was telling me she dug out all her iris, daylilies, coreopsis and other perennials in front of her house because she wanted just one simple thing in the whole bed.  I asked her what she replaced them with and she proudly told me bee balm, a garden shop employee had recommended it.  I asked a few discrete questions to make sure she really got beebalm and it seems she has.  She bought 4 small plants, which the same helpful employee told her would spread out and fill out the whole bed in no time.  You can guess that this sister is not much of a gardener by now.  I tried to gently suggest that she add some other plants and explained to her that while the bee balm would eventually spread, it wasn’t always the most attractive plant for a whole bed in front of the house.  I also told her about powdery mildew, which can make bee balm look pretty bad.  But she remained firm, the garden shop employee had given her his recommendations and that was it. 

The point of the story is that there are a lot of sales people in the garden shops and many of them are not too knowledgeable, especially those in big box stores.  As you are out and about in the greenhouses this spring selecting plants, remember to do your own research on plants you are not familiar with.   If you have a smart phone I see that many plant tags now have a code to scan that will give you more information about the plant. Try to pick up plants that have a tag, there is usually some general information on them and when you get the plant home you will have that information as well as a plant name. 

Also check the hardiness zone rating of plants that you buy.  I have noticed plants that aren’t reliably hardy in zone 5-6 being sold.  The zone rating is on the tag so they aren’t really cheating you, but many people just choose plants that have pretty flowers or pleasing foliage without considering whether the plant will over winter here.  And there are varieties of some common garden plants that are hardy in our zones while other varieties of the same plant are not.  Buddleias, roses, azaleas, lavender, perennial salvias are just a few plants that have hardy and not so hardy varieties.

April is considered a good month for planting trees.  Arbor Day is in April.  So for the last newsletter of April I am going to present some tree information.

The breath of trees
When you walk into a forest you immediately notice the smell, a woodsy aroma that’s soothing and invigorating at the same time.  That aroma comes from gases that trees give off and it’s most noticeable when trees are concentrated in groups, but all trees emit gases.  The gases contain biogenic aerosols -- particulate matter that originates from plants.(Tree poop)  When exposed to oxygen in the atmosphere these particulates cling to other particulates in the air, gradually growing larger, forming clouds that reflect the suns heat, cooling the earth and forming raindrops.  This function of trees emitting gases is helpful, and works to offset global warming, because as the world warms, trees produce even more gases.

In forested areas of the world gas emission by trees can reduce the effect of global warming by about 30%.   Rain falls more frequently and regularly where there are forests because of favorable cloud formation.  And even in urban areas where they are not as concentrated, trees provide a cooling effect as well as making your property more valuable and desirable.

But there is a bad side to the gases that trees emit also.  Trees emit isoprene, a chemical manufactured to protect leaves from oxygen damage and temperature fluctuations.  Isoprene is abundant in the atmosphere but it’s not helpful to humans. A study recently completed by  researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found that isoprene unites with air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides emitted by cars and coal burning plants to form harmful particulates at least partially responsible for lung cancer, asthma, and other lung disorders.  These isoprene-nitrogen oxide combinations also produce smog and are damaging to the environment in other ways. It’s important to remember that without humans producing those nitrogen oxide emissions though, isoprene would be harmless.

And here’s some more news about the breath of trees. When trees are attacked by insects, particularly bark beetles, the trees produce chemicals to protect themselves and these chemicals are released into the atmosphere. The chemicals are predominately a monoterpene called ß-phellandrene.  This chemical is also part of unhealthy smog and haze and harmful to those breathing it.

It gets worse.  Researchers at  Queensland University of Technology in Australia found that trees produce electrically charged ions in their vicinity.  Charged ions are more likely to attract other molecules to stick to them and they are also more likely to “stick” to your lungs when breathed in.  One of the molecules that charged ions like to collect is radon. 

Radon is produced when rocks containing radioactive material gradually breakdown in the soil.  It is water soluble and radon is often found in ground water.  Radon emissions from the soil as a gas and from the ground water vary in concentration from one area to the next depending on the rocks underlying the area.   Michigan has some high radon areas, where radon seeps into basements.  Radon is known to cause cancer.
Here’s the connection between radon and trees.  Trees with deep root systems act as pumps for radon, bringing the radon in ground water and from the soil to the surface, discharging it attached to charged ions in their gas admissions when they transpire (or breathe).  Recent research suggests in areas with deep rooted trees, tree transpiration accounts for more than a third of the radon in the air.

How to plant a tree
I have been playing the devil’s advocate here, telling you about all the bad things trees do.  In fact there is more reason than ever to plant trees.  Trees help regulate the climate and they become even more important as our climate changes.  The small health risks associated with trees breathing are generally caused by our own pollution of the planet.  While trees may emit radon when they emit water vapor during transpiration they are also unlocking water stored in the soil and returning it to the atmosphere.  Without rain we couldn’t grow crops very well and our world would be a dry and barren place.

A real estate agent will tell you that large, mature, well cared for trees add value to your property and make it easier to sell.  And who can deny the beauty of trees as well as all the useful products they supply us with, including food?  It is said that you plant trees for your grandchildren.  All I know is that I continue to plant trees because I like them.  I have planted several this year, in part because I have had to remove a few.  One should always replace a tree that you have had to remove, maybe with a more suitable tree for the area, but always keeping the balance Nature is working to achieve.

Several studies of urban trees have found that more than 2/3 of the trees in cities were from natural regeneration, they grew from seeds floating in the air or carried in by animals and were not deliberately planted.  However the remaining third of trees in a city, those planted by us, had a somewhat higher survival rate and were healthier overall.  This is probably because they were more valuable specimens, and because if you plant something you tend to care for it.

So what is the best way to plant a tree?  First choose a tree suitable for the area you want to plant it.  You can find a tree that will grow in almost any situation.   Make sure you take the adult size of the tree into account as you choose and plant it, making sure there will be room for it when it’s grown.  How many of you have seen (or planted yourself) those beautiful young blue spruce trees planted up close to a house, in front of windows or too close to driveways?  After ten or 15 years of growth they have to be cut down or moved in a very expensive maneuver.   And look up and see if there are any overhead utility wires that will result in the power company wacking the top off the tree just as it gets beautiful.

Give your tree room to grow.  Leave enough space between trees so they aren’t distorted and crowded as they grow.  Those tiny twigs you plant look so small it’s tempting to put them too close together but consult a reference and give each tree the space it needs when it is an adult.

Next dig your hole twice as wide as it is deep.  It should be as deep as the root system of the tree you are planting.  However one of the biggest mistakes people make in planting trees is to plant them too deep.  Look for the top horizontal root, the root that goes sideways.  This root should only be about 2 inches below the soil surface.  This will allow the tree to form a “flare”, a wider base just above the roots that makes for a healthier and stronger tree.

Remove pots, even peat pots from the roots.  Remove at least the top half of the burlap in a balled and burlapped root ball.   If you do not see that top horizontal root gently scrape away soil until you do, so you can properly place it in a hole.  Often as trees are “balled” or re-potted at a nursery that primary horizontal root gets buried too deeply.  Removing peat pots and burlap also avoids the wicking away of moisture from the roots and lets the roots expand rapidly into the surrounding soil.

Refill your hole with the soil you took out, even if you think it isn’t very good soil.  Research has proven that this is the best way to get your tree growing well.  You can mix in some tree fertilizer with the soil but avoid throwing it in a heap at the bottom of the hole.  Don’t add peat, topsoil or other things to the soil.  This hinders rather than encourages root growth.

Water your tree after planting and keep it watered during its first year if conditions are dry.  Don’t put more than 3 inches of mulch around the tree and keep mulch from touching the trunk of the tree.  Protect the trunk of young trees from animals including humans with mowers and weed whips.  A mulch circle helps but you may need a circle of wire or a tree tube.  Tree tubes are great for small deciduous trees, especially valuable ones or those that are hard to start.  These are translucent fiberglass tubes with open tops that act as a semi-greenhouse, they protect trees from wind, cold and animals.  They need a stake to hold them in place but you won’t need to stake the tree.  They also encourage a straight, un-branched trunk until the tree is over the tube height.  Remove the tubes when the tree grows well above them, usually in a couple years.  I cut tree tubes in half to protect things like shrubs and vines.

One other tree planting tip.  Remove all tags, wires and strings from the tree after planting.  These will cut off circulation as the tree grows and kill a branch or worse the whole tree if the string is around the trunk.  If you want to keep the tag with the tree so you remember what you planted, put it on a stake near the tree.

Trees for small gardens
Love trees but have little room in the garden to plant them?  There are many small trees that won’t hit the power lines and are easy to fit into small spaces.  Trees add vertical lines to the garden and pleasing structure.  Here are some to consider.  Maples, some Japanese maple varieties and other maples ( Snake bark, (A. grosseri), Moose bark, A. griseum are good for small areas.  Redbuds, ninebark, magnolia, strawberry tree, birches, dogwoods, hawthorns, sand cherries ( purple leaf cherries),weeping cherries, weeping peach,  wisteria trained to tree form, crabapples( height varies, look for smaller types), Golden Chain Tree, cotoneaster, bristly locust, “Lace Lady” or “Twisty Baby” locust, purple smoke tree, witchhazel, Japanese stewartia.

There are also many dwarf or slow growing evergreens that can be added to the garden.  Narrow, columnar evergreens are also useful in the landscape.  Don’t forget that tub trees, (marginally hardy or tropical trees) can be added to the garden in the summer and stored in a suitable place over the winter.  These would include figs, pomegranates, citrus trees, bay laurel and olive trees.

Now everyone outside to plant a tree!
Kim Willis
Garden as though you will live forever. William Kent

More Information
How to help the flooded garden
An article by Kim Willis at Examiner.com
This spring has been wet in many parts of the United States and many homeowners are having trouble with flooding or water standing on the lawn and garden areas. While dry conditions can be harmful to plants conditions that are too wet can be equally bad if not worse for the landscape. Here are some tips to help you deal with landscape plants that have received a little more water than they like.  Read more by clicking on the link below.

Ready to Plant: ‘Iron Lady’ Tomato Punches Out Blights
April 17, 2013  From Cornell University

ITHACA, N.Y. - If the name fits, grow it: "Iron Lady" is the first tomato to resist three major fungal diseases - early blight, late blight and Septoria leaf spot - plaguing New York's growers for years. For farmers, this new tomato dramatically reduces the need for expensive fungicide.
Iron Lady is available to both producers and home gardeners for the upcoming growing season.
Favoring the Northeast's moist, cool conditions, one or more of these diseases occurs yearly, prompting Martha Mutschler-Chu, Cornell professor of plant breeding and genetics, to create tomatoes that resist late blight and early blight.
However, since those plants could still be defoliated by Septoria leaf spot, Mutscher-Chu worked with research associate Stella Zitter and plant pathologist Tom Zitter to create Septoria resistance.
Experimental hybrids using these "triple blight resistant" tomatoes were successfully grown in trials in North Carolina, West Virginia, Virginia and New York, in a project supported by the Northeast Regional Integrated Pest Management Center.
"We have demonstrated that we have tomato hybrids with good medium fruit that will stand up to these diseases," Mutschler-Chu said. "In order to reduce the need for fungicides, you need to genetically control all three diseases."
Iron Lady, the cross of a "triple resistant" Cornell line and a late blight/early blight line from North Carolina State University, is the first of these hybrids to become commercially available, via High Mowing Organic Seeds. In addition to the strongest possible resistance to late blight -- provided by the combination of two genes, Ph2 and Ph3 -- tolerance to early blight and resistance to Septoria leaf spot, the plant also has resistances to verticillium and fusarium wilts, common to most modern tomato varieties.
Early blight tolerance is not as strong as resistance, so the need for fungicides may not be completely eliminated. But Mutschler-Chu teamed up with professor Tom Zitter to identify a complementary fungicide strategy with the lowest possible environmental impact. This led to a potential reduction of sprays from weekly application to once or twice a season. That information is available to growers via Cornell's Vegetable MD website.
"Tolerance alone is not enough, spray alone is not enough, but together there is good synergy," Mutschler-Chu said.
Iron Lady is suitable for organic production, and was tested by organic farmers as part of a federal Organic Agriculture Research and Extension-funded project coordinated by Cornell breeder Michael Mazourek. He said disease-resistant tomatoes were identified as a top priority for organic growers, who currently use copper to control blight, a solution that can be just as bad for the environment as chemical fungicides.
"This represents a really valuable tool for growers," Mazourek said. "And the tomatoes are head and shoulders above those you would find shipped to the grocery store."
Mutschler-Chu said she wanted to make Iron Lady available to growers quickly because of the real and immediate need. "We have even better lines coming along," she said. "We are testing second-generation hybrids now."
While breeding the new lines, Mutschler-Chu and her team created molecular markers that can be used to detect the presence of Ph2 and Ph3 in plants. "Use of markers cuts in half the number of generations it takes to breed," she said. "Development of a similar marker for the Septoria resistance gene is nearing completion."
Mutschler-Chu is sharing her discoveries with scientists and seed companies, so that the resistance traits can be incorporated into other varieties.
This project was supported in part by a New York Specialty Crop grant.


Monday, April 29, 2013


Now that we have had a few dry and warmer days things are starting to progress at our farm.  The new veggie garden is looking good, with half of the new beds filled with soil.  We took the soil out of the paths and filled the boxes.  That’s working pretty good and the soil is loose, well drained but rich looking.  I hope it grows things as well as it looks.  When we dig out the paths it makes the beds about 8-10 inches deep.
I actually planted romaine lettuce, beets and leaf lettuce (as a blend), in my old refrigerator turned planter.  I also got honeyberries and a goji berry planted outside.  Potatoes are next, but I have to figure a way to keep the cats out of the giant litter boxes we created until we get the fence up.  Hens have been real interested in our work also.  I am still debating what kind of fence to put up and we want to wait until the beds and paths are filled.

I had to pot up all the bulbs that have been arriving in the mail and the perennials that were leafing out but I think this week some of them will be planted outside- as soon as I know where I want to plant them.  Everything needs to proceed in stages as I work on each project.  Our front yard is still very wet and I hate to even walk around there.  I have to clean up and divide, assess, some of my plantings before I add more things so some of my mail order stuff will be potted for a few more weeks.

I did some shopping this past week on the rainy days and got some small junipers, holly, Chamaecyparis and heath plants.  The heath is blooming and at least the early bees have something to eat.  That’s all for replacing the grass in the front yard.  One thing about shopping on rainy days outside in a nursery is that no one else is around and the plants are well watered.  But I was very glad to see a sunny day Saturday so we could get some outside work done.  Sunday started out cloudy but mild and we did get some work done early before the showers hit.   Hopefully Monday will be a great working day.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Weekly garden newsletter April 23, 2013



April 23, 2013 - Kim’s Weekly Garden Newsletter


These weekly garden notes are written by Kim Willis, unless another author is noted, and the opinions expressed in these notes are her opinions and do not represent any other individual, group or organizations opinions.

Hi Gardeners

What a week of weather!  We have had to run the sump pump in our small Michigan basement twice a day since last Thursday’s storms.   The high water table is allowing it to seep in.  If you live on a dirt road you know how much fun they are after the heavy rains.  And I am not looking forward to the storms and rain predicted for today or the snow, yes snow, predicted for tomorrow.  When will spring get here to stay?  The temperatures are supposed to be back into decent range by the weekend.

So far this year we have had twice the normal amount of rainfall for April.  And last year we had less than a half inch of rain for the entire month.  According to farm reports the ground water is fully recharged- in other words the drought is over for now.  But the farmers can’t get into the fields because the ground is too wet.  The grass is growing rapidly and I am afraid we won’t be able to mow it at the right time because there are parts of the yard that are too wet to even walk on.

I do have a few daffodils in bloom.  All the maples are blooming and shedding their red flowers.  The pussy willows are blooming around my pond.  I have heard the spring peepers on nice days and the bull frogs on my pond are thunking away.  I snuck a quick trip to the pond this morning after barn chores and I saw dozens of robins around the pond.  Some were viciously fighting on the ground on the far bank over territory I presume, and a little rabbit was nonchalantly eating in their midst.

I have not seen the orioles, swallows or hummingbirds yet but I went ahead and hung the hummingbird feeder and put out some grape jelly and an orange for the orioles.  I figure any early flying bees could use the energy boost if the birds don’t use it.  I haven’t seen any bees yet, but I have seen a snake, courtesy of one my cats.  He was injured but I put him in a sunny spot in a secluded area and he was gone the next time I looked.

Yesterday was a beautiful spring day and I was able to get much work done on my new veggie garden and on cleaning up one of my flower beds.  I am lucky that the new site for the veggie garden is high and well drained, sandy loam.  I don’t know if we will be able to fill all the new beds with soil or compost this year, that’s a lot of space to fill, but we will use the boxes anyway and fill them little by little.  We need to get the huge pile of wood chips spread on the path before the grass is totally killed beneath the pile.

To till or not to till
It’s the season when many people are itching to get out the rototiller.  I owned a rototiller once, a long time ago, before I found out how they damaged soil health.  The only time a rototiller is necessary in a garden is for maybe the first time the area is used for a garden, especially if the soil is compacted or if you need to mix a lot of organic material into it to make it useable.  You can even skip the rototiller the first time if you have the forethought to smother the turf and weeds from a piece of ground the season before you want to garden on it.

Good soil is a living thing, full of thousands of tiny living creatures from bacteria to worms.  All of these creatures have important roles in creating good soil.  They all have their own “comfort zones” in the soil, some at the top, some at the middle and some deep in the soil where they perform at peak efficiency.   Every time you rototill the soil you disturb these amazing critters, throwing them out of their best levels of efficiency and even killing them.

Rototilling also brings weed seeds to the surface where they can germinate.  The seeds of some weeds can lay in the soil for years until a rototiller or spade moves them close to the surface for light and warmth to germinate.  Weed problems are often worse when you rototill every year.

Rototilling destroys soil structure.  Good soil is actually small clumps of minerals, organic matter, and water bound together by a bacterial “glue”.  Tilling the soil so that these clumps are broken apart makes your soil much less suitable for plant growth.  While you don’t want rocks or huge clumps of soil in a garden bed, you also do not want soil the texture of flour.  To take the cooking analogy further, your soil should look like crushed Oreo cookies, not flour. 

Finally tilling tends to compact the soil just beyond the depth of the tiller tines.  If your tiller blades reach 8” into the soil it’s probably compacted at 9”.   So how do you get deep, rich, loose soil?  By making dedicated beds and paths in your garden and never walking on the beds.  You can make these raised beds or not as long as they are well defined.  You pull weeds or use a hoe to remove them and use mulch and you add lots of organic matter each year.  Each year in the spring simply remove any sprouting weeds, add some well-rotted compost to the beds and plant.

Using rock powders in the garden
If you have ever gardened in pure compost, or other pure organic material, you may have wondered why your plants didn’t grow as well as you thought they would.  That’s because good soil also contains minerals, or crushed rock.  Plants need minerals to grow properly.  You can add minerals with fertilizer and we know that with the right balance of minerals plants can even be grown in water. 
If you have highly organic soil that’s a good thing, but you may want to consider adding some “rock powders” to increase the mineral content of the soil and make your garden soil even greater.  Everyone is aware of one rock powder, limestone, but that’s a mineral you want to add only after a soil test because it can make your soil so alkaline that plants won’t grow properly.  If your soil is too acidic, below 6 on the pH scale, you may be advised to add some lime.

Other rock powders are available that can be added to soil in reasonable amounts, about 40 pounds to a 1,000 square feet, and will be beneficial to most soils, especially clay soils that tend to pack.  Here are some rock soils you may want to consider.  Greensand is just that, a sand like material that is green in color.  It’s mined from sea and lake sediments and the green color comes from the many minerals it contains.  It’s usually high in iron, magnesium and potassium.   Crushed granite and crushed lava stone are also high in minerals and they add pore spaces to soil that tends to pack, making it hold air and water in a better structure for plant roots.

Mushroom magic
Did you know that mushrooms have the ability to convert the suns energy to a type of Vitamin D that is similar to the Vitamin D our skin can make when exposed to sunlight?  Vitamin D is not only important for strong bones but it regulates the immune system and acts more like a hormone in the body than other vitamins.  There is much research going on that suggests Vitamin D is extremely important to good health and that modern people do not get enough of it. 

There are many forms of Vitamin D and types of Vitamin D supplements and some of these are better for us than others. Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine found that eating mushrooms or mushroom powder capsules was as effective as taking commercial supplements for raising the level of Vitamin D in the blood.  You can find fresh mushrooms in most stores and there are many ways to add them to meals.  If you are adventuresome you can grow or wild harvest mushrooms too.  Just be careful in the wild harvesting as there are some mushrooms that contain deadly poisons as well as Vitamin D.

Grow small fruit for health
The good news about small fruits effect on your health- especially strawberries, blueberries and grapes, just keeps on growing.  These fruits are easy for home gardeners to grow and when you grow them yourself you get them at the freshest and you know whether or not they were treated with pesticides.  A study by investigator E. Mitchell Seymour, Ph.D., of the University of Michigan Health System published early this year found that three servings of grapes each week helped reduce metabolic syndrome.  Metabolic syndrome is a combination of high blood pressure, high blood glucose, waist body fat and impaired liver and kidney function.  It’s a major problem in the US and other developed countries.

A new study recently published in Annals of Neurology, a journal of the American Neurological Association and Child Neurology Society, found that eating strawberries and blueberries could reduce and delay mental decline in the elderly.  And researchers reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, that women who ate at least 3 servings of strawberries or blueberries a week reduce their risk of a heart attack by 33%.

I planted two new grape vines and a whole new bed of strawberries and I hope to reap some health benefits from the fruit.  I also planted some saskatoons, a bush with fruit similar in properties and taste to blueberries.  It hasn’t been studied for health benefits but the fruit has similar anti-oxidants and flavonoids as blueberries and the health benefits should be similar.  Saskatoons are a bit easier for home gardeners who don’t have naturally acidic soil to grow.  If you don’t have some small fruit in your garden consider adding it.  Strawberries, blueberries and saskatoons are easy to freeze for winter use and they can also be dried for storage.  If you have extra grapes you can turn them into grape juice and can it or turn them into wine.

April is Invasive Plant Pest and Disease Awareness Month
Gardeners love to bring back plants and seeds when traveling but think before you do.  You can’t go through customs legally without declaring any plant material you are carrying.  If you go to somewhere like Canada and buy a plant in a garden shop they can sometimes provide you with what is known as a sanitary certificate to show customs. Otherwise your purchase will probably be confiscated.  It really isn’t being kind to the rest of us gardeners if you hide plants and manage to sneak them through customs either.  That’s how many foreign plant diseases and pests get their start in the US.  If you have questions about what you can bring into the country go to www.aphis.usda.gov/travel

However many plant diseases and pests are carried from place to place in the US and what is not a problem in one area of the country can become one in another.  Be very careful bringing home plants from far flung areas.  It might just be a piece of rose you dug from grandma’s old farm but the soil or the rose itself could hide an invasive pest.  It is sometimes better to wash off the soil gently from the roots and repot the plant in commercial potting soil and a clean pot before transporting it home.  And giving it a close inspection for insect pests and a shot of garden insecticide is also a good idea.

A spot of good news along the invasive pest route is that New Jersey was able to announce in March that after an 11 year battle with the Asian Long Horned Beetle, a wood pest that acts much like the Emerald Ash Borer on a wider range of trees, that the state is now clear of the pest.  The Asian Long Horned Beetle has also been successfully eradicated from Illinois.   Maybe one day we will see ash trees thriving again in Michigan.  But we have never had the Asian Long Horned Beetle and there are still places in the US that have it so once again, watch what you carry back with you.

Your tax dollars at work-gardening
I support gardening but this is a little much for US tax payers to spare in hard times.  The US State Department approved a $700,000 budget March 11, 2013, for gardening at the US embassy in Brussels, Belgium.  Actually the money will be spent at Truman Hall, the residence of the US ambassador to Belgium.  Truman Hall is on 28 acres of land with several gardens.  The money was requested for lawn mowing, weeding, trimming and the planting of violas, tulips and begonias.

Another $500,000 of gardening budget was approved for the US Embassy in Jakarta (the capital of Indonesia).  Other embassies to receive garden funding were in; Santiago, Chile; Maseru, Lesotho; and Bangkok, Thailand.  Flowers = Peace?



Stay dry and think spring
Kim Willis
Garden as though you will live forever. William Kent

More Information
How to Grow Crocus
New article by Kim Willis
The cheerful crocus is one of the first flowers we see in our gardens each spring, sometimes blooming through a late snow. The knowing gardener plants crocus where they get an early start, near a building or among rocks for early spring warmth. They are best planted where they can be easily seen as the flowers are small and close to the earth. Hardy and easy to grow, crocus will multiply each year if they are happy in their spot. While most garden crocus bloom in the spring there are crocus that are fall blooming, most notably the saffron crocus, Crocus sativus, whose stamens are worth their weight in gold.




Saturday, April 20, 2013

Wish spring would get here


It’s 34 degrees here at noon on April 20th –unbelievable.  I woke up this morning to a light covering of snow on the grass and car and snow flurries swirling around.  Had to pump out the basement again and the yard is half submerged in water.  The roads are wash boarded and almost impossible to drive on.  Come back global warming!

We did manage to work on some of our garden projects whenever the weather was nice for a few hours.  Between our old crippled bodies and the weather the gardening is going very slowly.    On Thursday before the storms arrived I managed to plant two grape vines.  We got the back lattice fence for the new vegetable garden up last week and early this week we got the forms for 3 new raised veggie beds put together.  I don’t know when I’ll get to fill them and lay the woodchip paths as the ground is saturated.  There are two more beds to be made.
The fence in back of the new veggie garden.
 
I planted strawberries in one of the old veggie beds and two Saskatoon plants where the old strawberry bed was.  The strawberries went where I had planted corn last year.  I shredded some of the old corn debris still there and put it over the dormant plants so when they start growing there will be a little protection. 
I keep getting plants that I mail ordered and it’s impossible to plant the potted, leafed out things yet.  It’s too cold and wet so I have them all on the back porch, which has good light and while it’s not heated doesn’t freeze out there.  A few small things are on the kitchen window sill.   I have plants from Old House Gardens, Jungs, Gurneys and Bluestone Perennials all sitting here.   I plan on potting some more of them in a few hours.

Outside the crocus in the outer beds are blooming and there is color in the early daffodil buds.  On Thursday when it was 75 degrees I noticed the forsythia buds were showing color.  I hope this cold shot doesn’t kill the blooms like the weather did last year.  The flowering quince was also showing color in the bud.  The maple trees are blooming.  I really want to get working on my plans for redoing the front flower beds but the rain, cold spells and wet ground are setting me back.
Re-cycled tube from construction site used as a birdbath base.

My son is the ultimate hoarder of such things as building materials.  He works at construction sites putting in heating-cooling systems.  He brings home every bit of unwanted wood, spilled nails and screws, pieces of left over metal etc.   He gave me two thick, sturdy round tubes about 3’ high.  He said they are from larger pieces that are put over timbers to make them look like pillars. They are pale gray but textured and will take any paint.   I have used one to put my cement bird path on, instead of the stump it was formally on.  Now I need to decide if I want to paint it or see if it will weather to a better color. 

New path in front yard.
I really want to get moving on the new plans for the front flower beds but the weather is proving to be an obstacle.  I wanted to see what survived winter and how crowded the beds looked before I bought new plants for the front, and I am still making some decisions.  But I feel the need to get the vegetable garden re-make done before I proceed to ornamental things.  Maybe I took on too many projects at once.  I sure am hoping that spring is here to stay now so I can get some things done.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Garden Newsletter April 16, 2013


April 16, 2013 - Kim’s Weekly Garden Newsletter

These weekly garden notes are written by Kim Willis, unless another author is noted, and the opinions expressed in these notes are her opinions and do not represent any other individual, group or organizations opinions.

Hi Gardeners  Note: Pictures will be posted at a later date with this newsletter.

I absolutely loved yesterday’s weather.  It could have been a bit sunnier but being outside in shirt sleeves was so great.  We managed to get most of our lattice wall up to hide the compost pile and my stash of flower pots and other gardening junk.  I also got some pruning and clean up done.  I spent the whole day outside from about 9 am to 6 pm when my exasperated spouse asked me to come inside and call my mom, who had called three times, not understanding why I wasn’t around. (No I don’t carry a cell phone in the garden.)
Today the sun is coming back out after more rain and I need to get this newsletter done so I can get back out there.  Unfortunately we have snow, yes snow, in the forecast for Friday.  But that cold spell is supposed to be short.  The grass is green and the birds and frogs are singing so let’s hope the winter will be over after Friday.

I was so unhappy with the weather Saturday that I went to Campbell’s greenhouse just to walk around where there were flowers.  My soul needed flowers.  There were only a few people there, very nice browsing experience.  I did bring home some plants although I convinced myself not to bring home a lot more.  I am always amazed with the number of new plants and new varieties of old plants that appear each year. 

I purchased a plant called Leptinella squalida, “Platts Black”. The common name is Brass Buttons.  I have never heard of it.  It has tiny, ferny leaves that are very dark black shading to bright green on the ends, an interesting mix.    It is supposed to be a ground cover, (which probably means it is invasive) hardy to zone 6.  It is supposed to have blue-green or gold flowers in summer and likes moisture and part shade.  I just need to find the right spot for it because it stays about 2 inches high and will get lost among the bigger things.  (I am that person who buys a plant because its different and I want to experience growing it, not because I have a need or place for it.)

I also purchased a Streptocarpus ( Ladyslippers) “Blue Ice”.  It’s also called Cape Primrose.   It is full of beautiful lavender, not true blue flowers.  Streptocarpus are generally houseplants, which I think most people would not realize with the display at the greenhouse.    They do bloom all spring and summer if fertilized regularly.  You could probably put it outside after all danger of frost, although they certainly wouldn’t last out there now.  I just loved the flowers.

I also purchased a diascia, a lovely peach shade.  They are cold hardy to some degree, blooming early in spring and late in fall.  I have over wintered them inside for a couple years.  This one is inside for now.  I gazed longingly at the new petunias in that deep purple-red that looks black, with bright pink or yellow stripes in the center.  I have grown them before and the colors are stunning, but the dark color just gets lost in the border.  They are good in pots with the right companions. 

Evolvulus is one of the old plants with many improved varieties being offered this spring.  I picked up one from Proven Winners called “Blue My Mind”.  They are also called dwarf morning glories, but to me they look nothing like morning glories.  They are a mounding trailing plant, with flat 5 petal flowers in pretty shades; this one is a true blue.  The plant actually reminds me of a giant chickweed plant. They will bloom all summer in full sun.  They are being suggested as a replacement for bedding impatiens, which of course may not be available this spring because of the fungal disease.  But as they prefer full sun and are a bit expensive for use as mass bedding plants, I don’t think they are a good replacement for most people.

Be thinking about what you will use to replace bedding impatiens if they are what you commonly use as a bedding plant in your landscape.  Many nurseries will not be carrying the regular impatiens this spring because of the downy mildew experienced last year in our area.   New Guinea impatiens are immune to downy mildew but prefer more sun and are more expensive than regular impatiens.   Bedding, fibrous rooted begonias and coleus are two pretty good substitutions.

Is your lawn helping or hurting the environment?

As the grass begins to green up all home owners have some decisions to make about their lawn care practices.  A new study by the University of Cincinnati researcher Amy Townsend-Small looked at lawn care practices to see where the climate/environment benefits or is harmed by urban lawns.    Townsend-Small found that lawns that are not irrigated, minimally fertilized, not treated chemically for insects and mowed sensibly have a slight benefit to the environment, acting as a small carbon sink.

However the more you do to maintain a lawn, chemical treatments, artificial irrigation, intensive mowing and so forth the less beneficial a lawn is, in fact becoming a disadvantage to the environment when only a few intensive practices are followed.   Just irrigating a lawn can be the difference between lawns being beneficial or harmful to the environment in some areas.  The more energy used for a lawn care practice, fossil fuel, chemical production, transportation of things like fuel and fertilizer and so on the worse the technique is for the environment.

Best lawn care practices for the environment would be no chemical fertilizers or pesticides, no irrigation and mowing with an old fashioned reel mower.  Keeping your lawn at 3 inches or higher in height, returning clippings to the soil with mulching and choosing the right grass species for the environment also help.  Gardeners need to think about how much lawn they can replace with other types of plants. 

Lawns do have their place.  A lawn serves as a firebreak in areas where wildfires could be a problem.  Mowed lawns also help keep down insects like ticks and mosquitoes around homes.  Letting a few “weeds” like dandelions and violets grow in the lawn helps the beneficial insects and makes the lawn a better environmental helper too.

The new environmental study "Carbon Sequestration and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Urban Ecosystems," was presented at the Association of American Geographers annual meeting held April 9-13 in Los Angeles.

Bees dying from heavy metal pollution

Bees are under all kinds of threats.  Most gardeners know that both domestic honeybees and native pollinators are struggling to maintain healthy numbers.  Many factors contribute to bee decline and now another factor has been identified. Researchers observed bees at a nature reserve in Western Pennsylvania in 2012 and then tested what they foraged on, comparing what they found on bee health. 

Researchers found that many native plants contained heavy metals in their pollen and nectar, which came from environmental pollution, including engine exhaust.  The most toxic metals were aluminum and nickel.  The researchers found that bees sensed or tasted nickel in flowers and avoided those contaminated with nickel but that they seemed to lack a way to tell if a plants nectar or pollen was contaminated with aluminum and consumed those plant products in normal quantities.  Aluminum builds up in their bodies over time and affects health and vigor.

The researchers worry about the increasing use of plants to “clean up” areas that have heavy metal contamination in soil because if the plants that are used flower, their pollen and nectar will be heavily contaminated, which will be passed to the bees.  The adult bees that forage are affected but so are the bee larvae which are fed contaminated honey or pollen. 

Herbal remedies

A wealth of herbal (plant based) remedy studies turned up in scientific literature in the last month.  One interesting study tracked the ability of animals to self–medicate.  It has been known that primates seek out medicinal plants to treat themselves when they feel ill but now self- medication has been discovered in many species of animals including bees, ants, moths and fruit flies.  They not only treat themselves but take medicinal plant products back to hives and nests for other colony members.  The study was published April 11, in the Journal Science.

I talked about some benefits of chocolate last week , a new study found that cocoa polyphenols help prevent damage to nerves and may aid in the prevention of disease such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease and may even be used for treatment eventually.  (Sbarro Health Research Organization ,SHRO, Center for Biotechnology, Temple University, Philadelphia PA USA and the University of L'Aquila, Italy.)

Beet juice is also in the news.  In the last few years beet juice has been used by athletes training for events because it allows them to train for longer periods of time.    Beet juice lowers blood pressure and widens blood vessels, allowing for a greater flow of blood to muscles.  In a recent study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology researchers found that beet juice consumption allowed people to do simple exercise such as walking much easier and for a longer time, even those with heart and lung problems.

A small preliminary study by Amrita Ahluwalia, Ph.D., at The Barts and The London Medical School in London was posted in the AHA Journal Hypertension.  It found that a cup of beet juice a day lowered the blood pressure of people with high blood pressure significantly.  The medicinal effect comes from nitrates found in beet juice.  Beets are very easy to grow in the garden with both the tops and the roots being edible.  Gardening itself lowers blood pressure so all hypertensive people should be growing- and consuming beets!

The next herbal remedy that’s making news is one I am trying myself.  It’s green coffee bean extract.  Dr. Oz started the interest in the public after he did a small study on green coffee bean extract for weight loss.  His study found that people who took the product did lose weight, without changing their diet. 

Several studies have been done since then in larger, more carefully controlled trials and the news is still good.  A study presented early this month at the 245th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society found that green coffee bean extract not only helped people lose weight but that it dropped blood glucose levels.  Chlorogenic acid is the substance in green coffee bean extract that seems to be the medicinal part.  It is mostly lost when coffee is roasted, so while drinking coffee in large quantities does seem to have some effect on blood glucose control, you might have other effects such as the jitters and stomach problems if you tried to drink enough coffee to lower your blood sugar.

Researchers are getting excited about this.   Green coffee bean extract is cheaper than most chemical blood glucose medications and safer and more effective than any other chemical weight loss remedy on the market.  So far no significant side effects have been discovered.  You get about the same amount of caffeine as in a ½ cup of coffee in each dose.  As I said I read up on this and decided to try it.  I have been taking green coffee extract for a month or so and I am losing weight without changing my diet much.  I am hoping it improved my blood glucose levels, I’ll see at my next doctor’s appointment.  And I have had no side effects.  Green coffee bean extract is being sold everywhere but beware.  Look for brands that promise at least 45% chlorogenic acid if you want to try it.  Because everyone is jumping on the bandwagon so to speak, look for companies that have a good track history with vitamins and supplements. 

Here’s another plant remedy in the news.  There is an old southeast European custom of spreading bean leaves around a bed in a bedbug infested room and then burning them in the morning.  It’s said to kill the bedbugs.  Because researchers are desperately searching for bedbug controls doctoral student Megan Szyndler, entomologist Catherine Loudon and chemist Robert Corn of UC Irvine and entomologists Kenneth Haynes and Michael Potter of the University of Kentucky decided to collaborate on a study involving bedbugs and bean leaves.

They spread fresh kidney bean leaves in a bedbug infested area and lo and behold, found the leaves covered in bedbugs in the morning.   Further research showed that the bedbugs get caught on tiny hairs on the leaves which only stab them more fiercely if they struggle.  These microscopic hairs are called trichomes.  

Research is now focused on trying to produce a synthetic strip or substance to do the same thing but so far, nature is proving to be better at bedbug trapping than anything researchers devise.
Ok, one more natural remedy.  This one is a trap for mosquitoes, which will be out in force after all this rain.  It was sent to me by a reader, Cassey Meislik  and originated with a woman named  Janice Yorton.  I haven’t tried it but if you do, send me a line or two to tell me if it worked.
Items needed:
               1 cup water
               1/4 cup brown sugar
               ¼ teaspoon yeast
                Plastic
Cut the plastic bottle in half.
Mix brown sugar with hot water.
Let cool.
Add yeast – no need to stir.  The yeast makes carbon dioxide that attracts the mosquitoes.  They get in the bottle, but can’t get out.
Place the top of the bottle upside down into the bottom and tape.
Wrap bottle in something black (it also attracts mosquitoes.
Change bottle every two weeks.

I have been thinking about how long the bees have had to go this spring without getting new food from flowers.  While bee keepers may feed their honeybees the poor native pollinators have to wait for Mother Nature to get to work for them.   We lost our fruit crops last year because of erratic weather, let’s hope that we won’t lose fruit this year because all the pollinators have died of starvation. Consider leaving a patch of dandelions for the bees instead of eradicating them.  They are a good source of pollen and nectar for hungry, weak bees.  I have seen a bumblebee barely able to crawl from his little burrow making his way to a dandelion blossom in early spring.  Help the poor bees out this year.  Leave the dandelions at least while its cold.
Get out in the sun while it lasts!
Kim
Garden as though you will live forever. William Kent



Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Garden Newsletter April 9, 2013


April 9, 2013 - Kim’s Weekly Garden Newsletter


These weekly garden notes are written by Kim Willis, unless another author is noted, and the opinions expressed in these notes are her opinions and do not represent any other individual, group or organizations opinions.

Hi Gardeners
Will it ever be spring this year?  Snow is in the forecast for Thursday night. UGH!  At least by the weekend it’s supposed to be better.  I was able to do a little gardening this week. I got a peach tree, 2 Saskatoons and a new bed of strawberries planted outside.  I used tree tubes for the peach tree and the saskatoons, I really like those for new young trees and shrubs.  The soil conservation district usually has some for sale with their tree sale.  They protect the trees from cold winds and animals. 

I also planted my dahlia bulbs saved from last year in pots and set them in the window of the porch to begin growing so they will bloom before the end of summer.  If we get summer, that is.  My tuberous begonias that I brought inside in the pots they were growing in last year are sprouting on the porch.  I also made some cuttings of our old grapes that are now virtually shaded out and potted them up in hopes that I can get some plants from them.

I fertilized all the house plants and found that I needed to move my African violet back a little from the window as its leaves are beginning to burn.  It’s a good time to check your window plants for just that problem.  I’ve spent some time sketching out the plans for my new vegetable garden and we even bought the fencing for the back of the garden but there it sits, waiting for the rain to stop.  Sigh.

I did hear frogs on a few mild mornings. Do you remember as a kid that after a summer rain the yard would be hopping with toads and frogs?  How often do you see toads anymore?  I have a couple of very large green tree frogs that I see in various places in the yard, I hope they survived another winter. I sometimes find the little brown spring peepers with an X on their back in the garden.  We also have quite a few leopard frogs in our lawn in wet summers and there are still some bullfrogs in the pond.  But plain old toads I maybe see once or twice a summer.  It’s a shame that frogs and toads are disappearing from all areas of the world, due to a terrible virus and declining environmental conditions.

Robins are back in full force.  I bought some grape jelly in case I see an oriole but I hope they and the hummingbirds wait a bit before returning. I just can’t believe how slow things are this spring.  Isn’t it funny how we think 40 is mild now and in September we will be thinking it’s quite chilly.

I would like to say welcome to the new subscribers to this newsletter who have been added in the last few weeks.  Please feel free to share this newsletter with friends.  I would also like to thank all of you who read my Examiner articles, I have been the top gardening Examiner in the country for some weeks now and my articles are getting thousands of page views. 

This week’s newsletter contains a lot of food related news bits.  I don’t know why, maybe my mind is on food gardening and that research attracts me.  I hope you enjoy.

Chocolate is a fruit
When you are getting your daily supply of fruits and vegetables, don’t forget to count the chocolate.  Think of it this way, chocolate comes from the fruit of the cacao plant and it has as many antioxidants and flavonoids as many types of traditional fruits and vegetables. Chocolate has been proven to have many health benefits.  The only trouble with chocolate is that we add sugar and fat to it when we eat it.

Last weekend at the 245th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, there was a presentation from two researchers who found a way to add fruit juice to chocolate in micro droplets called a Pickering emulsion.  This can replace half of the fat in chocolate without sacrificing chocolate flavor or mouth feel.  It also prevents the chocolate from developing the white coating or “bloom” as it ages.  The researchers admit that there is some fruity taste to the new combo but they say that the process can also be done with plain water and ascorbic acid in place of fruit juice.

The researchers say it’s now up to the food industry to take their research and make chocolate even healthier for us.  I eat dark chocolate almost every day in a small amount and swear by its healthy qualities.  I wish we could grow chocolate in our gardens.  The Jackson Perkins catalog sells a 1 gallon size potted cacao plant for $50 plus shipping.  It says it must be wintered inside of course, but I am just wondering how hard it is to grow and whether it really produces fruit when grown in a pot.  And it’s not like you get chocolate without a bit of tricky processing of that fruit. It’s a little pricy for my budget when I know so little about its ability to function as a house plant.  But I intend to do some research on it and debate the purchase.

Lemony Quince

Another plant that has intrigued me this spring is an offering in the Oikos catalog.  (www.oikostreecrops.com ) It’s called Lemony Quince, Chaenomeles lagenaria.  Quinces have long been grown in China and Europe.  They have pretty spring flowers in shades of orange, red and pink.  The fruit is hard and either round or pear shaped and traditionally is used in candy, and in jelly making because it has a lot of pectin.
Flowering Quince
The Lemony Quince is said to taste exactly like lemons and is cooked and pureed with sugar to produce a lemony flavoring you can add to foods or drinks.  The plants are extremely hardy and only grow about 3 feet high.  They are self- fertile so you only need one.  I want to try this plant since it is much more affordable than the cacao plant at $7.75.  Unfortunately the minimum shipping cost is $17, a lot since Oikos is only across the state near Kalamazoo.  However Oikos has a lot of interesting edible landscaping plants so maybe I’ll chose something else to justify the shipping cost.

Edible landscaping alert

Reading the Okios catalog made me remember other catalogs I have seen this spring with edible landscaping plants.  Oikos and other catalogs are advertising a fruiting plant called Autumnberry.  Guess what it actually is?  A selected variety of Autumn Olive, Elaeganus umbellate.  Now I actually have mixed feelings about Autumn Olive.  I know the birds and even the deer love its fruit and it smells so good when it blooms in the spring. It fixes nitrogen in the soil and can actually improve soil, if there is any room left to grow anything else.  But it is so incredibly invasive.  Most empty fields will be choked with it in just a few years.  I can’t believe anyone would need to buy plants, even though these are said to be better fruiting strains.

If you want this plant just go somewhere in the fall and collect the berries or dig yourself a plant, the plants are everywhere.  Just be very cautious as it will spread explosively and the plants are really hard to get rid of once you have them.  The plants sucker as well as spread by the berries.  Some of the plants have thorns too.  Silver Buffaloberries are also being offered by plant catalogs, these are very similar to Autumn Olive and really, if you have one you don’t need the other.

Wasting food- what it costs us

We all know that when we buy food and then don’t eat it, we are wasting money.  Four out of every ten pounds of food produced today in the world is wasted.  It is estimated that the average American family throws away 20 pounds of food a month, food that spoils, gets stale or is simply left on our plates.  Your mother may have used the phrase “think of all the starving kids in Africa” when you didn’t want to eat something.  And unless we get smarter about using food, there will be a lot more people starving. 

As the world population continues to grow, as drought and scarce water supplies impact what food we can grow and where we can grow it, and as the cost of energy to produce food skyrockets we have to rein in our wasteful habits or face widespread food shortages in the next 50 years.  Wasting food wastes the water used to grow and process it.  And in the world today 1.2 billion people lack access to clean water.  In a time of global weather changes, whether man made or not, the water wasted when food is wasted may be a critical tipping point in our ability to prevent widespread starvation in the world. 

The American Chemical Society’s Journal of Environmental Science and Technology found that it takes 1.4 billion barrels of oil to grow and process 1 year of food for the United States alone.   If we simply stop most of our food waste we will conserve 350 million barrels of oil an year.  That can drop energy costs for everyone and allow more food to be produced.

Wasted food in developed countries like the US takes up about as much space in our landfills as paper and plastic waste. And unlike those items decaying food releases methane gas, a big contributor to the greenhouse gas said to be causing the drastic changes in our weather.    Even when you compost your own food waste you are producing methane gas.  (Digesting food produces methane gas too.)

What can you do to stop food waste?  Buy or grow only what you know you can use. How many of us have vegetables, fruit, or dairy products rotting in the refrigerator right now?   Store food properly, mold, insects, rats and mice cause a lot of food waste.  Find ways to use foods that you have an overabundance of or donate it to people who can eat it.  Eat the food you have before you buy more. Make educated food buying choices.  Fresh food is always preferable but if you tend to let fresh tomatoes rot before you use them then maybe canned tomatoes, which stay good a lot longer, are your best choice. Feed leftover food to animals such as chickens or pigs that can then become food.  Composting spoiled or leftover food does release methane gas but if the compost is then used to grow more food it will balance things out.

Our ancestors rarely threw out food.  It’s only been in the last 100 years or so that food waste has become a problem.  We need to start treating food as the precious resource it is or face a future when food abundance won’t be the problem, food rationing will be.

Neanderthal people used herbal remedies

In the last few years we have learned a lot about the Neanderthals, an early “cousin” of  modern man.  DNA evidence as well as new archeological discoveries has determined that the Neanderthals did live within the time period of modern man and even bred with them.  Some humans today have small amounts of Neanderthal DNA.

Researchers at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the University of York wanted to further our knowledge of Neanderthals by finding out what they ate.  They did this by studying food molecules trapped in the calcified tarter of Neanderthal teeth.  They found that Neanderthals ate a surprising amount of grains, nuts and vegetables; it has long been taught that they were primarily meat eaters.

Yarrow
Researchers found evidence that some Neanderthal teeth in their study contained traces of yarrow and chamomile.  This, says the researchers, points to the use of plants for medicinal use as both of these plants are very bitter and have little nutritional value, although their use as medicinal plants has been traced to very ancient times. We now know that Neanderthals decorated their bodies, made tools, ate a diet similar to early modern man, cared for their sick and buried their dead.

Be careful what garden supplies you buy- you could get raided

Last year on April 20th,  two former CIA agents, Adlynn and Robert Harte were awakened by a two state SWAT team pounding on their door in the Kansa town of Leawood.  Robert was forced to lie on the floor shirtless at gun point while his wife and 7 and 13 year old children were left crying with their hands in the air.  Their crime?  They were growing 3 tomato plants, 2 squash plants and a melon plant in their basement in a hydroponic set up.
 
The SWAT team, complete with high powered guns and bullet proof vests, tore their home up looking for marijuana, even bringing in a drug sniffing dog and trying to force the 13 year old into admitting he used pot.  They found nothing and the couple nor their children have never been convicted or even suspected of drug use.

It seems that April 20 is a day when nationwide, many drug raids are conducted. Its good publicity for police departments to find a pot growing operation on that day.  The Hartes had bought hydroponic supplies, so they must be growing marijuana, so the convoluted thinking goes.  They weren’t even using the high power lights typical pot growers use, just regular grow lights.  Who was observing what these people bought and why are people who buy hydroponic supplies assumed to be doing something illegal?

The couple were never charged but they are suing the police department and city, as well they should.  It is a shame in America that we waste resources going after people who grow marijuana, much less food crops, when there is so much more terrible crime going on in our country.  Just be careful what garden supplies you purchase- this could happen to you! 

Inside the throat of a pitcher plant

Carnivorous plants have always fascinated people, including researchers.  Many carnivorous plants trap their prey with sticky hairs or drown them in a pouch of fluid. In eastern North America, we have the native carnivorous pitcher plant, Sarracenia purpurea, and researchers have now discovered a whole food chain hidden in its pocket of collected rain water.  The pitcher plants leaves form funnels that collect rain water but they can’t digest the insects that drown in these traps by themselves.

Inside the pool of water are the tiny larvae of mosquitoes, midges and flies which shred the dead insects, feeding on them and producing wastes. Bacteria, rotifers, algae, and other microorganisms floating in the pool feed on the waste, further breaking it down.  The larvae of insects also feed on each other, producing more waste for the microorganisms.  Eventually the pitcher plant gets to absorb some of the nutrients its guests have produced for it.

Did you know that some plants that we don’t think of as meat eaters may actually be utilizing “meat” for part of their nutrition needs?  Both petunias and potatoes, for example, have sticky hairs that catch small insects.  They don’t have helpful pools of guests to break down these insects but researcher’s suspect that the dead insects fall down in the soil near the plants and break down to provide nutrition.


How about a bowl of chili?
Kim
Garden as though you will live forever. William Kent



More Information
April can be a tough month for gardeners. After a long winter the signs of spring that April generally bring get our gardening juices flowing. But for northern gardeners at least, April is a month for cautious gardening, as the weather can be very fickle. It can be 80 degrees one day, sunny and humid, and 35 degrees with snow flurries the next. This spring of 2013 is starting out slow and cold, with many planting zone 4 -7 gardeners still struggling with snow on the ground and frozen soil. But there is still some gardening that you can do in April and it’s a good month to prepare for May, generally the most frantically busy of months for gardeners. In the South, zones 8 and higher, spring is pretty advanced and planting is probably in full swing.
Read more about April gardening on my new Examiner article at the link below.- Kim-