April 2, 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.
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| Dutch Iris will bloom later in the month. |
Well it’s April and spring should be here. I woke up to snow covered ground the last two
mornings and it wasn’t a pleasant sight.
Boy, have the Farmers almanacs been wrong with their weather predictions
this year! I have heard that the lack of
a definite weather system in the Pacific, neither El Nino or La Nina
conditions, have brought us to this tottery, late start to spring. Enough already. At least a slow warm up is predicted,
although the weekend looks like it will be rainy.
I was able to get some work done this Saturday, which was
actually a nice sunny spring day. My
husband and I worked on making a new wood chip path across the front yard, so
that his wheel chair doesn’t tear up the lawn.
His electric chair has wide wheels and will run over the wood
chips. We carried the chips one muck
bucket at a time on a hand cart which is the easiest way for both of us to
work, with our health limitations. The
path is 42 inches wide and 70 feet long and we have almost finished filling it
so we haven’t done too bad. Eventually
our narrow front yard will have no lawn, I am slowly converting it to flowers
and shrubs.
Plants that I ordered from various nurseries are arriving
and the weather hasn’t been great for planting them. I have 4 inch pots on the kitchen window sill
and larger pots on the porch, all waiting for the right weather. My crisper drawer in the refrigerator is
storing strawberry plants as I am re-doing my strawberry bed. I am hoping to get some of the still dormant
stuff planted outside this weekend and I want to get an early planting of snow
peas and lettuce done.
I saw that the nurseries and garden centers have pansies for
sale and they will stand even a bit of snow if you need color. If you didn’t
plant bulbs this fall many places are selling blooming flats of them. I do have a patch of crocus blooming when the
sun shines, by the back door, although the crocus further from the house are
still not blooming. At my mom’s house in
Pontiac Sunday the crocus were in full bloom and the early daffodils were
showing a bit of color.
Robins, red-winged blackbirds and turkey vultures are all
back and Sunday I heard the slow croaking of a few frogs down by my pond. Poor things.
I hope the hummingbirds and orioles take their sweet time getting back.
A neighbor stopped by and gave me some exciting news. He lives about a half mile down the road on a
large piece of property with a small lake and mature forest. He has had 3 Bald Eagles hanging around for a
few weeks. He goes out and drags road
kill into a field by his house so he can watch them feed. He said one picked up a large dead groundhog
and flew off with it. I am keeping an
eye on the sky hoping to see the eagles as they aren’t far away at all. I have a large flock of vultures that live in
my wooded area and I have read that eagles often follow vultures to their
feeding areas and drive them off to eat.
So now I am spending a lot of time watching vultures, hoping to see
eagles. And I warned my dogs to run for
cover if a big bird flies over. Some of
them weigh less than a ground hog.
April almanac
April is
probably my favorite month, or maybe tied with May. It means the beginning of spring for most of
us, even though officially spring began back in March. In earliest recorded
times April was the second month, the Roman calendar changed it to the fourth
month. The name April either was derived
from Greek words for Easter (see last week’s newsletter) or from the Roman word
Aprillis which means “to open”. April
always begins on the same day of the week as July, every year!
The full
moon in April is called the Pink Moon, green grass moon, egg moon or fish moon,
depending on what’s important to you I guess. Pink moon comes from the pinks
that begin blooming this month or some say that the spring moon has a pink glow,
grass begins growing, birds begin nesting, and fish begin biting. For people in
earlier times April meant the times of hunger and cold would soon be over, the
signs of tiny green sprouts for their animals to graze, the increased eggs in
the hen house and the fish jumping in the creek were beautiful to the eye.
The moon is
new on the 10th in 1st quarter the 18th and full on the
25th. Plant below ground
crops on the 6th and 7th and above ground crops on the 16th
and 17th, if you plant by the moon.
Good days for setting eggs are the 4th and 22-24th and
fishing will be good from the 10th through the 24th.
April’s flowers
are the sweet pea and the daisy and the birthstone is the diamond. April is
National Gardening Month, National Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month, Frog
Month, Humor Month and Straw Hat Month.
This first week of April is Be Kind to Spiders week so be careful when
you are doing that spring cleaning.
In April
Florida was discovered by Ponce De Lyon and claimed for Spain ( 1513), the
Revolutionary and Civil wars both began and ended in April, and the US entered
WWI in April. President Lincoln was assassinated on April 15, (1865), and the
Titanic sank and the first McDonald’s was opened on April 15. Dandelion Day is April 4th, Garlic
Day is April 19th, Earth Day is April 22th, Arbor Day is April 24th
and Oatmeal Cookie Day is April 30th.
Planting precautions- poisonous
plants
As you get
out there buying plants and working on your garden remember that some plants
are poisonous to pets and children. The
ASPCA publishes a list of plants
poisonous to animals at this site http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/poison-control/plants/
The plants In the paragraph below are listed on the site along with many
others including house plants and weeds.
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| According to the ASPCA this begonia is poisonous. |
If this list
makes it seem like there are no safe plants remember that it’s your call as to
what to plant and most people have these plants in their gardens without any
ill effects. However always keep an eye
on pets and children in the garden, especially very young ones of either
species. I helped many people in my time
at Extension identify plants that had killed their pets or made pets or
children ill. One case involved a woman
who tied a young dog to a large yew in her backyard for long periods of time
each day. The dog was bored and chewed
on the roots of the yew where it had dug a hole and died from poisoning. I myself had a Yorkie pup that ate a daffodil
bulb as he followed me around while I was planting them and it almost killed
him. Just last year a woman had a very
sick cat after it ate some plants in a cut flower bouquet in which there were
several types of poisonous plants.
In case you
want some “safe” plants here are some the ASPCA says are non-toxic. Remember there are many new plants out there
where the toxicity is not known. (This
is not an endorsement of certain plants; some of these may cause problems also,
but just haven’t been tested.)
Here are
some plants considered to be non-toxic; astilbe, ajuga, beebalm, blackberry,
bleeding heart, blueberry, borage, buddleia, candytuft, calendula, canna,
clethra, coreopsis, cosmos, dogwood, echincea, forsythia, gaillardias, grapes,
heuchera, honeysuckle, impatiens, kiwi, lavender, lilac, lupine, marigold, ninebark, ostrich fern,
pachysandra, pansies, pears, petunia, phlox, poppy, quince, raspberry,
rudbeckia, Russian sage, salvia, snapdragon, sedum, snowdrops, strawberry, spirea, trumpet vine, violets,
viburnum, weigela, zinnias. There
are probably many more non-toxic plants- including most herbs and vegetables.
One more
poison note: Do not use fresh daffodils and narcissus flowers in salads or as decorations
on cakes, etc. I saw this done in a
magazine recently – obviously some editor goofed. These flowers are toxic, even though you
would probably have to eat a lot of them to kill you. But we don’t want children or vulnerable
adults to associate these flowers with food. Also daffodil and narcissus
flowers in mixed bouquets may cause the other flowers to wilt faster, as the
stems exude a toxin. The water in vases
may also become toxic.
The future begins today
Wieger
Wamelink, an ecologist at Alterra Wageningen University Research Centre, in the Netherlands will be
doing some planting today, April 2, 2013, that may be the beginning of a brave
new world. The Dutch are planning to
build a manned space colony on the moon in the near future and in preparation
for that adventure Wamelink will be sowing the seeds of wild plants and crop
plants in soil formulated and supplied by NASA to match the soil found on the
moon. He will also be planting seeds in
soil formulated to match the soil of Mars.
The plants
will be grown indoors as they will have to be grown on the moon or Mars and the
assumption will be that water will be available for the plants. Control crops planted in earth soil will also
be grown. The plants will be evaluated
to see if they grow, and to see if they need supplemental minerals or other
things to prosper and a data base will be developed for use by other
researchers. As soon as plants can be
successfully grown they will be evaluated for safety when consumed, as the soil
from the moon and Mars contain many heavy metals.
It is hoped
that future colonies on the moon and Mars will be able to grow their own food
and that plants will also supply oxygen that such a colony will need. This is
fascinating research. I wonder if I will
hear that there are gardens on the moon in my lifetime. Think of what a plant will cost if it was
grown on the moon! All of you advanced
thinkers out there should make your plans to get rich with a greenhouse on the
moon.
Gardening reduces crime
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| The trees are blooming too. This is poplar. |
Lower crime
rates do not hold true for areas like Detroit, where weedy trees grow up
untended and areas are “green” with weeds, tall grass, invasive shrubs and
crowded sapling trees. In fact these
areas with neglected landscapes have more crime. This should be a clear sign to Detroit and
other blighted cities to manage their landscapes and allow more agriculture,
tree farms, orchards and gardens to be developed if they want to lessen crime
rates.
Watch out
for the poor spiders and don’t start any wars.
Kim
Garden as though you will
live forever. William Kent
More Information
The Great Divide
Susan H.
Barrott, Horticulture Technician, University of Minnesota ( April 2012)
Perennials
that are overgrown, have gotten out of control, are declining in overall
growth, haven't bloomed quite as nicely as they should, or have died out in the
center of the clump should be divided to improve health, growth, and
appearance. A good rule of thumb is to
divide perennials opposite of their bloom time.
However, most perennials can be divided just about any time of the year
providing that one provides extra care to get the plants established after
dividing, especially during warm weather.
It's easier to divide perennials in the early spring when they are
smaller and easy to handle. Now is a
great time to divide those that bloom in the summer or fall.
Begin by
digging out around the edge of the plant and lift the entire plant, leaving as
much of the root system as intact as possible.
Or, if one just wants to "share" a portion of a perennial, dig
around the outside edge and lift a segment of the plant.
If the
perennial has fibrous roots (e.g. coreopsis, daisy), one can use a spade,
pitchfork, or knife to divide these.
This type of root system can be pulled or teased apart. Make sure that there are at least 2-3 shoots
and a good mass of roots. If the plant
has fleshy, thick roots (e.g. peony, daylily), use a sharp knife or even a
hacksaw to cut pieces of the root, making sure that there are a few buds or
"eyes" remaining on the fleshy root.
If one is dividing ornamental grasses, well, the best recommendation is
to call a neighbor to do it!
Ornamental
grasses can quickly become thick and woody and are sometimes quite difficult to
divide. People have been known to use
axes and even chainsaws to cut through the root mass! Try to divide these early before they get so
difficult.
After
digging, discard any roots that are dead, rotted, or mushy. Plant the divisions immediately or as soon
after dividing and water to keep the roots moist. When dividing, take advantage of the empty
root space and add organic matter prior to replanting.
DIVIDE IN
EARLY SPRING: Every 1-3 years
Aster
Beardtongue
(Penstemon)
Beebalm
(Monarda)
Carnation
(Dianthus)
Common
Sundrops (Oenothera fruticosa)
Coralbells
(Heuchera)
Cornflower
(Centaurea)
Delphinium
Fernleaf
Bleeding Heart (Dicentra eximia)
Foamflower (Tiarella)
Garden Mums
(Dendranthema x grandiflora)
Obedient
Plant (Physostegia)
Painted
Daisy (Tanacetum)
Shasta Daisy
(Leucanthemum)
Spiderwort
(Tradescantia)
Tall Phlox
(Phlox paniculata)
Tickseed
(Coreopsis)
Yarrow
(Achillea)
DIVIDE IN
EARLY SPRING: Every 3-5 years
Astilbe
Bellflower
(Campanula)
Blanket
Flower (Gaillardia)
Catmint
(Nepeta)
Coneflower
(Rudbeckia)
Daylily
(Hemerocallis)
Gay Feather
(Liatris) Gooseneck Loosestrife
(Lysimachia clethroides)
Jacob's
Ladder (Polemonium)
Mallow
(Malvia)
Sea Thrift
(Armeria)
Speedwell
(Veronica)
Yellow
Loosestrife (Lysimachia punctata)
DIVIDE IN
EARLY SPRING: Infrequently, 5-10 years
Cranesbill
(Geranium)
Goatsbeard
(Aruncus)
Hosta
Japanese
Anemone (Anemone x hybrida)
Lady's
Mantle (Alchemilla) Lungwort
(Pulmonaria)
Meadow Rue
(Thalictrum)
Meadowsweet
(Filipendula)
Oxeye
(Heliopsis)
Siberian
Iris
DIVIDE IN
LATE SUMMER OR EARLY FALL
Asiatic Lily
Bearded Iris
*Daylily
(Hemerocallis)
*Jacob's
Ladder (Polemonium) *Peony
(divide infrequently)
*Tall Phlox
(Phlox paniculata)
*Siberian
Iris
*Can also be
divided in early spring.
DO NOT
DIVIDE
Baby's
Breath (Gypsophila)
Balloon
Flower (Platycodon)
Bugbane
(Cimicifuga)
Butterfly
Weed (Asclepias)
Clematis
Evening
Primrose (Oenothera missourienis) False
Indigo (Baptisia)
Flax (Linum)
Gentian
Lupine
Monkshood
(Aconitum)
Russian Sage
(Perovskia)
DIVIDE ONLY
TO PROPAGATE
Bugbane
(Cimicifuga)
Globeflower
(Trollius)
Yucca
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