Kim's Weekly Garden Newsletter October 15, 2013

October 15, 2013 - Kim’s Weekly Garden Newsletter

http://www.examiner.com/gardening-in-detroit/kimberley-willis

http://www.examiner.com/country-living-in-detroit/kimberley-willis

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.

Hello Gardeners

Woodland nicotianna and sedum.

Well it looks like the warm weather is going to fade.  We knew it couldn’t last but the upcoming weather looks seasonally warm, which isn’t too bad. Some rain is coming this week, which we need.  I just picked 3 ripe tomatoes from the garden, I think that might be the latest I have ever had ripe ones from the garden. 

The buzzards are still here and robins but most other birds are gone for the winter now.  The robins, much fewer than last year, are around the pond eating autumn olive berries.  I am seeing some goldfinches again on the sunflowers.  They like the seeds of the big annual sunflowers but really like the small seeds of the maximilian sunflowers.  They also pick out the seeds from Echinacea and a few other flowers, which is why I don’t cut them down in the fall.

I love how the salvias come into their own in the fall.  I have some small red flowered ones that are blooming their heads off and the black and blue salvia is gorgeous right now.  The marigolds are also vibrant now and my canna Ehemanii has a huge new spike of its lovely dangling pink flowers.  So many things are still in bloom, it’s wonderful.

I have some woodland nicotiana plants coming up in the flower beds.  They do this every fall. If they came up earlier they might have a chance to bloom.  I do love the fragrant white flowers this tobacco cousin has but I haven’t had them blooming in my garden in years.  The seeds must lay dormant in the soil and only germinate when the soil gets really warm.  I am thinking about potting a plant to see if I can get it to bloom inside.

I have herbs drying in my car.  If you still are drying things, weeds for arrangements, strawflowers etc.,  don’t forget the car makes a handy solar dryer.  Put them in bags so the sun doesn’t bleach them out and put them on the dash of the car or anywhere you don’t have tinted windows and let the car sit in the sun.  They will even dry in the trunk but a bit slower.  It makes the car smell good too.

It may be a “good” year for ladybeetles.  Every time I go outside it seems some land on me.  Little buggers can nip you too.  I am not seeing them in my house yet but that may come.  I am also seeing lots of wooly bear caterpillars and it seems they are much like our government in Washington, very divided.  Some are completely black, others completely orange.  Usually they are banded with both colors. The color is supposed to tell you what kind of winter we will have and it seems the caterpillars have strong opposing opinions.  Maybe there is something in our air causing these extreme viewpoints. 

Aphids can change color

Aphids come in a huge range of colors, it’s thought that the colors may help with camouflaging the insects from their predators.  Some predators prefer one color of aphids over another though.  Beetles prefer to munch on red aphids and wasps like green ones for example. 

It has been discovered that a symbiotic bacteria that exists inside some aphid species may use clues from the environment, such as what predators are present, the temperature and other clues to cause pigment changes in developing aphid larvae, so that they will be a different color from their parents when they mature, and hopefully more suitable for the environment.  This helps the bacteria survive also.

It’s kind of interesting that thousands of species of bacteria exist inside animals and plants, even inside us, and we are just starting to learn what important roles these bacteria actually play.  We may find out we are just “smart homes” for bacteria and they are pushing our buttons.

Hardy Cyclamen

I planted some sowbread cyclamen,(Cyclamen hederifolium)  this fall.  Where they get the name from I don’t know, maybe pigs like to eat them.  They have big flat tubers somewhat like tuberous begonias.  They have ivy shaped leaves with silver spotting.  The flowers appear in the fall, in shades of pink, purplish red or sometimes white.  Leaves will also appear until a hard frost, and will reappear in spring until the weather gets hot.  The flowers are the “shooting star shape” which you may recognize from florist type cyclamens which are not hardy, but readily available as a pot plant in winter. 

C.hederifolium is hardy to at least zone 6, probably 5.  There is another hardy cyclamen available sometimes, C. coum, but it is harder to find.  It’s similar to sowbread cyclamen but its leaves are generally plain green and it blooms in late winter- early spring.  Cyclamen are good companions for autumn blooming crocus and colchicum.

Like many bulbs and tubers from Mediterranean and Southeast Asia, cyclamen like dry summers and moist springs and falls.  Plant the tubers in early fall just below the ground surface and lightly mulch with leaves. Both hardy cyclamen like being planted in a woodsy lightly shaded area.  They are small, about 6 inches high so plant them along a path where the flowers can be seen.  They may not bloom the first year after planting but should produce foliage.

The cyclamen flowers are self- fertile and they will seed themselves in the garden, although seedlings may take several years to bloom.  Gardeners may fail to get nice cyclamen plants if they buy small, dried tubers in packages.  Instead buy large 2-4 inch tubers from a good mail order source and plant them promptly on arrival.  I got some huge tubers from www.oldhousegardens.com  There are some 20 species of cyclamen and except for the florist cyclamen C. persicum, most are endangered in their native lands, partly due to climate change.

In Europe cyclamen are said to have medicinal properties, boiling the roots and mixing the juice with fat made a salve for skin ailments, it was said to be an aphrodisiac and if pregnant women walked over it, cyclamen caused an abortion.   And get this- drinking juice from cyclamen with wine makes you drunk!

Cleaning Up Black Walnuts

Black walnuts leave a huge mess on the lawn when they drop in the fall.  They can damage mowers and twist an ankle.  You can rake them up but a golf ball collector makes the job more fun.  Put your collected nuts in a pail and dump them far from the house for the squirrels.  Don’t dump them around plants you want as they can inhibit the growth of or kill certain plants.   Use gloves when handling black walnuts or your hands will turn a lovely shade of brown.  Immediately remove walnuts from cement areas and pickup beds as they can stain those items for good.  Make sure you clean the nuts out of your gutters so they don’t clog them.  

Remove nuts and walnut leaves from horse pastures and watering tanks as they leach a substance that can cause horses to colic.

Keeping your pond fish happy in the winter

Do you have a small garden pond with fish in it?  With winter approaching you may be wondering what you need to do to keep the fish alive during the winter.  It’s a shame to let nice koi or goldfish die over the winter as they get bigger and prettier each year. There are two basic options- bringing the fish inside for the winter or leaving them in the pond. 

Koi in a large pond.

If the pond is 30 inches or more deep you can probably leave the fish in the pond.  In the winter outside fish go into a state of semi-hibernation and their needs for food and oxygen decrease.  They generally spend most of their time near the bottom of the pond and may even partially bury themselves in debris at the bottom. However in a pond it’s a good idea to clean out such debris before winter as it is a source of bacteria which can harm your fish.  The debris and decaying plant parts may also provide enough nutrients for algae blooms in sunny times during the winter, which then die off when it gets colder and cloudy, using up oxygen as they break down.

Decaying leaves and dying non-hardy pond plants also take oxygen from the water so they should also be removed before really cold weather sets in.  Native, cold hardy plants that are rooted should have all dead parts removed but can be left in the pond.  You can leave clay pots or rock formations for fish to spend the winter hiding in.  Even pieces of plastic pipe can provide hiding spots.

If you can aerate the pond in the winter this is generally a good way to keep the fish alive through the winter.  Even shallower ponds may provide safe winter harbor if they can be aerated.  In a really large, deep pond fish may survive without aeration or an open surface area but you are taking a chance when you try this. 

 Aeration can be provided by a pump that puts air into the pond or by a pump that lifts pond water and drops it back into the pond in a fountain or waterfall effect.  Both the aeration method and fountain method should keep a small area of the pond surface free of ice.

Another way to keep some surface area open to let oxygen in is to use a de-icer.  You can buy these in farm stores as well as pond supply places.  They may be called stock tank de-icers.  This is usually a heated circle or loop of metal that floats on the surface of the pond and melts any ice around it.   The larger your fish and the smaller the pond, the more surface area you will need to keep open.

Feed the fish that will be left outside well during the fall when they are still active but stop feeding when ice forms on the water.  If there is a prolonged warm spell and you see fish activity near your open area on the pond you can give them a small amount of food.  Otherwise resume feeding in the spring when the pond surface is free of ice and the fish are active.  Uneaten food in winter ponds is a big source of harmful bacteria and as it decays it robs the water of oxygen.

If your pond is shallow or above ground such as a tank or other container, you will need to bring your fish inside for the winter.  You can keep them in a warm room in an aquarium, or a spot just above freezing, such as in a basement, where they will go into semi-hibernation as they would do outside.  Aquariums for goldfish and Koi should not be heated, the cooler the water the better.  They will need aeration and filters.  They should be lighted for at least 8 hours a day or in a bright room. Feed the fish lightly over the winter period.

Stock tanks make good containers for holding fish over the winter in cool areas.  You can also use various other containers such as storage or muck tubs, wading pools etc.  I once made a large area for fish in my basement by stacking tightly bound piles of newspaper in a rectangle against one basement wall and using a pond liner over them.  Make sure you have about 2 gallons of water per inch of fish that you are overwintering.  You will want to aerate and filter this water also.  The holding tank should have at least minimal lighting.  If you are also over wintering non-hardy water plants in this area you should have good lighting.  Feed fish lightly and only if they are active in the holding tanks.

Experts say that many fish manage to survive winter in aerated ponds outside and tanks inside only to die in late spring as the weather starts to warm.  This may be because of sharp shifts in water temperature in the seasonal weather or because the weakened fish get bacterial infections as the bacterial count climbs in warmer water.  Make sure to keep the tank or pond cleaned up and don’t overfeed as the weather warms.

Roasting Pumpkin Seeds to Eat

Sure they make nice decorations but pumpkins have seeds which make an excellent snack that is tasty and nutritious. Clean the seeds out of one or more pumpkins and try to remove as much of the orange “goop” as possible.  Place the seeds in a colander and wash with cold water.  Drain and spread the seeds on a foil covered cookie sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray.   Lightly spray the seeds with cooking spray and salt to your taste.  Put the cookie sheets in an oven set at 325 degrees and roast for about 20 minutes.  Stir occasionally and keep checking on them, don’t let them get too brown.  After roasting they can be stored in sealed containers.

Fall in the country.

For spicy pumpkin seeds try this recipe.  Mix 1 1/2-tablespoon butter, 1/2- teaspoon seasoned salt 1/8-teaspoon garlic powder and 2 teaspoons of Worchester sauce in a bowl and toss the seeds in it before roasting.  It will coat 2-3 cups of seeds.

It’s apple cider and doughnut time!  Support your local cider mill.

Kim

Garden as though you will live forever. William Kent