October 1, 2013 Weekly Garden Newsletter

October 1, 2013 - Kim’s Weekly Garden Newsletter

From Kim Willis

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

The weather is gorgeous, I hope you have had time to get out and enjoy it.  I am tearing apart my large perennial bed on the east side of my yard to make room for some bulbs I have arriving soon.  There is a huge euonymus bush that is taking over, it has buried a peony and some daylilies and I need to dig them out and find a new spot for them as well as dig out tons of phlox.

Woody nightshade berries at sunset.

I cut down all the cornstalks and my son carried them home to decorate with.  It’s funny how city folk take compost material or animal fodder and make decorations out of it.  We also harvested a bunch of huge pumpkins although we have some that are still changing color that we left.  In fact the vines are still blooming.  Everyone around here seems to have tons of pumpkins around here so I can’t imagine why the prices are so high at the stores for them. 

The dahlias, marigolds and Maximilian sunflowers are lighting up the yard, their colors seem so intense in the October light. The Maximilian sunflowers are attracting lots of bees too.   The hummingbirds seem to have left.  I have seen huge flocks of turkey vultures soaring around, which generally means they are getting ready to migrate.

Speaking of birds, my survey of bird numbers revealed that most people who emailed me thought there were fewer birds this year, one person said her bird feeder population seemed normal.  One MG wrote to the Michigan Audubon Society and here’s what they said:

“Thank you for calling Michigan Audubon.

There is no sudden decline in birds that we are aware of in our area. Every year, about this time, we receive this same observation. It may be due to the fact that many birds are in molt, shifted to different areas for foraging, etc. I encourage your friends to document their bird observations over time using eBird so they can compare year to year. Otherwise, it is just an anecdotal observation.

eBird www.ebird.org is very user friendly and you can track your own observations while seeing what others are seeing on the landscape. You can even generate graphs to help tell the story of bird populations over time.

Other sources include the Christmas Bird Count and the Breeding Bird Survey.”

I’m not sure if I quite agree with this but there it is.

I wrote a large article below about epigenetics, it’s a topic I became interested in when I was doing some research on recent genetic information I learned about our family.  It’s not exactly gardening but I hope you enjoy it.  I promise to write more about gardening next week.

One more off –garden topic.  Today marks the start of the new health care market place, an important step in bringing the US up to the health care levels of other modern countries.  If you do not have good, affordable healthcare please give the marketplace a look and see if it can help you.  As a person who has struggled with finding healthcare, and often went without healthcare because I couldn’t afford it, I know how this will be a great help to many people.  If you have an existing health condition you will now be able to get health care at the same rate as other people your age and there is no additional waiting period for you to get treatment for your pre-existing condition.

I know many people are skeptical and scared and there will be problems that will need to be worked out.  But please give the new system a chance.  I think in a few years we will be glad that we adopted this so that all people in our country have affordable access to healthcare.  If you don’t understand the marketplace and what it does there are all kinds of non-profit organizations offering help in getting your insurance started.  Take your time and don’t rush to get it done, understand the options and choose which is best for you - you do have until December 15 – or beyond if you don’t need healthcare beginning January 1.  And the website is struggling today to keep up with the people who are eagerly signing up for affordable care so you may want to wait a day or two.

October almanac

In October the full moon is called the Hunters Moon, Dying Grass moon or Traveling moon as Native Americans often moved to winter grounds during this time. It occurs October 18.  October is full of holidays, (some of which I disagree should be holidays).  We have Columbus Day October 14, Sweetest Day the 19^th, United Nations Day the 24^th and of course Halloween the 31^st .

It’s National Breast Cancer Awareness month although that seems to occur year round anymore. It’s also Adopt a Shelter Dog month, Cookie month, Eat Country Ham month, Pizza Month, National Popcorn Popping month, the 21^st  is Pumpkin Cheesecake day and the 24^th is Bologna Day.  October is also Diabetes Awareness month (great choice with all the yummy foods being honored.  

Garden at Suncrest, September 2013.

The October flower is calendula or Marigold.  In older days calendula was called marigold.  Octobers original birthstone is the opal and a secondary birthstone was appointed in 1952, the tourmaline, which comes in a variety of colors.

Good days for harvesting above ground crops are the 10^th and 11^th and for harvesting below ground crops you should go for the 2^nd , 3^rd, 29^th and 30^th .  And there will be a lot of harvesting this month, soybeans and corn harvest will begin soon.

Swallowwort, a threat to Monarchs

Monarchs are very scarce this year and we need to help their numbers increase in any way we can if we want to continue to see them in the future. An invasive plant that might be found in a meadow near you poses a threat to Monarch reproduction and Monarch butterfly lovers should seek it out and destroy it.  

Swallowwort is a European relative of milkweed, but unlike milkweed it is toxic to the larvae of Monarchs, who lay their eggs on it by mistake. It’s also toxic to livestock. Swallowwort forms a mutually beneficial association with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in the soil. The soil where swallowwort grows builds up a high population of the fungi and this discourages the growth of plants which cannot form associations with the fungi.  This results in huge patches of nothing but swallowwort. There are two species, Black and Pale Swallowwort.

Swallowwort is a very invasive perennial plant that will survive in the same habitats favored by native milkweeds.  It’s a vining plant that will climb trees or simply scramble up over grasses or brush. It has oval shiny dark green leaves, with a sharp point and a smooth margin arranged opposite each on the stems. Unlike milkweeds, swallowwort has a clear, watery sap.  

Clusters of reddish purple to pink star shaped flowers arise out of leaf joints and the flowers turn into narrow pods similar to milkweeds pods.  Inside the pods are seeds attached to a bit of fluff like a milkweed seed.  Plants turn a bright yellow in fall, which can help identify them.

Swallowwort has been found in many places in Michigan including Oxford, Romeo, Waterford, Milford, Benton Harbor, Kalamazoo, Lansing and Petoskey.  You can see a map and report sightings here  http://www.misin.msu.edu/facts/detail.php?id=36

Canada is going to release a moth that feeds on swallowwort, (Hypena opulenta) and the US is now considering the same thing.  In Europe swallowwort has many pests that keep it in check but there are no natural controls here.  Currently control involves pulling and chemicals.  Mowing may increase sprouting and make thicker stands.  For complete control suggestions see this fact sheet http://mnfi.anr.msu.edu/invasive-species/Swallow-wortBCP.pdf

Why what you eat, where you live, and what you breathe can affect your genes

Can getting too much folic acid, (found in dark leafy greens, beans and grains) or too little Vitamin D and selenium in your diet affect your children and grandchildren’s health?  Research suggests it does.

As we learn more and more about genetics and how to interpret the genetic code we are also discovering that our environment and what we eat can affect our genes and in turn determine the health and fitness of our children and grandchildren.

We all have thousands of genes arranged on 23 chromosomes that determine everything about us, including the fact that we are human.  However 2 people can have the same gene or set of genes and yet be vastly different.  That’s because other factors are at work, chemical signals that tell some genes to shut off or turn on or behave in unusual ways.  The study of these signals or “markers” is called epigenetics.  It’s only been recently that we have found that these markers can be inherited along with our basic DNA.

Chemicals in your environment, things you eat, exposure to radiation, any number of things we are finding out now can cause the genes in your body to be modified. (The process is called methylation.)  We sometimes refer to this as a mutation. This may affect you, causing cancer and other diseases, but we now know that these changes can also be passed along with your DNA and affect your children and grandchildren.  Sometimes changes to genes don’t even show up in the person in whom the gene change occurred, but become apparent in children or grandchildren.  When you hear people talking about the BRCA gene increasing your chances of getting breast cancer, they are actually talking about a marker, or breast gene mutation that is inherited.  Everyone has the same breast gene.

Getting too much folic acid (also called folate) doesn’t usually come from a normal diet, (although it’s possible), it comes from taking supplements but it can cause problems. Too little folic acid also has risks; most notably a deficiency during early pregnancy can cause spinal bifida and other fetal deformities.  When we discovered the relationship between a folic acid deficiency and fetal health the government decided to fortify cereals and other products with folic acid.  It’s become standard procedure to give pregnant women folic acid supplements during pregnancy.

While there is no doubt that correcting a folic acid deficiency during early pregnancy will lower the risk of spinal bifida, other nervous system irregularities and some heart problems in a baby there is now troubling evidence to show that getting too much folic acid can have profound effects on human health also.  Some of these effects don’t show up until the second or third generation, in other words the person taking in the excess folic acid won’t show the changes although there can be effects to the person who consumed excess folic acid too.

Recent research studies have linked excess folic acid to breast cancer in children and grandchildren of people who consumed the excess and to bowel and prostate cancer both in the original consumer and their descendants.  In fact in animal studies the rate of breast cancer was twice as high for daughters of those who had excess folic acid during pregnancy and breast feeding as those who did not use supplements.  (On the other hand a deficiency of folic acid can lead to heart problems in the descendants of those who had the deficiency.)  Research has also linked the increase in childhood asthma to dietary supplements of folic acid during pregnancy.

Recent research has also shown that people who have high levels of Vitamin D and selenium have lower rates of methylation or gene changes.  They also have less chance of developing bowel cancer, particularly men.  The rate of methylation in your genes is what determines how fast you “age” and some of the methylation changes are inherited. (So high Vitamin D and selenium are good, high folic acid level bad, at least for now.)

Some countries are no longer allowing the supplementation of foods with folic acid.  And some doctors are now prescribing folic acid supplements only in the first trimester of pregnancy, as research is suggesting that it doesn’t help much after that.  No one should take folic acid supplementation without first determining whether you have a deficiency.  And the avoidance of restricted diets that focus on certain foods, even if those foods seem to be healthy, should be avoided.

What’s important about the new research in epigenetics is that it also suggests that events in a person’s life, such as starvation or exposure to a toxic chemical may make changes to that persons genes and those changes may affect the lives of children and grandchildren, even if they are not exposed to the same conditions, through gene marker inheritance.  For example a person who goes through a long period of malnutrition may end up with changes to his or her genes that affect how fat is stored or metabolized. That change could have saved that person under those conditions but leads to problems in future generations. 

The sins of our fathers takes on a new meaning and should lead to serious thought about our diets and about the environment we choose to live in, so that we don’t pass our “sins” down to our children.  

Some studies that I read that lead to the above information The Journal Cell, September 26, 2013, February 2011 issue of the journal Cancer Research, research published by Ulrika Ericson of Lund University, Sweden,2010, 2009 study results published by University of Southern California, A University of Adelaide, Australia study, 2009.

Zombie steroids

This bit of information fits right in with the epigenetic information I presented above.  We all know that things we eat and things we feed animals sometimes end up in our water supply.  There is evidence now that a common steroid (Trenbolone acetate), that is implanted in beef animals to make them gain weight faster and that is used illegally by body builders and other athletes is  excreted and ends up in the water system. 

Originally it was thought that this steroid was fairly safe since research showed that it broke down quickly in sunlight.  However new research shows that this steroid has “zombie-like” properties in that it comes back from the “dead” at night and actually replicates itself.  Warmer and more acidic water can increase the process.

Research also indicated that dienogest, a hormone used in a birth-control pill for humans called Natazia, and dienedone, a banned anabolic steroid, react in the same way as Trenbolen acetate.  More hormones and steroids need to be studied.

Steroids don’t get removed in water treatment processes and you can drink them right from your tap.  We know that steroids can result in fish and other water organism’s deaths and may be responsible for genetic deformities in fish and amphibians.  As larger organisms we don’t suffer immediate effects like smaller things, but what are these chemicals doing to our genes?

This study was done by the University of Iowa and published online in the journal Science.

Some of out pumpkin harvest.

A sad note;

For those of you who know Bev Kobylas please send her your condolences and prayers as her mother passed away Sunday. 

Get outside today – this weather won’t last!

Kim

Garden as though you will live forever. William Kent