January 27,
2015 Kim’s Weekly Garden Newsletter © Kim
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.
Hi Gardeners
When the sun shines in the winter it doesn’t feel
nearly as dreary and cold as when it’s gray.
Aren’t we lucky we aren’t getting socked by the big snow storm on the
east coast? This is said to be the
coldest time of the year, so let’s just get through it and move on to spring. Already I can see the sun is higher and
moving north on the horizon. The days
are just a bit longer too. There’s some
promise there.
I made my first garden catalog order this week. I bought some garden seeds and a new apple
tree- HoneyCrisp- I love those apples. I
also bought some Chocolate vines- you need two different ones for pollination. They don’t produce chocolate of course, the
fruit is said to smell like it but taste like custard- which is the fruit term
for it tastes like chicken when referring to a strange meat. The flowers look pretty and it’s something
different.
There are lots of early bird sales going on in the
catalog- on line- stores right now. It’s
a good time to garden shop. All of the
gardeners I meet are telling me about their plans and dreams for the garden
this year- it’s that time.
I saw aphids on my Chinese Hibiscus a few days ago and
was upset because I don’t like to spray insecticides inside. I was smashing them by hand on the buds when
I noticed a couple of lady bugs. Yes,
there is a good reason for them to be inside over winter! Looking at the plant today I only found
aphids in one spot – which I destroyed.
Looks like those Lady bugs have been eating well. I won’t complain about them being inside
again.
Savory- 2015 Herb of the year
 |
| Savory Credit:commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/bgiu. |
Savory, an
herb much used in English, Canadian, German and Bulgarian cooking, is the 2015
herb of the year. There are two forms of
savory; Summer or annual savory,(Satureja hortensis), and Winter savory, (Satureja
montana). They are native to the Mediterranean region. Both taste alike, (although
some swear that summer savory is sweeter) and have similar uses in cooking but
Summer savory is easier to grow and much more common.
Savory
belongs to the mint family rand is a close relative of rosemary and thyme. It is
similar to rosemary in looks with long narrow leaves and tubular pale blue
flowers. It is smaller than rosemary,
with summer savory plants only reaching about 2 feet high with a floppy
habit. Winter savory is hardy to zone 5
but often a difficult plant to overwinter.
It looks similar to summer savory with a bit sturdier stems.
Savory is
frequently part of dried herb mixes and is generally used in meat and mushroom
dishes, as a sausage flavoring, in meat pies, and in stuffed cabbage rolls. It
is also used fresh, leaves and small stems chopped finely in meat dishes and
sometimes in bean or egg dishes. Savory is used as a salt substitute and it is
also mixed with salt and paprika and kept on tables in Bulgaria and Romania as
a seasoning called “sharena sol” or colorful salt. Savory is also used in
sauces for meat and in stews and soups.
It makes a good “rub on” herb for grilled meats. The flavor is somewhat like rosemary but more
pungent and sharp. Use it sparingly
until you are sure you like the taste.
Medicinal
uses of this herb are few. It is said
that rubbing young stems on insect bites eases the pain. Ointments made with savory are said to
relieve itching and pain of rashes. A
tea of dried leaves is used for sore throat and stomachache in some
places. Savory is also one of the “love”
herbs with summer savory said to increase passion and winter savory to decrease
it.
If you want
to try this herb in your garden you can start the seeds of summer savory inside
about 6 weeks before the last frost.
Garden stores often carry small plants.
Winter savory is generally bought as a plant and is harder to find. Winter savory, like many herbs, does not like
wet winters and often dies over winter.
You could try planting it in pots and wintering it inside an unheated
space.
Plant
savory in full sun in a well-drained location in the garden or in large pots. It
likes to dry between watering but not go too long between watering. No fertilization should be needed in the
garden but light fertilization is needed for plants kept in pots. The plants have few insect or disease
problems.
You can
trim the stems and leaves of savory at any time for cooking use. Annual savory is usually cut at the base just
before the first frost in fall and hung up to dry if dried savory is wanted for
winter use. Annual savory could be
started in late summer from seeds for small potted plants on the windowsill in
winter.
Death by chocolate – of bears
 |
| Too much chocolate? Black bear at Great Smoky Mnt. Nat. Park |
In 2011 Michigan became the first state to
confirm that a black bear cub had died of chocolate poisoning. Now New Hampshire has reported that last month
4 bears died from chocolate poisoning after consuming chocolate at a bait pile
left by a hunter. All the deaths were
confirmed by lab and necropsy. Many
animals, including dogs are susceptible to poisoning by theobromine, an ingredient
of chocolate. The level of theobromine
varies according to the type of chocolate, with dark chocolate having the
most. Theobromine kills by causing acute
heart failure. Dogs can die from just a small amount of theobromine, its
unknown how much kills a bear. However
in New Hampshire the bait pile the bears fed from was said to have 90 pounds of
chocolate and doughnuts.
Fish and
Game Departments in many states are considering a ban on chocolate in the
woods- at least in bait piles. Deaths of
raccoons from chocolate have also been reported. Evidently many hunters use chocolate as bait,
which seems like an expensive choice of bait material but maybe they get old or
contaminated chocolate cheaply. I am
wondering if squirrels die from chocolate – or mice. Worth a try anyway. I just placed a piece of dark chocolate-coffee
flavored chocolate - (nasty stuff) on the shelf next to my canaries where I
think mice have been visiting. Traps
haven’t worked so we’ll see.
Emerald Ash Borers may be attacking
other trees
Remember
when we were assured that the Emerald Ash Borer beetle didn’t touch other types
of trees, even ash relatives? It seems
that researchers at MSU may have been wrong or that because the voracious
beetles killed all the Ash trees they have evolved the ability to eat other
trees.
Research
done at Wright University in Ohio by Dr. Don Cipollini and published in the Journal
of Economic Entomology details how the Ohio researcher has found several places
in Ohio where White Fringe Trees, (Chionanthus virginicus), a southeastern
North American native tree often used as an ornamental, are infested and dying
from EAB. Larvae have been recovered
from the trees as well as adult beetles and positively identified. White Fringe Trees have pretty white flowers
and purple fruits. They and Ash trees
are all in the “Olive” family. Until recently
there were no important insect or disease problems with this tree and it has
been planted as an ornamental as far north as Wisconsin. If you have this tree in your landscape you
may want to protect it with insecticides recommended for EAB. Purchase and planting of the White Fringe
Tree should probably be avoided. Now we
will need to watch other close Ash relatives such as privet and lilacs to see
if the EAB beetles adapt to them too.
Lemon Button Fern
.JPG) |
| Lemon Button Fern |
If you like
ferns as houseplants and want something easier to care for than the Boston fern,
you may want to get a Lemon Button fern, (Nephrolepsis cordifolia), sometimes
sold as a “Duffy” fern. These are
small, slow growing ferns that are content to remain in small pots or
terrariums for many years. At full
maturity they are about a foot high and wide.
There is a double leaved variety.
Lemon Button ferns have golden –green
arching fronds with tiny rounded leaves alternately placed along the stem. When the plants are handled they give off a
faint lemon scent.
Lemon
Button ferns survive low humidity better than Boston Ferns but they do like to
be continuously moist. The pot should
drain well, but make sure they don’t dry out.
Fertilize these small ferns once a month from March through November
with a dilute houseplant fertilizer. They
prefer diffuse light, a spot in an east or north window or in a well lit room
away from windows is a good location. They
are not hardy outdoors above Zone 8, but are sometimes suggested for rock
gardens in shaded areas. They could be
left in pots and brought in to overwinter or treated as annuals.
Lemon
Button ferns are great for terrariums and miniature gardens. The plants are non-toxic and pose no threat
to munching pets. Mature plants can be
propagated by division or spores. Plants
are easy to find in stores that sell houseplants.
Woodchucks, groundhogs and whistle-pigs
Groundhog Day
is fast approaching, (Monday, February 2) and according to legend if the
groundhog sees his shadow there will be 6 more weeks of winter. There are several groundhogs kept in
captivity around the country that are hauled out of their dens to be weather prognosticators
each year. In 2014 New York Mayor Bill
de Blasio dropped the groundhog kept at the Staten Island Zoo on Groundhog Day,
resulting in her death about a week later from internal injuries. The zoo kept the death quiet, probably
fearing a backlash from animal rights protectors. But in January of this year the zoo made an
announcement that no one would be allowed to handle the groundhog this
Groundhog Day, and it will be shown in a plexi-glass enclosure instead, a
victory for groundhogs everywhere.
Groundhogs
or woodchucks are members of the marmot family, rodents closely related to
ground squirrels. They occur in Eastern
North America from Canada to Georgia.
Since they are an animal of forest edges and clearings, there are more
groundhogs now in the US than there were before European settlement and the
clearing of vast amounts of forested land.
The Algonquian name for the groundhog is wuchak, which is where we get
the common name of woodchuck. Woodchucks
are also called whistle-pigs for their shrill whistle.
The name
groundhog probably comes from the short legged, tubby body of the woodchuck and
its insatiable appetite. The woodchuck’s
average weight is about 10-15 pounds on maturity but heavier animals have been
recorded. Woodchucks have broad, round
bodies and short legs. There are 4 toes
on the front feet and 5 on the back. The
front feet have thick long nails for burrowing in the ground. They have short round ears that can fold down
over the ear channel when they are burrowing.
The fur is a thick gray undercoat covered with stiff outer hairs of dark
gray tipped with brown or red.
Woodchucks
are diurnal animals and usually active in early morning and evening, although
if the area has few humans or dogs they can often be seen out eating at any
time of the day. They often stand on
their hind legs or climb up on a mound or low branch to look for danger. If danger is spotted they move quickly into a
tunnel, which they are seldom far from. Groundhogs are not aggressive to
humans, livestock, or pets but they will defend themselves if cornered and
their teeth are long and sharp. Females
will also protect young by trying to drive predators away. Groundhogs are pretty solitary animals and
when adults meet outside of mating season there are often battles. Males also defend territories, which may
contain the tunnels of one or more females.
The
woodchuck often eats its body weight in vegetation each day. In the fall they need to put on a thick layer
of fat to survive the winter hibernation and may eat all day long in
preparation. They are primarily
vegetarians, as many gardeners and farmers know. Groundhogs eat grass, weeds,
garden vegetables and food crops, berries, seeds and nuts. They love alfalfa. They will eat things like hay, chicken feed
and bread scraps put out for other animals.
Groundhogs have also been seen eating grasshoppers, other insects and
snails on occasion. In turn woodchucks
are food for wolves, coyotes, eagles and large hawks, bobcats and fox. In some areas groundhogs are also eaten by
humans, the top predator.
Groundhogs
make a variety of noises, grunts and squeals and the high shrill whistle that
signals alarm. That short squat body
can move remarkably quickly. Groundhogs
can swim well and they also can climb, often sunning themselves in low branches
of trees. They have a remarkable ability
to build elaborate tunnel systems underground complete with rooms for sleeping,
having babies and eliminating. They keep
the toilet areas clean by pushing wet or dirty soil out of the tunnel. Some rooms are lined with dry leaves or
grass, although the woodchuck does not store food. There are winter hibernation
areas and summer bedrooms.
The main
entrance of a tunnel usually begins in a brushy area, or an area where it’s disguised
by a fence or building foundation. Openings will be 6 inches to a foot or more in
diameter. There’s usually a mound of soil at this opening. The tunnel generally has several smaller
“escape doors” along its route and these often have no soil mounds around
them. Tunnels go straight down at
first, up to 6 feet deep, and then may stretch as long as 50 feet or more.
There are built in turns or wider areas that allow a woodchuck to back in and
defend a tunnel from a predator as it proceeds along it. Tunnels
are often built where soil has recently been disturbed by cultivation or for
example, putting in fence posts. Some
woodchucks have several tunnels in their territory but a tunnel is usually only
occupied by one woodchuck, except at mating time or when a female has young.
Groundhog
tunnels are frequently used by other animals for shelter after being abandoned
by their builders. Fox, rabbits, feral
cats, skunks, opossums and raccoons, none of which dig their own shelters, take
over groundhog dwellings. This makes the
groundhogs important in protecting the diversity of animal life in an area,
although people are often not too fond of those tunnels, which can undermine
floors and foundations, destroy tree roots, break axles on farm machinery and
legs on horses and cattle.
Groundhog life cycle
Groundhog
really do sneak out in mid-winter, at least the males do. It may not be February 2, depending on how
far north the groundhog is living, but it’s usually late February into
mid-March. The male comes out of
hibernation briefly to search for tunnels of females, one or two of which he
will enter and mate with the females inside,( who must wake up briefly don’t
you think?) He will then stay in a
tunnel with a female for about a month, until she kicks him out just before the
babies are born. From 2 –to 6, sometimes
more, baby groundhogs are born in early spring usually just as its getting warm
enough for the female to emerge and begin eating. She’ll come out briefly to eat and then
return to nurse and warm her babies until they are big enough to follow her.
 |
| Baby groundhogs or woodchucks. Credit: commons.wikimedia.org |
Births are
timed so that when the baby woodchucks come out to eat in 5-6 weeks the weather
is warmer and food has become plentiful.
For a few weeks they will follow mom around and she will teach and
protect them. By late summer, however
they will be scattering and building their own tunnels for winter. A female groundhog generally does not breed
until her second spring. Groundhogs have
just one family a year. The life span of
a woodchuck in the wild is 3-5 years.
How to prevent woodchuck damage to
gardens, yards and livestock
Woodchucks
do not normally attack people or other animals unless they are cornered or
protecting young. However they do get
rabies and any woodchuck acting strangely or aggressively with no reason should
be avoided and reported to your health department or animal control
agency. If you kill it save the carcass
until the health department has told you what to do with it, especially if a
human or domestic animal has been bitten.
Usually
woodchucks cause concern when they are destroying gardens or their tunnels pose
a danger. If the animals aren’t causing
damage they should just be left alone.
Check your state game laws and county regulations before shooting or
trapping woodchucks. If you trap or
kill animals do it in late summer so that babies are able to fend for
themselves. Apples and carrots make good
bait for live traps. If you do trap and
release you will need to take the animal a few miles away. Realize that a great majority of live trapped
and released animals will die in their unfamiliar environment anyway.
If
woodchucks are eating your garden fence it with wire fencing that is loosely
attached at the top so that it sways if it is climbed. The fence should be 3-4 feet above ground in
height and turned into an L shape at the bottom and extend out about two feet
to help prevent burrowing. This may not
stop all groundhogs however. A “hotwire”
(electric fence), however is usually quite effective. Place one wire a few inches off the ground
and another at about 18 inches off the ground and your garden will probably be
safe. Many people do not even need wire
fencing behind the electric fence. (Just make sure there are no tunnel
entrances inside the fenced area.) Small
electric fence systems with battery power are available. For some reason woodchucks rarely decide to
tunnel under electric wires. A garden
inside a fenced yard that a dog regularly patrols will usually be avoided by
woodchucks.
Woodchucks
will be temporarily deterred by flashing pie tins, balloons, radios, and other
such scary things, but like birds they soon learn to ignore such things. A motion detecting water sprinkler that turns
on when animals come into the garden is sometimes effective with woodchucks. If shooting is allowed for nuisance
woodchucks in your area you can dispose of them this way, but it does take a
good shot and patience to get them.
There are no poisons registered for woodchuck control.
To
discourage woodchuck damage from tunneling, find all the tunnels you can and
mow or trim any vegetation away from the entrances. Exposing the tunnel openings may make them
abandon them. Look for all the side
tunnel openings too. Filling tunnels
with dog feces or used kitty litter is sometimes effective. Several people have
had success with pouring ammonia into tunnels.
Using wire, large stones or cement to fill tunnels may also be
helpful. Please don’t fill tunnels until
July or later, so babies aren’t trapped inside.
It’s probably best to leave one tunnel opening until a day later, so
animals inside the tunnel can get out. You
are trying to make the groundhogs or some other animal in the tunnel leave,
rather than burying it alive.
When you
fill up a tunnel keep an eye out for new tunnels being dug where you don’t want
them. Promptly deal with them to prevent
the groundhog from getting established. Also fill any tunnels even if you don’t think
they are being used. People who own livestock should frequently check pastures
for tunnels that animals could step into.
Generally however woodchuck tunnels run along fence lines, through tree
lines or brushy areas where animals aren’t running through. Groundhogs rarely tunnel through closely
grazed or mowed pastures.
Some people
enjoy watching the antics of woodchucks and have even tamed them enough to eat
out of their hands. Wildlife experts
warn that baby woodchucks may be tame when young but as adults with no fear of
humans, they can be quite aggressive so woodchucks aren’t recommended as
pets. It’s also unkind to get woodchucks
used to a friendly dog, because most dogs they meet won’t be quite so
friendly. All animals have a place in
the environment. Whenever possible try
to live with other creatures instead of trying to eliminate them.
Kim Willis
“He who has a garden and
a library wants for nothing” ― Cicero
More Information
Can
hybrid seeds be organic?
By Kim
Willis- first published in 2011
As you look at seed
catalogs and plan your garden for this spring you may want to consider this.
One of the problems with the organic growing movement is how
people define organic. If you take the
word organic for what it means in the agricultural sense - growing things
without synthetic chemicals, then certainly hybrid seeds can be grown
organically. Recently some people have
begun to assert that the label organic should also mean food that was produced
by plants or animals that were not “genetically modified” as well as being
grown without synthetic chemicals.
The term genetically modified should be applied to plants or
animals whose genes are altered in some way that can’t happen naturally such as
when we put bacterial genes- (Bt) into
plants or insert genes from plant species that can’t cross naturally into each
other. These genes will then carry into
future generations if similar plants are bred together and could be carried to
other similar plants in a natural cross. That contamination of plants by stray
pollen from genetically modified plants can happen to all varieties of plants
not just hybrids.
There are many field crops on the market that have been
genetically modified, wheat, corn, soybeans and such. But very, very few garden plants have been
altered in this manner. Your hybrid sweet
corn, cabbage, marigolds and so on, generally are the result of good old
fashioned plant sex. The very few
genetically modified garden crops are expensive and generally available only to
large commercial growers.
A hybrid seed is the result of crossing two purebred
varieties of plants. This usually
happens in the old fashioned way, by insects or wind carrying pollen from one
type of plant to another. Plant
sex. If you plant a row of Blue Lake
beans next to a row of Straight Arrow beans and bees carry pollen from one to
another, the beans produced on those plants are hybrids. The purebred parents and the resulting seeds
can be grown without synthetic chemicals so yes again, hybrid seeds can be
organic.
Hybrids happen between plants all the time, without man
interfering at all. Every time you plant
6 varieties of tomatoes in the same garden you are creating hybrid tomato
seeds. You probably don’t save and grow
the seeds the next year and there is a good reason for that. Those six types of tomatoes pollinated each other
and produced all kinds of hybrid seeds. Some of the combinations are great,
some mediocre and some awful. If you
planted those seeds next year you wouldn’t know what you would get, although it
certainly would be tomatoes.
When man discovers two purebred varieties of plants that
when crossed produce something good, he may set out to deliberately re-create
it by hand pollinating the plants or by removing the anthers, (pollen producing
parts) from one variety so it can only be reproduced by the other. He can discover which plants combine well by
experimenting with hand crosses and carefully keeping records of the results. Then when he finds combinations or hybrids he
likes, he can re-create the cross.
Hybrids usually have something known as hybrid vigor. The offspring of that first cross of 2
purebred parents are generally more vigorous and healthy than the offspring of
pure bred parents. This happens because
when we mate purebred animals or plants to one of the same pure breed for generation
after generation we start concentrating certain genetic material and genetic
variability, the thing that lets plants or animals adapt to changing
conditions, is lost. Over time a purebred strain tends to become less able to
reproduce successfully, loses vigor and is more susceptible to disease.
Just as we know what we are getting when we mate a purebred
plant to a purebred like it, save the seed and plant them, we can know what to
expect when we cross 2 different varieties of the same plant. Thus we can name these crosses and people can
confidently plant them and know what to expect.
Sometimes we can even successfully cross two more distantly related
species, such as the plum and the apricot and get good results.
Purebred varieties of plants are often called open
pollinated. The only advantage they have
is that you can save the seeds ( if you have carefully isolated that variety of
plant from other varieties) and the seeds you plant next year will produce
plants like the parents. Open pollinated
plants don’t always taste better than hybrids nor are they more
nutritious. They may be less vigorous
than hybrids and more susceptible to disease.
If you save the seeds from hybrid plants the third
generation will recombine genes in many ways and you will get all kinds of
plants, and probably not ones like the parents.
But you could get something better than the parents, you never know. Most home gardeners don’t save food plant
seeds from their own plants to grow the next year anyway. They don’t have room to separate plant
varieties and can’t generally control what the neighbors are planting and
plants can spread their pollen some distance with the help of the wind and
insects.
It’s a great thing to save old breeds of open pollinated
plants. We need the purebred lines to produce new and better varieties of
plants and preserve genetic diversity.
But if you are just a gardener trying to grow good, safe food you don’t
need to worry about whether your seeds are open pollinated or hybrid. If you don’t use synthetic chemicals in your
garden then you are growing organically, regardless of what seeds you planted.
Some organic purists, and people who want to be certified as
growing organically, insist that the parent plants that produce the seeds they
are going to grow were also grown without any synthetic chemicals. Most
pesticides used on growing plants would not affect their seeds when they
germinate and then become new plants in your garden. But the parents of hybrid seeds can be grown
organically so the word hybrid should not determine the organic status of any
seed. You may want to make sure that your seeds are not treated with some
chemicals to help store them, because some of those chemicals do remain in
plants grown from treated seeds in minute amounts. Fungicide treated seeds are not very harmful
but seeds treated with insecticides pose more of a risk. Seeds treated with clay or some other
harmless substances so that they are easier to handle do not pose risks to your
health.
So choose the hybrid seeds that appeal to you and don’t
worry that you are violating some great organic principal. If you look, you can find hybrid seed that
was grown organically if that’s important to you. Expect to pay more than for
hybrid seeds grown conventionally. If
people choose organically grown seed more often then more will be grown and
less pesticides will be used over all.
But if you follow good organic garden practices any seed you buy could
only contribute minute, undetectable pesticide residue to the food you are
going to produce.
The final answer is yes, hybrid seed can be organic.
Events, classes and other offerings
Please let me know if there is any event or class that
you would like to share with other gardeners.
These events are primarily in Michigan but if you are a reader from
outside of Michigan and want to post an event I’ll be glad to do it.
Master Gardeners if you belong to an association that
approves your hours please check with that association before assuming a class
or work day will count as credit.
Do you have plants or
seeds you would like to swap or share?
Post them here by emailing me. Kimwillis151@gmail.com
New - Growing Bee Friendly Plants Workshop February 12,
2015, 1:00pm - 3:00pm- Tollgate Conference Center, 28115 Meadowbrook Road,
Novi, MI
Are you concerned
about all of the media hype around pollinator health or buyer restrictions on
growing plants without neonicotinoids? Do you want to ensure that the plants
you produce will be bee-friendly? Dr. Dave Smitley will share his research
results from recent studies on the effects of neonicotinoid insecticides on
bumblebees and share best management practices in order to grow bee-friendly
plants. Topics to be covered include: • Overview of neonicotinoid and bee issue
• Biorational products • Alternatives to neonicotinoids • Biological control as
an alternative pest management practice • Bee-friendly insecticides • Safe use
of systemic drenches • New products available • Best management practices for
producing bee-friendly plants Cost: FREE! But it does require an RSVP* by
February 9, 2015 to Kristin Getter at 517-355-5191 x1341 or getterk@msu.edu *If
fewer than 10 attendees are registered by February 9, 2015, this workshop will
be canceled.
New- MSU Horticulture
Gardens’ Spring Program: Can You Dig It?, May 2, 2015 8 a.m. - 4 p.m., Plant
and Soil Sciences Building, 1066 Bogue Street, East Lansing, MI
Sessions include: Woodland wonders from the wild, Art
of Gardening, Joy of Propagation,
Cultivating the recipe garden, lunch from Grand Traverse Pie Company
included. Rare plant sales. Early registration (on or before April 21)
for MSU Horticulture Garden Member $69 Early registration (on or before April
21) for non-MSU Horticulture Garden Member $79 Registrations received after
April 21 $89
Register
online: http://events.anr.msu.edu/register.cfm?eventID=F981110CAB81205F®isProcessID=78A6375F6399E682
Contact:
517-353-0443, hgardens@msu.edu.
New- Gardening
and All That Jazz – Innovation and Sustainability For Your Garden, Saturday, April 25, 2015 – 7 am –
4:15 pm, Oakland Schools Conference Center 2111 Pontiac Lake Road, Waterford
Sessions
include: Will Allen – Growing Power and the Good Food Revolution: A visual
story of how Growing Power came to be and of Will Allen’s personal journey, the
lives he has touched, and a grassroots movement that is changing the way our
nation eats., Will Allen – How To Put “Growing Power” in Your Backyard: How to
make your own compost bin, outdoor and indoor worm bins and raised beds.
Matthew Benson – Growing Beautiful Food: Cultivating the Incredible, Edible
Garden - Kerry Ann Mendez – Gardening Simplified for Changing Lifestyle:
Exceptional Plants and Design Solutions for Aging and Time-pressed Gardeners
Lunch and snacks
included in cost. Garden marketplace and
jazz musicians. Early Bloomers Registration Fee: $70 After March 14, 2015 Fee:
$80 Registration at the door is not available. Registration Deadline:
Wednesday, April 20, 2015 Registr by
going to http://www.mgsoc.org/2015Conference_registration.pdf
For more info: Nancy Strodl, Phone:
248-552-5095, E-mail: nancy_strodl@comcast.net
Horticultural Therapy: Connecting
People and Plants-March 13, 2015 - March 14, 2015 Plant and Soil Sciences
Building, 1066 Bogue St., East Lansing, MI 48824
The Michigan Horticultural
Therapy Association is excited to present two events 36th Annual Conference ‒
Friday, March 13, 8:30 a.m. ‒ 4 p.m. and a workshop ‒ Saturday, March 14, 8:30
a.m. ‒ 12:30 p.m. in conjunction with Agriculture and Natural Resources Week at
Michigan State University. Join us for presentations, networking, vendors,
books sales and more as we learn more about using horticulture as therapy.
For complete program
and registration information, go to www.michiganhta.org or contact Cathy Flinton at cathy@michiganhta.org.
Michigan Herb Associates Annual
Conference- March 13, 2015 - March 14, 2015 Eppley Center and Business College
Complex/Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center, MSU Campus, East Lansing MI.
The theme of the
28th annual Michigan Herb Associates (MHA) Conference is “Sensational Savory.”
The Michigan State University (MSU) Department of Horticulture and Michigan
Herb Associates sponsor the conference. The two-day MHA conference is filled
with programs of interest to beginning and advanced herb gardeners and crafters
who enjoy growing and using herbs as a hobby.
Lectures and
demonstrations will take place at the Eppley Center and Business College
Complex. A market of vendors will offer herbal plants and topiaries, herbal
food-related items, decorative garden ornaments and jewelry, and many other
gift items. MHA will have a small gift shop along with speaker book sales and
signings. A live plant auction will take place Friday and Saturday.
Organic Farming Intensives Initiative
Classes March 12, 2015 - 9 am- 4 pm - Michigan State University, Brody Complex, East
Lansing MI.
The Organic Farming
Intensives Initiative will offer three to four all-day classes of single topics
with a focus on organic farming. Possible topics include vegetable production,
fruit tree management, soil health, transplants, pest management, farm-plan
building and organic certification.
For more
information, contact Vicki Morrone at sorrone@msu.edu or 517-282-3557. To learn more about
the Organic Farming Exchange, visit http://www.michiganorganic.msu.edu/.
Michigan Beekeepers Association
Spring Conference Friday, March 13, 2015 and Saturday, March 14, 2015 at the
Kellogg Center on the Michigan State University campus, East Lansing, Mi.
There will be
break-out sessions on both days covering a wide range of topics that should be
of interest for both the beginner and advanced beekeeper alike. And, of course, the ever-popular vendor area
will be back so that you can see all of the latest beekeeping equipment in one
place. Also, this year we will be
expanding the vendors to include a “beekeeping” trade show. The trade show will feature major manufacturers
of beekeeping equipment and gear. Here
will be your opportunity to see what’s new in the beekeeping world and meet the
folks who actually make your stuff!
Pre-registration is
available on-line and we encourage all attendees to do so. When you pre-register you get a discount
too! We encourage all conference
attendees to pre-register. If you
pre-pay when you pre-register, your conference material will be available for
immediate pick-up… no waiting in line.
For more information go to http://www.michiganbees.org/2015-spring-conference/
MSU Tollgate Maple Tapping and
Pancake Celebration March 15, 2015-10 a.m. - 12 p.m. or 1 - 3 p.m. 28115 Meadowbrook Rd, Novi, MI,
Celebrate
the Maple Tapping Season with Pancakes at MSU Tollgate! With a full-on pancake
breakfast or lunch!
Identify
and tap a maple tree, tour the sugar shack with ongoing evaporation, take a
wagon ride, taste maple syrup, and tackle historical tools! Prior to the 2-hour
program, enjoy a pancake celebration in the historic, 19th-century barn. Pancakes,
coffee, cocoa, and of course, real maple syrup will be provided!
Eat your
fill of yummy food and grab a cup of coffee 9 - 10 a.m. before your 2-hour
program. Enjoy entertainment in the 19th century barn while you eat and relax.
Need to
sleep in? Join us at 12 p.m. for a pancake lunch before heading out to the
sugar bush at 1 p.m.
Cost is
$12.00 per person. If cancellations are needed, please do so before March 11,
2015, to avoid cancellation fee of $5 per person registered.
The last
day to register online is March 11, 2015.
Landscape Design Workshop Sat,
February 14, 1 pm
at All English Gardens locations- see below.
FREE. We
provide the supplies & suggestions you need to plot an area & create a
successful design. www.EnglishGardens.com.
Sign up
in-store or on-line: www.EnglishGardens.com. Locations: Ann Arbor, Maple Village Shopping Center, 155
N. Maple Rd., Ann Arbor, Phone: (734) 332-7900, Clinton Township, 44850
Garfield Rd. at Hall Rd., Clinton Twp., MI, Phone: (586) 286-6100, Dearborn
Heights, 22650 Ford Rd., Dearborn Heights, MI
Nursery: (313) 278-4433, Eastpointe, 22501 Kelly Rd., Eastpointe, MI,
Phone: (586) 771-4200, Royal Oak, 4901 Coolidge Hwy, Royal Oak, MI , Phone:
(248) 280-9500, West Bloomfield, 6370 Orchard Lake Rd., West Bloomfield, MI,
Phone: (248) 851-7506
Grand Rapids Smart Gardening
Conference March 7, 2015- 8:30 a.m. - 4 p.m., Monroe Meeting Rooms DeVos Place, Grand Rapids,
Michigan
Classes include: “Smart Design of the Living
Landscape-Putting back the Layers”, Rick Darke, “Tapping the Smart Gardener’s
Work Force—Predators, Parasitoids and Pollinators!”, Elly Maxwell, Entomologist,
Dow Gardens, Vegetable Potpourri for the Smart Gardener”, Rebecca Krans, “Grow
More with Less-a Smart Approach to Gardening!”, Vincent Simeone Horticulturist,
Author, Lecturer, Oyster Bay, New York.
Cost: Early Bird Registration by Feb. 13 - $59 Late Registration - $70 Must pre-register. Enrollment
deadline is Friday, Feb. 27, 2015 or until full. More info and online
registration http://events.anr.msu.edu/event.cfm?folder=smartgardening2015 or
Contact: finneran@msu.edu, 616-632-7865
28th ANNUAL MICHIGAN WILDFLOWER
CONFERENCE- Sunday
March 8 and Monday March 9, 2015- Kellogg Hotel & Conference Center , MSU
campus, East Lansing MI.
$65 for one
day, $120 for both until 2/25/2015, after that $75 and $140. WAM membership required, add $15. Laura Liebler, Registrar Phone:
734.662.2206
MSU offered a variety of on line
seminars for those who were interested in beginning farming topics of various
types. Some of those are now available
free to watch at the address below.
Gardeners may be interested in topics like organic pest control. Get the list of topics and links here.
Dow Gardens winter beekeeping series at Dow
Gardens, 1809
Eastman Avenue, Midland, MI
Discover
the amazing world of honey bees and beekeeping in this 3-part winter
series. Spots are limited! Call (989)
631-2677 to register or email entomologist Elly Maxwell maxwell@dowgardens.org
with questions.
February
12, 6-8PM Snelgrove Board and Advanced Frame Workshop
At Dow
Gardens, we use the Snelgrove method to manage our hives in the spring. The
Snelgrove method was designed to prevent strong hives from swarming, to cull
old frames, make splits, to replace mature queens, and other benefits. Join us
in this workshop to construct a Snelgrove board and learn the technique.
Additionally, we’ll explore the option of harvesting comb honey from your hive.
Cost of equipment $25, per board. Signup deadline: February 2, 2015
E-mail
Elly at maxwell@dowgardens.org for more details. Call 989-631-2677 to signup.
Dow Know and Grow Seminar February 21, 2015
Bullock Creek High School, 1420
Badour Rd. Midland, MI
This
seminar consists of 3 classes, “Creating
Your Perennial Plant Community:The Know Maintenance Approach”, “Living Soil: How it Works”, and “Year-Round
Vegetable Gardening”. There will be a
vendor’s area. Lunch is included. The early registration fee is $60.00. Registration
after February 6, 2015 is $75.00.
To
REGISTER BY PHONE call Dow Gardens at 631-2677 or 1-800-362-4874. Please have
your credit card information ready.
To
REGISTER BY MAIL send the form in this brochure with a check or credit card information
to: Dow Gardens, 1018 W. Main St., Midland, MI 48
To look
at a brochure, get more information and register on line please use this link.
Conifer Propagation Seminar at Hidden Lake
Gardens, March 7, 2015 – 9am – 4pm, 6214 Monroe Road (M-50),Tipton, MI
Join us
as we share what we know about some of the rare plants of the Harper Collection
of Dwarf and Rare Conifers. Now condensed into one day!
Learn
the art and science of making more conifers (cone-bearing plants). Staff and
volunteers will share their extensive knowledge and experience on the nuances
of propagation. Seminar includes:
Hands-on
grafting of 6 different plants*
Cuttings
of at least 16 plants*
Lunch,
and
Tour of
Harper Collection or propagation facility
*
Species will likely include Thuja, Juniperus, Pinus, Picea, and Abies.
Extensive care instructions provided.
Designed
for the beginning propagator, this seminar will share techniques even experienced
propagators will appreciate. Advance registration is required, but experience
is not.
Cost:
$100 per person early registration ($90 per person for Friends of HLG) $125 per
person after Feb 21. Registration is limited and will close on March 1st.
Registration is required. Hidden Lake Gardens - www.HiddenLakeGardens.msu.edu (517)
431-2060
Signs
of Insects -Sunday, February 1, 2:00 pm SEVEN
PONDS NATURE CENTER- 3854 Crawford Road Dryden, MI (810) 796-3200
Insects of all sorts leave signs that they are
building, chewing, crawling, and “having families” around us. Join Naturalist
Nancy Kautz for a closer look at a variety of shelters, galls, eggs and webs
that might be found in your backyard. Free to members, $3 non-members.
Admission is $12 for adults, $9 for students and
seniors, $6 for ages 5-13, $4 for ages 3-4 and free for museum members and kids
2 and younger. Check out the entire schedule of holiday events at www.meijergardens.org.
Capital Area Master
Gardeners - Mixing It Up Garden
symposium - January 31, 2015, 8:15-4 pm.
MSU Plant and Soil Sciences Building ,1066 Bogue Street
East Lansing, MI.
This symposium features a variety of
garden classes to lighten the winter blahs.
Registration fee includes lunch.
A garden marketplace will be available for shoppers. Fees are $35 for
local club members, $45 for other Master Gardeners, $55 for all others.
To get a description of classes and
register online go to: https://mgacac.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/brochure2014_11-14.pdf
Newsletter
information
If you would
like to pass along a notice about an educational event or a volunteer
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Once again the
opinions in this newsletter are mine and I do not represent any organization or
business. I do not make any income from this newsletter. I write this because I
love to share with other gardeners some of the things I come across in my
research each week. It keeps me engaged with local people and horticulture.
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