© Kim Willis - no
parts of this newsletter may be used without permission.
Hi
Gardeners
 |
| First harvest 2016 before cooking. |
August is the time of year when the garden can start to
look a little jaded and mature. People
are busy, the weather is hot and this year it’s very, very dry too, at least in
my area. Weeding can take second place
to other pursuits but watering has to be done if you want any hope of a fall
revival in the garden. I spend a lot of
time watering and it seems there is always something that still needs it.
Hopefully we are going to get some good rainfall this
weekend and we need it. But if we don’t, remember to water young trees and
shrubs, especially if they were planted this year. It’s hard for them to establish a good root
system and grow when it’s dry and they are more prone to winter kill after a
dry year.
The frogs have found my little water feature and
invaded it. The plants in there like the
heat, I have had to remove some water hyacinth because it got so crowded and I will
need to remove some more soon. The canna
in the water has gotten 6 feet tall.
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| How many frogs can you see in this picture? |
The floral display in my garden is still going although
I worry that everything will have finished its bloom cycle early this year. My garden mums are even beginning to
bloom. Lilies are almost finished
blooming, I still have sporadic daylily blooms.
Rudbeckia and phlox are the big blooming stars right now. My hardy hibiscus have not yet bloomed and
they aren’t as big and robust as in previous years, no doubt due to dry
weather. The ligularia will probably
bloom this week and it too doesn’t look like it will be as large or have as
many blooms as last year.
We had our first sweet corn from the garden this
week. I will say that it’s not the best year
for corn – the drought has caused smaller ears and it looks like the inner rows
of my corn didn’t get pollinated well.
However any garden sweet corn is superior to store purchased corn. You have only to grow it once, and pick it
just before you want to cook it, to always remember how much better fresh corn
is.
This year I tried a recipe I saw on line somewhere for
corn and I want to pass it along. Get
your water boiling then add a stick of butter and a cup of milk and then the
corn. Cook for 6-8 minutes with a lid on
the pot. The corn will come from the pot
tasting buttery delicious. Just sprinkle
with salt and you are good to eat. It’s
much less messy than buttering it after it’s cooked.
Since we eat corn a lot when it’s in season I thought a
stick of butter every time we cooked it might be a bit expensive and
wasteful. So after I took the corn out I
saved the water with the milk and butter in the refrigerator and used it to
cook corn a second night- it was just as good.
And then I gave the liquid left to the barn cats who loved it.
Why
sunflowers face east
Do you grow sunflowers?
Go outside and take a look at yours.
If the flowers are mature they should be facing east. Before the flowers are mature and ready to be
pollinated sunflowers actually track the sun moving their flower heads and
leaves during the day to keep them orientated towards the sun. They do this by adding cells or growing on
the stem side away from the sun, tilting the flower/leaves towards the sun. At night the plants slowly swing in reverse
to be ready to face east when the sun comes up.
This is controlled by what we now know is a circadian rhythm. Facing the sun allows sunflowers to grow
faster.
Once sunflowers are mature and ready to be pollinated
they stop tracking the sun and face east.
Researchers found that this is because the sun warms the flower face
early in the morning and pollinators prefer warm flowers. When they staked sunflowers to face another
direction and then artificially warmed some of the flowers the warmed flowers
attracted more pollinators than the ones that weren’t warmed.
When you plant sunflowers remember that the flowers
will face east when they are at their best so plan your plantings so that you
can enjoy them from that direction.
If you want to read more about the research on
sunflowers here’s the info.
University of
California - Davis. "Sunflowers move by the clock." ScienceDaily.
ScienceDaily, 4 August 2016. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/08/160804152431.htm.
Rain
Lilies
After the big rain we had 2 weeks ago I had a flush of
pretty pink flowers on my rain lilies (Zephyranthes
rosea). Rain lilies are also known as fairy lilies. They might be just the
thing for a fairy garden if you like those things, but they are also an
interesting and charming edition to the summer garden or patio.
I got my bulbs about 4 years ago, from Old House
Gardens in Michigan but they are available from other places. (There’s a list
of garden catalogs on the pages listed to the right of this main blog.) Rain lilies are native to South and Central
America and are not hardy below zone 9 but they are quite easy to overwinter. They are relatively inexpensive so you could
also treat them as annuals.
There are over 70 species of rain lilies but only 3
species are commonly available to gardeners. Besides the pink rain lilies, Zephyranthes candida, a white flowered
rain lily, and Zephyranthes citrina, a
yellow flowered one are sometimes available.
There are some hybrids on the market too, but these are hard to find.
The foliage of rain lilies is grass like and unless it
gets very dry and cold it stays evergreen and attractive. Plants are about 12-18 inches tall. Rain lily
flowers are shaped like large crocus flowers and they appear in flushes, after
a dry spell and then a rain they burst into bloom. Blooming lasts a few
days. The flushes repeat several times a
season if conditions are right.
Gardeners will find rain lilies offered as bulbs, generally
sold in the spring. The best way to grow
them for northern gardeners is to plant 6 of the small bulbs in a 10 inch pot.
Use a good potting medium and add a slow release plant food for blooming plants.
They will slowly multiply to fill the pot over a few years. Place the pot outside after all danger of
frost has passed in a sunny location.
Keep the rain lilies watered until you get good growth
started. After that, let nature handle
the watering for the most part. If there
is a really long stretch of dry weather – a couple weeks if it’s hot- they should
be deep watered. This may promote a
bloom flush. If summer is unusually wet
you may get just one bloom period. A few
weeks of dry hot weather and then a good rain is what triggers blooming.
When frost threatens simply pick up your pot and bring it
inside to a place where it stays above freezing. If that place is well lit the rain lily leaves
will remain green. If you use a basement
or dim place for storage the plants may go dormant and the foliage disappears.
While in winter storage water the lilies sparingly. The
pot should dry out between watering. If
the foliage has disappeared don’t water at all until late spring. The plants won’t normally bloom in the winter. Sometimes in a warm, bright location with the
proper dry and then wet cycle the rain lilies will bloom. This is more likely in late spring.
In the spring, after all danger of frost has passed,
move your pot of rain lilies back outside to a sunny place. Work some slow release fertilizer into the
soil. Water well to get them awake and
growing if it’s dry and soon blooms will appear again. Every 2-3 years you may want to re-pot and
divide the bulbs to start a new pot.
Alternately you can plant rain lilies in the garden and
dig the bulbs in the fall before frost and store them as you would glad corms,
or canna tubers. Re-pot in spring. Choose a garden spot that isn’t being
irrigated regularly and is well drained for best chances of the rain lilies
blooming.
Rain lilies are nice for rock gardens and those “rain
gardens” designed to catch storm water. They can also be planted at the feet of
things like a potted rose or hibiscus that have been trained into tree form.
One caution, all parts of rain lilies are toxic so keep
them out of the reach of children and pets.
Deadheading-
should you or shouldn’t you?
Ah, August. As
we gaze out over our gardens we often notice that many plants are setting seed
in August. Should we remove seed heads
to keep plants from expending energy setting seed or leave the seeds to feed
the birds and make new plants? The art
of removing dying flowers before they make seed heads is affectionately called
deadheading by gardeners.
Annual plants, those that complete their life cycle in
one year or plants that are treated as annuals because they die if left outside
in a northern winter, may continue blooming longer if flowers are removed as
they fade. When annual plants set too
many seed pods it signals to the plant that their job - reproducing the
species- is done and they can quit blooming and die.
Some annuals have been selected over the years to keep
blooming even if seed pods are not removed.
Examples of these are petunias and marigolds. However they look nicer if dead blooms are
removed. Many other annuals, however
will bloom better and longer if deadheaded before they begin making seed
pods. Even if you want your annual
flowers to bloom for a long time you can stop deadheading in September unless
you are worried about the plant reseeding around the garden.
The shorter, cooler days of autumn may promote a
glorious “last chance to reproduce” flush of bloom, but after September annual
plants usually slow down their blooming dramatically, even if not killed by
frost. Let your plants set seed,
especially those whose seed is loved by songbirds. This includes cosmos, sunflowers, zinnias,
tithonia, and asters. When the seed
heads are gone and frost has hit the plants pull them all out.
Some perennial plants bloom longer if the dying flowers
are removed and deadheading perennials keeps energy going to the plants roots
and shoots, instead of nurturing seeds.
Some perennials are not going to re-bloom regardless of whether or not
you deadhead them. You may want to keep
some plants deadheaded to prevent them from spreading throughout the garden.
However many of those perennials also feed songbirds
and if you like birds around the garden you may want to leave seed pods on the
plants beginning late in the season.
Plants that provide good snacks for birds are Echinacea, coreopsis,
roses, gaillardia, heliopsis, poppies, perennial rudbeckia, shasta daisy,
monarda, and ornamental grasses. Once
the seeds are picked clean the seed pods can be removed to tidy things up, or
plants cut back to the ground.
You may want to consider leaving the seedpods of some
plants for winter interest or to make dried arrangements. Ornamental grasses can provide both. Rose
hips can look quite cheerful in the winter also. Plants like clematis and hydrangea have
interesting seed heads for dried flower arrangements as do celosia, poppies,
amaranth, lavender, yarrow, some sedums, strawflowers, and statice. These may also look good in the winter in the
garden.
Some plants do benefit by prompt deadheading so that
plant resources go to building a bigger and better plant. Unless you are trying to get seed to start
new plants, tulips, iris, daylilies, hosta, Asiatic and oriental lilies and
peonies are best deadheaded soon after blooms fade. Hybrid tea roses are also good candidates for
deadheading while their hardier landscape rose cousins can be left to make rose
hips.
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| Hosta with seed pods. A good choice to deadhead. |
If plants are not deadheaded many will spread around
the garden. If having baby plants pop up everywhere doesn’t bother you then
don’t deadhead. If you don’t like things
out of place or feel some plants are too invasive then keep the blooms picked
off those plants before they make seed.
Some notorious self-seeders are hollyhocks, morning glories, larkspur,
dame’s rocket, phlox, sunflowers, some poppies and yarrow.
If you want to save seed from the garden remember that
seed from hybrid varieties of plants may not look anything like its
parent. Also you may need to enclose the
seed pods of plants with a paper bag. (Don’t use plastic, it causes moldy
seeds.) Otherwise the birds may beat you
to them or they may be scattered and lost.
Deadheading does keep the garden looking nicer, but if
a natural garden that feeds the birds and regenerates itself is the goal then
let the seed pods stay on most garden plants.
After August, deadheading does little to keep annuals blooming and for
most perennials really doesn’t affect them one way or another. By the time most garden plants have turned
brown and crispy from cold weather the seeds will be gone and they can be
chopped down and composted if you must tidy up before winter.
White
areas (drupes) on blackberries
While picking blackberries from our patch to make a
nice blackberry cobbler I noticed another problem caused by our hot dry
weather. Many of the blackberries had
white or tan “drupes” the little individual sections that make up the
blackberry fruit. This damage is usually
caused by long periods of hot, dry conditions while the fruit is forming. The side of the fruit facing the sun is
usually affected. There is little that
can be done to prevent this.
Occasionally white or tan drupes are caused by stinkbugs
or leaf bugs feeding on berries. In this case the white or tan drupes are
spaced out and may be on the backside of fruit rather than in patches on the
sun side. If you see stinkbugs or leaf
bugs on your berries you could spray with a pesticide safe for food crops.
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| White drupe visible on top right of ripe berry. |
Blackberries with white drupes are perfectly fine to
eat. They still make a pretty good
cobbler.
Refrigerator
pickles
I have been making a jar of refrigerator pickles every
few days because my husband is a pickle fanatic. I don’t have enough cukes planted to make a
big crock of fermented pickles or can several quarts at a time. But I hate to see cukes go to waste. Refrigerator pickles are quick and easy, and
taste as good as other pickles. They
must be kept refrigerated though so don’t make too many jars unless you have a
spare refrigerator and lots of pickle lovers.
My husband goes through a quart jar of pickles about every 10 days. He prefers dill but you can make several
kinds of refrigerator pickles.
Before I continue- here is the food safety warning. Refrigerator pickles could still harbor
listeria bacteria which will remain active at refrigerator temperatures,
according to the USDA. This would be
rare but possible. Wash the cukes well and always use immaculately clean jars
and lids. If you are immune suppressed
or have small children this may not be the best way for you to make
pickles.
These pickles should not be kept too long, the USDA
recommends no longer than a month. I have had them remain safe, as have many
others, for much longer than that, but I’d say 2 months is a good time to
discard leftovers. Label your jars with
the date so you know when to discard them. Make sure the brine always covers
the pickles. If you take some out to
serve and they sit out a while discard them rather than returning them to the
jar.
Do
not reduce the vinegar to water ratio. A ratio of one part vinegar to one part water
is required, although you could add more vinegar. That said, this type of pickle is generally
safe as well as tasty.
Here’s how you do it.
You’ll need clean, washed jars with tight fitting lids. Quart sized is good for pickles, but you
could use pints. I save commercial
pickle jars but if you have canning jars that’s great. You’ll also need a glass or stainless steel
pot to heat the brine. Aluminum pots
shouldn’t be used because they react with the vinegar and cause an off taste. I don’t know how the new copper pots would
work but I would suggest avoiding them.
For each quart jar of dill pickles you will need:
Cucumbers, about 2 medium or 1 and ½ large
1 tablespoon pickling salt- or kosher salt, do not use
iodized salt
2 cups of white vinegar
2 cups of water
1 heaping teaspoon of dill seeds- or 3-4 dill flower
heads
½ teaspoon of
mustard seeds
Several peppercorns, black or mixed
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 grape leaf - optional, adds crispness
(About spices-
they can be adjusted to your taste. These amounts are what I use. You can leave
one or two out. Since these are
refrigerator pickles you could leave the salt out, but the pickles won’t taste
as good. Do not use salt substitutes in
pickles. You can use garlic powder
but it makes a scummy layer on the jar bottom. Some people add a tablespoon of
sugar, or things like dried red pepper, celery seed or a slice of horse radish.
Make one jar of pickles first and taste it after 3 days and see if you like the
spice mixture then adjust if necessary. Pickles
get stronger in taste as they age.)
Wash your cucumbers well. They should be fresh, firm ones. It takes about 1 and a half large cukes or 2
medium ones to fill a quart. You do not
want to pack the jars too tightly for pickles. Cut off the blossom end- if you
can’t tell which end that is cut a slice off both ends and discard. The blossom
end has enzymes that will cause the pickles to be mushy.
Cut the cucumbers into thin slices or spears, whichever
you prefer. The pieces must be about an
inch below the jar rim because they must be completely covered with the
brine. Put them in the jar.
I put a grape leaf in each jar before the cuke pieces. Grape leaves help pickles crisp up. You can use any type of grape leaf, wild ones
are fine, just don’t use any that are sprayed with pesticides or that come from
close to a road, where they are often covered with pollutants in road
dust. Wash them before placing them in
the jars.
Heat the vinegar, water and spices in a pan until they
come to a boil. Pour the hot brine over
the cucumber pieces until they are completely covered. Make sure the spices go into the jar with the
fluid. Put on the lid and tighten. If you have extra fluid save it in the
refrigerator to add to your next batch or discard.
After the jars cool to room temperature put them in the
refrigerator. Some jars may seal as they
cool but these jars are not safe to
store outside the refrigerator. Store
these pickles refrigerated. They’ll keep
for 1-2 months this way. You can taste
the pickles right away but they will be better if you let at least 3 days
pass. The taste gets stronger as they
age.
If you ever notice mold or a bad smell, discard those
pickles at once.
You can make bread and butter and sweet pickles this
way too. Just look up a recipe for them
and use those spices and flavorings.
There are more recipes for pickles in the canning page listed on the
sidebar of this blog.
Identifying
Giant Ragweed Ambrosia trifida
Giant ragweed isn’t as common as regular ragweed so
when I saw what I suspected was a giant ragweed plant coming up in a front
flower bed I let it grow so I could get a good picture of the plant. (I’m funny that way.) It will now be dispatched to the compost
pile.
Giant ragweed can cause “hay fever” (pollen allergy)
just like its cousin common ragweed so you probably don’t want to encourage its
growth. It’s an annual plant that grows from
seed each year to often imposing heights.
In a good, sunny area the plant can get 6 feet tall or more and some
bottom leaves can be 8 inches across.
Giant ragweed has 3 lobed (sometimes 5) palmate (hand
like) leaves that remind some people of marihuana, hence the common name wild
hemp. The margins of the leaflets are toothed, but not as obviously as those of
true marihuana, and the leaflets much broader.
And Giant Ragweed leaves do not have any of the pleasant qualities of
marihuana. The leaves are arranged
opposite each other on the woody stem.
Both stems and leaves are covered with fine hairs. The leaf stem is winged near the main stem. Some
plants may have several large branches. Plants have a short taproot and a large
fibrous root mat.
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| Giant ragweed, in shade, this one is about 4 feet tall |
The flowers of Giant Ragweed are greenish white and
inconspicuous although the pollen they produce and release into the wind can cause
much distress to hay fever sufferers.
Male flowers are produced on spikes at the top of the plant so the
pollen is better distributed into the wind.
Female flowers are below them in short clusters in leaf axils. Each female flower makes a single seed.
The woody stems and seed pods of Giant Ragweed will persist
well into winter. Plants will grow in
sun or partial shade and prefer fertile, moist soil although they can pop up in
many places. They grow from seed. It is a native plant and found throughout
much of the US and Canada.
Giant Ragweed is edible when young if you like foraged
foods. It is believed that indigenous peoples
used ragweed in several medicinal ways, such as a tea for diarrhea and
pneumonia and a poultice for insect stings.
It’s unclear whether common ragweed or Giant Ragweed or both were used
for these purposes. Because of the
severe reaction to ragweed pollen that many people get it’s not a good plant to
cultivate for herbal use unless you are careful to never let it flower.
Probably the best use for Giant Ragweed is to pull it
and use it in your compost pile. It is
said to be a compost “activator” and full of minerals as well as a provider of
lots of organic matter. Pull and compost
it before it goes to seed or you may find it coming up in places where you put
the compost.
Blackberry
cobbler, sweet corn and tomatoes, August is good eating.
Kim Willis
“He who has a garden and
a library wants for nothing” ― Cicero
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.
Do you have plants or seeds you would like to swap or share? Post them here by emailing me. You can also
ask me to post garden related events. Kimwillis151@gmail.com
An
interesting Plant Id page you can join on Facebook
Here’s a
seed/plant sharing group you can join on Facebook
Invitation
If you are a gardener
in Michigan close to Lapeer we invite you to join the Lapeer Area Horticultural
Society. The club meets once a month, 6:30 pm, on the third Monday at various
places for a short educational talk, snacks and socializing with fellow
gardeners. No educational or volunteer requirements for membership, all are
welcome. Membership dues are $20 per year. Come and visit us, sit in on a meeting
for free. Contact
susanmklaffer@yahoo.com Phone
810-664-8912
For Sale: I have baby parakeets for sale, hatched this
spring $10 each. They are not hand
fed. Beautiful colors, lutino, (yellow)
and shades of pale green, olive green, and sea green. Some I can sex now, others are a guess. You’ll need to bring your own cage. Parakeets are active birds that are a lot of
fun to watch. Call at 989-761-7609.
Also for sale Muscovy
ducklings, black laced, about 3 months old, fine to be without mom but you must
buy at least 2, unless you have other ducks.
$5 each. Call the number above.
Muscovy are flying ducks, large sized and make good meat ducks. They do not quack- and are very quiet.
New- Native
Shrubs & Trees-
Thursday, Sep 8, 2016 6:30-8:30pm, MSU Tollgate Education Conference Center,
28115 Meadowbrook Rd, Novi, MI
Come
discover the usefulness of native woody plants in the landscape. Gardeners
wishing to include more natives in their plantings have lots of beautiful
options. Natives look good, often require less care, and can be more beneficial
to native insects and other creatures than are non-native ornamentals. A
component of this class will be a walk around the Tollgate grounds to view some
of the plants discussed in the lecture. Mary Wilson has been an MSU
Horticulture Educator for 30 years with a focus on environmental horticulture. $25.
For more information http://tollgate.msu.edu/events.
New- Basics
of Honey Bees and Beekeeping,
Thursday September 22, 6:30-8:30pm, MSU Tollgate Education Conference Center,
28115 Meadowbrook Rd, Novi, MI
Bees have
been in the spotlight lately – for good reason. So many food crops depend on
bees and other pollinators for production – including our vegetable gardens and
fruit trees. Clay Ottoni will introduce us to the fascinating world of honey
bees and beekeeping. We will also learn what we can grow in our yard to support
and encourage these industrious insects. One lucky attendee will win a bottle of
honey! In addition to being an attorney, beekeeper, and farmer, Clay is current
president of SEMBA (Southeast Michigan Beekeepers Association) http://www.sembabees.org/ and a long time beekeeper.
$25. For more information http://tollgate.msu.edu/events.
New - Southeast
Michigan Dahlia Show, Sep
10 – 11, 2016 Orchard Mall, 6337
Orchard Lake Rd, West Bloomfield Township, MI
See
hundreds of dahlias on exhibit during the hours the mall is open presented by
the Southeast Michigan Dahlia Society. Free.
For more information: judy892@wowway.com.
Summer is
here! Our days are longer and there is more hours of light to enjoy being outdoors.
We welcome you to join us: experience nature and be inspired! Back Track To
Nature will offer programs on two of Lapeer Land Conservancy properties. As
well as at Three Roods Farm and the Tibbits Nature Sanctuary both located in
Columbiaville, MI.
We offer
environmental education programs for scouts, seniors, homeschoolers, garden
clubs, youth groups, retreats, special interest groups and we will tailor
programming to fit your specific needs.
A Great
Hundred Acre Wood Adventure ( Kids
program) 2pm - 3pm Sunday, August
14,2016 Tibbits Nature Sanctuary
Aldo
Leopold Bench Building Workshop 1:30pm
- 4:30pm, Saturday, August 27, 2016
Tibbits Nature Sanctuary
Reservations
are needed for all programs listed. Please call or email Karen at 810-969-1023 and
pagekp@gmail.com Directions to the
Tibbits Nature Sanctuary and Riseman Refuge will be given at the time of
registration. Thank you!
Here’s a facebook page link for
gardeners in the Lapeer area. This link
has a lot of events listed on it.
Here’s a
link to all the nature programs being offered at Seven Ponds Nature center in
Dryden, Michigan. http://www.sevenponds.org/
Here’s a
link to classes being offered at Campbell’s Greenhouse, 4077 Burnside Road,
North Branch.
Here’s a
link to classes and events at Nichols Arboretum, Ann Arbor
Here’s a
link to programs being offered at English Gardens, several locations in
Michigan.
Here’s a
link to classes at Telly’s Greenhouse in Troy and Shelby Twsp. MI, and now
combined with Goldner Walsh in Pontiac MI.
Here’s a link
to classes and events at Bordines, Rochester Hills, Grand Blanc, Clarkston and
Brighton locations
Here’s a
link to events at the Leslie Science and Nature Center, 1831 Traver Road Ann
Arbor, Michigan | Phone 734-997-1553 |
http://www.lesliesnc.org/
Here’s a link to events at Hidden Lake Gardens, 6214
Monroe Rd, Tipton, MI
Here’s a
link to events and classes at Fredrick Meijer Gardens, Grand Rapids Mi
http://www.meijergardens.org/learn/ (888) 957-1580, (616) 957-1580
Newsletter
information
If you would
like to pass along a notice about an educational event or a volunteer
opportunity please send me an email before Tuesday of each week and I will
print it. Also if you have a comment or opinion you’d like to share, send it to
me. Please state that you want to have the item published in my weekly notes.
You must give your full name and what you say must be polite and not attack any
individual. I am very open to ideas and opinions that don’t match mine but I do
reserve the right to publish what I want.
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. It’s a hobby, basically. I hope you enjoy it. If at any time you
don’t wish to receive these emails just let me know. If you know anyone who
would like to receive these emails have them send email address to me. KimWillis151@gmail.com
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