Hi
Gardeners
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| Amaryllis |
It’s so beautiful here today, a sunny spring day. I remember as a grade school child going out
to recess on a day like this, going to the far end of the playground and
knowing one of my favorite routes to nature and freedom (the railroad tracks), was
only a half block away. I was always too
chicken to sneak away but my whole day was spent longing for school to be over
so I could be outside.
Yesterday spring began – hooray! We have had some winter like weather in the
last week so I hope nature respects the calendar and keeps spring in the
forecast. (Unfortunately it’s supposed
to get cold again tomorrow, for a day or two.) The birds are singing like crazy and yesterday
and today I even heard frogs. The turkey
vultures are back so that’s a good sign too.
Inside I have a beautiful amaryllis in bloom and the
hibiscus is blooming again too. I picked
my first lemon ever from my own tree. It’s
very small but it tastes very lemony.
One more little lemon is left. Hopefully
if I put the tree back outside for summer so its blooms can get pollinated I’ll
get more lemons next year.
Outside the winter aconite and the early crocus are
blooming. Some snowdrops are still
blooming. The black willow is blooming and buds are swelling on the red maple,
redbud, forsythia and other things.
Lilacs are showing green leaf tips.
The honeysuckles that are already leafing out had some damage to the
leaves from the cold last week but I am sure they will recover.
I made a summer bulb order last week. I want to try some of the minor bulbs I haven’t
tried before. Most aren’t hardy here so they
will be planted in pots to overwinter inside. And I ordered some new dahlias of course. I also ordered some unusual plants, ever hear
of Omphaloides?
Yesterday was the vernal equinox, the first day of
spring. Equinox is supposed to mean that
the days and nights are equal in length but that isn’t exactly true. If you count twilight and dawn as day, there
are about 13 hours of light, here in Michigan.
The sun is moving from its low, southern inclination to higher in the
sky and to the north. It’s half the
distance it will travel upward in the sky at the spring equinox. If you go outside today you can see exact
east and west by looking at where the sun is positioned. Like the ancient people maybe you can mark
this spot, or find a landmark that lines up with it.
The ancient peoples were very aware of the
equinoxes. The Egyptian sphinx points
directly to the sun at the spring equinox.
The equinox signifies renewal in the northern hemisphere, a time when
everything is awaking from dormancy. In
ancient history the spring equinox symbolized the dividing line between the
dark and light times of the year. Almost
every culture has a deity that is resurrected from the dead at this time of the
year.
The Christian celebration of Easter occurs on the first
Sunday after the full moon after the equinox (although current historical
dating would place Christ’s crucifixion as sometime in late April/early May.) This
year Easter is quite late, April 16th. The March full moon was the 12th, before
the equinox and Aprils full moon is the 11th.
Around the time of the equinox there is often
interruption in services that are beamed off stationary satellites. That’s because the orbit of these satellites
means that the sun will block them from Earth at some point during the
day. As the sun moves higher in the sky
this ceases, until the autumn equinox, when the sun is again in the right
alignment.
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| My tiny lemon |
That
smell, oh that smell
If you are of a certain age you may remember a song by Lynyrd
Skynyrd called Oooh that smell. When I
step outside and smell the spring air, that earthy, sweet smell so associated
with spring, that song plays in my mind. (Of course Lynyrd was not referring to
the smell of soil. If
you want
to listen (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4j7ggZqbiU) It’s just a catchy song, someone needs to
rewrite it for gardeners.
That smell of spring comes from the earth, the smell of
actinobacteria in soil waking up and getting to work. The word “Petrichor” was
coined by the Greeks and refers to the smell of rain falling on soil. I think this word would also apply to the
smell of soil in the spring, (mostly because I can’t find any other big word to
use.)
Researchers say this smell of soil seems to invoke
pleasant memories in humans; we breathe deep and savor it, especially when we
haven’t smelled it in a while. Actinobacteria
called
Streptomyces release an organic compound called geosmin into the soil. When
moisture falls on dry soil or is percolated out of soil by the sun on bare soil
in early spring, small bubbles form on the surface of the soil. These bubbles
release gases into the air containing organic compounds, including that of
geosmin, which are what we smell.
 |
| Crocus and spring soil |
Different soils release slightly different smells. Most
people don’t differentiate the smells but some people have a keen nose for soil
and can determine different types of soil from their smell. When plant growth has begun oils from plants
contribute to the smell of soil too. That’s
why the smell of rain on soil later in summer is different from wet soil in
spring.
Researchers have noted that smelling soil, getting down
close to it and handling it, can relive depression and lift the spirits. Our ancient souls recognize from which we came,
a marriage of bacteria and earth. The
Latin word humus means soil and it’s no mistake that the word human is so close
to it. We come from the earth and will
return to it. Get outside and smell the
soil.
Its
wildfire season
If you are one of the gardeners that uses burning as a
clean-up tool, if you burn off the old ornamental grasses, the ditch sides, the
piles of branches and debris from winter storms and so on, be very
careful. It may not seem like it but
spring weather and landscape conditions can make some areas ripe for fire. Already there have been some devastating
wildfires in the southwest. While rural
areas and small towns surrounding by natural areas are often hardest hit,
suburban areas can also be damaged by grass and brush fires.
Some conditions in the spring that make wildfires more
likely include lots of dead grasses, leaves and scattered storm debris coupled
with warm days with low humidity and possibly spring thunderstorms. Even though the landscape is starting to
green up there’s a lot of “leftovers” that haven’t broken down. Windy conditions common in spring help spread
fires once they begin.
If you are in a rural community you may be familiar with
“red flag” conditions. When a red flag
is flown outside a municipal building, usually a fire department or town hall,
burning is prohibited. Many communities also
have permanent rules against burning.
If you decide that you are going to use fire to do some
clean up make sure you plan to be present the whole time the fire is
burning. Have some way to control flames
that get out of hand. A shovel, fire
extinguisher, buckets of water or a hose, or in some cases large equipment like
a tractor with a blade on the front should be nearby. Don’t start a fire on a windy day and avoid
warm, dry days with very low humidity. If
you do some burning make sure the fire is completely out before you leave the
area.
In rural areas you can be charged for a fire run even
if your fire isn’t out of control. If
someone sees fire, is concerned and calls the fire department and they respond,
you could get a large bill. You may want
to notify neighbors and the local fire department if you are going to be doing
large scale burning.
If you live in a fire prone area get your winter debris
cleaned up and in a compost pile. Wet
that down if it’s been dry. Be on the alert for fires and summon help to get
them out before they get out of control.
Cheerios
seed give away
Going the rounds on line this week is a controversy
over “wildflower” seeds being giving away by the manufacturers of
Cheerios. The mascot for the brand is a
bee and they are using that to promote saving bees and hence the seed
giveaway. You would think –wow free
seeds – how can that be bad? But some
people will complain about anything. (Before you get too excited General Mills
has announced the seeds are all gone.)
The first complaint of course, was that some of the
flowers in the mix, such as Forget-me nots, were invasive. The second common
complaint was that the seed mix wasn’t tailored for each recipient’s distinct
locality. The company that provided the seeds should know better they
complained.
Some people debated just how good the flowers in the
mix were for bees, and whether we should promote non-native honey bee survival
over native bees. Then there were those who criticized General Mills (Cheerios)
because they use grain products that are GMO’s and sprayed with Monsanto
products, so why are they “pretending” to be environmentally friendly? Yep, all that controversy over free seeds.
The mix contained Chinese Forget-Me-Not, Siberian
Wallflower, California Poppy, Orange Coneflower, China Purple Aster, Lance
Leaved Coreopsis, Blue Flax, Baby Blue Eyes, Globe Gilia, Indian Blanket,
Tidy–tips, Plains Coreopsis, Tall White Sweet Alyssum, Lavender Hyssop,
Fleabane Daisy. New England Aster, Bergamot. As you can see some of these
plants are native to North America, some are not. They were chosen because they provide nectar
or pollen or both for bees. Packets
contained 100 seeds; I have no idea what the percentages of each type of seed
were.
Gardens are full of plants that aren’t native and bees
don’t, for the most part, care about whether a plant is native or not. The argument that the flowers from the seeds
will not help native bees is tenuous at best. There are a few specialist bees,
but it’s more important to some plants to have a certain native pollinator than
for most bee species to have a certain plant.
Could the bees forsake the plants that need them for these
“invaders”? Possibly but more plants
bees can feed on mean more bees so it probably equals out.
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| Bee on oregano |
Will these plants attract non- native bees like honey
bees which will out compete native bees?
Once again, invasive plants are rarely the cause of another native plant
disappearing. So if native “specialist”
bees are disappearing it’s because conditions in the environment have
changed. Some species of both animals
and plants adapt. And it doesn’t mean that if you don’t plant those seeds that
native bees will stick around. Bees of
various types usually manage to co-exist quite well. And if there are flowers that non-native
species prefer over native ones, that leaves the native flowers for the
specialist bees.
To the complaint that the seeds contained some
non-native species I say so what? These
are tiny packages and if they get planted most people will plant them in a
little tiny patch in their yard. If you
managed to score a packet of the seeds, plant them on your own property. Then
don’t worry about them being invasive.
None of the listed plants are dangerous (but don’t eat them). Some are annuals, so they won’t be back the
second year unless they self-seed. If
you are really worried about them spreading cut the flowers off when they start
to fade so they don’t make seed.
The Forget-me-nots seem to be getting the brunt of the
non-native plant hater’s complaints. These
have been grown in gardens for a long, long, time. My grandmother had them, I’ve grown
them. They were often given as free seed
packets in catalog orders. There are
actually two types of plants called Forget –me –nots, Myosotis sylvatica and Cynoglossum
amabile, the seed probably in the mix. Both have small, usually blue flowers. Myosotis
is perennial or biannual, Cynoglossum
is an annual with sticky seeds. Both attract bees. Both are often listed as wildflowers. Both are non-native plants.
These small plants, if they escape, may occupy space
that a native plant once occupied, but that doesn’t mean they overpowered the
native species. More than likely the
native plants which were once there are no longer there because the
environment/habitat has changed. A
replacement plant that is pretty and feeds the bees seems to be a fair deal.
As far as the seeds not being selected for the region,
come on, they’re free. Most of the
plants I see listed are very adaptable.
What isn’t adaptable probably won’t grow. And once again – just because they aren’t
native to the region doesn’t mean they don’t have value to the bees.
Many native wildflowers can be tricky to grow from
seed, and may take years to bloom. Many
of these are expensive and scarce. If
you want them fine, but don’t expect them in a free packet of seed. I don’t
think those who want to specialize in native regional plants regardless of
their appeal to humans should criticize those who want something pretty that
will also help the bees. Each to their
own.
The truth is that a great many of those tiny packets of
seed won’t get planted at all and of those that do, most won’t be planted
correctly and actually germinate and grow.
A small percentage of the 1.5 billion seeds that were given out will
actually become plants and only a small fraction of those will become
“invasive”.
By the way, to start packets of seed like this, packets
of mixed wildflowers and so on, you can’t just sprinkle them on the
ground. You need to work up the soil,
get weeds and grass out of it, plant the seeds in bare ground with loosened
soil and keep them watered until they are up and growing well.
The idea that General Mills shouldn’t offer free seeds
because they use GMO plants or plants sprayed with pesticides in their food products
is just silly. If anything we should
expect them to offer more free seeds or plants.
General Mills does fund some honeybee research, which is also good. Why are we criticizing them for trying to do
some good for the environment? We should
be thanking them and urging them to do more.
One more little thing being mentioned in all the
articles is that General Mills is removing the honeybee mascot from their
packages because honeybees are disappearing.
People often mistake the concern over honeybee problems the honeybee
keepers are having with domestic hives with the decline of native
pollinators. Honeybees are not
endangered. People may be having trouble keeping them in hives but as far as
numbers go, they are not endangered.
Don’t get me wrong, we need honeybees to pollinate some
of our food crops, and it is important to try and halt the various diseases and
pests or chemical actions that are harming them. Some (but not all) native bee species are
endangered and many populations are declining.
It is important that we also understand what these bees need and how
they are affected by things that also affect the honeybee, because they are
essential in the environment. But
planting wildflowers is more likely to help than harm native bees, as well as
honeybees, even if those flowers aren’t native species.
Here is the original site- but I don’t think there are
any seeds left.
Roundup
lawsuit controversy
The “is Round Up- (glyphosate) safe” debate is also
stirred up again because of a lawsuit working its way through the courts. In the lawsuit the plaintiff is arguing that
Monsanto doctored some of the research on to make it seem glyphosate is safer
than it is. They allege among other
things, that people wrote “ghost papers” and just paid researchers to sign
them. They are also alleging that some
of the supposedly inert ingredients added to formulations of various products
can make glyphosate more harmful than the chemical alone. That the product causes cancer is one health
risk claimed.
I am reading the court documents and trying to decipher
if any of this will change my mind on glyphosate. You can read them at https://usrtk.org/pesticides/mdl-monsanto-glyphosate-cancer-case-key-documents-analysis/ and make up your own mind. Please keep an open, inquiring mind. The case is being brought by an environmental
group who is openly against Monsanto, the company that developed glyphosate but
on the other hand, that doesn’t mean some of the case doesn’t have merit.
This is an interesting debate. I don’t use the product, because I think it’s
unnecessary in most cases, but I do believe, like many professionals that glyphosate
is fairly safe as pesticides go. But
also, unlike some professionals, I don’t believe the matter is completely
settled.
I am most interested in the idea that when certain
things are added to glyphosate, like “stickers and spreaders”
that they may change how the chemical interacts with animal bodies. One ingredient, for example, was found to
make the product more fat soluble and therefore it would also penetrate human
skin better than plain glyphosate. I
have read research that found different conclusions when plain pure glyphosate
was tested against a product made with glyphosate bought off the shelf. The products on the shelf have additives.
Documents uncovered in the lawsuit also talk about how
these additives and maybe even glyphosate itself may interact with
things in the environment and produce by-products like nitrates that would not
occur in the lab. It’s conceivable that
Monsanto can be right when it claims glyphosate is fairly harmless and yet not
truthful when it claims a product like Round Up is harmless.
Some experts are dismissing the lawsuit because it’s
brought by environmental activist groups and because they feel that there has
been enough research on the product to assure everyone its safe. They argue that even if research papers were
ghost written and people paid to sign them that peer review would have caught
any glaring inconsistencies or falsified information. That could be true. And it’s well known that Monsanto is everybody’s
boogerman when it comes to pesticides and chemicals. For some reason people love to hate Monsanto
and there seems to be some bias to many peoples opinion of their products and
actions.
What bothers me a bit though is that most of the
research done on glyphosate was done decades ago. I am not so certain it was falsified research
but I’m wondering if the formula for many products using glyphosate hasn’t
changed greatly in the last decade, which could alter the toxicity of the
products. There are different formulas
for products sold in different countries and for commercial/agriculture use and
for home use.
Have all these different current formulas been tested
under natural environmental conditions?
There’s no quick answer. My take
is Round-Up and other products using glyphosate (other
companies now make glyphosate products) should not be considered safer than other pesticides but rather
used in a careful, cautious manner only when absolutely necessary knowing that
it may carry some risk. That’s the best
way to use any pesticide actually. All
pesticides carry risk, and that also pertains to the “natural” concoctions
people whip up at home.
Calendula
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| Calendula |
Calendula is a plant I almost always have in the
garden. It’s considered to be both an
herb and an ornamental. It’s a great
cool weather plant, both for spring and fall.
It’s too bad that many modern gardeners seem to forget this beautiful
annual plant.
Calendula is an ancient garden plant, grown throughout
Europe and was commonly known as the marigold or Pot Marigold. It was used as a
medicinal plant and as an ornamental. Then the other type of marigold was
discovered in the New World, Tagetes,
the bedding plant that Americans commonly refer to as the marigold. It was confusing to have two common garden
plants with the same name, so now we use the name marigold for the species
Tagetes and calendula for the wonderful, but almost forgotten, plant formally
known as the marigold.
Calendula grows to about 18 inches high and branches
freely. Leaves are long ovals wider at
the end, with a prominent vein down the center and gray-green to medium
green.
Calendula flowers seem to glow or shine, in clear
shades of vivid orange and yellow, and they are wonderful in flower arrangements. The flower is daisy-like and 2-4 inches in
size. For a long time calendulas were always a solid color, usually orange or
yellow, but recently plant breeders have introduced varieties with blends of
colors and some softer pastel colors. Calendula flowers open in the day and close
at night or in bad weather.
Varieties
Good ornamental varieties of calendula are ‘Citrus
Smoothies‘, very double flowers in pastel blends of apricot and lemon with a
light outer edge, ‘Orange Porcupine’, which has a quilled look to the bright
orange petals, ‘Geisha Girl‘, which is a another deep orange with a very full
look, almost like a small mum, and ‘Neon‘, a deep orange edged in
burgundy.
The ‘Flashback’ strain has maroon on the back of each
flower petal and the front of the petal is a contrasting color, including
peachy pinks. The ‘Pacific Giant’ strain
has been around a long time and is a blend of many shades of yellow and
orange. It has some resistance to heat.
There are other improved varieties of calendula and new varieties are coming on
the market every year.
Growing
calendula
Calendula is extremely easy to grow. The seeds are usually planted where they are
to grow, but they can be started inside. Outside, plant seeds 2-3 weeks before
the average last frost in your area. If
planting inside, start them about six weeks before your expected last frost.
Cover the seeds lightly and keep them moist. They bloom quickly from seed,
often as soon as six weeks after planting. You can sometimes find calendula
plants in nurseries in the spring for immediate color, and sowing seed in early
July in the garden will give you beautiful fall flowers as well.
Calendula prefers full sun and average soil moisture. They
will grow in almost any soil as long as it’s well drained. Little or no fertilizer is needed. They prefer
cool weather and tend to sulk or die in hot humid weather. Sometimes plants that quit blooming in the
heat resume blooming in cool weather.
Calendulas also need to have the flowers picked off as
they fade, or they will quit blooming.
They are an annual plant, but they will re-seed freely in the garden,
and you will get new plants each year if you let some go to seed. You can also save seed to sow in early spring.
Uses
of calendula
Calendula flowers are edible and can be added to salads
for a colorful touch. The petals of
calendula have long been used to impart a golden color to soups, egg dishes,
rice, cheese and even butter. Calendula flowers are fed to chickens to make egg
yolks a deeper yellow and to give the skins of broilers a golden color. (If you use calendula flowers in food make
sure they have not been sprayed with any pesticides.)
Calendula can be used as a tea for stomach upset by
steeping 5 teaspoons of fresh flower petals in hot water. If this mixture is allowed to cool it makes
an excellent mouthwash, especially for sore and bleeding gums, because of its
antiseptic properties. Crushing a calendula flower on an insect sting will ease
the pain. Calendula is used in soothing
salves, foot baths, and facial care products.
If you want the variety used for most commercial herbal preparations
look for ‘Erfurter Orange‘.
Chocolate
Cherry Crockpot Cobbler
Did you know your crockpot can make dessert too? Try this easy delicious dessert. It’s a warm, delicious ending to a meal or eat
it as a snack. I like a chocolate cake
with this but you can also use a cherry cake mix, or white or yellow. You can also use other fruits for different
cobblers.
You won’t need an entire cake mix for this so close up
the plastic bag the mix comes in tightly and freeze the left over mix for
another use. Or you can double the
recipe and use a 6 quart slow cooker.
A 3 quart or 6 quart slow cooker can be used; the
larger cooker will actually take less time to cook. You can spray the inside of your cooker with
pan spray to help with clean up or use a crockpot liner. I’m sorry I don’t have a picture of this.
Ingredients
16 oz. can (2 cups) cherry pie filling
1 ¾ cup chocolate cake mix
1 egg
3 tablespoons cream
½ teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
Directions
Grease sides of crockpot, use pan spray or liner for
easy clean up.
Put the cherry filling in the crockpot and turn it on
high.
Mix together cake mix, egg, cream and cinnamon. The mix will look crumbly.
Wait 30 minutes and spoon the cake mixture over the cherries
in the crockpot. (Cherry mixture should
be hot.)
Turn the heat down to low and cook for about 3 hours-
it is done when a toothpick inserted in the cake topping comes out clean. In some crockpots it will take longer, in
some less time.
Serve warm with a dollop of whipped cream.
Get
outside and smell the soil
Kim Willis
“He who has a garden and
a library wants for nothing” ― Cicero
© Kim Willis - no parts of this newsletter may be used
without permission.
And
So On….
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