Hi
Gardeners
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| Red Crown Imperial |
I saw an Oriole this morning, in the cold misty rain. Maybe the hummingbirds will be here soon
too. I saw him at my back feeder, eating
suet. In the front yard I have an Oriole
feeder that I put grape jelly in a couple weeks ago. I hurried out there to check it and the jelly
was gone and I have no more. I filled
the dish with pineapple tidbits and sugar water and a small orange cut in
half. My husband said he was there
eating. I’ll get more jelly later today
to keep him around.
We have had 1 ½ inches of rain in the last 2 days. That’s better than what was predicted for us,
which was 3 inches. But it’s been a wet
spring this year across the country.
Experts are predicting the rest of spring and summer will remain
wet. That means the drought is gone
across much of the country but other problems can happen with too much rain,
like delayed planting of crops. Still I
am happy our weather included only rain and not snow like Kansas had or
tornadoes that many across the country received.
Wind has also been a problem here; even without storms
many days have been so windy it’s difficult to do things outside. Many people are telling me that they don’t
remember as much wind in other years, or when they were younger. And people are right in their
observations. Since at least 2011
scientists have noted that we are having more really windy days and higher wind
speeds. How about you? Do you think it’s
windier than 20 years ago?
There’s still no consensus that more wind is caused by
climate change, although it’s starting to seem that way. Wind is usually caused by differences in air
pressure, low air pressure meeting high air pressure, and by temperature differences,
like where a warmer water surface meets colder land surfaces. Climate change has caused more erratic
weather patterns, more and faster switching from high to low air pressure waves
so it stands to reason this may explain the higher and more frequent windy
conditions.
Spring
is early
According to my records the sequence of plant bloom is
a week to 2 weeks early this year, depending on the species. The redbud is in full bloom, my clove current
is making the yard smell wonderful, the lilacs are beginning to bloom; the
flowering quince is still in bloom. The
pears, cherries and apples are blooming and I found 2 flowers on my little peach
tree. Some beach plums I have by the
pond are in bloom and attracting lots of bees.
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| Tulip Banja Luka |
The crocus are gone and many of the daffodils, but the
tulips and hyacinths are looking great. I am greatly impressed with the tulip ‘Banja
Luca’ I planted last fall. It’s yellow
with red flames on the edges and some streaking. It glows in the sun. The trillium and trout lilies are blooming
nicely. The Crown Imperial (Fritillaria imperialis) is very pretty
right now. Also in bloom Bleeding
Hearts, Forget- me- not, creeping phlox, and Spanish bluebells. The sweet woodruff is just starting to bloom.
My lettuce I planted early in April is up and growing
nicely but the potatoes I planted are still just sitting there. The strawberries are beginning to bloom and
there are buds on the blueberries. My little greenhouse is full of seedlings
and pots of summer bulbs. Inside my
lemon tree is beginning to bloom and I had a beautiful bloom on a yellow
hibiscus this morning. The orange
jasmine has buds.
Foraging
and children
May is morel mushroom month in the northeast and I
noticed that a lot of people are posting pictures of their finds. It’s also ramp season in many places. (See
article below on scallions, leeks and ramps.)
Please be very careful about identifying these plants before eating
them. Both morel mushrooms and ramps
have close lookalikes that can make you very sick or even kill you. (Ramps look
like lilies of the valley, which are toxic.) Forage with an experienced person
the first couple of times.
I know it seems like a fun activity to take your kids foraging
for wild foods. And for older kids it’s
probably fine. But I urge parents to
leave small children behind when foraging.
I have seen bad things happen when small children pick and eat things
like mushrooms because they have seen their parents do it. A child’s small body is less likely to handle
toxic plants well and even a few bites of some mushrooms can have serious
consequences. I have sent several
parents with their child to emergency rooms after seeing or hearing about what
the child has ingested.
Teach your children not to eat anything they find
growing wild until they have consulted with you. Very young children model their parent’s
behavior and they often can’t determine what is a safe plant to eat and what is
not. They may be on the playground or
playing in the backyard and see something they believe is edible. The age at
which a child is able to be trusted to identify plants will vary and you as their
parent are best equipped to know when that time is. Until then don’t taste or eat wild things in
front of them, or harvest wild foods in front of them, even when you are warning them not to do the
same thing. Because kids always obey
their parents, right?
May
almanac
May is a pretty month, almost as good as June. The full
moon is May 10th and appropriately enough it’s called the flower
moon. Perigee is the 25th and apogee of the moon is on the 12th.
Other names for May’s full moon are
mother’s moon and milk moon- because new mothers and their milk are everywhere.
The month name of May is derived from the name of the Greek goddess Maia,
associated with fertility.
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| Fringed tulip |
There are two sets of notable days in May folklore. The
first is Chilly Saints days, named for the Saints Mameritus, Pancras, and
Gervais. The days are the 11th,
12th, and 13th and it is said that these days will be
cold and frosty. In 2016 these days were warm and rainy but we had snow
flurries on the 15th. I think
the Chilly Saints days are earlier this year like everything else because we
are having some chilly days here right now, like a lot of the country.
The second set of folklore days is the Ember days. May Ember days are the 22nd, 24th
and 25th. On the 22nd
the weather predicts the weather for June, the 24th predicts July
weather and the 25th predicts the August weather. Example: if it’s cold and wet on the 22nd
of May the month of June is supposed to be cold and wet. Let’s see how that
worked out here.
In 2016 May 22nd was sunny and average in
temperature. June 2016 was pretty
average in sun and above average in temperature. May 24th 2016 was sunny, warm and
humid. July 2016 was hot and wetter than
average. May 25th, 2016 was partly
sunny and hot. August 2016 was average
in temperature and rain.
Mother’s Day, 14th, and Memorial Day, 29th,
in May are some of the biggest sales days that greenhouses have and May is
almost synonymous with a trip to buy flowers. May is planting month around
here. Plant something every day! May’s full moon is said to be a great time to
harvest any medicinal herbs that are growing for their maximum potency. It’s
good that Memorial Day is late this year because it’s a date many people use to
signify it’s safe to plant everything.
But beware- frost can still happen, although it isn’t likely.
May Day, May 1, has passed, Cinco de Mayo is May 5th
, May 6th is No Diet Day which is great. It’s also National Teachers day so hug a
teacher. May 8th is World Red
Cross day and Iris day. The 16th
is Love a Tree day. The 29th
is Learn about Composting day and the 30th is Water Your Flowers
Day.
May is National Barb-b-Que month, National Salad Month,
National Egg month, National Hamburger month and National Date your Mate month.
May is also Older Americans month, Bike Month, National Skin Cancer Awareness
month and Blood Pressure Awareness month.
May’s birth flower is the Lily of the Valley. It signifies sweetness and humility. (But
remember its poisonous) It also means a
return to happiness and you are supposed to give them to people you find
complete happiness with. The birthstone
is the emerald which is a symbol of re-birth.
Blue
strawberries
Here’s a warning to gardeners out there. People are passing around pictures of blue
strawberries with ads offering seeds for sale.
THERE ARE NO BLUE STRAWBERRIES. This is a hoax. The pictures have been altered by
photoshop. The so called blue strawberry
seeds are even being sold on Amazon. I tried lodging a complaint with Amazon
but they responded by saying the seller has in small print- “the color may be
different from pictured.” They are
offered on EBay too, but you’ll find no reputable nurseries offering them.
Along with the offers for seeds you’ll also find people
warning against blue strawberries because they are genetically modified with
genes from Atlantic Flounder, a fish. It
is true that an attempt was made to induce better cold hardiness in
strawberries by inserting a gene from Atlantic flounder but the trial wasn’t
terribly successful and the berries are not on the market, either as a crop or
a novelty. And the GMO strawberries were
never blue, they were red.
There are white and yellow novelty strawberries. It’s true that to some people the white
strawberries taste a little like pineapple.
There are some very dark red strawberries being passed off as black or
purple. That’s a matter of color
perception I guess. But there are no
blue strawberries. Strawberries are best
purchased as plants, not seeds anyway.
The seeds are tricky to grow and plants are relatively cheap. If someone is offering blue strawberry seeds
to you I’d be real suspicious of what else they are selling.
There is a lot of fraud by seed sellers on places like
EBay and Amazon. Rose seeds of every
imaginable color (for example “Rainbow” roses) roses don’t breed true, blue
bananas, purple dwarf Japanese maple, Fuji apple (you can’t grow them from
seed, apples don’t breed true), and numerous other scams. Even the common seeds that are real varieties
are generally outrageously overpriced (Morning Glory seeds $11.99). You can get a lot of good deals on Amazon and
EBay, but I suggest you don’t buy seeds and plants there.
If you want to buy seeds and plants on line there are
numerous reputable places to do so. At
the right side of this blog is a link (Garden catalogs) to many, many places to
buy seeds and plants.
And be careful clicking on links related to blue
strawberries. I was going to get a
picture to use here, clicked on a link and got an attempt to hijack my computer
and had to shut everything down quickly.
When
gardening becomes a challenge
I certainly know what it’s like to be physically
challenged and a gardener. I have
mobility issues and struggle with hands deformed from arthritis. But gardening is my favorite activity – along
with writing about gardening, and I continue to do both. My husband is in a wheelchair but he
continues to be chief helper and lawn mower.
As we grow older gardening isn’t as easy as it used to
be. Knees ache, backs are stiff, hands
lose their grip. People of any age can
face gardening challenges because of injury or disease. You don’t have to give up on your garden
because of physical or even mental challenges.
With a few adaptations and some planning you can continue to enjoy
gardening.
Planning
Planning is the key to challenged gardening. Look at your landscape carefully and see
where you could make changes that would make it easier to access or care for
your garden. Maybe you are healthy now
but think about things you can do to make it easier to garden in the
future. We all age, accidents and
illness can happen at any time, and even if we don’t need the accessibility now
it’s nice to know that relatives and friends who have accessibility issues
could enjoy your garden.
If you are facing a lifestyle change that makes
gardening difficult and need to make a lot of changes to continue gardening,
consulting with a professional gardener or landscaper who has experience
designing accessible gardens can be a major help. To find them you could ask hospitals, nursing
and hospice facilities who does their landscaping. You can also interview landscapers or
gardeners to see if they have experience designing gardens for those physically
challenged. Another suggestion is to tour accessible public gardens for good
ideas.
Even if you cannot afford to hire a landscaper to do
the work, hiring someone with a non-biased eye and experience that can look at
your property and make suggestions can be very valuable. Maybe you or family members can then
gradually make the changes.
Use
the right tools and equipment
Buy tools that have large, padded ergonomically correct
handles. Try them before buying to see
if you can grip them and operate them. Ratcheting pruners require less hand strength
to use. Paint tool handles a bright
color to make them more visible.
I have three tools that I favor and that are almost
always with me. One is a small but
sturdy, short handled shovel that’s easy to use from a seated position. One is a cobra weeder, the tool with the
finger like blade and the other is a narrow hand spade, with a notch on the
end, and a serrated edge for sawing. I
also have ratcheting pruners, a pole pruner, and a good pruning saw.
Tool buckets with a padded lid allow you to keep all
your tools close as well as have a place to sit and garden from. There are special padded ‘wagons” you can sit
on as you garden. A walker with a seat
can be handy to use at the gardens edge, especially if it has a basket to carry
tools. I also have an old wheelchair
that has the seat replaced with boards.
I can put my tools on it or a bucket of water and push it to where I
need to be. I transport heavy pots and
bags of chicken feed on it. And if I
need it there’s a place to sit.
If you are still able to kneel use a padded kneeler
that has handles to help you up. Knee
pads that strap on your legs are also available. A long handled reacher kept
with your garden supplies can keep you from having to bend over as much.
Buy power tools with electric motors or at least
electric starters if pull start gasoline equipment is too hard to use. All of our smaller equipment is now electric
and the new electric or battery powered equipment is much stronger than it used
to be.
There are special, wide, deep tread tires for electric
and manual wheelchairs that make it easier to operate them on turf or bare
ground. A pouch over the wheelchair arm
can be used to hold garden supplies and tools.
My husband can get all around the yard, through the path in the field
and down to the pond on his electric chair unless the ground is too soft.
Give
up some dignity.
Sit or even lay on the ground rather than stooping and
kneeling. Bring a pad or cushion with
you to sit or lie on and make sure you can get up from that position. You’ll find me on the ground gardening all
spring and summer and right into bulb planting time in the fall. I bring meaning to the phrase “down and
dirty”.
Getting closer to the plants is also helpful for those
with vision difficulties. If you have
wide, firm surfaced paths a mechanics “creep” cart could be used. Lay on it face down and move yourself around
with your hands.
Wear comfortable clothes suitable for the weather. An apron with pockets is a very helpful
garden aid. Wear your glasses, soil and
dust can be hard on contacts. But be
careful when you get dust and dirt on your glasses, wash them with running
water before rubbing them or you may scratch plastic lenses as I have many
times.
Build
raised beds.
There are two types of accessible raised beds. One is a large table-like planter that your
knees can fit under as you sit in a wheel chair. The other is a bed/container that is raised
to a comfortable height and that has a wide edge that you can sit on as you
garden or that allows you to pull up next to them. These beds should be no wider than what you
can reach to the middle from either side.
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| Raised beds that are wheel chair accessible |
Raised beds take some time to build and there is an
expense involved but they will last for many years. If the expense is too much, get
creative. Old bathtubs and stock
drinking tanks are also good raised planters. Old refrigerators and freezers can have the
motor removed, be turned on their back, spray painted to blend in the landscape
and filled with a good potting mix to make a raised planter. You’ll need to drill holes in tanks, tubs and
frigs for good drainage.
Take
your time.
Gardening becomes painful when we try to do too much at
a time, especially when we first begin in the spring. Work in small segments of time each day,
gradually building up the time spent gardening if you can. If you are trying to
garden differently than you have previously it will take time to develop new
ways of doing things.
Change the type of things you are doing often. For example weed for an hour, and then do
some pruning or watering to avoid repetitive injury and reduce the chances for
sore muscles. And for goodness sake take
time to just sit and enjoy your garden.
Get
rid of difficult to care for plants and situations.
Some plants take much more care than others. Hedges that need to be trimmed and plants
that spread invasively should just be removed.
Or if you must have trimmed hedges consider hiring someone to trim them
once or twice a year. Tea roses that require spraying and special pruning can
be replaced with low care shrub roses or landscape roses. If you have ditches or hillsides that are
difficult to mow cover them with groundcovers or let them go un-mowed.
Planting native and non-native plants that are ideally
suited to your landscape conditions and that have low maintenance needs is a
good idea. They can be as attractive as
fussy perennials that need grooming and staking or plants that require frequent
watering. If you mow a lot of lawn
consider cutting down the lawn size.
Consider
paving
For a gardener paving over space seems almost like a
sin. But paved paths make garden accessibility
much easier for people in wheelchairs or using walkers. They are also better for people who have an
unsteady gait or vision problems. Raised
beds can be placed at the edge of paved paths or even at the edge of paved
patios or your driveway.
Consider moving gardens isolated by lawn to the edge of
paved driveways or walks. Even a
vegetable garden can be grown along a driveway.
You may be able to grow a container garden on a wood deck.
Paved paths used by wheelchairs should have a raised
“rim” on both sides to keep wheelchair wheels from falling off a side and
possibly tipping the chair over. These
paths should also have gentle slopes. If any steps remain, even small ones,
they should have a handrail.
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| Notice the brick edge to guide wheelchairs |
Watch
your health.
Make sure your tetanus shot is up to date. Wear sunscreen. If your medications make you burn easily or
become ill from over exposure to sun, garden in the early evening and morning. Wear insect repellent when there are
mosquitoes. Drink lots of fluid when
it’s hot.
Carry a cell phone with you. If you fall or get stuck somewhere you can
call for help. Wear any medical alert bracelets or necklaces you have when you
garden. It is probably best not to go
out and garden if your county has a bad air alert issued or the temperature is
very high.
If you have difficulty with vision use magnifying
glasses to read pesticide labels or ask someone to read them for you. Making a mistake mixing or using pesticides
could be a big hazard to your health.
Get
help with gardening.
Children, grandchildren or young neighbors often enjoy
working in gardens. With your
supervision they learn about gardening while functioning as your arms and
legs. There may be a mistake made now
and then but it’s a great way to spend time with young people.
Sometimes a young neighbor can be hired at a fraction
of the cost of hiring professional help to do things like mowing, weed
trimming, and pruning. A neighbor who
wants to garden but doesn’t have the space in his or her yard might be glad to
do some chores in exchange for a spot for a veggie garden.
Some service clubs and charitable organizations will
send volunteers to do heavier garden chores once or twice a year. Ask at a senior center or call some of the
organizations in your area to see if such services are available.
You don’t have to give up gardening if you face
physical obstacles. Gardening is good
for the mind and soul as well as the body. Just learn to garden smarter and
don’t worry about what others think about your gardening habits, or your garden.
Corydalis
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| Corydalis solida |
Corydalis solida,( kor-rid'uh-lis SOL-ih-dah) or fumewort,
is native to northern Europe and Asia.
It has naturalized in many Northeastern woodlands but is not considered
an invasive pest by most people. It can
be a delightful addition to the spring garden. Corydalis are spring ephemerals, which means
they begin growing in early spring but disappear by mid-summer. Corydalis are
hardy from zones 4-8.
Corydalis has gray-green, ferny looking foliage
consisting of a palmately compound leaf and plants get about 10 inches
tall. They form a tuberous root system.
The flowers appear in mid-spring and are held in
clusters above the foliage. They are
generally a shade of mauve, lavender or purple but are sometimes rose or
white. Corydalis flowers are long and
tubular, with a flare at the tip. The flowers are liked by bees and after
pollination form narrow seed pods which ripen about June. The plant will seed itself and spread if it
likes the spot. It’s a moderate spreader
in most places and since it disappears in summer I cannot see it becoming much
of a pest.
Corydalis likes moist, woodsy rich soil. It’s excellent under deciduous trees where it
gets some sun before it blooms but is shaded as late spring heat arrives. It’s also
a good plant for rock gardens in the north.
I suggest using it in partly shaded gardens combined with windflowers,
species tulips, trilliums, trout lilies, bloodroot, bluebells and other small
bulbs. Plant them among later sprouting
shade lovers like hosta and astilbe for a pretty show before those larger
plants overtake them. It can be planted
along woodland paths and edges.
Gardeners can plant seeds; they should be sown
immediately after the pods ripen for best germination. They probably will not bloom the first year
after seed planting in mid-summer. The
best way to start them however, is probably by buying the tubers and planting
them in the fall with other spring flowering bulbs.
There are a few cultivars of corydalis, ‘Beth Evans’ is
a pink flowered cultivar, but usually they will be sold as unnamed tubers. Yellow corydalis, Corydalis lutea, is another species of corydalis sometimes offered
for sale with yellow flowers.
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| Corydalis makes a good spring gtoundcover |
Herbal
and medicinal uses of corydalis
Corydalis is poisonous and should not be eaten. The Fumewort tubers have been used
medicinally for centuries in Chinese and European folk medicine. Tubers are harvested after the plants go
dormant, dried and powdered.
Uses of Fumewort include as a pain killer and sedative/
anti-anxiety medication and to lower blood pressure. It was often used for painful menstruation,
arthritis, and for painful injuries. The
tuber powder also has antibacterial properties. The plant also acts as a blood thinner.
Corydalis should be used very carefully in herbal
medicine. It can produce hallucinations and serious health problems if not used
correctly and in small doses. It should never be used by pregnant or nursing
women or those on anti-coagulants. Tell
your doctor if you are taking this.
Leeks,
shallots, scallions and ramps
If you do any cooking you have probably seen reference
to one of these onion family members.
Maybe you have dispensed with fancy and just used an onion in the recipe
but these plants do have different tastes and are botanically different from
one another also. They are good cool
weather garden crops and some are quite expensive to buy so experimenting with
a few in the home garden might be a great idea.
Here’s how to tell the difference between these delightful and delicious
plants.
Leeks
Leeks (Allium
ampeloprasum), are an old world vegetable.
While the Irish identify with shamrocks (and potatoes) the Welsh use the
leek on their national emblem. The leek
has a mild taste, somewhat like onion with a subtle twist. It can be eaten fresh, it’s crisp and sweeter
than onion but most often leeks are used in soups and other dishes. Leeks do not store well and are generally
used fresh.
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| Leeks |
The leek does not form a bulb, rather the edible part
consists of tightly packed leaf sheaths, which are white or pale green and form
a cylindrical shape just above the roots.
The upper or green portion of the leek leaf is flatter and broader than
an onion leaf. Usually soil is pushed up
around the base of leek plants to make the edible portion paler. They can be harvested at any stage but are
generally left to grow to an inch or so in diameter.
Leeks can be started from seed but if you can, try to
find small transplants. In the US this
can be difficult so you may want to start your own seed inside 8 weeks before
the last frost in spring or in flats outside in late summer for transplanting. They need at least 6 hours of sun and well
drained, fertile, organic soil that is slightly acidic. Leeks can be planted as an early spring or
fall crop as they do not like hot weather.
You can plant leeks in the spring quite early, when there are still
light frosts. They can be left in the garden for a long time in the fall for a
gradual harvest but harvest before a freeze.
Leek maturity ranges from 70-100 days, pick a variety
that will be mature either before hot weather in the spring or a hard freeze in
the fall in your area. Giant Musselburgh is a heritage leek, Autumn Giant,
Carentan, Megaton and Lancelot are a few other varieties. You may have to search for seed. Territorial Seed, www.territorialSeed.com
and Seeds of Change www.rareseeds.com
are two sources.
Shallots
Shallots, (Allium
cepa var. aggregatum) are not to be confused with scallions. They are separate onion sub-species with
different flavors and growing styles.
You will sometimes see them advertised as potato onions or multiplier
onions. Unlike scallions, shallots form
small bulbs or cloves each with its own “papery” skin in a cluster at the
bottom of the plant. The shallot leaf is
like an onion leaf, narrow and hollow.
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| Shallots Photo credit Ruth Hartnup |
Shallots originally came from South East Asia where
they are still widely used in cooking but they also became popular in France
and the Netherlands as cooking staples.
Different countries favor different bulb colors of shallots from reddish
colored to grayish. Shallots have a sweet,
mild onion flavor and most good cooks will tell you that there is a difference
in flavor of a dish cooked with shallots or onions. Shallots have more calories
than onions and slicing them will make you cry just as much as an onion does.
Shallots like the same conditions as leeks, spring or
fall growing times. At least 6 hours of sun and fertile, well- drained
soil. Keep them well watered to develop
the sweetest taste. They also withstand
light frosts. Shallots are ready for
harvest when the leaves turn yellow.
Shallots are almost always planted as sets, (small
bulbs) - which are more expensive than onion sets. You can however, save sets for next seasons
or next year’s planting as shallots store as well as onions in a cool dry
place. Plant sets 6-8 inches apart.
Either plant in early spring for early summer harvest or mid- summer for
fall harvest. While some shallots that
are left in the ground may over winter and return in the spring it is better to
save some sets inside through the winter for spring planting.
Shallot seed is also available. Seed is generally sown outside where the
plants are to be grown in early spring and thinned to about 6 inches apart
through the summer until you harvest a single “clove” in the fall. Some of those cloves could be saved for
spring planting. Each clove or set
planted usually will return you 4 or more shallots in a cluster.
Many shallots are sold just by color, such as gray or
red shallots. You can also look for
Ambition, Sante, Camelot, or French Red.
Shallots can be found at Gurneys www.gurneys.com
or Territorial Seed, www.territorialSeed.com
Scallions
Here is where there definitely is some confusion. Some people consider scallions to be a
separate variety of onion- a non- bulbing onion (Allium fistulosum). Others
say scallions are simply immature onions of any type, (Allium cepa) eaten
before they make a bulb. The fact is
both types can be called scallions and any onion can be eaten at an immature
stage as a “green onion”. Scallions
are generally eaten fresh although they can be cooked as well as any onion.
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| Green onions or scallions |
Some scallions look like thin leeks, others have a
small bulb. Scallions can be red, white or yellow in stem and bulb color. Scallions taste like onions and there are
variations in the strength of the onion flavor depending on the variety. Scallion leaves are long, narrow and hollow.
You can eat a scallion any time the stem is large enough for you.
Scallions can be planted from seed or sets or even from
small plants, although that seems rather a waste of time if you are planning to
harvest them at green onion or non-bulb stage.
You can always use the thinnings from any garden onions as
scallions. If you plant sets and
harvest them as scallions there will be a soft remnant of the set left on the
new scallion stem that you will need to pull off as you clean them. Scallions planted from seed will not have
this, although they will take longer to be ready to eat. If you are planting seed for use as green
onions or scallions use types that don’t make bulbs.
Scallions can be planted early in the spring and all
through the season until late fall. It’s
best to make several small plantings through the season to have a long
harvest. You can pop in onion sets
wherever you harvest something like early peas, or the first cabbages. Seeds take somewhat longer than sets to
mature to eating size and in summer you will need to keep the rows well weeded
as they don’t tolerate weed competition when small.
Like shallots and leeks scallions need 6 hours or more
of sun, moist, but well drained soil, and fertile soil. They will tolerate light frost and more heat
than leeks and shallots. If you are
going to harvest them as scallions plant sets about 4 inches apart. If you want some of your onions to grow
bulbs, pull out every other scallion, leaving plants 8 inches apart.
Onion sets and seeds can be found in almost every
garden store, at least in the spring.
You can store sets for summer and fall planting by keeping some in the
crisper drawer of the refrigerator or in a cool, dark place. Good varieties that do not produce bulbs and
make great scallions are Evergreen, Guardsman, Lisbon, Shimonita.
Ramps
You may know of ramps from fancy restaurants or a
backwoods festival in the Appalachians.
Ramps (Allium tricoccum) are
wild perennial members of the onion family native to North America. They are also called wild onions, wild garlic
or wood leek. They were eaten by Native
Americans and the city of Chicago is named after them – shikaakwa is the Native
American name for ramps.
 |
| Ramps wikimedia commons |
Ramps have become very trendy in foodie circles. Long a spring favorite in some areas, so much
that spring festivals are centered on them, they have become so popular that
many state have made them a protected plant and limit or forbid harvest from
the wild. They are now being grown
commercially, but are harder to grow than most onion family members. It’s hard to find a source of plants or seeds
but this could be a lucrative small crop if one was located near a city where
fine restaurants would feature them.
Ramps sell for just under $20 a pound.
Ramps have a single flat broad leaf, similar to the
leaf of the Lily of the Valley. It is
sometimes tinged with purple. The stem
is similar to a leek or scallion and is the part generally eaten, although the
leaves are sometimes used too. Ramps
taste like a very strong mixture of green onion and garlic. They are generally cooked before being eaten
and frying them in lard or bacon grease and eating them with beans and
cornbread or in scrambled eggs are common uses.
They are also exchanged for onions or garlic in many recipes. Many gourmet recipes have been built around
them too.
It’s hard to find a source to buy ramp seed, the most
common way to get plants. Try www.prairiemoon.com
or http://www.seedman.com If you try to harvest wild ramps or seeds
check to see if your state has any restrictions first. Make sure you know what you are harvesting
too; lilies of the valley for instance are poisonous. Ramps grow in patches in rich moist areas,
usually in partial shade, generally along wetlands or forest edges. Ramps are primarily a spring crop, although
some people are experimenting with growing them as a fall crop too. Ramp seed usually requires a period of cold
before it germinates.
There you have it – the onion cousins. Why not try something different in the garden
this spring?
Leek
Soup
Spring is the ideal time for leek soup. This soup is delicious and hearty. If you are a vegetarian you can sub vegetable
broth for chicken broth and leave off the bacon. Add some homemade bread and
you are eating like a king. The recipe
makes about 6 servings
Ingredients
6 big fat leeks, remove green, slice white part thinly
1 large sweet onion, thinly sliced
¼ cup butter
6 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced
6 cups chicken broth
½ cup finely chopped parsley
1 egg yolk
2 cups cream
4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
In the bottom of a large pot sauté the onions and leeks
in the butter until soft.
Add potatoes, broth and parsley and simmer until the
potatoes are soft.
Lift out the vegetables in a slotted spoon and put them
in a strainer. Over the pot of broth
smash and push the vegetables though the strainer. ( You want the strained
vegetables in the pot.)
Beat the egg yolk in a bowl. Take out a big spoonful of
the broth and add it to the egg. Stir
until well blended.
Now add the egg mixture and the cream to the pot. Add seasonings. Heat the soup to just before boiling,
stirring constantly.
Ladle into bowls and sprinkle some bacon on top of each
bowl.
May 6th, Saturday, is World Naked Gardening Day, enjoy!
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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