May
16, 2017, Kim’s Weekly Garden Newsletter
Hi
Gardeners
 |
| Tulips will soon be done blooming |
The hummingbirds are back! At least one is hanging around my
feeders. I am more worried about the
bees now. Many in my area are reporting
few bees and I am noticing that also.
Usually there are dozens hanging around the hummingbird feeders and they
aren’t there this year. I am worried
about the apples and other fruit being pollinized. I guess time will tell if we will get fruit.
Apple blossoms are beginning to fall. The lilacs smell beautiful but they are at
full bloom and this warm weather we are having will quickly wind up their bloom
time. Tulips are also fading. The
trilliums are turning pink, a sign they will soon be gone. Coming into bloom are the alliums and Dames
Rocket. Sweet Woodruff is a carpet of
white. Columbine, Jacobs Ladder, and bleeding hearts are blooming. Chives are
blooming. I see buds on the Siberian
iris, roses and peonies.
I am slowly moving the hardier things like rosemary,
canna and miniature roses out of the house and greenhouse into the yard. The dahlias are planted out, some are
sprouted and some not. This week I begin
transplanting all the seedlings like zinnias, tithonia, marigolds, bachelors buttons
and 4 –O-Clocks into my new cutting garden.
It’s going to be tedious work but hopefully worth it. I am also hoping to get the first sweet corn
planted, by the time it germinates frost chances will hopefully be gone.
Weeding and edging are taking up a bit of my time
too. This time of year gets very, very
busy. I also added some new baby chicks
into the workload, my replacement layers for the year. But I wouldn’t trade spring for any other
time of the year.
I was down at my pond the other evening, without my
camera unfortunately, when I saw an unusual sight. There was a brown duck on the pond that had a
big golden red crest. She had several
tiny ducklings with her. I thought it
was a female wood duck at first, but it didn’t look quite right so I consulted
a bird ID guide. Turns out it’s a Hooded
Merganser female. They nest in tree
holes like the wood duck. My tame ducks
were swimming around the family but didn’t seem aggressive to them. If they stick around I am going to try and
get pictures of them.
We have a cardinal nest and a mourning dove nest in the
yard now. I attached an old newspaper
holder, the kind the companies put by your mailbox, to a fence post in the back
and I notice the tree swallows are checking it out. I have a hen sitting on eggs in the barn and
two tame ducks sitting so spring is definitely here.
We’ve been able to sleep with the windows open the past
couple nights. Last night we had a
little rain and its warm and humid today.
Storms are forecast on and off for the next few days but all in all,
it’s nice weather.
Petunias
Are you a plant snob?
I once heard someone remark disdainfully that someone else wasn’t really
a gardener because she planted petunias.
When shopping at a nursery one time with petunias in my cart I had an
acquaintance come up and ask me why I, of all people, was buying petunias. I was buying petunias because I like petunias
and there are so many beautiful ones out there.
I can’t help myself, I buy some every year and I’m proud to plant them.
 |
| Cherry Cha Ching |
There is nothing wrong with having petunias in your
garden. Yes they were once the most
common garden annual planted. Older
varieties of petunias had to be dead headed and pinched back to keep them
blooming all summer and rainy weather turned them into a mess. But that doesn’t mean petunias don’t belong
in modern gardens and modern varieties are much easier to care for than your
grandmothers petunias.
Modern petunias trace their genetics back to two major
native species, P. axillaris which
has large white flowers and is pollinated by moths, and P. inflate which has small purple flowers and is bee pollinated. Another petunia, P. exserta, has small, true red, star shaped flowers that are
pollinated by hummingbirds. It is
sometimes sold by nurseries. A close
relative of petunia, the Calibrachoa, is also gaining in popularity.
 |
| Starry Night |
Through centuries of domestication and hybridization we
have the beautiful petunias we know today. Petunias belong to the Solanaceae family,
which includes peppers and tomatoes.
They are native to South America.
Petunias are excellent choices for containers in sunny
hot places, in window boxes and hanging baskets and as a groundcover in sunny
areas. Hummingbirds are attracted to
some petunias; I always set out a pot of red petunias, Petunia exserta if I can find it, for them. Bees and butterflies are moderately attracted
to the plant.
Petunias are generally grown as annuals; actually they
are short lived perennials in frost free climates. In a heated, well- lit
greenhouse you might be able to over
winter a petunia but they don’t over winter well in household conditions. Gardeners in the far south, zones 9 and
above, have reported petunias over wintering in the garden.
 |
| Rose Star |
Petunias have pointed oval leaves. The leaves and stems are covered with tiny
white hairs, and the foliage has a sticky feel to it. The flowers have fused petals forming a funnel
shape. Flower size ranges from 2 inches
across in some varieties to 6 inches across in others. There are also double flowered varieties.
Some petunia flowers are fragrant, particularly purple and blue colored ones.
Cultivated petunias originally came in two colors,
white and purple. They now come in every
color imaginable, even a very dark red purple that looks black. There are star patterned and striped petunias
and the newest color pattern is spotted, the petunia ‘Night Skies’ which is deep purple with white spots is an
example. I am old enough to remember
when the first true red petunia came on the market, and then the yellow and
orange varieties.
Multiflora, Grandiflora, Milliflora, Floribunda, Supertunia,
Wave, Surfina, Sweetunia, Tiny Tunia, are some of the “classes” of petunia
flowers. The first four are older types
and are the kinds most often planted in the ground in mass. These can still be found in flats and cell
packs for purchase. Newer varieties are
most often used in hanging baskets and containers and are often sold in
individual pots. Most petunias have a cascading, vining habit.
 |
| Black petunias |
Cultural
needs
Petunias need full sun conditions in the north to do
their best. In the south they may do
fairly well in partial or light shade.
Petunias are known for being tolerant of heat and drought when planted
in the ground. In containers however
they must be watered regularly. Petunias
planted in the ground probably won’t need watering unless it’s been very hot
and dry and they are wilting. Petunias
prefer slightly acidic conditions in their native countries but modern
varieties adapt to most types of soil.
Most gardeners will want to start with small petunia
plants. Petunias grow rapidly and small
plants quickly become larger. If the
petunias are in small cell packs the best plants to pick are compact ones just
starting to bloom. Lanky petunias with
many blooms in a cell pack are stressed and may not do well for a while after
planting. In pots petunias that are full
yet compact, with a few blooms are the best choices. Do not plant petunias outside until all
danger of frost has passed.
Gardeners can start petunias from seed. You need to start about 12 weeks from your
last expected frost for good sized plants to transplant outside. Petunia seed is very fine. Sprinkle it on a
sterile seed starting mix that has been moistened. Press seed lightly into the medium but do not
cover as petunia seed needs light to germinate.
Bottom heat is recommended for germination, as is watering from the
bottom. Seedling petunias need to be in a sunny warm greenhouse or under grow
lights. They rarely develop well on
windowsills.
 |
| Good and Plenty Orange |
When planting don’t place the plants deeper than what
they were growing in the original container.
Use a slow release granular fertilizer mixed into the soil at
planting. Modern petunias need regular
fertilization to do well. If you don’t
use slow release fertilizers you’ll need to fertilize weekly with water soluble
fertilizer. Do not use Epsom salts on
petunias.
Modern petunias don’t need dead heading (picking off
dead flowers) to keep blooming but they may look better, especially in
containers if you do so. This is
especially true of double flowered varieties. Older multiflora and grandiflora
varieties may begin to look straggly in late summer and a light shearing back
will rejuvenate them for a few more weeks of bloom.
Gardeners seldom run into disease problems with
petunias. Really rainy weather for long
periods and water logged soil can cause various rots and fungal disease as can
over watering in containers. Powdery
mildew is an occasional problem. Good
air flow helps prevent this. If the
plants are covered with powdery mildew you could cut them back to 2-3 inches and
they may regrow quickly and hopefully without powdery mildew. Deer and rabbits do like petunias for dessert
so be mindful of that.
 |
| Petunia exserta |
Some writers list petunias as edible plants. I would not recommend eating foliage; they
are members of the nightshade family like tomatoes. I would not eat many flowers either, although
using them as a garnish probably wouldn’t hurt.
Sweet
Corn planting tips
There is nothing better than sweet corn you just picked
from your garden. Have some water
boiling, go out to the garden and pick the corn, husk it over the compost pile,
come inside and put it in the boiling water with a cup of milk in it for a few
minutes and then slather with butter.
Until you taste really fresh sweet corn you don’t know what you are
missing. You’ll always want to grow your
own corn after that.
Sweet corn is different than field corn and should only
be planted after all danger of frost has passed and the soil is warm. The more wrinkled the seed corn kernel the
warmer the soil should be before planting.
The lowest soil temperature that you should plant sweet corn at is 65
degrees F. You can use a soil
thermometer or judge planting time by looking at phenological signs. The soil is generally warm enough when lilacs
are in full bloom and oak trees have good sized leaves.
If you are going to push the soil temperature limit you
should buy corn treated with a fungicide, which helps keep seed from rotting in
cold wet soil. These fungicides are
usually brightly colored to let you know the seeds are treated. Don’t let anything eat this treated seed but
by the time you are harvesting those delicious ears of corn the fungicide will
be long gone and the corn perfectly safe.
You can plant sweet corn inside in flats a few weeks
early but I have found that really doesn’t give you much of an edge over seed
planted directly in the ground in optimum conditions. Transplanted corn generally shows a slow-down
in growth for a week or two as it adjusts to garden conditions. Don’t start inside too early, small plants
transplant the best. You must be able to
water transplanted corn as its planted and for several days if it’s dry.
Because corn is pollinated by the wind you should plant
it in blocks rather than one long row.
Space seeds 6 inches apart and about an inch deep, 2 inches in light
sandy soil. Space the corn rows 18 -24
inches apart. I have a piece of molding
with inches marked on it and I use it when planting. (You can use a yardstick too.) This will keep you honest and stop you from
either stretching out the seeds too far or jamming them in there to use up the
seed packet. If stooping over a row is
hard for you use a piece of plastic pipe to drop seeds down right over the spot
you want to plant it.
I soak the corn seed for about an hour in warm water
before planting. After planting I soak
the planted area well. Take a look
around after you’ve planted corn seed and make sure no kernels are showing
above ground. If birds see any kernels
they’ll be right there looking for more.
If birds, including your own chickens, are a problem you can cover the
planted area with netting until the corn has sprouted.
Corn needs lots of nitrogen to grow well. I always fertilize at planting and again just
as tassels are starting to form on the corn.
Use a fertilizer where the first number is the highest, 10-5-5 for
example. Here’s a tip- you can use lawn
fertilizer, which is high in nitrogen, on corn- it is a grass after all- just
make sure there are no weed killers or pesticides for grubs in the fertilizer
you choose.
Corn is the only common garden crop that will have its
flavor changed if it is pollinated by the wrong kind of corn. If a farmer near you is planting field corn
your sweet corn may become tougher and less sweet. If you plant incompatible varieties near each
other the corn you harvest for the table may have a less appealing taste. Near each other means less than 25 feet apart
for home garden varieties, about a hundred feet from field corn. In a small garden you can sometimes get away
with two different varieties of corn not intermingling pollen if they pollinate
at very different times, such as a very early 60 days to maturity corn and a
late variety, 90 days to maturity, corn.
Seed catalog descriptions will help you decide what
corn varieties shouldn’t be planted together.
The seed may be marked, su (normal hybrid) se, sh² or sh²/se which
refers to the amount of sweetness the variety has and the type of hybrid it is. Su and se varieties don’t need isolation
from each other but sh² and sh²/se should be planted away from other corns. If they pollinate each other you’ll get edible
corn, but not as nice tasting as if you isolate. Planting old fashioned open pollinated corn
or popcorn close to other varieties may also change the taste of both.
To keep your corn harvest going, plant small amounts of
corn every two weeks or plant varieties that mature at different times. I recommend both tactics because just
staggering planting times of one variety is rarely successful for me. The later
planted batch seems to catch up to the first batch with only a few days
difference. Unless you are selling,
canning or freezing it, a lot of corn at one time can overwhelm you. Corn at every meal is only good for a few
days.
When you do plant more than one variety of corn plant
each variety in its own section. That’s
because each will be releasing pollen at a different time and you want to
maximize pollination so you will have full ears. Don’t alternate rows of different varieties
or alternate different varieties of seed in a row.
If the weather is hot and dry when you plant keep the
corn patch watered if possible, until you see the plants have popped up. Corn should germinate in less than 2
weeks. Once it’s up watering can be
scaled back. I only water if it’s been
very hot and dry and the corn leaves have been rolled up even in the evening.
(Corn rolls its leaves when it’s too hot or too dry.)
Keep your corn weeded, especially when it’s small. When corn is 3 feet or so high you’ll
probably not find many weeds still competing.
Some people go down the rows when corn is about 2 feet high and mound
soil up around the base of the stalk. I
do some years but others I don’t and it seems to make little difference.
What
about the 3 sisters planting method?
The 3 sisters method is a supposedly Native American
style of planting where corn is planted in a circle with beans and squash,
sometimes sunflowers are thrown into the mix.
The corn is supposed to be the support for climbing beans, which aid the
corn by producing nitrogen and the squash keeps away critters with its prickly
leaves and shades the ground to preserve moisture. It’s usually enthusiastically endorsed by
people who have never tried it.
This method sounds great and makes a cute story about
native “wisdom”. I have read a lot about
indigenous systems of planting from the actual descriptions of early Europeans
observing their agricultural practices. While there was some crop intermingling,
most groups of people did not use this method.
Corn was sometimes planted in circles or in mounds of soil but beans and
squash were generally separated into their own fields or mounds, which makes
tending them and harvesting easier.
You’ll find that separating the plants will work better
in your garden too. Believe me, I have
tried the 3 sisters method in kids gardening programs and it’s rarely as
successful as planting each type of plant separately. The type of corn grown in
earlier times had stronger and taller stalks for one thing, than our modern
corn varieties and might support beans better.
On modern sweet corn beans climbing the stalks inhibit the corn’s growth
and make it more likely to “lodge” or fall over in the wind. Some squash
varieties will overwhelm and shade young corn too much. It’s difficult to harvest corn while not
stepping on and smashing those prickly squash vines.
Beans cannot give the corn all the nitrogen they need
if the soil is deleted in the first place.
Native people either moved gardens to new ground each year or so or if
they were a settled agricultural community used other sources of nitrogen such
as cover crops or animal manure on corn.
The “3 sisters” method of gardening is for novelty, to
engage kid’s imaginations and interest in gardening, although I wonder if we
are doing them a service by teaching this method. If you are extremely limited on space it
might give you a small harvest of each crop if you did this. But gardeners wanting to get a good harvest
in the most practical manner should not try this method.
Rose
rosette disease and Knock Out® roses
If you grow roses you may have heard of rose rosette disease a deadly viral
disease that infects roses. And if you
have been on social media sites related to gardening you may have heard people
warning others about Knock Out® roses being the cause of the problem. That’s a false rumor that should be put to
rest.
Knock Out ®roses, are a brand name for a series of easy
to grow, hardy landscape roses were introduced to the market less than 2
decades ago. Rose rosette disease has
been around since at least 1940. While
Knock Out® roses are very susceptible to rose rosette disease,(who coined that
name?), so are most other roses. Since
Knock Out® roses are very popular and are widely sold throughout North America,
they may be the variety of rose that more people see with the problem, but they
are not the source of the problem.
It’s perfectly fine to plant Knock Out® roses in your
garden, as long as they are healthy plants.
Any rose you plant should be examined for signs of rose rosette disease
because any kind of rose could introduce the disease.
 |
| Rainbow Knock Out |
The non-native rose, multiflora rose is also cited as
the source of rose rosette disease. Whether
the mite that carries the disease was brought in with multiflora roses or
brought in later to control that plant is debatable. It is true that rose rosette disease is very
deadly to multiflora roses. This
suggests to me that the disease and the multiflora rose did not originate in
the same place as normally if the two co-existed somewhere the rose would have
developed immunity. The idea that
multiflora rose is a reservoir for the disease also seems odd. Something being a reservoir for disease
usually means that that plant is able to continue to survive, even if in a
weakened state, while carrying the disease.
From what I can read in the scientific literature multiflora rose
succumbs to the disease very quickly, usually in the first winter following
infection.
There’s no doubt multiflora rose can be invasive and a
problem in some areas. But it was introduced
to this country for some of its attributes, it had pretty fragrant blooms that
bees love and tiny rose hips loved by birds.
It was used because it spread quickly and formed a thick hedge or ground
cover. And if these roses exist in wild
areas near you and they are infected by rose rosette disease the disease could
spread to your garden roses. But the
multiflora rose had to get the disease from somewhere; it doesn’t just produce
the disease. Chances are equally good it
got the disease from someone’s garden roses as it getting them from other
multiflora roses, especially if the disease is new to the area.
 |
| Multiflora rose |
So if your roses get the disease it could have come
from nearby wild multiflora roses. Or it
could have come from a rose you recently bought and planted in your garden or
from a neighbors rose. Removing
multiflora roses and any native species of rose in wild areas around you might
give you a protective barrier if no one else is growing roses near you.
Rose
rosette disease
Let’s discuss what rose rosette disease looks like and
how it’s spread. The RRD virus is
carried from rose to rose in one of several ways. Tiny mites, not visible to the naked eye are
the most common route. These mites can
crawl from rose to rose or worse, because they are so light, blown for long
distances on the wind. They carry the
virus in their bodies and transmit to roses when feeding on them, much the way
a mosquito carries West Nile virus to humans.
The virus can also be transferred by unsterilized pruning tools from
plant to plant. It can be transmitted
during a grafting process, many hybrid roses are grafted on to other
roots. There is some debate on this but
some researchers also believe the RRD virus can be transmitted between the
roots of nearby roses through root grafting.
Rose rosette disease (RRD) is a viral disease and as a
virus, is incurable. It only infects roses.
It causes “witches brooming”, thick multi stemmed clusters of stems, and
very red leaves and stems that are thicker and more succulent that other
stems. Caution: many roses have new foliage that is red,
especially in cool weather. If foliage
greens up and looks normal in a few weeks it’s not infected.
The stems infected with RRD are usually covered in tiny
soft thorns, which make stems look bristly or hairy. Some roses get yellowed, distorted leaves that
look like pesticide exposure. The roses
are weak and sick looking, and do not bloom well. The plants lose their winter hardiness and
generally die over winter if they make it that far. Some sickly plants do make it to spring
though.
RRD can be tricky to diagnose. Before ripping out plants I suggest you
contact your local Extension office, there is one in nearly every county in the
US. Any local USDA office may also be
able to help. Ask them how to submit a
plant sample for diagnoses. There may
be a fee, depending on your state.
While keeping mites off the roses is a good idea,
killing the mites with pesticides will not help the problem if the roses are
already infected with RRD. Pesticides,
including systemic products, cannot cure the viral disease.
Most experts recommend you don’t even try to save
plants. If you happened to catch the
symptoms quickly it’s theoretically possible to prune off the infected stems
well down below the reddened area and halt the progress of the virus. Then treatment with pesticides for mites
might save the plants if they quickly kill them before re-infection
occurs. However trying to keep plants
with RRD alive is probably a bad idea since they would become that infamous
reservoir of disease.
RRD infected roses should be dug out of the garden,
making sure to get all roots. Plants can
then be burned or placed in plastic bags and sealed tightly and removed from
the site. Don’t plant roses in the same
spot for a few years, other plants are fine.
If you have other roses without symptoms spray them with pesticides that
kill mites, (and this is the time to use conventional pesticides and not
organic brews,) and watch them carefully.
Epsom salt, baking soda, beneficial bacteria, milk sprays and so on are
absolutely useless for treating RRD.
Prevention
of RRD
Examine new plants carefully for signs of RRD. You may want to avoid dumpster diving for plants;
even plants that aren’t roses may have mites on them if roses are sold at that
location. Trying to rescue sickly plants
on clearance sale carries a risk also.
Isolate all plants like this away from your garden for several weeks if
you decide to do these things.
When you visit other gardens, particularly private ones
that have roses, you may want to remove your clothing and shoes and clean them
before going into your own garden.
Florist rose bouquets probably won’t be a problem, but home grown rose
bouquets given to you could pose a risk.
Clean pruning shears after pruning each rose; you can
keep wet wipe type products in your garden tool bucket for that. Don’t plant
roses where they touch each other and using other plants between roses is also
a good idea. If roses die, remove all the plant, including the roots.
Many experts recommend several sprays of horticultural
oil or insecticidal soap in late spring/early summer. May and June are the months when mites are
most likely to be present in most of the country and these sprays can kill
them. Many rose experts also recommend
cutting back roses severely in the spring, 2/3 of each cane, to try and remove
any overwintering mites. In the north
this may be too drastic of a pruning if there has been a lot of winter die
back.
Keep a close watch on your roses, and have suspected
plants diagnosed quickly. Remove infected plants immediately and dispose of
them as described previously. Since wind
can bring in mites that carry RRD from long distances even removing wild roses
from a huge area around your garden may not prevent the disease. However if the disease is known to be present
in your area removing wild roses might be good move.
Spinach
Soup
Do you have a lot of baby spinach to use up? It’s that time of year. Here’s a recipe you try.
Ingredients
8 cups of spinach, chopped and/or sliced
4 cups of chicken broth
10 green onions, sliced thinly
½ cup grated carrot
3 cups cream or half and half
6 tablespoons butter, melted
3 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon orange zest
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
Directions
Combine the broth, onions, carrot, salt and pepper in a
large pot and simmer for about 15 minutes.
In a pan over low heat wisk the flour into the melted
butter until smooth.
Add 1 cup of cream, stirring continuously until smooth
and thick, about 2 minutes.
Slowly pour the cream mixture into the broth, stirring continuously
and blend until smooth. Add the rest of
the cream, stir and cook 2 minutes.
Add the spinach and orange zest to the pot. Cook just until the spinach wilts.
Serve hot, great garnished with cheese and croutons. Makes 4-6 servings.
Get
the sunscreen and mosquito repellant out, the battle is on
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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Join the
LAPEER AREA HORTICULTURE SOCIETY on our 35th
ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION, JUNE 19th at 6 P.M., SUNCREST DISPLAY GARDENS, behind
the Lapeer County Medical Care facility, 1455 Suncrest Drive, Lapeer, Mi.
All Past, Present, and Prospective members are invited to attend
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Guests are welcome.
Displays will be set up showing past activities, as well as old
newsletters of the group. Refreshments provided.
For more information contact:
Dave Klaffer at 810-656-7770 or 664-8912
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