Hi
Gardeners
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| Bristly Locust Read an article about this plant to the right of blog. |
Well it’s June already.
Half of the year has passed. How
quickly time flies when you get old.
June is the month I wish would stay the whole year; it’s such a
beautiful month here in Michigan. It’s
the month of promise, when you see the potential in your gardens and are
hopeful they will meet your expectations.
Things are just beginning to mature and everything still looks
fresh. It’s sad to think that before the
month is over we will see the days start to shorten again.
I don’t know about your state but here in Michigan we
have been having some unusual weather.
It was 86 Sunday, sunny and humid, 66, cloudy and dry on Monday. The
summer long range weather predictions have been issued by the National Weather
Service and they are calling for normal or average summer temperatures across
the US but summer will be wetter and stormier than normal. Across the country soils are high in
moisture, which keeps things a bit cooler, with climate warming that turns out
to be average temperatures instead of higher than normal like the past few
years.
When soils are wet they feed the moisture into the
atmosphere, which causes more rain, driving the cycle. And stormy weather is aided by temperature
differences between the ground and upper atmosphere. So hopefully all our gardens will do well and
we won’t be spending all our time watering.
I am noticing a small apple and pear crop setting on my
trees and very small cherry crop.
According to MSU I’m not alone.
Between poor pollination this year due to lack of bees and frost damage
early in May many people are seeing the same things on their fruit trees. It remains to be seen how the total fruit
crop will turn out. I am still not
seeing honeybees, although bumble bees and small native bees seem to be
increasing.
The vegetable garden is looking good. The sweet corn is
up and I planted popcorn this week.
Cukes are starting to vine and I have little peppers and tomatoes on the
plants. The dill is growing like crazy.
In my garden the bristly locust, ninebark, spirea,
mockorange, Korean lilacs and peonies are stealing the show. Siberian and bearded iris are still in bloom
as well as various roses, including the sweet smelling multiflora rose. The clematis will be blooming any day. The earliest daylilies are in bloom and
baptisia is beginning to bloom. My 2
feet tall magnolia has one flower. The
hardy gloxinias I planted are blooming nicely and I’m sorry I never had them in
the garden before. They are really nice
flowers and I suggest you try some.
I do have a mystery pot. Despite my usual care in labeling I somehow
have a pot I don’t remember planting that isn’t labeled. I found it on the porch when I was moving
things outside and it looked like an empty pot.
I started to dump it out when I noticed a tiny spike coming up. So I set it on the deck and two weeks later
there are several single sword like leaves popping up.
They look like glads, but I certainly don’t remember putting glads in a
pot. They could possibly be crocosmia,
but I don’t remember planting them in a pot inside either. They may be Siberian iris coming up from seed
I planted but I can’t remember that either.
Only time will tell I guess.
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| Multiflora rose |
June almanac
June is a wonderful
month in the northern hemisphere, the month when strawberries ripen and roses
begin to bloom. Indeed this month’s full
moon,(June 9th), is called
the Full Strawberry moon in North America and Full Rose moon in European
countries. The moon perigee is June
23. I have found that over the last few
years my weather records indicate we are more likely to get rain around the
perigee than any random day. I don’t
know if that holds true for other places, try keeping your own records. Apogee is June 8th, and there
seems to be a slightly increased rate of precipitation around apogee too. Perigee is the closest the moon gets from
earth, apogee the farthest.
Summer solstice is June
21, 2016 at 12:24 a.m. EDT. At the time of the solstice the sun is at its
highest point and the point farthest north that it gets in the northern
hemisphere. Solstice comes from Latin,
roughly meaning sun stands still. At the
solstice the sun seems to pause for a few days, and then slowly reverses its
direction, moving back toward the south and lower in the sky. Sadly it’s the longest day of the year and
the nights get longer after the solstice.
In ancient times
this event, the solstice, was always celebrated. It’s still a good day to have a campfire,
gaze at stars and wonder at the immensity of the universe and our place in it.
June’s birth flower
is, of course, the rose. There are
actually 3 birthstones for June (thanks to greedy jewelers), the pearl, the
moonstone and the alexandrite. The month of June is named after the Roman
goddess Juno, the goddess of marriage, family and childbirth. To marry in June was said to make a couple
fertile and blessed with prosperity.
June is National
Rose, Dairy, and Fresh Fruit and Vegetables month. It’s adopt a cat month. It’s also Gay Pride
month and Fight the Filthy Fly month.
June 4th
is Old Maids Day (don’t they deserve their own day?) and the 5th is
World Environment day. Flag Day is June 14th and Father’s day is
June 18th this year. The 17th
is Eat your Vegetables day. The 26th
is Forgiveness Day.
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| Peony |
Garden ethics- stealing plants
When I was a young
girl and interested in gardening I had a habit of roaming the alley’s and
rescuing plants that “peeked’ through peoples fences. People gave me plants, but finding my own
little treasures was exciting. I went
too far one day when I snuck into the garden of a neighbor to dig up a “start”
of a double daylily I greatly admired.
She caught me. I had never liked
this older lady before; she was usually crabby with kids in the
neighborhood. I was very scared when she
caught me, if she told my parents I would be in big trouble.
But this women,
probably amazed that a child would steal a plant, did lecture me on stealing
and trespassing but gave me the plant.
She asked me if there were any other plants in her garden that I wanted
a piece of and I left with several other things. That’s the thing about gardeners; we are
usually willing to share, if we are asked.
So many times on
social media gardening sites I see people bragging about stealing cuttings,
digging up and dividing plants secretly and plain out stealing plants. And then there are the people on social media
upset because someone has stolen their plants or damaged them getting “starts”
from them without permission. There are
garden shop owners telling stories about people who never buy anything but take
plenty. Can you see how these things are
related?
Ethics, doing what’s
right and just, are somewhat relative to circumstances. But as adults we should all know that
stealing is just wrong in almost every instance. It doesn’t matter if you can’t afford the
plant, if the owner has a lot of them and shouldn’t miss one, or if you think
you won’t find it anywhere else, stealing a plant is wrong.
People often talk
about pinching off a cutting “ because it doesn’t hurt anything.” And in some cases it might not hurt. But if you are a retailer whose livelihood
depends on growing plants that look nice so that people buy them every little
piece that comes off the plant makes it less appealing to paying customers. And if you are stealing a piece of the plant
you certainly aren’t buying it. Small retailers can really be hurt by this
practice.
In places where
there are many people passing through if even a small percentage of them take a
piece of the plant you can see what would happen in a short time. I was waiting
for my husband in the lobby of a large medical complex that had some beautiful
plants. In the time I sat there I saw 7
people sneak pieces of various plants.
Can you imagine that going on continuously every day of the week? Someone
I knew who serviced tropical plant displays in businesses told me that they have
to keep replacing plants that people pick to pieces. That makes some businesses decide not to use
live plants and makes the surroundings less pleasant for everyone.
But what about
pieces that break off a plant accidently and fall on the floor? Aren’t these fair game? When I worked in a
retail shop I actually saw people deliberately shaking or roughly handling
plants so that pieces would break off and they could feel justified in picking
up the pieces. I always took the pieces
away from those people. If it’s on the
floor and you weren’t responsible for the breakage most places will allow you
to take the pieces. But ask first, it’s
the right thing to do.
An ethical gardener
will always ask if they can take a cutting. Whether it’s in a public garden, at a business
or in someone’s yard if you take pieces of plants without permission it’s
stealing. Find someone in charge and ask.
Most of the time you will cheerfully be given what you ask for. Sometimes the owner will want to remove the
piece, to minimize damage to the plant.
But if your request is denied, accept the answer. There may be a logical reason, for example if
everyone who asked for a piece of a rare plant in a botanical garden was given
a piece there would soon be no plant left.
Never ever go into
someone’s yard or business premises and help yourself to plants. That’s flat out stealing and you could be
arrested. Digging up and dividing plants
is also stealing if you don’t have permission.
It doesn’t matter if they look neglected or you think they are
overgrown. That’s not your call. I think the people most likely to sneak into
yards and business property are the ones that know the least about plants. They probably don’t know when or how to
divide them and do considerable damage to the plant that’s left, if not destroy
it.
If the house/business
doesn’t seem occupied it still belongs to someone. Perhaps someone bought that property because
they liked the landscaping and have to wait until they move in. Think how disappointed they will be if you
steal the plants. Removing the landscaping decreases the value of the property
also, and causes a loss to the owner. If
a house is scheduled for demolition it can be a judgement call on removing
plants, but if it were me I would try to get permission from whoever owns it.
The strip of land
between the road and the sidewalk or what appears to be the property edge is
also not yours to plunder. In general
it’s owned by the property owner on either side and there is just an easement
to the center of the road for the road. If
it’s obvious someone has planted and tended gardens along this easement it’s
really obvious to the ethical person that they shouldn’t be helping themselves
to plants.
If a group was nice enough
to spend time and money planting median strips or the sides of major highways
and you stop and dig up plants you are stealing and you are discouraging
beautification projects as well. People
who steal plants from public places like rest areas, government buildings,
memorials and parks are not nice people and very selfish.
Don’t dig up
wildflowers and trees in natural areas either.
All property in this country is owned by someone. If its government owned, like state and
federal parks it’s illegal to remove most plants. Outside of parks vacant property may look
like wilderness but someone owns it. Get
permission before harvesting anything from property you don’t own, whether its
herbs for medicinal uses or tiny trees or wildflowers. This applies to plants you may feel are
invasive. If it’s not your property you
don’t have the right to pull up the Autumn Olive or multiflora rose.
Whenever you are
tempted to dig up plants or take cuttings stop and think how you would feel if
the plundered plants were yours. Or how it will feel to be in jail and have a
record for theft. We’ve all been in
positions where we want a plant we can’t afford. You probably don’t steal cars you can’t afford
so why steal a plant? Gardeners
generally love to share plants so if you have a shoestring budget join plant
groups that hold swaps. Ask other
gardeners what they can share. Get a job
in a nursery or greenhouse and use an employee discount. Just be nice and don’t steal other people’s
plants.
Daylilies
Daylilies are easy to grow and have an unbelievably large selection of
flower colors and shapes. There are few
homes or commercial landscapes that are without daylilies, one of the top
garden perennials. Daylilies are suited
to both beginning gardeners and avid plant collectors and breeders. Most
daylilies are hardy in planting zones 3-9, so they can be grown in most areas
of the country.
Most garden daylilies are hybrids of several species of Hemerocallis that
are native to temperate Asia. These species have been turned into an
unbelievable range of flower colors, types and sizes in the last 100
years. Daylilies are easy to hybridize and people all
over the country are breeding daylilies in the backyard as a hobby. But you don’t have to be interested in
breeding daylilies to enjoy them; they are the workhorse of the perennial
garden.
The common daylily (Hemerocallis
fulva) sometimes referred to as the ditch lily or wild daylily is an old
variety of daylily of uncertain origin, and can be used as a garden plant. It
can be quite invasive however, and tends to look bad shortly after blooming
when it yellows and dies back. It is a
very old garden plant that escaped cultivation and the mystery of its creation
has been lost. It is self- infertile and
never sets seed but the pollen can be used to fertilize other garden
daylilies. It spreads by rhizomes. There is a double flowered variety also.
I have tons of common daylily and I do enjoy the pretty orange
flowers. However once you get them in
the garden they can be hard to control and will take over vast areas of
space. I suggest using them in wilder,
rougher areas where you don’t mind them spreading and using newer hybrid
daylilies in the perennial border or beds.
After the common daylily starts yellowing mow them down and they will
come back green and nicer looking until frost kills them.
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| Common daylily |
Varieties and
forms
Daylilies sell for a few dollars up to hundreds of dollars for new
varieties. If your budget can’t afford a
daylily you see in a catalog, keep looking.
Chances are that there is an older variety that is very similar and a
whole lot cheaper. Catalogs may overwhelm you with the selection of daylilies
they carry and you need to get to know some daylily terminology to make good
choices. In the description of the plant
you’ll see some abbreviations that indicate plant characteristics. While some of these abbreviations are common
in all catalogs you need to find the key that explains what the abbreviations
mean in the catalog/on line site you are looking at.
The best daylilies have many flower stalks, called scapes, with branches
that hold a lot of buds. The size of a
daylily plant with flower scapes may range from 18 inches to more than 3 foot. When a daylily height is mentioned in a
description it generally refers to the height of the plant with bloom scapes.
Try to choose an assortment of daylilies that bloom early, midseason and
late or that are continuous bloomers so you’ll have flowers for a long period. The
most famous of the continual bloomers is probably ‘Stella D’ Oro’ but there are
others. There are also daylilies listed as repeat bloomers, which generally
means 2 distinct bloom periods. The
bloom period is generally listed in the description.
Foliage descriptions are generally listed as dormant, the type of foliage
that dies to the ground each winter or when conditions are hot and dry,
semi-evergreen and evergreen. Plants listed as dormant tend to turn yellow and die back soon after
blooming, and are typically older varieties. Semi-evergreen foliage stays green
most of the year in mild areas.
Evergreen foliage will remain green looking all year except in very cold
areas.
The terms Diploid and Tetraploid seen in plant descriptions refer to the
genetics of the daylily. For gardeners
who aren’t interested in breeding daylilies this isn’t very important. Diploid
daylilies have two complete sets of chromosomes, tetraploid have four and if
you get into breeding daylilies you’ll find other numbers of chromosome
sets. Diploid daylilies are easier to
breed and there are more diploid than tetraploid varieties. Most good pink, double and spider type
daylilies are diploid. Tetraploids tend
to have bigger flowers, sturdier scapes and a more vigorous growth pattern.
Breeders have created all sorts of flower shapes from narrow twisted
petals, to double flowers, to huge petals with ruffled edges. Daylily colors range from the palest yellows
and creams to reds, purples and mixtures of colors. Despite catalog pictures and misleading
names, there are no true white or blue daylilies yet. There are smooth petals,
glistening petals, diamond-dusted petals, creped petals and more. Diamond dusted and glistening daylily flowers
have small crystals in the flower cells that reflect light and look like a drop
of dew on the petal.
Some daylily flowers are open for more than one day, called extended
bloomers. Some open at night, and they
are called nocturnal bloomers. Some
daylilies are fragrant. These things are
generally noted in the variety description.
Daylily foliage is grass-like, with a single deep rib running along the
underside. The leaf blades can be narrow
or broad, depending on the variety. The
roots are fibrous and some may form white tubers, which store water and
sugars. From the clump of leaves long
flower stalks (scapes) arise.
Daylily flowers were originally trumpet shaped with the flowers facing
upward. Each daylily flower consists of
three petals and three sepals that look like petals (except in double flowers). Each typical flower is only open for a day,
usually opening in the morning and closing by early evening. Breeders have developed daylilies that open
in the evening and flowers that stay open about 16 hours. Since each plant normally carries many buds,
the plants actually bloom for quite some time.
Some daylily varieties will bloom continuously all summer.
Growing
Daylilies
Daylilies are purchased as plants and the larger the plant the more
flowers you will have the first year after planting. Daylilies should be planted in the
spring. Avoid planting or transplanting modern
daylilies in hot, humid weather. They
tend to rot before rooting. The common daylily can be moved at any time and is
very hard to kill. I once took a box of
rhizomes to someone who left them under a bench near a community garden and
forgot about them. They grew through and
out of the box in a couple months.
Plant daylilies so that the crown, the area where the roots and leaf
bases meet, is just at ground level. Flare the roots out in the hole and keep
them well- watered as they establish.
They will withstand some dry weather once established but are probably
not ideal for really dry, hot areas.
Daylilies will grow in almost any soil as long as it is not waterlogged.
They prefer full sun, although some will bloom in light shade. A light application of slow release
fertilizer in early spring may aid blooming.
Keep daylilies well-watered, especially as they make buds and
bloom. Mulching cools the roots and
keeps out weeds. Daylilies have few insect or disease problems.
Older varieties of daylilies tend to get yellowed leaves with browned
edges soon after blooming and are not very attractive. Newer varieties tend to stay green until cold
weather (listed as semi-evergreen). If
leaves do yellow and look bad gently pull them off; it will not affect next
year’s blooms. Cut off any seedpods that
start to form and remove the old stem back to its base. Many people remove each flower as it dies, as
the mushy remains are not very attractive.
Daylilies will form large clumps after several years. Unlike other plants they don’t need to be
divided to keep them blooming well.
However, they may out grow their area or you may want to share the
wealth. In early spring as new foliage
starts to grow, lift and divide the clump, making sure that each piece has at
least one good set of leaves, or “fan“.
Some varieties of daylilies also make little baby plants on the flower
stalk, where a branch joins the main stem.
These can be taken off and planted although it may take a year or two
before they bloom.
Uses of
daylilies
Daylilies make excellent plants for mixed borders and beds. Small varieties can be used in
containers. Daylilies can be used as
cut flowers if a stem with many full buds is cut. Each flower only lasts a day and must be
removed, but the buds will continue to open in the vase.
Daylily flowers are edible. They
can be added to salads, stuffed or battered and fried. Chinese cooking uses daylily flowers in
soups and other dishes. It is said that
moderate amounts of the young foliage can be cooked and eaten, but that large
amounts will cause hallucinations and digestive problems. Just make sure no pesticides have been used on
them.
There are some herbal remedies using daylilies, although the plant isn’t
widely used medicinally. The roots were
sometimes used to ease pain in childbirth.
They are folk remedies for arsenic poisoning and cancer treatment,
although no medical evidence supports those uses. The flowers are said to be a treatment for
hemorrhoids, but I did not find a reference as to how you are supposed to use
the flowers- perhaps as pretty toilet paper?
Daylilies are an excellent addition to almost every garden. The names alone will make you want to collect
them. How about ‘A Heavenly Flight of
Angels’ or ‘Velvet Thunder’ or ‘Veins of Truth’ or ‘Amish Patch Quilt’? Just remember many varieties are very, very
similar to each other, and one can usually find satisfying choices that won’t
break the budget. If you don’t have
daylilies in your garden it’s time to get some.
Outbreak of salmonella poisoning
A quick note to
those gardeners who keep chickens- the CDC has recently posted an advisory
about salmonella cases in 47 states linked to backyard/small poultry
flocks. Salmonella is a serious
gastrointestinal disease that can lead to death. Since the first of this year there have been
372 cases and 71 hospitalizations linked to backyard poultry. And yes, it’s possible to know where the
infection came from by testing the strain of bacteria.
Most chickens carry
salmonella and they won’t look sick. If
proper hand washing and other health procedures are followed keeping chickens
shouldn’t be a problem. I have kept them
for 50 years. But there is a big trend
now of keeping chickens in the house, and nuzzling and kissing them for those
cute photos. Keep your mouth off
chickens unless they are cooked.
Chickens should not be kept in the house, where surfaces can be easily
contaminated with salmonella.
Salmonella is bad
enough but the same conditions that lead to outbreaks of it can also favor
other diseases such as bird flu. Please
go to the link below if you keep chickens and review the CDC recommendations
for home poultry keeping. The CDC is not
trying to keep people from keeping chickens.
They are just trying to avoid deaths and complications from disease. Be sensible and don’t risk your life when
simple hygiene precautions can prevent the disease.
For women only
I was horrified this
week to see the suggestion on line to insert the galls of wasps into the
vagina. It was being touted as a way to
tighten the vagina and also as a cure for vaginal infections and discharges. The galls form on oak leaves and are round,
rough, golf ball sized things. They
contain the larvae of a wasp. The galls
and gall powder are being sold on EBay and Amazon and various herbal sites.
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| Oak gall |
This silly and
dangerous fad harkens back to some old granny medicine where ground galls were
used after childbirth to prevent infection. Since there is some slight
antibiotic properties in ground galls they may have been a bit of help when
nothing else was available. Or not, we don’t really know. The old use was recently
misinterpreted to mean oak wasp galls are a great toner and cleaner/ cure all
for vaginas. Another good way to make
money I guess.
Doctors are warning
that this practice is extremely dangerous, especially for the idiots who insert
whole galls. They have been seeing
people recently with horrible infections after trying this. There’s no
indication that any antibiotic properties are working, quite the opposite. The galls or gall powder dries out the tissues
in the vagina and causes abrasions.
Leaving the galls in there to soften as some places are suggesting is a
good way to get toxic shock syndrome.
Pockets of powder left in there can cause bad infections, possibly
requiring hospitalization and leaving permanent damage.
Instead of better
sex you’ll probably get extremely painful sex after using galls or gall
powder. The galls have also been linked
to urinary tract infections. The powders
and galls being sold are coming from foreign countries and there’s no way to
even be sure of what you are being sold or how contaminated it is.
When did people stop
trusting science and modern medicine? When did we start rejecting all the
modern medical advances that have lengthened and improved our quality of life? Because it’s “natural” doesn’t mean it’s safe. “Do it yourself” medicine isn’t always helpful.
If you are having problems with your reproductive
organs see a doctor, a real doctor. Don’t
rely on cures found on line and in old books.
I guess women who
read on line to insert oak wasp galls in their vagina and run out and buy some
to try it deserve what they get. Hopefully
there are no women reading my blog that are that stupid, but just in case- here’s
your warning. DON’T insert oak wasp
galls in your vagina!
Growing radishes
One of the easiest
and fastest root vegetable to grow, radishes are excellent choices for
beginning gardeners and for children to grow.
They can be grown in containers and take up little space in the garden. Because they reach eating size quickly, several
crops can be grown in the same place over a season.
Radishes, Raphanus sativus, are an old crop, grown
for thousands of years. Different cultures developed different types of
radishes. Asian radishes are usually
long and hot and spicy while European varieties are round and not as
piquant. The root is the part of the
radish most often eaten, although the seed pods are edible and eaten in some
places.
There are many
colors of radish roots from the familiar red outside, white inside commonly
seen in salad bars to those with white on the outside and fuchsia centers,
solid white, purple, and black radishes. Roots can be small and round, long
oval shaped or long and tapered like a carrot.
A special kind of
radish – daikon- gets quite large and takes several months to mature. It can be eaten like other radishes when
young. The seeds of daikon radish can be
pressed into oil which is used as a biofuel. It’s sometimes used as livestock
feed or as a weed suppressing cover crop.
Radishes have short
leafy tops. The leaves have a rough
feel. Leaves have been used as a pot
green. If left too long before harvest
radishes will bolt- or go to seed. The
flowers have 4 petals and are white or lavender. They will mature quickly to long pods filled
with black seeds. Immature pods are
quite tasty and can be used in salads or stir fry. The Rat Tail radish has a long, curled pod
and the pods are often pickled.
Culture
Radishes are a cool
weather crop and should be sown as soon as the soil can be worked. Sow several small batches a few weeks apart
to extend the harvest. They will go to
seed quickly or become tough and woody in hot weather so use the garden space for
other crops in the heat of summer. You
can then begin sowing radishes again in late summer, as the weather cools. Frost won’t bother them much. Hard freezes will make the roots soft
however.
Radishes, being a
root crop, prefer sandy light soil. If your
soil is heavy clay you may want to grow radishes in containers of light weight
potting soil. Containers should be 6
inches deep for round root varieties, or a foot deep for long tapered root
types. You generally won’t need fertilizer, unless you are using a potting mix
or your soil is very poor. You can add a
garden fertilizer when you prepare the soil if needed.
Radishes should be
grown in full sun. They need even,
consistent moisture. Dry conditions tend
to make them pithy and very hot tasting.
Too much moisture may make them crack, but they are still edible.
Sow radish seed
about a ½ inch deep and ½ apart. They
usually germinate quickly if the soil is moist, within a week. Thin to 1 or 2 inches apart, depending on the
size of the varieties mature root. And
they grow very quickly; you can usually begin harvesting them in a month. Harvest the roots as soon as they are big
enough for you. Don’t let them get too
big or they will become woody and tough.
Store radishes with
the tops on or off, in the refrigerator, loosely wrapped in a damp paper towel
and they will last a couple weeks.
Radish pods should also be stored refrigerated.
Pests of radishes
include flea beetles and root maggots.
Flea beetles are small black beetles that make the radish leaves holey
and make plants less vigorous. Root
maggots come from flies that lay eggs on the soil next to radishes. They eat the root part of the radish and make
them very unappealing.
Both pests can be
stopped by covering your radish crop with a lightweight, spun row cover, well
anchored down on the soil. Or gardeners
can use pyrethrum to control these pests. Root maggots can be prevented by growing
radishes in containers. While the flies
could lay eggs in that soil they rarely do.
Alternate the spot where you plant radishes each year.
Radish recipes
Once you have your
radish crop you may be looking for ways to use them, other than making little
radish flowers for a veggie tray or slicing them into a salad. Radishes served with butter and sea salt is a
popular new dish in fancy restaurants, and comes to us from old French
recipes. To make fancy cuisine with the
little round radishes wash and trim them, then make those cute little radish
“roses” or score the radish several times, cutting almost through the root from
top to bottom.
Put each radish in a
small cup like a mini muffin cup, then pour hot, melted butter over the radish
and sprinkle with sea salt and let cool before eating. Honey butter works well with this too.
You can take a
crusty piece of French bread, spread it with butter and add thinly sliced
radishes, then sprinkle it with sea salt or coarse kosher salt. This is often served at picnics. You can use any kind of radishes or
bread. This was a favorite of my
grandfather, who planted radishes very early every year in a cold frame so he
could have radish sandwiches.
You can also slice
radishes of any kind very thinly; add some thinly sliced green onions and fry
them in a small amount of hot bacon drippings or if you are a vegetarian in
olive oil. This is a good low fat sub
for fried potatoes.
Take the fried
radishes above and toss them with a little cooked pasta and some olive oil or
your favorite dressing and add some cooked salad shrimp for a good side dish.
Spicy radishes can
be added to dishes like tacos or to soups.
They are good added to a cucumber salad or chicken salad.
Radishes can be
roasted for a different and delicious side dish. Wash and halve radishes, then toss them in a
plastic bag with your favorite seasonings, I like salt, paprika, onion and
garlic powder. Spread on a baking sheet
and cook at 400 degrees until slightly crispy on the outside. You may be able to cook these on the grill
too.
Take lots of pictures so you can remember June in December.
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….
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
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
this special event. This will be a special time to meet old friends and share
some of our memories of the activities of this group.
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
Find
Michigan garden events/classes here:
(This is the Lapeer County Gardeners
facebook page)
An
interesting Plant Id page you can join on Facebook
Here’s a
seed/plant sharing group you can join on Facebook
Newsletter/blog
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 or you can
comment directly on the blog. Please state that you want to have the item
published in my weekly note if you email me. 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. Contact me at KimWillis151@gmail.com
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 people and horticulture. It’s a
hobby, basically. I hope you enjoy it. If you are on my mailing list and at any
time you don’t wish to receive these emails just let me know. If you know
anyone who would like to receive a notification by email when a new blog is
published have them send their email address to me. KimWillis151@gmail.com
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