November 7, 2017, Kim’s Weekly Garden Newsletter

Hi Gardeners

"Most people, early in November, take last looks at their gardens, and are then prepared to ignore them until the spring.  I am quite sure that a garden doesn't like to be ignored like this.  It doesn't like to be covered in dust sheets, as though it were an old room which you had shut up during the winter.  Especially since a garden knows how gay and delightful it can be, even in the very frozen heart of the winter, if you only give it a chance."

-   Beverley Nichols-

It’s starting to feel like winter is near around here. We may get flurries later this week; some of you may already have had snow.  There’s not much left in the garden, although sweet alyssum and a few straggly petunias are still blooming. I brought in a hanging basket that had a petunia and some bidens (small yellow daisy-like flowers) left blooming.  I don’t know if they will continue to bloom under the grow light or not.  I said I wasn’t going to rescue all those tender perennials this year but here I am, bringing in polka dot plants and bidens.

Indoors the hibiscus are blooming their heads off.  The Thanksgiving cactuses are also blooming as well as the fuchsia and streptocarpus.  I am lucky I still have flowers.  I also have tree frogs that are still alive and calling.

Even though I really do not have any more room for plants I bought an amaryllis bulb and potted it up.  I wanted a deep red one and they had big bulbs at the grocery store for a very good price.  Shame on grocery stores for selling houseplants, they feed my addiction.

How can a gardener not have houseplants?  How can anyone go all winter without having a green space inside?  How can one give up the smell of wet soil and bruised leaves and even the scent of flowers?  Some people are lucky to have homes where there is some gardening outside all year round but if you don’t you must bring the garden inside.

Birds are back at the feeders in abundance.  When I go out in the evening I hear the sounds of geese and sandhill cranes calling.  They are migrating south and stopping in farm fields to feed.  I saw a little buck deer standing at the gate that separates the pasture from the yard last evening.  He was a foot away from one of our dogs who was barking at him on his side of the fence.  I think he was eyeing some fallen apples in the yard.

November Almanac

This month’s full moon (4^th) is called the full beaver or full frost moon.  In earlier times beaver traps were set about this time and of course a large part of the country has now received killing frosts. In Europe November is known as the 'wind month' and the 'blood month'.  It was the traditional month for butchering, hence the blood moon/month. Moon perigee was the 5^th.   Moon apogee is the 21^st.

November is named for the Latin word for nine as it was the ninth month of the Roman calendar, March was the first month.  In ancient times it was also called the month of the dead.  The Leonids meteor shower is this month.  It peaks on the 17^th and 18^th.  The best time to see “falling” stars is after midnight.

Both topaz and citrine are considered to be birthstones for November. November's birth flower is the chrysanthemum.  It’s National Adoption month, Native American Heritage Month, Peanut Butter Lovers month, American Diabetes Month, National Alzheimer's Disease Awareness Month, and Lung Cancer Awareness Month.

November 11^th is Veterans Day, the 13^th is Sadie Hawkins Day, World Diabetes Day is November 14, World Toilet Day, whatever that means, is November 19th, November 23^rd is Thanksgiving. Black Friday, which is an actual holiday in some states, is the 24^th.  The 28^th is a busy day, Abe Lincoln and Robert E Lees birthdays, (isn’t it odd they share a birthday?) and American Indian Heritage day.

Things to do before it snows

Winter is fast approaching and before you know it most areas of the country will have snow falling.  The gardener is now scurrying around to finish the last minute tasks.

If you haven’t dug up the tender bulbs, that should be your first priority.  Don’t let the ground freeze around them; even if you can still get to them they may be ruined.  Collect any seeds or dried flowers and seed heads you want to save.  Get those bulbs planted. It’s not too late if the ground isn’t frozen.

Garden at Suncrest, Lapeer, Mi

You will want to clean up the vegetable garden thoroughly. Make sure to remove all old fruits and plant parts to prevent overwintering pests and diseases. Put away tomato cages and trellises.  Fallen apples or pears should be removed from underneath trees to help prevent diseases and pests.

In the perennial beds you may want to clean up a little, cutting down unsightly stalks and doing a last weeding.  Leave seed bearing stalks for the birds unless you don’t want the plant to re-seed in the garden.  If time is limited just leave perennial beds.  I don’t do much clean-up of the flower beds until spring.  The stalks and dying foliage help catch snow which, along with the discarded foliage, insulates plant crowns.  I cut down some of the tallest lily stalks and other tall plants to about a foot above ground but that’s all.

Prune cautiously in the fall.  Don’t prune woody plants until they have gone dormant, as pruning may encourage new growth that will expend some of the plants reserves it has stored for winter.  This new growth generally will not harden off enough before winter to survive and is wasted effort for the plant.  Don’t prune spring blooming shrubs or trees now. Buds will have formed for spring and early summer flowering plants and pruning now will leave you without flowers next year.

Plants also experience winter die back from the tip toward the center of the plant.  The dead wood at the tip offers some protection for living tissue farther down. The more you can leave, the more living tissue may survive until spring. 

Should you mulch perennials heavily for winter?  It depends on the species.  Some species such as lavender, like dry winters and mulch may keep them too wet.  Other plants marginally hardy to your zone may need mulch to survive. Strawberries do better if mulched in winter.  Most perennials with the exception of Mediterranean native herbs like rosemary and lavender won’t mind light mulch. 

If you do apply mulch wait until the ground freezes.  The mulch is meant to keep the ground frozen, not warm, and keep plants dormant until spring.  It also prevents freezing and thawing cycles which heave plants out of the ground. Let leaves that blow into the beds remain.  You may want to add leaves, especially if you can shred them, or chopped straw.  Pine needles are fine mulch and don’t acidify the soil.  If something really needs protective mulch you may want to place some netting or fencing over the lighter mulches and weigh it down.  Or use wood chips that are less likely to blow or wash away.

Do get those young deciduous trees protected from varmints before snow falls.  Surround trunks with wire cages or tree tubes up to at least 3 feet high.  Deer, rabbits and voles call kill trees and shrubs by gnawing on the trunks in winter. You may also want to protect shrubs and trees from deer damage by surrounding them with deer netting.  Place it on stakes a foot away from what you are protecting and make it at least 4 feet high so deer can’t lean over it to reach shrubs.  Deer netting is fairly inexpensive.

This isn’t a science based recommendation but I can tell you what has helped me avoid deer damage to my evergreen shrubs and other things in the winter.  I string solar powered “Christmas lights” around the things I want to protect on stakes a foot away from them.  I set the lights to flashing or chasing mode. I think this is important because it’s the simulation of movement that keeps deer away. The lights are inexpensive to buy, you can find them for less than $10, and because they are solar powered cost nothing to run.  They come on automatically at night. 

Even in cloudy Michigan the solar lights work each night as long as snow is kept off the solar panels so it doesn’t block light.  This may or may not work for you and you have to consider if the blinking lights will annoy a neighbor.  I have used different colored lights and color doesn’t seem to matter.  For me the lights worked quite well, keeping deer away from my euonymus and cedars whereas the trees I didn’t protect with lights were eaten. I also used them with success to protect tulips in the spring.

Should you put burlap shields around evergreens to prevent winter leaf burn?  This depends on how hardy the plants are for your zone and where they are planted. Plants at the limits of their growing zone or where you are trying to “zone cheat” might survive better with a shield.  And plants in areas subjected to strong winter winds may need a shield.  Broad leaf evergreens are more susceptible to winter damage than needle type evergreens. Leave some space between the shield and the plants and don’t put the shields up too early.  Never use plastic for shields – you want the air to flow through and keep plants from becoming too wet.  Plastic also causes plants to warm too much on sunny winter days.

Rose cones are used by some people to protect hybrid tea type roses.  Cut the roses back only enough to fit under the cones.  Wait to put up the cones until the ground is frozen and cold weather is predicted to remain. You can insert a sturdy tomato cage over the rose while the ground is unfrozen, and then fill it with leaves or straw after the ground freezes.  You may need to wrap the cage with burlap or netting to keep the mulch in place.

It’s a good time to lay new mulch down around landscaping and on paths.  It’s cooler and things like wood chips are often on clearance.  You may want to remove sod for new garden beds you plan for next year.  You may want to measure areas where you intend to place new beds to help with your planning decisions during the winter.

Put away the tools, lawn chairs and grills as snow approaches.  Empty mowers of gas or add gas stabilizers to the tanks. Empty ceramic, or cement bird baths and pots so they don’t crack.  You may want to bring in glass hummingbird feeders and ornaments.

When all the chores are done you can catch your breath and not worry about waking up to a foot of snow covering everything.  Now it’s time to concentrate on those indoor gardens and planning for next year.

Garden at Suncrest, Lapeer Mi.

Growing Aloes- Aloe vera or syn. A. barbadensis

Aloe is one of those plants that folklore ascribes almost magical properties to.  Common names include burn plant and medicine plant.  In most of the United States aloe is kept as a houseplant although it can be planted in the ground in zones 8 and higher. The native origin of Aloe vera is somewhat hazy, it is thought to be North Africa, but it has naturalized in many parts of the world.  Aloe vera has been domesticated for thousands of years.

Besides the common species Aloe vera, which is the one used in herbal remedies, there are several other aloe species which are used as ornamental houseplants.  A. variegate has broad triangle shaped leaves with a white edge and dark horizontal bands. A. humilis is a dwarf species with narrow blue-green leaves edged with white teeth. A. arborescens forms a trunk with 9 inch leaves and looks like a small tree.  Other species are sometimes available.

Aloe vera leaves are fleshy, thick and triangular or rounded, and vary from green to a green-grey. The insides are gel-like and it’s that gel that is usually given medicinal properties. There are usually splotches of lighter green, yellow or white on the leaves. The leaf margin has small white “teeth”.  Plants grow as rosettes of leaves with “pups” or small plants being produced around the mother plant.  The aloes are plants that use mycorrhiza on their roots to help them obtain water and minerals.

Aloes produce flowering stalks with dangling yellow tubular flowers on occasion. These flowers will turn into seed pods if pollinated but seeds are rarely seen in ornamental plants and plants are generally propagated by removing one of the pups the plants produces.

 

Aloe vera

Growing conditions

As a houseplant aloes like a light, well drained potting medium.  You can use a cactus type soil or mix some clean sand with potting medium-about 1 part sand to 2 parts potting medium.  Inside they prefer a bright sunny window or grow lights.  However use caution when moving plants outside in the summer and do not put them in direct sunlight without acclimating them gradually or the plants leaves will scorch.  If an aloe is getting too much sun the leaves will look reddish or bronzy.  Aloes that don’t get enough light will be pale green and lanky/floppy.

Let the aloe plant dry out before watering.  If leaves are plump and crisp the plant is healthy and being watered correctly.  Leaves that are shriveled, mushy or blackened are a sign the plant is being over watered or sometimes under watered.  Aloe leaves often have brown or broken tips and this usually just means mechanical damage, as when one breaks off a portion to use.

Fertilizer is rarely needed with aloe plants although you may lightly fertilize with a houseplant fertilizer in summer.  Keep the plants away from cold drafts and from touching cold glass.  Pests of aloe are few; they sometimes get aphids, scale or mealy bugs inside. 

What about aloes medicinal uses?

At one point in time aloe seemed to be in just about every personal care product imaginable and was being consumed in all kinds of food products from smoothies to desserts and also used medicinally.  Medicinally it is said to cure just about everything.  Like most things claimed to be a cure-all much of the information is hype without any proof.

However, aloe has been declared an animal carcinogenic (causes cancer) and a possible human carcinogenic substance when it is ingested. Ingested aloe may also cause birth defects and liver and kidney failure.  In 2002 the FDA regulated laxatives with aloe for that reason.

Small amounts of aloe ingested over a short term may not cause any harm.  However long term ingestion, (eating) of aloe and use of large quantities of aloe, could be harmful.  That’s the general conclusion of most scientific studies of aloe to date. 

Studies linking aloe to lowering blood sugar, lowering cholesterol, causing weight loss and curing AIDS have either been inconclusive or have proven to be false. Some actual benefits of aloe extract are also known but as with most medications risks must be weighed against benefits.  Benefits may be antibacterial/viral actions, laxative properties and soothing, emollient properties.  There may be some use for aloe in skin and wound care.

Aloe is used in one of three forms, whole leaf extract, gel or latex.  Research has shown the gel applied topically (to the skin) is the safest use of aloe.  It has a few minor side effects such as skin irritation.  It has soothing qualities for minor burns and rashes, but studies have shown it doesn’t really influence healing.  It is not a sunscreen and should not be used to prevent sunburn. Studies have shown it does not cure genital herpes or psoriasis as some herbalists suggest.  Ingesting the gel is not recommended.

Aloe latex is already regulated by the FDA and has some limited medical qualities when standardized and carefully administered.  It’s primarily used in laxatives.  Anyone who is allergic to latex should avoid aloe latex.

Whole leaf extracts when consumed are the most dangerous aloe product to experiment with. Aloe extract contains anthraquinones, which are known to have liver and kidney toxicity, may cause excessive bleeding, interact with many other medications, and may cause cancer and birth defects.

The toxicity of aloe extract is determined by measuring the “aloin” content.  The recommended safe dosage for short term medical use is less than 10 ppm (parts per million) and for nonmedical use the recommended limit is 50 ppm or lower.  A person preparing aloe extract at home has no good way to measure aloin content and may take or administer a toxic dose. Decolorized and purified extract is the safest since much of the anthraquinones are removed in the process.

A small amount of decolorized aloe extract used in foods and drinks as a flavoring is considered safe.  I can’t see how aloe taste would improve a food product, I think adding it is seen as a “healthy food” selling point and nothing more.  The small amount added doesn’t provide any significant nutritional boost or medicinal value.  “Juicing” aloe or drinking pure aloe juice would certainly expose one to toxic levels of anthraquinones if done often.

The argument that aloe has been used medicinally for thousands of years and therefore is safe has no merit.   Aloe doesn’t kill immediately or cause immediate adverse effects other than diarrhea so such things as kidney and liver failure, cancer or birth defects were unlikely to be associated with it in earlier times but that doesn’t mean they didn’t happen.

Aloe is also toxic to pets, although they rarely consume enough to cause serious problems.  Vomiting and severe diarrhea would be the primary symptoms.  If a pet kept ingesting the plant however, kidney or liver problems might occur as well as cancer or birth defects in offspring.

So your aloe plant on the windowsill can be used to treat minor burns and rashes without any harm.  Don’t squeeze the gel out of a broken leaf however. This releases the latex, which is a yellow fluid found just under the plants “skin”. The latex is actually a skin irritant.  Instead slit a leaf length wise, lay it open and carefully remove the gel away from the outer layer of plant.  This is what is applied to the skin.  But please skip consuming aloe in any way unless a medical professional administers a purified product.

Here are some reference to studies on aloe toxicity

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26986231

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22968693

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/298795803_Aloe_Vera_-_A_Review_of_Toxicity_and_Adverse_Clinical_Effects

Preventing hunting on your property

Some gardeners never have to worry about hunters straying on their property and some gardeners might want deer hunters to take a few shots at the deer on their land.  But even though you may think that hunting is a great sport, you may want to keep hunters off property that you own.  You may be worried that your pets, livestock, crops or kids will be harmed or you may want to save all the chances of bagging a big buck for yourself.

We only allow hunting on our property by people we know and only archery hunting.  As a land owner you have the right to restrict who hunts and how they hunt on your land.  There may be liability issues with allowing people to hunt on your land; you may want to have a formal written agreement. You should also check any zoning restrictions against hunting in your area.  

And regardless if it’s your land or not most states restrict hunting to legal hunting seasons, with a hunting license and legal hunting weapons and hunting regulations as determined by your state. The rule of thumb is you own the land but the state owns the game animals.

How to post your land

Every year as hunting season approaches the no trespassing/ no hunting signs fly off the hardware shelves as people try to keep unwanted hunters off their land. Here’s what you need to know about posting your property. (I’m not a lawyer and I’m not giving legal advice here. I’m most familiar with Michigan law but most states have similar laws on posting land and hunting regulations.)

While farmland and woods connected to farmland are automatically protected by law from trespassing, many hunters don’t know this. It’s best to post all property, even fenced property and crop land, which you want to keep hunters and other trespassers away from.  

Even if you think hunting on your property is fine, you should probably post the property and restrict access to those hunters which you select, and not allow general public access to hunting on your property.  Your signs should state - hunting by written permission only - and give a number or address to contact.  This gives you some control and helps prevent illegal hunting or damage to your property.

Legal no trespassing signs must be at least 50 square inches and have letters at least 1 inch high.  The wording can vary from simply no trespassing to no hunting or trespassing.  If you don’t care if people come on the property for reasons other than hunting your signs can just say no hunting. But be aware that is much harder to enforce and prosecute hunting violators if the sign doesn’t say no trespassing. 

There is no required color for the signs.  Brightly colored signs do show up better against a dark background of trees or crops.   All kinds of signs are readily available in hardware, feed stores and even big box stores or you can make your own.

Your signs must be posted so that a person can see at least one sign as he or she approaches any point of entry into the property. That means that they will probably need to be every 10-15 feet apart on property boundaries.   It is illegal to post signs on other people’s property without their permission, no matter how tempted you are to add additional space to your buffer zone.  It is also illegal to remove posted signs, unless they were wrongly posted on your land.

The best signs are sturdy and waterproof and at least 8 by 10 inches.  Attach signs to fence posts or posts of their own.  They should show above any tall weeds or crops, but not be above an average person’s standing eyesight.  Attaching signs to trees can damage the tree.  If you have driveways or paths leading off public roads or they come from property owned by someone else, it would be best to place a rope or chain across that access point and attach signs to it.  If those access points have gates place no trespassing signs on the gates. 

If your property borders a stream, river or lake that people could enter from post signs along the shore. (In some areas there is public access allowed on rivers and lakes but people on the water cannot legally come off the water onto your property if it’s posted.) If you notice blinds, camps or other indications that people have been on your property post signs near that location too.  You can legally remove blinds and camps from your property if you did not give permission for them to be there.

When you find a trespasser

If you find trespassers ask them to leave.  If they don’t leave don’t threaten them, don’t try to bodily remove them or chase them out.  Remember some of these trespassers may be armed and angry words and guns are not a good match. Contact local law authorities, DNR employees won’t respond to trespassing on private property complaints, unless illegal hunting is also involved and even then, they probably can’t respond very quickly.  Unfortunately local law authorities may also put trespassing complaints on low priority. 

If vehicles are on your property or parked along the road and you think they belong to trespassers, get the license plate number.  If a trespassing hunter has a hunting license attached to his clothes try to get that number too. This will help law enforcement prosecute offenders.

A person who is convicted of a first offense of trespassing is generally fined or assessed damages, whichever is greater.  After the first offense additional penalties may apply.

A person who has lost a dog or farm animal has the legal right to enter property to retrieve it, even if it is posted.  He or she cannot be armed, and must only be on the land only long enough to collect the animal and leave.  A hunter does not have the right to track wounded animals onto posted property or retrieve dead animals from posted property.  However it might be kinder to the animal to let the hunter track it and finish it off.

I’m not against hunting in the right time and place.  It makes me very unhappy however to find a hunting blind on my property when I did not give permission for it to be there or have people on my land with guns that I do not know. I take care to wear hunter orange during hunting season when out away from the house, just in case.  When we had livestock we penned them up away from the woods until hunting season was over.  Most hunters are probably sensible, safe hunters but I take no chances.

Drying apples

The drying method is the same whether you want to eat or make crafts from your apples but there are some differences in preparing the apples.   For eating, select apples that have firm flesh and that don’t have soft spots or worms.  Wash, peel and core these apples.  For craft apples insects and damaged areas are less important.  However heavily bruised or rotting apples will not dry well.  Most people leave the skin on and cores intact for crafts.  

Slice your apples into 1/4 inch slices as evenly as you can.  Immediately dip them in a solution of 1/2 cup lemon juice to a quart of water.  Leave them in the solution for a few minutes.  This prevents browning of the slices. 

The slices can be spread in a single layer and dried in a food dehydrator- follow your dehydrator directions, or place slices on cookie sheets and put in the oven at 135-140 degrees.  It will take 6-8 hours to dry them in the oven.  Apple slices can also be dried in a single layer in the sun for 3-4 days.  This requires warm, sunny weather for those days. They must be covered with screen or cheese cloth to protect them from insects and placed where they are safe from larger animal pests.  Bring them inside overnight to avoid dew wetting them.

Properly dried apple slices will be dry in the center, but still pliable.  Store them in tightly covered containers with a spoonful of powdered milk twisted in a paper towel to absorb moisture.  If mold develops on apples for eating they should be discarded.

Four C’s- Cider-Cherry-Chestnut – Chicken

Here’s a yummy recipe that combines harvest goodies with the old favorite chicken.  This recipe makes a dish that’s both low fat and delicious.  Serve with brown and/or wild rice for a great meal. Serves 4.

Ingredients

Four boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips

1 ½ cups apple cider

1 cup frozen chestnuts (quartered)

1 large apple, peeled, cored and cut into thin slices

½ cup dried cherries, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic (sliced)

2 chicken bouillon cubes

½ teaspoon tarragon

Salt and pepper to taste

Place the chicken, cider, bullion, garlic and seasonings in a large pan. Cover pan.

Poach chicken on low heat, turning occasionally, until the chicken is almost cooked, about 10 minutes.

Add apple, cherries, and chestnuts and cook 5-7 minutes longer, until chicken is thoroughly cooked.

Serve over cooked rice.

May the sun catch you and the snow miss you this week

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….

Find Michigan garden events/classes here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/118847598146598/

(This is the Lapeer County Gardeners facebook page)

An interesting Plant Id page you can join on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/groups/623997204362467/?fref=nf

Here’s a seed/plant sharing group you can join on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/groups/875574275841637/

Newsletter/blog information

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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