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Tuesday, April 3, 2018

April 3, 2018 Kim’s Weekly Garden Blog


Hi Gardeners

It’s a difficult time for me.  I am sitting at my desk watching a crew take down some dead trees in the yard.  For some reason it makes me feel quite sad.  In all we are having 4 dead trees removed and 4 large, live black walnut trees.  We are trading the walnut wood for the work being done on the dead trees, some of which were quite the mess to remove.

The change in the landscape will be considerable.  One of the walnuts sits in the front of the house and provides a lot of the shade that I built my shade garden under.  I don’t know how it’s removal will affect the landscape.  My husband consoles me with the idea of buying new plants, species that can take more sun. 

I think the loss of the trees affects me more because I also lost my father on March 23. That is also a big change in my life, although his death wasn’t unexpected.  I am luckier than a lot of folk because I had my father for a lot longer than many people had theirs.  Even though his last few months were in a nursing home and he didn’t really know me, I knew he was there.

I know my dads passing was for the best, he was tortured by a mind he couldn’t access and a body that was often racked with pain.   I know the removal of the black walnuts will save me the mess of cleaning up after them, something that I have difficulty doing anymore.  Removing the dead trees saves us from damaged roofs and gardens and makes the landscape look nicer. But it’s a change, a big change, and today change makes me sad.

I’ll adjust, I know.  I’ll remember my father when he was young and strong and always came to my rescue.  I’ll add new plants to my landscape, ones that need more sun, and that aren’t bothered by black walnut roots.  In a while I’ll forget the dead trees whose bleached skeletons stood out against the green.  I won’t miss the nuts that litter the yard and stain my hands when I try to remove them from the flower beds. In a few months there will be a new reality and I will have adjusted to it.  But today I am sad.

How about this weather?
February was cruel, with it’s promise of an early spring, but March, pretty disappointing. Now it’s April- and I know many of you are having snow this week, snow where it should not be when it should not be. Looking back at last year’s weather I note we had 2 inches of snow on April 7- but the temperature shot up to 50 later in the day and 60 the next and it was gone as soon as it fell.  The daffodils were in full bloom by April 10.  I notice that my crocus, which are finally blooming, bloomed in mid-March last year.

In comparing crocus bloom times back to 2012, it looks like we are about 2 weeks behind in phenology – when things bloom or in animals when they arrive or hatch.  It’s not unusual here to have a couple inches of snow in early April that quickly melts in my area, but the temperatures have usually been higher on average- both lows and highs- and things have progressed further by this time.  I see that many areas of the country are also running behind in phenology.

I know many people are worried about the early blooming plants being buried in snow, but you would be surprised how well most of these survive.  People in zones 6b-7 –especially the mid-south- have more to worry about as there are freeze warnings as far south as southern Missouri.  Here fruit trees and strawberries may be in bloom and this could really impact fruit production.  Check your upcoming weather and cover any fruit plants you can and any tender plants you may have outside if a freeze is likely.

 Zone 5-6 gardeners should proceed cautiously with outdoor planting.  Frost proof plants like peas, lettuce, and beets can be planted if the soil is workable but I’d wait to plant other vegetables.  Bare root trees and hardy perennials can be planted if the soil isn’t too wet. Pansies and violas can be planted in porch planters for color. Grass seed can be planted.  Do not plant tender perennials and annuals yet and certainly do not move the houseplants outside.  If you are starting things like tomatoes inside don’t rush.  I think we’ll have a few extra weeks before they can be planted outside this year.

One of the most important things to remember about spring planting is to not work in the garden when the soil is too wet, even if the weather is warm.  You’ll compact the soil and your transplants and seeds will be prone to root rotting.  Use the old fist test to see if the soil is workable.  Grab a handful of soil and make a fist.  If you open your hand and the soil is still compacted in a ball it’s too wet.  If it crumbles apart and falls off your open hand it’s ok to get in there and plant.

Zone 3-4 gardeners- well – I’ll just say good luck.  Start seeds inside.

Winter aconite

April almanac

April’s full moon is not until the 29th because we had a full moon March 31st. April’s full moon is known as the Pink moon, egg moon or grass moon. The moon apogee is April 8th and perigee falls on the 20th.  

Holidays in April are Golfers day the 10th, National Pecan Day 14th, National Garlic Day 19th, Earth Day 22nd, Executive Administrative day and Zucchini bread day the 23rd, Arbor day 25th, International Astronomy Day the 28th. 

April is National Lawn and Garden Month as well as Keep America Beautiful month.   It’s also National Humor month, National Pecan month and National Poetry month.  April’s birthstone is the diamond and the birth flower is the sweet pea.  In the language of flowers, the sweet pea means either goodbye or blissful love, depending on who’s translating I guess.

Taking care of that Easter lily

Did you get an Easter lily as a gift this year? Some gardeners simply throw them away when the bloom fades but there are others who are determined to keep them alive.  I will tell you that they don’t make good houseplants.  After the bloom fades the leaves will soon begin to yellow and the plant will not be attractive.  But in many areas of the country you can plant them outside and have a reasonable chance of them returning to bloom another year.

If you receive an Easter lily as a gift and want to try to move it to your garden in the spring, here’s what to do. When the blooms open, carefully cut off the stamens, the little dangling things covered in yellow pollen. This prolongs the bloom and keeps the pollen from staining the flower and your clothes. As each flower dies cut it off.

While blooming, the plant should be in bright light but not direct sunlight. Blooms will last longer if the plant is kept at cool temperatures, 60-65 degrees would be nice. Keep the plant watered but don't over water. You may have to remove decorative foil pot covers so it can drain. Keep the plant out of cold drafts and away from heat ducts, which will dry it out. When the plant is done blooming, move it to a sunny window. Do not remove any leaves unless they yellow and die. The leaves are producing food so the plant can produce new buds for next year.

As soon as the danger of frost has passed you can remove the lily from the pot and plant it in the garden. Choose a spot in full sun with good drainage. It is natural for the plant to die back now, but keep it watered and new shoots may come up.  If you don’t see new shoots don’t worry, just mark the spot where the bulb is so you don’t disturb it.

Of course, Easter isn't the normal time that these lilies should bloom. In my zone 5 garden the L. longiflorum lily blooms in late June or early July.  The lily will not bloom again this year, but it may bloom next summer if it survives winter. The Easter, or Madonna lily as it is sometimes called, is marginally hardy in zone 5, and does well in zones 6 -7. It should be mulched well to survive winter. If you don't have luck saving your gift plants you can buy bulbs that haven't been forced to bloom, and those may do better for you.

Should you buy up the clearance lilies left after Easter?  Probably not, many forced bulbs won’t bloom again.  Your chances are about 50-50 that the lily will survive another year and that’s lilies which have been treated the right way while they were blooming in your home.  Lilies which have dried out on the clearance rack probably don’t have a very good chance of surviving.  If you get them cheap enough or free it could be worth your trouble but don’t spend much on them.

 Book Review- Flower Confidential by Amy Stewart

I love Amy Stewarts books and I finished this one just before my father’s funeral, which made me much more appreciative of the flowers sent to the family in sympathy.  Flowers are wonderful in their own world- in the gardens and fields- but reading about the cut flower trade, how we breed, cultivate and ship cut flowers all around the world is fascinating, especially as told by Amy Stewart.

In this book you’ll learn about the fascinating history of the star gazer lily, and how the gentleman who developed this lily and other wonderful new lily hybrids died poor while others made millions off his plants.  The stargazer lily remains one of the best-selling lilies in the world, for gardens and the cut flower trade.  I was never overly fond of the stargazer in the garden, but I have many lilies in my garden developed by Mr. Woodriff.

You’ll learn why roses lost their scent and developed long straight, thick stems and the ability to stay fresh for weeks after being cut.  You’ll read the story of taking the simple gerbera daisy and making it into one of the top florist and garden shop favorites.  You’ll learn some of the tricks of the trade for delaying and promoting flower bloom and keeping plants alive longer.

You will also tour American greenhouses that provide cut flowers with Ms. Stewart.  They are struggling to compete with growers in Columbia, other South American countries and Africa, but some still manage to make a good profit.  You’ll also visit some of those growers in other countries, where the flower trade provides thousands of people with good jobs in a legal industry.  Ms. Stewart also discusses the movement to make those jobs safer and less exploitative for workers while protecting the environment.  While not appearing to take sides, the author gives a one a good look at the pro’s and con’s of the global trade in flowers.

The book will take you into the world of flower auctions, and the dizzying, breakneck speed at which millions of flowers a day are bought and sold, everything from long stemmed giant flowered roses to sprays of baby’s breath and eucalyptus.  And then you’ll learn how those flowers are transported around the world and turned into those bouquets and arrangements in grocery stores and florist shops.   

This book is easy to read, but very informative at the same time.  I learned a lot about the cut flower trade that I never knew before.  I think most gardeners would enjoy reading this book.  You may also want to read one of the Amy Stewart books- Wicked Plants and The Drunken Botanist.  You can brief reviews of these books here: http://gardeninggrannysgardenpages.blogspot.com/p/book-reviews-and-recommendat.html

Staying healthy while gardening

Gardening is a great hobby and it may be essential to your food budget and lifestyle.  But while producing healthy food and beautiful flowers gardeners should remember that there are some risks with even the safest activities and gardening is no exception.  Here are some tips to help you remain healthy while gardening.

Begin gardening slowly and know your physical limits. People of all ages and all physical capabilities can garden if they know how to pace themselves and what tricks and tools can help them achieve pain free gardening.  As a gardener with some physical limitations I can testify that it’s frustrating to get everything you want done when you want it done, but I’ve learned that doing too much at one time or doing things beyond my physical limits just slows things down even more.

Even people without physical limitations can get in trouble doing too much too quickly.  If you don’t garden at all until Memorial Day weekend and then jump into a long weekend of non- stop gardening, you’ll probably be regretting it.   Make a list of what needs to be done in the garden early in the spring and divide your work up into easily handled work days. 

Avoiding pain

If you have a bad back, make sure you’ve got things like wagons, hand carts, (two wheelers), back braces and plenty of strong teen age help for your garden tasks.  Better to ask for help unloading the patio blocks than begging for help to get out of bed the next day.  If you don’t have teen agers of your own maybe you can hire one for a day or two.  Or enlist the help of your significant other and make it a two person lift instead of trying to do it yourself.  Even if you are strong and fit don’t take on anything that’s too much for one person and limit how much lifting you do in one day, especially if you aren’t used to the activity.

If you have trouble bending or kneeling, don’t do it.  Learn how to garden from a seated position, either from a stool or chair or sitting on the ground.  If you have trouble getting up from the ground, you can use a “kneeler” with handles that help you pull yourself up, whether you kneel on it or not.  There are short handled shovels and other tools that make it easier to garden from a seated position.  Making the rows between your garden beds wider helps if you need to sit to garden.

People who have a lot of physical difficulty gardening may want to build raised beds.  You can make raised beds from landscape timbers or cinder blocks that you can sit on the edge of or beds that are like tables, with knee access under them so a wheel chair can be pulled up next to them.   If you are a frugal gardener you may be able to make raised beds out of things like old bath tubs, freezers or refrigerators with the doors removed and painted, or packing cases.  And there are all kinds of containers and pots on the market that can be raised on blocks to just the right height.

If you have arthritis it may be your hands that will hurt if you overdo the gardening.  Buy ergonomic tools with padded, large grips.  Always try tools before purchasing them to see if they are a good fit for your hands.  There are ratcheting pruners that don’t require a strong grip to use.  Do gardening in small increments so the hands aren’t overworked.  And wear gloves to prevent blisters and scratches.

Protect your skin and eyes
Wear suntan lotion when gardening. A bad sunburn is painful, and sunburns can lead to skin cancer.  Use a hat to shield your eyes from strong sunlight, even if you wear sunglasses, which are also recommended.   If you are fair skinned or sensitive to the sun stay out of the garden on a sunny day between 10 am and 2 pm., when the sun is the strongest.  If you are working in the sun make sure to stay hydrated, drink lots of non-alcoholic fluids.

If you are using power tools like weed whips, chainsaws, rototillers, and hedge trimmers wear safety goggles.  Eye injuries are common garden accidents.  If you are using any type of pesticides, weed killers insecticides and so on, read the label and wear the protective safety equipment it recommends.

When you garden wear mosquito repellents when bug bites might be a problem, such as when gardening on cloudy, wet days or in the evening or early morning.  Mosquito bites are not only itchy, but mosquito bites can carry serious diseases such as West Nile Virus.  If you are allergic to bee stings always carry an “epi” pen with you when gardening as there should be bees in the garden. 

Learn to identify poison ivy and other plants that you might be sensitive to, some gardeners react to Virginia creeper, (woodbine), or nightshades.  If you think you have contacted poison ivy immediately wash with soap and mildly warm water.  Launder all clothes you were wearing and clean any tools with hot soapy water or alcohol.

A gardener should keep his or her tetanus vaccination up to date.  These are usually given about once every 10 years.  Tetanus is a soil borne organism and can enter your body through any skin wound, although it most often occurs with a deep puncture wound.  If you step on a nail or run a piece of old wire into your hand or something similar, it might be wise to get a tetanus booster, consult with a doctor.  Tetanus is almost always fatal once contracted.  Always clean any wound you get gardening with soap and hot water immediately and cover wounds to keep soil out of them.

Watch the chemicals, including those in soil and water

A wise gardener always reads and follows the directions on pesticide labels and fertilizers.  And a wise gardener always store these items in their original container, in a secure place, as directed on the label.  But chemicals can affect the gardener from sources other than pesticides.  Gardens built close to busy roads, on old farmsteads and orchards or in older urban neighborhoods should have the soil tested for lead contamination.  Peeling paint around old homes and barns can leach lead into the soil.  Arsenic is another soil chemical found in some areas.  Some arsenic is normal but high amounts are toxic.  You can have a soil test done to determine if your soil is contaminated.

New health concerns have surfaced recently over lead and phylates and other toxic chemicals that can come from garden hoses, garden tools and equipment.  Garden hoses that sit in the sun can hold a nasty chemical soup including lead from brass fittings and chemicals that leach from the plastic.  Let hoses run for a bit before filling pet dishes or watering food plants.  You may want to buy hose that are “food grade” or “drinking” water grade.  These are usually found in camping or RV supplies, although more and more garden shops are carrying them.

Even garden gloves with “rubber” coatings or little knobs for better griping may contain lead and phylates, according to at least one consumer safety survey. Any garden tools and hose fittings made of plastic and brass may also contain chemicals. How dangerous these are remains to be investigated but you may want to use caution with hose water, especially if you tend to drink water from a hose. 

Gardening is a safer hobby than many others and gardening has so much to offer in the way of mental satisfaction that no one should consider not gardening because of some small health risks one might encounter.  Most gardeners get far more benefit from gardening than harm.  But taking some small precautions will make gardening even safer and more rewarding. 

Free Master Gardener lesson- composting and mulching

This next lesson is a quick overview of common garden practices, composting and mulching.  Since both benefit the soil as well as plants I always covered these topics in the soil science lesson.

What is Compost?

Many home gardeners seem to agonize over composting, making it much harder than it really needs to be.  Composting at home is quite easy and anyone can do it successfully.  Compost is like black gold for your plants and it helps the environment too. Like anything else there are various methods of home composting and I’ll discuss a few of them here.
Finished compost

Compost is simply organic material, anything that was once living, that has been broken down by microbes and soil creatures such as earthworms into a substance very similar in looks to fluffy soil. Nature makes compost all the time; it’s called rotting when nature does it.  Leaves rot, a fallen tree rots, and apples on the ground rot.  Basically, when you do home composting you want your yard waste and home garbage to rot.  

Compost is not fertilizer, although it does return nutrients to the soil.  It is not soil, soil has a base of broken down rock with organic matter added.   Eventually the fluffy material you produce from home composting will disappear, rotting down to pieces so small that it mixes with the soil, a very desirable thing.  It’s then called humus.

Why do home composting?

When you do composting at home you save all the wonderful nutrient value and soil amendment qualities of your waste and return it to your garden while saving space at the landfill.  You save money at home because you won’t need as much fertilizer.  Experts at Michigan State University say that if you leave the grass clippings when you mow and allow them to decompose, you can skip one application of fertilizer.  This is a natural form of composting.
 
Compost bins
If you have poor soil, either sandy, heavy clay or nutrient poor, then composting at home can take many of the things you might throw out and turn your garden soil into something rich and desirable.  There is nothing better for soil than organic matter and compost is organic matter that has been partially broken down.

If you do composting at home, you won’t be spending all that time bagging yard waste and taking it to the curb.   Some communities have passed a law prohibiting mixing yard waste with other trash.  You might have to haul it away yourself or pay for a separate collection if you don’t compost it at home.

Methods of Composting

Nature practices sheet composting.  A layer of leaves falls on the ground beneath the trees and lays there to rot.  You can do this too.  Don’t rake your leaves, run over them several times with the mower when they are on the lawn and let them stay where they are.  Let them blow into flower beds and stay there.  You can also spread your organic waste over the garden and just let it rot.

For many of us though, a layer of rotting garbage under the roses just doesn’t look right.  That’s why we make compost piles.  If you live in the country without close neighbors just make a pile for your organic waste.  It will eventually rot down to compost.  This is called cold composting.

If you live close to neighbors and don’t have much room, you want a small compost pile that rots quickly and without much smell. This is called hot composting, because the decaying process will heat up the pile.  When composting at home you can buy or build a number of items that will speed up the decaying process and hide what you are doing

Compost barrels or compost tumblers take small amounts of organic matter and rot them in a matter of weeks.  Turning the compost makes it rot faster and these compost barrels or compost tumblers make that easy. You’ll find them for sale in garden catalogs and stores. 

You can also make or buy compost bins.  These are just devices to hold small piles of organic matter which you will turn over with a shovel or pitchfork from time to time. You can make them from old pallets, a circle of wire, slats of wood or you can buy various bins on the market for home composting.

The disadvantage of compost tumblers, barrels and bins for composting at home is that they make only small quantities of compost at a time and you may need several to handle your waste.

These compost bins were made of lightweight foam
panels and stained.  They are easy to move. 

Hot composting

In hot composting you want the pile to heat up quickly to around 150 degrees F. and remain that way for a couple weeks.  Hot composting makes finished compost faster and the heat caused by the decomp process kills some weed seeds and disease organisms.

You have a better chance of achieving hot composting if you do these things: make smaller piles- no more than a few yards of compost material, chop materials into small pieces, use at least 1-part green or moist material to 2 parts dry or brown matter, don’t layer but mix ingredients thoroughly and turn the pile once a week.

In some instances, you can have finished compost in 3-4 weeks with hot composting.  Very small piles may finish even sooner.  But it’s sometimes hard to get a pile to heat up and stay heated for proper hot composting.  Don’t worry, this compost may take longer but will be just as good.

Adding compost starters

It’s not necessary to add anything to get compost started, despite all the hoopla and sales pitches out there.  You don’t need microbes or anything but the proper ratio of greens and browns.  Nothing you buy will give you better or faster compost so don’t waste your money.  Don’t add other home products like Epsom salt, sour milk, lime, and so on either.  Some of these may impede the decomposition process.

If you really feel you must add something to get your compost started simply dig up a shovel full of garden soil and add that.  It isn’t necessary, but it makes some people avoid the magic potions being sold to make compost.

Country style compost pile.

What to Compost

If you want to make compost quickly and without much smell, you want to put in equal amounts of juicy (green) matter and dry (brown) matter.  Compost needs to be moist to begin the decomposition process but if it is too wet, it will smell.  If you are managing a compost pile you may want to store some dry matter for times when you have a lot of juicy garbage.

Things that can used for composting at home include lawn and garden waste, which includes grass clippings, weeds, leaves, pruned material, dead plants and other things.  It can also include household waste such as vegetable peels, coffee grounds, egg shells, rotted fruits and vegetables and some food scraps.  You want to avoid putting meat, grease and a lot of sweet food waste into the compost pile.  These attract animals and smell. 

You can also use shredded paper, any paper except glossy colored pages.  That’s a good way to deal with junk mail!  If you have manure and used bedding from farm animals, or straw and hay, pile it on.   Don’t use manure from dogs and cats.  This may carry parasite eggs and diseases that are transmittable to humans. 

Anything that was once living (and manure, which was technically once living) can be composted, but don’t drag road kill home for the compost pile.  Farmers may compost dead animals, but they have been trained how to manage this and they don’t do it in the back yard.

The smaller the pieces that go into the pile the faster it will decompose.    Also turning the pile over every week or so will speed up the process.  If you have very dry weather and the compost dries out it won’t decompose either.  Adding moist (green) matter or water can help.

If you notice a smell from your pile it is probably too wet, or you have added meat scraps. You can add more dry material and/or protect the pile from heavy rain with a tarp to dampen the smell. 

Animal manure with bedding makes great compost

Compost tea

If you want to start an argument among horticulture professionals just mention compost tea.  There are those that are positive it’s all bunk, those that think it’s good for everything and those who feel it’s something between the two extremes.  Until recently I was one of the people that felt compost tea was useless.  Then I came upon some research that made me reconsider my stance.  I just spent several days reading more recent published research on the topic and I have modified my position to some extent.

There is a lot of research on compost tea and when I talk about research I am speaking about science-based research that has been published in recognized professional journals and not popular garden magazines and websites. This research can be hard to wade through and one must be careful to not project what you want to hear/read about the topic onto the actual results.  You must also sort out laboratory and controlled environment results from those obtained under average garden or field conditions.  I’ll give you my opinion here based on my reading and I will also post some links at the bottom of the article, so you can do your own reading and analyzing. 

First let’s define compost tea.  The oldest version of compost tea is just putting some finished compost in a permeable bag of some sort- such as burlap- and letting it sit in a barrel of water for a few days. The brown water that results is compost tea. This passive method is often referred to as NCT. Some studies also refer to it as compost extract.

But aerated compost or brewed compost is also being used and complicated systems and equipment have been developed to make it.  The systems involve bubbling air through the compost-water mix.  A number of additives are also being pushed to make compost tea “better”.  These include molasses, sugars of other types, yeasts, and other concoctions.  Aerated compost tea is often referred to as ACT.

There are two major areas in which compost tea is thought to be helpful, that of a fertilizer and growth aid and as a suppressor of foliar, fruit and soil disease organisms.  The benefit is from the microorganisms, primarily bacteria, that compost tea contains as well as nutrients that leach from the compost into the water.

So, does compost tea work?   The answer seems to be- it might to some extent. If you are someone who doesn’t want to use- or can’t use - commercial fertilizers or pesticides to solve plant problems compost tea may be of some benefit to you. In research studies that compared compost tea application to conventional fertilizer or pesticides the conventional products were almost always more effective.  And in many cases compost tea often did not provide enough of a benefit to make using it viable in commercial production.  However, compost tea might be helpful as a last resort for home gardeners who have the time and like to experiment.

Before you get excited and rush out to brew compost tea read on.  Compost tea is so highly variable that the same results can’t be predicted from batch to batch.  What went into the compost, the conditions the tea was made under, the water pH and many other things all contribute to whether the compost tea will help, be neutral or even be harmful.  And fancy equipment or any additive don’t seem to make much difference in improving the usefulness of the product.

What went into the compost determines the tea results.  Better nutrient quality and disease suppression seems to come from certain types of compost than others.  Vermicompost (compost made by worms), compost made with manure and compost made with some kelp seem to be marginally more effective than other types of compost, including those made with so called super weeds and herbs.  More research needs to be done on this.

What you absolutely should not do is add supplements to your compost teas like molasses, sugars, yeast and so on, despite popular garden magazines and sites advice.  These things are said to feed the bacteria and increase the bacterial component of the tea. All compost will contain some harmful organisms like salmonella and E.coli, but in normal finished compost the numbers are low.  However, the addition of, molasses, sugars and other things may increase the population of these harmful bacteria to levels where they can pose a health hazard.  Organic grower standards prohibit the addition of these things to compost tea used on food crops and you shouldn’t use compost tea made with supplements on food crops either.

The problem with compost tea is that one doesn’t know what the bacterial content of the finished product is. (And no, you can’t look at a batch under a microscope and determine what’s there, without a lot of training or some very expensive and complicated lab equipment.)  Some compost tea seems to inhibit the production of flowers for example, and that may because of the bacteria prominent in that batch of tea. One batch may kill harmful fungal infections on plants and other batches made the same way may do nothing to control the problem. It’s a crap shoot on what you’ll get.

The fertilization efficiency of compost tea is also highly variable.  At most it is a very weak fertilizer.  One use of compost tea that seems to make some sense to me is using it to water seedlings in a soil-less planting mix.  You’ll add some nutrients, some soil bacteria and if you have the right bacteria in your tea it may help suppress the fungal disease called dampening off.

Using compost tea as a fertilizer for plants planted outside in the ground is useless.  Using the compost itself is far more effective.  Whole compost will provide more nutrients and will contribute more good soil bacteria to the soil than compost tea.  Either work the compost into the soil or apply it as mulch around your plants.

Compost tea needs to be made and applied frequently to be effective.  It doesn’t store or ship well so forget buying compost tea products in stores- they are pretty much worthless despite marketing claims.  Home gardeners should not sink money into fancy compost tea brewers either.  Research has found that some products that help the tea stick to foliage might improve the ability of compost tea to suppress plant diseases.

Compost tea may be helpful when you don’t have other options and for some specialized uses.  If researchers ever isolate what bacteria in soil and compost provide the most benefit and learn how to ensure that those bacteria and not useless or harmful bacteria can be increased and used, then we may have a good, reliable, natural control product from compost tea.  That hasn’t happened yet, but it’s a possibility in the future.

Mulch

Mulching a garden, especially with bark or wood chips, is a trend that has developed relatively recently in gardening.  A hundred years ago few ornamental gardens used mulch except to protect plants over the winter.  Even 50 years ago mulch was generally something like straw placed on the rows in vegetable gardens.  Now one seldom sees a public landscape without mulch around some plant or another.  Most homeowners now buy mulch every year to place around trees and flower beds and garden mulch is a multi-million-dollar business.  But is mulch really necessary or good for all garden areas?  Is mulch a beauty treatment for gardens or something to replenish the soil?

There is no doubt that when mulch is properly used it helps control weeds, keeps soil moist and breaks down to make valuable organic matter in soil. Mulch eventually turns into compost, and then humus.  Decomposing mulch adds some nutrients to the soil, but it is not fertilizer. To many gardeners, mulch also improves the look of the garden.  It may not be necessary, but mulch can be very useful.
Arborist chip mulch path

Types of mulch

Landscape /Arborist mulch is what results when complete trees, except for the largest portion of the trunk, are chipped up.  This material is coarse, and the chunks are not evenly sized.  It may have leaves and needles in it.  It’s not the most attractive type of mulch but it is probably the best mulch to improve your soil. Using arborist mulch is much like sheet composting.  Many experts believe arborist mulch is far superior to bark nuggets or shredded bark.

Tree bark nuggets and shredded bark are often used for mulch.  They look nice but don’t offer much in the way of nutrients when they decompose.  Bark mulches tend to shed water rather than absorb it, which can be a problem in some settings.  They break down quickly and must be replenished frequently.

Recycled wood chips are chipped up pallets and construction debris.  This is the type of mulch that is often dyed red or black or other colors.  The dye is harmless although it sometimes leaches out in rain and stains other things. Recycled wood may contain wood that has been treated with pesticides or fungicides.  It may be a good use for old wood but it’s probably the least desirable type of wood mulch for gardens, especially when used around food crops.

Other organic mulches include pine needles, (sometimes called pine straw), coir, peat, compost, straw, old hay, cocoa bean shells, and other waste products from food and fiber production.  These mulches all have advantages and disadvantages.  Compost of course, is ideal mulch if you have large quantities of it.  Most people don’t have enough, which is why they use other types of mulch.

Pine needles will not make your soil acidic, at least in any meaningful way but they are slippery when wet and may wash away in heavy rain. Hay and straw can bring weed seeds with them. They break down quickly but aren’t too attractive.  Cocoa bean shells may be toxic to dogs if they eat them.  Most of the advantage to these other organic mulches comes if they are cheap and easy to obtain in your area.

Inorganic mulches include stones, pea gravel, plastic sheeting, and recycled rubber products.  Stones, like those white landscape rocks sold in bags, or red lava rock do not improve the soil.  They are a pain in the butt when they get into a lawn area that needs to be mowed. When leaves and twigs get into them they look messy and are very hard to clean.  Most professional gardeners don’t use them anymore.  Pea gravel may have its place on paths, as it drains well. It’s wise to use landscape fabric under gravel mulch to keep it from sinking into the soil.
 
Good use for rock mulch
Recycled rubber doesn’t break down, at least for a very long time. It can look attractive.  However, it probably leaches various chemicals into the soil-the research is still on-going- and doesn’t improve the soil. I wouldn’t recommend it except for playgrounds and the occasional path.

What about things like cardboard, old carpet, newspapers and landscape fabric or plastic sheeting?  I used to recommend layers of newspaper, cardboard, or carpet to smother weeds and preserve moisture.  However new research finds that this practice prevents a good exchange of air with the soil surface and impedes soil microbes in their important work.  It can also compact the soil and sometimes keeps it too wet.  It’s better to use mulch that is loose and chunky which allows air and water flow through it than layers of paper or carpet.

Plastic sheet mulch has its place in some forms of vegetable and fruit production.  It’s temporary in this use and is removed between crops. Black mulch helps heat the soil up in spring, red mulch can improve tomato and strawberry production.  Generally, irrigation hoses need to be underneath the plastic for the system to work well.  Plastic mulch is not a good idea for landscape plants and flower beds.  It doesn’t allow enough water to get to plants or conversely may keep plants too wet. Air exchange with the soil is impeded. In the landscape the plastic may be covered with other mulch, which further impedes water and airflow.

Landscape fabric is perorated or woven material that is supposed to allow water through it while impeding weeds.  It really shouldn’t be used under mulch however, in applications other than paths.  Like paper and cardboard, it does impede airflow, and adds nothing to the soil.  It can be difficult to remove or work through if you want to add plants, divide plants or remove plants later. 

Where and how to use mulch

It is good to mulch around trees and larger shrubs if they are in a lawn because it keeps someone from getting too close to the trunks when mowing or weed whipping and damaging them.  In this case the mulch should not touch the trunks of trees or shrubs and should not be more than 6 inches deep.  Mulch deeper than that may keep moisture and air from getting to tree root systems.

Spread mulch evenly – nothing looks more amateurish than volcano like mounds of mulch around trees.  The diameter of the mulched area should be proportionate to the size of the tree or shrub.  A three feet circle of mulch around a sapling looks right but a large tree needs a larger mulched area.  If your trees are in a natural setting or set among groundcovers and smaller shrubs they don’t need mulch.

Mulch is also good on path areas, such as in vegetable gardens, where you don’t want something like paving stones.  It’s environmentally friendly to use something that absorbs water on paths rather than something that causes it to run off into storm drains or other areas. Even shredded rubber and gravel mulches on paths allow water to percolate through them.  Mulches help keep weeds down in paths but unless you lay down landscape fabric before putting on the mulch you’ll have weeds popping through.  Even on landscape fabric some weeds will start growing but they are easy to pull.

Mulching around plants in the vegetable garden has advantages and disadvantages.  It can keep some crops cleaner and it makes weeding easier.  But in the spring you want the vegetable garden soil to warm up and dry out so applying mulch then isn’t a great idea.  Young plants heavily mulched in early spring may be slow to grow.  Applying mulch in early summer, when the soil has warmed up, will help keep weeds down and keep the soil from drying out as fast. 

However, if your area is seeing a lot of rain and you have clay soil you may want to skip the mulch so more water is lost to evaporation.  Don’t pile mulch too deeply as it may keep water from actually reaching the soil in drier conditions. Three inches in vegetable gardens is a good depth.  Put the mulch down when the soil is moist, but not when its saturated/flooded.

Use mulch that decomposes quickly in vegetable gardens, so it will improve your soil by adding organic content.  Straw, hay, grass clippings, shredded leaves and landscape chips break down faster than say – recycled pallet wood chips.  Current research indicates that mulch breaking down does not use enough nitrogen to cause a problem for plant growth.

Sometimes mulch in the vegetable garden can harbor pests like mice and voles, which may then cause snakes to frequent the garden.  Snakes are harmless to humans 99.99 % of the time, but for some gardeners the idea of mice or snakes in the garden will make them want to leave out the mulch.  Straw and hay mulch seem to have more mice and vole problems.

Mulching around and in perennial flower beds is probably the most controversial mulch application.  When bare ground is showing around perennials in early spring and weeds are growing rapidly gardeners are tempted to improve things with mulch.  However, many things should be considered before adding that mulch.

Just like in the vegetable garden, mulch added early in spring can slow down the growth of plants by keeping the soil cool and wet.  Once plants reach their mature size there will be less bare ground to see and weeds may be smothered or shaded out by heavy foliage in many cases.  Add mulch later- in early summer- and just pull weeds for a time in the spring and your plants may grow better and be healthier.



What about the mulch you applied last year or the leaves that blew into the garden and that were left there to rot, should they be removed in the spring?  The answer is – it depends.  If the layer isn’t too deep you may only need to remove mulch from around plant crowns.  If it is a deep matted layer of leaves or other matter the top layers may need to be raked out and added to the compost pile.  Loose woodchips are rarely a problem.  If flooding has occurred or it’s been very wet, then raking the mulch off the flower bed for a while may let the soil dry out and prevent plant roots from rotting.

The type of plants growing in your garden and your soil type can figure in when you are deciding to use mulch or not.  If you have sandy soil and are trying to grow plants that need constant moisture, then mulch is probably a good idea.  However, if you have clay soil and are trying to grow plants that like drier conditions, such as most herbs, you would do well to leave off the mulch.  And remember that while mulch can preserve soil moisture, mulch that is too deep may keep plant roots from receiving any water from light rains or irrigation.

Some flower gardeners compromise and use a strip of mulch between the plants and the edge of the garden and don’t mulch between plants.  This looks nice and still allows the soil to breathe and water to reach plant roots. 

Mulch can be helpful in protecting the crowns of certain perennials in the winter and in keeping plants from freezing and thawing cycles that lift them from the ground. (Some plants don’t like winter mulch – check your cultural suggestions.)  In this case you should apply the mulch after the plants have gone dormant, the dead leaves have been pruned off and the soil is frozen or soon will be.  You can apply mulch generously then - 6-12 inches in depth.  Just make sure to gradually remove it from the plant crowns in early spring.

All organic mulches decompose and settle and will need to be replenished, usually once a year.  If you are preparing a new bed and want to smother weeds and grass, don’t use plastic or cardboard, use a very deep layer of organic mulch (more than 12 inches), preferably arborist wood chips. Leave the mulch on for a season – or at least a few months.  When you get ready to plant you should have some nice loose, enriched soil down under that mulch.  If it’s still deep you may need to pull some back around the plants you put in but it will be worth it.

While many gardeners have been trained to think that gardens require mulch, they may not, and in some cases adding mulch to the garden is actually detrimental.  Think of what your plants need and require before giving in to the impulse to apply mulch as a “beauty treatment”.  That’s the sign of a great gardener.

Your homework for this lesson on mulch and compost is to check out 2 references below.

References for this lesson

Mulch references

Compost / compost tea references

Bloody Dog soup

It’s a terrible name but this comfort soup makes a good lunch, one that many kids will love.  You can experiment with making it spicier for adults.  It’s a fast, fun soup and your pets will be quite safe when you make it.  It will make 4-6 bowls of soup.

Ingredients

4 hot dogs, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon butter
1, 12-16 oz. can diced tomatoes- (I like roasted garlic flavor, any flavor or plain tomatoes can be used. If you like spicy use tomatoes with chilies.)
1 can (10 oz.) of condensed tomato soup
1 ¼ cup of half and half, cream or milk
2 cups of cooked pasta/macaroni – elbows, twists or your choice
1 cup shredded cheddar or cheddar jack cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Brown the hotdogs in the butter in the bottom of a soup pot

Add tomatoes, soup, cream, and cook about 5 minutes until hot and bubbly, stirring occasionally.

Add the pasta and cook another minute. Season to taste.

Ladle soup into bowls, top with shredded cheese. Serve hot.

This is good served with crackers, pita chips, corn chips or cornbread.



“Snow in April is abominable," said Anne. "Like a slap in the face when you expected a kiss.”
― L.M. MontgomeryAnne of Ingleside

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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