Hi Gardeners
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| Trilliums |
Yesterday I woke up to a light covering of snow, but
the sun was out, and it quickly melted.
The rest of the day was sunny and mild. The willows, maples and poplars are
starting to bloom, and the trees showed a haze of yellow and red against the
deep blue sky.
Today its cool and rainy. The whole week is supposed to be the same,
rain predicted every day. I sure hope
April showers mean May flowers. Flowers
are starting to bloom outside. Besides
crocus, I now have iris reticulata, and the earliest daffodils blooming. Trout lilies and early tulips have buds. Forsythia is showing a bit of color in the
buds.
The lilacs are showing green and the amur honeysuckle
has small leaves. The barberry also is
leafing out. Ground ivy is blooming, but I haven’t seen dandelions yet.
Sometime this week I will get to the nursery to get
some pansies. I love pansies and I
always have a hard time choosing which varieties and colors to buy. This is one plant that can be planted outside
now in colder zones for a bit of color in porch pots. Even snow won’t hurt
them. Later when it gets hot the blooming
fades. But if you cut them back you can
usually get them to bloom again in the fall when it cools off. In the spring they go into pots here, when it’s
time to plant the summer annuals I remove the pansies and plant them in the
ground somewhere.
Mary Helen, my pretty cannabis plant, got repotted
this week into a huge pot. Normally I
would not have put a small plant into this big of a pot but my cannabis
advisors tell me this is the way its done. She has a LED grow light suspended
just above her. It’s not 600 watts like
I was told to use, just a 250 watt equivalent.
The first two days I noticed Mary Helen had moved her
leaves nearly vertical, which to me means a plant is getting too much
light. They adjust their leaves so that less
leaf surface is exposed to light. I lifted
the grow light a few inches and her leaves resumed a more natural horizontal
incline. I am glad I didn’t use a 600
watt bulb. She looks happy and is putting out new leaves.
The biggest problem I am having with Mary Helen is
that she smells. I can smell the skunky smell in the next room. I don’t remember the pot plants I had in
college having that strong a smell. I don’t know how people can stand having a
whole room full of them. I am assured the
smell is normal and good by pot experts.
Mary Helen will be moved outside as soon as its warm
enough. Some of my pot experts are
trying to talk me out of that. She will
be hardened off properly, see the article about that below. And she will have a cage to protect her from
animals. Maybe some netting for insects. The experts tell me she will get too
hot. I said she will get equally hot
inside, since we don’t have air conditioning.
That sparked an appeal for me to install air conditioning. No, Mary Helen will need to adjust. She is an experiment, if I get any harvest, I
will be happy.
I am thinking there may be some good money in
producing cuttings or seeds of cannabis in states where it’s legal. Twelve legal plants could produce a lot of
seeds, which are selling for 3/$26 up to 3/$130. And you still might get some
product for personal use. Something to think about.
I’ve got some lengthy articles here this week. When I start to write about a topic, I feel I
need to explain it fully. I know this
world today is all about videos and short quick info bites. But that just isn’t me. So if you are interested in one of the topics
I wrote about I hope you will take time to read it and that I explained the
topic well.
A
garden tip
I was thumbing through one of those expensive garden
supply catalogs and noticed what looked like a laundry tub for sale as a raised
planter. It was over $200. I saw single laundry tubs on legs at Home Depot
for $30. They have all kinds and sizes
at a range of prices. These would make
great, deep raised planting beds. You could
plant a nice big tomato plant in one and let it hang over the sides, keeping it
trimmed off the ground. We did that once
with an old freezer on it’s back but they don’t look as nice and are hard to
move when full.
Laundry tubs could be found at even better prices at
resale shops or yard sales. You might
even find them discarded by the road. They
do have a drain hole, but I would add a few extra drainage holes with a
drill. They could easily be painted, and
the height adjusted by shortening the legs if needed.
The tubs without legs are also sold. These might make a raised container bed if
set on blocks. But the same thing could
also be done with stock tanks, which you can buy at places like Tractor Supply. You can find these used at farm sales too. Stock
tanks also make good brooders for baby chicks.
The
health benefits of purple corn
Ancient farmers had many varieties of corn with
colorful kernels. Some of those varieties
persist today and researchers at the University of Illinois used one old
strain, Apache Red to create several new varieties with deeply pigmented
kernels. The colors come from anthocyanins
and are concentrated in the pericarp or outer “skin” of a corn kernel.
Researchers know that anthocyanins have many health
benefits and they removed these anthocyanins from the corn kernels with water
pressure and then freeze dried the extracts.
The extracts were then used in research.
The corn extracts reduced inflammation and fat
deposits in cells and decreased insulin resistance. In animals the extracts helped prevent
obesity and diabetes. Because corn is
easy to grow and store and the process of extracting the anthocyanins much
easier than extracting them from other plants, scientists are excited about the
prospects of this new corn to aid human health.
In the process of experimenting with the pericarps
filled with anthocyanins researchers found they also make great safe food dyes and
could replace many dyes that are thought to be harmful to health. Corn is a
remarkably useful plant in so many ways.
If you have the space why not grow some corn this
year? There are colorful varieties that
also make good sweet corn and the reds and purples will give you those healthy
anthocyanins. You may want to try
grinding your own cornmeal. Or just grow
some of the colorful ears for decoration.
More reading
Hardening
off plants
Every spring many gardeners, even some experienced
ones, are going to kill or harm some of their plants. What will they do? They will move them outside without giving
them time to adapt gradually to outside conditions, called hardening them
off. It may be houseplants, it may be
seedlings you started under lights inside, it may even be plants you purchased
at the greenhouse, but it was plants that weren’t ready to be shoved outside
without some extra care.
There are several things that can harm plants when
they are first taken outside. One is
cold, but the sun and the wind on a beautiful warm day in spring can prove
equally harmful. The shock of changing
from sheltered conditions inside to the real world outside can damage or kill
most plants. That’s why any move outside is done carefully and gradually. The
process is called hardening off and
it’s essential for healthy plants.
Cold
Most gardeners know enough not to put plants out when
it’s too cold, but sometimes when they see greenhouses selling them, they
assume it’s time to put them outside.
Don’t assume, greenhouses don’t mind selling you new plants after a
frost kills the first ones you bought.
Know your average last frost date and keep an eye on the weather
forecast when purchasing plants in early spring or deciding when to move
seedlings or houseplants outside.
Most annuals and houseplants are killed by frost, a
freeze is deadly even to some new perennials that haven’t been hardened
off. A frost can occur even above the
freezing point when nights are clear and calm and temperatures dip below about
36 degrees. Even after frost normally
doesn’t occur in your area an odd weather pattern can bring a surprise frost in
late spring. Gardeners should pay attention to weather forecasts.
When you can’t resist buying that gorgeous hanging
basket of begonias or those nice tomato plants early in your growing season, make
sure you have a place to move them into when frost threatens. You can use a garage or shed or even your car
but if frost is predicted move tender plants to a protected spot. If you are
moving seedlings outside in flats or pots, they too, should be moved inside if
frost threatens. I leave mine on a cart
so that I can simply pull it into the barn. (Don’t leave plants in the car after
the sun comes up, they may get too hot.)
If you have planted in the ground or large containers
and frost threatens you can cover the plants with paper or cloth, not plastic
as it can harm plants. If the leaves are touching the plastic during the frost the
cold comes right through or if the morning sun warms things up too much before
you can get out there and uncover them the plants will cook. Covering plants when a hard freeze is coming
won’t protect them.
Having a small unheated greenhouse is wonderful in
the spring. You can purchase plants
early when the selection is good and hold them inside the greenhouse until the
weather is settled. Or you can move
seedlings from a heated place to the unheated but protected space.
Most houseplants are tropical and shouldn’t be moved
outside until temperatures stay above 40 degrees at night. A few warm days can be deceptive. If you are like me it’s a major job moving
plants out for the summer and you don’t want to do it more than once. Wait until the weather is quite warm and
settled before giving those houseplants a summer vacation.
If a perennial is winter hardy in your area, it’s ok
to plant it as soon as the soil can be worked when its dormant. But if the plant is in a pot and well leafed
out when you get it, and similar plants in the ground outside aren’t leafed out
yet, then wait before planting it outside until conditions are warmer. Putting the leafed-out plant outside too soon
may kill the young growth that hasn’t hardened off. This will stunt the plants growth or may even
kill it.
You can put the plant outside in a sheltered place-
sun is ok after a day or two of acclimation if that plant likes sun- and move
it inside if a frost or freeze is expected. When similar plants in the ground
already have leafed out then your potted perennial can be planted. If all danger of frost has passed it can also
be planted.
The
sun and wind
Even if the temperature isn’t going to be a problem,
moving plants outside into full sunlight and the wind from an indoor location
can harm them. Even you might burn if you spent a whole day outside in the sun
early in spring before building up a little tan. The sun outside heats the plants
leaf surfaces quickly, unlike most indoor lights. Heat and the stronger light both affect the
plants.
Plants change the type of leaves they have to suit
the light conditions. Some drop leaves and replace them, others make the leaves
thicker, add more chloroplasts, or change the angle at which leaves are
presented to the sun. This change takes a few days to a few weeks depending on
the plant.
It doesn’t matter if the plants were in very bright
conditions inside, like under grow lights or in a southern window. Even plants known to like full sun, like
cacti and some succulents, and those tomatoes and peppers may burn if moved
directly into sunlight from inside. Seedlings are very vulnerable.
Even if plants spent the summer outside the previous
year, if they have been inside all winter, they need an adjustment period or
hardening off, this year too.
Plants that sunburn may get reddened areas, or yellow
or white areas especially at the top of the plant. They may look bleached out or like they are
blistered. These areas may then turn brown and crisp or they may remain soft
and rot. Leaves may wilt. The wind, even
if it’s a light breeze, contributes to problems by quickly drying out plants.
Sunburn and wind drying can happen in just a few hours.
Plants may not die from sunburn, but they will be
delayed in growth and production as they work to repair the damage. It can take most of the season just to repair
that early damage. They may never look as nice.
And some plants will die, some after just a few hours in the direct sun.
So
how do you harden off plants? Put the plants outside in a shaded location
protected from the wind for a few days before gradually moving them into full
sun or their preferred lighting, and the wind. Start with an hour or so of full
sun and mild breezes, then move them back into shade. Lengthen the time by a couple hours each day.
When they are in sun for 6-8 hours a day they can be planted in the sun. (This is for plants that like full sun. Shade loving plants should never be put into
full sun.)
If you don’t have a shady area make one with a beach
umbrella, a tarp, or putting them under a table. Choosing to move plants outside
during rainy or cloudy weather is also a good idea. A cloudy, rainy, mild spell
is the perfect time to buy plants, and move plants outside.
Make sure to keep plants moist while hardening them
off. Pots and flats will dry out much
more quickly outside than inside. Having
them near a water source is a good idea.
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| I like to cover my tomatoes the first few days with brown paper |
What
about plants that came from a greenhouse? Some of those plants may also suffer,
especially from drying out. When I buy annuals and vegetable plants from the
greenhouse, I don’t plant them the first day.
I put them in light shade (if they are sun lovers) or shade (if they are
shade plants) and keep them well watered for a day or two. That’s usually
enough adaptation time for greenhouse plants.
If you are going to store the plants for any longer
time before planting, put them in a shady protected spot first for a day or
two, then move them into partial or filtered sun if they are sun loving plants.
Plants in small pots and cell packs dry out quickly. Don’t forget to water them
frequently. This could be several times
a day if it’s warm.
If you do decide to plant on a sunny day in full sun,
you should protect the plants (shelter in place?). When my grandfather planted tomatoes outside,
he made little hats out of newspaper for them.
These were left on for three days.
It worked for him. You can also
use paper, (paper lunch bags work well), row cover, shade cloth, old thin
sheets, or other things to cover newly planted plants. You don’t want things that
hold too much heat, tear the corners off bags and lift row/bed covers up off
plants so air can circulate, or you will cook the plants.
Some houseplants that like that southern window
inside may not be able to stand full sun outside, even after hardening
off. My Norfolk pines are in a southern
window with grow lights as supplements in the winter. When they go outside, they go under the high
shade of some cedar trees for the summer and they thrive.
Aloes, cacti and many other sun lovers still need an
adaptation period. Some succulents like
Christmas cacti are not found in full sun in the wild, and don’t appreciate it
at your house either. A rule of thumb for houseplants is shade first – for at
least a week, then partial shade for another.
Then a great many of them still need partial shade or dappled shade or
even full shade for the summer outside. Know
what light conditions your plant species prefers in its native environment.
It may seem like a lot of time and work to harden off
plants. Some people don’t do it and for
some plants in some instances that may work. But taking just a little time and
effort to let the plants adjust to new conditions makes them healthier and
happier.
Amending
your soil pH to grow blueberries
Blueberries are a very healthy food and they taste
good too. It’s no wonder that many
gardeners want to grow them. But growing
blueberries isn’t easy for many gardeners, not because they aren’t good
gardeners but because they don’t have the acidic soil conditions blueberries
need. While many states do have areas
with acidic soil, you’ll probably find your garden has neutral or even alkaline
soil pH.
There are other plants, such as rhododendrons,
azaleas and camellias that also require acidic soil. Many gardeners have the mistaken idea that
they can add some soil amendments and quickly change alkaline soil to acidic to
grow these plants but amending soil pH isn’t that simple.
Soil is composed of minerals from dissolved and
crushed rocks, and of organic matter, air and water. The types of rocks that formed the soil in an
area added different minerals to the soil.
Hydrogen gets into soil from those rocks, from the breakdown of organic
matter and from chemical reactions in plant root systems. In soil, the hydrogen ions are in the water
that fills the pores between soil particles.
The more Hydrogen ions in the soil the more alkaline it is.
How acidic or alkaline the water in soil is
determines what kinds of mineral elements get dissolved and become available to
plants or get bound up in complex reactions and become unavailable. The term pH stands for the potential or
percentage of Hydrogen ions in a solution.
(The correct way to write this term is lower case p, upper case H.) A pH scale is a way to rate how acidic or
alkaline soil is. It ranges from
0-14. Seven is considered neutral. Above
7 is alkaline and below 7 is acidic.
Soil pH increases or decreases by ten times for each
point on the pH scale. A pH of 6 is ten
times more acidic than 7 and a pH of 5 is ten times that or one hundred times
more acidic than a pH of seven. So, if
you are trying to lower a soil pH of 7 to a pH of 5 for acidic soil loving
plants you are trying to make it 100 times less alkaline. You may guess from this that lowering soil pH
might not be easy and your guess would be right.
Most plants grow best at pH levels of 6.5 to 7.5.
That is where most beneficial minerals become available to them. The pH level in soil also affects the
microbes and micro-organisms that break down organic matter that adds nutrients
to soil.
A few plants have evolved to survive in soil pH
levels slightly higher or lower than that 6.5 -7 range. Plants that prefer
acidic soil like blueberries, function best when minerals like iron are easily obtained
from soil. Iron is dissolved in the acidic water of low pH soils and is
essential to plant health. Above a 6.5
pH iron is not easily available to plants as it is bound to other soil
compounds.
The plants that grow in neutral or alkaline soil evolved
chemical reactions in the root system and associations with microorganisms that
help them obtain iron bound in the soil. Blueberries and other acidic soil
plants don’t have the adaptations that other plants have evolved to take that
iron (and a few other minerals) from the soil.
Some new research has found that planting turf
grasses around blueberries and keeping them mowed may help blueberries exist in
more alkaline soil. That’s because the
grass plants have the ability to take iron from the soil and the blueberries
can “steal” some of that iron from the grass roots. The grass roots also encourage the soil
microorganisms that can release iron in the soil to colonize.
Lowering
soil pH to plant blueberries – and other acidic soil lovers
Depending on the type of soil, what you are going to
use to lower the Ph and how much you need to lower the pH it can take a year to
3 years to substantially lower soil ph. It’s hard to adjust soil pH when plants are
already in the soil, so don’t plant your blueberries until you have achieved
the right soil pH.
If you want to plant blueberries in alkaline soil you
needed to start preparing that soil two years before you plant. You cannot just
add peat and a sprinkle of acidic fertilizer to the planting hole and hope to
get good results, even though you’ll see this advice offered by many who don’t
know anything about soil science.
The first step is to get a soil test to see what the
actual soil pH is. You can get your soil
tested at almost any County Extension office in the United States. Many garden and farm service stores also
offer the service. They will tell you
how they want you to collect and submit the specimen. These places will generally give you
recommendations when you get the results for fertilizing or changing the soil
pH.
There are small kits that have you mix water and soil
and test the pH but these are not very reliable. If you are a person who likes to do it yourself,
you can purchase a small meter that has probes that go into moist soil and
reads the pH. The more expensive ones
used by professional growers are pretty accurate.
While compost, manure, pine bark and peat may lower
the pH a tiny bit, generally after years of applying healthy quantities of
these products to the soil, you really need something like sulfur, aluminum
sulfate or ferrous sulfate to substantially lower soil pH.
Some researchers believe aluminum sulfate may harm blueberries
if it needs to be used in large quantities. So, sulfur, which is cheaper and
easier to obtain than ferrous sulfate, is probably the best acidifier for home
gardeners. The amount to use is tricky and
depends on a number of factors. The soil
texture will affect the amount needed, with clay soils needing more acidifier
than sandy ones. The starting pH is also
a big factor.
Here’s a quick, rough reference for the amount of
sulfur to use per 10 sg. feet for a soil with loam texture to lower pH to 5,
which is good for blueberries.
Current pH 8 use 6/10 pound
Current pH 7.5 use 5/10 lb
Current pH 7 use 4/10 lb
Current pH 6.5 use 3/10 lb
Current pH 6 use 2/10 lb
If you use ferrous sulfate increase the amount times
6. If your soil is really sandy reduce the amount of sulfur or ferrous sulfate
by 1/3 and if its heavy clay increase it by 1/2. You add the sulfur in spring or summer and
work it into the soil. Try to work it in to the top 12 inches of soil. You
cannot add more than 2 pounds of sulfur or 5 pounds of ferrous sulfate per 100
square feet in one application. You will
need to divide the amount needed and add applications 3 months apart. Some acidifier products will have directions
on the package to follow.
Using
sphagnum peat to lower pH
While adding sphagnum peat to a planting hole won’t
work well, if you have money and time it can be used to lower pH over a larger
area. You need sphagnum peat, not the ground peat sold cheaply in bags in
garden centers. This method is expensive
and lots of work.
Spread the peat 3 inches deep over the soil surface
and work it into the top 8-12 inches of native soil. The area you add sphagnum peat
to should be at least 5 square surface feet per blueberry plant. Let it rest a
month and soil test for pH. You may need
to add more peat or an acidifier product.
Let it rest and test. You may need
to repeat several more times. Soil pH
does not change quickly.
When the pH is correct then dig planting holes. The gardener’s
golden rule of thumb for planting anything is to refill the hole with the soil
taken out of it, and not to add things to the hole. When the peat has been thoroughly mixed into
the area the plants will be planted in, it is unlikely to cause the problems it
would cause if you simply added it to planting holes.
If you add things like peat to the hole, which holds
water, you will create a bathtub of water in clay soil to rot plant roots. In sandy soil the peat will hold water and
the plant roots will stay in the area with the peat, until all the water is
gone. The roots won’t be able to support
the top growth well then and the plant will become stunted or may die. You want plant roots to spread out into the
native soil immediately after planting, going deep and far to find water and
support the plant.
Container
and raised bed planting
If you have alkaline soil it may be easier to plant
blueberries in deep raised beds or in containers. It is cheaper to make an acidic planting
medium in these and you can often plant the same year. Raised beds and containers should be at least
12 inches deep, 18 would be better, and they must drain well. Compact and dwarf
blueberries need 2-3 square feet of surface area, normal sixed blueberries need
about 5 square feet of surface area.
A mixture of equal amounts of compost, sphagnum peat,
sand and shredded bark can be used. Add some acidic fertilizer per label directions
for containers. Thoroughly mix the ingredients and test the pH level. Add more
peat or an acidifier if it’s still too high. When the level is good you can plant. You’ll need to test the pH each year because
rain and irrigation water may change the pH and use either acidifiers to lower
pH or if it’s below 4.5 use lime to raise it a bit.
Mulching blueberry plants is always good, but mulch
won’t contribute much to lowering soil pH, no matter what you use. Anything just added to the surface will not
lower soil pH very much.
After reading this you may decide blueberries are too
much work and expense unless you have naturally acidic soil. There’s nothing wrong and a lot to commend,
if you decide to buy your blueberries from someone who actually has the right
soil for growing them.
There are many fruits that will grow in neutral or
slightly alkaline soil such as raspberries and blackberries. You may want to try honeyberries which have a
similar tasting fruit to blueberries, and which ripen about the same time as
strawberries ripen. They are not as
fussy about soil pH.
What’s
that coming up?
It’s that time of year when many things are popping
up in the garden and gardeners are wondering if it’s a garden plant or a weed
and if it’s a garden plant just what is it?
They may not remember planting something or the garden is new to them,
so they don’t know what is coming up.
I highly recommend taking pictures of your garden at
several times during the season so you can refer to the pictures to see if you
can determine what’s sprouting. Using
labels in the garden can also help.
Even if you don’t see something similar in a photo or
find a label, don’t be too quick to pull out plants that you don’t immediately
recognize. Seedlings and new foliage may look different
form older plants. You may destroy something you would have enjoyed, or maybe
even something you paid good money for.
If you identify something you think you didn’t plant
and wonder how it got planted, there can be many explanations. Some plants come
up from seed dropped last year, blown in, or seed carried by birds and animals.
(The old adage of a squirrel planting it could be true if it’s a nut tree or a
type of bulb squirrels like to eat, but true squirrel plantings are rare.)
Seeds, bulbs or root pieces may have been in the root balls of something you
did plant or in soil or compost you added. And I can attest gardeners do forget about
things they planted.
As you gain experience in gardening, you’ll soon get
a sense for what is probably a weed coming up or something you’ll want to keep.
You may recognize seedlings of plants that reseed every year. But even experienced gardeners sometimes make
mistakes.
And don’t get too worried yet if you are expecting to
see certain plants and they aren’t there.
Some plants are slow to emerge in spring, and micro climates in your
yard may delay your plants emergence (or flowering) even if the neighbors has
emerged.
I took some pictures of various plants coming up in
my garden in zone 5. In other planting
zones plants may be at different stages.
I certainly can’t post pictures of every plant, but you can look at
these and see if you can now identify plants you were wondering about. I’ll
try to post more emerging plants in a week or two.
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| Comfrey is in front with wrinkled leaves. Garlic chives has flat leaves that smell like onion. Chives has round. leaves and also has an onion smell |
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| Tulips |
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| Daffodils |
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| Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum) It looks like a clump of grass or chives. Some leaves will have a white band in the center. |
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| Fritillaria look somewhat like lilies sprouting but earlier in spring. |
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| These tiny iris often have a white stripe on the leave and may look like crocus without close inspection. |
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| Peony sprouts are usually red |
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| Trout lily leaves may remind you of tulips but notice the reddish mottling. |
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| Dames Rocket has pointed somewhat hairy leaves. It is a weed t some, flower to others. |
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| Bee balm or monarda has a pleasant lemon mint scent when crushed. |
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| Corydalis has fan shaped, ferny looking blue-green leaves |
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| Catnip has a distinctive smell when leaves are crushed. |
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| Lambs quarters, sheep sorrel (Chenopodium album) usually comes up thickly and the leaves may have a red tinge in the center. It's a weed to some, edible plant to others. |
I'll have more plant id pictures next week.
Be the reason
someone is inspired to garden
Kim Willis
All parts of this blog are copyrighted and may not be used without
permission.
And So On….
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I write this because I
love to share with other gardeners some of the things I come across in my
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