Hi Gardeners
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| Common daylily |
The smoke from Canadian wildfires is
wafting down across here today, making a pretty summer day hazy. I can smell the scent of burning brush on the
air. It’s drier in northern Canada than it is here in much of the US and they
say lightning has started dozens of fires.
I’ve actually had to water hanging
baskets and pots this week. We had about
a half inch of rain the past week although areas near us had much more. Temperatures were high part of the week and
those pots and baskets dry out quickly.
I’m enjoying the cooler weather today.
I was delighted to pick three nice ripe
tomatoes from my garden two days ago.
More are ripening. The variety
was Better Boy. It’s the first time Early Girl hasn’t had the first ripe
tomatoes, but I broke that plant when I was putting it in the ground and it’s
had to recover. It does have several tomatoes near ripening. I don’t eat supermarket tomatoes, I wait for
the real thing, nice juicy sun ripe ones.
We had the best BLT’s on toast for breakfast yesterday since last year.
In my garden the Asiatic lilies are
blooming and many of the main season daylilies.
Bee balm and cardinal flower are starting to bloom. The catalpa trees
are in bloom. Some of the hosta are
already blooming. The clematis are
loaded with blooms. The evening primrose are fading, and the clustered
bellflower is finished blooming, so the purple and gold scheme is fading. Annuals are really starting to put on a show,
I have some very pretty snapdragons now in bloom and the salvias are getting
large and showy.
My lemon tree is full of flowers and
even one small orange tree I have is blooming.
Both of my jasmines and the peace lily are in bloom. I have had one hibiscus in bloom but I’m disappointed
that my other hibiscus are not blooming yet.
The pomegranate is blooming too. I have a new fuchsia ‘Carmel Blue’ in
bloom. Those houseplants love their
summer vacation outside.
Have you been shopping for bargain
plants? Many places are clearing out
plants now that it’s hot. I bought 3
gallon size perennials Sunday that were marked down to $5. I didn’t really need
them, and I am still deciding where to put them but hey, bargain plants,
right? If you are still in need of
plants now is the time for bargains.
If you are buying anything in a package,
bareroot plants, they should have some green showing. If they look like a dead stick, they are a
dead stick. Personally, I wouldn’t buy packaged
plants this late in the season. Potted
plants should still have leaves, even if they aren’t in the best
condition. Most of them will recover
nicely if treated well.
Many of the bargain plants need a good
soaking. If you plant them with a dry
root ball you are more likely to lose them.
Sink the pot in a big bucket of water until bubbles stop coming out,
leave it another 30 minutes then remove them from the water. Let them sit in the shade for a few
hours. If they then look a lot perkier plant
them in the garden. Make sure to water
them frequently while they are establishing, especially if it’s hot.
Summer bulbs on the bargain rack can
still be planted. Don’t save them for
next year before planting. They may be late blooming, or some may not bloom at
all this summer, but they should be planted so they can restore some of the
nutrients in the tuber or bulb. You then
dig and store them after a frost if they aren’t winter hardy in your zone and
next year you’ll have some nice plants.
I have been fertilizing potted plants
this week. If you want baskets and
containers to keep blooming all summer, they need fertilization. Most will be exhausting any extended release
fertilizer they were planted with by now.
Sweet corn needs some nitrogen rich fertilizer as soon as it starts to
tassel. Most perennials do not need fertilization unless they look like they
have a deficiency. If you used an
extended release fertilizer when you planted annuals, they will appreciate another
dose sometime this month.
If some plants are looking yellow or chlorotic
(green veins in yellow foliage) they may need fertilization. Too much water or too little water can cause
yellowing also as can some plant diseases. If the plants aren’t too wet or dry you
can add a balanced fertilizer to see if it helps. (Except for corn, don’t use a high nitrogen
fertilizer, you’ll end up with more foliage than flowers or fruit.) Epsom salt can cause a temporary green up but
it’s a false promise as it doesn’t contain all the nutrients plants need and just
covers the symptoms. Don’t use it.
Plants that look chlorotic may need an
acidic fertilizer or they may need iron.
There are many acidic fertilizers on the market. Often just using one as the label directs
will eliminate an iron deficiency, because iron was in the soil, but the pH was
too high for plants to be able to use it.
Acidic fertilizers lower soil pH. Some plants may still need iron, citrus and
maples are two types of plants that are sensitive to iron deficiency. You can buy chelated iron in garden stores or
citrus fertilizers generally have iron.
I hope everyone had a nice fourth of
July holiday. It was quiet and peaceful
here in the country.
It’s that time of year. The hordes of hungry Japanese beetles are out
and about. I found just one yesterday,
but it’s a sign more are coming. Japanese
beetles have years when they are numerous and plant damage is bad and years
when they aren’t so bad. One area can be
having a good year and another a bad just a few miles apart.
These metallic looking monsters feed on
hundreds of plant species and are hard to control as many pesticides aren’t
effective on them. For more information
on life cycles and control please read this article. And good luck!
The volunteer garden
My grandmother had a portion of the
garden she called the volunteer garden.
Every year it was a kaleidoscope of colorful annuals. She never sowed the seeds, unless she wanted
to add something different. The plants reseeded themselves. Every year the garden was different,
different flowers in different areas, and different colors. I remember as a kid going to that garden with
her and counting the different colors of bachelors buttons she had that year. My grandmother was interested in plant
breeding, she bred iris’s, and the different colors the bachelors buttons
produced on their own interested her.
A couple of years ago I decided to begin
a similar garden, I call mine the butterfly or cut flower garden. I chose a spot in front of the barn, where
there was a patch of grass I felt was wasted space. It’s roughly 4 feet wide by
25 feet wide. The first year I started various annuals inside and then
transplanted them to the bed. The second
year I used seeds collected from the first year plants and started them inside
plus I added a few more types of annuals.
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| Example of a volunteer garden |
I also plant a row of dahlias along one
side every year. Those I dig and store
every fall, and there are a few more of them every year from separating the
clumps. The Japanese lanterns in one
corner are perennial and vigorous spreaders that have to be thinned every
year. Anise hyssop, catnip and morning
glory found their own way to the bed.
This year I decided not to start any
plants inside and just see what came up.
I did buy some zinnia seeds when I didn’t see any coming up and planted
them directly in the bed- twice- but I still don’t see any zinnias. And I added 4 marigolds and 4 cosmos left
over from plants I bought for other parts of the yard. I added a verbena bonariensis and a hummingbird mint plant that will
hopefully shed their seeds into the mix for next year.
So, what came up this year
voluntarily? Lots of love in a mist,
bachelor’s buttons (many colors), four o’clocks, tithonia, maltese cross
(Lychnis chalcedonica), valerian (which
I never planted), cosmos, calendula, marigolds, and Nicotiana sylvestris. There are possibly other things I’ll notice
later, maybe some zinnias will eventually appear. The morning glories are there of course, and
anise hyssop, both of which I keep pulling to keep them from taking over. I’ve also thinned the love in a mist somewhat,
it grows so thickly.
There are some Canterbury bells coming
up, they won’t bloom this year because they are biannual, but they should be
pretty next year. And this year garden phlox have also found their way into the
bed. There’s not too much color yet, but
the dahlias are almost ready to bloom and by mid-month things should be
popping.
These volunteer gardens are always a
surprise, because you don’t know what you’ll get each year. You might not want one in your front yard,
because they can be a bit messy, but if you have a patch of ground you aren’t
using and want to try, here are some suggestions.
The first year you need to work up an
area for seeds to be planted. I slice
off the sod, dig any deep-rooted weeds and then just rake up the soil when I
make a new bed. You may want to start
seeds inside the first year and transplant seedlings into the bed. This gives you a bit of a head start that
first year. You can also buy plants from
a nursery the first year.
Or just buy a bunch of seeds of annual
and perennial flowers you like and sprinkle them on the ground. Seed heavily, you can always thin the
plants. There are many plants that will
reseed freely from year to year. Here
are some to try: anise hyssop, Bachelor’s buttons, bush balsam ( touch me
nots), calendula, cosmos, (both types) Canterbury bells, cleome, four o’clocks,
hollyhocks, Love in a mist, Love lies bleeding, nicotiana of many types, Maltese
cross, marigolds (use tall, old fashioned types),poppies, stocks, sunflowers of
many types, tithonia, valerian, verbena bonariensis, zinnias. There are other old-fashioned annuals and
even some new plants you may want to try.
Some of the above are short lived
perennials and plants may come back the next spring too. Canterbury bells and hollyhocks are biennials
and probably won’t bloom the first year.
You may want to plant biennials two years in a row so that you get a
good rotation started.
Japanese lantern, money plant and
pumpkins on a stick don’t have interesting flowers but do have interesting
seedpods if you like dried flower arrangements.
These can be added but you’ll probably want to thin them out and confine
them to a certain spot because they can become invasive and take over most of
your bed.
You can also add bulbs or tubers to your
garden that can be dug and stored in cold winter areas if you are willing to do
a little more work. I like cannas,
crocosmia, dahlias, glads, and peacock orchids.
In some areas many of these might survive left in the ground. You could
also mix in Asiatic, Oriental, martagon or trumpet lilies. These would not have
to be stored over winter. Daylilies
could also be added, but now we are getting into more of a garden border plan.
Don’t deadhead (remove dying flowers)
the plants if you want them to reseed.
In the fall you may want to collect some seed from your favorite plants
and store it inside in a cool, dry place, ensuring that some seed will survive
the birds and winter. Label the
seeds! Then you can start those seeds in
the spring inside for earlier flowers or plant the seed outside in the bed in
the spring.
In the fall you may want to shake seed
heads over areas you’d like seed to grow in spring. If the seed heads hang over lawns or places
you don’t want seeds to grow break them off and throw them where you do want
the plants. I think it’s best to leave the
dead plants stand over the winter and do clean up in the early spring. This helps ensure seeds fall in the garden
area and protects those that do.
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| Bachelor's Buttons and cosmos |
If there are plants in there you don’t
want to come back you should cut off the flowers as they fade. You may still get a few of those plants the
following year, sometimes you miss a flower or seeds stay in the soil to the
second year. You should pull them as
soon as you recognize them. Pay
attention the first year as to what the plants look like before they flower,
you may want to take pictures of the foliage before flowering and then with
flowers so you know what everything is as it comes up.
Things like zinnias and marigolds tend
to revert to more of a wild type flower after a few years. You may want to buy some new seeds or plants
to add to this type of garden from time to time. And look for new seeds or plants to add each
year to add variety.
The beauty of a volunteer garden is that
it doesn’t take a lot of work. You need
to do some weeding, but some weeds can be left and probably will be, without
much of an impact. If it gets really dry
things will flower better if watered. This isn’t a formal garden and can look a
bit messy at times but it’s a fun garden and pollinators usually love it. Why not try one?
Composting in place
There’s a lot of weeding and trimming to
be done when the weather is warm and wet. Most gardeners have a compost pile
where they can pile those weeds and trimmings to rot and turn into brown
gold. But in some cases, you can let
those weeds compost right in the garden. It will return nutrients to the soil,
keep soil moist and make things easier for you.
When you are pulling tender succulent
weeds like grass, clover, pigweed, chickweed, lamb’s quarters and so on, you
can simply throw the pulled weeds in the row or tuck them under large plants. They’ll
quickly wilt and turn into compost right there, in an amazingly short time. When
I am weeding my flower beds, I tuck piles of weeds under the hosta or between
large plants. When I am weeding the
vegetables weeds either go between large plants like tomatoes or on the paths. Weeds piled on the path discourage more weeds
from growing there. Just don’t make the piles
too big to easily walk on.
There is a trick to this method of in
place composting. You want the weeds you
pull to be hidden in most areas. By midsummer plants are often large enough
that you can hide pulled weeds around and beneath them. You don’t want to try to hide large weed
plants or branches, those still go to a compost pile. You don’t want the weeds to regrow, so if the
pulled weeds have roots make sure the roots are facing upward, not laying on
the ground. Don’t make the piles too deep, as roots may be protected from
drying out and begin to grow. Pulled
weeds that are spread thinly decompose very quickly.
Anything you remove that’s diseased,
plants with powdery mildew, tomato leaves with fungal disease and so on, should
either be bagged with trash or buried. It
shouldn’t be composted anywhere to avoid spreading disease. If you are having a problem with snails and
slugs on some plants, don’t pile pulled weeds near them. Don’t use weeds with mature seeds on them for
composting in place as the seeds may germinate.
Any weeds that were killed with weed
killers should not be used near plants or even put in the compost pile. Some weed killers can remain potent in
compost and will harm plants the compost is spread around.
It’s fine to put pulled weeds on top of
mulch to decompose. The mulch decomposes
too, but usually at a slower pace. Or if you want, sweep back the mulch, add
the pulled weeds and then replace the mulch. In this case some weeds may regrow
though, if they have roots. Organic mulches
like spoiled hay may allow pulled weeds to grow in them if they are thrown on
the mulch. This is more likely in wet weather.
Don’t worry about decomposing weeds
robbing plants of nitrogen. It doesn’t happen to any harmful degree. Green
weeds even restore some nitrogen to the soil when they decompose. Soil microbes like to utilize decomposing
weeds and won’t be harmed.
Grass clippings, from lawns that haven’t
been treated with weed killers, can also be used as compost around plants. Don’t
pile them too deeply unless you let them dry in the sun first. Green clippings may produce a lot of heat as
they begin to decompose if they are piled deeply. This may harm nearby plants. They also mat and smell if piled deeply.
Some people don’t like the look of
pulled weeds on paths or between plants and in some circumstances that’s understandable. My gardens are crowded with plants, so weeds
are easily hidden beneath them. Yours
may have plants that have lots of space around them because you like the look. But done correctly composting in place won’t
be noticeable in many locations and not a problem in some places where looks
aren’t that important.
Compost is good for plants and nature
uses composting in place as her preferred method. Why cart the weeds away to a pile when you
can put them to use right where they grew?
Are Honeybees helpful or harmful?
Everybody is worried about the loss of
native bees. There seem to be fewer of
our common native bees every year. Some
species have become endangered as their populations fall. While pesticides account for some of the
loss, there is a surprising culprit for the decline of native pollinators that
most people don’t consider- the honeybee.
Honeybees aren’t native to North
America. They were brought here to
produce honey and to pollinate some European crops. Honeybees should be considered domestic
animals, like cows and sheep, that occasionally go wild here in North America. And some recent studies have found that
honeybees are at least partly responsible for the loss and decline of several
of our native bees. In some areas, researchers have found honeybees cause more
losses than pesticides or loss of habitat.
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| Native bee |
There are two ways that honeybees can
impact native bees. One is competition.
Honeybees may directly compete with bumblebees and other native bees for pollen
and nectar. Since honeybees often have
human help to survive, they may have an advantage over native bees. When large numbers of hives are brought into
an area to produce honey, native bee populations may suffer.
Some native flowers have not evolved to
be pollinated by honeybees and honeybees don’t get the job done yet they may
consume the pollen and nectar the flowers produce. Native bees have less to eat and may not be
attracted to flowers minus their pollen and nectar. This is the at least part
of the cause of declining populations of native plants in some areas. In areas where large numbers of honeybee
hives have been placed this is more noticeable.
Just the sheer number of honeybees in an area may starve out native bees
because there is only so much food to share.
The second way honeybees cause a decline
in native bees is by spreading diseases and parasites to them which they are
not used to dealing with. Honeybees have several diseases and parasites that
can infect native bees including Varroa mite, Nosema ceranae, deformed wing virus
and black queen cell virus. Recent
studies have found that virus particles, bacteria and parasites may transfer to
flowers that honeybees visit, which then infect native bees visiting them. While humans may treat their infected bee
livestock and honeybees may have developed some resistance to diseases and
parasites, the wild bees don’t have these advantages.
Honeybees are bought from distant
places, sometimes from other countries, transported here and then released,
which can rapidly spread disease.
Honeybees are trucked around the country to pollinate crops, which also
spreads disease. The “honey hobby” is still hot. Thousands of backyard
beekeepers may be contributing to the problem. Beekeepers may not notice diseases or fail to
deal with them correctly, hence spreading diseases to wild bees. The number of honeybee hives in an area may
also be overwhelming native bees.
It may be time that we stop worrying
about honeybees and considering a plethora of them as a good sign. We may need
to limit the keeping of honeybees in areas where wild bees or certain native
plants are declining. Most garden
flowers and native flowers don’t need honeybees for pollination. A few crops like almonds may do better when
honeybees are brought in but maybe we should limit trucking bees around the
country and insist hives stay in one area.
It’s odd when we worry about some pretty
flower that’s not native and ceaselessly condemn it but revere another
non-native species, the honeybee, that may be doing even more harm to the
environment and native plants and animals.
We are spraying tons of pesticides to combat non-native plants which
also kill thousands of native bees.
Personally, I would rather see native
bees than honeybees. It’s like seeing a
warbler rather than a chicken. There are so many different shapes and sizes and
colors of native bees, all evolved to fit into a natural niche in the
environment whereas a honeybee is just a honeybee, pretty much the same and not
really a fit for many natural ecosystems.
Hives of honeybees don’t really help the
environment. Native plants don’t need them. If you like honey keep a hive and
make sure the bees are healthy. Think of
them like a flock of chickens you keep for fresh eggs. Don’t think you are doing the environment a
favor by adding more hives. Would the
environment be healthier if you turned a thousand chickens loose? Give the native bees and plants a break.
More information-references
July
almanac
The full moon in July this year is on the 16th. The moon perigee was the 5th and I got rain here, as usual around the
perigee. Moon apogee is the 20th This month’s full moon is called
the buck moon or hay moon, depending on whether you are a farmer or hunter, I
guess. It’s called buck moon because the
buck deer’s antlers begin to show this month.
Wheat harvest is supposed to be this month – but in many places it isn’t
going to happen as the wheat was flooded out.
This month’s flower is the sunflower- very
appropriate and the birthstone is the ruby. It’s National Blueberry, Eggplant,
Lettuce, Mango, Melon, Nectarine and Garlic month as well as National Hotdog
and Vanilla Ice Cream month. Why isn’t
it National Cherry month? The second
week of July is nude recreation week.
Have fun.
The Delta Aquariids meteor showers begin mid-month
and peak on July 27-30th.
These meteors continue into mid- August and overlap with the Perseids
meteor shower. Best viewing will be around 2 am for most of the US. Look to the
south.
Paradise and shade are close relatives on a summer
day.
Kim Willis
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
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
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