November 5, 2019 winter's coming

It’s November, although that’s hard to believe, and nature isn’t fooling around. For all of you gardeners who have procrastinated and left some fall chores undone, it’s probably the week to get caught up. Cold air is going to hit most of the country in the week ahead, from the Rockies to the east coast, even down into the southern east coast. Whether we get a reprieve from the cold two weeks from now is still in debate. Better get those plants moved in, bird baths and water features winterized and bulbs planted before the big chill.

Today it’s partly sunny here and above 40 degrees so it isn’t too bad although there is a stiff wind. We did have snow on the ground, an inch or so- when we got up last Friday. Most of the trees are now naked and the garden is shriveled and blackened. Nevertheless, some plants have persisted. The anemone is still blooming, a few pansies, snapdragons, one mum and the landscape roses also are blooming. Yesterday I even found a geranium I missed when the plants around it died and exposed it.  Of course, I potted it up and brought it inside. It was a little wilted, but it perked right back up inside.

I still have two pots sitting on the porch for a bit more cold before I bring them inside. Some plants need a cold period to remain healthy but won’t survive the zone 5 winter we have here.  I left the rain lilies and a pickerel rush outside a bit longer. I will probably bring them in this week though as we are supposed to get some really cold weather.

Why have curtains when you could have plants?

I was driving into town and I decided to see if I could see any windows with plants in them.  I saw 2 houses with plants in the windows.  The rest had curtains!  Curtains.  What is wrong with people?  You don’t need curtains if you have enough plants. In my house there is a curtain on one window, that’s the northwest bedroom window because it is too shady for plants and that window seems to be the coldest in the house.

The three windows in the living room are packed with plants, the room I use for my office has a window packed with plants, plus plants under grow lights. The kitchen window and the laundry room window have plants. The south window in our bedroom has plants. The back enclosed porch has plants. The bathroom does not, the window faces north and is frosted, and I haven’t put plants in the spare bedroom this year – yet- because my husband is doing some changes in there.  There are no curtains on those windows.

Houseplants are “in” again and many stores now carry a selection.  So where are people putting these plants?  Maybe in the windows that don’t face the road. I hope so. I hate to think of any house without plants. It’s just unnatural. I did see three huge Boston Ferns still hanging outside on a porch.  We have had snow here a few days ago, and temps into the 20’s but these ferns still looked pretty good. Maybe they freeze dried. I know they are real as I have seen them get larger over the summer. Maybe the key to keeping Boston ferns looking good is cool temperatures.

Seriously if you don’t have plants in your home you need to get some.  Plants inside make winter so much nicer. Plants make people happier and calmer. Gardeners need to have plants around them. If you must keep the shades drawn or have no good windows there are now inexpensive grow lights and full spectrum lights that cost little to operate. 

Houseplants dropping leaves

If you brought your house plants inside and they are rapidly dropping leaves don’t worry, even if some of them look like sticks.  If you didn’t let them get frost bitten, they are probably just going through a wardrobe change.  Plants develop leaves with cells adjusted to the type of light they are receiving.  When plants are brought inside to lower light levels, they get rid of some leaves or all of their leaves to make room for new leaves better adjusted to low light levels.

Not all plants lose a noticeable amount of leaves; some species are more likely to do so.  Weeping Figs, brugmansia, and hibiscus, are some species that are more likely to drop most of their leaves when moved inside.  But many other species may lose some of their leaves also.  In this case just leave the plant alone. You should notice leaf buds along the stems in about 2 weeks and new leaves soon after. You may need to adjust your watering schedule as plants without leaves or with fewer leaves don’t use as much water. But don’t let the pots dry out.

Other reasons for plants dropping leaves may be improper watering and or temperature. If your plants got too cold or your house is much warmer than where the plants were previously, they can drop leaves Cold drafts from being near doors or warm drafts from furnace vents may also cause leaf drop.  You may need to move the plant to a better location.  

If you left a plant outside until late fall you may have triggered a dormancy period in some plants. It may take a bit before they resume new growth.  The branches should still feel springy and not brittle in woody plants. These can be left where they are to see if they recover quickly or moved to a cool frost-free place for a rest. Plants like tuberous begonias that die back to the ground should be put in a cool area and allowed to rest for 2 months before being brought back to bright warm areas. 

November Almanac

This month’s full moon, November 12, is called the full beaver or full frost moon. In earlier times beaver traps were set about this time and of course a large part of the country has now received killing frosts.  Moon apogee is November 7^th and moon perigee is November 23^rd.  I predict snow in many places around the perigee.

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

In England November 5^th is known as Guy Fawkes Day, or Bonfire night.  It originally celebrated to commemorate what was known as the gunpowder revolution but has become known as a day to burn effigies or pictures of hated people and things.  If you have an anger issue that night may be your chance to burn some anger.

 

November 11^th is Veterans Day, the 13^th is Sadie Hawkins Day, World Diabetes Day is November 14^th, World Toilet Day, whatever that means, is November 19th, November 28^th is Thanksgiving. Black Friday, which is an actual holiday in some states, is the 29^th.  The 28^th is also Abe Lincoln’s birthday and American Indian Heritage Day.

Perennial vegetables

I’m starting to get seed catalogs for 2020 already and one that interested me was from Oikos tree crops.  This nursery is near Kalamazoo, Michigan and the owner concentrates on improving nut and fruit trees so that they are hardy and productive in colder climates. He also experiments with growing unusual food crops of other kinds. Next year owner Ken Asmus is offering a selection of perennial “vegetables” that he has been working on.

There’s long been an interest in what is termed permaculture, crops you plant once and harvest for years. Even conventional agriculture is experimenting with perennial wheat and other grain crops. But for those in the temperate areas of the world the perennial food plants available would leave you with a rather limited diet, if you only grew and consumed those crops.

Asparagus, rhubarb, horseradish and Jerusalem artichokes have been known as perennial “vegetables” for some time. Garlic, ramps, bunching onions and sorrel are also plants considered to be perennial.  Many gardeners grow them. But did you know there are other perennial food crops most gardeners can grow? Are you aware of perennial thicket beans, groundnuts, skirret, Mountain yams, even a plant called perennial broccoli?

The perennial broccoli is in the same plant family as garden broccoli and is said to taste like broccoli. It’s actually Buni orientalis, and more closely related to the plants we know as “rockets”. The heads are small but numerous and this plant does not get attacked by the cabbage worms that plague garden broccoli. 

I have groundnuts, Apios Americana, growing on my fence. They are an exuberant vine with unusual flowers and small edible tubers.  I’m sure mine are a wild type, but there are now several people working to produce different varieties of groundnut. Many groundnuts don’t produce seed, they reproduce from tubers, but a few varieties also produce seeds like a pea, which are also edible. The tubers can be eaten raw or cooked like potatoes, but like Jerusalem artichokes, they can cause a lot of painful “gas” if over consumed.

Groundnut flowers

Jerusalem artichoke tubers or sunchokes can now be found in some groceries. They are a tall plant with flowers much like a sunflower. They have tasty tubers, but the tubers contain inulin, a starch many people find hard to digest.  I’ve had Jerusalem artichokes for many years, once you get some started, they are hard to get rid of and they spread easily. They die to the ground each winter, but the tubers remain to grow again in spring.  

No matter how hard you try to dig out all those tubers you’ll leave some behind. This is a good plant to have if you are into survival type foods. After Armageddon Jerusalem artichokes will remain. Oikos nursery has over 20 varieties of them for sale if you want to get started and many other nurseries carry them too.

Sunchokes can be eaten raw and cooked.  They are tasty but start slowly and eat them in small quantities.  Most people can gradually build up a tolerance to inulin starch, but they do cause some awful gas if you aren’t used to eating them.

To learn more about Jerusalem artichokes and how to grow them please read this article;

 https://gardeninggrannysgardenpages.blogspot.com/p/jerusalem-artichokes.html

Jerusalem artichoke tubers 

Thicket or wild beans Phaseolus polystachios are a vine that produces many small beans which can be dried and stored or eaten fresh. They are hard to harvest because the pods explode and shoot the beans everywhere if left too long on the vine. The roots are hardy to -15 degrees- probably zone 6b and 7.  Other areas would need to save seeds to keep them growing.

Skirret is a member of the carrot family and once was a widely grown crop in Europe and Asia.  It has flowers like Queen Anne’s Lace but the leaves are broad and rounded. It has roots that look like a white carrot, with a sweeter taste than carrots. It can be eaten fresh or cooked. If plants are not harvested the roots get larger and tend to form a clump of tubers.  Like Jerusalem artichokes some tubers usually remain in the ground even after a harvest to sprout again the next season, or some tubers can be left deliberately.

Mountain yams Dioscorea batatas are grown commercially in China. They are used for food and for medicinal properties. This is a plant I intend to try next year as it is said to be quite ornamental, with flowers that smell like cinnamon.  There are ornamental selections sold in nurseries but if you want the productive edible ones buy cultivars grown for the tubers. Tubers can be produced both in the ground and along the vines above ground. They are eaten raw, or cooked, particularly stir-fried.  They are hardy to zone 5.  Beware, some states consider this plant an invasive species.

There are other perennial food crops you can grow and a good place to look at some of them is in the Oikos catalog.  https://oikostreecrops.com/   All of these crops may not be perennial in your area so check hardiness.  By the way – I am not getting paid or compensated in any way from Oikos, I just like the company.  You may also want to look at http://ediblelandscaping.com/,  and https://www.foodforestfarm.com/

Combined with berries and tree fruits, you could have a garden you don’t need to plant every year. It might not be permaculture in the true sense of the word, but it could satisfy many gardeners urge to be sustainable.

 The case for feeding the birds

Most gardeners like birds. What is a garden without song and a flash of wings? And in winter when there is little for us to do, watching the birds at a feeder can be quite entertaining.  And since birds are declining everywhere doing that little bit to help them make it through the winter feels quite satisfying.

Many people feel that if they want to go on vacation in winter, they shouldn’t start feeding the birds. They worry the birds will suffer when the feeder goes empty. But in nature birds often face the loss of a feeding source and they know what to do. Feed them when you can. In many areas there are a lot of people feeding the birds and the loss of one feeder is only a tiny inconvenience.

Bird feeding can be messy.  Gardeners will want to move feeders away from garden beds if they can.  Seed will spill and remain hidden until it is warm enough to germinate and fill the bed with weeds. Sunflower hulls will pile up and they inhibit the growth of some plants. You can eliminate a lot of waste if you use the right bird feed, but there will always be some to clean up.

Bird feeders can attract unwanted pests too, deer and raccoons, squirrels, chipmunks and mice. Using the right bird feed helps deter pests but there will be animals besides birds that will feast at your feeder. Many animals can be kept out of feeders by bringing them in at night although that is a lot of work.

But despite some drawbacks there are many benefits to feeding the birds.  You and the family get enjoyment from watching the birds and they get easy to find food. You may be able to contribute to science by noting what birds come to your feeder and reporting sightings and numbers to a citizen science project like Ebird. This helps science keep track of the decline and rise of bird populations and where they are moving to during climate change.

And feeding the birds will convince some species to stick around and use your property or nearby areas to breed and raise their young.  They’ll consume harmful insects and weed seeds and make your garden come alive.

So, what is the best bird seed to minimize waste and please the birds?  For most species that favor feeders one seed will draw almost all of them, and that’s black oil sunflowers. That’s the small dark sunflower seeds. If you want the most bang for your buck, just buy black oil sunflower seed.  I buy it in 40-pound bags and use it almost exclusively.

You could add some finely cracked corn, just a little. Safflower seed and chipped peanuts are also good additions. Yellow or red millet in small quantities are good additions. Thistle or niger seed is a favorite of finches and other small birds but it needs a separate feeder and is expensive.  Most birds that like it also like black oil sunflower seed. Canary seed would be loved, but it’s almost as expensive as niger seed and harder to find.

What you want to avoid in bird seed are those cheap mixes which are primarily junk seed such as; milo, wheat, oats, buckwheat and corn with some striped sunflower thrown in. These are the mixes that get tossed to the ground as birds search through it, looking for something they like. They make a huge moldy mess and won’t attract as many bird species. The seeds that survive winter pop up all over your garden in spring.

Suet cakes are another thing that birds love, and they provide lots of energy for winter survival. Make sure to use them in “cages” so larger birds and animals can’t drag them away. They do attract coons and, in some places, bears. That may impact your decision on whether to put them out in your yard.

If you have a way to provide unfrozen water in winter that can be a big attractant for birds also. There are heated birdbaths and some people just carry out warm water a few times a day. Birds do know how to find water in winter, and I don’t feel it’s a big problem for them. 

The type of feeder you use can also influence what birds you attract and how much mess they make.  It’s nice to have a cute feeder, but ease of filling and holding capacity should be the first considerations. You should be able to quickly and easily fill the feeder; you’ll appreciate that in winter. You want the feeder to hold a decent amount of feed, but if you need to take it down to fill it make sure it won’t be too heavy to easily lift back into place when it’s filled. 

Chickadees

The feeders I use hold about 5 pounds of sunflower seed each. I have three of these. Two have large lids that lift off and are easy to fill. One has a small opening on top that requires a funnel to fill and it’s a pain in the winter because the cover to that opening often freezes shut.  I have to hang them from hooks, so I don’t want them too heavy.  I also have a hanging open tray type feeder.

You can use “shepherd” hooks to hold your feeders or posts.  If you have squirrel problems, there are baffles you can attach to posts and special feeders that keep squirrels out with cages or feeders that close with a squirrel’s weight. These sometimes keep squirrels away, but they won’t stop coons. Shepard hooks allow you to easily move feeders around.  But in wet ground they sometimes tilt with the weight of feeders. 

The perching area will determine what species can use the feeder. Feeders meant for small finches sometimes don’t have perches, they cling to the feeder. This does limit the species which can use the feeders. I like to see cardinals and blue jays and other larger birds, so I use feeders with a pretty wide ledge for them to perch on. The tray feeder allows even larger birds like doves to feed.  The small birds don’t seem to be greatly disadvantaged by this.  Hang feeders at least 4-5 feet above ground, higher if you get deep snow frequently.

Put your feeder where you can watch it from a window in the winter.  I have some of mine as close as 3 feet from a window. Having a feeder close to a window actually reduces the number of birds that accidently fly into a window. If this is a problem, you can add decals to the glass or use a mesh type curtain to discourage birds from flying into the window.  Birds usually get used to human activity inside the house.

Make sure to check each feeder at least once a day. This is not so much to see if they need filling but to make sure no birds are trapped.  I have had small birds squeeze under the slot feed comes out and into the feeder well. Other people have seen birds trapped by their legs in various parts of feeders. You want to release the poor things as soon as possible.  And if the feeder has been knocked down by wind or animals, you’ll want to get it up off the ground quickly. You’ll need to clean up under the feeder often and occasionally take the feeder down and wash it.

Watching the birds eat and interact in winter is fun and you are helping birds survive the cold. Many birds will thank you for feeding them in winter by sticking around in spring and summer to clean up insect pests and sing for you. If you don’t have a bird feeder consider getting one.

“In November, some birds move away and some birds stay. The air is full of good-byes and well-wishes. The birds who are leaving look very serious. No silly spring chirping now. They have long journeys and must watch where they are going. The staying birds are serious, too, for cold times lie ahead. Hard times. All berries will be treasures.”
― Cynthia Rylant, In November

Kim Willis

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And So On….

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