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Tuesday, June 30, 2020

June 30, 2020 cherry time


Hi Gardeners

I just went for a walk to look at the gardens.  I did some watering early this morning, but it looks like I’ll be doing more tonight. Everything looks so dry. Last year we had 5 and 4/10 inches of rain in June, this year just under 4 inches. So far, it’s not too bad but there is no rain in the forecast for the next week. At least the grass stops growing.


I was sitting on the deck last night and saw 5 deer walk down the road.  Two paused by the end of the yard and looked like they were going to come on in, but I stood up and yelled and they left. They are going to the farm fields across the way, but this is the time last year, just when the Asiatic lilies started to bloom, when I had quite a bit of deer damage. So, it makes me nervous.

The hen I have left is doing a lot of damage though.  She scratched up several petunia plants this morning and when I found them, they were very wilted. Yesterday she scratched up some blooming sedum. A couple days ago it was a section of impatiens border. She’s getting very close to being penned up.

The turkey may be helping, but he mostly tramples things, and she scratches them up. You can see the turkey in the picture.  He’s 10 years old, hatched here in a flower bed. These birds are what is left of my old flocks. When I had more birds they were always confined to the back side of the barn for the growing season or penned up. But I thought the two of them wouldn’t be a problem. I may be wrong. 

In the garden the daylilies are beginning to bloom, both the common ditch daylily and some of my cultivated varieties. The clematis are pretty right now. Some hosta are blooming. Both jasmines are still in bloom. Water hyacinth started blooming and the calla lilies. The catalpa trees are blooming.

Speaking of clematis, Springhill nursery sent me a replacement clematis (‘Beautiful Bride’). They had sent me a 3 in 1 buddleia instead of the clematis I ordered.  After I complained that wasn’t a good substitute for clematis, they actually sent me what I ordered. That’s pretty good customer service.

My corn is knee high and looking good. If the wind doesn’t blow it over or the deer don’t eat it, I may have a good crop. I have green peppers just about ready to pick and tomatoes beginning to ripen. The lettuce is going to seed, however. I think there’s only been one year in the last 5 that I have had good lettuce at the same time as ripe tomatoes.

I learned something this week. I didn’t know common milkweed was fragrant. I read someone’s praise of it’s smell and I thought “what smell?”  I went out to the clump I let grow by the deck and smelled it. It’s blooming now. And lo and behold it does have a faint but nice scent.

I don’t know why I let that clump grow there. I don’t think common milkweed is very attractive and we have a field with lots of it. I thought it might attract monarchs and I could take some easy pictures of them and maybe their caterpillars. But when monarchs come in the yard they seem to ignore that milkweed clump and head for other plants, like zinnias.

I’m trying to get some orange butterfly weed growing again, and a yellow one too. One year I had great big clumps of them. But they didn’t overwinter. Every attempt to get some more to grow in my cutting/butterfly garden has failed since then. The two I planted are hanging in there but aren’t very vigorous. Maybe they will improve. It’s strange how some plants can just defy all your attempts to grow them, even though you know conditions should be right for them.

Dish detergent and the garden- the bad news

I love Dawn dish detergent- for doing dishes. I do dishes the old fashioned way, by hand and Dawn is my favorite dish soap for cleaning them. But I don’t use Dawn dish detergent in my garden, I don’t use any brand of dish soap in the garden, unless it’s to clean tools. There is a good reason for that.

I just sigh when people eagerly advise others that for just about any garden problems, insects or disease, they can whip up some homemade concoction using Dawn dish detergent- or some other dish detergent.  Don’t use “chemicals” they say – use this “safe” mix.  It makes me shake my head when the same mash up of ingredients is suggested to kill weeds AND to spray plants for pests.  Weeds are plants. Does it kill plants or not?

So, what about the avoidance of those nasty chemicals? You want an organic garden right? Here’s a list of chemicals in one variety of Dawn dish detergent.  Each variety has slightly different chemical ingredients. This is Dawn gentle on hands pomegranate scent. By the way you need to go on line to get the full list of ingredients.

  • Water
  • Sodium Lauryl Sulfate
  • C10-16 Alkyldimethylamine Oxide
  • C9-11 PARETH-8
  • Sodium Laureth Sulfate
  • Alcohol Denat.
  • Sodium Chloride
  • Fragrance                                                               
  • Sodium Hydroxide
  • PEI-14 PEG-24/PPG-16
  • Phenoxyethanol
  • Styrene/Acrylates Copolymer
  • PPG-26
  • Methylisothiazolinone
  • Red 33
The ingredients in the fragrance listed above;
  • 1,3-Dioxolane-2-Acetic Acid, 2-Methyl-, Ethyl Ester
  • 2,6-Dimethyl-7-Octen-2-Ol
  • 2-T-Butylcyclohexyl Acetate
  • 3a,4,5,6,7,7a-Hexahydro-4,7-Methano-1h-Indenyl Acetate
  • Butanoic Acid, 2-Methyl-, Ethyl Ester
  • Butanoic Acid, Ethyl Ester
  • Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Orange) Peel Oil
  • Dipropylene Glycol
  • Gamma-Undecalactone
  • Heptanoic Acid, 2-Propen-1-Yl Ester
  • Hexanoic Acid, Ethyl Ester
  • Hexyl Acetate
  • Linalool
  • Methylbenzyl Acetate

Let’s see, leaving out water that’s 27 chemical ingredients. (Other varieties have about the same amounts.)  Now that doesn’t mean if Dawn is used as it’s supposed to be used- to wash dishes- that any of those chemicals are harmful. In fact, I am sure that the company- Procter and Gamble-made sure it’s safe.  It may irritate your hands or cause you problems if you drink it but if you use it as the label directs it’s pretty safe.

But here’s the thing. That product was only tested for safety for it’s intended use.  No one tested it to see if it was safe for plants, the microorganisms in soil, or what happens when you mix it with vinegar or Epsom salts or any of the other things added to homemade concoctions.

We know that when chemicals are combined, they often make a product much more harmful than when they are used separately. I could go through all those ingredients and see what happens when an acid like vinegar is added but I won’t. Because I know a few things already, with just a smattering of chemistry knowledge, that make me know Dawn isn’t good for plants.

I know that many of the ingredients are degreasers-they remove oils, waxes and fats from a surface. Plants have a waxy protective layer to protect their epidermal (skin) cells.  Detergents remove this protective layer.  This can make plants more susceptible to disease and insects.

I know some of the ingredients are what is called nitrosating agents. When these ingredients are combined with forms of nitrogen, they form nitrosamines.  Nitrosamines are harmful to humans and other animals, about 90% of them are carcinogenic or have other harmful effects.  In the garden we have many forms of nitrogen waiting to combine with the ingredients of Dawn, from simple nitrogen in fertilizer and the atmosphere to nitrates that plants produce.

We don’t know if eating plants coated with chemicals from dish detergent is harmful. We don’t know if handling plants sprayed with detergents or homemade concoctions is safe. We don’t know if the resulting chemical compounds would be so diluted that they would be harmless or if they accumulate over time. We don’t know if your skin absorbs the chemicals or if it’s bad for your lungs. That’s because the product isn’t intended to be used this way and no one has studied the effects.

The third thing I know about the ingredients of dish detergents is that many of them are antibiotic. They kill bacteria and other microorganisms. They don’t just kill bad bacteria, they kill all bacteria. Plants need many kinds of good bacteria, just as we do, to be healthy. Dishes don’t need bacteria of any kind.

And let’s not forget that these soap mixes only work if they contact insects before it dries. They kill good and bad insects and any spray that gets on the ground harms soil microorganisms. And they do not work on plant diseases.

You cannot claim you garden organically if you are using dish detergent in your garden. If you do want a safe for plants, organic method of controlling pests use an insecticidal soap made for plants.  They have been tested, found safe if used as directed, and can be used for organic production. Here’s the ingredients of one brand- Safer brand - Potassium Salts of Fatty Acids 0.75%, Sulfur 0.4% plus some inert ingredients. See the difference?

If a large company like Procter and Gamble thought they could sell more dish detergent by advertising that it could help in the garden and they put that on the label, you could assume it was pretty safe. Do you wonder why they don’t?

Stop using dish detergents in the garden. You aren’t avoiding “chemicals” or stopping a big chemical company from making profits. You are supporting them. And you are using a product that can harm plants and the environment.


Squash Vine Borers

Watch out for squash vine borers as the moths are flying now, at least in the Midwest and upper south. They may have emerged in May or early June in the far south.  A squash vine borer moth looks a lot like a wasp. It has an orange lower body with black spots. The moths lay eggs on vine crops which hatch into larvae (worms, caterpillars) that bore into the vine’s stems and cause them to wilt. Squash vine borers also attack pumpkins and to some extent melon vines, but rarely cucumbers. If your vine crops are wilting look at the vines near the base of the plant for a hole with some “sawdust” (called frass) possibly under it.
Squash borer adult moth
Photo credit canr msu.edu

Once the larvae are in the vines they may or may not kill the vine. But many gardeners will lose their whole squash crop in a bad year. The larvae that look like a plump white or tan worm, eat the inside of the stem, cutting off nutrients beyond their feeding point. In a hot dry summer, the vines suffer more because the damaged stems can’t supply enough water.

Garden pesticides that contain carbaryl, permethrin, bifenthrin or esfenvalerate and that list control of squash borers on the label can be used. Start using them in late June or when you see borers, whichever is first. Apply the pesticide on the stem base and along stems, especially anywhere the stem touches the ground. Follow label directions. Make a second application in 7-10 days. Once the larvae are in the stem it doesn’t help to apply pesticides.

Spinosad is another pesticide that can be used. It is similar to a bt product but formulated to last longer. It must be applied at night because it’s toxic to bees. Follow label directions. Diatomaceous earth sprinkled on the stem base may help but it doesn’t work if it gets wet and must be reapplied after each rain.

One suggested home organic control is to paint a bucket or bowl yellow including the interior and fill it with water to a few inches below the rim. The moths are attracted to yellow and many will drown in the bucket. Put buckets out at the end of June or when you see the adult borers. Kill any of the moths you see on the plants, they look like wasps but cannot sting you.

Squash borer larvae
Photo credit umn.edu
You can take a piece of wire and probe into the hole in vine and try to puncture the larvae inside. Or
make a tiny slit with a sharp knife lengthwise along the stem, find the worm and pull it out. Wrap a strip of cloth or paper around the damaged site. Find several places where the vine is touching the ground out beyond the hole and heap some good garden soil over the vine. Some vines will then put out new roots there and the vine will recover.

Next year when you plant your squash cover the young plants with a tunnel of lightweight row cloth, so the moths can’t get to the stems. It can be removed in mid-July in most areas. This should give the flowers plenty of time to be pollinated and make fruit for you. You can also hand pollinate under the tunnel. This only works if there were no squash or pumpkin plants in the same spot last year, since the moths emerge from the soil. If they were in the vines last year, they went into the soil to pupate.

Another strategy if you always have trouble with borers is to start the squash late, putting them in the garden in mid-July. This is usually best with summer squash that are eaten when immature rather than winter squash and pumpkins that need long growing seasons. Skipping the growing of any squash or pumpkins for a year can also help control the pest.

What ancient people smoked

New archeological research being done in Washington State found that Native Americans 1,400 years ago smoked Rhus glabra, or smooth sumac in their pipes along with a species of tobacco, N. quadrivalvis. Speculation is that the sumac was medicinal, or it just made the tobacco taste better.

A new method of analyzing residue from plants in ancient pipe bowls and cooking utensils can help researchers pinpoint exactly what plant species were being used. The pipe residue studies also found that after European contact Native Americans were smoking a tobacco species grown on the East coast N. rustica, indicating that there was trade between the tribes in the far west with those in the east.

More reading

Pitting and Preserving Cherries

Cherries are good tasting and full of healthy antioxidants.  They are said to relieve arthritic pain. When they are in season you’ll want to eat as many fresh cherries as you can. Cherry cobbler, cherry pie, cherry ice cream and even cherry sauce over your favorite meat are some uses for cherries other than eating them fresh.

Tart cherries are generally red but sweet cherries can be any color from yellow to almost black.  Make sure cherries are ripe when you pick or buy them because they won’t ripen after picking.  Don’t wash cherries until just before you are ready to eat them or use them in a recipe and store them in the refrigerator.


Pitting cherries 

Cherries have one teeny, tiny flaw in their design, the stone hard pit.  Bite down on one of them and you can break a tooth. You can eat them whole and spit out the pit but for cooking you’ll want to remove the pit, so no one gets a surprise.  It won’t hurt you to swallow one or two pits but eating a lot of pits could be a problem as each pit contains a small amount of cyanide.

If you use a lot of cherries you can purchase an inexpensive cherry pitter in the kitchen gadgets section of your local store.  An olive pitter also works fine on cherries. This makes the work a bit easier. If you are going to can or freeze a lot of cherries you can buy cherry pitters with hoppers that will pit many cherries quickly.

If you aren’t a gadget person and want to pit cherries by hand here’s the technique. Wash the cherries well. Pull the cherry stem off. Poke the tip of a potato peeler through the stem area, move it around the pit to loosen it and pop it out. Some people use a nut pick, or a good long fingernail. You can also use a stiff drinking straw to push the pit right through the cherry.  

Here’s another pitting tip. Stick cherries in the freezer about 30 minutes until they are half frozen before you attempt to pit them. The firm cherries are easier to pit. This tip is for using the cherries for freezing or cooking right after pitting And no matter how you pit cherries, remember that they can stain the hands and clothing.

Freezing cherries

You can only eat so many cherries while they are in season.  But you can eat cherries all winter long if you freeze them.  You can freeze both tart and sweet cherries but for cherry recipes most people prefer tart or pie cherries.

The very best way to freeze tart or sweet cherries is to use a sugar pack.  Cherries frozen in a sugar pack look better when used in recipes later. It’s a quick simple process that will give great results. For every 4 cups of washed, pitted cherries use 2 cups of white sugar. The cherries can be whole or halved. Place the cherries and sugar in a large bowl and toss gently.  Let stand 20 minutes. 

The sugar draws out the cherry juice and forms syrup.  If some of the sugar is still granular after 20 minutes don’t worry. Pack the cherries in freezer containers, date and label the bags and freeze. Tart cherries may need additional sugar when they are eventually used.

You can also freeze cherries without sugar for low calorie recipes. After washing and pitting the cherries cut them in half and lay them on cookie sheets. Place them in the freezer until frozen solid then combine them in freezer bags or containers.  

If you want frozen whole cherries, such as for garnishes, without a sugar pack, you’ll need to blanch the cherries before freezing. You need a pot of boiling water and a metal strainer you can dip into the pot, and a bowl of ice water the strainer will fit into.  Wash and pit the cherries. Place them in the strainer; dip the strainer in the boiling water, wait 30 seconds then dip in ice water for one minute.  Drain, arrange on cookie sheets and freeze.  Frozen whole cherries may not look as red or as nice as sugar packed frozen cherries after thawing

Making cherry pie filling

Here’s how to make some cherry pie filling or topping. The filling recipe is from my canning book, Knacks Canning, Pickling and Preserving and it makes about 6 quarts of filling.  What you don’t use up you can freeze or can. In fact, it’s one of the best ways to can cherries.

You’ll need a colander or strainer and a large pot or two plus containers or jars to can or freeze the extra filling.  Clear Jel is found in the canning section of stores.  If you don’t use red food color your cherry filling will be a yellow-red but will taste just fine.  To make it a pretty red use a few drops of food color.

Ingredients
6 quarts of pie/tart cherries
7 cups of sugar
1 ¾ cup Clear Jel
9 ½ cups water
2 teaspoons cherry or almond extract
½ cup lemon juice
Red food coloring (optional)

Wash, remove the stems and pit the cherries.

Fill your large pot with water and bring it to a boil.  Fill your colander with cherries and lower it into the boiling water.  Leave the colander 1 minute in the boiling water, then lift, drain cherries, put them in a bowl and repeat this until all the cherries gave been dipped in the water.  Keep them warm.

Next put your sugar, Clear Jel, water and extract in a saucepan and cook and stir until the mixture is thick and bubbly. Keep stirring so it doesn’t scorch.  Add the lemon juice and cook for 1 more minute. If you want to add red food coloring to make the sauce prettier, blend it in now.

Pour the hot syrup over the cherries and fold them into the syrup. They mix with the syrup better if they are kept warm. You can use the filling immediately, can the filling or let it cool to room temperature and freeze it.

To can the filling pour it into clean hot quart jars to ½ inch from the rim.  Stir to remove bubbles, wipe the rims and add your lids.  Process in a water bath canner 35 minutes from 0-3000 feet altitude, 40 minutes 3001-6000 feet altitude, over 6,000 feet 45 minutes.


It is dry, hazy June weather. We are more of the earth, farther from heaven these days.     
-Henry David Thoreau


Kim Willis
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1 comment:

  1. THANK YOU for addressing the dish soap in the garden issue!

    ReplyDelete