Gardening Granny's Gardening Pages: May 2021

Tuesday, May 25, 2021

May 25, 2021 Purple and Pollen

Hi Gardeners

I didn’t write my blog last week and this week’s will be short. It’s a busy time of the year for most gardeners and I have been slowed down by the heat and dry conditions we are having. I know some gardeners are getting plenty of rain but here in Michigan we are in what’s called a moderate drought by the weather service.

After a winter that was drier than normal, we’ve only had about a half inch of rain this month, which is normally a wet month. When I dig into my soil, which is sandy loam, it’s dry and powder like and that dryness extends at least 8 inches down. With temperatures warmer than normal and dry air plus many windy days it’s a struggle to keep things watered. I have to spend time watering before I can even get to planting and weeding.

All the new plants I have put in this spring require almost daily watering and so do the containers I have managed to get planted. Later in the summer this would be normal, but not in May and June. Plants already established are shorter this year and growing slowly. The grass is already browning in some areas. At least I am not having to mow as frequently as most springs.

I feel sorry for the farmers. The crops have been planted but nothings coming up. They need a couple inches of rain to get the crops up and growing. Ponds everywhere are drying up. The dust is rolling off the roads here and off the plowed fields in big clouds. All the plants get dust settled on them.

I am waiting to see if we get rain late today. A cold front is supposed to be coming in tonight. After temperatures near 90 today we are supposed to drop to highs in the 60’s on Thursday and Friday. Night temperatures are going to flirt with that frost line, but right now it looks like we will be spared.

We are now at least 2 weeks ahead in bloom times in the garden. The lilacs are in bloom and my yellow “graduation” rose (Harrison’s Yellow) is also blooming. It normally blooms about the second week in June- the one at my mom’s house is where all of my siblings and I had our pictures taken in front of when we graduated high school.

Yes, it's me in the dorky glasses, in front
of the yellow graduation rose, 1970

The little late tulip ‘Lilac Wonder’, is still in bloom, bearded iris, bleeding hearts, alliums, dames rocket, Spanish bluebells, honeysuckle, lilacs, wild geranium, chives, (lot’s of purple blooms), star of Bethlehem, sweet woodruff, valerian, wild viburnum and the snowball bush, violets are all in bloom here.

My little magnolia surprised me by putting out a fresh crop of flowers after the first flowers were badly damaged by frost. They are smaller than the first flowers but the little tree is loaded with them.

My vegetable garden is all planted, the tomatoes and pepper like the heat. I have put some plants from the house outside, the geraniums, canna’s, and some other pots of bulbs, but most of the houseplants are still inside. I have gotten a lot of annuals planted but there is still a flat of wax begonias that I need to get planted.

My biggest project now is getting the area where I plant my butterfly/cutting garden all cleaned of weeds – particularly Jerusalem artichoke that is trying to overtake the bed. I have all those seedlings I started under grow lights to get planted out there- they are getting too big for their tiny pots. After that is done, I can get to weeding the rest of the garden.

Pine Pollen season

If you are wondering what that yellow dust is all over your car and lawn furniture, it’s probably pine pollen. Most of the US is having a very high pollen count season. Those of you who had a mild winter followed by hot dry spring weather, like me, are seeing an unusually high amount of pollen settling out of the sky.

Pine pollen is obvious because its grains are so large and golden, but when the pines are pollinating several other trees, like oaks, birch and black walnut are also releasing pollen. Pine pollen actually causes few allergies because of the large size of the grains, but those other trees with not so obvious pollen grains can make you miserable if you are allergic to them.

Rain and humidity work to keep pollen out of the air but if it’s dry enough dust is flying, so is pollen. In my area we are at the peak of pine pollen season, your area may be ahead or behind us. Pine pollen season can least several weeks, and tree pollens in general 2-3 months in spring.

This year grass is beginning to pollinate a bit early because of the hot dry conditions in many places, so that will add to the misery. Many people are allergic to grass pollen. Gardeners may want to work outside in the evenings and just after rain events as those times will have less pollen in the air. When you come inside take a shower, wash your hair and put on clean clothes. If you are into neti pots you may want to flush your nostrils to get rid of pollen.

It’s no secret that allergy seasons are getting longer, and pollen counts higher due to climate change. 2021 is predicted to be a brutal year for pollen allergies by scientists. For people with seasonal allergies this is bad news. You may want to get tested by an allergy specialist to see exactly what you are allergic to, as this can help you avoid the allergen. You may also be able to get shots to help your body build up an immunity to that allergen.

What is not causing allergy symptoms is the white fluff from cottonwoods and dandelions floating in the air. These are seeds, not pollen and don’t cause allergies. But since they are visible in the air people sometimes mistake them for the cause of their allergy symptoms.

By the way pine pollen is used in several folk remedies. It’s believed to ease fatigue, and act as an anti-aging agent. But if you see some guy out there licking the yellow pollen off his car it’s because pine pollen is believed to boost testosterone and act as an aphrodisiac.

Lilacs

Lilacs were one of the first plants that early settlers brought to America. Nothing can top the lovely fragrance of lilacs as spring begins to slip into summer. Lilacs are so hardy and easy to grow that they often persist for hundreds of years after the person that planted them is gone, as many old, abandoned farmsteads can attest. While considered old fashioned by some, lilacs are one of the most planted landscape shrubs in North America.

Lilacs are originally from colder areas of Asia and Europe. They do well in zones 3-7. Some heat tolerant varieties have been developed for zone 8, but not all lilacs grow well in warm winter areas. Most lilacs grow as large shrubs. Some varieties of lilacs, however, grow as small trees, with a single trunk, and there are dwarf varieties on the market for those who have small yards.

The large bush lilacs make good privacy screens and hedges. Tree lilacs make excellent specimen trees as they have interesting bark and fall color as well as flowers. Dwarf and compact varieties of lilacs can be used in foundation plantings and in perennial beds.

Lilacs have dark green, heart shaped leaves. Lilac flowers range from pale lilac to deep wine- red, white, and light yellow. The flowers are born in large clusters in late spring. As they age the flowers may become lighter in color. Most lilacs have that wonderful lilac scent, but beware; some varieties have little or no fragrance. Lilacs bloom for only a short time, so to prolong the heavenly scent; you can plant several varieties that bloom at different times.

Growing Lilacs

Choose the site for your lilac carefully as they resent being transplanted. Although they root easily, they may not bloom for several years after being moved. Lilacs need full sun for the best bloom and disease resistance. They prefer light sandy soil that is slightly alkaline and well drained. They may not bloom well if the soil is too acidic and may fail to grow in heavy, wet soil.

Lilacs can get 15 feet high and wide, so make sure the spot where you plant them will be big enough for their adult size. If you are using lilacs as a hedge or screen, plant lilacs 6-10 foot apart.

Transplant lilacs in a cool period of the year; early spring before they leaf out is ideal. Keep them watered while they get established. Too much nitrogen will cause lilacs to have lots of leaves and few flowers, use a little 5-10-10 fertilizer in the early spring if the plant seems to need a boost.

Lilacs sometimes get powdery mildew, a fungal disease that makes the lilac leaves look like they were dusted with white powder. While it looks bad, it doesn’t affect the lilac plant too much. You can use a garden fungicide as a preventative spray once the weather starts getting warm.

Another problem of lilacs is lilac borer. If lilac stems seem to be wilting, check them for tiny holes. This usually affects older, woody stems. If you find holes, trim that stem off as close to the ground as you can and destroy it. Pruning the oldest, thickest stems out of lilacs helps prevent lilac borers from being attracted to your bush. You can also treat the lilac with a systemic insecticide to kill borers.

Pruning Lilacs

Lilacs bloom on old wood, the blooms form on stems that grew the year before. Too much pruning at the wrong time will leave you with no flowers. Prune lilacs immediately after they flower. If the bush is too large and overgrown, take out the largest and oldest stems first, the ones with woody bark.

Unless you need a drastic pruning to restore order, don’t remove more than 1/3 of the plant at a time. You can trim the tops back to a more manageable height, but you may not have many blooms the next year. Most shrub lilacs sucker from their root system, remove suckers that are spreading too far into other areas. They can be dug and transplanted to start new lilacs. All lilacs benefit from removing the dead blooms, so they don’t form seeds.

Some Varieties

There are hundreds of varieties of lilac. If you like the look of old-fashioned lilacs, choose common lilac, Syringa vulgaris. Some popular varieties include; ‘Lilac Sunday’- typical lilac color but many more flowers, ‘Charles Joly’- double flowers of dark purple-red, ‘Rochester’ - white, ‘President Lincoln’- blue, ‘Krasavitsa Mosky’- double flowers of pearl pink, ‘Primrose’- pale yellow, ‘James McFarlane’- a late blooming pink, and ‘Sensation’- a violet red with white edge.

Dwarf and compact varieties include ‘Miss Kim’-lilac color and late blooming, ‘Tinkerbelle’- deep pink, and ‘Red Pixie’- wine red.

Tree lilacs are often sold as “Chinese” or “Korean” tree lilacs. Most tree lilacs have creamy white flowers but ‘Syringa meyeri’ has red-purple blooms.

Blueberries prefer wild bees

A new study found that bigger berries and more abundant crops occur when blueberries are pollinated by wild bees, particularly bumble bees, rather than honeybees. Blueberry flowers need the vibrations of bumblebees and other wild bees for the best pollination. Honeybees don’t vibrate when they seek pollen and nectar.

Instead of introducing a beehive, planting a strip of wildflowers that bloom at the same time as blueberries close to the blueberry plants is helpful in ensuring the best pollination.

The study also found an electric toothbrush could also pollinate blueberries very efficiently for home gardeners, ensuring a large crop.

Tuesday, May 11, 2021

May 11, 2021, hey, where's spring?

I planned to do some work in the garden this morning, but the cold (54 degrees) and mostly cloudy conditions drove me inside to write on this blog. The strong wind doesn’t help. My old joints don’t like this weather. When will spring arrive for good, instead of just a tease?

I have been moving some plants I bought last week in and out of my car every night and I am getting a little tired of it. We have had frost almost every morning and more is predicted tomorrow. Yes, I know I should have waited to buy plants. But there were some things I wanted to get before Mother’s Day, when they were still available. If you wait you sometimes don’t get those odd, special things you crave. I knew better than to plant them in the ground though. I haven’t bought the bedding annuals yet or veggie transplants, next week for those. Hopefully the cold spell will be over.

I have noticed damage to some hosta, while others are unfazed by frost and freezes. We got down to 28 degrees on 2 nights and 32 on a couple others. A climbing rose I planted last year was leafing out, but now the leaves have been killed by the cold. I hope it tries again. I am worried about the apple blossoms, only time will tell if they were ruined.

My akebia vines (chocolate vine) are both blooming this year. It takes two different kinds to make fruit. That only happens every few years. Last year the one vine didn't bloom. I'm afraid the frost may have nixed the chance of any fruit again this year. When I do get fruit it's very interesting and tasty.

Akebia flower

The early tulips and daffs are done, but the late daffodils and tulips are still going strong. Grape hyacinths and creeping phlox are blooming. Alliums are just about ready to bloom. I can see color on the lilac buds now. The redbud, flowering quince and clove currant are still in bloom. Barberry is blooming, it’s another plant people like to hate, but bees love it. Most trees have leafed out, with the exception of the catalpa.

Wild currants, wild cherry and dogwood are in bloom in the woods. Cottonwood fluff is already starting to drift around. Autumn olive is blooming and that is making the native bees extremely pleased. The bushes are buzzing. I have seen the hummingbirds checking them out too, I don’t know if they can get nectar from them or not.

Rose breasted grosbeaks are back this week and I saw baby Canada geese this week. When I was mowing, I saw baby rabbits, I don’t think I hit any. I know many birds are already nesting and some are feeding young already.

This week my plans are to finish filling the grow bags for my veggie garden, get some of them planted, put up a new screen around my trash cans, do a lot of weeding in the front beds and get my cutting garden/butterfly garden cleaned up. And hopefully I’ll be able to plant the plants I bought last week so I can buy more. My farmer tan is developing, but hopefully I’ll be able to get more sun next week.

I hope all of you get a chance to garden this week and are finding all the plants you covet. Forget housework and grocery shopping, it’s planting time!

Cicada reminder

Despite the hoopla in the media not everyone in the eastern half of the US is going to see a big cicada hatch. Parts of Ohio, Indiana and a bit of Michigan, parts of Maryland, the DC area and Pennsylvania, along with a few other states will be where the hatch occurs, probably soon. If your area is due for a hatch, you’ll probably know it.

The cicada will not harm plants to any great degree, and its mostly trees that will see any damage. The only thing that needs protecting is young recently planted trees, they can be covered with netting for a few weeks. The female cicada can damage them by laying eggs in twigs.

Cicada do not bite or sting, are not poisonous, and they are greatly appreciated by many birds and animals. They can be noisy and messy, but the problem only lasts a few weeks. Then they are gone for 17 years.

Cicadas are not the locusts of the bible and other memorable plagues. They don’t fly in swarms or fly any great distance and they don’t devour everything in their path. No food crops will be in danger. Your flowers won’t be harmed. Relax and take some pictures.

Flower garden tips

For those who are suffering through another chilly spell be patient about buying new plants. If you are buying perennials hardy in your zone, but they are far ahead in growth than perennials outside and maybe in bloom, you’ll want to protect them or bring pots inside if the temps are going close to freezing- 34 degrees F at night. Even a hard frost can damage them.

Of course, most annuals and tropical perennials cannot be exposed to even light frosts without damage or death. They must be covered or brought inside. Don’t forget hanging baskets. Watch the weather reports carefully this time of year.

Remember when it is time to plant, both perennials and annuals should be watered after you plant them. Even things you dig up and move in the garden should be watered after planting. Even if it’s supposed to rain that night, water. Sometimes the rain doesn’t happen. That first watering is crucial to planting success.

You must keep drought tolerant plants watered until they get established, or unless it is raining frequently, and the soil is very wet. Trees and shrubs also need watering when planted and if it’s dry, keep watering until they get established, usually for trees and shrubs, that’s the first season you plant them.

Dahlia, calla and canna tubers should not be planted until after danger of frost has passed and the soil is above 60 degrees F. You can pot these up to get them growing and blooming sooner. Use potting soil, not garden soil and get it barely moist. Set pots inside in a warm bright spot. Don’t water much until you see new shoots. Wet soil will rot the tubers. Keep them in bright light and don’t start them more than a month before your expected last frost.

Dahlias

Remember to harden off plants you start indoors – move them outside into full sun gradually, over a couple days in their pots before planting them.

When you plant things that will need staking, like most dahlias, put the stakes in when you plant. This will avoid damage to the tuber later.

Make sure to mark things that are small or that are just seeds or bulbs in the ground, so you don’t accidentally damage them – or pull them thinking they are weeds.

Seeds for flowers like zinnias, cosmos, marigolds, nasturtiums, four o clocks, tithonia, calendula and other annuals can be planted directly in the ground. Plant around the time of your expected last frost. Keep the planted area moist until the seeds sprout. You may want to protect the seeds and young seedlings with a tunnel of wire fencing or netting supported up off the seedlings.

Thin the seedlings to the recommended distance between plants- check your seed packet. You can transplant the ones you remove if you are careful.

Veggie garden tips

It’s time now to plant at least some of the vegetable garden in planting zones 6 and lower. You can safely plant peas, lettuce, kale, spinach, cabbage, beets, radishes, onion sets and possibly potatoes now in zones 5 and higher.

But don’t get too impatient to get warmth loving plants outside, like tomatoes, sweet corn, beans, peppers, eggplants, pumpkins, squash and melons. Your soil temperatures should be 65 degrees or more and nights should not be falling below 45 degrees F, even if there is no frost.

Many people think covering their plants when frost threatens is all that’s needed, and it may keep them alive. But many times, when plants are put out early, when the soil is still too cold and nights get chilly, they may pause growth and sometimes they can be permanently stunted or become more susceptible to diseases. Peppers are particularly susceptible to long term damage from cold.

Two identical tomato transplants, one planted outside at six weeks when soil temps are 55 degrees and covered on frosty nights, and one that’s 6 weeks old planted 3 weeks later in 65-degree soil will probably be the same size 3 weeks later and will mature and bear fruit at the same time. Everyone always wants to be the one with the first ripe tomato but planting too soon isn’t the way to meet that goal.

You can use larger transplants – healthy ones grown in large pots, not elongated spindly ones in tiny pots, to get earlier fruit. Fortunately, tomatoes, peppers and eggplants don’t get a large setback when they are large at transplanting time, if they are planted correctly. The variety of tomato also makes a difference, if you want early fruit, pick an early maturing variety.

If you direct seed cucumbers, squash, pumpkins and melons in the ground, wait until soil temps are at least 65 degrees F for best germination. Fast germination usually signifies a healthier plant for its lifetime.

Another tip for those vining crops is not to use large transplants, if you don’t direct seed in the ground. Vine crops should only have 2-4 true leaves for the best transplanting success. Larger plants tend to suffer more transplanting shock and pause growth for a while.

Potatoes can be planted when soil temps are 45 degrees F or more. Soils should not be too wet – especially if they are still below 55 degrees. Tubers may rot in cold wet soil.

Yes, you can plant sprouted potatoes from the grocery store and get a crop but buying certified disease-free seed potatoes is better and you can get some of the rarer types of potatoes when you purchase them from a catalog or local grower. It’s interesting to taste some of these uncommon, delicious potatoes you can’t buy cheaply in the store.

Most larger seed potatoes are cut into pieces before planting, each piece should have at least one eye or sprout. Let the cut pieces sit for a day or two for the cut surface to dry and “scab” over. This helps prevent rot. Small seed potatoes can be planted whole.

Onions can be planted as seeds, seedlings or small bulbs called sets. Soil temperature should be 50 degrees for these, and they will tolerate light frost, but not a heavy freeze. Sets can be tucked in spaces around small plants and harvested for green onions before the plants get large. Sets will make small onion bulbs but are best for green onions. If you want large slicing onions buy seedlings to plant or direct seed into the garden.

Sweet corn is planted after farmers plant field corn. The more wrinkled the kernel of corn is the warmer the soil needs to be when it’s planted. Sweet corn needs at least 65-degree F. soil temps for germination and should be planted after danger of frost has passed.

Beans, bush and pole types, are another crop that does better direct seeded into the ground rather than transplanted into the ground. Soil temperatures should be 65 degrees and danger of frost has passed. Beans will get off to a better start if you buy inoculated seed. The inoculated seeds are coated with beneficial bacteria specific to legumes which is perfectly natural and harmless to people.

If you cover cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli with cheap butterfly nets from the dollar store or with a lightweight row cover material, those pretty white cabbage moths won’t be able to lay eggs on them and you won’t have wormy crops.

To save money cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower can be direct seeded in the ground when the soil is about 50 degrees. They will take just a couple weeks longer than transplants to mature.

Wait to mulch warm weather crops until the soil temps are 70 degrees or higher. Make sure the soil is moist before mulching crops. Try to keep mulch from touching the stems of plants.

Houseplants in the spring- tips

If you want to move your houseplants outside for the summer wait until there is no danger of frost and nights don’t dip lower than the 50’s. You must harden them off by gradually exposing them to sunlight, even if they have been in a sunny window. Move them outside into the shade first. Only a few houseplants can go into full sun outside, even after gradual exposure. Most will need light shade or even moderate to deep shade, depending on species.

Spring is a good time to fertilize houseplants and repot them if it is needed. Don’t forget about them as you jump into outside gardening. You may need to water more or less than you are used to, so check pots first before watering.

Check houseplants in south and west facing windows. While they may have done great there in the winter, spring and summer may find them suffering sunburn. Leaves may be reddened, bleached out looking or crispy on the edges. Usually moving them a foot from the window is all that’s needed but some plants may need to be moved further.

Lawn or no lawn?

How much lawn should you mow? Should you have a lawn? How about a meadow instead? Should you fertilize a lawn and treat for weeds and insects?

Lawns have become some what of a hot topic here in the US with many people arguing for their elimination. But others still want that perfect green carpet and will do anything to get it. There is a middle ground however, and most gardeners would do well to take it.

If you don’t like the time and expense of mowing, mow less lawn. An acre of lawn is about the sensible limit to a lawn and most people can do with much less. Put some of your lawn area into flower or vegetable gardens or just let it revert to a “wild” state. But don’t stop mowing entirely.

You don’t have to have a plush carpet of one species of grass, you can let ground ivy, clover, violets, dandelions and other short weeds mix into the grass but do keep it mowed to about 3 ½ inches high around the house. Mowing around your home and important outbuildings does several things; it creates a fire break, it helps keep ticks and mosquitoes at bay, it eliminates hiding places for rats and mice (and the snakes that hunt them), and it makes a good area for entertaining and playing.

Just stopping mowing or trying to start a wildflower meadow around your home often doesn’t end well. You may get a ticket since many places have laws about controlling vegetation around dwellings. And you may also end up with ticks or a rat problem. And quite frankly, most of these experiments make your home look like has it has been abandoned, to put it kindly.

It doesn’t mean you can’t use the front yard for gardens (if your municipality allows it). You can plant native plants if that is your thing. Just keep it neat and tidy, have paths and defined borders and do keep noxious weeds like ragweed cut down. Your backyard and other areas can be more informal, but a mowed, mulched or paved area close to the home is a wise plan.

Certainly, if you are one of the people who deplore lawns as a waste of time and energy you don’t need to fertilize or weed the lawn. Don’t rake clippings, mulch them back into the lawn. If you keep the lawn 3 to 4 inches high, some of the friendly insects will be able to find things in bloom in your lawn. And there’s no need for pesticides unless you do get a severe insect problem, such as fire ants or fleas. Mowing will take care of most weeds.

Don’t water large areas of lawn. You may want to water 50-75 feet around your home enough to keep things green if you live in a wildfire prone area. Or you may want to keep an area green that you use for entertaining or as a playground. Otherwise let your lawn go dormant in dry weather, except for “mercy” watering if there is an exceptionally long drought.

Mowed areas are not unfriendly to wildlife either. It’s called edge habitat, mowed areas surrounded by trees and shrubs and taller vegetation. Rabbits, frogs and toads, and even deer like to spend some of their time in areas with short vegetation. Many species of birds that are found in urban and suburban environments, actually prefer areas with mowed lawns. Mown areas help them spot predators and find insects on the ground.

Robins, song sparrows, chipping sparrows, killdeer, juncos, brown thrashers, gray catbirds, flickers, grackles, indigo buntings, bluebirds, cardinals, meadowlarks and red-tailed hawks are just some of the bird species that like edge habitat, with short vegetation.

Lawns don’t have to be environmentally unfriendly, even if they are mowed. A pesticide free, unfertilized, multi species mown area, lets call it a natural lawn, is good for many animal species. There’s a place for wildflower meadows and “let it go wild” areas, but it’s probably not up against your house.

Hummingbird facts

Hummingbirds are some of the most intricate and charming birds in the bird kingdom and everyone who loves birds should do what they can to attract them. It’s easy to put out a feeder for these little birds so you can encourage them to nest around your home and entertain you with their epic territorial battles.

In the eastern half of the country, the Ruby Throated Hummingbird is the species you are most likely to see. Other species occasionally visit but those hummers tend not to linger. Ruby Throated Hummingbirds start appearing in late April, following the bloom of flowers and the spread of warmth northward from their winter homes in Central America. West of the Rockies more species of hummingbirds like calliope, rufous, broad-tailed, and black-chinned hummingbirds can be found.

Here’s an interesting fact to ponder. Bird banders have banded about 170,000 ruby throated hummingbirds in North America. It is thought that ruby throated hummingbirds live about three years and we see them migrating to Central America and back every year. But despite efforts no one has ever captured a banded ruby throated hummingbird in Central America where they winter.

Both sexes of the ruby throated hummingbird have shiny bronze-green plumage, with the male being a slightly brighter green, on the back. The male has the ruby throat, the female’s throat is white. The sides and belly are buffy gray, and the wing tips and tail are a darker purplish black. Females are slightly duller colored, larger and rounder than the males and the tail has white tips. Hummingbirds have tiny feet and very long narrow beaks. Ruby throated hummingbirds average about 3 ½ inches long and weigh less than half an ounce.

If morning temperatures are low hummingbirds may need to bask in the sun for a short period of time before flying. Hummingbirds need to consume their own weight in food each day and they eat frequently throughout the day since they use energy at a rapid rate. They flap their wings at about 60 times a minute, fast enough to blur them in your eyesight. Hummers rarely bathe in bird baths or puddles, preferring to bathe in light rain or a light spray from your garden hose or sprinkler.

Hummingbirds do little vocalizing. You will hear them making an occasional tiny chirping sound and angry little shrill “screams” as they chase intruders. And you will hear the whirr of tiny wings as they whiz by your face in those aerial battles. Hummingbirds are extremely territorial, not only will they chase other hummers but even birds much bigger than themselves. Not only do they defend nesting territory, but they also defend feeding sources.

Hummingbird males stag elaborate dives and aerial stunts when courting females but when the fun is over the sexes go their separate ways. Female hummingbirds build tiny nests using thistle down, dandelion down, pieces of bark and other fibers and they use spider webs to hold it all together. They then stick pieces of lichen on the webs to disguise the nest. The nests are usually on the top of a tree limb or sometimes on a porch ceiling ledge in a protected spot about 8-15 feet off the ground.

Two tiny white eggs are laid in the nest, which hatch in about 13 days. The female hummingbird incubates and rears the young all on her own. They are ready to fly in about 20 days. Babies are curious and a bit clumsy at first. They may come to check out the flowers on your shirt or the red cup in your hands.

Hummingbirds leave for their arduous flight to their winter home in late September in northern areas. They will eat furiously for a few weeks prior to leaving to put on fat for the journey. They need a lot of fat for that long flight. They do make stops along their route to refuel and people in southern states may get huge flocks of hummingbirds passing through in the fall.

Feeding and attracting hummers

To feed hummingbirds naturally plant a variety of flowers with red and orange blooms, particularly those with trumpet shaped flowers. Favorites of Hummingbirds include honeysuckle, trumpet vines, nicotiana, hibiscus, salvias and buddleia. They also like comfrey flowers, although the blooms are very small. It’s one of the reasons I leave some comfrey growing, even though it’s horribly invasive.

Hummingbirds may be attracted to other flowers with red blooms like roses or zinnias, but those plants have little nectar to offer them. Although red and orange are favorite colors, they do visit flowers with other colors.

Hummingbirds also eat small insects, including spiders, and the sap of some trees. However, if you see a preying mantis near your hummingbird feeder you should move it some distance away. Preying mantis have been known to capture and eat hummingbirds.

Hummingbird feeders are easy to find on the market. They usually consist of a red colored globe that holds sugar water and has tiny holes in an attached base for the hummers to sip from. Feeders do not need to be solid red, red around the feeding vents is all that’s needed.

It’s better to choose several small feeders than one large one. Since Hummingbirds are very territorial a lot of fighting occurs around a single large feeder. It is better to place several small feeders around the garden.

Unfortunately, bees, wasps and ants are also attracted to hummingbird feeders. They are attracted to yellow, so choose feeders without any yellow colors on them or paint over yellow-colored areas to lessen the attractiveness to bees.

Hummingbirds are the only species which can hover like a helicopter when they feed. But feeders with tiny perches are very welcome and I think hummers prefer them.

To keep ants out buy feeders with moats that hold water. You can put a cone near the bottom of the feeder pole with the INSIDE of the cone smeared with a sticky substance. Never put anything oily or sticky on poles or wires that a hummer could come in contact with. If they get it on their feathers, it can kill them.

Making nectar

It’s easy to make your own nectar for feeders. Use 3 parts water to one part sugar such as 1 cup sugar to 3 cups water. Never use anything but plain granulated white sugar to make nectar, no honey, no fruit juice, no artificial sweeteners. Bring the water to boil and stir in the sugar until it dissolves. Then remove from the stove and cool before filling the feeder. You can make up a lot of nectar at one time and freeze the excess in bags of the amount needed to fill each feeder.

Do not add food colors and avoid packaged nectar mixes with chemical colorants. If your feeder is colored red or has a red base where the hummingbird sips, that is sufficient to attract them. Keep your feeders full, especially early in spring and late in fall when flowers are in short supply. It may take hummingbirds a few days to find new feeders. Remove the feeder and clean it, then refill with fresh nectar once a week.

You can remove your hummingbird feeders for the year when you haven’t seen them for a few days. This is usually some time in September for planting zones 6 and below and a bit later in the far south.

Ruby throated hummingbirds are not considered endangered yet, but their numbers do seem to be going down. They are a bird that you can really help by feeding nectar, birds around well supplied feeders raise more young. Also tolerating plants like trumpet vines and buddleia helps them survive. Do your part – put out a hummingbird feeder or two.

May and June. Soft syllables, gentle names for the two best months in the garden year: cool, misty mornings gently burned away with a warming spring sun, followed by breezy afternoons and chilly nights. The discussion of philosophy is over; it's time for work to begin.

-Peter Loewer

Kim Willis

All parts of this blog are copyrighted and may not be used without permission.

And So On….

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Newsletter/blog information

Tuesday, May 4, 2021

May 4, 2021 It's May, plant something every day

Hi Gardeners

Trilliums

They’re back! Two battling hummingbirds almost hit me this morning on my way back from the barn. And I saw orioles yesterday too. I have yet to see the rose breasted grosbeaks, but I am watching for them. Get your hummingbird and oriole feeders out.

We finally got some rain; I am just wishing we got more. Showers and misty rain most of the day yesterday and overnight but the rain gauge only shows 2/10 inch. But at least it will perk up the flowers a bit. Some things were actually wilting. I am still going to get the hoses hooked up this weekend. If I do that it should mean that the rest of May will be wet, lol.

The redbud tree is in full glorious bloom and the flowering quince is blooming too. The apple trees are blooming. I still have lots of tulips, daffodils, and other spring bulbs in bloom. Lots of beautiful blooming crabapples around too. My poor magnolia is blooming but the buds really got hit by the frost last week and the ends of the petals are all brown.

In the woods I see the black cherries, service berries and dogwood are blooming. Trilliums and trout lilies are blooming. Violets and dandelions are everywhere. It has to be bee heaven week.

Checking my calendars from past years I see we are 1-2 weeks ahead of previous springs on average as far as bloom times go. The race is on to get things planted; May is always a busy month for gardeners. It’s the time when most zone 5-6 gardeners are getting vegetable gardens in, planting annuals, and putting up hanging baskets. They are also planting trees and shrubs, new perennials and cleaning out established garden beds.

Zone 7 and 8 gardeners are doing the things above and starting their first harvests of greens and scallions, young radishes and beets. They may be pruning spring flowering shrubs after the bloom has faded. Gardeners in zones 3 and 4, well, you should be seeing some spring flowers and gardening will get started for you this month too.

While there are plenty of things you can plant in May, gardeners in zone 6 and above should still be patient and keep a close eye on the weather reports. Last year we had snow flurries on May 9 and 10 here. In zones 5 and 6 frost and even freezes can still happen. Don’t plant by a calendar date or holiday, plant by the weather conditions and predictions.

May Gardening

This Sunday is Mother’s Day and many people feel it’s time to put out those beautiful annual hanging baskets, and get those annuals planted. But the holiday is earlier than normal and if you look at the weather reports for this area, and many parts of the country, you’ll see some cold weather- down close to freezing if not freezing, coming next week.

Buy the plants if you must, but be ready to protect them, I wouldn’t plant those annuals in the ground just yet. I wouldn’t plant tomatoes or peppers outside either this week in zones 5-6 or lower.

For most gardeners, zones 4 and up, clean up time is here. Remove dead stems, debris and so on. Mark slow emerging plants if you remove the dead stems. Slow emergers include hardy hibiscus, buddleia, balloon flower, and butterfly weed.

If you see no new growth on a plant or emerging from the ground, other than those slow emergers mentioned, mark the plant or area with something. Water the plant if its dry. Then examine it again in a week. Try the scratch test on a stem if it has woody stems. If you scratch off a little bark and see green it may be alive still. If you don’t see growth in 2 weeks it’s probably dead.

Prune off dead areas of rose canes, look at stems carefully. Cut just above a node or where you see a new leaf. New leaves are often red. Also prune off winter killed areas of other plants.

Don’t remove the foliage of spring blooming bulbs after the blooms fade. It needs to yellow and die naturally. You can trim off any seed pods that form, unless you want to collect and plant seeds. But you don’t have to remove seedpods.

Don’t prune spring flowering shrubs until after they bloom.

Mow the lawn before it gets 4 inches high, but only take off about an inch in the first mowing. Healthy grass needs leaves to produce food. Keep your lawn about 3 inches tall.

Get stakes and supports in early, before plants get too tall.

Get started on that weeding! It will get away from you quickly.

Don’t put out tomatoes and peppers before the soil is warm, above 60 degrees, and the nights are above 45 degrees. Even if they don’t get frost, cold soil and nights can stunt plants.

Patience, patience, just because it’s warm one day, doesn’t mean cold weather is gone. Know your last average frost date. Then pay attention to weather forecasts.

When covering plants for frost protection make sure to remove covers as soon as possible after the sun comes up. Days heat up quickly now and plants can get too hot under covers, especially anything clear, very quickly.

Always harden plants off if they were growing inside, by moving them to the shade first for a day or two or making some shade for them. Then over a few days expose them to additional sun.

Make sure to keep potted plants waiting to be planted watered. Small pots dry out very quickly. And when planting into the garden water the plants well. Newly planted plants, including trees and shrubs, should be watered every few days (unless it’s rainy) if the soil feels dry until they get established.

Rainy days ands cloudy weather are excellent for planting. If it’s hot and sunny you may want to provide light shade for new transplants.

Houseplants should not be moved outside until all danger of frost has passed, and they must be hardened off also. Most houseplants cannot go into full sun, even if they were in a sunny window inside even after they are hardened off. Tropical hibiscus, banana plants, geraniums and a few other plants will tolerate full sun, but most houseplants need light shade or even heavier shade outside.

Lots of gardeners will be receiving mail ordered plants this month. Always open boxes immediately and check the plants. Don’t leave boxes sitting outside in the sun. Water the plants in pots if they feel dry and keep them out of the direct sun but in good light, until you plant them. That should be in just a few days. Bare root plants should have the roots moistened or wrapped in a damp paper towel. Do not leave them soaking in water.

If you have to keep plants longer and they are not in a pot, pot them. You can put them in sunlight after a few days if they are sun loving plant and you remember to check them at least once a day to see if they need water. Put shade plants in the shade.

Keep any bulbs dry until planted or pot them if they need to wait more than a week.

May almanac

May is “mayvelous”, almost as good as June. The full moon is May 26^th, and appropriately enough it’s called the flower moon. Perigee is the also the 26^th so once again, we have a super moon. Apogee of the moon is on the 11^th. And on the 11^th around 1:24 pm EDT a “near earth object” CK1, between 35 and 75 feet long is going to pass very close to earth. That should be exciting.

Other names for May’s full moon are mother’s moon and milk moon- because new mothers and their milk are everywhere. The month name of May is derived from the name of the Greek goddess Maia, associated with fertility.

There are two sets of notable days in May folklore. The first is Chilly Saints days, named for the Saints Mameritus, Pancras, and Gervais. The days are the 11^th, 12^th, and 13^th and it is said that these days will be cold and frosty. Last year we had snow on the 8^th, 9^th and 11^th here, but the 12^th and 13^th were nice. Mother’s Day is the 9^th this year so it might not be the best day to plant flowers in the colder zones.

The second set of folklore days is the Ember days. May Ember days are the 22^nd, 24^th and 25^th. On the 22^nd the weather predicts the weather for June, the 24^th predicts July weather and the 25^th predicts the August weather. Example: if it’s cold and wet on the 22^nd of May the month of June is supposed to be cold and wet.

Mother’s Day, May 9^th, and Memorial Day, May 31^st are some of the biggest sales days that greenhouses have, and May is almost synonymous with a trip to buy flowers. May is planting month around here. Plant something every day! May’s full moon is said to be a great time to harvest any medicinal herbs that are growing for their maximum potency. Many people use Memorial Day as the day to start planting frost tender plants in zones 5 and 6. But beware- frost can still happen, although it isn’t likely in zones 5 and above.

May Day was May 1, Cinco de Mayo is May 5^th, May 6^th is No Diet Day which is great. It’s also National Teachers day. May 8^th is World Red Cross day and Iris day. The 16^th is Love a Tree day. The 29^th is Learn about Composting day and the 30^th is Water Your Flowers Day.

May is National Barb-b-Que month, National Salad Month, National Egg month, National Hamburger month and National Date your Mate month. May is also Older Americans month, Bike Month, National Skin Cancer Awareness month and Blood Pressure Awareness month.

May’s birth flower is the Lily of the Valley. It signifies sweetness and humility. (But remember its poisonous). It also means a return to happiness and you are supposed to give them to people you find complete happiness with. This year I think we should all be passing out bougets of lilies of the valley. The birthstone is the emerald which is a symbol of re-birth.

Your clay soil- and why it’s not so bad

When gardeners mention clay soil, they often do it with a sad expression and a shrug, conveying to all that clay soil is a burden and an impediment to the fine art of gardening. But clay soil is not as bad as many gardeners think if they learn to handle it correctly. In fact, there are many advantages to clay soil as I will explain later.

Soil is classified as clay, sand or loam by the size of the disintegrated rock particles, or minerals, the size of the spaces between the particles and the amount of organic matter in the soil. Most soil has some decayed organic matter or humus and isn’t all clay or sand. Organic matter can still decompose, humus is organic matter that has pretty much finished decomposing. But the dominant type of mineral particles determines the type of soil you have.

Sand has the largest particles and the largest spaces between particles. Clay has the smallest particles, and those particles tend to occur in flat sheets with little space between them. Loam has both sand and clay sized particles and a lot of organic matter.

There are sandy loams, soil with more sand than loam and clay loams, soil with more clay sized particles than loam. You may hear the term silt mentioned in reference to soil also. Silt is intermediate sized particles of quartz or feldspar that tend to float in water, don’t form aggregates and tend to be deposited in layers. (Aggregates refers to small clumps of minerals which make soil have a crumbly texture.)

You can get a soil test and it will tell you what type of soil you have. But if you have clay soil you probably know it. Its thick and gooey when wet and hard and cracked when dry. It sticks to your shoes and shovels in mass. You can roll it in a ball or even make things out of it. If fact clay with almost no organic matter at all is dug up and sold to produce modeling clay and is even used for clay facial masks.

Clay soil can be red, yellow or gray, sometimes almost white. Or if it has some silt or organic matter it can be brown. The color comes from the types of rocks that were broken down to form it.

The good and bad points of clay soil

Clay soil may shed water at first, but once wet it can take a long time to dry out. Water has a hard time moving through clay soil, so drainage is poor. Since water moves slowly through clay soil any pollutants the water is carrying, such as nitrates, are less likely to reach the ground water and contaminate it. But once gardeners have worked to improve that clay soil and facilitate drainage, the fact that it holds water longer than other soils can actually be an advantage.

One of the good properties of clay soil is that the mineral particles have a negative electrical charge. Most nutrients that plants need from the soil like potassium, calcium, phosphorus, sulfur and others have positive charges. Therefore, they are attracted to the clay particles and cling to them, keeping them from being washed down deep into the soil and away from plant roots. Clay soil is generally more fertile than sandy soil and requires less supplementation than other soils.

While many plants have a hard time sending their roots down into heavy clay soil, many other plants have adapted to it. Clay soils do help anchor plants firmly. Plants growing in clay soils are less likely to be pushed out of the ground (called heaving), as it freezes and thaws during the winter. When properly amended and cared for clay soils can be used to grow a wide range of plants.

Yep, you have clay soil

Turning clay soil into great garden soil

Unless you truck in all new soil, your soil is always going to have properties of the original rock particles that were deposited there. You can modify clay soil so that it has better texture and becomes clay loam, but you will always have some characteristics of the original mineral composition. Clay loam, however, is very good garden soil. So how do you get it?

The best soil for most plants has plenty of small aggregates. Aggregates create soil texture. Aggregates are small clumps of mineral particles and humus or organic matter bound together. A soil texture like coarse cornmeal with a few larger lumps is good, a flourlike texture, or granulated sugar texture or texture like a chunk of taffy is not good soil texture.

Aggregates are formed when soil microbes break down organic matter and secrete a glue-like substance. Plant roots also exude substances that can bind soil particles. Fungal hyphae and chemical reactions also contribute to bind together soil particles.

The best thing gardeners can do to start the formation of good aggregates and make soil texture better for gardening is to add organic matter. Compost is good to add to clay soil too but since finished compost leaves little for microbes to decompose, adding fresh organic matter is better.

Fresh organic matter can be a cover crop you till into the soil. Or it can be something like small bark chips or shredded bark, small wood chips, dried leaves, chopped straw, even sawdust. (I don’t recommend sphagnum peat; it holds too much moisture and is also too expensive.) It will take time for the soil microbes to work and there is no quick solution. The first application of organic matter should be about 6 inches thick. If you can apply it in fall before you want to plant, it works better.

If you have compost apply that liberally also, inches thick. Compost is good for soil structure but for clay soil organic matter that isn’t decomposed yet is also needed. Remember that the process of it being broken down by microbes is what creates that good sticky substance that promotes aggregates.

Clay soil and compacted areas

Work the organic matter and compost into the clay, if the soil is dry enough to work. Never, ever, work clay soil when it’s wet. You can dig it in or use a rototiller the first year. You can also just layer the organic matter and compost on top of the soil and let worms and microbes work if you have a few months before you need to plant. You should notice an improvement the first year in soil texture, but it will be better in following years.

Organic matter needs to be added every year to clay based soils. The first couple years it will be hard to work the organic matter or compost into the soil, but every year it will get easier, and your soil will get better. You won’t need to add as much organic matter as the years progress, and compost may do the job just as well after the first few years.

Caution- don’t try planting into a layer of compost or organic matter on top of soil, that won’t work well, at least in the first year after application. The organic matter has to be mixed with soil. After the first year you may be able to plant through a layer of some organic amendments, like coarse bark.

What can you do if you already have perennials planted in clay soil and want to amend the soil? Just work organic matter into the soil around them and apply it heavily in the fall after the perennials are dormant. While the decomposing of organic matter can use nitrogen needed for plant growth, heavy clay soils may hold enough nitrogen that it won’t be a problem. If plants do seem yellow or stunted, check first to see if the soil isn’t staying too wet, then if needed, supplement with some nitrogen fertilizer.

What not to do with clay soil

It is NOT good to amend small holes in clay soil for individual plants. What you do then is create a bathtub for plant roots to rot in. The organic matter or topsoil or whatever you filled the hole with absorbs water and the clay soil walls don’t let it easily leach away. Also, the roots of many plants will hit the harder clay walls of your hole and instead of penetrating them, will bend and circle back into the softer amended soil. This produces girdling roots and can kill the plant.

Refill holes with what you took out.

If you can mix the original soil with your amendments, and organic matter is the preferred amendment, and make the area amended 3 times larger than what the root zone of your new plant will be, you may be ok. But for a tree or shrub stick to refilling the hole with what you took out. You can add some amendments on top, most people mulch new trees anyway. Chose species that grow well in clay soil.

Don’t add gypsum to clay soil until you have consulted with your local county Extension office to see if it’s helpful in your area. For some types of clay soil gypsum can help improve soil texture. Clay composed of some minerals does interact beneficially with gypsum, but in clay with other mineral types, gypsum does nothing to improve it and is an unnecessary effort and expense.

Lime does not improve the texture of clay soil. Lime is used to raise soil pH or to add calcium to calcium deficient soils. It does nothing to make clay soil easier to work with. And since clay soils holds onto minerals more than other soil types adding lime when it’s not needed may result in too much calcium in the soil or too high soil pH, both of which can harm plants.

Do not add sand to clay soil. It seems logical that this would move soil texture more to a middle ground, but in practice what it does is create a worse problem- soil that is like a cement brick. After a couple of years of heavy amendment with organic matter you could mix in some sand and it would help drainage a bit. But don’t add sand to heavy clay soil without much organic matter or you will regret it.

Epsom salts do nothing to improve clay soil and can cause serious damage to plant roots when mixed into clay soil. As mentioned before clay soil holds onto minerals and too much magnesium can build up in clay-based soils when Epsom salt is used on them. And salt of any kind stays in clay-based soils longer than sandy soils, many commercial fertilizers are salt based, and you’ll need to use less of them in heavy clay soil.

But the most important thing to remember about your clay soil is not to compact it! Don’t even walk in the garden if the soil is wet. Don’t rototill it or drive any machinery over it when its wet. Clay soil dries out slower than other soils and you may have to wait longer in spring to get into your garden. Using raised beds with clay soil helps it drain, dry out and warm up faster in spring plus it helps avoid compaction.

Clay soil can become great garden soil if you know how to handle it. Don’t despair if your soil is heavy on the clay side, just get busy collecting organic matter to improve it.

Plants that tolerate or like clay soil

If you don’t want to amend your soil just chose plant species that do well or tolerate it. Most garden vegetables though, do not like heavy clay soil. Cabbage, broccoli, peas and beans are your best bets. And most spring flowering bulbs don’t do well in clay soil either.

Trees- most oaks, willows, poplar, aspen, cottonwood, hickories, hackberry, butternut, honey locust, river birch, crabapples, hawthorn, linden, Kentucky coffeetree, white cedar, larch, tamarack, silver maple

Shrubs- ninebark, forsythia, viburnums, chokecherry, currants and gooseberries, potentilla, shrub dogwoods, lilac, bayberry, barberry, yews, weigelia, flowering quince, honeysuckle, mock orange

Perennials- coneflowers (Echinacea), helenium, asters, foxglove, rudbeckia, goldenrod, Joe Pye, lamium, Heliopsis, goatsbeard, daylilies, Japanese iris, Ostrich fern, beebalm, ladie’s mantle, sea thrift, compass plant, liatris, sedums, phlox, cardinal flower, Jerusalem artichoke.

Links you’ll like

Is your asparagus coming up, but you wonder about harvesting it? Are you planting asparagus this spring and need to know more about it? Read this article about asparagus.

https://gardeninggrannysgardenpages.blogspot.com/p/asparagus-is-one-of-foods-you-either.html

Are you experiencing mole problems this spring? Don’t fall for all the myths about mole control, learn the facts with this article;

https://gardeninggrannysgardenpages.blogspot.com/p/mole-control-wiithout-myths.html

Want to grow strawberries this spring? This link will help.

http://gardeninggrannysgardenpages.blogspot.com/p/growing-strawberries-in-homegarden.html

Corydalis is an underused spring blooming plant. Learn about it here.

https://gardeninggrannysgardenpages.blogspot.com/p/corydalis-corydalissolida-kor-riduh-lis.html

"When April steps aside for May, like diamonds all the rain-drops glisten; fresh violets open every day; to some new bird each hour we listen."

―Lucy Larcom

Kim Willis

All parts of this blog are copyrighted and may not be used without permission.

And So On….