Hi Gardeners
I was so frustrated yesterday I almost cried. It is so dry around here, I’m beginning to
worry about the large trees and shrubs. I was looking forward to rain, we were
promised a very good chance yesterday. I
watched the radar helplessly as heavy bands of weather approached us then split
up and passed to the north and south of us. Three times yesterday that
happened. You should have heard me
cussing each time. Some places in Michigan were flooded, some got no rain, like
me. And late last evening when I gave up on rain I was out there in the heat
watering again.
Today it’s cooler thank goodness. The watered parts of the yard
are doing ok, but every gardener knows a good rain is better than a hose. I break the watering into 3 sections so as not
to overwork my pump. I have one section left to water today. But watering takes
up a lot of time that could be used for other garden chores, like weeding.
My oriental lilies are beginning to bloom, it’s early for them and
they are much shorter than normal, that’s the heat and drought. A lot of the plants are blooming quickly and
then fading away. I actually have a mum
beginning to bloom. Sunflowers planted by
the birds are blooming in the back yard, but I don’t water there, and they are
beginning to dry and wilt.
Morning glories and cosmos have started blooming. Other things
blooming are dahlias, clematis, rudbeckia ( black eyed susan),shasta daisy,
harebells, bee balm, cleome, helenium, hydrangea, roses, all kinds of lilies
and daylilies, 4 O’clock, zinnias, and woodland nicotiana. And the amaryllis I put on the porch to get a
vacation has put up a big bud stalk.
The dill is blooming like crazy, but I don’t have but a few
cucumbers, not enough for pickles. I
guess I will just collect dill seed. We
have a lot of grapes forming but most of the vines are too far from the house
to water, so they may not develop fully. I am still getting a few tomatoes and
peppers.
What’s not blooming is the baptisia. The plant is huge this year
but no blooms. I don’t know what went on
there. The blackberries have only a few flowers, that’s because the canes died
back so badly last winter. One good
thing is that I have yet to see a Japanese beetle this year. Knock on wood. I don’t know if it’s the drought and heat or
the hard winter last year.
I have already placed my first order for fall planted bulbs. It’s hard to think about in the heat but bulb
companies are having a lot of sales right now. And it’s the right time to order
bearded iris too. And if you order now you
may get what you want before it’s sold out. If you don’t get catalogs in the
mail check out the catalog listings page on the right side of this blog.
 |
| Baptisia in 2017 |
A
book review- Supermarket Super Gardens-
by Jerry Baker
I just got a pamphlet in the mail trying to get me to buy
what is touted as Jerry Bakers latest book. Baker died in 2017 and this book was
published in 2008 and they are still selling the book as if it's some new work
just released. There’s no mention that
Baker’s dead and no copyright date given.
I had to get a used copy just to see what stupidity the man wrote last.
Hogwash and claptrap is what best describes this
book. Most of the remedies have no basis
in science and won't work, some may even be harmful. For an example of the
stupidity of this book let's take page 236 as an example. Baker recommends sprinkling Epsom salts on
the soil after planting bulbs because it "gives them a much-needed
nitrogen dose". Epsom salt has absolutely no nitrogen. Bulbs that were just planted don’t need nitrogen. And it will not keep chipmunks away either,
it dissolves and goes into the soil as soon as it gets wet.
Oatmeal planted with transplants is a sure way to get
them dug up by some animal and has no value in transplanting anything. (Pg.
157) Most pests don't give a hoot about cayenne pepper or hot sauce, or dry
mustard and these are frequently mentioned.
Page 301- plant garlic around roses to keep blackspot off roses? Blackspot is a fungal disease. Planting something by a rose won't do
anything to keep a fungal disease away.
It won't deter Japanese beetles or other insects either. Pg. 109- a shot of scotch and a teaspoon of
dish soap in a gallon of water to "liven up" potted perennials- if
you use plain water it will work just as well, there's nothing in scotch or
dish soap helpful to plants. And what does liven up mean?
In fact, most of his “remedies” or “tonics” would work
equally well without most of the ingredients.
Take this rose tonic. Baker has
you mix together instant tea, red wine, a tiny bit of fish emulsion ( ½
tablespoon), baking soda, iron and a gallon of
warm water to apply every 3 weeks, 1 quart per rose. The water and fish emulsion are the only
things that have any benefit to roses and that amount of fish emulsion is
probably useless. You’d have to use
chelated iron from a garden shop, not an iron tablet from the drugstore, but it
would only be a benefit if the soil was deficient in it. This could not stop any diseases or pests. Just buy an organic rose food and follow
label directions for a far greater benefit.
Baker throws in things like tablespoon of wine, so you
feel like you are mixing up some special, secret potion. That amount of wine in a gallon of water
would be so diluted it would do nothing.
Why include it? Because people
think something they buy in a grocery or consume themselves is “organic” and
not harmful. They are mixing it
themselves, so it must be safe.
Wrong. While this remedy might be
useless but harmless, without testing the combinations in these various
“tonics” no one knows if they are harmless.
And I know some of them are toxic- take the chocolate and Plaster of
Paris remedy for mice. That’s just as
toxic to children and pets as a commercial remedy and probably more attractive
to them.
As for saving money that's a laugh too. Instead of going to the garden shop and
buying something that actually works, you are urged to buy all kinds of weird
stuff at the grocery instead. Bottles of
apple juice, mouthwash, bourbon and scotch, cartons of powdered milk and Epsom
salt, all kinds of things that you are basically going to waste. Even if you had them around the house you probably
had to buy them and now you are going to waste them. Things that added
together, even without the cost of the book, (about $35) will have you paying
more per ounce for something that's useless than for a good commercial product.
And Baker reminds you you'll need one of his hose end sprayers to apply that
hogwash.
Baker used a lot of booze related "remedies"
and that's probably because he was sitting around drinking while dreaming up
stuff. Baker never had any horticultural
training and he was never a Master Gardener as most people define that, the
Master Gardener program is run by state universities and trains volunteers in
horticulture. No university has ever had
Baker in their program. His knowledge of
horticultural and even basic science is abysmal. What he was, was an ultimate snake oil
salesman.
Don’t buy this book. In fact don’t buy any Jerry Baker book. Buy a good garden book instead. The above book doesn’t tell you much about
gardening, just about remedies for garden problems. Many garden books won’t recommend
conventional chemical treatments for problems because the rules and label
recommendations change so quickly. If you have a garden problem, ask if your county
Extension office can help you. If you
don’t have an Extension office that deals in helping home gardeners try asking at
a large, reputable nursery or greenhouse.
Yucca,
Yucca filamentosa, Adams needle
 |
| Yucca flowers |
If you need a larger plant for a sunny dry spot, then Yucca filamentosa may be just the thing
for you. My yuccas are planted in poor
soil along the bank of our pond. They
are high above the water and exposed to the weather, yet they do well. Yucca
filamentosa is one of some 40 species of Yucca but the most common one grown
in temperate gardens. It will grow just about anywhere in the US as long it has
full sun and well-drained soil.
While yucca is considered to be a perennial by most
gardeners it is really an evergreen shrub.
In cold snowy climates the leaves may be damaged, yet they persist. Plants in the right place live a long time
and get larger each year. While some
references claim the plants die after flowering, that’s not true, at least for
this species.
Yucca has long sword shaped leaves that can be 3 feet or
longer, the tips may curl over. There is
no main stem to this shrub, the leaves arise from a central crown near the
ground in a spiral fashion. The leaves
are tough and thick, with sharp points and edges. On some leaf edges one will often find a
white thread peeling off, which accounts for the filamentosa part of the scientific name.
Leaves are usually dark green, although bluish leaved and
variegated leafed cultivars exist.
Plants get 3-4 feet high without a flower stalk and 5-6 feet wide. The
plant often reproduces small plants around the main one from the root system.
The roots of the yucca are thick and fibrous. They go deep into the ground and once
established it’s hard to get rid of the plant by digging it out as small pieces
that remain will start new plants.
Once a year, in late spring or early summer, the mature
yucca plant will produce a large woody stalk with clusters of large white
bell-shaped flowers. Flower stalks can
be 6 feet tall, with hundreds of flowers. The 6 petal flowers hang downward,
and blooms open from the bottom of the stalk upward, providing a long season of
bloom. Yucca plants in full flower are quite striking and the flowers attract
butterflies and bees. Yucca plants may
not bloom every year, especially in the north.
Yucca is pollinated by one kind of moth (Prodoxidae spps). In some areas the moth doesn’t exist, and the
plants won’t produce seeds. When it does
get pollinated the seed pods are long oval shapes which turn dry and brown when
ripe. I have had seed pods and seeds on
my yucca plants so being in the Northern part of it’s range doesn’t mean it
won’t get pollinated.
The moth that pollinates yucca lays an egg in each flower
and when that egg produces a larva (caterpillar) which eats some of the seeds
in the pod, but in a mutually beneficial arrangement it never eats all of the
seeds.
Planting
yucca
Gardeners can find potted yucca plants, buy pieces of
roots or start yucca from seeds. It will
take several years for root pieces to produce a blooming size plant and longer
for seeds grown plants to mature. Mature
yucca plants can be divided but this is a bit hard on plants. Transplanting large plants is also difficult.
Yucca
filamentosa is hardy
in zones 5 and up. Even some zone 4
gardeners have had success growing it.
It requires full sun and a very well drained soil. Don’t place the plant where it gets regular
irrigation. It likes it dry.
You may not want to put the plant near children’s play
areas, pet areas or close to walkways.
The leaves are sharp- the edges can cut a little hand if they are
grabbed. The sharp point on the leaves might
also pose a problem.
After blooming the woody bloom stalk should be cut down
to it’s base unless you are considering saving seed. When spring arrives, northern gardeners may
need to trim off some damaged leaves. That’s the extent of pruning yucca needs.
Yucca has few pests and no common diseases. Rabbits and deer avoid the plant.
Some cultivated varieties of yucca include; 'Bright
Edge', a dwarf variety about 18 inches high with gold margins on the leaves and
creamy flowers, 'Color Guard', which has a gold stripe in the center of the
leaves, and 'Hofer Blue' which has bluer foliage than the species.
 |
| Yucca "Color Guard' Picture from Walmart.com |
Edible
and other uses of yucca
In many articles it seems that ‘Yuca’ which is a Spanish common
name for cassava, is confused with Yucca. The roots of cassava produce a well-known
food product, tapioca, and are eaten as a vegetable. Yucca flowers are often
eaten but other parts of the plant generally aren’t eaten. A few species of
yucca have edible fleshy fruits but Yucca
filamentosa does not.
The flower stalks of yucca are sometimes eaten like
asparagus. Flowers can have the sexual
parts removed and then can be lightly parboiled and fried up with peppers,
onions and other vegetables. They are also cooked with eggs and salsa. Various Mexican cuisines use them in recipes.
First people had many uses for yucca. The sharp strong leaves were used to pierce
meat, tied in a loop and used to suspend meat over a fire. The leaves were
pounded and soaked to get the fibers out, which were woven into matts, ropes
and nets. Paper can be produced from the fibers.
The roots of yucca contain saponins, which can produce a
soapy lather for washing the body and hair.
 |
| In this picture you can see the leaf filaments on yucca leaves. Wikimedia commons |
Since yucca is evergreen I wonder if it could become a
houseplant? The dwarf ‘Bright Edge’
would be the perfect size. You’d need a sunny
window. I have that variety too, I might
give it a try.
Yucca
filamentosa is an excellent focal plant for hot, dry
areas. Since they are evergreen they
provide year-round interest. They are
useful in rock gardens, low maintenance landscapes and for xeriscaping. The stunning flower scapes are a bonus when
they are in bloom. If you have the right
spot yucca can be a great plant for your garden.
Renovating strawberry beds
Here’s a summer garden chore that often gets neglected. If you
have June bearing strawberries and harvest has ended it’s a good time to
renovate your strawberry bed. This will
keep your strawberry patch producing well for many years. Renovating involves these steps, leaf
trimming, thinning and fertilization.
Everbearing strawberries do not need this treatment, but if you have had
problems with good production you can renovate these beds too, but you will not
get any more strawberries this year.
First remove all the old strawberry foliage to just above the
plant crown. Cutting the foliage reduces
foliar disease through the summer and causes the plant to have a spurt of vigorous
growth with healthy new leaves. Make
sure you make a sharp clean cut with a sharpened mower blade, or hand
trimmers. Don’t use weed “whackers”. Ragged leaf edges are more susceptible to
foliage diseases.
Rake debris out of the bed, including the trimmed leaves and
remove any weeds. Now thin the plants to
about 9” apart from center of the plant to the center of the neighbor
plant. You can make rows or ‘beds” where
plants are staggered 9” apart.
Strawberries can produce many daughter plants and you may find you have
enough new plants to start a new bed or fill in bare spots in your old bed with
the plants you thinned out.
After thinning apply a slow release granular fertilizer for
vegetable gardens. Water the strawberry
bed well and keep it watered if weather conditions are dry. That’s it- you have renovated your
patch. Keep it weeded through the rest
of summer and mulch with straw just before winter and you should have a great
strawberry crop next spring.
If you haven’t done so already it’s time to side dress (add
fertilizer) to your sweet corn. This should be done just as you see tassels
starting to form on your corn. Use a granular
garden fertilizer between the rows just before a rain or good watering. (Unfortunately,
I added fertilizer yesterday because we were supposed to get rain. We didn’t, so now I need to water it in.) Use
a fertilizer with a high first number, (the nitrogen) such as 23-10-0. I use a
lawn fertilizer, corn is a grass family member.
 |
| Corn tasseling |
Blood meal is used by some organic farmers although you can find
good organic fertilizers on the market now. Try to keep the fertilizer off the corn stems,
about 2-3 inches from the stalks. Spread
the fertilizer at the rate recommended on the bag.
Corn is a heavy user of nitrogen and will start to yellow and slow-down
in growth if nitrogen is lacking. It uses the most nitrogen just before and
during the tasseling, (pollination) stages. Heavy rains tend to deplete nitrogen and we
often get them this time of year. You
want your corn to have deep green, sturdy looking leaves and stems. Height will vary by the variety of corn you
plant but 4 feet tall is probably the minimum sweet corn should be when it starts
tasseling.
Side dressing your sweet corn will produce a higher yield of big
juicy ears. It’s one of those little things that can make a big difference.
Food safety at the farmers market
When you buy
produce at the farmers market or road side stands, make sure you wash it before
eating it. This is particularly true of
produce you don’t peel or cook before eating.
Even if it is labeled organic it should be washed. Organic produce is not safe just because it
has no pesticides or organic pesticides used on it. Organic growers often use
manure or other things on crops that can have salmonella, E. coli and other
harmful microorganisms that may be left on produce. This may actually be worse than a tiny bit of
pesticide residue.
Many times, produce
being sold as organic really isn’t. And just think of how many people handle
produce at the farmers market- where have their hands been? It’s tempting to eat a few berries or a peach
on the way home but it’s probably better to resist the urge. Wash it first.
And in the summer
heat the eggs you buy at the farmers market should have been kept in a
cooler. While eggs don’t spoil right
away they can develop unhealthy quantities of salmonella when kept warm. Some
sellers think people are more likely to buy their eggs if they are unwashed, but
this is an unwise purchase in warm weather.
Even washed eggs can have salmonella inside them and that’s why we cook
all eggs until they are not “runny.”
It's great to buy
local and seasonal. But wash that food before
eating it!
Tomato
blossom end rot
Tomato blossom end rot (BER) is a common problem that
home gardeners experience. I’m seeing a lot
of people asking about the problem this year and I’m also seeing a lot of
dubious and even harmful advice being given.
BER is a complicated problem, there are some conflicting ideas even
among experts, but we do know some things about BER and why it occurs.
BER causes a brown/black leathery area to develop on the
bottom of green fruit, usually when they are about half of their mature size. (The
area farthest from the stem is what is called the blossom end.) The fruit will begin to rot behind the
leathery area. Sometimes the leathery
area will develop mold. BER can also
affect peppers and eggplant. Fruits generally need to be discarded when they
get BER.
BER isn’t a disease, it’s a physiological disorder. That means it is caused by environmental
conditions. I hesitate to even say this
because it’s always misinterpreted but it’s caused by a calcium uptake deficiency. In most home gardens situations there is enough calcium in the soil but
for various reasons the plants cannot take up enough of it. Adding additional calcium in any form to the
soil won’t help if the other conditions aren’t corrected.
Calcium is distributed through the plants xylem system,
the system that transports water through the plant. Calcium must be dissolved in water to be carried
through the plant. Since the bottom of
fruits is the very end of the line for the xylem and it’s carried nutrient
solutions, the fruit bottom is most likely to suffer from lack of calcium.
So, what causes the lack of calcium uptake in the plant? The most common reason is water stress. The highest incidences of blossom end rot
occur after a wet early growing period turns hot and dry as fruit begins to
form. Fluctuating water content in the
soil and in plant tissues is the biggest cause of BER. Sometimes if soil temperatures get high, air
temperatures are high, and the air is dry the plants simply cannot take up
enough water even if it’s in the soil. You can’t get calcium into the plant
without enough water.
Tomatoes in the ground which are producing fruit need
about 1.5 inches of rain a week. In
sandy soil in very hot weather that can go up by an inch or more. (Potted
plants may need more or less.) If rains
don’t supply that you’ll need to water.
But the water should be given in at least two doses, so the plant
doesn’t get really dry between watering.
Mulch can reduce soil temperature and help conserve soil moisture.
BER can also occur when soil moisture is adequate, but
the soil has high salinity, the soil pH is too high or low, the roots are
damaged or constricted, soil is too cold or hot, temperatures fluctuate too
widely, or there is an overabundance of magnesium, potassium, and
ammonium-nitrogen. Adding Epsom salt to
gardens, as often recommended for this very problem, can actually cause BER or
worsen it. If there is too much magnesium in the soil, it will impede calcium uptake by the plant
and contributes to soil salinity.
Other than correcting water stress BER can be difficult
to treat. Soil pH cannot easily be
changed while plants are growing in it. Overfertilizing will need time and lots
of water to leach it out of the soil.
Soil with high salinity (salt) is also hard to fix. It’s also hard to control the weather- if you
learn how let me know.
Adding sources of calcium once the problem begins rarely
helps either. It won’t help damaged
fruit. Plants do not take up calcium
from milk, crushed eggshells, tums, or other home remedies, if
environmental/soil conditions are not altered. In fact, they probably can’t
use the calcium in these sources at all, even in good conditions. When these
things seem to work it’s because extra water is used to apply them, milk for
example, is mostly water, or because environmental changes have occurred.
BER is usually a temporary problem. When plants get
enough water and temperatures normalize, you’ll start getting normal fruit.
Make sure plants are getting adequate water in even applications. Check your soil pH and salinity before the next
season and do what you can to correct it. Mulch tomatoes if you live where it’s
often hot and dry. Don’t mulch if it’s
cool and wet.
Don’t overfertilize, don’t add Epsom salt. Use a balanced commercial fertilizer, not home
remedies if you think your soil might be calcium deficient. You can buy organic
fertilizers. Some varieties of tomatoes
and peppers have more resistance to BER if this is a frequent problem for you.
Greenhouse and hydroponic tomatoes can also develop BER,
but in them it may be an actual lack of calcium as well as nutrient
imbalances. In this situation contact an
Extension educator or other expert familiar with these methods of growing for
advice and testing.
Giving your tomatoes “a sip of milk” is a silly and
ineffective way to stop BER. All they
probably need is water. If you’d like to
read more about this problem here are some links.
Quick Zucchini bread
This is the only way I like zucchini. I don’t grow it but I am sometimes given it
and when I get it this is what I do with it.
Ingredients
1 cup butter, melted
3 large eggs
2 cups sugar
3 cups grated zucchini
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 cup chopped walnuts
Directions
Blend together butter, sugar and eggs.
Mix zucchini into egg mix.
Add dry ingredients and vanilla, blend well
Stir in nuts
Pour into a lightly greased loaf pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes until top is brown and sides
have pulled away from the pan.
Withered, brown and cracked in pain
The earth lies still and waits for rain
Kim Willis
And So On….
Find Michigan garden events/classes
here:
(This
is the Lapeer County Gardeners facebook page)
Newsletter/blog information
If you have a comment or opinion you’d like to share, send it to
me or you can comment directly on the blog. Please state that you want to have
the item published in my weekly blog if you email me. You must give your full
name and what you say must be polite and not attack any individual. I am very
open to ideas and opinions that don’t match mine, but I do reserve the right to
publish what I want. Contact me at KimWillis151@gmail.com
I write this because I
love to share with other gardeners some of the things I come across in my
research each week. It keeps me engaged with people and horticulture. It’s a
hobby, basically. I hope you enjoy it. If you are on my mailing list and at any
time you don’t wish to receive these emails just let me know. If you know
anyone who would like to receive a notification by email when a new blog is
published have them send their email address to me. KimWillis151@gmail.com
