October 15, 2013 - Kim’s Weekly Garden Newsletter
These weekly garden notes are
written by Kim Willis, unless another author is noted, and the opinions
expressed in these notes are her opinions and do not represent any other
individual, group or organizations opinions.
Hello Gardeners
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| Woodland nicotianna and sedum. |
Well it looks like the warm weather is
going to fade. We knew it couldn’t last
but the upcoming weather looks seasonally warm, which isn’t too bad. Some rain
is coming this week, which we need. I
just picked 3 ripe tomatoes from the garden, I think that might be the latest I
have ever had ripe ones from the garden.
The buzzards are still here and robins
but most other birds are gone for the winter now. The robins, much fewer than last year, are around
the pond eating autumn olive berries. I
am seeing some goldfinches again on the sunflowers. They like the seeds of the big annual
sunflowers but really like the small seeds of the maximilian sunflowers. They also pick out the seeds from Echinacea
and a few other flowers, which is why I don’t cut them down in the fall.
I love how the salvias come into their
own in the fall. I have some small red
flowered ones that are blooming their heads off and the black and blue salvia
is gorgeous right now. The marigolds are
also vibrant now and my canna Ehemanii has a huge new spike of its lovely
dangling pink flowers. So many things
are still in bloom, it’s wonderful.
I have some woodland nicotiana plants
coming up in the flower beds. They do
this every fall. If they came up earlier they might have a chance to
bloom. I do love the fragrant white
flowers this tobacco cousin has but I haven’t had them blooming in my garden in
years. The seeds must lay dormant in the
soil and only germinate when the soil gets really warm. I am thinking about potting a plant to see if
I can get it to bloom inside.
I have herbs drying in my car. If you still are drying things, weeds for
arrangements, strawflowers etc., don’t
forget the car makes a handy solar dryer.
Put them in bags so the sun doesn’t bleach them out and put them on the
dash of the car or anywhere you don’t have tinted windows and let the car sit
in the sun. They will even dry in the
trunk but a bit slower. It makes the car
smell good too.
It may be a “good” year for
ladybeetles. Every time I go outside it
seems some land on me. Little buggers
can nip you too. I am not seeing them in
my house yet but that may come. I am
also seeing lots of wooly bear caterpillars and it seems they are much like our
government in Washington, very divided.
Some are completely black, others completely orange. Usually they are banded with both colors. The
color is supposed to tell you what kind of winter we will have and it seems the
caterpillars have strong opposing opinions. Maybe there is something in our air causing
these extreme viewpoints.
Aphids can change color
Aphids come in a huge range of colors, it’s
thought that the colors may help with camouflaging the insects from their
predators. Some predators prefer one
color of aphids over another though.
Beetles prefer to munch on red aphids and wasps like green ones for
example.
It has been discovered that a symbiotic
bacteria that exists inside some aphid species may use clues from the
environment, such as what predators are present, the temperature and other clues
to cause pigment changes in developing aphid larvae, so that they will be a
different color from their parents when they mature, and hopefully more
suitable for the environment. This helps
the bacteria survive also.
It’s kind of interesting that thousands
of species of bacteria exist inside animals and plants, even inside us, and we
are just starting to learn what important roles these bacteria actually play. We may find out we are just “smart homes” for
bacteria and they are pushing our buttons.
Hardy Cyclamen
I planted some sowbread cyclamen,(Cyclamen hederifolium) this fall. Where they get the name from I don’t know,
maybe pigs like to eat them. They have
big flat tubers somewhat like tuberous begonias. They have ivy shaped leaves with silver
spotting. The flowers appear in the
fall, in shades of pink, purplish red or sometimes white. Leaves will also appear until a hard frost,
and will reappear in spring until the weather gets hot. The flowers are the “shooting star shape”
which you may recognize from florist type cyclamens which are not hardy, but
readily available as a pot plant in winter.
C.hederifolium is
hardy to at least zone 6, probably 5.
There is another hardy cyclamen available sometimes, C. coum, but it is harder to find. It’s similar to sowbread cyclamen but its
leaves are generally plain green and it blooms in late winter- early spring. Cyclamen are good companions for autumn
blooming crocus and colchicum.
Like many bulbs and tubers from Mediterranean
and Southeast Asia, cyclamen like dry summers and moist springs and falls. Plant the tubers in early fall just below the
ground surface and lightly mulch with leaves. Both hardy cyclamen like being
planted in a woodsy lightly shaded area.
They are small, about 6 inches high so plant them along a path where the
flowers can be seen. They may not bloom
the first year after planting but should produce foliage.
The cyclamen flowers are self- fertile
and they will seed themselves in the garden, although seedlings may take
several years to bloom. Gardeners may
fail to get nice cyclamen plants if they buy small, dried tubers in
packages. Instead buy large 2-4 inch
tubers from a good mail order source and plant them promptly on arrival. I got some huge tubers from www.oldhousegardens.com There are some 20 species of cyclamen and
except for the florist cyclamen C. persicum,
most are endangered in their native lands, partly due to climate change.
In Europe cyclamen are said to have medicinal
properties, boiling the roots and mixing the juice with fat made a salve for
skin ailments, it was said to be an aphrodisiac and if pregnant women walked
over it, cyclamen caused an abortion. And get this- drinking juice from cyclamen
with wine makes you drunk!
Cleaning Up Black Walnuts
Black walnuts leave a huge mess on the
lawn when they drop in the fall. They
can damage mowers and twist an ankle.
You can rake them up but a golf ball collector makes the job more
fun. Put your collected nuts in a pail
and dump them far from the house for the squirrels. Don’t dump them around plants you want as
they can inhibit the growth of or kill certain plants. Use gloves when handling black walnuts or
your hands will turn a lovely shade of brown.
Immediately remove walnuts from cement areas and pickup beds as they can
stain those items for good. Make sure
you clean the nuts out of your gutters so they don’t clog them.
Remove nuts and walnut leaves from horse
pastures and watering tanks as they leach a substance that can cause horses to
colic.
Keeping your pond fish happy in the winter
Do you have a small garden pond with
fish in it? With winter approaching you
may be wondering what you need to do to keep the fish alive during the
winter. It’s a shame to let nice koi or
goldfish die over the winter as they get bigger and prettier each year. There
are two basic options- bringing the fish inside for the winter or leaving them
in the pond.
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| Koi in a large pond. |
If the pond is 30 inches or more deep
you can probably leave the fish in the pond.
In the winter outside fish go into a state of semi-hibernation and their
needs for food and oxygen decrease. They
generally spend most of their time near the bottom of the pond and may even
partially bury themselves in debris at the bottom. However in a pond it’s a good
idea to clean out such debris before winter as it is a source of bacteria which
can harm your fish. The debris and
decaying plant parts may also provide enough nutrients for algae blooms in
sunny times during the winter, which then die off when it gets colder and
cloudy, using up oxygen as they break down.
Decaying leaves and dying non-hardy
pond plants also take oxygen from the water so they should also be removed
before really cold weather sets in.
Native, cold hardy plants that are rooted should have all dead parts
removed but can be left in the pond. You
can leave clay pots or rock formations for fish to spend the winter hiding in. Even pieces of plastic pipe can provide
hiding spots.
If you can aerate the pond in the
winter this is generally a good way to keep the fish alive through the
winter. Even shallower ponds may provide
safe winter harbor if they can be aerated. In a really large, deep pond fish may survive
without aeration or an open surface area but you are taking a chance when you
try this.
Aeration can be provided by a
pump that puts air into the pond or by a pump that lifts pond water and drops
it back into the pond in a fountain or waterfall effect. Both the aeration method and fountain method
should keep a small area of the pond surface free of ice.
Another way to keep some surface area
open to let oxygen in is to use a de-icer.
You can buy these in farm stores as well as pond supply places. They may be called stock tank de-icers. This is usually a heated circle or loop of
metal that floats on the surface of the pond and melts any ice around it. The
larger your fish and the smaller the pond, the more surface area you will need
to keep open.
Feed the fish that will be left outside
well during the fall when they are still active but stop feeding when ice forms
on the water. If there is a prolonged
warm spell and you see fish activity near your open area on the pond you can
give them a small amount of food.
Otherwise resume feeding in the spring when the pond surface is free of
ice and the fish are active. Uneaten
food in winter ponds is a big source of harmful bacteria and as it decays it
robs the water of oxygen.
If your pond is shallow or above ground
such as a tank or other container, you will need to bring your fish inside for
the winter. You can keep them in a warm
room in an aquarium, or a spot just above freezing, such as in a basement,
where they will go into semi-hibernation as they would do outside. Aquariums for goldfish and Koi should not be
heated, the cooler the water the better. They will need aeration and filters. They should be lighted for at least 8 hours a
day or in a bright room. Feed the fish lightly over the winter period.
Stock tanks make good containers for
holding fish over the winter in cool areas.
You can also use various other containers such as storage or muck tubs,
wading pools etc. I once made a large
area for fish in my basement by stacking tightly bound piles of newspaper in a
rectangle against one basement wall and using a pond liner over them. Make sure you have about 2 gallons of water
per inch of fish that you are overwintering.
You will want to aerate and filter this water also. The holding tank should have at least minimal
lighting. If you are also over wintering
non-hardy water plants in this area you should have good lighting. Feed fish lightly and only if they are active
in the holding tanks.
Experts say that many fish manage to
survive winter in aerated ponds outside and tanks inside only to die in late
spring as the weather starts to warm.
This may be because of sharp shifts in water temperature in the seasonal
weather or because the weakened fish get bacterial infections as the bacterial
count climbs in warmer water. Make sure
to keep the tank or pond cleaned up and don’t overfeed as the weather warms.
Roasting Pumpkin Seeds to Eat
Sure they make nice decorations but pumpkins
have seeds which make an excellent snack that is tasty and nutritious. Clean
the seeds out of one or more pumpkins and try to remove as much of the orange
“goop” as possible. Place the seeds in a
colander and wash with cold water. Drain
and spread the seeds on a foil covered cookie sheet that has been sprayed with
cooking spray. Lightly spray the seeds
with cooking spray and salt to your taste.
Put the cookie sheets in an oven set at 325 degrees and roast for about
20 minutes. Stir occasionally and keep
checking on them, don’t let them get too brown.
After roasting they can be stored in sealed containers.
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| Fall in the country. |
For spicy pumpkin seeds try this
recipe. Mix 1 1/2-tablespoon butter,
1/2- teaspoon seasoned salt 1/8-teaspoon garlic powder and 2 teaspoons of
Worchester sauce in a bowl and toss the seeds in it before roasting. It will coat 2-3 cups of seeds.
It’s apple cider and doughnut time! Support your local cider mill.
Kim
Garden as though you will live forever. William Kent
