Archive for April, 2010
Tuesday, April 27th, 2010
Garden Success Tip of the Week
Why Won’t My Hydrangea Flower? – Here is a question we get asked quite a bit -”I planted a hydrangea several years ago. It bloomed the first year, but has never bloomed since. It was supposed to be pink or blue, but I haven’t seen a flower yet. What can I do to make it flower?” Well, there are many species of hydrangeas and many of these (pink or blue flowering) happen to be the “macrophylla” hydrangeas. Most of the macrophylla hydrangeas bloom on last year’s growth. In other words the flower buds are on the stems ands branches produced from past years. This is important to know when answering why your macrophylla has not flowered!
WHY NO FLOWERS? -Pruning at the wrong time. If you pruned these hydrangeas in the fall, you removed the flower buds for next spring. If you pruned in early spring, you removed the flower buds. (Remember – flower buds are on last year’s growth) -Late spring freeze. If your area experiences a late spring freeze, there is a good chance the flower buds may get frozen as well. -Most common reason – Winter Dieback. What happens in MOST cases with macrophylla hydrangeas is that with many selections, the branches are not very cold hardy. So, they actually die back over the winter. When this happens, again, you lost all the flower buds. And even though the stems may die back, the roots are very hardy, and the hydrangea re-grows each spring giving you great foliage but little or no flowers. Nothing you did wrong in this case – Mother Nature did it for you!
WHAT CAN I DO TO GET FLOWERS? -Only prune the plants by deadheading spent flowers just below the actual flower head. Otherwise, leave all branches and stems alone in the fall and following spring. In the spring, only remove branches that have died over the winter. Cut back to green wood. -Winter protection. So, what can you do to protect the macrophylla hydrangeas over the winter? Plant hardier selections. Plant them on an eastern exposure where it’s less open to severe temperatures. Place a chicken wire cage around them in late fall (after the plants have gone dormant and cold temperatures have become more consistent), and fill that with leaves and straw to protect the stems and buds over the winter. In mid spring, remove the cage and the mulch, and hopefully the branches and buds will have survived the winter and start to grow and flower. -Plant newer selections. Replace them with the newer selections of macrophylla hydrangeas such as the Endless Summer series (Endless Summer, Blushing Bride, Twist and Shout). They flower on both old and new growth, so you’re guaranteed pink or blue flowers no matter what happens over the winter, or if you make a mistake and prune at the wrong time of the year!
CHANGING FLOWER COLORS – For blue flowers, lower the soil pH to a more acidic level. This allows the aluminum in the soil to become available to the hydrangea, which turns the flowers blue. Adding soil amendments when planting to help lower the pH, as well as adding coffee grounds, soil sulfur or aluminum sulfate will also help. For pink flowers, bring the pH up to an alkaline level. Adding lime will help raise the pH. And if you get it just right, you can get blue and pink flowers on the same plant! (This applies to flowers on macrophylla hydrangeas.)
[If a word is misspelled in the dictionary, how would we ever know?]
Tags: hydrangeas
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Tuesday, April 27th, 2010
Plant of the Week
Stevia / The Natural Sweetener – Growing herbs can be a pleasure for all your senses. And if you’re looking for an herb to help pleasure your sweet tooth, an herb that has no carbs and no calories, then we’ve got what you need! It’s called Stevia, or commonly called ’sweet leaf’ or ’sugar bush’, and has been used as a natural sweetener for hundreds of years. The leaves of Stevia are refreshing and can be 30 times (or more) sweeter than sugar (extracts hundreds times sweeter), with 0 carbs, 0 calories, and 0 glycemic index, making it the perfect natural sweetener to be considered for diabetics (check with your doctor first). And what’s even greater is that it can be grown in your own back yard – especially in containers! Stevia is a tender perennial, and is not hardy past Zone 7. So plant it as an annual (actually planted as an annual in warmer zones as well). It will grow in the ground or in containers, morning sun afternoon shade to full sun, and actually enjoys cooler weather, and definitely not the hot weather. In the south, it may require some summer shading. Stevia – the natural sweetener.
[Why do we say something is out of whack? What is a whack?]
Tags: stevia
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Tuesday, April 27th, 2010
Problems in the Garden this Week
This week, Buggy Joe Boggs (OSU Extension) is reporting early signs of poison hemlock starting to grow (catch it early before it flowers and goes to seed), four-lined plant bug beginning to show up on many selections of perennials (tiny red bugs that are fast movers – sucking insect and causes black spots on leaves), termites and carpenter ants beginning to swarm, Viburnum leaf beetle beginning to hatch in the Akron area, European sawflies feeding on pine needles, Eastern tent caterpillars still hanging out in their white nests feeding on ornamental tree’s leaves, aphids beginning to show up on new growth of many plants (aphid honeydew showing up on surrounding leaves), azalea lace bugs beginning to hatch, cedar apple rust showing up on cedars, powdery mildew showing up on turf, and a quick reminder to get out there, inspect your evergreens for bagworms, and pick off what you find (destroy them). They begin to hatch late May, so get them before they get started.
-Catch the Buggy Joe Boggs Report every Saturday at 8:42am on 55KRC The Talk Station.
[Is it a good thing if a vacuum really sucks?]
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Tuesday, April 27th, 2010
Garden Questions of the Week
“Are Gerbera Daisies and Caladiums deer resistant?“ -Anymore, I’m afraid to mention plants that appear to be deer resistant or low browse, as more and more gardeners disagree and tell us how the deer loved those plants! Anyway, I still like the list put together a few years ago by the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden – seems to be holding its own. Anyway, yes, both are generally referred to as low browse on the deer list. (Visit our website www.natorp.com for that list.)
“Is there a best time to apply a grub preventer?” -I would say to not apply it before May 15, and anytime thru June and July. In bluegrass lawns, mid to late May helps to control a few other pests as well.
“How often do I need to reapply a pre emergent herbicide to the landscape beds?” -For many pre emergent herbicides applied to landscape beds, they last about 90 days. So reapply at around the 75-80 day marker. For Corn Gluten Meal, it lasts about 45 days, so reapply around 30-40 days.
“I applied a weed killer to the lawn but it didn’t kill the weeds I wanted to get rid of! Now what?” -Make sure you read the label first. Not all weed killers kill all weeds! Although Weed B Gone Max (plus crabgrass) or Bonide’s Weed Beater Ultra cover a lot of weeds in the lawn, they may not list the one you’re trying to kill. Always identify the weed, and then make sure it’s on the label. By the way, if you’ve been getting slower results with Roundup so far, I think the temps just aren’t up there yet for it to work at its usual pace.
“What is the annual that looks like coleus but you use it for sunny locations?” -Don’t forget there are now many selections of coleus that will grow in the sun, but the annual I was talking about is Perilla – Magilla Perilla. Tough, durable, loves the sun but takes some shade, and seems indestructible in the ground or in pots.
“How long do I have to wait before cutting back my daffodils?” -Wait 6-8 weeks after they finish flowering, or until they begin to yellow, whichever comes first. Don’t forget – if they need to be dug and divided or transplanted, that would be a great time to do it. Same applied for spring bulbs growing in pots.
[Why is the third hand on the watch called the second hand?]
Tags: caladiums, coleus, daffodils, gerber daisies
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Tuesday, April 27th, 2010
From the Garden to the Kitchen
Yardboy, with Derby Day and Cinco de Mayo coming up, there will be lots of good food to share with family and friends for these celebrations. So I’m sharing two recipes – one for a hot brown that you can put a Mexican twist on by using a sprinkling of Queso Blanco on top of the Romano, and the other for a mint julep that goes really south by substituting the Kentucky colonel spearmint with one of my favorite herbs: Lime Mint (that’s the one you use for Mojitos, too).
Natorp’s has a wonderful selection of mints, along with an unusual selection of thymes, oreganos, basils and Rosemary. And that’s just the tip of the herb iceberg. Let’s just say you have to see to believe!
LEGENDARY BROWN HOTEL HOT BROWN (From the Brown Hotel in Louisville. This is the real deal – I called the hotel and verified the recipe. They were so accommodating. I don’t know if I can wait until Derby Day to make this. The notes in parentheses are mine.)
Ingredients (Makes Two Hot Browns):
2 oz. butter (1/4 cup)
2 oz. All Purpose Flour (1/2 cup)
1 Qt. Heavy Cream (I’d use whipping cream)
1/2 Cup Pecorino Romano Cheese, Plus 1 Tablespoon for Garnish
Salt & Pepper to Taste
14 oz. Sliced Roasted Turkey Breast
2 Slices of Texas Toast (Crust Trimmed)
4 slices of Crispy Bacon
2 Roma Tomatoes, Sliced in Half
Paprika, Parsley
In a two-quart saucepan, melt butter and slowly whisk in flour until combined and forms a thick paste (roux). Continue to cook roux for two minutes over medium-low heat, stirring frequently. Whisk whipping cream into the roux and cook over medium heat until the cream begins to simmer, about 2-3 minutes. Remove sauce from heat and slowly whisk in Pecorino Romano cheese until the Mornay sauce is smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste.
For each Hot Brown, place one slice of toast in an oven safe dish and cover with 7 ounces of turkey. Take the two halves of Roma tomato and set them alongside the base of turkey and toast. Next, pour one half of the Mornay sauce to completely cover the dish. Sprinkle with additional Pecorino Romano cheese. Place entire dish under a broiler until cheese begins to brown and bubble. Remove from broiler, cross two pieces of crispy bacon on top, sprinkle with paprika and parsley, and serve immediately.
MINT JULEPS
Make a simple syrup by combining 1 cup water, 1 cup sugar and a generous 1/2 cup roughly chopped spearmint leaves in a pan. Bring to a boil and cook until sugar dissolves. Let cool, then strain. Fill your frozen goblets (or even regular glasses, not frozen) with crushed ice and pour about 4 ozs good bourbon and 1/4 cup mint syrup in each. Go to taste on this! Top each with a sprig of mint and a straw which has been trimmed to barely come up to the top of the cups.
-Rita Heikenfeld, CCP / Herbalist www.abouteating.com
[Rita just gave me a book to read that will help enhance our relationship. It’s titled, “Women are from Venus, Men are Wrong.”]
OBKB – That’s it for this week. Now do yourself a favor. Go out and make it the best last week of April / first weekend of May of your life! See ya. RW, the Yardboy. (Join us every Saturday morning 6-9am ‘In the Garden’ on 55KRC The Talk Station.)
Tags: hot brown, mint julep
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Monday, April 19th, 2010
Garden Success Tip of the Week
Gardening by the Bale – We’re all familiar with container gardening and the many benefits it has to offer, but here’s an interesting option to growing plants in pots. Why not grow them in straw bales? That’s right, good old fashioned bales of straw! Much like those of container gardening, gardening by the bale allows all of us to grow something just about anywhere a straw bale will fit. Have terrible soil, or need to let the garden sit fallow for a year? Then garden by the bale! It’s raised, making it easier on the back and great for handicapped gardeners (raised and easily accessible on all sides). They (bales) can be mobile, but once they’re wet, they are pretty tough to move. Once wet, they do hold moisture which can be a real plus to help reduce watering time (and they’re great at holding nutrients as well.) Worms love them. Straw bales protect your plants from soil borne diseases. They’re not very costly, they’re instant, and besides watering and feeding, somewhat foolproof. There’s no digging, and very little weeding. And when you’re finished using them, just till them into the soil, use them as mulch for the next series of bales, or use them in the compost pile. By purchasing organic straw bales, you can grow organically as well. And, hey, who else do you know that grows a garden using bales of straw?
Here’s what you’ll need to get started:
-Bales of straw (Any type will work, but wheat seems to be the best. Try to find wire or nylon tied bales, which will last longer, and find bales that are tightly baled. If string tied, feel free to add wire or nylon twine around them to help hold them together. (Yes some have used hay bales successfully as well.)
-Stakes to place at the ends of the bales to help hold them together, as well as staking plants that need staking.
-Soil-less potting mix, quality grade bagged Garden Soil mix, SweetPeet, Posey Power, compost, compost / topsoil/ rotted manure mix, etc.
-Fertilizers – Nitrate of Soda, Urea, granular garden fertilizer (5-10-10, 10-10-10, etc.) or water soluble such as Miracle Gro / for organic gardening, use Espoma’s Garden food, Seaweed, Liquid Kelp, Bloodmeal, etc. Straw bales will need nitrogen, especially early in the process.)
-Plants and or seeds (Just about anything can be grown in straw bales, with exception to most root crops or really tall plants such as corn.)
-Sunny location and access to water.
Getting Started:
-Select a site that will receive at least 6 hours of sunlight each day (more is better), and has good surface drainage.
-Position your bales in rows, squares, different shapes and forms, side by side, create a maze, stacked on top of each other, etc, and try to position them end to end as they will help hold each other together. You may also place a stake or two in the ground at the ends of the bales to help hold them together, should the strings rot and break. You may lay the bales flat on the ground (with the strings touching the ground) or on their side so the strings runs around the bale and not in contact with the soil. Either way will work. Obviously if the strings touch the ground, they will rot faster. That’s why wire or nylon tied bales are preferred. Again, staking at the ends of the bales will help hold them together if the string should rot or break. If you intend to grow greens (spinach, lettuce, etc.) bales on their sides work best. Make sure your bales are placed where you want them, as once they’re wet they are very hard to move!
Preparing Your ‘Fresh’ Bales: [Follow this process for preparing new, dry, fresh bales of straw. Letting your bales weather for 2 months (put them in place before they weather!) will give you a jump start on this process, is the easiest and probably best way to go, and you can skip down to Day 10, just before you're ready to start planting. During the process, wheat seeds will begin to grow. Remove them as needed. Your straw bales should last about 2 years. If you cannot find ammonium nitrate, simply use urea or the regular fertilizers from our list above.]
Days 1-4: Water your bales thoroughly and keep them wet. This starts the bale ‘cooking’.
Days 4-6: Apply approximately ½ cup of urea, bloodmeal, or choice of fertilizers to the top of each bale and water in well. Do this each day (3 applications total). This gets those microbes going in the bales and increases the ‘cooking’ process. You can even put a light layer of compost, SweetPeet, etc on top if you’d like.
Days 7-9: Apply ¼ cup of urea, bloodmeal or above substitutes per bale and water in well (cooking process is slowing down.)
Day 10: Apply 1 cup of 5-10-10, 10-10-10. Organic fertilizer or something similar per bale and water in well.
After Day 12: From this point on your bales are ready for planting. As an optional addition to the bales, many straw bale gardeners will apply a 1-3 inch layer of composted material (bagged garden soil, soil-less mix, compost, topsoil compost mix, etc.) on top of the bales, especially if growing greens such as spinach and lettuce, or if planting flowers or veggies from seed. For planting rooted transplants, use a hand trowel to pull apart the bale just enough to insert the roots of the transplant (as you would planting in the ground). You may add a little of the compost (bagged garden soil, soil-less mix, topsoil compost mix, etc.) into that pocket planting as well. The bale should close back around the plants roots. Water in after planting.
After planting: Water and fertilize your bales as needed, depending on the types of plants growing in the bales. Feel free to use water soluble fertilizers when you water, or granular garden fertilizers sprinkled on top of the bales. (Use Espoma’s organic fertilizers if growing organic or not!)
What can you grow? Besides some of the root crops and possibly taller growing crops like corn (which may fall over), gardening by the bale is pretty wide open. Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cole crops, salad greens, peas, onions, cucumbers, squash, melons, herbs, beans should all do nicely growing in straw bales. Plant on the same basic spacing as you would in the ground – maximum of 2 tomatoes per bale, 2-4 peppers per bale, 6-8 cucumber vines per bale, 3 squash per bale, etc.
Want to add some excitement to your bales? Try adding a few annuals or perennials, especially vining ones, to cover up some of the bale corners and add a little extra color to your straw bale garden. You may try total annual or perennial gardening by the bale as well! Talk about a great conversation piece! You’ll be the talk of the neighborhood.
[How can you tell when you run out of invisible ink?]
Tags: gardening by the bale
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Monday, April 19th, 2010
Plant of the Week
 Dwarf Korean Lilac This week it has to be Syringa m. ‘Palibin’, or commonly known as Dwarf Korean Lilac. And it ‘has to be’, because I see them getting ready to burst into flower! Here is a fairly easy to grow lilac that is compact yet spreading (4-5 feet tall x 5-7 feet wide – forms a dense compact rounded oval shape), very hardy, very resistant to powdery mildew (leaves are smaller than standard lilacs and more rounded), tolerates very light shade but flowers best in full sun, and consistently has profuse pale pink sweetly fragrant flowers (dense clusters at ends of branches about 4 inches long) produced mid April thru early May – which by the way attract hummingbirds and butterflies. You’ll find Dwarf Korean Lilac sold both as a shrub, as well as a small tree (shrub grafted to a 4-5′ standard -matures around 6-8 feet high and wide). [Prefers loamy well drained soils, but very adaptable to poor soils - prune immediately after flowering if needed - use a specimen, massed plantings, borders, foundations, etc.)
[If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn?]
Tags: dwarf korean lilac
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Monday, April 19th, 2010
Problems in the Garden this Week
This week, Buggy Joe Boggs is reporting spruce spider mites (cool season mites) now active (so watch for those on spruce!), sawfly leaf miners ready to mine, horned oak galls showing up on , yes, you guessed it, oaks, buckeye petiole borer causing droopy leaves on, yes, you guessed it again, Buckeye trees, carpenter bees galore still scaring the bajeebers out of anyone who comes close to their drilled holes in the wood, painted hickory borer beetles emerging from fresh cut firewood, raining maggots of the midge gall out of oak trees, ground nesting bees becoming a nuisance, and gypsy moth will be hatching soon, so watch to over head sprayings of Bt in many gypsy moth hot spots around the state. Also seeing pine sawflies devouring pine needles, and Eastern tent caterpillars having a feast on many ornamental trees. Yes, now is the time for homeowners looking to protect younger ash trees from EAB using a soil drench of Bonide or Bayer Tree and Shrub Insect control. For larger ash trees, you may want to have a professional / certified arborist treat them. Also a good time to apply the systemic to roses to help protect against rose slug damages.
-Catch the Buggy Joe Boggs Report every Saturday at 8:45am on 55KRC.
[If we weren't supposed to eat animals, why were they made out of meat?]
Tags: bug
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Monday, April 19th, 2010
Garden Questions of the Week
 Phlox “What is the colorful low growing groundcover I’m seeing right now?” -That’s creeping phlox – a low sun loving groundcover that forms a blanket of colors from red to pink to white to blue in the spring. Once creeping phlox is finished flowering, a quick shearing of the top 1/3 promotes thicker foliage and sometimes a little re-blooming.
“What is that purple flowering weed in my lawn and garden?” -It’s probably Henbit – a winter annual that actually started growing last fall. It is an annual, it is shallow rooted, so simply rake or pull them out before they flower and drop seeds. And if they do drop seeds, just remember to apply Preen this September to the area, to help stop henbit and chickweed weeds from getting started.
“Is it okay to put weeds in my compost pile?” -Yes and no; use some caution. First, make sure your pile is really cooking so you cook the weeds. Try to not put weed seeds in the pile, and if the weeds are invasive weeds (spread from stems, roots, rhizomes, etc) you may want to let them dry out on the driveway or walk first, then add them to the compost pile. But make sure you cook them. If not sure, don’t add them. That’s your safest bet. J
“When is the best time to put down a pre emergent herbicide in my landscape beds?” -Well, if you put it down early in the spring, you get and early jump on stopping those early weed seeds from growing. But really, it can be applied anytime. If you don’t get a chance to clean up your beds until later, then after you’re finished cleaning them out, fluffing up the mulch, adding if needed, and then apply your pre emergent. And remember they will need to be reapplied as their effectiveness wears off. So pre emergent’s can be applied anytime during the season – it’s from that point forward that it helps stop weed seeds from growing. As always, read the label before applications, as there are restrictions for use.
[A clean desk is a sign of a cluttered desk drawer.]
Tags: compost, groundcover, hembit, pholox
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Monday, April 19th, 2010
From the Garden to the Kitchen
Yardboy, this has been just the most fun week. Hunting for morels (so far, none) and ginseng (yes, it’s up in the woods) and picking violets for jellies and jams. I tried a new recipe this year for violet jam from herbalist Jim Long of Long Creek Herb Farm. Check out his webpage for awesome and fun information on herbs, gardening, cooking, health and wellness. He has lots of great photos, too – he’s already found morels! Now for those of you who would like my violet jelly recipe, it’s on our site here, as well as on mine at Abouteating.com.
Jim Long’s Violet Jam
2 cups, loosely packed violet blossoms, without stems
Juice of 1 fresh lemon
3/4 cup water
2 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup water (a second time)
1 pkg. Sure-Jel pectin
Directions: Put 3/4 cup water and the violet blossoms in a blender and blend well. Add the lemon juice and notice how the violet paste turns a richer purple as soon as the lemon juice hits the dull purple paste. Add the sugar and blend again to dissolve. Next, stir the package of pectin into the second 3/4 cup water in a saucepan and bring it to a boil, continuing to boil hard for 1 minute. Pour the hot pectin into the blender with the violet paste. Blend again and pour into jars or small storage containers. Let cool, then cover with lids and store in the freezer. The jam will turn a deeper purple as it sets up. You can dip out the jam whenever you want some.
-Rita Heikenfeld, CCP / Herbalist www.abouteating.com
[When Rita and I got married, I lost my bachelors degree and Rita suddenly got her masters degree. -Frank Heikenfeld]
OBKB. That’s it for this week. Earth Day is Thursday – go out and plant a tree with your family. Now do yourself a favor. Have the best week and weekend of your life. See ya. RW, the Yardboy. (Join us Saturdays 6-9am for ‘In the Garden with Ron Wilson’ on 55KRC The Talk Station.)
Tags: jam
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