Weekly Gardening Thread --- Happy Mother's Day

Garden Girl's Monthly Gardening Column | May 2007 | Garden Girl

[Gabz]

Wow! What an arctic blast! Can you remember a colder Good Friday and Easter? It wouldn’t be so bad if it had been cold all along, but to be in the high eighties and then wham! Frostbite! And then, to add insult to injury, it stayed miserably cold with repeated heavy frosts until at least the tenth of April! Condolences to all of you who had your warm season gardens planted.

The weather will swing in the opposite direction like a demented weathervane soon enough and we will be miserable with the high temperatures. Sure doesn’t look like we’re going to have much of a spring this year. Looks like it’s setting up to be a dry season, too. On the other hand, the spring flowers and greening up lasted a bit longer than usual this year because of the cool weather. Some years, it seems the azaleas and other pretties are here and gone overnight. This year, with the cool spell, they’re sort of in slow motion—blooming and lasting for a bit. The trees, all russets and golds and bronzes, have kept their early spring raiment on for us to enjoy, instead of turning green right away.

Speaking of remembering—many of you are old enough to remember when summer time meant going barefoot. Except for trips to town or church, shoes were abandoned the day school let out and forgotten until school started back in the fall.

Remember how you had zigzagging paths through the yard so you could avoid the big patches of clover? Remember why you avoided those patches of clover? You went out of your way because the clover was alive and working with honey bees and you didn‘t want to get stung. First, because bee stings hurt, and second, because you knew if a bee stung you it would die. Now, can you remember the last time you saw a honey bee?

Clover is becoming scarce in our over-manicured yards, but honey bees are practically non-existent. Bees are critically important for pollination. There are bumbles, and wood bees, and other lesser bees. They all do a fine job of pollinating—but none of them have the added benefit of giving us honey.

Here’s a scary fact: something approaching 80% of the honey bees in the U. S. have disappeared this winter. Not died outright, because there are no carcasses. Disappeared. The hives are mostly empty, the honey left behind. And not just here—all over the world devastating losses of honey bees are being reported. The correct term for this disappearance of bees is Colony Collapse Disorder—a fancy name for no one knows.

Theories abound. For one, something similar happened in the forties. Some scientists think it has something to do with cyclic sun spots affecting the earth‘s magnetic field—sunspots were worse in the forties, as they are now. Bees use the earth’s magnetic field to guide them as they travel to flowers and then back to the hive. So they all got lost—at once? That’s about as plausible as all of them being abducted by aliens.

Several types of mites and various diseases also plague honey bees—but both mites and diseases leave bodies behind.

Pesticides have also been blamed, but which ones, and why aren’t all hives, especially if they’re in the same place, affected?

So, what happened to the honey bees?

A simple explanation for pollination is this: the bees move from flower to flower, picking up a little pollen here, dropping off a little there, and presto! The plants are happy, the bees are happy, and we’re happy. The plants get pollinated, the bees collect pollen to make honey with, and we get our veggies and stuff. If there aren’t any honey bees to pollinate things, several things happen. We don’t get any honey, and crop yields go down—way down. Some of this can be counter-acted by shaking the blossoms of your crops together, mimicking the action of the bees. This can be done on a small scale, such as in your garden. What happens to thousands of acres of crops?

Of course, with the early warm spell, and then the week long freeze, we may not have to worry over much about not having any bees to pollinate anything this year. The cold weather damaged the fruit crops—grapes, fruit trees, blueberries, and pecans to name a few, and all suffered in varying degrees. The extent of the damage remains to be seen, but it’s a pretty sure bet that fruit prices are going to go out of sight this summer.

Reminders for this month:

May is usually warm enough to plant the things that really crave heat—okra, lima beans, field peas. Sweet potato slips are usually available mid to end of the month.

End of May is time to spray your azaleas to head off lace bugs, and your junipers and arborvitaes and Leland’s to head off spider mites and bagworms. Spider mites are tiny, nearly invisible insects that suck the life out of plants. When they attack junipers and such, usually what you notice first is a branch or one side of your shrub turning brown. Left untreated, spider mites can eventually kill their host.

Bagworms aren’t the ones that build huge webs full of disgusting yellow striped caterpillars, the ones that began in April and are crawling all over everything right now. Technically, those are tent caterpillars, and there seems to be an overabundance of them this year. Yucky they may be, but usually the birds will take care of them. Most of the time, they’re too high for us to reach in order to spray anyway. Bagworms are caterpillars that make a nest of juniper needles and hang from the shrubs and trees like forgotten Christmas ornaments. Of course, with all the chemicals that have been banned, picking the bagworms off may be your only solution.

Big reminder: Don’t forget that Mother’s Day is this month. Flowers are always a great gift!

[Just mythoughts]

Thanks for the ping.... should be planting rice with all the continuous falling moisture. Thank goodness I have raised beds for everything but the corn, green beans and tomatoes. Looks like they are going to be late this year.

[tubebender]

Figs bring a good price at the local Farmers Markets. If you get enough you could trade them for honey or ? I spent 4 hours at the Church today putting down drip lines in the new flower bed until I ran out of main line. My order came by UPS late this afternoon so I will finish that job and then come home finish the drip on our new landscaping.

My wife mowed the lawn grass weeds here today plus she weeded here roses and will put down weed and feed tomorrow on the lawn. I need to find time to make compost with the clippings because I won't be using the treated grass for compost for several cuttings. I must also set traps for a couple of Moles messing up the lawn and orchard.

SO MUCH TO DO...SO LITTLE TIME is the gardeners lament

[mplsconservative]

Sorry DManA,

I scanned your post too quickly. You JUST planted the clematis. From my experience, I’d let the plant grow from the size you purchased in the greenhouse. (It probably came on a little trellis?) I’ve never had one get a real wood-type trunk. Some years mine have died to the ground and send up new shoots. In milder years, the slender vines haves lived to 3 or 4 feet. I’ve always had the best luck growing clematis in a sheltered area next to lattice with shorter plants shading their roots.

It certainly does appear that we’re going to have a standout lilac season, same with the flowering crab trees. It’ll be a while until that first ripe tomato though.

[Gabz]

ACK on the rice -— I had that problem the second year we were here. I swore I was going to turn the east “lawn” into a rice paddy. It was under water more often than not.

The first of the corn and the rest of the beans are going in tomorrow.

[Gabz]

SO MUCH TO DO...SO LITTLE TIME is the gardeners lament

Tell me about it!!!!!

I'm working all weekend, so what doesn't get in tomorrow and Friday is going to have to wait until Monday -- scratch that, Tuesday.

I'll tell you what a space cadet I have been lately, I posted this thread this morning thinking it was Thursday and all day I've been thinking it was Thursday even though I have known all day that my daughter had a softball game and I was cooking at the Moose Lodge tonight -- and those things happen on Wednesday.........I need a vacation!!!!

[Just mythoughts]

The first of the corn and the rest of the beans are going in tomorrow.

I am thrilled to hear progress on your planting front. I have not been able to get a tiller in my corn space since the spring thaw began. I have tilled one of my bean beds more times than I can remember but it is just too wet to plant. My potatoes are just now popping through, and that is really late for me. The snow peas look awesome, and so do my strawberries, they are loaded with blossoms.

My huge bright spot for the week has been one of the orchids my sister sent last summer has survive me and has one bloom that burst out today and a few more to follow. Oh, I can't describe what a relief it was to see that blossom, because I was terrified of taking on the care of orchids.

What kind of corn are you planting? I am personally fond of Bodacious and hope to get it planted when the ground dries out. Until then I am re-potting tomatoes into larger pots until that ground dries out enough for planting and staking.

[chickpundit]

Thanks, I looked up the Ball website, and found lots of good recipes and information. I’m still trying to decide whether to purchase a water bath canner or pressure canner. I think I’d mostly can tomatoes and jams, so it may be fine to start with the water bath canner. I’d also like to can salsa and some of that lavender jelly. Someone on one of these garden threads posted a recipe for lavender jelly, and it was the most beautiful pink/purple color. I have thought about a food dehydrator purchase as well.

Here’s the link to the zucchini parmesan bread:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Parmesan-Zucchini-Bread/Detail.aspx

The only thing I did different was add more parmesan. I’m a cheese lover, so there’s no such thing as too much cheese for me. This bread was a big hit with the family. The above site has a ton of other zucchini recipes as well.

[trisham]

Wow! Zucchini already! I envy you. Your pups are gorgeous, btw!

[DManA]

We've got two varieties of lilacs in our yard. On one side they bloom really early. This is the third year of a rehabilitation program on those. I cut out 1/3 of the really old wood every year and now they are really nice.

On the other side is a variety that doesn't bloom until late June. They are a good 20 feet high. I'm going to leave those alone because they make a nice screen between us and the neighbors.

[tob2]

Squirrels seems to eat anything. Have been using dried blood to deter them and it works, as well as supplying nitrogen to the soil. When I transplanted tomato plants to a bigger planter this morning, added dried blood and then put a chicken wire cage around the edge of the planter and tied it to the large tomato cage. Pulled up half my lettuce crop from this transplant operation as it is getting too warm for them. Still have a large amount of lettuce and arugula growing in the shade.

[Califreak]

Tomatoes-if I have a lot that I can’t use fresh, I just stick them in baggies in the freezer and use for spaghetti sauce at a later date.

I’ve frozen squash before, but they don’t last as long as tomatoes. After a while, they will get icky looking.

[Califreak]

For high nitrogen is lawn food okay as long as there are no weed killers in it?

[tob2]

“For high nitrogen is lawn food okay as long as there are no weed killers in it?”

Don’t know about that. You would have to check it out with you local agricultural extension or gardening center.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“My brother and hubby have built me four beautiful window boxes, and of course I have them full of flowers.”

I kicked butt in the garden today, too.

I took off the dead, lower branches of my huge White Pine; too much snow smothering them this past winter. It looks FABULOUS.

I planted a Minnesota Mock Orange shrub, as well as a Korean Spice Viburnum. Can’t WAIT for them to bloom; both smell Heavenly.

I cleaned up the herb/rock garden, mulched the Red Lake Currants, helped the Clematis on it’s way up the trellis, and hacked down a few scrap trees that needed to go.

Oh, and I cleaned out the chicken coop; no small feat! The new laying hens (they’re 4 weeks old) that are currently living in a brooder pen up in the attic will be moving out there in another week. (I won’t miss schlepping food and water up to the third floor, believe me!)

At the end of all that I cut a bouquet of Bleeding Heart, blooming Apple branches (I have plenty) Lilac, Daffodils and a few stray tulips. The kitchen table is a work of art right now. :)

It was a Good Day.

[Califreak]

I read somewhere that it’s ok for corn, since corn is a grass.

I could test it out on something I don’t really care about I suppose.

[girlangler]

Lord, I replied in a long post, then realized I was not in the garden thread!!!

I was in this one: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2013332/posts

So, I’ll repost it here. Dang, I am tired, should be in bed now!!!!

I am retiring now ... with dirt under my unkempt nails, my feet wet and and turning into fungus from rushing around in the rain to gather rainwater (better for flowers). I put buckets under my storm drains to gather rainwater.

Goodnight!!!

From now on I’ll stick to the gardening thread — IF I Can FIND it after a day of gardening (grin).

[ladyjane]

I've been trying to find a white wisteria plant or two but none of the nurseries around here have them. White Flower Farms is out of them as well as other sources on the web.

Does anybody know where I could get some white wisteria? The white ones are less robust than the purple ones and don't take over and grow like weeds. At least that's been my experience with the one plant I had in the past.

Diana, you have a chicken coop! Lucky you. Nothing better for the plants than chicken p**p tea.

[tubebender]

Hi y’all. Someone asked earlier about the lack of wild honey bees and it looks like to commercial bee keepers are being affected also... http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Science/2008/05/07/study_us_honey_bees_in_dramatic_decline/1134/

[Gabz]

Well here it is Monday and I'm reading back through the thread and my comments about getting corn and beans in Thursday and Friday and my joke about planting rice a couple years ago.........well long and short of it is that a friend practically begged me last night to plant rice and maybe it would finally stop raining!

It started raining late Wednesday night and except for a couple of hours here and there it has not stopped.

You can tell it's pretty bad when even Fox News Channel is mentioning some of the itty bitty towns in Central Delaware that wereunder mandatory evac orders this morning because of coastal flooding.

The picture below was taken by a friend of mine this morning of the town dock where she lives. It's a little fishing village at the end of the road I live on:

The local TV station is posting pics from all over DelMarVa submitted by viewers of flooding in their area. Thankfully I'm at a "high" spot almost dead center between the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic and tend to be spared major flooding, unless the creek that borders our property breaches the bank, so far so good, but I'll have to keep an eye on it at high tide later.

[Red Badger]

Here’s a question:

Has anybody ever heard of using VINEGAR to kill dollarweed?.............