joene's garden » General

Re-GOOPs: a review of 2011’s gardening-oops

joenesgarden — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Welcome to January 1, 2012. The first of each month is confessional time. Time to fess up to a gardening blunder, or gardening oops. GOOPs for short. I share one of my gardening mis-steps and hope you'll do the same.

This is Re-GOOPs month, when I look back at some of the GOOPs from last year.

The GOOPs that drew the most comments is from June 2011. I described how the landscape fabric we installed, as directed by the block manufacturer, while building a retaining wall planting bed became blocked with fine soil silt. It hinders drainage to the point of making the bed virtually unplantable (new word?) during rainy springs/summers. Most of the comments to this post mentioned similar and other landscape fabric issues. I even had a manufacturer suggest we had installed the landscape fabric incorrectly …. we didn't.

To use the bed last season I dug out some of the soil so large clay pots would rest on the fabric layer. I filled the pots with new soil and planted them with hot peppers, cherry tomatoes and eggplant.

Trailing nasturtium seeds and coleus seedlings went into the remaining soil surrounding the sunken pots.

I promised, back in June, to report whether my scheme worked.

The hot peppers thrived, the tomatoes did okay, and the eggplant was not happy.

I planted bush and pole beans between a couple of pots at the far end but, with such a wet growing season, the soil remained too moist for the beans to really thrive.

The nasturtiums and coleus, however, had a banner year.

No aphids … not one.

The nasturtiums went wild, they never had a mid-summer slump, and the coleus grew mighty tall and bushy right up to first frost.

Eventually I plan to remove all the soil from this bed. I'm on the lookout for decorative planters that will fit the space and style of the surrounding block. The planters, which I'll fill seasonally, will sit in the raised bed on top of and within decorative stone. The stone will facilitate drainage and the planters will add seasonal interest and break up the visual impact of the long, narrow bed. I can also add other interesting accents – think cool rocks, shells, candles – at my whim. The new design is still germinating in my idea seed bank but, in the meantime, the sunken clay pots work as a temporary planting solution.

My GOOPs tale of voles eating crocus bulbs and deer nibbling on crocus and Tete-a-tete narcissi garnered a number of sympathetic comments. I think the photos of bright, cheery blooms followed by shots of stubby green leftovers helped in the sympathy department. Isn't this sad?

My solution for the narcissi is to cover newly emerging shoots with upside-down apple baskets each night and to keep a sharp eye out for marauding deer during daylight. For the crocus issue I've taken the advice from Nell Jean at Seedscatterer. I planted tommies (Crocus tommasinianus Ruby Giant and Barr's Purple).

I won't know till spring whether voles left the tommies alone. Keeping fingers crossed and praying to the bulb gods.

The last Re-GOOPs for today is Don't count your tomatoes … a gardening oops. It's another tale, and another sad photo, of creature damage. This time from those cute, fast-moving, devilish chipmunks.

They have superb ripe-tomato radar. The only way for me to beat them to the fruit was to pick before the tomatoes were totally ripe and let them finish ripening on a windowsill. So far the chipmunks haven't figured out how to get into my kitchen. Keeping fingers crossed and praying to the fox gods.

Looking back reminded … though I didn't really need it … that weather had a huge impact in 2011. Three GOOPs posts - February, March and November - involved snow and I hurricane/tropical storm Irene prevented a GOOPs post on September 1 (no power for seven days).

I suspect 2012's GOOPs will also involve weather and creatures and creatures and weather. At least that gives me the chance to blame something besides my own actions.

I hope you'll join the GOOPs party this year. If you are REALLY gardening then you must have made a GOOPs or two.

Either add your GOOPs tale in a comment below or post your GOOPs on your blog and leave a teaser in a comment below.

Happy New Year. Garden thoughtfully.

Categories: Bulbs, Edibles, Gardening, General, GOOPs-Gardening Oops.
Tags: Bulbs, creature damage, gardening in Connecticut, gardening oops - GOOPs, landscape fabric, tomatoes.

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Boxwood Blight: A New Connecticut Worry

joenesgarden — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 21:32:46 +0000

The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES) recently reported a new-to-Connecticut boxwood disease, a fungus called Cylindrocladium pseudonaviculatum. Sounds ominous, doesn't it? Wait till you learn more.

According to facts and photos in the boxwood blight fact sheet prepared by Dr. Sharon M. Douglas, of the Department of Plant Pathology and Ecology at CAES, the disease is as ominous as it's Latin name sounds.

Early stages of boxwood blight first appear as dark or light leaf spots or lesions, often with dark borders. The spots grow to cover more of each infected leaf causing leaves to turn brown or straw colored. Defoliation is likely to occur shortly after leaf symptoms develop.

Infected stems show dark brown to black lesions, sometimes with a diamond-shaped pattern. Lesions run from the soil line to the stem tip.

The fungus does not appear to affect boxwood roots but, as the plant sends up new growth in response to defoliation, new growth becomes infected from remnants of the fungus. Repeated regrowth and reinfection weakens and eventually kills.

Check out the disturbing photos in the boxwood blight fact sheet of all disease stages or watch this YouTube video.

Boxwood blight spreads rapidly in warm, humid conditions – think greenhouses and hoop houses. It loves temperature ranges of 64 to 77 degrees Fahrenheit (77 being optimum) but can die after seven days at 91 degrees Fahrenheit. It may also live up to five years on decomposing boxwood leaves.

Boxwood blight spores spread by wind, wind-driven rain and water splash and, since the sticky spores easily attach to clothing, boots, tools, and animals, spores can also be spread via human and animal movement.

So, what can one do? Since the disease is newly identified in Connecticut CAES recommends we

Buy disease-free material from reputable nurseries and carefully inspect all plants before purchasing.
Isolate newly purchased plants for at least one month and preferably for several months.
Space plantings to maximize air circulation.
Avoid overhead watering and working among plants when they are wet.
Remove boxwood leaf debris from around plants.
Become familiar with symptoms by studying images of the disease in the links above.
Inspect for symptoms each week. If detected, immediately pull and remove entire plant and dispose of infected material in plastic bags. Do Not Compost.
Stay in touch with CAES for the most current information on control. Of note: Boxwood blight has been common in England and other countries for years and has not been controlled by fungicides.

If you suspect boxwood blight follow these instructions for submitting samples to CAES for diagnosis.

The disease has been found in Hartford, Middlesex, Fairfield and New London counties in Connecticut. Since one of these counties is mine and I already have a fair number of boxwood planted in my deer-accessible gardens (boxwood are one of the few shrubs my local deer don't yet eat), I'm going to watch my boxwood closely.

Categories: Gardening, General, Newsy Items, Perennials & Annuals.
Tags: Boxwood blight, Connecticut Agrigultural Experiment Station, gardening in Connecticut.

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Autumn’s Leafy Bounty

joenesgarden — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 19:58:26 +0000

Feeling engulfed by an ever growing pile of fallen leaves? Leaf season can be overwhelming. Within hours after they are finally raked, blown, swept, sucked-up or otherwise removed from lawns, driveways, walkways, decks, patios and gardens, they return, begging for more raking, blowing, and sweeping. Children love playing in mounds of leaves. Most adults curse the perennial piles, but we shouldn't.

Autumn leaves are future soil. Just think of what happens naturally in woodlands. Trees drop leaves onto the ground where they become shredded by wind and under hooves or paws of woodland creatures. Leaves become weighted by rains and flattened by snows. As they decay, leaves break into smaller pieces. At ground level they begin to turn into leaf mold – Mother Nature's protective mulch for her forest floor. Worms, insects, and an incredible number of soil microorganisms work their magic on leaves in contact with the forest floor. Before autumn rolls around again on the calendar many of previous years' fallen leaves are transformed into nutrient rich soil … all without human intervention.

It's when humans get involved that complications arise. We plant gardens and lawns amongst trees, lawns and gardens we prefer not to have buried in mounds of leaves, then we curse trees for doing what comes naturally each autumn. It doesn't make a lot of sense when a few planned steps will turn autumn's fallen leaves into valuable soil amendments.

Mow leaves that fall on the lawn. Mowers, particularly those with mulching blades, chop leaves into small pieces that slowly decompose and provide nutrients to grass-growing soils. One of the best, low-cost, low-labor supplements you can give your lawn is it's own clippings. When left to decompose between grass blades, these clippings help feed the soil. Chopped leaves do the same.

If your lawn is covered with too many leaves and you have a lawn mower with a bag attachment, use the mower to chop up extra leaf piles. The collected, bagged mix can be used immediately as mulch on planting beds or around mature trees, or can be piled into a temporary fenced circle. You can follow the steps in this Fine Gardening article to turn your fenced-in shredded leaf piles into leaf mold – another term for leaf compost. Not this ambitious? Then save shredded leaves in clean, unused trash barrels or fenced-in piles to use as garden mulch next spring or to cover vegetable scraps added to compost piles over the winter. No compost pile? See how to start a compost pile. Now is the perfect time to get one going.

If you must rake or blow leaves into adjacent woodlands try replicating nature. Make sure leaves are evenly spread out over a large area. Piles of un-shredded leaves will eventually decompose, but it takes a year or two. If you must pile leaves, pile choose a different spot each year. If your property has an area of disturbed or uncovered soil – exposed soil is damaged soil - cover the area with leaves and let nature rebuild the soil while you get on with your life.

In Connecticut, leaves are a mandatory recyclable item – they do not belong in the trash. CT's Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CT DEEP) has about 100 registered leaf composting facilities to handle leaves that fall in areas that do not accommodate on-site composting.

If none of these solutions work for you find out if your town collects and actively composts leaves. Many towns now do so, then allow locals to use the composted result in gardens the following spring.

The bottom line: don't let this free and rich source of garden and woodland nutrients go to waste. Nature provides the gift of leaves for us each autumn … we should use this gift wisely.

Categories: Gardening, General, Seasons, Techniques.
Tags: gardening in Connecticut, leaf composting, leaf shredding.

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What deer don’t eat, so far …

joenesgarden — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 14:51:13 +0000

It's time for me to look at my deer-munched plantings with a glass-half-full attitude. Deer, in large numbers, are here to stay unless my little section of south-central Connecticut is suddenly cohabitated by a throng of hungry mountain lions … but that would bring another set of issues. Enough sniveling over all the greenery I've planted that deer now see as dinner (That's a deer, granddaughter deer. and Do deer tweet?). Time to focus on what deer haven't eaten … yet.

In my gardens, fuzzy, silver and fragrant seem to be off the list of deer faves. Stachys byzantina, a.k.a. Lamb's Ear, in the common flowering form and the non-flowering variety 'Helene von Stein' are both ignored. Many gardeners decry common Stachys' wild looking flower stalks – they tend to fall this way and that after heavy rains. I don't. Bees love the flowers, I welcome the subtle purple flower color and I simply cut back unruly stalks after giving them a chance to pop back up after a rain. Remove all stalks when flowers fade to enjoy the fuzzy silver foliage long into autumn.

Plants with similar downy coverings – common mullein (Verbascum thapsus), downy Salvias (sages), Santolina, lavender (Lavandula angustifolia 'Hidcote' grows best for me), rose campion (Lychnis coronaria) and artemesias – also avoid deer browsing.

Deer have not touched common foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) foliage, shown here in autumn and in bloom.

Deer leave all my green- and red-foliage ground-cover sedum alone.

Deer have yet to nibble away ornamental grasses, Colorado blue spruce (Picea pungens 'Glauca'), any variety of thyme, and Siberian or bearded iris (though I've heard of deer eating iris in other gardens).

To date, deer don't seem interested in allium, most narcissi (except my early blooming Tete-a tete miniatures when I forget to cover newly emerging foliage), globe thistle (Echinops ritro), native ferns, boxwood (Buxus sempervirens, 'Green Ice', and 'Green Mountain'), and Pieris japonica. They have not yet nibbled my newly planted Montgomery Spruce (Picea pungens glauca globosa), but time will tell.

Deer leave my rhododendron and laurel shrubs alone during late spring, summer and early autumn, but I fence rhododendron from late autumn through winter to keep deer from 'pruning' them into green-topped umbrellas. This year I'm also going to fence in the small laurel shrubs so deer cannot re-shape them.

Check out Elegant Silvers by Jo Ann Gardner & Karen Bussolini as a go to resource for silver foliage plants. I cannot attest that all their listed deer-resistant plants will be so in your garden, but their list is a good place to start.

Please share any truly deer-avoided plants you've discovered. The list is likely to be ever-changing, but it's one I'll be working on for the rest of my gardening-in-Connecticut days.

Garden thoughtfully …

Categories: Creatures, Gardening, General, Techniques.
Tags: Deer-resistant plants, Elegant Silvers by Jo Ann Gardner & Karen Bussolini, fragrant silvers, fuzzy silvers.

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Gain Valuable Lessons in Organic Land Care

joenesgarden — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Registration is open for the Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA) Organic Land Care (OLC) Accreditation Courses in MA, CT and RI. This 5-day intensive course trains land care professionals and advanced gardeners to design and maintain healthy, ecologically-sound landscapes.

I took the course last winter during cold, blustery and snowy days. The training was a welcome relief from the weather. As I posted after passing the course:

I was immersed in training that pulled my sense of gardening and my belief in natural processes together - the NOFA (Northeast Organic Farming Association) Organic Land Care Program. This course, offered annually, covers all aspects of land care and trains you to look at the impact gardening and landscape practices have beyond the edges of individual properties. Read on …

The OLC course brought together all the organic gardening principals I'd followed during my gardening life through its focus on three main themes … kind of the Hippocratic Oath of Land Care:

Do No Harm
Protect Local Ecosystems
Right Plant, Right Place

The OLC course teaches new respect for the life and diversity of soil, and the phenomenal importance it plays in plant health. Did you know that one teaspoon of soil contains millions of organisms that support plant life?

The OLC course encourages seeking design inspiration from natural landscapes and native plant communities.

The OLC course reminds that every landscape decision we make will have either a positive or negative impact. The key is to seek the positive.

Coursework delves into site analysis and design; wetlands and watercourses; native, non-native and invasive plants; wildlife, pest and disease management; soil health; water use and quality; lawn care and lawn alternatives; fertilizers, soil amendments, weeds and mulches; and planting and pruning … as individual entities and from a big picture aspect.

The Massachusetts class in Worcester runs January 9-13, 2012; the Connecticut class in New Haven runs February 15-22, 2012, and Rhode Island's class in Charlestown runs February 22 through March 2, 2012. You can take the course for personal education or, upon passing the test, for professional accreditation.

Interested? Head here for more information, or contact me through a comment below.

If you decide to take the course I'd be thrilled to be mentioned as your referrer. Not only will I know I led someone else to this valuable training but … for the sake of complete transparency … NOFA will give me a discount on my next OLC re-accreditation fee.

Won't you join me and more than 500 like-trained individuals accredited in Organic Land Care? You'll gain knowledge that you'll carry for the rest of your gardening days. If you are part of a business or organization that sends students in a group of three or more, NOFA will cut 15% off the price of the course.

Categories: Gardening, General, Training.
Tags: NOFA Organic Land Care, Northeast Organic Farming Association.

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