"The world's favorite season is the spring. All things seem possible in May." - Edwin Way Teale Another beautiful day at the gardens. We are so blessed to have such a peaceful setting among the Agricultural Farm Park. Surprising to have so many volunteers this week after last week efforts to set up and work the Grow It Eat It Even on Saturday. Garden Reports: Small Fruits: Gail Ifshin and Ram Narula The Small Fruit population of the Demo garden got a new member today, a Japanese persimmon tree, Ichi Ki Kei Jiro (grafted onto Diospyros virginiana). It was planted in the fruit bed that lies east of the compost gate. We anticipate harvestable fruit in about 3 years. On the topic of trees, it was gratifying to see leaves for the first time on our fig tree today. Bill noticed the presence of the asparagus beetle in the asparagus patch. Their presence is announced when spears take on “shepherd’s crook syndrome,” where the top of the spear curves into an uncharacteristic hook. They are best managed by removing by hand, and brushing off the rows of dark brown eggs that they lay on the spears. Ladybugs and lacewings eat the eggs and the larvae (hooray beneficial insects!). The adults overwinter in plant debris, and one pest management strategy we might consider is replacing the top dressing of the bed at the end of the growing season. You can see a picture of the beetle here: http://labs.russell.wisc.edu/vegento/files/2012/05/asparagus-beetle-common.jpg Because the Small Fruit plants and beds in the Demo garden are so spread out, and because it is the year of Small Fruit, we thought we would share with you the common names of Small Fruit plants growing in the garden. We are happy to provide more detail, and give tours! Thornless blackberries, black raspberries, blueberries, chokeberries (red and black), currants (red and black), a fig tree, goji berries, gooseberries, Concord grapes, kiwis (Issai and Russian), purple passion flower, paw paw trees (5 different varieties), persimmon trees (native and Japanese), beach plum, rhubarb, strawberries, and asparagus. Therapeutic Horticulture Beds: Bob Loesche Lots of planting this week. In Bed 1 Virginia and I scattered Ageratum seeds (taken from last year's seed heads) and also sowed Cut and Come Again Zinnia seeds. In Bed 2 we divided several of the Coneflowers to (hopefully) increase our yield of blossoms. In Bed 3 we sowed Pinwheel Zinnia seeds at the far end near the fence and we sowed Love-In-a-Mist seeds next to the Anise Hyssop. In Bed 4--our new bed outside the fence--we planted a row of Cherry Queen Zinnia plants (started by an intern and donated to us by Erica), a row of Monarda plants (donated from cullings out of the Children's Garden), as well as a large number of Bells of Ireland plants patiently started indoors by Virginia. Amazingly, this bed is nearly full. Next week a dozen Gomphrena plants will be delivered, and we hope to purchase African Blue Basil, and perhaps some plants of interest. Children's Therapeutic Horticulture: Ellen Meyerson What a lovely day in the garden. The delightful weather raised everyone's spirits. Before the children arrived, Sandy, Jeanne, Audrey and I did a bit of weeding and discussed what we would plant this week. Sandy had brought some herb plants and one pepper plant and Lily gave us some lettuce and carrot seed tapes. The children help plant the pepper, basil, thyme and rosemary plants. It should be warm enough for them. The children helped thin some of the crowded seedlings. The sugar snap peas are trying to attach to the supports. I hope that it stays cool enough so that they produce some peas. The strange weather delayed our planting of the peas. Butterfly Garden: Julie Mangin and Peggy Stanford Today was a beautiful day in the garden, sunny and breezy. We continued our weeding challenge. We also moved our Swamp Milkweed to a sunny area and thinned out some of the the Menarda. The removed Menarda was shared with Therapeutic Horticulture and garden teammates. We saw a few butterflies, including a black swallowtail, a spicebush swallowtail, and a sulphur species. Herb and Fragrance Garden: Kathy Tsai The herb and fragrance team spent most of their time today planting. We rounded out our collection of mints with an orange mint and a chocolate peppermint. We also added a catnip and nasturtiums to our containers. We then filled out other areas of the garden with the following plants: heliotrope jasmine african blue basil arugula red-veined sorrel variegated scented geraniums "Mint Rose" and "Lemon" pineapple sage salvia "Autumn Moon" ornamental pepper "Sangria" winter savory Vietnamese coriander lemon verbena cuban oregano fringed french lavender stevia french tarragon and finally the following group of basils: greek columnar, cuban, queen of sheba, lemon, variegated pesto perpetuo, and cinammon. We also want to mention that our heirloom rose is blooming beautifully; also, the crossvine has covered the gazebo in hundeds of gorgeous blooms. We urge you to come and look at both of these wonderful examples of "HAPPY" plants. Conservation Garden: Maria Wortman In the Conservation Garden, the white trilliums are finishing their bloom and have turned a shade of soft pink. The lovely red trillium, or Trillium erectum, is now holding its maroon-colored head high. It seems to be spreading slowly, helped along by ants which can move the seeds several feet from the mother plant. Another spot of brightness is provided by the small, cheerful yellow blooms of the Chrysogonum virginianum, green-and-gold. It’s a low-growing and slowly spreading native ground cover, and is in the sunflower family. It’s one of our favorites. Edibles: Robin Ritterhoff, Mary Anne Normile and Erica Smith Our vegetable beds are in pretty good shape after the big push last week to get ready for the Grow It Eat It Open House. But we still found plenty to do: - Put in seeds for heat-tolerant lettuces in the salad table. - Planted some mixed lettuces in the front of Bed A. (Thanks, Pam!) - Covered up the potatoes again, both those in the ground and those in grow bags. We are trying two varieties (Blue Adirondack and Banana Fingerling) in fabric bags, where the seed potatoes are planted on top of a few inches of soil and then gradually covered as they grow until the bag is full. - Got more weeding done! - Put in a few bachelor button seedlings in the garlic bed. - Thinned Swiss chard and planted a few marigolds in one of the raised beds - Figured out where we'll need to repair or create new trellises Please join the vegetable team over the next few weeks as we build a new raised bed, construct and repair trellises, plant summer crops (as soon as the weather allows) and begin our harvesting and donation to Manna Food Center! We almost always have work to do, so if you find yourself at a loose end during the workday, ask Mary Anne, Robin, or Erica if there's a task you can take on. Thanks! Tomato Bed: Dan Ward and Joslyn Read We were able to plant 3 tomatoes (Brandywine Sudduths, Rosa de Berne, and Early Girl) to see how they do planted early. The weather for the next 7-10 days is going to challenge us because the temperatures are supposed to drop back down into the 60's (and possibly the high 50's). Tomatoes really like ground temperatures in the low-to-mid 60's. With that in mind we've covered the ground with dark plastic and will be covering the plants with clear plastic to keep the tender plants as warm as possible. It will be interesting following their progress. The spring crop we planted in the first 2 weeks of the garden season are in various stages of growth. The radishes should be nearing the point of picking within the next 2 weeks. With these chilly temperatures these crops are unlikely to bolt to seed for at least the next 2 weeks. Special Projects: The Carols The special projects area of the vegetable garden continues to demonstrate a variety of techniques. Some with interesting results for the Carols, Mohammed and Yangyin with consults from Robin and Erica. In the Keyhole: The kale and red mustard continue to be the star performers in the keyhole gardens, while most other plants are coming along nicely as well. Two exceptions are the joi choi seedlings and one of the two kinds of spinach seeds that were planted two weeks ago. On Saturday, many visitors were quite curious about what the structure is in the middle of these gardens - aka - the compost tower. Carol O explained about layering it with green and brown materials and watering them in well, thus encouraging the plant roots to grow towards the moisture and, hopefully, rich compost. To date, the compost in the tower has not heated up above 80 degrees. So, in an effort to improve that, today, the compost towers were filled with some dry dog kibble (which is supposed to heat things up quickly), grass and other green cuttings and lots of chopped up brown leaves. Everything was watered in well. We'll see what next Tuesday brings us! Pallets: Plants in the pallets are doing very well, almost ready for thinning. All the seeds seem to have germinated eagerly, ready to fulfill identification to match the labels put on each row for GIEI. The direct seed nasturtiums are doing much better than the transplants. Our 25 day snow peas have germinated and are looking to begin their expected climb. We planted some basil in the top row. The pallets present interesting challenges with watering. It was a surprise to the Carols that the full pocket did not seem to hold moisture as well as the short packets. We are experimenting with bottle reservoirs three ways: 1) one bottle and a nifty cone neck to dispense upside down, this seems to dispense too quickly. 2) dual bottles, one inside the other with holes inside to dibble out, the current iteration still dispenses rather quickly. 3) Using the dual bottle but with fewer ice pick holes. Less but still too fast. In our search for the "Goldilocks " solution, we will try adding sand to the cone, smaller holes with an embroidery needle and putting a less permeable membrane over the opening. Time will tell. Straw Bales: The straw bales are not as warm as desired, waiting for a warm week to be ready for tomatoes and peppers. However, they are warm enough to sustain the strawberries, lettuce and marigolds. The big surprise was the lovely purplish four inch growth emerging to demonstrate the current state of our Adirondack Blue Potatoes! At least four have emerged. All were well watered and some red lettuce, beet transplants and an unnamed cucurbits were introduced to the bales. Sunflowers were added in the corner to bring some extra color. The gutter garden purports to have turnips (that should be interesting) and "greens" (a good label for incognitos, aren't most plants predominantly green?). All are doing well. Future project goals in the next few weeks are to build bamboo trellis for Keyhole and Bales. and as the weather continues to warm, plant tomatoes, peppers and some beans and carrots. 100 Square Foot Garden: Hope Dieckhans This week 100 square foot gardeners did one of every gardening task and then some - weeding, thinning, sowing, harvesting, transplanting, watering and liberating! The garden looked good - nice and green except for one pea plant that decided to give up the ghost and dried up! The garden was weeded and crowded fennel, beet and spinach seedlings were thinned. One fennel seedling was transplanted to its own square foot of growing space. Red and green lettuce seeds were sown everyplace where older seeds had refused to germinate. Japanese red mustard and kale were harvested. In the center garden green lettuce and a couple of pea seeds were sown to fill in empty spots. New bright yellow rope was strung to better define the edges of the garden sections. The whole garden was given a good drink of water and finally, although not as many as last week, flies continued to hatch under our brassica enclosures so they were once again liberated! BUG REPORT: Darlene Nicholson I hope everyone felt at least a little more informed about the Deer Tick, AKA, Blacklegged Tick after the 10 @ 10 presentation on ticks. I am attaching last week's IPM report. It contains a blurb and beautiful image of a Deer Tick and also what's coming down the road. There are many great articles in this issue including the one on Plastic-eating Moth Larvae! Think of the implications of that! The IPM report is published weekly on line and if you would like it delivered directly to your computer you can contact: Suzanne Klick [email protected] University of Maryland Central MD Research & Education Center 11975 Homewood RD, Ellicott City MD 21042 301-596-9413 http://extension.umd.edu/ipm http://facebook.com/umdipm Also please don't overlook the great information at the HGIC Website. http://extension.umd.edu/hgic and click on bugs and insects. Evergreens outside the fence: from Julie Mangin: Julie Mangin and Darlene Nicholson worked to free the three trees that were planted last year outside the main garden area. Weeds were removed and topsoil was added. After that, we replaced the barriers to protect the trees from deer and mowers. Outside the barriers, an outer circle of wood chips was placed for added protection. The three trees were: Alnus serrulata (Smooth Alder) near the demo garden sign in the back. This is a small tree that may not get any taller than 12 feet. Picea abies 'Cupressina' (Columnar Norway Spruce) near the bamboo storage, on the left. This will get about 20-30 feet tall, and about 5-6 feet wide. Picea omorika 'Aurea' (Golden Serbian Spruce) near the bamboo storage, on the right. This tree may reach 30 feet in height, and 20 feet wide. Uh oh, we may need to move the bamboo storage some day. Or we could move the tree while it is still small to a better location. Closing Comments: Bill, Susan and Lily A big thank you to all for making Grow It Eat It so successful! A huge thanks to Claude Allen for organizing the Derwood Demo Garden section. Thank you Kristy for holding the fort at compost central. It was hard work for one person. Please everyone chip in to help out composting even just for a 5 minute break from what you are doing. Soon summer crops will be planted, trellises built and edibles will need extra help.
We enjoyed the visit of Kristy's daughter and 3 grandchildren. Their favorite part of the garden was our frogs! They got to play in the children's garden and learn how our food is grown. Big thank you to Darlene and Lily for the meaningful 10 at 10 on ticks. Sounds like everyone will use this information. Thank you for the good questions. Do you have some suggestions for topics that should be covered? Would you be willing to lead one or two? Cassandra and her school-children will be touring the garden next Tuesday around 11am Sherrie will be bringing a group through on the 23rd So many creative ideas for the Derwood Demonstration Garden - we are fortunate to have your energy and ambition. Thank you for all you do for the garden. See you all next week!
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