Posts from — April 2011

Ah, the lengths that some people will go to to promote gardening and fight hunger in their communities! Last Saturday, I had a chance to witness some of these people of action up- close when I volunteered to help with Project Grow’s Potato Pledge which took place in front of Downtown Home and Garden. The fun included a Pit Stop Area for distributing seed potatoes as well as giant paper maché potatoes strolling through downtown and spreading the word.

The Potato Pledge launched last year when Project Grow teamed up with Downtown Home and Garden, Food Gatherers, and the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice to distribute free seed potatoes to gardeners who would pledge to return a portion of their crop to Food Gatherers. This year’s Pit Stop theme encouraged drivers to pull over on Ashley Street to get their 2-pound bag of seed potatoes and growing instructions. Over 130 pounds of potatoes went home with gardeners who wanted to participate in the Potato Pledge.

The potato costume portion of the event included big potato heads, people wearing potatoes and big potatoes on poles. Our pro-gardening group walked around Main Street and the Farmers’ Market. Of course, I ran into friends, like John the Chicken Guy, and Michael the Photographer, and Sara the UofM student because carrying a large paper maché potato on a stick or wearing a costume guarantees that I will see someone I know!

Taking part in the Potato Pledge was a lot of fun, and I rediscovered some universal truths too. For example, both talking to strangers and being silly are easier if you are part of a group. Also, if you carry cute signs, wear costumes, or are friendly, most people will be happy to talk about gardening. Another fact was that parents with little kids in tow were more willing to take part, as one of the other volunteers pointed out. I don’t know if people were encouraged to join by my willingness to share my story of potato failure last year, but I tried to explain that pledging to grow potatoes was a low-risk gardening effort.

If you missed out on the Potato Pledge, there are still opportunities to contribute gardening produce to programs that fight hunger. The Plant a Row for the Hungry project asks gardeners to set aside gardening space to grow vegetables to donate to food banks. Food Gatherers happily accepts surplus home-grown produce, even if it wasn’t originally planted for donation.

After last year’s non-impressive potato crop, I’m anxious to do a good job and reclaim my reputation. This year, I’m taking suggestions and following directions. One thing I love about gardening is having another chance each year to get better at it.

The theme of our gardens is, broadly speaking, growing what is edible and useful. So it’s still a little surprising to me that we have begun to grow roses too. Roses in the rosa rugosa family have large rose hips, which can be made into tea or jelly or nibbled on in the garden, as Jim is wont to do. We have had two lovely rugosa roses bought from Great Lakes Roses at the Farmers’ Market before they closed. This year we decided to expand our rose garden.

Like many people who garden, we receive numerous catalogs from one of the big gardening companies, including one that came with a $25- off coupon on the cover. We put ours toward purchasing more roses, in fact a total of six roses bushes.

They arrived in the mail not long ago and when I opened them up, I found some of the tiniest rose bushes I’ve ever seen! Calling them “bushes” is, in fact, a bit generous!

Since small things do grow — most of the time– I took care to plant the roses correctly to give them a good chance of healthy start.

Here are some steps to keep in mind for planting roses:

1. Roses like a lot of sunlight. Choose a spot that gets at least 6 hours of sunlight per day. They would be happier with more, but 6 hours is the minimum amount.

2. Since our roses were shipped as bare roots, they needed to be soaked in a bucket of water for several hours before being planted.

3. Plant the roses as soon as possible after shipping. I couldn’t get to them right away, so I opened the boxes and moistened the packing material before storing them in the garage.

4. Even though these are small plants, I dug holes about 12” deep and 18” wide. I added some compost to the soil and mixed it in well.

Note: we add organic matter, usually home-made compost, leaves or grass clippings, to our soil whenever we are digging or planting. That’s how soil is improved. What a gardener should not do when planting a shrub or tree is fill the resulting hole with compost. That will tempt the plant to not spread its roots, but keep them balled up because of that tasty spot created.

5. Create a small, cone-shaped pile of soil in the center of each planting hole. Spread the roots down the slope. Be sure to place the plant so that the bud union is 1-2 inches above the ground level because the plant will settle.

6. Work the soil around carefully so that all roots contact the soil. Add water to settle the roots. Fill in the planting hole.

I’m excited to see how these roses do. They were a bit of a bargain and will be a learning experience too. If they do well, I’m hoping to give rose propagation a try. That seems like the next gardening frontier.

20 Minute Jan and I participated this year in FestiFools, a short parade of large puppets held the first weekend of April in downtown Ann Arbor. It was spectacularly fun, despite the rain, wind and hail. We chose Jack and the Beanstalk as our theme because, once we thought about it, Jack is our role model.

As I remember the story, Jack had already grown tired of mowing his lawn so he acquired a Cow to do it for him. As much as Jack and his mother appreciated the milk, Jack found cleaning up after the Cow to be as much work as cutting his grass. Jack knew the Cow had to go… but not too much more about what came next. Luckily on the way to market, he met a backyard gardener who shared with him the wonder of pole beans. Pole beans are great for small gardens like Jack’s because they grow up (and up and up) and so don’t require a lot of ground space. And because they’re legumes, pole beans also perform that other kind of magic that improves the soil. Beans and peas absorb nitrogen from the air and change it into a form that plants can use. Yup, pole beans are pretty amazing. The story had a few other minor details –like a giant and stolen treasure and a castle in the clouds — but we’re mostly thrilled by Jack’s commitment to starting a garden with nothing more than a handful of bean seeds. (If you want to read a version of the story that includes the parts I overlook, check out this one.

We honored Jack with a ten foot puppet made of wire coat hangers and paper mâché… and by giving out little packets of “Magic Beans,” or their nearest equivalent, that is, Kentucky Pole Beans.

Plant your bean seeds when all fear of frost is gone – which the experts say around here is mid-MAY! (Since the last frost day is all about averages and the percentage of risk, monitor the weather and decide when you are ready to take the chance!) If you can’t wait that long, try starting them inside but be prepared for them to start climbing almost as soon as they break through the soil… which unlike the story will take a bit longer than overnight.

Once in the garden, your bean stalks will be happiest if you provide them some kind of support since, like Jack’s magic ones, pole beans will try to reach up to the clouds. Any trellis will do for your first attempt. We used various things over the years including an old wooden stepladder but nowadays, we use three bamboo poles about 10 foot long that we lash together at the top into a very elongated pyramid. We’ve acquired a fancy cast finial for the point but all you really need is some twine to tie them together. We also usually thread some twine in between the poles to give the tendrils something to grab onto.

Keep the plants moist but not wet, especially during the germinating stage. Water them if the weather is too dry.

Pick the pods after they develop beans but before they get too big in order to get them while they’re tender. For delicious beans, steam them lightly and don’t over cook them. In fact, I like to crunch on a few as I work in the garden…

And the last step is to take a picture of your vine and send it to us!

We cannot be sure that Jack lived happily ever after, but we do know he had a great gardening season. We wish the same to you!

Are you planning to fertilize your lawn this year? How much and what type of formulation should you use? Is the soil pH in your garden a proper level for growing what you want to grow? If you plan to amend your soil, how do you know what to add?

These questions can be answered by doing a soil test. A soil test will indicate the nutrient levels already present in your lawn so you will know how much and what types of fertilizers are needed.

For every Saturday in April between 9am and 3pm, Master Gardeners from the Washtenaw Country Extension Program will be on site at five locations to accept your prepared soil sample. These five sites include Downtown Home and Garden, Ace Barnes Hardware on Stadium, Dexter Mill, Chelsea Farmers Supply, and Saline Town and Country. The cost is $15 per soil sample.

Preparing a soil sample for testing takes just a little planning.

Start with a clean plastic pail and a trowel or spade.

From the area in which you plan to plant, take 10 samples of about ½ cup from random spots of one type of landscape, such as lawn, flower garden, or vegetable garden. Take soil from 3” below the turf for lawn and 7” deep for flowers and vegetables. Remove roots and other plant material.

Put all of the soil into the bucket and mix together.

Then put 1 – 2 cups of soil in a ziploc bag and bring it to one of the locations above. Master Gardeners will label your sample for testing, and you will receive the results by mail or email in time for planting season.

Damp soil is acceptable, but if it’s very wet, spread it out on a newspaper layer to dry it. If you want to prepare several samples such as front yard and backyard or vegetable garden and fruit trees, sample those areas separately and label them.

Soil testing will help you determine how much and what type of fertilizer is need for the plants that you want to grow. Using the right amount of fertilizers is important because over application of fertilizers can pollute water resources, damage plants, and waste money.

Soil testing is also available year-round from the Washtenaw County Extension Office. Participating now will save you a little money on the mailing cost and help you begin to plan for the gardening season.