Thoughts Toward the End of Garden Season

Green Tomatoes will ripen on windowsill

The first frost of Winter 2012/13 arrived in Atlanta overnight November  24-25, 2012 and toasted the tomato plants, patchouli, basil, zinnias and heliotrope. The Lemongrass and Scented Geraniums came through just fine.

I came across this incredible Persimmon tree loaded with fruit-- wonder how old it is?

Pumpkin seeds roasted; rinds go to compost

Neighbor's persimmon loaded with fruit

Persimmons sweeter after frost

Arrangement w Mexican Tarragon, Zinnias + Rue

 Planning to plant the last few bulbs, peonies, Jack-in-the-Pulpit and last 2 dozen Foxgloves this week.

Wood Chips Connoisseur

gardengeri on top of a load of free wood chips

Free wood chips (along with free bags of pine straw collected from curbs across nearby neighborhoods) are the mainstay of my garden. In Atlanta's warm climate, wood chips biodegrade to yield rich black organic humus similar to woodland soil in one year.I continually replenish organic matter in the form of mulch on the surface, or as compost dug into the soil, increasing the organic content and improving the soil structure of my Georgia red clay. 

In order to obtain desirable wood chips I ask the driver a couple of questions. 

Q. How sharp is your chipper/shredder? 

A. If he says "I put new blades on on Monday" we are good to go. I prefer a sharp chipper which produces small, neat wood chips. In contrast, a dull chipper produces long strips of wood that are unsightly as mulch and are slower to break down as compost. 

Wood chip mulch

Q. Where do these wood chips come from? 

A. Ideally, if the crew has been trimming back healthy tree limbs to clear right of way along power lines, I can be pretty sure of healthy, safe, disease-free chips. 

Wood & Leaf Chips

Q. Time of year and Summer chips v.s. Winter chips

A. This brings in the Nitrogen:Carbon Ratio. Summer wood chips contain large amounts of green leaves that add an important component of Nitrogen to the compost or mulch. Bare, leafless limbs in winter are composed of wood rather than leaf tissue, and add a higher component of Carbon. Evergreens can add high-N leaves even in winter, as is the case with wood chips from Christmas trees. 

When a new load of wood chips is delivered, the pile heats up during the immediate process of bacterial decomposition. If I insert a garden fork to open up the pile, steam rises from the disturbed chips. After the pile cools down, the development of white fungus strands (mycelium) on the wood chips signifies that the "friendly fungi" present are actively at work and the chips are well on their way to breaking down to compost and humic acid.

rich woods soil 

Basically,  the wood chips add bulk to the soil structure three ways:

1. fibrous organic matter of the chips themselves

2. biological mass of filamentous fungi that grows on them

3. transitory waves of beneficial bacteria populations 

This creates a favorable environment for worms and microorganisms.   

Digging Deeper: For Further Reading:

Wood chip mulch- boon or bane? http://www.puyallup.wsu.edu/~linda%20chalker-scott/horticultural%20myths_files/Myths/magazine%20pdfs/Woodchips.pdf

OK State Recycling Yard Waste: Don’t Bag It  (although if everyone read this, I would get no more free pinestraw) http://pods.dasnr.okstate.edu/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-2863/L-251.pdf

Wood Mulch: http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/wood-mulch-z10m0hun.aspx#ixzz2BT3khPDI

Easy Caramel Urban® Apples for Halloween

So the columnar Urban Apple® trees in your edible garden produced a little crop of apples from the Blushing Delight™ Urban® Apples PP21511. 

What to do with the harvest? If any survived eating out of hand in the garden, consider Caramel Apples for Halloween! An easy recipe follows. 

Caramel Apples, Makes 4

Ingredients

4 Apples, shown here: Blushing Delight™ Urban® Apples PP21511

1 bag caramels

1 bag Heath Bar Bits ‘o Brickle Toffee (or favorite candy bar, minced), 

1/2 C. chopped almonds or pecans as desired

1 Tablespoon water

Directions

Scrub the apples and dry thoroughly

Completely coat apple with melted caramel

Push a handle into the stem end of each apple (craft sticks or shortened chop sticks work well)

Prepare ahead: place the Heath bar bits and chopped nuts on plates or shallow saucers

Melt the caramels and little bit of water in a double boiler

Cool the caramel slightly, then submerge each apple in turn

Roll in candy pieces if desired

While still warm, roll the apple in the candy pieces or in the nuts for extra flavor

Enjoy!

10 Steps to Treat Hurricane Damage to Landscape Plants

Outer Banks, NC

Hurricane Sandy is blowing a lot of salt water around the eastern half of the country. Here's some suggestions for caring for a hurricane- damaged landscape. 

How to care for a landscape after hurricane damage

1. Reposition shrubs and small trees that have been blown over by high winds back into an upright position, bracing them with stakes until roots re-grow. 
2. Fill hollows and replace soil around roots of trees that have been rocked loose by high winds  
3. Apply fresh water repeatedly to irrigate plantings that were inundated with salt water- do not wait for salt damage to show up 
4. Remove mud, leaves and debris from smothering lawns (Bermuda is most likely to recover) 
5. Prune broken limbs and branches, smoothly trimming ragged edges so healing callus can form – do not use tree wound paint 
6. Trim shredded foliage from leaves of perennial plants battered by wind, rain or hail 
7. Do not eat fruits, vegetables and herbs that were covered by flood waters
8. Replant shade trees 
9. Have the soil tested before adding inorganic fertilizer (compost is OK) 
10. Replace lawn furniture, ornamental planters, window boxes, bonsai trees and outdoor decor

Adding link to  interesting map of winds across the countryhttp://hint.fm/wind/

How to Make Satsuma-cello the Easy Way

How to Make Yummy Liqueur out of Bumper™ Satsumas the Easy Way

Satsuma-cello Cordial

Satsuma-cello is the Garden Debut® version of the sweet Italian liqueur known as Limoncello.  

Make Satsuma-cello from your home-grown harvest right now in time for the Christmas holidays. 

Bumper™ Hardy Satsuma trees add both nutrition and beauty to the edible garden. 

This fruit tree produces more Satsumas than other varieties of Satsuma and grows 10-12 feet tall in ground.  

Brilliant orange fruits contrast well with dark green, glossy, evergreen foliage for an edible ornamental hardy to 15 degrees F. (U.S.D.A. Zone 8B).  

Bumper™ Hardy Satsuma

Satsuma-cello, makes 1 quart

Ingredients

10 Bumper™ Satsumas

1 bottle (750 ml ) 150–proof Vodka

Large, lidded glass jar for steeping

2 cups white sugar

1 cup water

Directions

Scrub your Bumper™ Satsumas then zest them using a zester or vegetable peeler. 

Zesting the Satsuma

Take care not to include any of the white inner pith since this will make your liqueur bitter.  (Reserve the sections for juice or add to green tossed salads.

Removing Pith from Zest

Place the peels in a large glass jar with a lid and pour good-quality high test vodka over the Satsuma peels. 

Steep where it is handy to swish

Steep at room temperature for 10 days to 4 weeks, swishing gently every 5 days or so to mix. The longer the mixture rests, the more intense the flavor will be. 

Test if it is ready by smelling its fragrance and by checking if the peels snap when bent in half. The vodka slowly takes on the flavor and color of the Satsuma peels.

Strain the peels from the Vodka essence

Remove the peels by straining the flavored vodka essence through a coffee filters until clear.  I put the coffee filter inside a strainer to keep it upright. 

Add Sugar Syrup to Vodka Essence

Make sugar syrup by dissolving white cane sugar in water in a saucepan and cooking over medium heat until just dissolved, but do not bring to a boil. If you use unbleached sugar, your Satsuma-cello will be more tan in color.

Cool and add syrup to the strained vodka essence, then steep for another 4 weeks in a cool, dark location, again swishing gently every once in awhile to combine flavors.

Voila! Satsuma-cello

The finished liqueur will be ready to enjoy with a dessert or to package in decorative glass bottles for holiday gifts. 

Satsuma=cello is great as an after-dinner digestif in a small cordial glass, as an ice cream topping or in the construction of cocktails such as Cosmopolitans. 

For more information about growing Satsumas in your edible garden, visit the Fruit Trees page at Garden Debut®   

Click on individual photos to enlarge them.

\

photos copyright Geri Laufer, 2012

please give credit. 

SE Regional Symposium, Herb Society of America, Oct 12-12, 2012

University of Georgia Horticulture Trial Gardens

The Southeast Regional Symposium of The Herb Society of America was held Oct. 12-13, 2012 in Athens, Georgia.

Dr. Allan Armitage

First we visited the UGA Trial Gardens and Dr. Allan Armitage showed us around.

Albuca spiralis 'Fizzle Sizzle' 

We saw plenty of flowers, annuals, perennials, roses, vines and the odd foliage plant!

Solanum wendlandii, Paradise Vine

Vince Dooley w The Rising Sun Redbud 

From there, we visited the specactular garden of UGA Coach Vince Dooley (retired legend), shown here with The Rising Sun Redbud PP21451 .

Pierced Hedge reveals St. Francis Statue

There were plenty of details to soak up in the Coach's garden, like the opening cut into this solid hedge, revealing additional gardens beyond, and a serene St. Francis of Assisi statue.

14 inch retaining wall

I hope to re-create a version of this low retaining wall in my own back yard which is sloped.
Here is Coach Dooley's gemlike Japanese Garden.

Japanese Garden at Coach Dooley's

Geri Laufer speaking on Tussie-Mussies

I peeked and saw I got a 10+ in the evaluation! 

The next day we had a series of programs for the educational symposium, including my talk on Tussie-Mussies and the Language of Flowers.

There was a lot of history of carried and worn flowers, and the floral language.

Tussie-Mussies hardback

Knot Garden at the State Botanical Garden

Rosemary in Bloom! 

Snowflake Scented Geranium

Geri in Vitex with Boxwood in foreground

The gnarly old Vitex at the State Botanic Garden made a cool place to sit, and in front of me were planted large, venerable plants of Golden Dream Boxwood PP16052 from Garden Debut(R).

Golden Dream Boxwood PP16052

All in all I had a very nice trip, although this speaking engagement meant I had to miss the 2012 Tucson Garden Writers Association conference this year because of the conflict in dates!  Thanks for driving, Sue!

Caladium container at State BG

Whadda’ ja say? Some Botanical Names are Wily to Pronounce

Northern Borders™ Variegated Cotoneaster

A non-gardening friend of mine was amused to note that one of the accomplishments I list on my LinkedIn page is Botanical Latin. My fluency with Latin binomials is useful when talking with others in this great business and helps me to be more precise.

Over the years I have come across three bug-a-boo plant names that give students pause, and must be heard to be believed. These are Cotoneaster, Leucothoe and Weigela.

Centuries ago, before I enrolled in grad school for Horticulture and was systematically reading every single gardening book in the Carnegie Public Library*, I stumbled across Cotoneaster which I first saw written and not pronounced. Like anyone else, I supposed it might be called “cotton Easter” but this is not the case. It’s actually more like “Co-TONY-aster”. A lovely example of this plant is the Northern Borders™ VariegatedCotoneaster by Garden Debut®.

Whitewater(R) Leucothoe PP18396

The next bug-a-boo that people often come across is Leucothoe. This is actually pronounced more like “Lou-KO-tho-wee”. A variegated favorite of mine is Whitewater® Leucothoe PP18396 that does so well in moist shade..

Third, students in my Woody I.D. class at Gwinnett Tech were calling a plant “Wiggly-Ah” which I found most endearing. Actually it is called “Why-GEE-La”. A nice small dwarf form good for most gardens is Minuet Weigela. 

Minuet Weigela

Luckily, Fine Gardening Magazine has come to the rescue of all concerned gardeners with their online Pronunciation Guide to Botanical Latin. After clicking on a plant name, the audio will pronounce it clearly and distinctly, and is a great help   .

What plant names are your personal bug-a-boos?

*That’s another story.