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In This Issue
Weather It's The
Weather
What's Bugging
You
Questionmark and
Mysterian
Success Tip of
the Week
From the Garden
to the Kitchen
Plant to Ponder
Contact
Information
Up
Coming Events
Natorp's Garden Stores
"Family Fall Fest"
Oct. 6 and 7
(both garden stores)
Pumpkin carving and painting, face painting, straw maze,
festival food, Slushies, and lot's of
great family fun!
"GREEN"
Civic Garden Center's
65th Anniversary Celebration - Oct 25
6-9pm Paul Brown Stadium -Raffles, Silent Auction, great
food and drinks, Pete Wagner Band, and "The Iron
Florist Competition"
www.civicgardencenter.org
Bulls Run Nature Sanctuary and Arboretum
"Ohio's Prairies - Past, Present and Future"
-John Blakeman
Verity Lodge Middletown
Oct. 8 / 7-9pm
www.bullsrun.org
Granny's Garden School Needs YOUR Help! Community Service
Weekend Oct. 27-28
10am - 3 pm
grannysgardenschool.com
Quick Links
$10,000 Landscape
Makeover
Newsletter
Archive
Success Tip Sheets
Landscape Design Kit
Gift Cards
Rita's Recipes
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Whether It's The Weather
I think
we summed it all up in the opener. Keep watering. And if
the lawn has gone dormant, we're suggesting you start
watering and get it up and growing now. Do not wait for
next spring to see what's going to happen. Get your lawn
back and growing now! If you don't, you'll be fighting
weeds like you've never fought them before (next spring).
Same goes for watering trees and shrubs, as well as those
precious evergreens. If you didn't water all summer long,
do it now. Now is more important, making sure those plants
are not under drought stress going into the winter. WATER!
[Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the
seeds you plant" -Robert Louis Stevenson.]
What's Bugging You
Nuttin'
honey. We're good to go in the Yardboy garden. How about
you, Buggy Joe?
This
week, Buggy Joe Boggs (OSU Extension) is reporting white
grub damages are being reported in several lawns, and at
this stage, treating with a one shot kill such as Dylox is
your best bet. You can find it sold as Dylox, or Bayer's
24-hour grub control. You must water this in extremely
well, and do remember that no matter how good of a job you
do, you will always have grubs in the lawn. But when they
reach population levels where the turf is affected, then its
time to treat. (By the way, if you have problems develop
with raccoons and skunks digging up the turf trying to eat
the grubs, try sprinkling Milorganite in the area as a
repellent, or spraying with Repels All by Bonide.) BJB is
also getting reports of grasshoppers still hanging out
and munching away, Cedar beetles clustering on trunks of
trees, Monarch butterflies still moving through the area,
praying mantis being seen more and more, mole activity on
the increase, and as far as an Asian Lady bug prediction,
the drought may have helped lower populations this year, but
again, time will tell!
-Catch
The Buggy Joe Boggs Report Saturday at 8:42am on 55KRC The
Talk Station.
ashalert.osu.edu
www.emeraldashborer.info
[It is
physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky.]
Questionmark and the Mysterians -
Your Questions Answered
"Hey Ron, this is Mike C. from Blanchester. It looks like
the fall colors will be lacking this year. What conditions
affect the colors?"
-Good
question Mike C. Basically speaking, fall colors are
determined by the day length, temperatures, and moisture in
the ground. During the season, chlorophyll is produced in
large amounts daily, which is green and gives the leaves
their green color. There are other pigments there (sugars),
but are masked over by the chlorophyll (those sugars are
also passed back into the tree for nutrients or released at
night through the stomates - small openings on the
undersides of their leaves). But as the fall season
approaches, days get shorter, photosynthesis slows down, and
less chlorophyll is produced. In the meantime, sugars
continue to build up in the leaves, due to cooler nights (stomates
won't open to release sugars), and a signal is given for the
leaf to produce the 'abscission layer' at the end of the
leaf stem, which begins to separate the leaf from the branch
that its growing on and stops sugars from moving back into
the plant. So the sugars remain in the leaves. They build
up, chlorophyll reduces, the green pigment disappears, while
the other pigments of orange, red and yellow begin to show,
giving you the fall colors.
NOW,
this process is heavily affected by day length,
temperatures, and moisture. Sunny warm days followed
by cool nights, along with even soil moisture, provides the
best fall color. The leaves produce more sugar on warm
sunny days, and cool night temperatures keep those sugars in
the leaves. Pigments are formed in those sugars, so the
more sugars, the more color.
Too
much fall rain (or too little), early frosts or freezing
temperatures, cloudy days, cloudy cold days, as well as warm
nights will all diminish fall color brilliance.
Weather during the growing season can also have an effect on
fall colors. Heavy spring rains, or hot dry summers can
have a deleterious effect on fall colors. Fall colors that
appear 'out of season' means the plants were stressed from
drought, insects, low soil fertility, root problems, etc.
Whew! Hope that answers your question, Mike. Now you see
why it's so hard to predict fall color intensity!
"Why
do I still have so many spider webs on my shrubs and how do
I get rid of them?" -Well, you have so many because as the
season winds down, the spiders are doing their best to clean
up on all the bugs in your garden. So you see all the
webs. But you need to keep reminding yourself that spiders
are the good guys doing just what I said - eating all the
bugs. So I would never recommend spraying a garden to try
and eliminate spiders. One, it wouldn't work, and two,
remember, they're the good guys. By the way, the ones you
see on the shrubs are generally funnel spiders. You can
tell by looking for the funnel in the web. They hang out
down inside the funnel, and rush out to grab and secure any
insects that land on their web.
"My
sweet potato vines are being eaten by something but I don't
see anything. How do I figure out what it is?" -First,
look for tracks. If you can't find any, take a look at
where the plant was eaten. If the point on the stem where
its been eaten has a clean cut, like you took pruners or
scissors and cut it off, that indicates a rodent of some
type - rabbits, squirrels, groundhogs, etc, as they cleanly
cut off the branches with their sharp teeth. If on the
other hand the eaten area looks shredded or torn, that's
deer damage. Deer only have lower teeth and pull vegetation
to eat it - thus the shredding or tearing of the stem.
By the way, deer will be eating a lot in the garden over the
next month or so as we head into the fall and winter, so
make sure you keep up with your repellents (DeerScram,
Liquid Fence, Repels All)and physical barriers - especially
protecting the trunks of new trees from those bucks rubbing
their antlers on them! They can really do a lot of damage
in no time! Protect newly planted trees from deer damage!
And do it right away - don't wait.
[Did you know that Ohio settlers in the 1780's were legally
obliged to plant at least 50 apple or pear trees within
three years of making a settlement - before they erected a
permanent dwelling! -from Granny's Garden School
newsletter!]
Success Tip of the Week
If there
ever was a more timely and important tip of the week, if
would have to be this one:
WATER, WATER, WATER!
["Sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" is said to be the
toughest tongue twister in the English language.]
From the Garden to the Kitchen
"Hey
Rita what's Cooking?"
Yardboy,
our apple harvest is non-existent; ditto with the pears.
Remember that early freeze we had in the spring? Well, that
wiped out all of the buds on our fruiting trees. But luckily
there are still farmers here who sell homegrown apples, so
I'll be going out to pick my harvest at a roadside stand
this year. This recipes is one of my family's favorites -
and remember, Yardboy, if you leave the skin on the apples
the pectin right underneath helps lower cholesterol. Plus
you get more fiber and that's a good thing!
CANDY APPLE CHERRY
CRISP
The
recipe can be cut in half, doubled, or even tripled!
5
cups apples (just about anything but Red Delicious) - I like
a combination of Granny Smith and Jonathan, peeled if
desired and either sliced thin or diced
¾ to 1 cup, or to taste, dried cherries (dried cranberries
can be substituted) optional but good
Splash of fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
¾ cup all purpose flour
1 stick butter
Dash salt
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter or spray a shallow
casserole. Toss apple slices and cherries with lemon
juice. Blend cinnamon, brown sugar, flour, butter and salt
together until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Put
apple mixture into sprayed casserole and press topping
over. Bake 45 minutes to 1 hour, until apples are tender.
The topping gets very chewy and candy-like, and this crisp
is delicious served warm with ice cream, room temperature,
or cold. Serves 4-6.
TIPS FROM RITA'S
KITCHEN
Apple storage:
Store
apples in refrigerator in plastic bag; apples become mealy
at room temperature.
Food Chemistry for Apples:
When
making applesauce, if you add sugar before cooking, the
sauce will be more chunky. For a smoother sauce, add after
cooking.
Want to lower the sugar and fat content in this dish?
Use
a brown sugar substitute along with a butter substitute.
-Rita
Nader Heikenfeld, CCP / Macy's Regional Culinary
Professional / Herbalist / Author / Local TV and Radio
Cooking Expert / Adjunct Professor U.C. Clermont College /
Community Press Papers / Part time Witchdoctor / Maker of
strange potions /
www.abouteating.com
[Can you think of a word (in English) that rhymes with
"month"? Isn't one.]
Yardboy's "Plant to Ponder"
Off and
on this summer, I've talked about perennials and shrubs that
flower late into the season. Well, I've got one more
to tell you about, and this plant plant's flowers,
guaranteed, will get your attention.
The
genus name for this plant is Heptacodium, and the plant is
commonly known as the "Seven Son Flower Tree". And
yes, that's son spelled s-o-n. Now the plant itself looks
like your normal everyday shrub or small tree during the
growing season. 3-4 inch long leaves that actually give a
little yellow to bronze fall color. And as I said, can be
grown either as a large shrub or small tree, reaching about
15-20 feet. It's a tough durable plant, and very hardy.
But right now and this winter is when it really starts to
shine.
In
late August thru September and into October, the Seven Son
Flower begins to produce large clusters of creamy white
flowers that have the fragrance of jasmine, which is pretty
showy, and will attract late butterflies and provide late
pollen for the honeybees (which is very important). And if
that wasn't enough, the calyx then turn a pink to bright
red, as well as forming purple red fruit in the center of
the flower! Now that is one heck of a late season show!
Once
the leaves drop, the plant then gives a winter show, with
its absolutely wonderful exfoliating bark and dark brown
inner bark underneath. By the way, it's called Seven Son
Flower, as Hepta means seven, and on each flower stem, you
will find 7 individual flowers. This is a rare plant, but
can be found more and more in local nurseries (yes, Natorp's
grows it!).
[A crocodile cannot stick out its tongue.]
A Little
Bit of This, A Little Bit of That
Why
doesn't my holly plant have berries? We get this question
quite a bit. And there are many factors involved that could
prohibit or reduce holly berry production. Most hollies are
dioecious, which means they have male and female flowers on
separate plants. The plants are sold 'male' and 'female'.
-Pruning practices. Most hollies flower on last year's
growth. If that is cut away before flowering, well, no
flowers. Or, if the hollies are pruned back hard after
flowering, the fruits may have been cut off.
-Late
frost or freeze may kill young flower buds or even the
fruit.
-Fruits may drop due to stem damages over the winter, or
drought stress in the summer.
-Poor
weather during flowering times. Cold, wet, windy, rainy
weather all affect bees and other insects from flying and
being potential pollinators. And, are the male and female
hollies within a bee's flying distance?
-Do
you have a female holly? Most hollies are dioecious, which
means they have male and female flowers on separate plants.
The plants are sold 'male' and 'female'. Only the females
produce the berries, and that happens only if a male holly
is close enough to pollinate (which is done by bees and
other insects). To determine the sex of your holly plants,
look at the flowers. The female flower has a small green
"fruit to be" structure in the center of its white petals.
The male flower have many stamens (creamy color) sticking
out which bear the pollen.
So,
who pollinates who? - From what we know, most male hollies
can pollinate female hollies as long as they are in bloom at
the same time. But it is best to have the same species
which flower at the exact same time for ultimate fruit set.
That's why you'll see hollies sold as named pairs. If they
are a mismatched pair and the blooming times do not overlap,
you'll have little to no fruit production on the female
holly. With the popular 'Blue Hollies', try to stick with
the named pairs: Blue Girl / Boy, Blue Princess / Prince,
Blue Maid / Stallion, and China Girl / Boy. If you do not
know what cultivar the female blue holly plant is, Stallion
has the longest blooming period of all the males (with Blue
Boy flowering almost as long, closely followed by Blue
Prince, followed by the shortest in blooming times China
Boy, which is one of the hardiest!).
Others:
- Ilex opaca (Amercian) usually flowers in May (males are
available)
- Ilex x Fosters usually flowers in May (males are
available)
- Ilex decidua usually flowers in May (males are available,
but all 3 of the
above will pollinate with opaca)
- Ilex verticillata (Winterberry) has several female and
male selections. 'Jim
Dandy' (starts blooming earlier) and 'Southern Gentleman' (keeps
blooming later) are male pollinators for these.
- Ilex x (vert. and serrata cross) have many hybrids with
'Apollo' or 'Raritan
Chief' being the male pollinators. (Sparkleberry / Winter Red are
females)
["Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation
determines what you do. But attitude determines how well
you do it." -Lou Holtz]
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