Cuttings...a success story!

 

The great willow experiment is now in phase 2, with great success. The sweet bay laurel and rosemary cuttings have been transferred to a more permanent home. The cuttings sat in the kitchen window marinating in a hormonal tea created using the heart wood from a branch of a willow tree. The picture on the left illustrates the hearty growth of the roots from one of the jars of rosemary cuttings. During the first stage of rooting a slimy clump can be seen at the base of the cuttings, it is from this goo that the roots start emerging, demonstrated by the bay on the right.

My impatience for dirty fingers, spring fever and a snow storm yesterday brewed up the perfect situation for transplanting the cuttings. I used a seed starting mix with beneficial bacteria and fungi add to facilitate strong growth. When transplanting any plant, make sure that you have all the supplies readily at hand. I soak the planting medium in warm water for about an hour before starting to make sure that the root fibers have a ready supply of water as soon as they are plucked from the jar. Make sure you have enough pots for the cuttings and you are ready to go!

Each cutting with attached root goo and root fibers are carefully lifted out of the jar and gently placed in a 3" pot filled with medium 1" from the top. When transplanting these tender babies, carefully lay the root fibers in a hole you have made in the medium trying not to tangle or break them. Then carefully fill in the hole and press gently to make sure there is good contact between the root fibers and the medium. Then pour a bit of the willow water into the pot. Using a tray under the pots to catch any water will make for a hassle free indoor garden. To further pamper your new plants, you can create the perfect conditions for strong root growth by using a heating mat to keep the root zone toasty warm.

When starting any new plantings in the house during the cold winter months, make sure that you check on them at least every other day, they will be happy to see you. Your biggest concern will be watering, keep them damp, but don't drown them by leaving the tender roots to wallow in water. 

Thoughts on Garlic

Did you plant garlic last fall? Are you wondering what's happening down there when the weather is cold, the ground is frozen and covered with snow? It's simply miraculous, not to mention delicious. Garlic prefers the security of it's underground home.

Properly planted garlic is in the ground in the fall, thus giving it time to establish roots before a long winter nap. When the ground starts to thaw, that hearty little plant gets going. Often showing green shoots before anything else in the garden wakes up. There are two types of garlic (and possibly thousands of varieties!), hard and soft neck. The hard necks tend to be stronger and more vigorous and perhaps better suited to northern climates. Soft neck varieties are thought to store better and may not emerge in the spring with as much enthusiasm.

So, the plant grows and the leaves emerge and get full and beautiful. Each of those leaves indicates a layer of the papery skin that covers the bulb that is developing underground. Right through the center of those leaves a tall funny flower stem will emerge that will eventually form a curly cue flower on the end, this is called a scape. An often overlooked delicacy that your garlic plant provides.

The scape can be cut off, providing more energy to the plant to make a bigger bulb. The flavor burst from this harvest is an excellent addition to pasta, can be grilled, pickled, made into pesto or sauteed. It is not a typical "dead head", it is a harvest to be sure. A quick pickle recipe would be to throw a few whole peppercorns into a clean glass jar, along with a hot pepper perhaps and the very clean scapes (which can be cut up to better fit into the jar). Make a brine with salt, vinegar and water, bring it to a boil and fill the jar. Refrigerate for 4 weeks and you have a super treat to add to salads, soups or to eat straight from the jar.

Back to the leaves. They are important, because they are the gardeners only indication of maturity without digging up a bulb. The general rule of thumb is wait until the bottom few leaves are dying back, this is an indication of the plant nearing the end of it's life cycle. When digging garlic, be careful, they are tender and thin skinned and can be easily damaged with a careless shovel. Remember that for the garlic plant, it's a bit like birth at this stage, so go easy with them. This is the stage where I receive many a phone call...Why is my garlic dying? It's not, it's ready!

Now what, you have this pile of leaves, bulbs and dirt? Garlic needs curing for a bit. It is really delicious at this stage and can be eaten, but it stores best for future use with a little "hanging out"! Simply bundle the garlic together in bunches of about 15-20 plants and hang them in an area away from direct sun and let them dry (a little breeze is great too). When the skin feels papery, trim off the tops, knock off the dirt and enjoy. It is at this point that I advise selecting those bulbs that will be held back for replanting in the fall. Chose the largest bulbs and remember that each clove will bring you a whole bulb next year.

One of the most rewarding crops in my mind, I have a fascination with it. The tenacity and simplicity the adaptability and the taste, what could be better? An ancient plant that has evolved and adapted based on human intervention and desire, what a treat! If you have never planted garlic, I suggest giving it a try. Start with organic garlic, preferably grown in your area by a reputable farmer or friend. Plant it sometime in early October, about 3-4 inches deep, pointed end of the clove goes up, cover with about 3-4 inches of mulch and wait for the show!

 Happy Gardening! See you in "The Backyard"!

A New Year and a New Method

Happiest of New Years to you! The snow is deep now, like a snuggly winter blanket for the garden, allowing us gardeners to dream of the coming season. It's time already for such things as seed catalogs, endless garden plot maps and reviewing last year's garden journal. I wanted to write about rooting plants today, as I recently learned a new process for success. The willow tree is naturally prolific in the wild, many people find them somewhat invasive. There is a way to utilize these plants to promote growth in your cuttings, plant starts and the garden itself. The willow tree possesses natural rooting hormones and can be utilized for such uses.

The process is quite simple, essentially like making tea. Trim a green branch that is about the width of a pencil and smash it with a hammer to expose the tender inside. Cut the smashed branch into one inch sections and drop them in boiling water. Turn off the heat as soon as you drop the willow sections in the water and let them steep until the "tea" is cooled. Strain the water and you have a powerful rooting compound. To use simply dip the end of a 4 inch cutting, with the bottom leaves removed, into the willow water and place in a container. Cuttings can be rooted in water or soil. If water is your preferred method, steer away from clear glass containers as the light that comes through the glass can slow root growth. Another way around this is to wrap a bag or cloth around the jar to keep the light out. This powerful root accelerant can be used for young transplants to encourage root growth as well!

I am using this method, for the first time, on these cold winter days to root rosemary and bay trees for the coming season. Both of these herbs are tender perennials and will not survive winters outside here in Minnesota, so they come inside and spend the winter in my only appropriate south facing window. Currently, my rosemary and bay tree look a little "Dr. Seussian" as they are are the yearly donors for the next season's crop. Both of my rosemary and bay plants have survived for 5 years now and seem to thrive as a result of their yearly pruning. I have rooted both of these plants in the past using no rooting medium. The success rate was not as high as I would have liked, and in fact last year 25% of the cuttings did not take.

Why should you root plants? First, plants are often expensive to replace and starting your own in the midst of the winter's chilly grip allows the fervent gardener to play with plants in a way that feels like cheating winter! If the cuttings are taken from a healthy plant, you are making clones that perhaps are more suited to the environment in which they will thrive. Plants also make great gifts and when edible provide gifts to the gardener beyond their intrinsic beauty.

I will be tracking the progress of my little herb forest and report back! In the meantime, dream wildly of your garden for the coming season! See you in the backyard!

The Big Beet and the King a Progress Report!

The big beet experiment appears to be working! It's such an exciting adventure in which to be apart. The leaves have stretched out and turned into branches, which required an unused tomato cage to contain. As I mentioned in the last post, it is a rewarding experiment, which will become part of the regular garden routine for this garden gal. Seed saving is an integral part of connecting ourselves to our food and our land. Remember that only open pollinated or heirloom varieties produce seed that is true to the "parent" plant.


The King of the North pepper is also going smoothly, flowers abound and peppers are setting well. Just before taking these pictures I caught a robin picking through the pot to find a big fat worm. A great reminder that when gardening in containers it is very important to keep them well watered. This ensures that the garden helpers who migrate up the drain holes in your containers don't fry in the hot sun, especially in the clay pots. This is another experiment I will repeat. If the King sees fit, I will take him in the house again this fall. I wonder how many years the King has?

I wish you great garden success! See you in "The Backyard"!

Progress Report on Experiments

Last fall I outlined two garden experiments I was planning to undertake for this year's growing season. The first was a King of the North sweet pepper that I wanted to overwinter in the house, the second was a giant Detroit Dark Red beet from which I wanted to collect seed.

Peppers, or more properly, chilies are not annual plants in their native environment, but here in Minnesota (and much of the US) peppers are grown primarily as annuals. So, last spring, I planted my most vigorous King of the North start in a pot, with the intention of bringing the whole works in the house. There were trials and tribulations. The plant suffered in the presence of low light and I believe that made it susceptible to aphids that must have come inside with it. Daily bug squashing and 4 doses of Neem Oil at weekly intervals took care of that problem. I did end up cutting it way back, leaving just a few leaves, so it is not (and still isn't) a very attractive plant to display in the living room. The second major issue that the plant suffered is a lack of temperature. I keep my home at 60 degrees in the winter and that is just not typically the temperature range in which peppers are happiest. This coolness, combined with lack of light and the aphids caused the leaves to yellow and eventually all the leaves from last summer fell off. I am happy to report that the plant is enjoying much more light and is making new leaves and even flower buds! It is still too early to put "the King" back out doors, but I have great hope that it will be an early producer and will overcome the awful haircut it received last fall.

The Detroit Dark Red beet is a much smoother success story. I wavered back and forth on the storage options for the beet through the long winter. I decided against storing the beet in sand in a cool, dark corner of the basement. I wrapped "big beet" in two layers of newspaper and stored it in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator. I picked a day that seemed early enough in the spring, but still cool enough to freeze and opened the bag. I was so tickled to see that there were new leaves forming and it had not gotten soft or rotten on the tap root. I then dig a hole big enough for "big beet" and planted it out in the garden. I am happy to report that this experiment is going quite smoothly, and "big beet" is pumping out new leaves and hopefully when the time is right it will flower and make a multitude of seeds.

Good Luck with your garden experiments!

See you in "The Backyard"!

Big Big Mr. Beet

The Big Beet Experiement is nearly complete. Mr. Beet lasted all winter in the refrigerator and has been planted out in the garden. He was stored wrapped in two sheets of newspaper and stored in a plastic produce bag in the crisper. He emerged solid without evidence of rotting and even little baby sprouts shooting from the top. So, out to the garden he goes, planted so that the top is out of the soil, being careful to keep the roots straight, add a good bit of watering and wait to see what happens. The point of overwintering this beet and replanting him is to save seed.

This beet became a candidate for seed saving as a result of it's vigor in the garden, (it grew well and fast), and it's resistance to insect damage (when all the leaves on my other beets were ravaged, this one stood tall and undamaged!). Beets and other roots are biennial plants, in that they produce seeds the second year. So, Mr. Big Beet hopefully will flower and make seeds which I will collect to use in the future. The variety of this beet is called Detroit Dark Red, this beet variety is one on offer by Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, IA. Seed Savers Exchange promotes heirloom, open pollinated varieties in an effort to maintain the genetic heritage and diversity of our food crops. They also work with heritage breeds of chickens, ducks, turkeys, cattle and apple breeds. The work they do helps to combat the monopolization of our food system by companies who seek to patent genetic material and control the food chain from "birth" to plate. Seed Savers Exchange is a non-profit and do tremendous work on behalf of anyone who eats! (http://www.seedsavers.org/)

Spring is Exploding!

It's time again, this year I think it's sneaking up faster than last year, at least here in Minnesota. I have tons of seedlings started, some more ready than others, all following their own path. The "green house" in the basement is serving well for the heirloom starts, everything from herbs to broccoli. No signs of damping off, and the germination mats are doing the trick.

After some welcome publicity, the client list expanded by 246% this season, holy buckets! There will be home gardens all over the land at this rate, which is the goal. Why is that the goal you ask? It's all about the food, it's just plain better if you grew it yourself! Heaping portions of pride and accomplishment, with dashes of dispair at times, the whole plate covered with a lovely gravy of nurturing.

What's the secret to keeping plants happy? The same thing as keeping relationships happy, pay attention! and when you can do something good, do it! How you care for your seedlings and plant starts now, has a direct effect on how they produce for you later. The classic plant start is the tomato, it seems everyone wants to grow tomatoes. Here are some rules of thumb...don't start them too early or they get leggy and weak, give them a bigger "home" if they grow out of the old one (don't assume that it will be okay until you plant it out-it's like wearing shoes that are too small, NO GOOD!). When you pot up the seedling, treat it carefully and give it lots of nice new dirt in which to play. Do let it get used to the sun and wind gradually by hardening off, meaning that the plants get ever slightly more exposure to the bright sun and wind over a period of 1-2 weeks. Don't get fooled by a nice warm spell, it could freeze again...wait until at least your average last frost date to plant it outside.

In the meantime, remember that certian things can be direct seeded now, even if it does freeze again. The list includes lettuce, spinach, radish, broccoli, cabbage, dill, beets and carrots. That certianly isn't a complete list but it will get you through the afternoon garden therapy session anyway!

Good Luck, See you in The Backyard!
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