The Garden Buzz

Sneak Peek at P. Allen Smith's New iPhone App!

During the gardening season, a muddy trail marks the route to my laptop. I am constantly running inside to look up things like planting times, cultural requirements, growth habits and plant varieties, in addition to seeking photos of plants at mature size and design ideas. 

The natural next step is an iPhone app. Combine that with the booming new interest in veggie gardening and you've got the new Grow and Go Together app from P. Allen Smith and Bonnie Plants. What a great new tool for gardeners!

 

It's a how-to app for vegetable and herbs with all the basic information for getting things growing; when to plant, light and water requirements, and harvest information, including an option to sort by seasons. Delicious recipes follow every vegetable and herb, answering the age-old question of what to do with what you've grown. Container suggestions and garden projects round out the features on this app.

I can see gardeners, especially beginners taking this app to the garden center to help them decide what to grow among all the possibilities. After that it's a great companion for the farmer's market or grocery store to remind the cook of recipe ingredients.

For more experienced gardeners, with 50 vegetable and herb profiles and 50 recipes, it might inspire experimenting with something new or a new way to prepare an old favorite.

I just wish there was an audio version with P. Allen dispensing his gardening advice with that smooth, southern accent that makes every gardening dream seem possible.

Who knew an iPhone would end up in your garden tool tote?

Garden Tip of the Week: How NOT to Trim Your Lilacs

As we go about our lives everyday, we see minor gardening transgressions; trees scarred by weed strimmers, those high mulch collars smothering little saplings, and such. Then there are crimes against nature. Please witness exhibit A...

This is what's left of the beautiful lilacs down the road from my house. I have looked forward to their billowing lavender flowers every year. Unfortunately I saw a heap of trimmings on the lawn the other day and now this is all that remains.

Lilacs bloom on what is called old wood. Any pruning should be done immediately after they flower.  New buds will form soon and any late pruning will sacrifice next season's blossoms. Any other pruning to shape or renovate should be done using the rule of thirds. Never remove more than a third of the plant.

Renovation pruning goes in and removes selected older limbs from the bottom, leaving a good amount of newer branches to achieve balance.

In my last home, we lived in an older neighborhood that prized its parks. In fact, it was supposedly modeled after an English village.  With the vast, expansive lawns and wide streets, it was evident the founders hadn't lived in a real English village. I have. But it's the thought that counts.

Incorporated as a tiny town, we had our own parks commissioner. One year he visited London and came back inspired to transform our already-lovely landscapes into Hyde Park. He ordered all the shrubs bullied into balls and hedges, including the lilacs. For the next three years, until the lilacs regrouped, we had no blooms.

Life's too short to go without lilacs. Prune them properly, please.

Who Can Resist a Baby Hummingbird?

This is both adorable and admirable.....enjoy!

 

Another Idea for Arbor Day: May I Suggest a Serviceberry...

You may not have room for a mighty oak. An elm might be overwhelming. But surely there's a place in your yard for a Serviceberry. You may know it by other names; shad bush or juneberry are just a few of its aliases.  Beyond that, It's either a very tall shrub or a multi-stemmed tree.

Growing up to 20 ft tall and 10 ft wide, in full sun to partial shade, it fits a variety of garden situations. It makes an especially attractive hedge.

This great native is adaptable and versatile with loads of interest; fuzzy gray new leaves, pretty white flowers, yellow to orange fall color and juicy fruit. Butterflies like it for the nectar and as a host plant for their larvae as well. You can even bake a pie if you can beat the birds.

Planting a Tree for Arbor Day? Consider the Crabapple...

I've been kinda crabby after a couple of crappy days; nothing terrible, just annoying stuff that pales in comparison to many people's travails. Even so, I decided to treat myself to a little horticultural therapy. There's nothing like a visit to the crabapple collection in full bloom at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.

If you're thinking of planting a tree in celebration of Arbor Day, and you should; a crabapple can be just the ticket.

Lots of people think they don't have room for trees; their yard is small or already heavily wooded. Come on, you can squeeze in something. Crabapples like the tiny "Tina" varieties can be shoehorned in even the smallest garden space. If you have a large, barren lawn, go big, how about an entire grove? 

Why crabapples?

They make people smile.

They make people gasp.

They make people ooh and ahh.

They come in all sorts of colors; white and watermelon red, purply-pink and pinky purple.

Some even have purple foliage.

  

They smell great and perfume the air around them.

They inspire artists with different shapes; round, vase and umbrella, and weeping as well.

They are beautiful while still in bud.

They age gracefully, looking good when old and gnarly. 

And we haven't even begun to talk about the fruit.

Crabapples attract bees, birds and butterflies for a livelier garden.

Check with your local extension or reputable nursery for a crabapple that suits your garden conditions. Then start digging. 

  
  
 

 

Garden Tip of the Week: Oopsy Daisy?

Chrysanthemum leucanthemum otherwise known as Oxeye Daisy    The Garden Buzz

 I'm a sucker for those Sound of Music-style alpine meadows with drifts of daisies that shimmer and sway among the wild grasses. So when we were exploring the Gunflint Trail above Grand Marais and found ourselves surrounded with swaths of oxeye daisies, I swooned. In an uncharacteristically romantic move, my husband dug up a clump for me to take back home.

Oops. In fact, you might say, oopsy daisy.

I know better, it was probably a mild case of plant poaching. But they're so cute.

I planted the daisy in my butterfly garden, and it did indeed lend that meadow effect to the whole garden. Then I happened to look on the Minnesota DNR invasive plants list. There was my daisy.

Chrysanthemum leucanthemum spreads by rhizomes as well as thousands and thousands of seeds. Well, duh, how did I think it filled those endless acres, lining the roadsides for miles and miles?

Oxeye Daisy seedlings     The Garden Buzz

I raced out to the garden and gingerly trimmed the already drying daisy heads, but the damage was done.

So what's the tip? Watch what you plant. One (wo)man's cute little plant may be another (wo)man's kudzu.

This spring there's a thick patch of daisy seedlings carpeting the ground. I took one of those serious-looking Asian hand-hoes and scraped away the tiny green devils.

Dispensing with the daisies    The Garden Buzz

Wish me luck.

HAPPY EARTH DAY !!!

Herbs: Food Growing for Commitment-Phobes

Vegetable gardening is the hot ticket in the horticultural world right now. The quest for locally-grown produce meeting the economic downturn has sent folks back to the land.

Yet anyone who's heard of that book about the $64 tomato knows that growing your own sometimes comes with a price. Better to grow for the delicious taste and fresh air opportunities.

Not everyone will be able to grow a veggie garden; it's a considerable outlay of time and energy. Others simply won't have a suitable site. Not to be a Debbie Downer, I'm all for edible gardening, but it's a bit of a commitment.

Growing herbs is a great solution for those not quite ready to commit. They take up little space, can be grown among other plants and provide a continuous harvest. Many of them are drought tolerant once established, as well as pretty much pest free.

 Homegrown herbs spark up store-bought vegetables, or better yet, farmer's market finds. Herbs increase the health value of any dish, some with high vitamin and mineral content They add depth and flavor to just about anything, sweet or savory.

 

BEGINNER'S HERB GARDEN

 

CHIVES

The classic accompaniment to sour cream on that baked potato. Slender green foliage with pretty pink blossoms. Hardy to zone 4. Clumping form that can be divided to increase plants. Mild onion flavor that adds zing to eggs, salads, soups and more.

PARSLEY 

Beyond the garnish, parsley is a versatile herb that combines well with other herbs to lend depth to many dishes. The more common curly type is milder than flat-leaf or Italian parsley. Add to soups, salads, vegetables and casseroles among others

THYME

Tiny leaves on stiff stems followed by pink or white compound flowers. A smoky, spicy taste that gives sophistication to meat, fish, vegetables and egg/cheese based dishes. Lots of varieties with citrus fragrance and taste notes.

MINT

Fresh green textured leaves with that distinctive flavor. Grow in containers to keep in bounds. A huge number of different twists; apple, pineapple, coconut, lime, you name it. Special in drinks, surprising in desserts, lovely with lamb and other meats.

BASIL

Green shiny leaves with an anise tinged taste. A heat-loving plant that grows and grows. Lots of varieties for a diversity of flavor, color, texture and shape. Popular for pesto and pasta.

 

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!

Garden Tip of the Week: Stylin' Those Grasses for Spring

Too often I tend to wax poetic about plants and get lost in the dreamy world of describing nature, instead of teaching you how to do something! So with that...let me introduce my first Garden Tip of the Week. I'll try my best to post them on Fridays, right before everybody heads out to the yard on weekends.

Do you have one of those forked hand-tools called a hand cultivator? I know it's supposed to be for weeding or scratching the ground, but I find it too wimpy for that. But today I found a great use for it while I was trimming back my ornamental grasses before they get too far along.

I leave my grasses up for winter; for interest and wildlife. Come spring they are an unruly mess and need cutting back. My usual method is to bundle them in hand and whack with the grass shears. On smaller grasses I usually snip away, with it reminding me of giving the grasses a haircut. After this a lot of dead blades and debris usually remain caught within the leaves, looking unsightly until eventually being covered by new growth. It's too tedious and non-productive picking it out with your fingers.

Going with the haircut idea I started combing the trimmed tufts with the hand cultivator. It was amazing all the dead gunk I got out the grasses. It was kind of like a good de-thatching. The grasses looked so much better with their new styles. I then did the same thing with a lot of the chive-like alliums, same results. I bet it leads to better crown health without all that stuff collecting moisture where it can rot the plant.

Check out how much better the grass on the right looks after a little comb job.
 

There you go, some practical advice, but what I really love is that it all started while I was trimming the Deschampsia cespitosa, otherwise known as "Hair Grass"!

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - April 15, 2010

 
With the weight of the rain on his shoulders.... The Garden Buzz