Chickweed in the cold soil of the garden.

Stellaria media  is the Latin name for Chickweed. It is a common weed if left unchecked, will form a dense mat of foliage, and produce mass quantities of seed. In the late winter and very early spring, it is an always green presence in my vegetable garden.  Just about the time the snow has melted enough for me to be able to open the garden gate, I can see these weed plants struggling to grow as much I am yearning to yank them out! It is a hard time of year for us die-hard gardeners, not being able to work the soil while invaders are using our sacred garden areas for their own benefit and the detriment of ours. Still I find hopefulness in the sight of the cold tolerant chickweed; it brings me hope this will still grow and there is a gardening season ahead, even if I have to wait awhile until the earth warms.

photo by Carol Quish

 

Chickweed is an annual plant, preferring the cool season and dies out during the heat of the summer. Hand pulling and cultivating with a hoe is pretty effortless as the root system is small and shallow. The plants pull out easily. All parts of the chickweed plant are edible. Raw in salads it reportedly tastes like corn silk. Cooked, it tastes a bit like spinach.

-Carol Quish

 

Sticky Stuff On My Orchid

Phalaenopsis orchid in bud, photo by C. Quish

Happy Sap, C. Quish Photo

January is the month my couple of Phalaenopsis orchids send up a spike with flower buds on them. The buds usually open during the last weeks of the month. I discovered one orchid stem and buds looked a bit shiny. Upon closer inspections, I saw a droplet of an amber-colored thick liquid. The stuff was sticky! It appeared to be maple syrup. I gently washed it off under tepid water. The next day it was back. I checked for insect feeding that might have caused damage and weeping, or insect excrement. None. After watching for several days, more sticky stuff appeared, almost coating the buds. After a bit of internet hunting on University researched sites on orchids, I found nothing indicating this as a problem. An informal search of ‘Sticky Stuff on my Orchid’ returned several answers. It is normal for some varieties. They called it ‘Happy Sap’. If the orchid is happy with its environment, temperature and humidity, it will produce this high sugar sap emitted from the stem surrounding the buds to entice pollinating insects to visit the plant. Once the buds open into the flower containing the pollen, the insects will be present to land on the flower and ensure pollination. The orchid has developed this appetizer to the main meal of the flower, just enough sweet sap to entice the insects to hang around for the real show and nectar.

Another plant that emit sweet, sticky gel is the sundew, botanically named Drosera . These plants attract the insects to the sweet sap, which then get stuck in the sap on the leaf. The plant then eats the insect, absorbing the insects nutrients as it decomposes. These plants are carnivorous. Still another carnivorous plant is the Pitcher Plant which lures insects down its throat where it becomes trapped in a pool of gooey sap, never to make its way back out. I took a cold walk to the UConn Ecology and Evolutionary Biology’s greenhouse to snap a few pictures of plants with happy sap and enticing sweet liquid emitters. EEB greenhouses are open to the public and a great way to beat the winter cold. http://florawww.eeb.uconn.edu/visiting.html

-Carol Quish

Sundew, Carol Quish photo

Small Sundew, Carol Quish photo

Pitcher Plant, photo by C.Quish

Bench waiting for you to visit and enjoy the greenhouses. C.Quish photo

 

Farmer’s Market Time Again

Farmers and greens.

Spring is in full swing and the seasonal farmer’s markets are starting to open up to sell the fruits, vegetables and products of our local farmers. The variety and quality are outstanding. Everything from in-season asparagus, spinach and greens to soap, mushrooms, cheeses and preserves. Wool natural and dyed are animal products often sold too.  Farmer’s markets give the producer access to consumers that normally would not be have access to their farm. Farmers do sell to grocery stores, but that involves a middle man and the prices becomes higher or the farmer makes less money. Farmer’s markets give direct contact to the grower where people get to meet the person growing their food. Larger markets are a one stop shopping experience with numerous growers at one site. For a 2012 list of Connecticut Farmer’s Markets organized by the CT Dept. of Agriculture, click on http://www.ct.gov/doag/lib/doag/marketing_files/certified_fm_by_county_05-04-2012.pdf

Recently I traveled to Baltimore, Maryland to visit my daughter and she was very excited to take me to her farmer’s market “under the highway and next to the prison” at 7 am on Sunday morning. The highway over head provides protection from rain and sun. This historic market and bazaar is 35 years old with many vendors including meats, fish, cheeses, plants and even arts and crafts. 8,000 people visit on a typical Sunday between 7 and 12. We brought the camera to share the many offerings  on a sunny morning in mid-May.

-Carol Quish

Hand spun and dyed wool.

Bison meat frozen and as jerky.

Live Maryland Crabs.

Beautifully artistic goat cheeses and cheese pies.

Many varieties of mushrooms.

Rhubarb and Ramps!

Many varieties of potatoes.

Basil plants in six packs.

 

Winter Color

In Connecticut, deciduous trees and shrubs leaf out in late April and lose their foliage in October, which means that for half of the year we’ve got naked gardens. We could turn a blind eye to our landscape for six months, but what a waste of potential! Why not incorporate a little of what the nursery catalogs call “winter interest”? Now is a good time to observe where our gardens are weak in both structure and variety. Usually when we imagine gardens in winter, the picture is nearly monochromatic: black branches set against a gloomy gray sky and more dark branches jutting from a uniform layer of snow. This year, the lack of snow offers us bland, broad expanses of straw-colored lawn to greet us at every turn. If we look a little closer we will find color; not the rich palette of summer, but the muted tones of the season, with occasional bright spots.

Pieris in bud Photo: J. McInnis

The spruces and firs are exquisite in the winter, pure Currier & Ives when their boughs are weighed down with snow. Most evergreen foliage tends to darken at this time of year, with tints of yellow or rust. Siberian Cypress (Microbiota decussata), fresh and ferny in the warm months, goes a dull root-beer brown with the cold weather, often with a purplish cast to it. Blue junipers, such as Juniperus squamata ‘Blue Star’ also acquire rich purple tones. Look for wine coloration in the foliage of broadleaf evergreens and in the flower buds of winter-blooming Pieris. On the other hand, there’s the sore thumb of the landscape: Gold Thread False Cypress (Chamaecyparis pisifera filifera ‘Aurea’), garish enough in the warm months, the color intensifies to a lurid yellow in the winter. Set against the ubiquitous dyed-red mulch of commercial plantings it can make your eyes water.

Winterberry 'Red Sprite' Photo: University of Tennessee

Many deciduous shrubs and trees, such as the aptly-named native Winterberry (Ilex verticillata) have red fruits that persist into winter, a bonus to birds.  Malus ‘Molten Lava’, a crabapple with spectacular white flowers in spring, can hold its startling yellow-orange fruit into the early winter. The bark of some trees is shown off to its best advantage this time of the year, without the distraction of foliage. The mottled creams, greens and grays of a fat Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) really pop, especially when the bark is wet. White birch (Betula papyrifera) is dramatic against a dark background; Heritage Birch (Betula nigra ‘Heritage’) has interesting pinkish-buff peeling bark and better disease resistance than its cousin. The Red- or Yellow-twig dogwoods (Cornus) are superb choices for a bright punch of color, blended into a naturalistic setting.  Coral-bark Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum ‘Sango Kaku’) is simply a show-stopper.

Coralbark Japanese Maple Photo:NYU

Seize the opportunity to enjoy your garden for the other half of the year by including elements of color in the design, along with form and texture. Including a variety of evergreens will soften the starkness of winter, while accents of subtle color that would be overwhelmed by a summer landscape will now have more impact. Pour yourself a mug of hot cocoa, look out over the interplay of tones and think about all the garden maintenance that you’re not doing.

J. McInnis

 

Craneflies- New Invasives for Connecticut?

Cranefly adult photo: Pamm Cooper

The extremely wet conditions of 2011 may have encouraged a new invasive insect to the turf grasses of Connecticut.  Although not confirmed, a few golf courses in the state reported that crane fly larvae were actively feeding in the turf. Tipula oleracea which is sometimes referred to as the marsh or giant common crane fly is the suspected invasive (distinguishing species of crane flies is difficult, a confirmation of the larval species is usually made by an entomologist.)    Dr. Pat Vittum turf entomologist for the UMass turf program  reported in her early December turf newsletter that several  golf course superintendents on the eastern end of Cape Cod, found invasive cranefly larvae Tipula oleraceae,  active on many parts of the golf courses.  She also reports that this invasive species has probably has been present in the southeastern part of Massachusetts for several years.  In 2005, New York State reported that two exotic species, the European crane fly (Tipula paludosa) and the marsh cranefly (T. oleracea), invaded New York State.

european crane fly larva rear end protruberences Nov 2011 photo: Pamm Cooper

The crane fly larvae can severely damage all types of turfgrass and forage grass species.  In addition they have been known to attack nursery seedlings as well as many small fruit and vegetable crops.

Cranefly larva photo: Pamm Cooper

Dr Vittum’s report states that “The “common” cranefly often experiences two generations per year, with the first generation laying eggs in late April or early May, and larvae (large olive green, legless maggots with some noticeable projections on the tip of the abdomen) feed through the summer months. Adults fly in late August or early September, lay eggs, and the emerging larvae (of the second generation) feed through the fall.”

Craneflies thrive when soil moisture levels are very high, especially during egg-laying. Last year was one of the wettest in New England, providing the right conditions for large numbers of larvae to survive. Fall also brought unseasonably mild temperatures that probably enhanced the larvae’s’ opportunity to forage.

Entomologists from the west coast report that the larvae can be active any time the ground is not frozen, they resume active feeding as the frost leaves the ground in late winter and can cause additional damage before pupating in the spring.

The adults emerge in the early fall, however  it is the larvae in the early spring, and late fall, that devour roots and cause yellow spots and bare patches in grass.

The adults are poor fliers and have a short lifespan, therefore do not travel very far on their own.  It is thought that introduction of theses invasives may be due to movement of infested soil.

LA

Dr vittum’s turf newsletter:

http://extension.umass.edu/turf/management-updates

.

 

Home Heating With Wood

wood-chemwiki-ucdavis-edu.gif

Heating your home with wood is a practical alternative to high oil and electricity prices. Some people heat completely with wood and some burn wood in addition to their conventional heating system.  Either way, knowledge of different woods or how they burn will make the whole process more economical and cost efficient. Different ways to burn wood affect the efficiency as well. Indoor wood stoves, fireplaces and outdoor wood fired furnaces provide varying levels of heat.

A roaring fire in the fireplace gives a beautiful site but not much in the way of heat. Most heat goes up the chimney with only an average of 10% of the available heat making its way into your home. More heat is lost through the open flue after the fire burns down but is not cool enough to handle the damper. The newer generation of wood stoves claim efficiency of 50 to 75% or higher. Outdoor wood fired furnaces are located outside of the home in a contained shed. Water is heated in pipes by the outdoor furnace then pumped back into the home via underground piping. The hot water is circulated through the home heating pipe system. When the water cools down it is pumped back into the outdoor furnace pipes to be heated again. Efficiency levels are low, in the 25 to 50% range. They burn a large amount of wood at a low temperature creating a lot of smoke. State and local regulations restrict use and placement of wood burning appliances. Check with your town’s building or fire marshal for any restrictions and requirements.

The type of wood burned and level of moisture of the wood effect the heat produced. Freshly cut wood contains high levels of moisture. Wood must “season” or dry out for several dry months until the cells release the moisture before burning. The nature of wood combustion is such that the moisture within the wood must be released as steam then the volatile portion of the wood can burn releasing heat. So wet or “green” wood spends too much energy on releasing moisture to make it worth while.

Wood is normally measured and sold in cords. A cord is a pile of wood, bark and air spaces equal to the measurements of four feet high, four feet wide and 8 feet long, or 128 cubic feet. A tightly packed cord of wood will contain more pieces of wood than a loosely pack one. The actual weight of the wood will vary with the moisture content and the type of tree.

Heat is measured in British Thermal Units or BTUs. One BTU is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water one degree F. One pound of any type of wood dried to equal levels will produce the same amount of heat when burned, 8,600 BTUs. The heavier or denser the wood is, the better the heat value. Hard woods like maple and oak will be heavier than soft woods such as pine and fir. Likewise, a cord of hard wood will weigh more than a cord of soft wood. It will take larger amounts of soft wood than hard wood to produce the same amount of BTUs.

Hardwoods are beech, some maples, hickory, locust, ash and oak. Softwoods are pine, spruce, cedar and willow. The soft woods contain more resin which will catch fire faster. These are ideal for kindling.

Store all firewood outdoors a few inches off the ground to prevent moisture from wicking up. Keep the top of the pile dry with the sides open for good air circulation. Fire wood stored inside can bring unwanted insects into your home. Some insects find the split wood a great place to spend the winter until they experience the unexpected warmth of your home and decide it is spring, ending their winter sleep.

-Carol Quish

 

Last Rose of Autumn?

What a glorious weekend in southern New England! Temperatures climbed into the 60’s on Saturday and although Sunday was a tad cooler, it was quite a boon to us gardeners who lost previous weekend days to snow, rain, work, and other commitments. Much of the storm damage has been taken care of including splitting the old apple tree logs. The debate has started about what to plant in its place. I’m thinking along the lines of an American elm – something to provide high shade and a future nesting site for orioles.

Butterfly garden after the snowstorm

The butterfly garden needed a severe cut back as that foot of snow Mother Nature so kindly provided us with late last month really trounced the butterfly bushes since they still had all their leaves. They, in turn, crushed the coneflowers, echinops and grasses. I have heard that butterfly bushes (Buddleia Davidii) can be invasive on some sites but so far have not found any seedlings in my beds. All plants in this garden, except the Buddleia, were cut back to a few inches and I even removed a few lingering weeds. Normally, the coneflower seed heads are left for winter interest and the birds but since they were all flattened, I figured it was just as well to pick them up.

Back to my pitiful white garden. All that remains of my beautiful 25 foot high and wide star magnolia is a bunch of stumps! Looks like an art project gone awry. Much as I hate to do so, I am just going to dig it up come spring (or maybe next weekend if this warm weather continues!) and replace it with something else. The two remaining stems of a clump of grey birch are also coming down and being replaced with a species of tree that does not bend as much. Plus the path to the patio needs to be relined too. It will probably take a couple of growing seasons to give this garden a complete makeover. One white garden discovery that did put a smile on my face was a couple of rose blossoms on the miniature ‘Green Ice’.  In a normal year, most woody plants would be going dormant by now, not blooming. Hopefully this valiant act of winter denial will not jeopardize its survival when the cold arctic temperatures finally do arrive.

Propped up magnolia

Green Ice rose blooming 11-28-11

I have noticed a few other deviations of natural growth cycles as well this year. First of all, I have been seeing some lovely, small, lemon-yellow butterflies. They are very quick and active so I have not been able to get a good look at them for identification purposes. Also, as I was cutting down some of my grasses and perennials, there seemed to be considerably more new growth present at the base of the plants than I see most years. With some plants, this is worrisome; with others it might be a way to decrease their population or eliminate it.

A few years back I innocently purchased a plant labeled, doronicum, at a local garden club plant sale. Also known as Leopard’s Bane, doronicum produces bright golden, daisy-like flowers in early spring. I had grown it at another location in the past and was quite happy with this clump-forming early bloomer. Imagine my surprise when the spring following its planting, I noticed it popping up amid cotoneasters, rhododendrons, ferns and other plants in my woodland walk garden. That little devil was moving a lot faster than I could pull it up. I do have a nice spot for it down by the pond, but I was looking for well-mannered plants for the area that I planted it in.

This doronicum spreads by underground roots.

This flush of spring-like growth might just prove its demise. As I let the senescing leaves from overhead sassafras and maples form a mulch in this area, the planting beds are fairly loose and friable. This makes pulling up the running roots of the doronicum a fairly easy task. I do wonder about more substantial rootstocks deeper in the soil, however. I pulled for about a half hour last Sunday and hope to finish this weekend. I’ll plant a few of these by the pond. The rest will get chopped up and the leaves will go in the compost pile and the roots in the trash. I am not 100 percent positive on the species of doronicum but I do believe it is Doronicum cordatum. If someone can positively identify it, please let me know so I can put it on my top 10 least wanted list!

Doronicum leaves appearing in late November - awaiting pulling!

As far as our plants go, we will have to see how they adapt (or don’t) to climate change. Extended warm weather in the fall or earlier warmer weather in the spring sounds delightful to us humans but when coupled with drastic fluctuations in temperatures and precipitation events (like our October foot of heavy, wet snow or our April warm up and freeze of 2009) it can be devastating to our plants. Gardeners, as a whole, are a pretty observant lot. It is clear to many of us that – the times they are a-changin!

Horticulturally yours,

Dawn

 

Fall Garden Clean Up

Purple coneflower seed head, http://www.unce.unr.edu

 

Beautiful, dry fall days are perfect for cleaning up the gardens before winter and leads to much less work the following spring. My mantra is “If it is brown, cut it down”. Old, dead and dry plant material can harbor insects and diseases that will use this material to spend the winter protected and in place, just waiting for the warm winds of spring to awake to another year of attacking your garden. If you had a problem with insects or disease, remove that plant material to the garbage rather than the compost pile. The compost pile will have to reach 120 degrees F to kill insects and higher to kill most disease pathogens. Most of use do not monitor, never mind manage, a pile correctly to reach those temperatures. So it is better to just remove the infected plants to the household garbage. One other option is to bury them at least one foot deep in the ground

Timing of fall clean up depends on the the first frost mostly. No need to remove still producing plants such as dahlias or kale and possibly some healthy tomatoes. Once the first killing frost happens, there will be many plants to remove. I prefer to gradually remove plants that have petered out and struggling, making the job easier over an extended period rather that doing it all in one muscle-aching long weekend. Have a soil test to determine your pH level and nutrients available. If lime is needed to raise you pH, it will need 6 to 9 months to fully react therefore fall is a great time to add it to the soil.

There are some plants that do not need be to cut back now, but left up for winter interest in the garden, or if they have good seed heads birds and animals can use for food. Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ and some others have strong stems that stand up during winter and also have great seed heads that draw the goldfinches. Echinacea is another seed producer with stems that will stand up to snow cover.

Now is the time to make notes about certain areas and plants that will need to be moved or added to in the spring. Bulbs can be planted and marked with colored golf tees to remind you just where you planted them! I have tendency to forget the exact spot of bulbs plantings whose foliage and flowers are long gone by the end of summer. Poppy seed, annual and perennial, can be spread to in fall. They will germinate in early spring after meeting their cold requirement. I have an annual variety the self seeds that I find popping up in different areas. Once they have two sets of real leaves, I dig and move them around to where I want them. While cleaning up, watch for any weeds that have seed heads. These should go in the trash, not the compost to further reduce weed seeds in the soil.

In the vegetable garden, remove all tomato and potato plant material to prevent volunteer plants next year. If you had late blight fungus this year, it can overwinter in plant tissue, such as a missed potato in the bed, only to grow an infect potato plant next year that has the possibility of infecting your new potato plants. Rotate crops by planting potatoes in a different bed the next year. Any potato plants appearing in the old bed should be pulled and destroyed, not placed in the compost pile.

Finally, a layer of leaves can be placed on top of the garden soil as a mulch. In our yard, we mow the lawn in a circle or square pattern with the discharge pointing inward to the middle of the square. As the lawn and leaves are mowed, each pass makes the square smaller and deposits the chopped up leaves into a pile. We then rake them up and lay them down on the garden beds. The small pieces will be almost completely decomposed by planting time next spring and I am adding needed organic matter to the soil.

-Carol Quish

 

Mulch Molds, “What is Growing on My Mulch?”

“What is growing on my mulch” This is a common question I am asked here at the UConn Home and Garden Education Center. People are perplexed when they find a yellow foamy mass that looks like the neighbor’s dog vomited in their flower garden. Or when their nice white sided house is suddenly speckled with tiny black spots that will not come off no matter which cleaning agent they use or how hard they scrub. Or noticing the sudden eruption of very ‘interestingly shaped’ mushrooms popping up through the mulch.

No, these are not the work of garden fairies and a miniature landscape construction crew, but the result of fungus hard at work. All of the above named structures are the fruiting bodies of naturally occurring fungus. These are decomposers doing their job in life, rotting natural organic material, breaking it down into its basic chemical form. This is composting.

The mulch most commonly used in our yards is dead wood and/or bark material chopped or shredded into a uniform size. We use it to keep the weeds from sprouting, to maintain a constant temperature of the soil and to retain moisture in soil. Mulch looks neat and showcases the plants. These are all great functions, but this mulch will not last forever. As soon as it is placed in the garden beds, the natural invaders attack it. Bacteria and fungi that live in all soil recognize this wonderful new food source for them! You have fed the decomposers and they are going to thank you by getting right to work.

The bacteria decomposers are microscopic and not visible to the naked eye. Most fungus is also microscopic until it grows to the point of producing a fruiting structure, sometimes called a mushroom. This fruiting structure contains the spores or ‘seeds’ of the fungus, much like the fruiting structure of an apple tree is an apple which holds its seeds that can grow a tree. Weather conditions have to be to the fungus’ liking for it to reproduce. Fungus likes it moist. Temperature preferences vary with the type of fungus involved.

The body of a fungus starts as a single spore landing via wind currents or expelled from the fruiting structure. That spore grows into a strand called a hyphae; groups of these hyphae all grow together forming what’s called a mycelia mat. Sometimes this is visible as a white coating or mass. When the fungus matures and the weather is right, a fruiting structure appears above ground. This is the part we notice. Most all of the decomposers are harmless to our live plants. They feed on the dead material. All can appear spring through fall, especially after a period of rainy weather. No mushrooms growing in your mulch, in the lawn or in the wild should be eaten. It is best to consider all uncultivated mushrooms poisonous. There are experts in the field that can identify edible mushrooms. I am not one, nor do we have anyone at the University.

Changing the environment will lessen all the fungal growth on any type of mulch. Keep the mulch dry. Do not aim sprinkles at mulch, but direct water to plant roots. When you do water, apply one to two inches of water per week, all at one time. Daily watering for short periods does not penetrate deeply in the soil, but remains in the mulch and top few inches of soil. Two inches of mulch is enough to retain soil moisture and block light from reaching weed seeds. Top dress last year’s mulch with a light ½ inch of new mulch to dress up the beds. In rainy times, stir up the mulch with a rake or how to break up any colonies of fungus. This will also fluff up and dry out the mulch making it less hospitable for fungal growth.  As of this date, there are no fungicides available to treat mulches to control fungal growth.

The most common encountered fungi we get calls about are chronicled here.

Dog Vomit Fungus is a slime mold. Fuligo septica is its Latin name. Blob-like in shape and bright yellow in color that will fade to a sickly orange brown as it matures over the course of a few days. The final end results in a powdery brown pile that will erupt in a wisp of spore being released when it is disturbed. This cloud of fine dust is the way it mold spreads it spores to a new spot. It has no preference as to the type of mulch. Slime molds feed on the bacteria that are feeding on the mulch, not actually eating the mulch directly. Control is not necessary unless you are unhappy where it is appearing. Just shovel it off to the compost pile if you don’t like it. I personally, enjoy watching the mess as it changes color, form and ages.

Artillery Fungus, Sphaerobolus sp.,  is a much more of a nuisance and can cause damage to homes, cars and anything with reach of its spore spewing range. The artillery fungi’s fruiting structure is a tiny, 1/10 of an inch, cream or orange-brown cup with on black egg. When the fruiting structure is ripe, it explodes shooting its black, sticky spores twenty feet in all directions! The cups are attracted to light colored surfaces, due to their light reflecting ability. Of course, the sticky black spores show up nicely against the white background. The spores will not grow on vinyl or painted surfaces. They need dead organic material to feed upon and colonize. The sticky coating of the spores is incredibly strong and durable making it very difficult to remove. So far, no commercial or homemade cleaner has proven effective to remove the spots from cars or houses. If scraped off, they leave a mark or stain. Artillery fungus does prefer to grow on mulch made of the interior of the tree rather than mulch made from the bark. Soft woods such as pine, is also less hospitable to artillery fungus.

 

 

 

 

 

Bird’s Nest Fungus, Crucibulum and Cyanthus spp., look like tiny grey to brown nests holding tiny eggs. The nest portion can be up to ¼ inch wide. The egg looking part is a mass of spores in the nest released and splashed out of the holding cup when raindrops land on them. They do not shoot out like the artillery fungus. These spores sometimes stick to surfaces but are easily removed, not leaving a stain. Rarer than artillery fungus, this one doesn’t appear to have a favorite mulch as food.

 

 

 

Stinkhorns are the fruiting body of the genus Linnaeus named Phallus after the shape of the mushroom. Taxonomists have separated and renamed the genus. The common name of stinkhorn doesn’t quite describe how bad they smell. You will smell a colony of stinkhorns before you ever marvel at their sight. The strong scent is used to lure animals and insects that normally feed on decomposing flesh to touch them. The slime substance coating the fruiting body holds the fungal spores, attaching to the animal or insect which will move onto another area eventually spreading the spore far and wide. Stinkhorns can occur anywhere there is composted material as a food source.

 

 

 

 

-Carol Quish

 

Good Night Irene and Tomato Trials

Compared to many New England (and East Coast) residents, I am very thankful that except for some water in the basement and a large ash tree that uprooted and fell almost surrealistically in the narrow space between the chicken coop and my three bin composter, we survived Tropical Storm Irene pretty much unscathed.

Tree down from Irene

A lot of my flowers toppled over and that is a bit unfortunate as our local Garden Club holds a flower show every year on Olde Home Day (Labor Day). All members create several floral arrangements, from backyard flower beds and borders, and usually visitors are greeted by several hundred flower arrangements set up in the basement of the Charlton Federated Church. Visitors enthusiastically comment on the veritable explosion of colors, creativity, scents and floral inspirations each year. While we gardeners/floral arrangers are quite resourceful, Irene may have us scrambling a bit this year for ideas!

Coral Fountain Amaranth on its side

The day before Irene was predicted to hit our area, I collected as many tomatoes as I could figuring any I left would be blown off the vine or cracked because of the excessive water. All 14 tomato plants had some ripe or near ripe fruit so this also gave me an opportunity to sample and compare the 10 varieties I grew this year.

The collection before the storm

Cherry tomatoes always rank high as they are most prolific plants, can be snacked on like candy, used in green salads, and also added to any number of hot or cold dishes. ‘Sungold’ tops my list with its sweet, golden-orange, 1-inch fruits. The tomatoes begin to ripen about 57 days after transplanting. Its only fault is that it is thin-skinned so pick all fruits, orange or yellow, before any severe rain event. Despite this minor defect, my garden would not be complete without this most delicious of all cherry tomatoes!

Two other must have cherry tomatoes are ‘Sweet Million’ and ‘Yellow Jelly Bean’. These two, along with ‘Sungold’ not only taste terrific but are just so beautiful grouped together in salads. Also these three varieties are indeterminate in growth habit, which means they just keep growing and producing tomatoes until stopped by a hard frost. Last year I was picking cherry tomatoes well into October. They do have some typical tomato disease problems but because of their indeterminate growth habits, they usually manage to outgrow diseases like early blight, septoria, and anthracnose as long as you can routinely remove any diseased lower leaves. Spraying routinely with a sulfur or copper based, natural fungicide would be prudent as well in our humid, disease-promoting summers.

A new cherry tomato I tried this year is ‘Green Grape’. How lovely, I thought to have orange, yellow, red and green tomatoes in my daily summer salads! These tomato plants are determinate in growth habit, meaning they reach a certain growth stage, set flowers and fruit, and stop growing. At first they seemed immune to most tomato diseases. But then, they seemed to get this one disease that turns the leaves black and kills them. No spotting diseases, like septoria and early blight, for this variety! I thought this was good until I picked off about half of its leaves that were blackened and dead before Irene hit while collecting any potentially ripe fruit. I still can’t quite figure out which fruit are ripe as even the ones that look like they might be are still quite tart. I did notice some fruit changing to a more yellowish-chartreuse color and they tasted more pleasant.

Four small, early to medium, midseason tomatoes I harvested some fruit from were ‘Polfast’, ‘Marglobe’, ‘Champion Hybrid’ and ‘Golden Girl’. In general, the yellow or gold tomatoes are less acidic but still have a pleasing mild, tomato taste. I thought ‘Golden Girl’ was juicy and enjoyable and a nice salad addition and since she is indeterminate in growth habit with a typical maturity of 80 days, I am hoping for a continued harvest for the next month or so.

‘Polfast’ and ‘Marglobe’ have small to medium-sized red tomatoes on determinate plants. ‘Marglobe’ has been around for quite a while because of its sumptuous tomato flavor and disease resistance. The fruits of both of these varieties are most enjoyable and I have used them fresh and skewered with chicken on the grill and as an ingredient in tomato-zucchini casseroles. I will definitely consider growing both again.

‘Champion Hybrid’ gave me about a half dozen tomatoes before Irene and because it is indeterminate in growth habit, I am hoping for a dozen or so more. ‘Champion’ has been producing about one-half pound fruit which are solid and meaty and so far rank number one for my family for BLT’s which we have been indulging in on a regular basis this time of year.

For my canned tomatoes and chili sauce, I am anticipating a decent harvest of ‘Cuore di Bue’ and some unknown plum tomatoes that just sprang up in my watermelon patch. I think these ‘oxheart’ tomatoes, whether of Italian, Russian or other nationality are the absolute best canning tomatoes. They are quite ‘bottom heavy’ with ridges, and range, depending on the variety, from 4 to 8 inches or more across. Oxhearts are meaty, don’t contain many seeds, and are my favorite sauce tomatoes.

Cuore di Bue

All the the oxhearts I am familiar with are indeterminate heirlooms. In fact, I was first introduced to them back in the mid 80’s while working as a horticulturist in a Massachusetts County Cooperative Extension Center. One of my clients had some questions and among them was whether or not I had tried growing a Russian oxheart tomato. When I said no, he promptly brought me one of his plants that he had started from seed brought over decades ago from his native country by his relatives! For many years I saved seed and continued growing this tomato. With time, it seemed to cross with other tomato varieties and the fruits were smaller and the plants more prone to tomato diseases. Now I tend to purchase new seed for different oxheart tomato varieties from various seed houses trying to find a close match. ‘Cuore di Bue’ tastes quite similar but the fruits are smaller. I will continue to grow this one but keep up my search for the original Russian oxheart that was gifted to me.

Aside from being an ardent tomato grower, I also am an ardent composter and you are welcome to join me along with other staff and volunteers at the 1st Annual Fall Compost and Garden Fair. Check it out at http://www.ladybug.uconn.edu!