- Author: Karen Metz
I have loved sweet peas, Lathyrus odoratus, since I was a little girl. When I was an early teen one of my chores was to pick sweet pea flowers to replenish the continuous, springtime bouquet that graced our family table. I will never forget that vase bursting with the beautiful colors and delicate beauty of the sweet pea blossoms. But it wasn't just the visual beauty I appreciated, I loved the fragrance. That sweet scent tops jasmine, honeysuckle and even roses in my book.
I haven't actually grown sweet peas in the last 5 to 7 years due to a combination of family health issues and the drought. I really missed them. Late last fall I came across an envelope of hand gathered sweet pea seeds, I had picked up at a Master Gardener plant exchange. There was not any identifying data as to the color, variety, or even the year I had picked them up. I decided to give it a shot.
Because I suspected the seeds were old, I guessed that they wouldn't have a good germination rate. I sowed the seeds very thickly. I planned for two five- gallon planters and three spots in my raised beds.
We had a relatively warm winter with loads of rain. The plants in the five gallon containers grew very fast and quickly needed support. The ones in the raised beds were a few weeks behind. It looked to me like every single seed had germinated. I enjoyed watching the leaves appear and then the tendrils unfold and cling to anything close by with their tenacious grip. All winter I watched and waited imagining the blossoms and that wonderful fragrance.
Spring came and soon very petite reddish purple blossoms appeared on very short stems that grew off the five to eight foot vines. I gathered some together, took a big sniff and…..nothing. There was absolutely no scent. I was so disappointed.
The plants were very prolific and I had to keep cutting back the faded miniature blossoms so that the plant wouldn't start forming seed pods and stop blooming. After about three or four weeks I noticed a white blossom in one grouping of plants and then a lavender blossom in another grouping, and a large red blossom in a third.
These blossoms were much larger and more like what I had expected. I gathered them together and inhaled deeply and there it was the scent that I can only describe as heavenly. It felt like such a gift, appreciated all the more for being delayed.
I suspect the original gardener had grown several types of sweet peas and the seeds had been mixed when gathered. The predominant seed was the more rapidly blooming vine with the miniature, scentless blossoms. But there were just enough seeds of regular sweet peas to make the growing season worthwhile. There were just enough blossoms for me to keep a small bouquet, continually replenishing it for several weeks.
- Author: Betty Homer
While many people unfamiliar with Oakland may have an aversion to visiting that city because of its reputation for being a hotbed for innercity crime, there is also plenty of good that is happening in Oakland. Oakland is a multicultural city with a diverse and cutting-edge art scene, is a burgeoning hub for artisanal foods, has a vibrant restaurant scene, and as I recently found out, also home to some botanical gardens at Lake Merritt. Who knew?
The Gardens at Lake Merritt is a 7-acre plot featuring gardens consisting of edible plants (always my favorite), bonsai, fragrant plants, natives, succulents, a habitat for beneficial insect and butterflies, rhododendrons (includes Vireyas), and palms.
While all the gardens are delightfully different, one of the most striking features is the bonsai garden where ancient bonsai continue to be cultivated--one in excess of 1,600 years old (yes, you read that right), another since the days of the American Civil War, and a miniaturized pine tree featured at the 1915 Pan Pacific Exhibition in San Francisco. As best as I could tell, the Bonsai garden was the only garden where a docent was available to give tours about the various miniaturized trees on display.
The Gardens are located at 666 Bellevue Avenue at Lake Merritt (be careful your GPS does not lead you astray as it did to me). Entrance to the Gardens is free, 9 am -5:30 pm daily, although nearby parking is not (but it is pretty nominal--between $2-$5, depending on when you go). More information can be found at http://gardensatlakemerritt.org/.
- Author: Trisha E Rose
This morning I saw the last "sugar boat" depart the Crocket C & H sugar processing plant. Boats loaded with Hawaiian sugar cane product will no longer make the voyage from Maui to Crocket. The last Hawaiian cane processing plant has closed and the last Hawaiian shipload has now come and gone.
Sugarcane belongs to the "grass family" Poaceae. It is a true grass from the Genus Saccharum. Native to warmer climates such as Hawaii. The commercial cultivars are complex cultivars with stocks growing between 6 to 19 feet tall. Cane is commercially grown in more than 90 countries with Brazil being the largest producer. 80% of sugar is from sugarcane with balance mostly from sugar beets grown in colder climates.
Our local Crocket plant will continue to process sugar product from foreign sources like Brazil and Vietnam. Apparently those foreign governments subsidize production to the extent the costs undercut the Hawaiian product. Sugar products are still being grown in Texas and Florida but they are processed elsewhere.
The C & H name is an abbreviation of California and Hawaii, the name will stay the same in spite of the loss of Hawaiian product.
- Author: Betty Victor
While working the Master Gardeners information table at Home Depot one recent Saturday, we had a young boy about 9 or 10 who was with his mother. His mother had stopped to ask us a question.
The boy had a small plant in his hand so I gave him one of the package of “worm poop” and was explaining to him how to use it. He immediately said” I know what this is. A few years ago when I was in the 3rd grade our class went to Youth Ag Day at the Solano County Fair Grounds and I stopped at the Master Gardeners table. I saw the worms and got a package of worm poop. But because I am in a higher grade this year our class did not attend.”
I asked him if he had a worm bin, he said no but would like one, his mom was very ok with it. So we gave him the information we had on how to get started. Mom and son went into the store and came out with a small plastic dark bin. He asked if that was what to use, we told him yes and where to get the worms. So off mom and a very eager boy went to get his worms.
I just want all the Master Gardeners who had a part in filling the worm poop packages and who work the Youth Ag Day Table at this event to know that you made an impression on this boy and I bet several others as well.
Good Job Master Gardeners!
- Author: Amy Haug
Hopefully, you all have planted your garden tomatoes and, like me, are anxiously waiting for that first tomato to ripen. While we are waiting, have you ever wondered why the tomato is considered a fruit and/or a vegetable? It is an interesting story that went all the way to the Supreme Court.
It all started at the end of the nineteenth century when special interest groups sought tariff protection on all sorts of imported goods. The Tariff Act of 1883 required a tax to be paid on imported vegetables but not fruit.
John Nix was the founder of the John Nix and Co, the largest seller of produce in New York City and one of the first companies to ship produce from Virginia, Florida and Bermuda to New York. In a landmark case of Nix v Hedden, John Nix sued the tax collector of the Port of New York, Edward Hedden, to recover taxes paid on tomatoes because it was, he claimed, botanically a fruit and not vegetable.
During the trial, the lawyers on both sides presented multiple dictionary definitions of fruits and vegetables. In addition, several produce sellers with years of experience, were brought in as witnesses and asked if these definitions had any special meaning in actual commerce.
After weeks of testimony, the court unanimously decided that the dictionary definitions have no special meaning in trade and the ordinary meaning of the consumer must be used to determine the case. Because tomatoes were prepared and eaten as vegetables, as in a main course or in a soup, instead of as a dessert, as fruit usually is, tomatoes must be classified as a vegetable.
The justices sided with the everyday definition of tomatoes, not the scientific definition of tomatoes and to this day, tomatoes are considered a vegetable, while botanically, are still a fruit.
Sources:
