- Author: Mary B. Gabbard
I have a confession to make…I love my worms. This relationship began years ago, when I thought it would be fun for my kids to get a pound of red wrigglers (Eisenia fetida) in the mail and begin learning about composting. Fourteen years later, I’m still going strong. I love my worms because they’re easy, odor-free, and need little attention. As long as the bedding remains moist, worms can survive for weeks without any fresh scraps. Worms are the ultimate recyclers, eating all my kitchen scraps and leaving “black gold” (a nutrient-rich compost), made in about 60 days. The worm castings are much higher in available nitrogen, phosphates, and potash than your average topsoil. Just this weekend, I used the castings to: top dress my houseplants; potting medium for transplanting; added to planting holes for young seedlings; and brewed some “compost tea” to use as a liquid fertilizer. Every time I water, organic fertilizer is delivered to the roots without any danger of over fertilizing or burning.
If you want to learn more about worm composting, I suggest reading, “Worms Eat My Garbage” by Mary Appelhof. This book is very informative and a great place to start learning about vermicomposting (worm composting). An Internet search on ‘red wrigglers for composting’ you will find many informative sites with will information ranging from where one can buy red wrigglers as well as instructions for building and maintaining a worm bin.
I can say with great confidence, if you give worm composting a try, you too, will develop a strange fondness for these amazing composters!
- Author: Riva Flexer
When you work in your garden, you cannot help but see who, or perhaps, what co-exists alongside you and your trowel. Some creatures you simply must observe, such as the ants and aphids that infest your Pittosporum tobira, or the little sowbugs that wriggle and scuttle when you disturb the dead leaves under your Distictis Rivers vine. Speaking of which, it’s a good time to disturb those dead leaves and all the other detritus under your plants, on the soil surface. By cleaning up you are removing potentially harmful pathogen spores, such as black spot and rust, which will be only too happy to infect your plants come springtime. The organic material may have functioned admirably as a mulch, but cleaning up is more important now that the rainy season is coming.
But back to those creatures in the garden. I’ve been noticing lots of ants, and, more dramatically, the arachnids. There seem to be plenty of orb spiders this autumn. You’ll recognize them by their beautiful, often enormous spiral webs, which they construct at night, and which we see, often glistening with dew, in the early morning. The spiders can be large, with half-inch bodies and then, of course the eight legs… for those of us with a genuine phobia, it can be the stuff of nightmares.
But they are your best friend. Take a look at a web and you cannot count the number of gnats and fruit flies caught in the sticky fibers. If we are prone to blundering into webs, just imagine the hapless insect. I’ve been watching ‘Charlotte’ for nearly three weeks now. I couldn’t help but notice her web, first attached to my upper deck and my ‘ XXX Soldier ‘ rosebush. She’s big, and her webs are too, with long (4-5 foot) anchor lines up to the deck underside, where she lurks and feeds off her prey. I’ve seen her wrapping up a paralysed bee in silk, carrying it up for a meal. I’ve watched her take down her tattered web by eating the silk. She is just fascinating, and her web is full of little flies. I respect her enormously and avoid her, as she does me. Live and let live…
- Author: Jennifer Baumbach
Good Saturday morning all. Just a bonus blog here. I wanted to include this photo in Sharon Rico's sweet pea article, but I didn't have it at the time the blog was posted. I wanted to share this with you if you were planning on planting sweet peas for your yard.
I too grow sweet peas and have taken Sharon's advice in pre-sprouting or 'chitting' sweet peas. I use the paper towel method. However, there are other methods of preparing sweet pea seeds for growing: soaking the seed in hot water, using sandpaper to scratch the surface of the seed or also nipping a tiny bit out of the seed coat.
In this picture are the dry sweet peas, the smaller darker colored seeds in the middle of the group. There are also the plumped up seeds. This happens just before they put out their first little root, which is the other seed you see here in this photo below.
My sweet pea seeds are planted and the seedlings are already breaking through the soil!
- Author: Marime Burton
It’s finally the time of year for Cape honeysuckle (Tecomaria capensis) to show its stuff! Throughout fall and winter Cape honeysuckle produces clusters of brilliant red-orange to scarlet tubular flowers, each about 2 in long. Its year-round evergreen nature is always nice in the background but that red-orange really lights up darkening fall and winter gardens.
The sprawling, vivid green shrub is fast growing and can become 15 feet tall in a hurry. The 5-7 diamond-shaped leaflets are toothed and about 2 in long. The flowers add vivid color to fall and winter gardens. Pruned to maintain as a shrub, it can reach 10 ft. or more in height and half in width. If left to scramble, Cape honeysuckle can cover 25 ft. or more.
Regular pruning, hard if necessary, will keep it healthy and looking good. It can also be trained as a vine, thriving in zones 9-11. It likes it warm and appreciates full sun for much of the year, along with regular water. It’s moderately drought tolerant once established.
A native of South Africa, Cape Honeysuckle can sprawl and run rampant without at least some care. Branches that touch the ground, for example may root there, so gardener beware. They’re easy enough to remove.
Full sun is best, but light shade is tolerated. ?Cape honeysuckle is hardy to USDA Zones 9 - 11 and 26º. ? Propagation can be achieved with softwood cuttings at any time of year and by seeds.
October is when I first see them in my yard and for the past week I’ve enjoyed their debut. I‘m on my way out now to see how many new blossoms have arrived since I last looked!
- Author: Sharon L. Rico
October is the month to plant sweet pea seeds and I can hardly wait to get mine in the ground! In 1817, poet John Keats wrote “Here are sweet peas, on tip toe for a flight; With wings of gentle flush o’er delicate white, And taper fingers catching at all things, To bind them all about with tiny rings.”
Sweet peas, which have the descriptive Latin name Lathyrus odoratus, are incredibly gorgeous and powerfully perfumed. Often we smell them before we see the blossoms and the perfume invites us to find them, lifting our spirits and making us smile. Having a passion for sweet peas, I’ve been growing them annually for nearly 50 years.
It’s ideal to plant the seeds in an area where they can climb and be supported. Cement wire against a fence or wire between two poles in an open area will work well. The soil needs to be amended with compost and manure.
These tiny, round, hard seeds need to be soaked in water overnight. Soaking them softens the hard seed shell and encourages them to sprout. My grandmother placed her seeds on wet paper napkins on a tray in the basement and left them for several days until they were swollen and ready to “pop.” I use the same technique, using paper towels and an old cookie sheet. I carry that into the garden and place each seed individually 3 inches apart and ½ inch deep, thinning to 6 inches apart as they grow.
As soon as the plants emerge, grab some snail bait, as slugs and snails will feast on these seedlings! As the vines grow, they may need to be wound between the wire support until the tendrils grab hold. At this point, there’s not much to do until mid-April when the vines will vigorously grow and the incredible flowers appear. Sweet peas need to be picked daily for continuous blooming. The flowers will scent your home and are welcome gifts for friends and neighbors. As the vines turn brown and dry in June, there will be pods you can collect seeds for the following October. I’ve found that everyone loves sweet peas! Now, I’ve got to get busy!
