Gardening on the Moon ( GOTM )

Written by Jeff
Non-GOTM pictures credited by hover notes – move cursor over image

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  I didn’t realize that there was a cadre of gardening enthusiasts who practice winter sowing. Winter sowing is the concept of placing the seed outside during the winter in a particular fashion that will encourage it to sprout earlier and grow into a strong plant. It involves some planning, but isn’t much different than other types of “sowing.” Check out the story to read all the details.

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  Make a squirrel-proof bird feeder! Nothing can ruin bird watching fun at the bird feeder more than a couple of marauding squirrels. They are clever and pesky and they don’t give up easily. I spent over $100 a number of years ago on a “squirrel proof” bird feeder pole. It had a money-back guarantee and it did work. The problem was that a bear came into our yard and bent it into a pretzel while eating all of the seed in our bird feeder. I didn’t replace it. Here is a way to make your own squirrel proof bird feeder.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Small-simple-horizontally-mounted-squirrel-resista/

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  Why a walk through the garden may be a good idea even if nothing is actively growing! I loved to walk on the frozen snow where my plants grow in the spring. I would imagine what the garden looked like during the growing season and dream of the upcoming year. This article explains why you SHOULD be walking around your garden during the dormant season.

http://gardening.lohudblogs.com/2010/01/27/check-for-frost-thaw-heaving/

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  NYT Talks seeds and truths about those little packets of HOPE. Don’t you hate when someone exclaims how easy it is to grow a particular plant that has caused you nothing but trouble? Get the “skinny” on various plants from the New York Times!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/21/garden/21seeds.html

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  Sansevieria – A Plant for Every Location – Sometimes known as Mother-In-Law Tongue (sorry Mom!) or snake plant! This unheralded plant doesn’t get much respect, but does well and asks for little in return.

http://muskogeephoenixonline.com/blogs/MollyDay/2009/11/sansevieria-plant-for-every-location.html

Gardening on the Moon, www.gardeningonthemoon.com, originally published this post

Written by Jeff
Non-GOTM pictures credited by hover notes – move cursor over image

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  Want to see the 2010 All America Selections Plants? Check the link below.[Note: zinnia pictured is not one of the winners. ]

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  This is the time of the year when garden plans are being made. Here is some information about setting up community gardens. Start now to have a great harvest next year. Get involved with family and friends and perhaps make new friends.

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  I grew up in NYC and loved it. I can remember sleeping on the fire escape of our apartment building and the flit guns to take care of the mosquitoes (yes, I am that old!). Even then we had gardens in the big city. Urban gardening is making a comeback. Here is a movie about urban gardens in Brooklyn, NY. If you live in a city, you can garden too!

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  Noelle, the AZ PLANT LADY, provides tips for growing roses. Also check out her January, 2010 posts to learn about planting roses in the desert during the appropriate planting time. You will learn a lot and enjoy meeting her family.

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  Oh, no! Body snatchers are eating the locals! A video of the Great White Shark (Bullfrog) of the desert. Another government mess created by people who didn’t think ahead.

Gardening on the Moon, www.gardeningonthemoon.com, originally published this post

Copyright (C) Suntex Communications, 2009. Reprinted from the October 28, 2009 issue of SEEDS with permission of the publisher .

“Earth-Kind” is one of the most prestigious plant designations bestowed by the Texas AgriLife Extension Service. It is based on years of extensive field research conducted by Texas A&M horticultural experts. Only a few, very special cultivars (i.e. “varieties”) possess the extremely high levels of landscape performance coupled with the outstanding disease and insect tolerance/resistance that are required in order to receive this designation.

The Earth-Kind Rose Research Program (Phase I) started in the early 1990s with a sponsorship from the Texas Nursery and Landscape Association to find roses suitable as low maintenance landscape plants for Southern gardens. The identification of disease-tolerant, low-maintenance roses that would be handsome shrubs, even without blooms, and provide the extra benefit of flushes of fragrant blooms was of primary importance.

Phase II of the research program, which is funded by the Houston Rose Society, is designed to identify a collection of low-maintenance roses meeting the Earth-Kind criteria that will grow beautifully in every state in America.

Earth-Kind Rose Research (Phase I and II) continues to be conducted by horticultural scientists with Texas AgriLife Extension and the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station at the Texas A&M Research and Extension Center in Dallas, Texas. Hundreds of rose cultivars have been evaluated in this monumental research project.

In order to receive the coveted Earth-Kind designation, test cultivars must pass two very demanding hurdles. First, they must do well in multi-year, randomized, replicated research plots at Texas A&M in Dallas. Second, they must perform equally well in statewide and national field trials. Research protocols require the selected rose cultivars to be evaluated on these criteria:

* Grown on their own roots.
* Be salt tolerant.
* Be tolerant of poor soils.
* Be tolerant to a wide range of soil pH values.
* Be heat, drought, and wind tolerant.
* Be tolerant to rabbit injury.
* Be winter hardy without protection.
* Perform at high levels with no commercial synthetic or organic fertilizer and with no applications of fungicides, insecticides, or miticides on the plants.
* Require no deadheading.
* Require little pruning.
* Perform with greatly reduced supplemental watering.

It was not expected that the test plants would never get blackspot or be damaged by insects. The criteria required that the plants not be significantly impacted by the presence of such conditions. In order to receive the Earth-Kind designation, roses under evaluation could not drop more than 25% of their leaves more than once a year. Earth-Kind Roses may experience minimal leaf drop, but have the ability to quickly shrug off the disease and/or insect damage without intervention.

Currently 19 roses have met these criteria:

* Belinda’s Dream
* Caldwell Pink
* Carefree Beauty
* Climbing Pinkie
* Ducher
* Duchesse de Brabant
* Else Poulsen
* Georgetown Tea
* La Marne
* Marie Daley
* Madame Antoine Mari
* Mutabilis
* New Dawn
* Perle d’ Or
* Red Knock-Out
* Sea Foam
* Souvenir de St. Anne’s
* Spice
* The Fairy

All 100 roses currently being evaluated can be seen in the The National Earth-Kind Trial Garden. The garden is located on 2.5 acres in beautiful Gussie Field Watterworth Park, 2610 Valley View Lane, Farmers Branch. This four-year research study consists of 100 cultivars replicated four times for a total of 400 plants. The experimental design utilized in this flagship study is by randomized complete blocks which is considered the strongest design possible for field research. Although the focus of the Earth-Kind program has been on roses and landscape management, trials will soon expand to include Earth-Kind perennials and Earth-Kind shrubs.

If you live in an area that has a climate similar to that of Texas, you may want to subscribe to the newsletter at http://www.promit.com/subscribe.aspx?lid=2

Gardening on the Moon, gratefully acknowledges Suntex Communications for permission to reprint the article.

The original article and newsletter can be seen at this link:
http://www.texasgardener.com/newsletters/091028/default.htm

Written by Jeff
Non-GOTM pictures credited by hover notes – move cursor over image

• Low light, easy care houseplants – Six Indoor Plants That Love The Dark. For those who have difficulty growing houseplants, this article will provide clues to some of the easiest to grow. Readers are also pointed to those plants that need little light or attention. This is much better than artificial plants!

http://thegardenersrake.com/six-indoor-plants-that-love-the-dark

• This link from the Apartment Therapy website provides a group of low-maintenance plant projects which represent some of the best of 2009.

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/sf/gardening/easy-lowmaintenance-plant-projectsbest-of-2009-104817

• Drought tolerant Correa ‘Ivory Bells’ flowers from Autumn to Spring. I am always on the lookout for plants like this to try in the desert garden. My experience has shown that some correas have difficulty handling the intense heat and rays of the summer sun of the Sonoran Desert.

http://greenforks.com/2009/10/correa-ivory-bells-choosing-to-flower-from-autumn-to-spring/

• This article details several of the largest , smelliest and most bizarre flowers in the world.

http://gardeninggarden.com/2009/11/03/the-largest-smelliest-and-most-bizarre-flowers-in-the-world/

• Plant Suggestions for 2010 from the White Flower Farm. Anyone who has gardened in the northeast will most likely be familiar with the White Flower Farm. I have visited on several occasions and they are one of the foremost plant distributors on the east coast. It is always interesting to learn of their recommendations for new plant material.

http://gardening.lohudblogs.com/2009/11/14/plant-suggestions-for-2010/

Gardening on the Moon, www.gardeningonthemoon.com, originally published this post

Written by Jeff

Many of those who view my blog are garden aficionados and know a great deal about a wonderful variety of plants. There are two columns listed below. One has numbers and one has letters. Can you match the letters to the correct numbered item? How many you can match correctly? A link to the answers will be at the bottom of the post.

Bonus Question – In addition, all of these plants have at least one thing in common. Not something obvious like “They all have leaves, or roots, etc.,” but something different or unique. Do you know the common characteristic? The answer to this question will also be included in the link below*.

Good luck to all of my gardening “expert” friends!

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For the answers, click HERE

* The referenced article is the source for the above information.

Gardening on the Moon, www.gardeningonthemoon.com, originally published this post