March 08, 2007

Happy Garden Newsletter - March 8, 2007


Volume 2, Number 10, March 8, 2007 (Read It Online)

Hello,

Ellen Brown, our wonderful gardening expert, has decided to move on to other endeavors. We would like to thank Ellen for all the hard work she has done for ThriftyFun by writing articles, growing guides and answering reader's questions. Her contributions allowed us to create this newsletter and made ThriftyFun a much better source for Gardening information than I ever thought it could be. We wish Ellen the best of success and hope to talk her into writing for us in the future.

It will be very difficult for us to replace Ellen but we will work to find a new gardening expert within the coming weeks to provide similar articles and insights. We'll keep you posted.

Thanks for reading,

Susan

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Today's newsletter contains:

Photos:

Tips and Articles:

New Requests:

Photos:

Purple Calla Lilies

These are Purple Calla Lillies (I think). Until the blooms opened up I thought they were just weeds. Good thing I waited to pull them up! I have these growing wild all over my yard!!!

By Teresa from Union City, CA

Purple Calla Lily

Purple Calla Lilies

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My First Amaryllis

The first Amaryllis I have ever grown. I thought it was beautiful!

By LINDA from Arkansas City, Ks

My First Amaryllis

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Tips and Articles:

Unusual Ideas for Planters

Here are ideas for reusing items as planters or pots from the ThriftyFun community. Post your own unusual planter ideas below.

Boots For Planters

I have fun imagining how I can use various discarded items as planters. My favorite was a pair of my husband's work boots. Having been owned by a man, these boots were well broken in, and ready for the landfill. I opened them up (you can leave the laces in place), and filled them with soil. I happened to plant chicks 'n hens in them. They are still in my garden biodegrading, and covered with chicks, for who knows how long.

You can cut holes in the toes for additional planting possibilities. I hope to find another pair at garage sales this summer, to paint white. I'll put some allysum in the toes, and vinca vines draped around the cuffs, with maybe red geraniums, or petunias coming out of the top.

Now, if you're familiar with "pack boots" (they are usually constructed of green rubber). These make good substitutes for those long, hanging, plastic planters with holes cut out of the sides for plants with runners (like strawberries, or spider plants), and I've also seen them done with impatients. Just fashion a hanger using the eyelets, cut some slits in the sides, and toes, and fill with dirt. Arrange plants in the slits and tops. Or put the parent plant in the top, and open the slits up for the anticipated runners. Voila!

By Catchdmc

Cooking Pots Or Kettles

I use old large cooking pots or tea kettles as planters. An elderly aunt of mine died last year, and I inherited some of them. They are too grungey to cook with but perfect for annuals on my porch.

By admin

Toys, Kitchenware and Baskets

Child's plastic sandpail (String the plastic shovel through the handle.), a little red wagon, Easter basket, vintage coffee pot, an old ringer washer, an old hiking boot, an empty restaurant size can of fruits/vegetables, a basket, a child's toy dump truck, an old washtub, a canoe, a "old-time" wooden tool box, a mailbox, rain boots.

By Arwest

Cat Litter Buckets As Planters

I own 2 cats and go through a lot of cat litter. I always buy the litter in the plastic buckets. Once they are empty, I drill drainage holes in the bottom, slap a little paint on the bucket and decorate. Fill with dirt and plant whatever you desire. Right now, I'm growing tomatoes and cucumbers in them. They work great.

By Dunndeanna

Imagination Is The Key

Absolutely everything can be used as a planter, using your "imagination" is the key. Adding the right flower arrangement and bow is the reward. Syd, who can see something recycleable in every piece of discards. My latest was the half-moon hospital spit up dishes, got four. Ideal for dish gardens for hospital or nursing home patients.

By Sydfred

Vegetable Garden in an Old Bathtub

Because my soil is too rocky for a vegetable garden, I have a bathtub salvaged from an old mobile home that I am growing green onions, radishes, lettuce and cucumbers in. I filled it about half full of a mixture of top soil and compost, and planted my seed. I train the cucumber vines to trail over the side of the tub and onto the ground. Last summer, I even had a tomato plant on one end.

Harlean from Arkansas

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Confederate Jasmine With Leaves Turning Brown

Question: I have Confederate Jasmine on my fence. It has brown spots on it and the leaves are turning brown and falling off. Can you help?

Hardiness Zone: 10b

Thanks you,
Jaclyn from Tampa FL

Answer: Jaclyn,

I can't be certain without seeing it, but the symptoms you're describing sound like flower blight, a fungal disease that commonly afflicts jasmine after spells of warm, moist weather. Symptoms include flowers with dark spots that rapidly join to form blotches and eventually turn brown and collapse. The spores of this fungus over-winter in the soil. Good sanitation practices and providing the proper growing requirements will go along way to help control this disease. Pick off infected flowers to keep the fungus from forming spores and remove any fallen plant debris. Mulch around the base of plants to prevent soil-laden spores from spreading when water splashes onto plants. Make sure jasmine plants have adequate air circulation and avoid planting them in low-lying areas.

Southern blight is another kind of fungal disease that afflicts Jasmine. This is more often seen in young plants with bark that has not yet fully developed. The plant suddenly wilts and dies and for this type of blight, there is no cure.

Ellen

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Chemicals for Weeds?

Question: There are too many weeds in my garden. Can you suggest an effective weeding chemical or else, any other suitable suggestion for it?

Thanks,
Col (retd) H.K. Jha from Patna, Bihar, India

Answer: H.K. Jha,

There are plenty of chemicals that work on weeds in the garden, but I'm not an advocate of using any of them, especially on edibles. There are a number of better solutions-better for your garden and better for the environment. Here are some strategies:

  • Use mulch. Cover every available bit of soil that isn't growing desirable plants with wood chips, compost, newspaper, cardboard, etc. This will block out available light and suppress weed growth.
  • Remove weeds before they have the chance to go to seed.
  • Keep weeds out of the compost pile. The last thing you want to do is replant them again in the garden.
  • Pull a few handfuls of weeds every time you're out in the garden.
  • Utilize groundcover plants. They take up space, block out sun and out-compete weeds for nutrients.
Ellen

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Easy to Clean Garden Tools

Spray your garden tools with a little cooking oil or WD-40 and they will be very easy to clean when you are done gardening.

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Share Seeds and Cuttings With Your Neighbors

All of my neighbors like to garden, so we all share out plants by cuttings or seeds. Most of us have the same types of flowers and plants because, where we live, it is a very short summer season and we have a lot of deer that like to sample and eat our plants. It is wonderful to see how all the gardens turn out different even though the plants are mostly the same. Just arranging them differently give a completely different look. Sharing always saves us money. It also gives us a great memory of who gave us the plant.

By Danialle from Polson, MT

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Trouble Shooting Tomato Problems
By Ellen Brown

One of the greatest joys of the gardening season is harvesting plump juicy tomatoes. If your harvest is less than you hoped for this year, here is a guide to diagnosing and treating some common tomato troubles.

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Lady Fingers (Flower)

Question: Would anyone know of a flower called Lady Fingers? I have not heard of this for a while. I also cannot find them anywhere. Any help would be great.

Thanks,
Deb from Norfolk, NE

Answer: Deb,

The only flower that comes to mind is the common kidney vetch, Anthyllis vulneraria, also commonly referred to as lady's fingers. This is a perennial herb in the pea family that is native to the rocky hills and coastline slopes of Europe and parts of northern Africa. Now it is commonly grown in rock gardens in parts of the United States. Kidney vetch is a low growing fuzzy plant with narrow leaves and either yellow, reddish or white flowers. It gets its name from the fact that it was formerly used as a remedy for kidney disorders. In Europe, this flower is the sole food source for a small blue butterfly. There are several other flowers referred to as lady's fingers. There is a type of daylily called lady's fingers and foxgloves are also sometimes referred to as lady's fingers. Here are a few links to pictures of two different flowers called lady's fingers. The first is a plant from the stonecrop family native to California. The second is common kidney vetch. I hope this helps!

Ellen

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Answers to Seldom Asked Gardening Questions
By Ellen Brown

What's the difference between a tree and a shrub? Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable? What makes pepper hot? These are just some of the interesting questions that gardeners may or may not ponder while on their knees pulling weeds. Read on for the answers to these and other seldom asked gardening questions.

Q: How do you tell a tree from a shrub?

A: Trees are woody, perennial plants that have one central stem, are generally more than 12 feet in height, and normally have a distinct head. Shrubs are woody, perennial plants that have a number of stems usually produced from near the soil line of the plant. Shrubs are generally less than 12 feet in height, but are capable of reaching heights of 20 feet or more.

Q: What type of tree gets struck by lightning more than any other?

A: Oaks, because they tend to grow taller than most other trees. They also have a deep central root as well as hollow water-filled cells that run up and down the wood of the oak's trunk. These two qualities make oak trees better conductors (and better grounded) than trees with shallow roots and closed cells.

Q: Where does the expression "knock on wood" come from?

A: The expression "knock on wood" is used to avoid bad luck after boasting or speaking about one's good fortune. The expression is usually used in the hope that good circumstances will continue to occur after good fortune has been acknowledged (e.g. "It looks like the hair storm will miss us," knock on wood', or knock on wood', "I'm feeling much better now.") The expression is thought to have Christian or Irish origins, although its also been linked to a pagan superstition involving tree spirits.

Q: What is the world's largest tree?

A: A Sequoia named General Sherman. The tree is 272 feet (83 m) tall with a trunk measuring 35 feet (11 m) in diameter and 109 feet (33 m) in circumference at the base. It contains and estimated 600,000 board feet of timber, (enough to build 120 average-sized houses), and weighs nearly 1400 tons (the equivalent to 15 adult blue whales, 10 diesel-electric train locomotives, or 25 average-sized military battle tanks).

Q: What makes hot peppers hot?

A: An alkaloid called Capsaicin (kap-SAY-iss-in). It's found in bell peppers, too, but in much lower concentrations. The amount of capsaicin a pepper contains is dependant on geographical location, climate conditions and the age of the pepper. Peppers grown in warmer climates (especially with warm nighttime temperatures) contain higher amounts of capsaicin than the same peppers grown in cool climates. Older peppers also contain higher amounts of capsaicin than those picked early.

Q: Where does the expression, "cool as a cucumber" come from?

A: The expression comes from the fact that the inside of a growing cucumber can be as much as 20 degrees cooler than the outside air temperature on a warm summer day.

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Start Seedlings In Recycled Trays

In getting ready for Spring seedings for the garden, I realized just how well my Curry herb has done with the 1 liter plastic bottomless bottle over it, secured with a stick. After sifting the soil through an old window screen for planting the seedlings, a way I can frugally protect my seedlings the best is to finally put my larger collection of clear plastic cookie, taco and various sized trays to use.

Since seedlings would likely "dampen off", or be too wet for the trays to just be inverted as they came from the original cookie packages, I heated the end of an old ice pick on the stove, not red hot, but very near, and poked holes through the bottoms of each tray while stacked, making the poking easier, not destroying any tray. I will cut strips of coffee filters to fit over the holes so the sand/soil will not fall out, along with the seeds, and to discourage any tiny pests from entering through the holes.

This will allow the moisture to escape and the seedlings to grow to just the right height WITH protection from slugs/insects/wind and other weather.

Another interesting fact is that these clear tray/containers often come in different shapes and sizes, allowing for the planting of various seedlings' identification and for the use of unused left-over sticky labels/or taped paper, to be strategically placed on the outside of each one, along with any other dates/information necessary to keep track of. Place all containers of seedlings in part shade or indirect light, slowly moving towards full sun as they mature, testing several times a day to see how they react, and watching water level.

I will also toothpick each seedling for support as it grows bigger and for when I need to transplant it, although not all seedlings will transplant, such as carrots, because the label says it will cause distorted roots to grow IF it survives the transplanting.

I'm recycling my grandson's sandbox sand, which he no longer uses, into the bottom of each seedling's tray, on top of the coffee filter strips, for good drainage beneath the sifted soil/compost/sand layer.

I'm using the throwaway tray bottoms from birthday cakes and store-bought pastries, poking holes in the deepest parts of each trays' unique design, from the bottom, with the same hot ice pick. I don't have too many cake/pastry trays, but I will recycle the ones I've saved over several years from other folks' tossing them, even stacking/using two that match and mate up, so that one tray can collect drainage water and the other allow for drainage to the other lower tray.

As the seedlings get taller than the cookie trays' height, I will remove the cookie trays and place the higher original plastic cake covers over the taller seedling plants, AFTER punching evaporation holes into the top highest parts of the cover, and likely over several "sets" of seedlings because of the cake covers sizes being longer/wider.

The little "seedling kits" sold nowadays are really expensive, and don't work that well, I'm told. It feels really good to finally recycle the clear plastic trays more fully and productively.

Note: I'm going to put all "questionable" soil from previous pots in the alley area to fill potholes, rather than to take the chance that fungus and any disease will be transferred to my next plants. Also, I've sifted my compost, now "made" again (a year in the making), to mix a little with the sifted soil over the sand layer, to give the seedlings a gentle organic boost as they mature. The containers of any diseased plants from the previous season I will attempt to clean and bleach, inside and out, hoping they will still be useable for non-food crops, because I grow only organic things in my organic zeriscaped yard/garden. I will also be placing the seedling when transplanting on a flat bed using a single small hot NEEDLE hole at N, E, S, and W. directions in the bottom sides of various small clear plastic capped bottles, for water to keep the soil moderately moist. I'll place the lid on the bottles, locating them at evenly spaced intervals with a sharp eye/inspection as to any dry spots that might need a bottle moved closer, or wet spots that might need a bottle moved away slightly, or a NEW bottle with fewer holes. BEST YET, it's all free to the frugal gardener/recycler.

By Lynda from Texas

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Chili Seeds

Question: I am looking for information about growing chili plants from existing fruit, seed storage and drying to get the seed.

Rajh from Australia

Answer: Rajh,

Saving chili pepper seeds is easy. You don't mention where you're getting the existing fruit.

If you're getting is from existing plants, allow some peppers to stay on the plants until they pass maturity and start to shrivel up. Then simply remove the seeds (they don't usually require any cleaning), and lay them on a cookie sheet to dry in a warm, dark place. Once fully dry, store them in an airtight container until planting them next season.

Peppers saved from store bought peppers can be saved in the same way. If you are buying peppers from the produce department for seeds, you need to keep two things in mind. First of all, most peppers in the grocery store are hybrids so the seeds may not produce peppers that are true to the parent plant. Second, peppers from the produce department may have been treated with certain chemicals during production. These chemicals can sometimes render seeds sterile. If you're looking in the produce department for peppers, head toward the organic department to minimize the probability of chemically treated fruits.

If you want to start some plants with the goal of saving seeds, stick to heirloom seeds and avoid the hybrids, which may not breed true to their parent type.

Ellen

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Contest!

The above contests are weekly. We pick 2 tip winners and 1 photo winner at the end of each week. Each winner will win $25!

New Requests:

Pink Spreading Plant

I have a spreading planting that I don't know the name, but it turns into a pretty pink carpet. It spreads faster than utility bills! How can I keep controlled besides pulling every single day (almost)?

Hardiness Zone: 6b

MaryAnn

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Hydrangea Won't Bloom

I moved into this house several year ago with lovely Hydrangeas beside the porch. They bloomed profusely for 6 years in a row. Then a well meaning friend cut them down to the ground one Autumn. They grew back but have not bloomed in the last 2 year since. How so I get them to bloom this year?

Hardiness Zone: 7b

Kim Rust from Nashville, TN

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Cleaning Clay Flower Pots

How do I clean my clay flower pots? they are stained white on the outside, looks like lime.

Charles from danbury, IA

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Improving My Front Yard

My front yard planting area has a western exposure and has to handle the hot Florida sun from about noon until sunset. Besides that, one side gets loads of rain and the other side stays dry as a bone. I HATE to garden. Can anyone give me some suggestions that will make it look acceptable?

Hardiness Zone: 9a

Thank you so much!
Mitzi from Deland, FL

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Killing a Sweet Gum Tree

How can I kill a sweet gum tree to let it gradually die because it is too tall to cut in my yard?

Karen from Arkansas

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Protecting Pond Fish From Wildlife

I am thinking about making a small pond with fish. Would anyone know if and how to deal with problems with animals both domestic - our cat and dog - and wild - like squirrels or blue jays? I'm worried about them hurting the fish (eating them?)

Lily from South Bend, Indiana

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Making a Compost Tumbler

Anyone have building plans for a Compost Tumbler they would like to share?

Hardiness Zone: 7b

George from Roanoke, VA

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Growing Vines From Potatoes

Can you grow a vine from a white or yukon potato?

Hardiness Zone: 7b

Nancy from Raleigh, NC

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Using Shredded Paper as Mulch

Can I use shredded office paper as beneficial mulch?

Hardiness Zone: 3a

Dorothy from Bemidji, MN

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Norfolk Pines Damaged By Cold

I have 2 beautiful Norfolk Pines that sustained freeze damage when their protection blew off while I was out of town. Will they fill back out? Do I cut off the damage or let them shed by themselves? Is there any hope for them? Thanks in advance for your input!

Hardiness Zone: 8a

Brenda from Greenville, AL

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Controlling Spanish Moss

I need a homemade recipe for spanish moss invader. How can I control it?

Hardiness Zone: 9b

Thank you,
Janine iskowitz from Riverview

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