Category: Just do it

Happy New Year…and our request to our readers

It’s that time of the year again…annual reports are due to our respective administrations. One thing all of us need to document is impact on our various audiences. So we’ve created a short (10 question) survey to collect your feedback. The questions are mostly multiple choice and a bare-bones response will take you maybe a minute. Of course we’d love as much detail as you care to provide, so don’t feel obligated to speed through!

We’ll keep the survey open for the month of January, but your responses are more likely to be used if you get them in quickly. (For me, that means next Monday. January 9. One short week.)

Thanks in advance – and we look forward to another year of being your Garden Professors!

(If you didn’t see the hot link to the survey in the text, here it is again:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RGKZLKD)

A selection of GP posts from 2011 (part 1)

Certainly not a “Best Of” list (because they’re ALL awesome, of course), just some posts throughout the year that I think got at the root of why we’re doing this and/or had some entertainment value with a message buried within. I’ve included some comments from our astute readers. And I’m not sure if I should refer to myself in first or third person.

January

Post: Holly’s “Er, too much coverage?” – using screen grabs of an AT&T commercial featuring some kind of weird vine overtaking a city – dubbed Clematis broadbandii (I hate to lead off with my own stuff, but feel this was some of my most inspired work).

Best associated comment: “I laughed so hard I cried.” – Jeff Gilman

February

Lots of great arboriculture posts in February; tree torture, girdling roots, planting tips, sewer issues, etc.   But my fave post was Linda’s “Blog survey results, Part 1”  She had set up an excellent survey asking what you, our readers, thought of and found most useful regarding our GP blog.  The results were very helpful, and ended up in Journal of Extension manuscript (a.k.a. a refereed journal article, which keeps our administrators happy) with Jeff as the lead author.

Unfortunately, the only comment was from an apparently dissatisfied customer (thpppbbt).

March

March was the Month of Debunking. I think the post that summed it up was “Keep calm and carry on” by Bert.  A nice overview of what we’re all about, as he shares his thoughts on planting hole size and amending backfill, noting in a conversation with Jeff “how frantically worked up some people about following the various landscaping ‘rules’, especially for tree planting.” 

Best associated comment: “Your post confirms my experience planting thousands of trees over three decades, and dozens of trees in my own garden. However, my clients don’t believe a word of it, so it’s easier to plant with a little compost and dig a bigger (not deeper) hole than to have a client suspect you are cutting corners. Too often educating clients is perceived as just another marketing ploy.” – Dave

Honorable mention comment: “My response to that info was ‘oh thank goodness’. It was like the dentist telling you that flossing doesn’t really make a difference after all.” – plantingoaks

April

Ha! You can tell we get busier in April.  Length of posts were about  ½ that of winter. My choice is a great thought-provoking post from Linda, simply titled “Rain barrels.”  It was basically a response to a blog post from one of our readers, where he discusses the impracticalities of rain barrels. Linda simply posted the link, added a pic of her personal rain barrel, how she uses it, and then opens the floor for discussion.  Garnered 35 comments, most really thoughtful, including one from the post-in-question author.  

Most asking-for-it comment: “Well now I have a new reason not to clean my gutters. With all the leaves, I am creating a great batch of compost tea!!”  – jake   (Jake, dear, have you not read the umpteen compost tea posts on this blog? )

May

Seemed to be the “hot issues” month. Exploding watermelons, Bt in the bloodstream, heavy metals in urban soils, invasive species.   I related an exchange with a plant sale customer in the post “I’d be happy to answer any questions you might have.”  One of my pet peeves is the confusion as to what a named cultivar implies; and I tried to address the question as well as that of “native-ness.”

Best comment: “purity is overrated.” – robert hart

Linda kept the discussion going by posting a guest column by fellow faculty Charlie Rowher – one of the clearest explanations that “plant breeding/crop improvement does not equal GMO”

June

Bert was in overdrive, with a slew of fabulous posts on root research,  herbicide damage, native vs. exotic, etc.  I gave y’all WAY too much information about my on-vacation brush with food poisoning. But Jeff had two I’d like to point out:

1) “Vinegar: a garden miracle!”

Snort!  Jeff does in all the silly vinegar claims at once. Neat, tidy, and to the point. 

The only retort possible w
ins: “But it does wonderful things for cucumbers… after they’re sliced and put in a bowl! ;-)” – SandyG

2)  “What happens to the horticulturist?”

I believe part of what we do here at GP is explain a bit about the weird wild world of academia, especially how it relates to our discipline of Horticulture.  Jeff brings a great rant on how training generalists is becoming a lost art, and the plight of horticulture departments everywhere.

Best comment, though almost as long as the post: “Great post! my two cents: Do we need more generalists? YES!! why? Because the problems/challenges/research questions we face do not respect the traditional boundaries of academic disciplines. Horticulturalists often operate at the human scale what we can see, taste, touch and feel. While research dollars are pouring in for projects that are at a molecular scale. This means lost plant id courses, and students with no idea about what they are seeing in the field. This ultimately leads to a shortage of people who can make observations about what is happening on the ground (as opposed to the lab). Big mistake! Critical thinkers need to be able to put it all together, soils, plants, insects, ecology and on and on.” – jonas

 Next week – July through December!

Weird and Wonderful Plant Wednesday: Threefer!

 

This is a tale of three plants in my garden that would make the cruelest of multiple choice answers. Heh. Hence the inclusion of all three in this post:

a. Manihot esculenta

b. Abelmoschus manihot

 

c. Abelmoschus esculentus

d. All of the above

e. Aaaargh.

Manihot esculenta is Cassava or Tapioca; worthy of an entire post on its own. But the choice ornamental version is M. esculenta ‘Variegata’ or variegated tapioca.  I first saw it (gawked and squealed, actually) at Allan Armitage’s fab trial garden at the University of Georgia. Full sun, hot as blue blazes – not the usual environment variegated plants thrive in.  But this South American native loves it. It’s worked its way north in the trade; now nearly every plant nerd garden has it.  Perfect in beds or containers, it makes a lovely, well-behaved clump in temperate zones – a big shrub in warmer areas.  Interestingly, Manihot is in the Euphorbiaceae family; the other two are Malvaceae (hibiscus family).  Hardy only to Zone 9, unfortunately.

Manihot at the UGA garden in 2004. Love those red stems!

In our home garden. A bit of a shady spot, hence the less-vivid coloration.

 


Abelmoschus manihot is variously known as sweet hibiscus, sunset hibiscus, etc. and remains rather obscure. It’s easy to grow from seed, plus reseeds gently where happy (like the gravel paths in our kitchen garden).  Not much to look at until late summer, then the big lemon-yellow flowers unfurl – usually one or two at a time on each plant. The seed pods march up the stem, resembling a smaller version of okra.  Gets tall – up to 6’ or so – but the sturdy stems don’t need staking. Collect seeds from the dried pods to start next year.


The foliage is edible – I’ve gnawed a leaf or two but was underwhelmed. Maybe in soup.

 

The flower of Abelmoschus manihot is very similar to but a bit larger than those of okra…

Marvelous pods in the fall at Chanticleer.


 

Finally, the most common –  Abelmoschus esculentus – Okra.  Hitting its stride right now in the home garden.  Extremely ornamental, especially the red-stemmed varieties.

Okra ‘Hill Country Red’ at the Atlanta Botanical Garden this summer. Gorgeous!



The important bits.


Okra is a very unique veg.  You may be cringing from some past okra mishap, but I urge you to try it 1) fresh and  2) prepared correctly. Yes, it’s a bit mucilaginous, but what makes it gooey also serves a wonderful thickener for gumbo, stews, and the like. Pickled okra makes an exceptional cocktail garnish for vodka martinis (add a splash of hot sauce for a  Cajuntini).  I love okra dearly but never buy it in the store – as it sits around, the pods become woody and tough.  Try it fresh from the farmer’s market or even better, the back yard.  Not trying add to the food-blog-saturation point, but please allow me to wander off-topic and share my favorite fried okra recipe. The deep-fried, breading-buried stuff normally sold as
fried okra is far, far inferior.

Holly’s Fried Okra
(Materials and Methods)

 

Pick a mess* of okra. Slice up your pods (no more than ¼” to 1/3″ sections.  If it’s difficult to slice, discard that pod – too old/tough) and toss into a bowl with a sploosh of buttermilk, just enough to moisten it. Add salt, pepper, and a dash of cayenne. Stir gently.  Get a big fry pan or wok (okra needs its space) and heat some veg or olive oil. Not a lot, just a few tablespoons. Don’t let oil get smokin’ hot, don’t want to burn it. Now throw a big handful of cornmeal into the bowl with the okra and stir gently again. Some will stick, some won’t. You should be able to see the okra, not just blobs of coating. Move okra to hot pan with a slotted spoon, giving it a shake over the bowl so you don’t get a lot of extra cornmeal in the pan. Just enough for one layer – don’t crowd the pan or it will be soggy. Toss gently over medium heat for about 5 to 8 minutes until some corners are very dark brown and crispy and everything else is either green or golden.  Remove to paper towel-covered plate; add a dusting of kosher salt, then start the next batch (replication).  Eat the first batch while standing there making the second batch. Helpers will magically appear. The first batch NEVER makes it to the table in our house.

Crispy, non-greasy, okra goodness!

*mess = “as much as you need for your meal”, be it for two or ten. This recipe uses about three cups of slices – though can’t say I’ve ever measured. Enough to feed two or three (two if they really like it). Adjust other ingredients accordingly.

 

A Nice Museum

I’ve been to Chicago before, but mostly on business.  It always seemed nice though, so, last week I went with my family and, for the first time, I had the chance to look at some of the sights.  Navy Pier – overrated.  Shedd aquarium – met expectations.  Chicago style pizza from Giordanos – so much better than I expected.  Chicago hotdogs – damn good, but not equal to Chicago pizza.  The Field Museum – TERRIBLY UNDERRATED.  I just loved the Field museum.  There were all kinds of fantastic displays on everything from whales to evolution.  There was also a great display on plants.  The information in the display was spot on, but this was definitely one of the simpler displays at the museum.  In fact, to be honest, it seemed a little bit like the display cases were made in the 1950s or 60s.  That said, there was a lot of room for the display to spread out across, after all, this is, supposedly, a major attraction for the museum.

The thing is, no one was there.  It was freaky.  My wife was taking the kids to another display hall (one more suited to younger kids where they could actually play with stuff), and so I went to the plant display by myself.  My feet echoed across the halls as I walked down the corridor.  When I turned around to look at the direction from whence I came it felt like a movie where I was walking in a hallway from the fifties and everyone outside was hustling and bustling in the 21st century.  When I turned a corner in the hall there was a guy apparently passed out over his laptop.  This was the only living person that I saw while visiting the display — and he obviously had no interest in plants – at least not when I saw him (Truth is, for all I know he was dead.  The next day I felt guilty for not checking his pulse to make sure he was really alive).  And, based on this photo from someone on flickr, I’m not the only one who has seen this exhibit empty.

Is this the interest that people have in plants today?  How sad.  No wonder we’re losing horticulture departments.   But on a livelier note, I’ve been such a downer the last few posts that I promise I’ll provide something a little happier next week!

Vinegar: A Garden Miracle!

I’ve been working with homemade garden remedies in one context or another for about 10 years now.  As someone who has spent days searching for odd cures to garden problems I consider myself qualified to say that, of all of the remedies I’ve seen, vinegar seems to be the product with the most (supposed) uses.  You can kill weeds with it, as well as plant diseases and insects.  You can also use it as a fertilizer or even to acidify your soil.  It’s amazing!  But which of these uses are real and which are just someone flapping their jaws?

Vinegar as an herbicide:  White vinegar which is about 5% acetic acid and does a nice job of burning the tops of plants, but not their roots – so a larger weed will live right through a spray even though it will look bad right after the spray.  You can buy 20% acetic acid.  It works faster, but it has essentially the same problem killing larger weeds that that 5% acetic acid does.  Besides efficacy issues there are safety issues also.  I’ve used 20% acetic acid and I think that this stuff is too dangerous for the average person.  A little in the eyes could cause permanent injury.  Just a little whiff of it is enough to make the nose start running (in other words it’s not good for mucous membranes).

Vinegar as a disease control:  What a great idea!  Spray something that kills plants onto your prized petunias to control disease!  OK, when you use vinegar as a plant disease control you do use a lower concentration which shouldn’t hurt the plant.  But vinegar has never proven to be particularly effective at controlling plant diseases.

Vinegar as a fertilizer: Nope, doesn’t work.  Acetic acid only contains carbon hydrogen and oxygen – stuff the plant can get from the air.  The other things that may be in vinegar could be good for a plant – but it seems an expensive method of applying an unknown amount of nutrition.

Vinegar as a soil acidifier:  This is one that I’ve seen a lot – and so I tried it.  In a nutshell, it just doesn’t work that well.  It takes a lot of vinegar and the pH change is brief at best.  Use something like sulfur instead.

So to summarize, despite a lot of recommendations, the only thing that vinegar has really proven to be good at is killing weeds – and then only if the weeds are young.

Pause for effect…

Spring (in either hemisphere) is an incredibly busy time for anyone even remotely associated
with horticulture – a frenzy of growing, selling, buying, planting, and
information-disbursing.  If gardening were this wildly popular year-round, there might even be some money to be made. For us Hort faculty,  spring means field trips,  student plant sales, cramming even more plants
onto an identification test (heh), tons of consumer questions, research projects coming and going, and many many speaking engagements. As gardeners, we’re also trying to get all that stuff done, too – weeding, mulching, planting recent purchases or gifts from plant-sharing friends (the best kind). It’s hard to slow down and enjoy spring.  Joel and I did a “forced pause” last evening before dusk. We put down the implements, poured some white wine, and simply wandered around our garden.  So many things coming up and out; it was breathtakingly lovely, all the fresh foliage and flowers, basking in the last of the day’s sunshine. Please don’t let spring rip past without stopping to sniff the
Convallaria. Unless it’s still under snow (sorry Bert!).

My favorite little Japanese Maple – Acer palmatum ‘Tsuma gaki’. Looks like she just got her nails done.

Why did the worm cross the road?

…To get to the other side. Of course.

All the rain we’re having is causing the earthworms to crowd the sidewalks and driveways. They fling themselves out of the ground and onto the pavement because they’re drowning, right?  Nope. Urban myth (by the way, why are there no Rural Myths?).  The punchline is not too far off: they can only move about above ground while it’s raining. They use rain events to safely relocate, and can allegedly live for a while in a puddle.  But we all know what happens when the sun comes out…crispy Ramen time.

I had just come in from flinging a bunch of worms off the pavement in front of our building – they were going to get mashed or eaten by robins otherwise. I probably put them right back from whence they came, against their earthwormy wishes.

 
Portrait of Two Worms
– by H.L. Scoggins


Then I read Bert’s post…it’s like reporting that the Easter Bunny has rabies or something. I’ve always been delighted to see earthworms, under any conditions. To the point of saving their squirmy little lives whenever possible. Not sure what to think about this new bit of information.

Jeff Gillman a.k.a. Dr. Unbiased!

“Everyone’s taking stands, and unfortunately, some of those taking the strongest stands have the least information.”
– Dr. Jeff Gillman, on “How the government got in your backyard”, co-authored with Eric Heberlig

Fine Gardening did a fine job in a recent interview that was linked to their e-mail update.  FG Editor Steve Aitken brings some humor as he quizzes Dr. Jeff. about his new book.  Check it out here.

Steve opens with “Is the government really in my backyard? And if so, can I get them to pull some weeds?”

Hee!!!  The interview awesomeness continues as herbicides, nudity, tofu dogs, and  poo-pooing are all discussed. I just may renew my subscription, if Steve can promise more of the same. I gave up on Garden Design years ago – since I don’t have a gravel garden with infinity pool overlooking a canyon in California, nor am I interested in $5000 lawn chairs. Reading it just made me feel dowdy.

“I can practically guarantee that you’ll find something in this book that
you don’t like.”  Way to sell a book, Dr. Jeff!

Despite waiting pensively by the mailbox for my Complimentary Copy which has yet to arrive, I can safely say there’s already a kerfuffle brewing over the book. As Jeff noted in his post last week, folks have already weighed in DISAGREEING with his position. Wait! He has no position! That’s the whole bloody point. It seems an alarming number of people aren’t sure what to do with the 1,350 grams of gray stuff between their ears.

****
Relative to last weeks “trivia” post: I’m apparently the tallest Garden Professor, at 72 + 5/8 inches.

Lasso those grasses!

While Jeff and Bert were swilling beers and eating burgers last weekend (dang, wish I was there to commiserate!) I was whacking back the last of the perennials and grasses in our home garden.  Tarp after tarp were filled with winter’s debris for compost pile as we fought 25 mph gusts the entire time.  Not ideal conditions.  However, a neat trick I learned years ago came in handy with the grasses.  I’m assuming many of you utilize this technique also – so forgive me if this is a “nothing new” post  Here’s Paul and Dabney, our Hahn Horticulture Garden horticulturists, demonstrating said technique:

Just cut below the web strap or rope with your favorite implement of destruction, and toss the whole bundle on the tarp to get it to the pile. Note that they both have on safety glasses, and Dabney has on gloves.  I can’t stress enough the importance of gloves (and long-sleeved shirts) when handling dried grasses. One of our student workers sliced his finger open to the tune of three stitches last week.  He was cutting down Arundo donax, Paul asked him to put some gloves on, but since 22 year-old guys are indestructible, he blew off the advice. Just saw him working out in the garden today with gloves on, yay!

Weigh in with YOUR garden clean-up tips – ’tis the season (for most of us north of USDA Zone 7 in the northern hemisphere).

Garden Professor Trivia #2: Who’s the tallest GP?

[This could get interesting…Oldest! Weirdest! Heaviest drinker! Most traffic tickets! Most cats! Most obsessed with slugs! etc.]

Valentine’s Day, yet again…

We make fun and call it “National Forced Affection Day” (NFAD) around
our house. But it’s big business.

The National Retail Federation did a survey of 8900+ consumers in their 2011 Valentine’s Day Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey They found that the
average person will shell out $116.21 on traditional Valentine’s Day merchandise this year, up 11 percent over last year’s $103.00. Men spend twice
as much as women. Total holiday spending is expected to reach $15.7 billion. The main categories of consumer spending include $3.5 billion on jewelry, $1.6 billion on clothing (didn’t say what kind, heh!), $1.5 billion on candy and $1.1 billion on greeting cards. $3.4 billion will be spent on dining out. With $1.7 billion worth of  flowers sold, it is, by far, the most important (and stressful) holiday for the floral industry, including growers, wholesalers, and florists.

If you do choose to participate in NFAD,  please spend your dollars in the floriculture sector, but take a look at some of the alternatives to red roses.
Plant-based alternatives, that is. You can choose to follow the herd and cough up $39.95 for a dozen scentless, soon-to-be lifeless red roses. Nothing is more depressing than a vase full of roses with bent neck – that signature wilt that indicates water is not making it all the way to the flower – usually due to a bacterial clog in the pipes.

Alternative: for $19.95, thrill him/ her with a lovely Phalaenopsis (moth orchid) to grace a desk or windowsill. Now, I’ve killed my share of orchids, but this symbol of your affection will last a LOT longer than roses with just a bit of care (indirect light and do not overwater!).


from www.orchidweb.com

Or perhaps a florist Cyclamen – comes in all the requisite VD colors of pink, white, and red. Really tough little plants – if you forget to water them for several weeks, they’ll often just go dormant. Let them rest for a while longer, pull off the dead leaves, and commence reviving them with frequent waterings and a little bit of fertilizer – they will bloom again.

Just some suggestions for those so inclined.  Alas, I know what I’ll be getting…squat, with a big red bow.