Pollinators

Everybody talks about pollinators and that we need pollinator-friendly gardens.  They mention their concern about the risk of herbicides and pesticides on these creatures, but do you truly understand their significance?

To put it simply, if we didn’t have pollinators, there would be world-wide famine.  We would starve.

Pollinators consist of certain insects and birds along with a few mammals and even reptiles.

Pollinators help deliver pollen from a flower to the stigma of a flower.  This allows the plants to develop fruit and seeds so they can reproduce.  Without this process, many plants would eventually die out and we simply wouldn’t have the fruits or grains that we rely on for a large part of our food.

Right now, insects are dying off in huge numbers.  According to the Cornell Lab fo Ornithology, bird populations have decreased by 30% since 1970 - approximately 2.9 Billion birds!  This is a huge loss!!!

We’re not sure of all of the reasons but we can point to global warming, pollution including herbicides and pesticides and habitat loss.

You can do your part to help:

• Plant some pollinator-friendly plants

• Avoid the use of chemicals in your yard

• Create wildlife-friendly spaces

Do your research.

Why Isn’t My Garden Thriving?

It’s time to start your detective work!  There are many reasons for troubled plants.

The basics of plant care are:

• Water

• Food (fertilizer)

• Sunlight

• Temperature (climate)

• Protection from parasites and diseases

This is a pretty simplistic view of things but you’ll need to check each one of the items above to identify the problem.

Water:  All plants need water.  If they get too little, they will wither away.  Leaves will yellow and then turn brown and drop off.  When they get too much, they can get root rot or other fungus infections.  They can wilt and die.  Sometimes the plants will turn black and “melt.”

Food:  Each plant variety has its own specific needs.  We published an article on fertilizer on June 24th.  Please refer to that for more information.  Too much or too little of each component can create problems.  Imagine if you tried living on only candy or only celery.  You wouldn’t be very healthy!

Sunlight:  Putting a shade plant in full sun or a sun-loving plant in full shade will have consequences.  Don’t do it unless you want your plants to die.

Temperature:  When you purchase plants or seeds, the seller will usually provide information on which USDA zone is proper for that plant.  If you’re unsure about the zones, read more at https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardiness_zone  Plants live in specific climates with minimum and maximum temperatures, amount of rain, humidity, etc.

Protection from parasites and diseases:  Some plants just thrive no matter what you do and some are more delicate.  Some are sensitive to fungi, insects and diseases.  Some are favorites of deer, rabbits and other animals.  Whether you install fencing or use natural or chemical means, your plants often need some help to get through the season.

Do your research or contact your local garden center or county extension service.  They want you to succeed.

Dandelions

At this time of the year, your garden may have some pretty healthy looking dandelion plants if you haven’t had time to do weeding.

Maybe you can accomplish two things at once.

Have you ever tried eating dandelions?  The greens can be very bitter.  Some people add the uncooked leaves to salads.  Just don’t use too much unless you like that bitter taste.  Younger leaves are less bitter.

If you cook them properly, they can be delicious and healthy.  They are high in iron, calcium, protein, and vitamins A and C.

There are as many ways to cook them as your imagination can take you.  Eat them in salads, steamed, breaded & fried, in jam, wine, replacing lettuce on a sandwich.  The flowers are edible too.

Just go online and search for “how to cook dandelions.”

Warning:  Never eat dandelions that have been treated with herbicides, pesticides or other harmful chemicals!

Watering Your Garden – When to Water

Plants need water to survive, but how much do they need?

The amount varies with many factors:

• Species of plant

• Climate

• Weather

• Recent rainfall

• When it was planted

• Type of soil

• Other factors

On the average for our area, most plants need 1/2 to 1 inches of rain per week.  So do you need to water?

First, you should know the requirements of your plants.  Are they water-loving plants that prefer to grow on the edge of a river or swamp, or do they love a dry area with sandy soil?

You will only need to water a little bit, or not at all, if you’ve had enough rainfall recently.  The ground will hold the soil best if it has a lot of organic matter and if mulch was installed around the plants.  If you have your plants close together – that’s even better. By that, I mean they are physically touching each other.  When plants are crowded together, they create their own micro-climate near the ground which reduces evaporation.

When it’s been hot and sunny for a week or more with no rainfall, even drought-tolerant plants may need a little help.

When you first install plants, they need regular watering until they get established.  That will take at least to the end of the current growing season and sometimes into next year.  Water every 2-3 days and be sure to mulch if your plants aren’t close together.

If you’ve just planted seed, then you need to water twice a day.  Seed needs to be moist and if it sprouts and then dries out, it will probably die.

Each USDA zone may be a bit different and other factors will affect your plants’ needs.  How compacted is your soil?  Are your plants in the sun or shade?  Is your garden exposed to the wind?

You can purchase a water meter from your local garden center to help.  It has prongs that you insert into the ground and a meter that will let you know how moist the soil is.

Take care of your plants and they’ll live a lot longer.

Watering Your Garden – Watering Systems

A popular method of watering you lawn or garden is a rotating lawn sprinkler.  There are the type that move side-to-side in a rectangular pattern or that spin in a circle.

These can cover a lot of ground and don’t need you to stand there.  The downside is that you lose a lot of water to evaporation.  Some towns don’t allow these sprinklers due to their inefficient water usage.  Plus, if your garden isn’t a neat rectangle or circle, you may be wetting areas that you don’t want watered, or missing other areas that do need water.

Another more-efficient method is the soaker hose.  Normally you would set the soaker hoses in place before planting your garden so you just need to hook up a hose to the end.  The hoses can be covered with mulch so you won’t even see them.  These water slowly and gently without wetting the foliage.

The next options are automated sprinkler systems.  A commercial sprinkler system that sprays water has the same downsides as a lawn sprinkler.  It can be inefficient with water and can miss places or water places you don’t want watered.

The best advanced system is a drip irrigation system.  This consists of tubing with small holes that will either spray or drip directly on the plants or ground by the roots.  It’s very efficient.  Drip irrigation allows for injection of liquid fertilizer too.

Consider using a battery-operated hose timer for all sprinkler systems and soaker hoses and you’ll have more time to enjoy your yard.

Watering Your Garden – the Basics

Water … such a simple thing but without an ample supply, new plants can’t get established and established ones will fail to thrive or even wither away.

So how do you keep your garden well-watered?

This article is discussing in-ground plantings only. 

The rule of thumb is to provide 1-2 inches of watering per week.  One or two deep watering will work much better than a little bit each day.  The exception is newly-planted seed.  Seeds need to be kept constantly damp and if they aren’t properly mulched, they should be misted twice daily.

The time of day is also important.  It’s far better to water very early or late, or even over-night.  Wetting the leaves in full sunlight can cause the leaves to burn.  The water droplets act as a prism to intensify the light and burn the leaves, even though they are wet.

Many people choose to water using a hose.  This is great if you have a lot of time.  It takes a good while to provide that much water to each part of your garden.  Plus, you need to water slowly and gently.  If you provide too much water at once, it can wash away the soil on top and quite often, the water will just run across the ground.  Dirt needs to already be moist to absorb water efficiently so rotate where you water.

There are many downsides to using a hose aside from the time it takes.  You need to have hoses long enough to reach all parts of your garden and the strength to drag those hoses around.  You need to coil up the hoses when you’re done to avoid an ugly mess and a tripping hazard.  If you go on vacation, you need reliable plant-sitters to spend the needed time.

Thrift

Armeria, or Thrift, is a cute little plant with a lot of personality.

It starts with a thick growth of dark green grass-like foliage.  Once that’s established, it will send up slender stems topped with a burst of color.

The foliage is evergreen and the flowers are usually hot pink with a smattering of purple, white or red.

They can grow to be 10-12” tall and bloom the entire growing season.  It is tolerant of wet and dry conditions as well as excesses of salt and copper in the soil.

The flowers dry beautifully and do well in arrangements are decorative wreaths.

Anise Hyssop

Anise Hyssop is a New Jersey native plant that falls under the umbrella of Agastache.  Agastache plants are members of the Mint family.

Anise Hyssop is not invasive as are many mint plants.  It is a fragrant perennial native to much of the northern US.

It is easily identified by the typical square stem of the mints.  It is fairly tall, growing from 2-4’ tall.  The leaves are almost heart-shaped with serrated edges and directly opposed.  Typically, tiny medium to dark purple flowers grow in clusters on tall stems from mid-summer to fall.  Less often you may see flowers in pink to creamy white and powder blue to red-violet

Pollinators and hummingbirds absolutely love these.