The Hurricane that Couldn't

Welcome back to another episode of Lost in the Farmers Market.

This was taken on Wednesday the 12th as the weather really started to change.

            To say that September has been in interesting month is an understatement, At the beginning of this month I had a topic in mind for the first article, wrote it up and ended up disliking its tone and so it was scrapped. As I worked on its replacement, the deadline passed and then Hurricane Florence decided to pay us a visit. It was not until last Tuesday that life in Fayetteville got somewhat close to normal and finally here we are with the two September articles combined into one. As some of you avid gardeners out there may already know September (weather permitting) is the time of the year in which you shift from warm season crops to cold season crops. While I can’t speak for any other gardeners out there the hurricane’s heavy winds battered all of my tomatoes into submission so of course as soon as the post hurricane cleanup occurred they got pulled out. If you want to try for a late crop of peas now is the time. Sowing carrots, parsnips, and radishes are also viable options at this juncture. But of course, if you don’t believe it’s fall, then the below picture should be your sign.

 

I somehow think these large spiders would be more horrifying if they glowed.

            The above is a particularly massive specimen of a Hentz Weaver ( Neoscona crucifera ) and it’s female due to the extreme sexual dimorphism in the species. Males are tiny comparatively because this allows them to approach a female without being eaten most likely. The females of this species are mainly nocturnal but you encounter them in the fall when they become at least partly diurnal. They will build webs that are easily a foot or more across with attachment lines that can run for many feet to fixed objects such as structures, trees, shrubs and patches of lawn. They seem to set up their webs daily starting in the evening, then tear them down some time in the dawn. Typically, if there is a population of these spiders in an area they will set up webs within the same 30-foot area. In my case this one and another two like it set up somewhere under the dogwoods and the driveway every night starting about mid-September. The Hertz Weaver may bite if agitated but is not known to have a bite that can harm you other than localized swelling. Getting a good night time image of this specific spider was part of the delay in getting this article posted. Weather and many errors in trying to get a decent photo stalled the original post. At this time of the year if you intend to walk in areas where trees and shrubs are within close proximity, carry an LED flashlight and shine it in your walking path, spider’s webs light up even at range so you don’t walk face first into one.

If I get only one that's still better than none.

            In keeping with what I originally intended to post in both of this month’s episodes there are some garden photos that needed to be shared. First is a casualty of the Hurricane; For the first time since I planted it, my Persimmon tree ( Diospyros kaki ‘Fuyu’) was loaded with fruit. Understandably I was excited by this because I thought after six years of messing with the darn thing, finally something to show for it. Well, Hurricane Florence showed up with her 50+ mph winds and said “Ain’t nobody got time for that!” and knocked all the fruit off the tree except this one in the photo above. That might be karma, because I did joke as the hurricane approached shore that ‘Aunt Flo is coming to town’ and well maybe the hurricane heard me. There are two things you should know about Persimmons; first never eat them on a completely empty stomach. Second, Persimmons contain a soluble tannin shibuol which when it contacts stomach acids can polymerize into a sticky goo, called a phytobexoar. This mass can cause indigestion and is slow to pass into the intestine. Moderate consumption of persimmons however if you eat to many Persimmons. Surgery may be required in extreme cases, though it is said that you can drink Coca-Cola to dissolve this mass and skip the doctor’s bill. It’s noted that horses can gain a taste for the fruit and eat to many and get sick for the same reasons a human eating to many would.

 

Apparently you plant Pomegranates and leave them alone to get fruit...who knew?!

But the persimmons were not the only thing worth noticing, you see the Pomegranates were also flowering hard too and never before have I gotten on camera a really good picture of what pomegranate flowers look like so for your viewing enjoyment here is one. Seriously, they do not look like any other plant I’ve ever seen! The petals remind me of crape myrtle and the unopened buds also look like that, but the waxy calyx in an open flower stops resembling any other fruit, and that is what eventually forms the pomegranate. The scientific name of the type of Pomegrante we see in stores and grow in our region is Punica granatum and in the case of the species I have on hand I also have Punica granatum var. nana which is a dwarf Pomegranate which is typically kept as an ornamental but also produces fruit. Culturally, in several sources it is stated that until the introduction of Tomatoes, Pomegranates were the most sought-after fruit and given that they have a long shelf life and can ferment in their rinds making a low yield sort of fruit wine it’s no surprise they were popular. Pomegranates are noted to have been one of the first cultivated fruits with Figs being the oldest known fruit to be cultivated.

Shiso so....nah I wont finish that joke!

Next up are some random shots; at the end of the season it just sort of figures that the Purple Shiso (Perilla frutescens var. crispa) out did the varied types of basil. I mean look at it go where the basil scored and sputtered it’s still growing and doesn’t seem to care if it’s flowering or not. I expect to have Perilla all over the place next year.

Ginger is super-easy to grow in our climate.

This is a first, it seems this first year Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is going to bloom. I have no idea what it’s flowers will look like or smell like but I do know that photos of that will be up here for you folks to enjoy as soon as this plant starts blooming. I expect a good harvest because if you look carefully, the pot that the ginger is in is distorted from its round shape to almost an oval, there are a LOT of roots in there for sure.

The blue berries of Virginia Creeper may look like tiny grapes, but they are highly toxic.

As a final picture for this post, above is a picture of Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) with berries. This climbing vine is considered a weed of moderate persistence because it is moderately difficult to eradicate. If you only read the classifications of the herbicide companies it’s the base of all garden existence with only Greenbriar (smilax rotundifolia) being consider more difficult to kill. However, Virginia creeper does have its advantages in that it can climb structures with adhesive disks that don’t damage the structures it is climbing on unlike true ivy (Hedera helix). This feature is advantageous because it can rapidly cover masonry allowing a cooling effect because it’s leaves will shade the building in summer. Often though, Virginia creeper is mistaken for Poison Ivy (Toxicodendron radicans) because Virginia Creeper can have anywhere from three to six leaflets per petiole and those leaves can outwardly resemble that of Posion Ivy.  The key identifying feature is that Poison ivy has leaflets that are shaped like your hand if the thumb is not extended, also it has white berries and its roots look hairy like true Ivy, because they are hairy looking and may dissolve masonry and stone.

For note this is where the advertising starts because it keeps the Test Garden’s supplied and running tests so you don’t have to. If you want to get some GMO-free, Organic vegetables, herbs and fruiting shrubs come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the Hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Barring bad weather, I’ll be there selling the following summer offerings.

Plants Available Now:

Lemon Grass – $8.00

Sage, Common - $3.00

Santolina - $3.00

Ghost Pepper - $3.00

Tabasco Pepper - $3.00

Coneflower, Cayenne Red - $4.00

Coneflower, Pow Wow Mix - $4.00

Milkweed – $3.00

Milkweed, Whorled - $3.00

Flowering Maple - $4.00

Hops, 5” pot - $8.00

Dancing Bones Cactus - $3.00

Coming Soon:

[TBA]

These days I am generally at Leclair’s General Store once a week, for the weekly Sustainable Neighbors meeting at 5:30pm through 7:00 pm. If you have questions then I will be there to answer your questions. Since our meetings have an open-door policy you don’t need to sign up for anything or join anything, you can come on in ask for us and join the meetings. If not, you can always send me questions through this blog or visit the farmer’s market or pay attention to what Sustainable Neighbors is doing at the link below.

https://www.meetup.com/SustainableNeighbors/

            This brings to a close the Sixteenth and Seventeenth LITFM post of the new year, stay tuned the next episode which should be posted on the 10th of October which is the Wednesday after next. There will be more garden updates and other cool stuff.