Welcome
back to another episode of Lost in the Farmers Market. Here we are, it is
finally May, that miracle month that isn’t exactly spring anymore but isn’t
quite summer yet. Mother’s Day is right around the corner and as we all know
the threat of frost is replaced with the threat of pop-up thunder storms. Why,
just looking out your window demonstrates the magical time of year because
everything is so green and growing so fast it’s not even funny. But of course,
that brings us to the first post of May which is two days late because I am
busily preparing the test gardens for visitors on the 19th. This
isn’t an excuse, but a statement of fact as it takes time to really clean up
the effects of two off-years and push back the ‘jungle’ to make certain parts
of the gardens presentable as they should be. I know in the last few years we
had a full-out garden tour with multiple locations, but as we discovered getting
locations on the tour wasn’t easy as not everyone was confident enough in their
garden to want to host visitors. More so, the complexity of keeping the
locations reasonably close to each other proved a daunting task. This year
Sustainable Neighbors opted to offer a single-location garden event once or
twice a month so in in the month of May if you are interested in touring the
Botanical Test Gardens you can RSVP at the Sustainable Neighbors site listed
below:
The
tour is on May the 19th which is a Sunday and is between 2:00 pm –
5:00pm, You can RSVP and get the address for the tour on the 12th as
a updated notification through our meetup group. Or you can visit my table at
the Fayetteville City Market on the 18th to get the address information.
The
most common question I get in regards to the tour is “why should I go?” The answer is fairly straightforward, you will
get to see plants you’ve never seen in the landscape before. additionally, via
the tour book you get to see the evolution of a garden over the course of a
decade and, you will discover methods to crate a garden that perhaps you are
not familiar with that may just help you solve your gardening difficulties. If
that doesn’t whet your appetite for touring my gardens in specific there will
be a few amusing stories, some free plants given away (some in pots, some have
to be dug) and a fun quiz, ‘Weed or not a Weed’ which won’t be too difficult
but may challenge your established notions of how we define weeds. I look
forward to seeing all of you on the tour and I hope that my gardens can help
you in the fullest.
Now
onto the best part of any LITFM blog post, the garden photographs and this week
as a teaser there are some pictures of the gardens that will get your creative
gardening drive going as they are teasers for the big tour this month.
 |
| In a prior post or two I spoke about 'Reversion' this is an excellent example. |
Reversion is when a plant reverts to it's original form as a result of environmental stresses or some other factors that make it's original form more advantageous than the form we have cultivated. Int he case of the Fringe Bush ( Loropetalum chinense 'Rubrum' ), this shrub for whatever reason is trying to revert to it's normal green coloration. The reversion will mean that the fringe bush's green parts will grow noticeably faster than it's purple parts and if left unchecked the entire hedgerow of fringe bushes could all go green. On that last part it is purely my theory that when a few of a specific type of bushes revert in larger group and suddenly they all start going green it may be due to the plant's foliage and roots touching which spreads the reversion through chemical triggers and hormones. This is why any sudden patches of solid green in an otherwise colored plant group should be handled immediately.
 |
| Teaser Alert! This Amaryllis will be faded by the time the tour happens, but the garden it is in may be in bloom. |
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| This one is for my Pepperheads at the market. |
I get asked fairly often what the status of my super-hot peppers is and this picture and the next few should answer the question. The plants for sale are developing and have been put out for 'sunning' to get them ready for sale, the crop plant's status is next.
 |
| Burn Baby Burn! Fayetteville Inferno! |
The Fayetteville Inferno plant is looking real good, lots of pretty foliage and the first flower buts are already on the plant, I'll probably have to move it away from other peppers so I can harvest some pure seed this year.
 |
| Good Ol' Aji Limon, look at the heavy base branching. |
Aji Limon has been my favorite go-to spicy/hot pepper for general use for most of a decade. The plants are fairly vigorous and tolerant of heat, but a bit wary of drought.
 |
| 'Roid Rage Basil! |
Commonly called Lettuce-Leaf Basil ( Ocimum basilicum 'Lettuce Leaf' ), this is a selection of sweet basil for comparatively massive leaves. If I recall right from the test gardens in the 1990's this was the basil that got to three or four feet tall and was stopped from getting taller because someone snapped off the growing tip. Either way, these plants will be MASSIVE, and they are under limited trials to test their viability in southern gardens. In case you are wondering, the following basils have already been tested.
Sweet Genovese - Passed
Cinnamon - Passed
Thai - Passed
Red Rubin - Inconclusive
Lemon - Failed
'Pesto Purpetuo' - Inconclusive
Spicy Globe - Failed
Boxwood - Failed
Magical Michael - Inconclusive
Sweet Dani - Inconclusive
Blue African - Passed
Holy - Potential Invasive
Mirihani - Currently being tested
Lettuce Leaf - Currently being tested
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| Milkweed or Plerusey Root at the age of about 9 years. |
The Milkweed ( Asclepias tuberosa )pictured above is is the single oldest herbaceous perennial in the Botanical test gardens with a close second being the Indian Pinks ( Spigelia marilandica ) and in third a Swamp Mallow ( Hibiscus moscheutos ) planted by the mailbox. By the time of the tour the milkweed will be in bloom and it's offshoots that have popped up in the bed behind it will be noticeably tall. This plant has a funny story attached to it that I'll tell visitors on the 19th.
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| Teaser Alert! The Triangle bed... |
The triangle bed is a story unto itself that I will be telling during the tour, for the time being however it is pictured so that you can get a feel for some of the heavy work done to get the gardens ready because it most certainly did not look like this last year. A major change is that every plant in the bed has a metal tag with it's common name on it. There are a few other changes you will find out about on the 19th.
 |
| More Teasers?! You bet! |
Well, you knew it would be like this, in the garden this lone Herbal Gentleman grows in a protected location after his recent transplanting. But what sort of herb is he? Is he evergreen or deciduous? If I water him does he get water or does the water get him instead? Will he be a feature of 'True Facts about the:" on LITFM? All you fine folks will get closure on the 19th, and this herb isn't the only mystery I'll be teasing, expect another next week.
With
all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to
advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably
don’t much like advertisements, but by booth at the City Market helps to cover
the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research &
Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up
the backbone of this blog. Also, as of
the start of 2019, my booth can now process credit or debit cards thanks to the
acquisition of s a Square reader so your payment options have doubled. With
that said, 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. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look
for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.
Plants
& Stuff Available Now:
Herbs:
Agastache, Golden Jubilee: 3” - $
3.00
Basil, Sweet: 3” - $3.00
Basil, Thai: 3” - $3.00
Etruscan Santolina: 3” - $4.00
Eucalyptus, Dwarf: 3” - $4.00
Lavender, ‘Elegance Purple’: 3” -
$3.00
Lavender, ‘Elegance Pink’: 3” -
$3.00
Sage, Common: 3” - $3.00
Self-Heal, Pink Lace: 3” - $3.00
Rue, Marbled: 3" - $4.00
Tansy, (Feverfew): 3" - $3.00
Fruits
& Vegetables:
Peppers, Tabasco: 3” - $3.00
Peppers, Thai Dragon: 3” - $3.00
Peppers, Oxhorn: 3” - $3.00
Potato, Dark Red Norland: 3" -
$2.00
Tomato, Black Cherry: 3” - $3.00
Tomato, Carolina Gold: 3” - $3.00
Tomato, Chocolate Cherry: 3” - $3.00
Tomato, Gardener’s Delight: 3” -
$3.00
Tomato, Gold Nugget: 3” - $3.00
Tomato, Gold Millions: 3” - $3.00
Tomato, Paul Robeson: 3” - $3.00
Tomato, San Marzano: 3” - $3.00
Tomato, Sungold: 3” - $3.00
Garden
Perennials:
Salvia, New Dimension Blue: 3” -
$3.00
Milkweed, (Asclepias tuberosa:
4" - $4.00
Milkweed, Whorled: (Asclepias
verticillata): 4" - $4.00
Coming
Soon:
Basil, Cinnamon
Basil, Mirihani
Coneflower, Cayenne Red
Coneflower, PowWow Wildberry Mix
Balloon Flower
Cotton, Mississippi Brown
Datura, Black Currant
Datura, White Ballerina
Okra, Red-Burgundy
Pomegranate, Dwarf: 6"
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/
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