A few days late but worth the wait

Welcome back to another episode of Lost in the Farmers Market. This episode has been delayed by several days because finally the temperatures are starting to drop and I am cycling out all my warm season crops for cool season ones. I am sorry for the delay but you have an interesting episode ahead of you.  For today’s topic I will be debunking, or at least explaining some common garden myths and bringing to light what truths are behind them if there are any at all.

1.      Always transplant a plant into a new pot no larger than 1” bigger than the old one as it will cause your plant to have a longer shock period.

This is something they actually teach at the college level in horticulture and they really should not perpetuate this false-confirmation type of lie. You see, as long as you loosen up your plant’s roots when repotting, it does not matter what new size pot you use as long as it is bigger. The longer period of transplant shock part is a complete myth as it only seems to take longer for your plant to adapt to a much larger new pot filled with more potting soil because it visually appears much smaller and any new growth seems lacking. Essentially you can within reason ignore this myth.

2.      Buried Banana peels give a potassium boost to your plants.

Much like with a mass of cellulose (green wood) the decomposition process of banana peels will attract microorganisms that will make nitrogen less available in the soil during decomposition. This can obviously be a problem as most plants do need some nitrogen to grow and maintain their green color and vigor. It is wiser to just compost these scraps and use the resultant potassium fortified compost later.

3.      Coffee grounds/ pine straw lowers the soil’s pH.

This is a half-truth; coffee grounds are mildly acidic as is pine straw. However, neither really lowers the soil’s pH in any meaningful amount over a noticeable amount of time. Coffee grounds much like Banana peels can in fair amounts tie up nitrogen in the soil as they decompose. Pine straw on the other hand is very mildly acidic to a point that the effect on the pH is less than a fraction of a tenth of a percent per square foot. Green pine needles are the most acidic but that’s also a miniscule amount and they too can tie up nitrogen if applied in bulk. It is easier to just use a sulfur-based soil acidifier to see noticeable effects. There is good news, coffee grounds and pine straw both decompose and add organic matter to the soil with is always a net bonus to your topsoil layer.

4.      Transplant Fertilizers help establish plants faster.

The problem with transplant fertilizers and rooting stimulators is that they are not all made equal. The labels claim great things but the buyer should be wary, if a transplant fertilizer lacks any sort of hormonal compound such as “indole-3-butyric acid” it is merely a fertilizer and is no different than any other basic fertilizer on the market. For the record indole-3-butyric acid is a specific plant hormone in the auxin group that specifically promotes root growth. It is a compound that is used in micro-propagation where the cloned plant may be a barely differentiated tissue culture.

5.      Add sand to clay soils to improve drainage.

This myth is wrong for one major reason, clay is the finest of the three mineral components of soil where as sand is the most coarse. When you add the two together the sand does not stop the clay particles from sticking to each other and the sand itself. The combination effectively can create a form of concrete especially if compaction occurs. The product you want to fix clay is called Green Sand. Green sand is a coastal form of sandstone that breaks up the ability of clay particles to cling to each other.I know what you are thinking, 'but isn't adding green sand essentially still adding sand?' Technically yes, but structurally no, as noted Green Sand is a form of coastal sandstone that has rounded porous particles that aid in water retention in sandy soils but also break up clay in clay soils. Literally green sand can fix two out of three soil particle issues for little to no cost.

6.      Do not get the leaves wet when watering it can cause disease!

This is a half-truth; it can be true in the case of hairy, fuzzy or textured leaves where the shape or texture of the leaf may hold on to water or trap it. In most cases unless the foliage is kept constantly wet daily for weeks on end this garden myth is largely false. After all, when was the last time you saw a plant fall apart because it rained for a few days? Now, there is a minor detail to consider, this myth probably only applies when watering with municipal tap water. If your water comes from a well or a rain catchment system such as a rain barrel then you are safe. Tap water is typically treated with certain compounds to reduce harmful bacteria and other dangerous organisms as well as to neutralize odd tastes and prevent stagnation in the pipes. These compounds are not found in rain water, and so they may have additional negative effects on a plant’s foliage that rain water does not.

7.      Add a layer of gravel or sand to the bottom of a pot for drainage.

This one is a long-standing problem as it does little for drainage, and can be a vector for inviting pests such as fire ants to move into your patio planters. A layer of gravel at the bottom of your pots and planters doesn’t really help drainage as it prevents the normal capillary action of soil from doing what it’s supposed to do. If the soil column extends to the drainage holes of a pot then normal and complete drainage can occur assuming the soil mix is not excessively hydrophilic. Adding the gravel creates a break in the capillary action and a possible unnatural wet spot that can potentially prompt root diseases. There is one use for gravel or coarse rocks at the bottom of a planter however; in the case of top-heavy pots or planters that may be toppled by wind. In this specific case the gravel or coarse rock can provide just enough ballast to keep your prized specimen upright.

8.      Oyster shells / eggshells make the soil sweeter / more alkaline.

I hear this a lot, it has an almost religious following and much like with pine straw, coffee grounds and banana peels, it too is effectively false due to a large level of inefficiency. Oyster shells and egg shells are made of calcium and as they weather, they then alter the soil pH in fractions of a tenth of a percent. Thankfully both are incredibly inexpensive and if smashed up they do help soil structure by acting as a porous aggregate. The most effective way to improve the soil’s alkalinity is to add one of three forms of limestone. Hydrated Lime, is the white powdery stuff folks often put on their lawns and goes into effect in as little as 30 days, but has a risk to burn if overapplied. Dolomitic lime, is typically in pellet form, takes 60 days to change pH and is easily handled with little risk of burning. Agricultural lime is essentially crushed lime stone and has the consistency of coarse sand with a bunch of gravel in it. Ag-lime takes 90 days to change the soil’s pH, but is the least expensive per pound of the three.

9.      There is no such thing as too much organic matter.

Whoa now, put down that shovel; this is a complete and utter falsehood, and here is why. Organic matter is great stuff: it can change soil pH, it feeds your plants so you need to use less fertilizer and it helps counter erosion, and water evaporation. When you have a soil that is 30% or more organic matter by volume. Soils of this type are called ‘muck’ or sapric soils because they resemble or are essentially swampland of some kind or another. While this does work for some crops such as onions, carrots, celery and potatoes as long as the soil is prevented from becoming inundated with moisture. There is no practical reason you would want to create a muck soil, and as such it is better to aim for loam which is 35-35-20-10% sand-silt-clay-organic matter composition as with that you get the right blend of soil particle traits to ensure good harvests and nutrient retention.

 10. There is only one way to compost.

This is false as many environmental, soil and space-related conditions exist and what works for me may not work for you. There are only a handful of rules for composting and they are very easy to follow, all the rest is a matter of local preference.  Composting regardless of what container you use follows a basic set of rules; use only vegetable kitchen scraps, make sure to add fallen leaves, and inoculate the pile with soil.  Typically some form of turning is useful to accelerating the process of turning the ingredients into compost but that also varies on your time frame.

Remember how I was unsure of the mystery plant earlier in the year? Well it bloomed and here's the fruit it is American Beautyberry or Callicarpa americana. Two more have sprouted in other locations and I call that incredibly good fortune.

Cotton that develops properly has beautiful symmetry, four perfect lobes which exist to protect the seed within. A full-size cotton boll can have up to thirty two seeds in it on average.

 

They look like different types of cotton but both are from Mississippi Brown Lint cotton plants grown mere feet apart.

 

Check out the Mustard leaf on the left versus the one on the right which is normal.

 Talk about crazy veins, when I saw this and several other leaves like it in a batch of mustard greens I was planning to cook last Sunday, I thought it was pretty weird. Apparently for some reason leaves that get hyper-veins like this are actively trapping more CO2 and carbon in general for some reason. The tougher cells needed to make the veins some how use the carbon in CO2 to enhance cell wall rigidity supposedly.  I am not sure what this tells me about the environment but it is interesting and weird.

Before we move on to the bit where I talk about what I have available at the market and what garden goodies you can snag for your self at the market I would like to take a moment to talk about the Fall Garden Tour. This year I decided to return to an old tradition where I run a late garden tour in October so that those who missed the spring one get a second chance to see where the magic happens. The fall tour is on October 20^th, 2019, between 2 and 5 pm and you can RSVP at the link below.

https://www.meetup.com/SustainableNeighbors/events/265074204/

If you haven't RSVP'd try to come to the Market to ask about the tour or come to the Sustainable neighbors weekly meeting to get more info.

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.

Soup Kits, the perfect thing to warm the cold nights!

Plants & Stuff Available Now:

All The Stuff:

Soup Kits: $6.00

Seasoning Packets: $2.00

Vegetables:

Collards, Green Glaze: 3” - $3.00

Mustard, Japanese Red Giant: 3” - $3.00

Kale, Scotch Blue Curled: 3” - $3.00

Kale, Dinosaur: 3” - $3.00

Swiss Chard: 3” - $3.00

Herbs:

Rue, Marbled: 3” - $3.00

Sage, Common: 3” - $3.00

Flowers:

Coral Bells, ‘Marvelous Marble’: 4.5” - $5.00

Houseplants & Annuals:

Polka-Dot Plants: 6” - $5.00

Coming Soon:

Sparkling Blue Kale

Cilantro/Coriander

Whole Garlic

Ginger roots

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 twentieth LITFM post of the new year, stay tuned the next episode which should be posted on the 18^th of October. There will be more garden updates and other cool stuff.