Welcome back to another springtime episode of Lost in the farmer’s
market where we talk about the casual obsession that makes one a gardener.
Today’s topic is that of spring time photographs from the test gardens and a
few announcements that are of some Importance to you the reader. First off one
of the Sustainable Neighbor’s contributors Bryan W. is heading back to Reno Nevada and thus The
sustainable neighbors threw him a going away party. In you can see in our first
photo of the week there he is receiving a award from Marsha Howe. LITFM also
presented him with a rare copy of Desert Harvest which was written for that
region of the United States.
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| Bryan being presented with the Leadership award by Marsha Howe. |
For those who don’t know, Bryan was critical to the
establishment of the Bridge gardens and the central organizer of the Coffee
Klatch. Not to mention he put the words Kombucha and Kimchee in the lexicons of
the Sustainable Neighbors group and taught a few members how to make both.
Needless to say he will be missed but on the other hand we doubt this is the
last we’ve heard of Bryan and wish him the best.
So the first thing I think the readers of this blog should
see is the after effects of using black magic on certain plants. It is well and
good to spout numbers and statistics and make statements but it is another to
provide pictures and a sort of “where are they now” sort of comparison. Where
possible I will post the older archived image of the plant for comparison with
the most current ones to show the long term effects of application of black
magic.
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| Ficus afghanistanica – Afghan Fig (Picture taken on 09-05-2013) |
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| Ficus afghanistanica – Afghan Fig (Picture taken on 05-23-2014) |
As you can see that same Afghan fig has doubled in growth
and is showing exceptional vigor. Keep in mind it started the year running and
has only just received its first black magic treatment for 2014. It is clearly
twice as large as last year which suggests black magic may also be suitable for
use as a transplant fertilizer.
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| Rosa sp. – Antique rose |
Because of a heavy application of mulch, the demolition of
the Carolina Cherry tree nearby and a three month regimen of black magic this
battered old rose is for the first time producing vigorous new growth. For the
longest time this rose only had three stems tops and produced a maximum of three
blooms a year. As noted in an earlier post this year the few blooms this rose
had were incredible and now it’s finally showing positive growth.
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| Actinidia arguta – Desert Kiwi |
These two vines struggled in their position or two years and
until the removal of the Carolina Cherry tree over the winter seemed unable to
make any real positive growth. A combination of heavy mulching and the same
three month black magic regiment as was provided to the antique rose mentioned
before seems to have produced better growth while the tree being removed has
removed competition. No matter how you
slice it it seems the fertilizer does indeed work in short and long term and
can be used anywhere but with seedlings, which is a use I’ve not tried yet.
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| Lupinis polyphyllus – Russell Hybrid Lupine (aka lupin) |
These little guys somehow made it through the winter and the
dismantlement of the annual bet they are in to emerge this year. The piece of
chicken wire is there to serve as a squirrel or rabbit deterrent while the
plastic pots with the bottoms cut out serve as a growing berm. As the annual
bed in question is having soil applied the lupines don’t get buried and thus
stand a chance to grow out even while the bed soil level is being raised. Some
have said it is hard to grow lupines and I agree they are a plant for the patient
much like Columbines, Milkweed, Foxglove, Birds Foot Violets and Indian Pinks.
The wait is always worth it and for Lupines the trick is to sow them in fall in
gravelly soil and let them naturally stratify then nurse them along for at
least a year until they are established. You should avoid transplanting them at
all costs as lupines are known for their deep tap roots and their aversion to
being transplanted.
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| Cyrtomium falcatum – Holly Fern |
One of the toughest ferns around Holly fern only asks for
decent soil and some regular water. I’ve seen large stands of this plant resist
student traffic on college campuses with little or no maintenance. They won’t
do well in poor dry soils though so consider their siting carefully.
Vaccinium ashei –
Rabbiteye Blueberry
If you ever find yourself debating Highbush versus Rabbiteye
blueberries this is why you should plant the Rabbiteye type. Highbush rarely
produces suckers which essentially expand the amount of fruiting plants you
have yet Rabbiteyes as seen above will do so. Rabbiteyes tend to produce theses
suckers if they are happy in their current siting or have been settled in for a
few years. I like to think of it as a growing investment.
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| Spigelia marilandica – Indian Pink |
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| Spigelia marilandica – Indian Pink |
This is the plant that sold me on natives, I got the
pictured plant as rootstock two years ago at Blowes, as sold through some NC
natives promoting company. While I cannot recall the name of the company it
turns out they were selling this plant as Silene
Virginica which is a very different plant. Then again one little root crown
looks like every other one I guess. I later found out the said company was
illegally collecting from wild plant stocks but that’s another story. So I dutifully
planted the little root along with what I thought were two Bird’s Foot Violet
tubers in the shady rock garden and waited patiently. I went out and read about
the two and all the pictures of the plants on Google made them seem fantastic
but the roots were tiny and so it was a long waiting game for the plants to
mature enough to actually do something. The bird’s foot violet bloomed last year
and again this year proving it was worth it. The second birds foot violet
turned out not to be a violet at all but an immature Lady’s Mantle Alchemilla mollis instead while the
supposed fire pink just produced leaves. This year the supposed fire pinks
bloomed and turned out not even to be fire pinks but rather Indian pinks. A
trip to big bloomers resulted in the acquisition of a properly labeled Indian
pinks plant which resulted in the reverse verification that my ‘fire pinks’
were Indian pinks. Am I mad, not really the Indian pinks are fare nicer than
what I intended to buy and the trio of imperfectly labeled plants were
transplanted and now reside in the crescent garden.
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| Tiantia pringlei – Spotted Wandering Jew |
I got this one through one of Laura Bradley’s plant swap
events. As it turns out this guy is a definite relative of widow’s tears and
the house plant called wandering Jew. The grouping is also known as the Day
flower family because each flower lasts for roughly a day. As a hardy perennial
I don’t mind it’s exotic foliage and sporadic blooms but time will tell if it misbehaves
as widow’s tears tends to do.
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| Penstemon Barbatus – Beardtongue |
A year later and these hot pink beardtongues continue onward
alongside the hybrid yuccas in the little corner garden. Many of their comrades
didn’t make it but these three persis ant are now getting black magic
treatments for their troubles.
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| Yucca filimentosa – Spanish Bayonet |
Although I’ve said that the name “Yucca” was the most pat
name for a species ever their flowers are kind of nice and oddly smell like
soap too. This plant receives full sun now that the Carolina cherry is gone and
is blooming harder than ever before.
But enough of the garden’s splendor because as of this writing
I am happy to say that the test gardens can be toured in two weeks or starting with
the second week of June. It is also likely that the gardens will be a part of
the upcoming Sustainable Neighbors Garden tour so you all out there get a
chance to see what I’m talking about at the market and see some of the process
that gets my plants on that table for sale. I might add it is memorial day week
end and I’ll be manning a double-header, I’ll have the booth set up for 4th
Friday (5-9pm) and I’ll be manning the Fayetteville Farmer’s Market (9am-1pm)
and it’s follow up Health Fair (1-3pm) on Saturday. All of this occurs at 325
Franklin Street in downtown Fayetteville in the Fayetteville Transportation museum
parking lot.
Southward Skies: A
northern guide to southern Gardening
This is the second
edition of my book, which was published using data compiled from several years
of test garden operations. It’s written to aid gardeners of all skill levels in
successful garden methods that are targeted for the south east but had proven
to be a valued resource for gardens across the eastern coast. It’s certainly a
good gift for that gardener you know or for yourself if you’d like to have a
reliable field guide. The book costs $25.00
and we do take checks for this item, you can even have it signed.
Vegetables
2x Eggplant, Casper , 3.5” pot ($3.00)
2x Pepper, Jalapeno, 3.5” pot ($3.00)
2x Pepper, Habenero, 3.5” pot ($3.00)
2x Pepper, Sweet Banana , 3.5” pot ($3.00)
2x Pepper, Pimento, 3.5” pot ($3.00)
2x Pepper, Carolina Wonder, 3.5” pot ($3.00)
2x Tomato, Amana Orange, 3.5” pot ($3.00)
2x Tomato, Brown Berry, 3.5” pot ($3.00)
2x Tomato, Cherokee Purple, 3.5” pot ($3.00)
2x Tomato, Martino’s Roma, 3.5” pot ($3.00)
2x Tomato, Mexico Midget, 3.5” pot ($3.00)
2x Tomato, Rainbow Cherry Mix, 3.5” pot ($3.00)
2x Tomato, Red & Yellow Currant, 3.5” pot ($3.00)
2x Tomato, Reisotomate, 3.5” pot ($3.00)
2x Tomato, San Marzano, 3.5” pot ($3.00)
2x Tomato, Underground Rail Road, 3.5” pot ($3.00)
Fruits
6x Strawberry- Ozark Beauty, 3.5” pot ($3.00)
Herbs
4x Basil, Sweet, 3.5” pot ($3.00)
2x Basil, Thai, 3.5” pot ($3.00)
2x Basil, Cinnamon, 3.5” pot ($3.00)
2x Basil, Red Rubin
2x Bee Balm, Lambada, 3.5” pot ($3.00)
2x Chives, Common, 3.5” pot ($3.00)
2x Fennel, Black, 3.5” pot ($3.00)
2x Mint, Chocolate, 3.5” pot ($3.00)
2x Lavender-Cotton-Green, 3.5” pot ($3.00)
3x Marjoram, 3.5” pot ($3.00)
3x Oregano, 3.5” pot ($3.00)
2x Parsley, Italian, 3.5” pot ($3.00)
2x Sage, 3.5” pot ($3.00)
2x Tansy, 3.5” pot ($3.00)
Coming Soon:
Black Hungarian Pepper
Striped Togo Eggplant
Louisiana Long Green Eggplant
Triple Crop Tomato
Passion Vine
And this brings to an close a holiday weekend edition of
Lost In the Farmer’s Market. Despite the threat of thunder showers at 2am on Sunday
morning through 4 am there is supposed to be a rather impressive meteor shower,
and if it does rain well you won’t have to work all that hard to keep ‘em
growing. By the way friends don’t let friends
have squirrels as pets, why do I say this, the tree rates destroyed most of the
early black egg eggplant crop; ‘nuff said!
