The life and times of a Black thumb

“I can’t grow anything I’m a total Black Thumb!”

We’ve heard this line before, If you say this or know someone who utters something like this with regularity then this is the article for you. For those unfamiliar a black thumb is supposed to be the opposite of a green thumb. Generally it is accepted that a ‘black thumb’ is a person whom for whatever reason is convinced they cannot grow any sort of plant.

There are five things any potential black thumb should know; these things also will improve greatly the survival rate of your plants. For those who are planning to give a plant to a potential black thumb

There are five rules to successfully growing house plants.

1.     All Plants need water

2.     All plants have a winter resting period.

3.     All plants will eventually need repotting.

4.     All plants need light to grow.

5.     A stressed or sick plant may get a bug problem.

The first rule is pretty obvious, even the hardiest of cactus and driest of air plants needs some form of water eventually. The key to meeting your plant’s watering needs is to remember what sort of plant it is and what environment it came from. A cactus is used to prolonged periods without great precipitation where as an air plant is used to humidity and foggy mist but no real actual rain. Part of the key to watering is to make sure the soil-media is allowed to dry out completely between watering. If the media is allowed to dry organisms that could cause root rot never get a chance to cause a problem. On the other hand, allowing the soil to dry also guarantees that the plant is able to breathe, as waterlogged soil has reduced airspaces. Lastly, remember to water before the soil contracts away from the pot, at this point you may need to dunk the soil to get it wet again.

Secondly, all plants have a winter resting period that is triggered by the cooling of temperatures and the reduction of light due to the natural reduction of photoperiods caused by the days becoming shorter. Since you cannot do anything about this outside of buying an expensive greenhouse setup to guarantee light year-round, the simple solution is to begin allowing somewhat more time to pass between waterings, and make absolutely sure the soil dries between waterings. During this rest period your average house plant will naturally not be doing much growing, and will need little or no fertilizer as a result, it generally will need just enough water to remain alive but not as much as would be needed to actively grow.

Third on the list is the simple fact that all plants eventually need repotting. It is noteworthy that certain cactus and succulents do respond to being ‘pot-bound’ with the production of flowers and offsets. The aloe, sanseveria, haworthia and, the ox-tongue for example will often produce flowers and offsets in response to being pot bound but will stop this for a while once they are repotted. The act of repotting is that of simple renewal, as the soil like all things eventually goes stale, it loses composition, nutrients and a plant may go into decline if it is no longer able to get what it needs from the soil. Additionally a depleted soil may not hold moisture very well potentially doubling what it takes to keep the soil-media moist. Now without going absolute soil science geek on you readers out there, in short, a soil relies on its organic matter to sustain life, and outside in your yard the organics are being replenished as are the nutrients by the yearly cycles of growth, death and decay. In a potted plant the cycle is not so effective there is only much that can occur in a comparatively sterile environment.  The simplest way to check for repotting is to  simply try to remove the plant from it’s pot, if you see a whole lot of roots circling about the perimeter of the root ball, the plant is likely ‘pot-bound’  or that the roots are holding the current soil so much they make a pot unto themselves.

The fourth point on the list is the fact is that no plant can survive in the absence of natural light. Some can survive, short periods but none will do well under such conditions.  Even the rugged Cast-Iron Plant whose name derives from the fact it was the only plant that could survive the dark saloons of the Wild West cannot survive in an environment with no light at all. Inversely some houseplants cannot tolerate direct sun either, so the simplest way to handle this is to always read the plant tags before you buy and determine where the plant is to go before any money changes hands at the garden center. If a houseplant has brown dry leaf edges it may be getting too much sun.

Lastly, it is an accepted fact that bug problems on your plants are generally of opportunistic nature. The plant became stressed at some point and the bugs moved in somehow to take advantage. The key to avoiding a lot fo this si simply to avoid getting your plants stressed in the first place, by minding how often you water, recognizing the winter rest period, and making sure your plants are not pot-bound and are getting the right amount of light.  Also making sure your plants arrive without pests or diseases by inspecting them will go a long way to preventing problems. Always check under leaves and in the areas where stems or branches meet the main body of the plant. Lastly always have a little spray insecticide handy, as well as rubbing alcohol and cotton swabs.

In closing, it is important to state that knowing what to do is as important as knowing how to do it. For all you black thumbs reading below is my top-ten list of the toughest house plants. For you skilled gardeners yes #1 is a curve ball plant, in the south Cast Iron plant is a garden perennial too, but it must be grown in shade in essence the cast iron plant gives you a two for one deal.

Top 10:  Neglect Proof House Plants

1.     Cast Iron Plant - Aspidistra elatior

2.     Snake Plant – Sanseveria trifasciata

3.     Zanzibar Gem – Zamioculcus zamiifolia

4.     Star Window Plant – Haworthia Cuspidata

5.     Ox-Tongue  - Gasteria liliputana

6.     Heart Leaf Philodendron – Philodendron cordatum

7.     Aloe Vera – Aloe barbadensis

8.     Desert Privet – Peperomia obtusifolia

9.     Peace Lily – Spathiphyllum spp.

10.   Rotary Peperomia – Peperomia verticillata

Please join us next Sunday when part one of the ‘Things to Consider’ series covers early season planting preparation. Thank you for reading, and if any of the above ten plants seems hard for you to find let me know, while it is not published I can tell you where to look for these plants. Lastly, remember to check out the Neighborhood grange web page at:

http://www.meetup.com/NeighborhoodGrangeNetwork/

In the pursuit of black gold

Before I get into today's post I'd like to thank all of you whom turned out for the Neighborhood Grange meeting at the Cape Fear Museum. All of you were a great audience and I hope the talk on soil preparation was useful.  For those who could not come or, those too far to come to the meeting, here is a shortened recap of what was said at the meeting by me, and as always don't be shy about emailing or posting me questions or comments. Thank you for reading.

Often we don’t take soil very seriously, some assume it will always be there, and then once it is eroded away we wonder what went wrong and may even balk at the cost of undoing the damage that we have wrought by inaction. Civilizations have seen decline due to poor stewardship of the land and the real mark of a people’s success can be seen in the imprint they leave upon the lands on which they live. Thus we have today’s topic your soil, and how you can best prepare it for the year ahead.

Some of you maybe heard the old horticultural adage that ‘Dirt is merely soil that is out of place.’ And such a maxim is quite true, the dust bowl’s infamous dust storms were essentially large particles of eroded sub soil borne on the wind due to erosion of the top soil and the demise of the vegetation that once held the soil in place. But how does soil get displaced exactly? First you need to know a little soil science to understand where soil comes from and how you can damage it thus causing erosion.

Out side of those in the agricultural or, environmental sciences it is a little known fact that the soil is composed of layers. These layers are called horizons and each one is for lack of a better description is a state of transition. Soil itself is composed of several things, minerals, organic matter and deposits of chemicals. Each of the three plays a critical role in the process of the varied horizons that form over millions of years. The birth of soil itself starts with the weathering of rock into smaller particles, these particles continue to break down through organic, chemical and environmental processes until by particle size they become sand, clay and silt type materials. The presence of metals and deposits of other minerals will add both color and nutrient value which then is fed upon by microorganisms and plants which further the action of these particles being broken down.

The soil itself is scientifically broken down into anywhere from three to five primary horizons depending on which book or expert you consult. It is generally agreed upon however that the horizons from top most to the bed rock are O, A, B and, C horizons.  Each horizon is essentially a state of transition, from the parent material (bedrock) towards the final material (topsoil.) In order from the top soil downward towards the bed rock the horizons are best defined as follows.

1.     The O horizon is usually the first 2” inches of the soil and is composed of mainly organic matter that is in varied states of decay.

2.     The A horizon may be upwards of 6” deep on average, this is the horizon where the fully decayed organic matter accumulates and bears  a large amount of soil life forms.

3.     The B horizon is often around 30” deep and is commonly called the subsoil. This is where the clay, iron, aluminum and organic residues tend to finally accumulate.

4.     The C horizon is the horizon in which the parent material breaks down to form materials for A and B horizon.

5.     Depending on who you ask, some sources will consider the bedrock itself an additional soil horizon.

For our purposes we need not worry to much about the bedrock, B horizon or C horizon because chances are we will likely not dig deeper then perhaps a foot and normally this foot is covered by O and A horizons for the most part. With all of that said, it takes a long time for bedrock to weather to make just C horizon, and in the same way it takes just as long for topsoil and the supporting vegetation to develop. Topsoil is a resource that is perpetually undervalued and critical to our survival, no topsoil no food.

Now that you know where soil comes from, and why it’s important, here is what you can do. In at least the state of North Carolina you can send off soil samples to the agricultural extension agency for free. I recommend doing soil tests at least once a year regardless of the state you live in. These soil tests will tell you what sort of soil you have and provide recommendations on what you should do to improve it for your own purposes.  One thing to remember is to collect the samples with tools and containers that are not made of galvanized steel or anything zinc plated, as both can skew your test results. If you send in soil samples now, and perhaps again in late fall the turnaround time for getting a report back will be fairly quick. Once you have your soil test results in hand or on screen as they tend to send you info by email, you can proceed to the nest step.

Preparing the soil is as much knowing what soil you have and testing it as it is knowing what you are to grow. If you are into growing members of the cabbage, melon or mallow family you can expect you will need to fortify the soil with nutrient and organics to keep up with their heavy feeding habits. In comparison tuberous crops such as yams, potatoes, turnips, rutabagas, peanuts, carrots, parsnips and, radishes will need a deeper then average soil with a loose texture and balanced nutrients. In the same way vegetables in which you eat the fruiting bodies such as cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplant and peppers can make do with soil of at least 6” depth but need nutrients to do best. 

The first thing to consider is your soil amendments. Obviously there is no shortage of options in this department and at any given garden center you will likely be bombarded with sometimes understandably excessive claims.

1.     Peat moss: a good source of organic matter, it acidifies the soil a little, may require wetting before use and comes from non-sustainable sources.

2.     Coir Fiber: An excellent contrast to peat moss, it is pH neutral, comes from coconut husks and is sustainable, a bit pricy, but this will change as it sees more distribution.

3.     High Potency Manure: Products such as Black hen qualify as their nutrient level is often two or three times higher then normal composted manure. The price is often double, but a little does go a long way.

4.     Composted Manure: Generally sold as composted cow manure, this soil amendment does not burn, produces instant soil improvement and is reasonably priced. The downside is you don’t know what the cows ate and the quality can greatly vary.

5.     Agricultural Bi-product: The best example of this is Mushroom compost which is the fully decomposed logs left from mushroom growing. Generally nearly neutral pH, reasonably reliable in quality and scent-free, this stuff is good but may be pricy.

6.     Worm Castings: These are the fecal matter produced by worms in a vermiculture setting and are probably the least-gross of the manures. They don’t need composting, they don’t smell and they don’t burn plants, in fact you can even use one cup per gallon of water to make one hell of a compost tea. The problem is that they can be expensive for use in large areas.

7.     Home Compost: this is your compost, the advantages and disadvantages are the same, you know what’s in it, and its quality varies based on the time you spend working on it. Home composting is the closest one can get to making natural topsoil.

8.     Mulch: All mulch serves a primary purpose, that is to prevent wind and water based erosion, while also looking nice. It also serves the secondary purpose of simulating natural leaf-litter and breaking down to add to the topsoil. As a result mulch effectively is the cheapest soil amendment imaginable. Certain mulches do have effects on the soil, pine straw and park acidify, rubber much leaches zinc into the soil, and cedar and cypress mulches may repel termites.

9.     Potting soil: Potting soil is probably the last resort soil amendment, its nutrient value is questionable, and some mixes come with added chemicals that may not help you very much. However if you are dealing with pure clay or pure sand,  flooding the bed area with 3:1 ratios of cheap potting soil (ie Hyponex) may be the fastest way to kick start a garden and set a decent if nutrient poor foundation to improve from later.

10.                         Coarse Amendments: Sometimes the soil is so hard to deal with one must resort to macro-particle amendments such as perlite, vermiculate, construction sand, or even ultra-fine crushed gravel to gain any traction. Coarse amendments do nothing for nutrient and only exist to help bust through severe hardpan or Caliche type soil conditions, Green sand pay help break down the clay, but ultimately this is a drainage solution.

Needless to say, your soil test should determine what amendments to use as it will tell you your soil structure and what you should do.  There are three final thoughts to soil preparation to consider before you start applying materials anywhere. Firstly is the placement of your beds where you put a garden bed determines what will grow, how much amending and how much fertilizer you will need. For instance areas that flood during rain storms may need to be raised and walled to prevent the mulch and soil from floating off as well as the nutrients from leaching away. Areas near roadsides may need extra mulch to keep the soil cool in summer and limit soil freezing in winter, and also may need additional water. Beds near structures and stone or concrete paths will likely be in a micro-climate and thus soil amendments should be tailored specifically.  Also the orientation of a bed in consideration of the sun’s path through the sky may determine what you can or cannot plant.

Second, one must also consider the prior years of growth, specifically what was there before, and what you intend to put there now. Repeated planting of the same crops in the same spots will slowly in most cases deplete the soil of specific nutrients. So consider soil replenishment on an annual basis. An alternative is to consider planting heavy feeders with plants that naturally replenish the soil, such as legumes and cabbages.

Third know the nutrient needs of your plant stock, some plants become a weed if over fed while others don’t produce what you want if they aren’t getting the right nutrients. For instance, Nasturtiums will produce tons of leaves but no flowers if they get too much nitrogen. This is great if you like the leaves as salad greens but terrible if you want the buds for pickling or the flowers for attracting pollinators.

The last factor to consider is your soil’s basic pH and what your plants require. The soil’s ph effects what nutrients are available and in what amounts with this in mind it’s a good idea to try keep the soil ph between 6.0 (low acidic) and 8.0 (low alkaline) or roughly neutral. Most plants will do well in that range and most soil borne nutrients are available to plants in that range as well.

In conclusion I hope this somewhat long article about soil preparation was useful and as always you can send in questions to the email attached to this blog. Next weeks article is ‘The life and times of a Black thumb’ and is about house plants that even a black thumb can grow; thank you for reading.

Back from dormancy!

I know there hasn’t been many updates of the blog, you can  blame me being tied up in horticultural endeavors. But Lost in the Farmers Market proudly returns with this post but before we get to today’s horticultural post there is some news.

1.     Southward Skies second edition is now available on Amazon.com for digital download as an ebook for the kindle. The digital version of the book contains the original intended covers and is formatted exactly as the print copy is.

2.     The second edition is also available as a PDF file which can be ordered through email, I’ll be taking orders for the PDF version at the two upcoming events mentioned below.

3.     The actual print version of second edition will be available in mind-late February, in a limited print run. The updates to the book include 50 new photos, and entirely re-done herbs, vegetable, ornamental, weeds and pests sections.

4.     On Sunday February the 12^th 2012 I will be the guest speaker at the neighborhood grange meeting located at the Cape Fear Museum  in Fayetteville North Carolina At 3:00pm. The topic being discussed is Winter Soil Preparation for improved harvest and, How to maintain a 365 day garden. While I cannot say if print copies of second edition will be available at the event I can say the PDF version will be ready and available.

5.     I have confirmation that I will be participating as a speaker in the Urban Farm Day event, it is going to occur at the downtown community garden on Van story and Mann Street on Saturday May the 12^th 2012 from 10:00 am through 3:00pm. By then there will definitely be hard copy of the book available as will PDF versions. As with last year there will be a plant sale, giveaways, and a rare copy of Desert Harvest will be available.

6.     About the book, the three versions of the book have set pricing, The Kindle electronic book version, is 9.99, the PDF version is 15.00, and the print version, which will be signed, is 25.00. The kindle version and PDF versions are available now; the hard copy is due in mid to late February.

But enough about that shameless promotion, time to talk about the topic at hand, winter gardening. Did you know that it is possible to produce a crop every month of the year? The key is timing of course knowing when to do what is as important as knowing how to do it.

January & February

January & February are often bleak months, it’s cold, it might be wet, and most have resigned themselves to winter leaving the garden to fend for itself. Up north the ground may be too cold to work, and in the Deep South while the ground isn’t frozen the weather may be uncooperative. But there are several critical things you can do in the first months of the year that can save you a lot of  effort later on when it will be harder to accomplish the tasks or too late to start work.

Measure

Knowing the size and depth of your beds will help you determine what you can grow, but also will help you evaluate what work needs to be done before the spring crops are planted. Also measuring out areas for new beds is best done during the first two months of the year because you have time to tweak the placement and appearance of the beds. Drawing actual plans of your beds at this time is part of measuring because it helps demonstrate the nature of your garden and aids in keeping your plans within reasonable limits.

Assess

Look at your garden, determine what worked last year and why, then look at what did not do well and also consider why. Now is the best time to consider where you may want to transplant things or what basic changes you need to make to improve conditions. Also now is the time to send off soil samples to your local agricultural extension agency to have the soil tested. The tests will aid in determining what you must do later on for the soil.

Catalog

In late December through March is when your plant supply and seed catalogs tend to arrive. If you are not getting these already then January generally is the best time to sign up for them. It may save you some effort to go through each once bending the page edges that bear things your immediately interested in, then going back through with a highlighter making the things that you know you can reasonably grow. The idea behind this is to burn out the shoppers urge so you don’t overdo it before you start.

If you stick to the things you know you have the space for and can absolutely grow then pick a handful of experimental plants your chances for overall success will be better.

Improve

Once you understand the space you have, what plants you want to grow, and the soil test results are back you can then before planting go about making structural improvements. I always advice doing the heavy lifting during the winter and fall for two reasons; reduced insect annoyances and  the weather is cooler and thus you have to strain less to get the same result.  Good tasks for the late winter and autumn include building raised beds, cutting new beds, adding soil improvements and applying mulch.  Lastly in the improvement phase you can readily adjust your plant selection with information gleaned from earlier steps weather patterns and any other changes that are prompted.

It is fair to say that the above is more or less the groundwork for what will come next,  but that portion of this series will appear next week, when I in conjunction with the public appearance noted at the beginning of this article will discuss soil preparation in detail.

February Update schedule

2/12 – Winter Soil Preparation

2/19 – The life and Times of a black thumb.

2/26 – Things to Consider.

The 2011 Plant Trials

The Trial of the century

Alright, maybe this article's title is a bit much. But the nightshade and Okra trials were serious this year if you recall during the early summer I posted images of the hybrid okra I was testing and as of this writing that same okra is headed towards it's natural end due to the suddenly cold weather. For those first-time readers I planted a hybrid okra in a 14" fluted pot and gave it only what it needed in irrigation and limited fertilizer. In early growth the leaves often reached one foot in width and length with an eight to ten inch long petiole. The first months of growth saw a distinctly uniform shape guided by a strong central leader with little branching. The overall color of the plant was medium green with reddish tinges on the stems which gave way to a gray-tan coloration with age. Where the leaves met the petiole, there was a crimson spot which was quite unique. Early leaf shapes were generally maple like with a irregular serrated margin where as later leaves became thinner more filigree and decidedly smaller as the plant flowered and grew to full height. Overall the full size of the hybrid okra was about 4-7 feet and it's prime productivity was about 0.5-1.0 pounds of okra per week during prime season. I might add pod size on average was about 6-8" long without development of fiber. This is hybrid is going to be tested next year also and has earned the name 'C3' or Clark's Carolina Colossal.

In respects the night shade trials revealed a lot in terms of plant selection,  form survivability and problems. The drought this year took a heavy toll on a number of the plant selections and narrowed the field greatly. It is also worthwhile to note there was an ordering error instead of ordering 'Paul Robeson' I accidentally ordered 'Black Krim' which is the dark colored tomato sold at the Urban Farm Day event.
Despite this, the trials did reveal quite a bit about what can and cannot survive with minimal care and maintenance. With that said I present the good, bad and the ugly of the nightshade trial.

The Good
 The good are the successful plants of the trial all of which are worth running new trials for next year. BL2 recommends trying these plants. If you want to know where to get the seed just post a comment on this blog or contact us via the email listed on the blog.


-Red Currant: Produced well, held up to southern sun, drought and insects.
-Solar Fire: Produced well, not fond of late summer heat but did ok.
-Purple Tiger: Produced well, the eggplant were attractive but slow to start.
-Hansel: Not bad, decent eggplant production
-Balada: Many many chiles of varied size quite impressive.
-Gypsy: produced all summer, is still producing peppers in October.
-Tomatillo: Excellent producer, lots of fruit.
-Ground Cherry: I wish I had planted more of these.
-Garden Huckleberry: Produced berries up until early September, several quarts of berries.
-Wonderberry: Produced berries by the quart, slow to develop attracts birds self sown in nearby pots.
-Super Hybrid: Produced peppers in ornamental role all spring, summer and now in fall.
-Sangria: Attractive and reliable ornamental pepper.
-Bed of Nails: slow to start attractive plants blooms within a month of establishment.


The Bad:
 The bad are a list of plants that did not perform well, for whatever reason. It may have been the weather or many other factors, They may be retested later.


-Striped Togo: tall impressive plants, barely any fruit.
-Gretel Eggplant: not vigorous, no fruit.
-Burpee Hot Mix: The peppers grew just fine from seed, but produced nothing.
-Burpee Bell Mix: One or two bell peppers, barely worth the time.

The Ugly:
 The ugly is a list of plants that completely failed despite extra care. Needless to say not a single one of these plants will be re-tested.


-Sweet Sue: Total failure, not one tomato.
-Black Krim:  Plants bombed, not a single tomato.
-Pink Brandywine: Plants bombed, not a single tomato.
-Turkish Italian Orange: One eggplant all season, disappointing.




2012 nightshade trial plants:
The 2012 selection will include the following plants that were from this years trials as well as a few new plants that need a little testing.
 
Eggplant: Hansel, Striped Togo.
Pepper: Gypsy, Kung Pow.
Physalis: Ground Cherry, Tomatillo.
Solanum: Wonderberry, Bed of Nails
Tomato:  Red Currant, Solar Fire

New additions to the list for testing in 2012 include:
Paul Robeson Tomato
Cossack Pineapple Ground Cherry
Purple Tomatillo



Other trials revealed the following
'Big Red' Sweet Potato - 7.2 pounds of tubers from three plants, no fire ant damage, excellent flavor with little to no irrigation or fertilizer.
Strawberry Spinach - Crop failure.

Herb Trials

 The herb trial was a test of several new herbs to see which one displayed the best characteristics for further low maintenance propagation.

Egyptian Onion - Plants did well ready for harvest next year? Totally drought immune!
Pyrethrum Daisy - Two of three plants did well and are doing well, possible insecticide next year.
Wild Tobacco -  Grew ok, summer heat killed it.
Russian Comfrey - Did ok, Healthiest plant seems to be handling well
Yellow Coneflower - Single plant looks great, will be better next year.
Narrow Leaf Coneflower - Sole plant looks fine,  decent size but slow to start.
Lemon Bergamot - All four plants did fantastic, very large very healthy.
Mexican Oregano - Attractive plant for hanging baskets, hummingbirds love it!

Fruit Trials
The fruit trial was the attempt to see if a sustainable low maintenance fruit garden could be designed and installed for the express purpose of having fresh fruit most of the year.

Blueberries - Produced 8 quarts of berries, very tasty, good vigor.
Pomegranate - Dwarf bloomed no fruit, Red angel doubled in size.
Figs - Black mission, Celeste and Brown turkey all loaded with figs, all produced great growth, kadota frost damaged but recovered.
Persimmon - Great growth, fruit dropped early as expected for first year planting.
Raspberry - A few berries, good vigor.
Muscadine Grape - Just planted.
Arctic Kiwi - not planted yet

Xeriscaping Part IV: Naturalized Xeriscaping

Naturalized xeriscaping is another way to reduce your water usage. Despite the name naturalized xeriscaping is more about matching the right plants with the right location. Additionally you should have a preference for plants that are natives or well adapted. In a prior article I did discuss how the term 'native' has become an unfortunate victim of over-branding. For note the problem with 'native' plants these days is that the natural range of some plants could make them native to a continent but not necessarily native to your precise region. Also these natives could become invasive outside of their natural habitats which is a major problem for the obvious reasons.  There are three steps to creating a natural looking xeriscaped garden.

1. Improve your soil.
Soil improvement is critical, if only for the long-term survival of the plants you will install. In effect soil improvement is exactly like building an quality foundation for your house  since in the case of plants everything about their success or failure hinges on the soil quality. In terms of natural xeriscaped gardens that also include flowering or food-bearing plants soil quality is a must as there are simply certain soil-borne nutrients that no applied fertilizer can ever match. A deep rich soil  will also promote excellent root growth and thus exceptional hardiness which is critical to reducing water needs and improving plant vigor.

2. The Right Plant
Picking the right plant is sometimes a matter of trial and error,  certain plants just cannot handle the climate in which you live. A good example of this problem can be found in the difficulties of growing tomatoes in the south. The tomatoes are an excellent vegetable crop in the north but a average one in the south this is due to the heat humidity and extended periods of drought. A good replacement could be eggplant, peppers or smaller size tomatoes all of which can withstand the heat and still bear with regularity.

3. The Right Location
The location of your bed is critical because exposure to wind, rain and sun can affect your  plants greatly. For instance lavender cannot withstand the full southern sun, humidity and, the depleted sandy soils of the sand hills of North Carolina. So what a good gardener must do is enrich the soil  space the plants and put the plants in a location with good air circulation that is partial shade.

The interplay of shapes forms and colors in a naturalized xeriscaping garden can in fact reduce your irrigation woes significantly.  Some times for the sake of form you have to have a plant that is not fond of full sun out in a full sun location, the only way to make it work is to find a taller plant to offer it shade that is equally deciduous or evergreen. With naturalized xeriscaping form becomes more important as there are less hard features such as boulders or stone work  so the plants themselves have to stand out. For instance, a tall 'San Gabriel' Nandina with the support of some 'Silver Mound' artemesia and 'Angelina' sedum forms a structural, colorful blend of plants all of which are evergreen and shine at certain times of the year. The Nandina is bright red in fall and it's lacy leaves allow you to see through it to the plants below, the sedum is orange-red in summer and blooms in late winter, while the artemesia has silver foliage all year and yellow flowers in early summer. All of these plants are drought, heat and humidity tolerant and need little else then good soil and an occasional mulching to keep weeds down.

To summarize, naturalized xeriscaping isn't the xeriscaping you read about in the horticulture magazines it is a differing animal that discards the conventional plants of xeriscaping. The trade-off is that you get more plants to work with, yet the downside is that if you love cacti and succulents you might feel the concept is too open. Either way all of the readers out there should give it a shot, and feel free to get creative. If you have any comments thoughts or questions feel free to post them up here or email me though the email listed to this blog.

Xeriscaping Part III: Ornamental Xeriscaping

With noticeable delay comes part three of the xeriscaping series, today we will be discussing ornamental xeriscaping.
Ornamental xeriscaping is exactly what most think of when the word xeriscaping comes to mind. While ornamental landscapes have their inherent aesthetic value they also can play a further functional role towards conservation.  It is already  well understood that the placement of deciduous trees can reduce heating and cooling bills of a household but little beyond the obvious is stated of the bill-reducing effects of a xeriscaped garden. Generally it is noted that xeriscaped gardens reduce your watering bill because they need reduced  amounts of irrigation.  What is not known is that with the right placement and plant selection xeriscaped gardens can also act as a effective windbreak to reduce the effects of either hot or cold wind and may serve as a protective layer for more sensitive plants or as a buffer zone to augment a protective layer of deciduous trees. Additionally certain xeriscape-compatible can act as a living mulch which in turn counters erosion of topsoil and can provide an attractive weed-block saving you time, money and reduce the need for fertilizers and pesticides. Some good plants for this use include Agave, Euphorbia, Ice Plant, Portulaca,  Prickly Pear, Ornamental Sage, Sedum and, Yucca.

Agave
Most often agave is seen in the southeast as a perennial whereas up north it's treated as if it is a tropical. The most common variety is Agave americana which is slow growing but thankfully is quite rugged and can form an attractive centerpiece when paired with a living mulch.

Euphorbia
Best known for the Poinsettia, the euphorbia family has a number of perennial members that make for interesting color and shape contrasts for a xeriscaped garden. While generally not very long-lived as far as landscaping plants go it does make a striking addition to a otherwise monotone garden.

Ice Plant
Ice plants are an attractive flowering plant to consider for the xeriscaping garden. The name Ice plant comes from the sparkling appearance of the leaves which at a distance makes the plant appear to be coated in a light frost. The flowers come in shades of pink, red and yellow and are daisy-like in appearance. Ice plants form a dense mound of foliage that can be used to contrast other darker hued foliage or to soften angular foliage on plants such as agave or yucca.

Portulaca
Commonly called Purselane, Portulaca  is both edible but also drought tough. Purselane is known to form low mats of rich green foliage with red stems. As a primary advantage Purselane  can endure drought and with a little water it produces large numbers of large flowers in hues of red, yellow, pink and orange all on an annual plant who may reseed.

Prickly Pear
To be specific I mean Opuntia humifusa, which is the only solidly hardy type for the south east. Thankfully you can get spineless varieties of prickly pear to make gardening easy. Otherwise if you want a impenetrable wall of spiny herbicide resistant cactus in a few short years prickly pear will be all that. The large yellow or pink flowers are borne in sprin or early summer and are followed by bright red fruits in fall. Established stands can occupy entire hillsides and grow up to three feet tall.

Ornamental Sage
When you say sage most think of the annuals or the cooking spices but there are a large variety of sages that are both perennial and almost drought immune. The best of the group is Black Sage Salvia mellifera which looks like common sage but has a more pungent aroma. For note it is one of the three plants that make up sage brush and has interesting flowers as well.

Sedum
Sedum is  commonly called stone crop, and is one of the most diverse perennial succulents one can buy at a garden center. Sedum is one of the most versatile landscaping plants because numerous foliage shapes, sizes and colors can be had and it's flower stalks

Yucca
Yucca is about as tough as xeriscaping plants come. Commonly called Spanish Bayonet or Adam's needle. Overall most yucca will form a mound that resembles a Dracena or corn plant on steroids. The leaves do have fine serrations and the tips are spiked, which makes careful handling a must. Overall with time yucca can form a dense impenetrable barrier that with age will spread by rhizomes. Once mature a yucca will produce tall flower stalks covered in white or cream colored bell-shaped flowers.


Next is part four of the xeriscaping series which covers naturalized xeriscaping which will be posted shortly.

Xeriscaping Part II: Agricultural Xeriscaping

Xeriscaping is generally thought of as an ornamental garden concept, which is fine since the majority of the time it is. With the effects of climate change, it is crucial to find a way to feed ourselves and yet not use as much water to do so. It is safe to say that most cultures that have thrived in arid regions have already unlocked this secret but for some reason it has not taken hold in America as one would expect.  Fortunately without genetic meddling there is a number of plants that can produce ample crops with minimal water A few of these plants are listed below.

Fruiting Plants
Despite popular belief, it is quite possible to grow fruiting plants under arid conditions with good results. The key to fruit production under such conditions is to ensure soil quality and provide supplemental irrigation until the plants are well established. With some careful placement most fruiting plants can be quite productive.
- Figs, Olives, Persimmon, Pomegranate.

Vegetables
Vegetables are somewhat easier to utilize in a xeriscaping climate due to their adaptability  and high nutrient value. Surprisingly certain vegetables even have ornamental value as their foliage can be quite attractive when used in the right  combinations with other plants. Agricultural xeriscaping compatible vegetables can be broken up into several categories based on what parts you eat. Leaf vegetables include Amaranth, Asparagus, Chicory, Dandelions, and Prickly Pear. Vegetables where one eats the 'fruit' of the plant that work well with xeriscaping include Currant-type Tomatoes, Garden Huckleberry, Ground Cherry, Peppers, Prickly pear (fruit), tomatillo and wonder-berries.  Grain vegetables should also be considered and they are a core staple, Sesame, Millet and Corn* are two good examples of drought tolerant grains. Lastly one must consider the vegetables in which we eat or use the roots. The root vegetable grouping includes Carrot, Chicory** and , Dandelion**.

Herbs
Thankfully growing herbs in arid situations is quite easy as many common herbs hate wet feet and will tolerate drought quite well once established. As a general rule of thumb, if the herb your considering has large soft leaves that bruise easily it is like unsuitable for use as a xeriscaping herb. Also one might also want to consider the herb's native range and if it can become invasive. For instance in the right region rosemary can become borderline invasive yet in others it is a well behaved shrub. Some reliable herbs for agricultural xeriscaping include; Artemesia, Eucalyptus, Germander, Lemon Verbena, Rosemary, Sage, Santolina, Tansy, Tarragon, Yarrow.

In short, with some good planning and careful site preparation one should be able to produce excellent quality food with minimal waste of water and use of resources.  Despite what you might read in the horticulture magazines and see on television, xeriscaping does not have to be just for show. Check back on Friday for the next edition of  LITFM's Xeriscaping series, the topic will be Ornamental Xeriscaping. Also I'd like tot hank everyone who has purchased a copy of the book, Southward Skies: A northern guide to southern gardening; thanks to all of you the first print run is almost sold out. A few remaining copies can be bought at Watching Booksellers in Montclair New Jersey! For those wondering The second print run is coming up will be available through amazon.com and will have some neat surprises included.

*only the heritage or heirloom types.
** The roots of these plants are used as coffee substitutes.