Out of Hibernation

After a month's hiatus due to family issues, I am back at the keyboard. We had an especially wintry February, but the current week has given us the first taste of 70-degree sunshine, and the vernal equinox is Thursday. The garden looks great, and we have lots of transplants waiting in the wings.

Yesterday we planted peas, transplanted spinach seedlings, and added compost to the bed where potatoes will be planted, on the traditional date, Tuesday, St. Patrick's Day. Appropriately enough, we are planting Irish Cobbler again this year. We will plant some radish seeds here and there, also. Cherry Belle is the variety we have chosen for spring planting. It produces roots about the size of a nickel.

Waiting in the wings are lettuce seedlings of several varieties, leeks about the diameter of a string, and a Greek basil, 'Bush Spicy Globe,' that we plan on keeping in containers.

We have been harvesting lettuce, parsley and cilantro from our windowsill garden, and will be replanting it with lettuce seedlings this week. As more and more crops become possible outdoors, we tend to focus on achieving "perfect" lettuce under the pampering conditions of our indoor garden.

I had the pleasure last Saturday of presenting a talk on spring vegetable gardening, as the guest of Stanley's Greenhouse.  Stanley's is also the sponsor of "Garden Talk," the radio show I co-host with Dr. Sue Hamilton and Andy Pulte. Please join us on Saturday mornings at 8:00 on 94.3 WNFZ-FM.

We have been forcing our Bletilla orchids for early blooms this season. You can find them at these local garden centers:

Stanley's Greenhouse
Ellenburg's Nursery and Landscaping
Mayo Garden Center, Emory Road
Mayo Garden Center, Bearden
Sweet Pea Garden and Gifts, Bearden

Please support your local, independent garden centers!

Rain Bodes Good Leaf Display

At my house, we have received almost a half inch of rain since darkness fell last evening. We sure can use it. Despite our record summer rainfall, we have had a dry month so far. The soaker we are receiving should go a long way toward making up the "water debt." Not to mention allowing us to turn off the hose and keep the water bill down. Abundant moisture at this time of year typically helps produce a beautiful fall color display.

September is the month for lawn care, the perfect time to aerate, feed, over-seed and otherwise spruce up your cool season lawn. This is also a great time to go after winter annual weeds by applying a pre-emergence herbicide. Both chemical and organic versions exist, and they really save a lot of work by preventing weed seeds from germinating. Weeds that do appear should be removed promptly, to prevent them from producing a supply of seeds for next year.

Planting fall vegetables can continue through the month if you choose varieties wisely. For example, all the Asian mustards, such as bak choy, mizuna and tatsoi, grow well here in the autumn, and they mature a crop quickly, typically in less than two months. Seeds sown now will be ready to harvest around Halloween. Spinach is another great fall crop. It takes around 70 days to mature, but owing to its cold tolerance will keep right on growing even after frost arrives. Lettuce, which takes around 60 days to mature, can also be planted now, but the window is narrowing, unless you have a coldframe.

American Beautyberry

Speaking of coldframes, now is a good time to put out snail and slug bait around them. The pesky mollusks start looking for warm places to spend the winter months, and will move into your coldframe, feeding on your tender crops. Place bait around the perimeter of the frame, not inside. You don't want to invite the slugs in, but rather to stop them at the border. As I have mentioned before, a copper barrier is also effective.

If you plant by the moon, now is the correct time for root crops, like radishes, carrots and green onions, all of which thrive in cool weather. Radishes mature in a month, and carrots and green onions can be left in the ground all winter for harvesting as needed. Choose fast-maturing carrots to plant now, however, as their growth slows dramatically after the weather gets really cold.

With the autumnal equinox arriving on Sunday, we have about 60 days before the weather gets really bitter, so better get those seeds out this weekend. The weather is supposed to be beautiful tomorrow, and after the rain, the soil will be perfect for sowing seeds.

Our Plant of the Week on Garden Talk this morning is a little know edible ornamental, American beautyberry. Botanically Callicarpa americana, this easy-to-grow native shrub produces abundant, glossy purple berries in fall. The fruits contrast beautifully with the golden yellow fall foliage, and they can be harvested to produce jam or wine. Bear in mind, however, that you need a lot of berries, as the amount of pulp on each one is quite small. They don't taste inspiring, but when juiced and mixed with sugar, the berries provide a tart, pleasant flavor. The juice also has mosquito-repelling properties.

Fabulous Fall

It is shaping up to be a fabulous fall, according to Dr. Sue Hamilton, director of UT Gardens. She and I co-host "Garden Talk" every Saturday morning at 8:00 on WKVL AM 850. We discussed the sudden cool-down (it was 49 degrees at my house in Powell this morning) and the recent rain, and concluded that we can expect a beautiful fall season.



Lettuce 'Jericho'

Now is the time to plant any of the cool weather greens crops, including lettuce, spinach and kale. Often overlooked are the various Asian greens, such as mizuna and bak choy, which perform far better here in fall than they do in the springtime. These Asian mustards are typically ready to harvest in about six weeks, and are ideal for integrating into planters or beds along with herbs and flowers.

Create a completely edible container for your front porch with violas, cilantro, parsley, mizuna, red mustard, Swiss chard, beets, miniature dianthus and various other leafy greens, edible flowers and cool season herbs. With so many good plants to select from, the container combinations are endless. One of my favorite herbs for fall and winter is chervil, a seldom seen member of the carrot family. It looks like lacy parsley, but packs a clean, fresh flavor with overtones of tarragon, and it makes a great substitute for tarragon in winter, when the cold weather keeps the tarragon from growing. It makes a good "filler" for a mixed planter and would look great with the bold, red foliage of beets and yellow and white viola blooms.

In the ornamental garden, various members of the huge Aster family dominate the show. Among the most popular is Michaelmas daisy or New York aster, Symphyotrichum (formerly Aster) novae-belgii. This low mounding perennial covers itself with blue, purple, pink or white flowers from September until frost, and is easy to grow in ordinary soil in full sun. The related New England aster (S. novae-angliae) offers a similar color palatte to its cousin, but on a taller plant more suited to the back of the border. These, along with most other fall asters, including chrysanthemums, will provide the best floral display and resist wind better if cut back hard before the end of July.

A less frequently seen choice is smooth aster (S. laevis). The cultivar 'Bluebird' covers itself with sky blue flowers in autumn, and tolerates dappled shade better than the other members of its genus. This and the two previous species are all native to the eastern United States and thus remain relatively free of pest or disease problems with minimal attention once they are established in the garden.

Numerous other native American asters put on a show along nearly every roadside this time of year. These include the sunflowers, black-eyed Susans, coneflowers, ironweed, Joe Pye weed, snakeroots, coreopsis, bidens, and several species of goldenrods. All these beautiful native asters are sometimes unfairly blamed for seasonal pollen allergies that many people experience. This is completely untrue. All the asters with showy flowers are pollinated by insects and do not release their pollen into the air. The real culprit is wind-pollinated ragweed (Ambrosia sp.), yet another member of the aster family It produces insignificant, yellow-green flowers and millions of grains of pollen from every plant. Ragweed is commonly seen blooming alongside its showier relatives in sunny, open sites with disturbed soil from late August until the first freeze. If you, like me, get itchy eyes and a runny nose this time of year, ragweed is to blame.

Plant Garlic Now

Summer's unofficial end is this weekend, with the Labor Day holiday, even though the autumnal equinox is a few weeks away. From now until about the middle of September is the perfect time to plant garlic and shallots for next year's harvest.

You can purchase seed bulbs of both garlic and shallots from many garden centers, but I just shop for mine at the local market. I select organically grown, large, healthy bulbs and, in the case of the garlic, separate them into cloves, planting only the largest ones. Do not remove the papery skin, which protects the cloves against rot. Just press them into prepared soil, spacing garlic cloves about six inches apart, and shallots about a foot apart. Keep well-watered until the weather cools down and growth slows in November. Add organic fertilizer to the planting bed, or side dress after the shoots emerge. Feed them again in the spring and once more when they are about a foot tall. Keep the growing bed free of weeds, which can severely limit production. They will be ready to harvest next July.

Fall vegetable starts will appear in garden centers this week. Now is a great time to transplant starts of broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and kale. Lettuce plants can also go in the ground now, or you can direct seed for a row of cutting greens. September is also a great time to sow cilantro and chervil, two herbs that can add flavor to your cooking all winter. Growing either one in an unheated greenhouse or coldframe will assure a long harvest. Cilantro seldom does well in a pot, but chervil will grow into a specimen in a ten to twelve inch wide container. Keep both herbs well-watered if rainfall is insufficient, or they are growing under cover.

Our Plant of the Week on this morning's edition of "Garden Talk" was lilyturf, Liriope muscari. This is a tough plant for creating a border between a flower bed and a lawn, as grass has difficulty invading an established clump of lilyturf. Ideal conditions are rich, moist soil in partial shade, but this is a durable and tolerant plant that grows just about anywhere, yet remains non-invasive. A large number of cultivars are available, including some with variegated foliage, gold foliage, and flowers in white, pink, and various shades of purple. The size range is from about a foot tall to over two feet. Plants form clumps a foot or so across, and do not spread. Creeping lilyturf, L. spicata, is also available for use as a groundcover, as it does spread by underground rhizomes.

Among the most abundant veggies in the garden this time of year is okra, and frying is one of the favorite ways to enjoy it. You can cut down on carbs and fat by frying okra without breading. Breading okra was invented, possibly, as a way to spruce up pods that were a bit beyond their prime and therefore less flavorful than freshly picked. If you have okra in the garden, you can capture all the flavor by frying it without breading. After picking, simply wipe the pods with a kitchen towel and leave them at room temperature until you are ready to cook them. Do not wash the pods. This will encourage mold if they need to keep for a day or two, and if done prior to slicing will make the okra slimy.

Fried Okra
2 cups sliced fresh okra
1 tablespoon bacon drippings (optional)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
seasoned salt (recipe follows)

In a heavy cast iron skillet, heat the oil (with the bacon fat, if used) until it ripples and a small piece of okra sizzles as soon as it is dropped in. Dump in the remainder of the okra and cook, turning occasionally, until most of the okra pieces are as well-browned as you prefer. Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with seasoned salt. Serve immediately.

Seasoned Salt
Combine 1/4 teaspoon each of paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and freshly ground black pepper. Use a much or as little as you like on freshly fried okra, and store the rest in an airtight container.

Rain, Rain, Rain

Wow, one wonders how much longer the unusual precipitation pattern is going to remain. We are already way above normal and more rain is on the way. This has been a boon to some things in the garden, and a bane to others.

Sweet corn, which we just started picking this week, has done far better than we had hoped. Tomatoes, on the other hand, have suffered. Nevertheless, we have been able to pick enough veggies every day to feed two people quite well. Besides corn and tomatoes, we are harvesting cucumbers, parsley, basil (by the ton, it seems), tarragon, chives, peppers and zucchini. With these and the garlic, leeks and potatoes we have stored, creating healthy, delicious meals is a snap.

Whenever I have plenty of sweet corn, one of the recipes I like to turn to is fried corn. This traditional summer staple can be made in as many ways as there are cooks, and it never fails to please. I am guessing it is based upon the Native American dish, succotash, and that variations have accumulated over the years.

Fried Corn with Zucchini

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
Fresh corn kernels, cut from two ears, about 1 1/2 cups
1 medium zucchini, trimmed and sliced into 1/4 inch thick rounds
2 teaspoons minced fresh tarragon
salt and pepper

Heat the oil in a heavy cast iron skillet and sauté the onion until it is translucent. Add the corn and cook, stirring occasionally, until it begins to brown on the bottom. Add the zucchini and continue to cook, stirring and tossing to prevent sticking, until the squash begins to brown and most of the corn has browned lightly. Remove from the heat, stir in the tarragon and season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately as a side dish.

Fried corn goes particularly well with seafoods that have a touch of sweetness, such as scallops, shrimp, and lobster, and with pork. For a vegetarian meal, pair fried corn with a bean dish.

Don't forget to listen every Saturday morning at 8:00 for "Garden Talk" on WKVL AM 850. I'll be there, along with Dr. Sue Hamilton and Andy the Garden Guy, to answer your gardening questions.

Check out Dr. Sue's article in this week's Knoxville News Sentinel.

Too Much of a Good Thing

Rain, rain, go away. Come again another day.

We are way above normal on rainfall in the Tennessee Valley. The wet and cloudy weather has begun to take its toll on vegetable gardens. While most veggies need an inch of water each week to thrive, we have been averaging about four times that amount. The extra moisture, coupled with long periods with no sunshine, has created ideal conditions for fungi to attack our crops.

Cucumbers sometimes develop a black, fuzzy mold under these conditions. Pick of and destroy deformed or damaged fruits as soon as you find them. This will help curb spore production by the fungus. Keeping the fruits picked also keeps the plants blooming. Hopefully, as the weather improves the cukes will still be producing.

Summer squash may be showing signs of powdery mildew  on the leaves, and immature fruits may also develop mold growth.

Some varieties of tomatoes are showing signs of early blight. Brown spots form on the leaves before the leaves turn yellow and fall off the plant.

In all of these cases, there are some steps you can take to preserve at least some of your crop. Increase air circulation around plants by thinning leaves or even entire plants. Remove and destroy plant parts showing signs of fungal attack. Do not compost this material. Burn it or place it in the trash. Avoid watering (duh!) and fertilization when plants are stressed by too much moisture. Spray infected foliage with neem oil. This has proven effective for me with both powdery mildew and blight attacks. As a rule, plants growing in raised beds will fare better than in-ground plantings.

The abundant water will also encourage a bumper crop when the plants get enough sun. Green beans, cucumbers and squash are all producing heavily in many gardens. Tomatoes are coming along, with early ones appearing in all the local markets, even though the real tomato season is the month of August.

Fall Vegetable Talk July 14
Please join me Sunday, July 14, at 2:00 PM at UT Gardens on Neyland Drive for a presentation and discussion on fall vegetable gardening in the Tennessee Valley. I will be offering advice on what to plant and when, to take advantage of our fall--and winter!--growing seasons.

Heat Slows You, Not Your Garden

Happy summertime! Today is the first full day of summer, and the temperature is in the upper 80s throughout the Tennessee Valley. Gardening now can be exhausting, but this is a great time to get some chores accomplished. For example:

Weed and brush removal are likely to be more effective when the weather is hot and dry, as the weather makes it hard for new shoots to recover. Similarly, high temperatures make herbicides like glyphosate more effective, as the plant takes up the chemical more rapidly. As I have previously mentioned, I do not advocate the widespread application of toxic chemicals, but some noxious weeds can be eliminated no other way. One plant I am attacking this year is Chinese autumn clematis, Clematis ternifolia. This plant is considered a pest plant of concern by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, because it can outgrow and smother native plants and shrubs.

In the vegetable garden, there is still time to plant beans, cucumbers, summer and winter squashes, okra, tomato plants and pepper plants. I transplanted two Bush Big Boy tomatoes that I had been holding in large pots, awaiting the garlic harvest.

Speaking of garlic, boy did we get a good crop this year. Most of the heads are over two inches in diameter. I attribute this success to the abundant rainfall we have had, at least 15 inches above normal, according to the National Weather Service. Usually, we harvest garlic in June, but the leaves were beginning to yellow, a good sign the crop is ready. The freshly harvested garlic, leaves and all, is spread out on a rack in the shade, protected from rain. Once they dry enough, I will braid the stems and hang them on the clothesline in the garage to finish curing for storage. I still have a few cloves in the refrigerator from last summer's garlic crop, although most of them are sprouting.

Our Plant of the Week this morning on Garden Talk was purple coneflower, Echinacea purpurea and its related species and hybrids. This easy-to-grow member of the aster family comes in an array of colors and sizes, thanks to active plant breeding in recent years. E. purpurea is a denizen of the open plains. In a few Middle Tennessee counties, Tennessee coneflower, E. tennesseensis, thrives naturally. It lives abundantly in gardens across the state, as well, both in its pure form and in the genomes of numerous hybrids. The use of yellow coneflower, E. paradoxa, as a hybrid parent has resulted in a color range including yellow and orange shades. Coneflowers will bloom with a little afternoon shade, but the best display is in full sun in moist, well drained soil of average fertility. The plants are visited by butterflies and other pollinators, and the mature seed heads attract goldfinches. Once established, they are pest and disease free and will grace your garden from summer to frost. In the first season after transplanting, remove the flower buds as they form, to allow the plants to develop an adequate root system. Water new transplants during periods of drought. Established plants tolerate drought well. If you grow coneflowers in your garden, you will find volunteer seedlings here and there. If their blooms delight you, it is easy to multiply the plants by dividing the rootstock in fall after the plants have gone dormant. If you have more than one species or cultivar, you will get hybrid seedlings, such as the example from my garden shown in the image. This is a tennesseensis/purpurea cross, I suspect, created by insects.

Echinacea tennesseensis is endangered and is found only in a few locations in Middle Tennessee. Wild stands should never be disturbed. This plant is nevertheless easy to grow and can be purchased at many specialty nurseries and better garden centers. The leaves and petals are much narrower than in E. purpurea, and the plant is fuzzier.

The hot weather will also speed up growth in your earlier vegetable plantings. Make sure you keep beans, cucumbers and other early crops well picked, or they will stop bearing. Get out there and weed some every day, too, because the weeds also are growing vigorously. Just be sure to protect yourself from the sun and to drink plenty of water. When the temperature is above 80, I work about 30 minutes and rest in the shade for 15. Pace yourself.