Garden Chores: October
In the vegetable garden:
- It’s apple season! Store your harvest at 0 °C to 7 °C (32 °F to 45 °F). Some varieties will keep longer than others, so check regularly to ensure they are not spoiling.
- Make sure to dry your beans well before storing in a moisture-proof, airtight container for making those soups and chili dishes over the winter.
- Make sure your onions are dry and wiped clean of all dirt. Store away from apples and potatoes where it is cool and dry. Again, some varieties are better keepers than others.
- Root Crops. Clean your potatoes, carrots, beets, etc. of any soil. Store in a cool, dark place. If you clip the tops off of your carrots, beets, parsnips, etc., they will stay fresher longer. (Some people like to store their root crops in sand-filled tubs.)
- Squash and pumpkins should be washed with a 10 % bleach solution and wiped dry thoroughly for storing. They should be stored at 10 °C to 15 °C (50 °F to 65 °F).
- And for goodness sakes! Plant that garlic now!
In the perennial garden:
- Time to dig up the tender plants for storing, such as dahlias, canna lilies, begonia tubers, etc.
- Right time to plant the spring-flowering bulbs, if you did not get this done last month. Put markers of some sort where you have planted your bulbs and late-flowering perennials. That way you will not dig them up in your spring enthusiasm.
- Still time to divide and move those overgrown perennials.
- Get on with the fall clean-up schedule in the garden. Cut back those herbaceous perennials which are dying back, such as hostas. Put any plant debris which is showing signs of serious disease such as botrytis in the garbage, or on the burn pile.
- Those piles falling leaves. They are a wonderful, protective mulch for any borderline hardy perennials you may have snuck into your landscape design. Leaves are also great for protecting soil erosion from winter rains.
- Good time to start some paperwhite bulbs indoors now.
- If you have kept last year’s poinsettia, and stored it in a dark closet, now is the time to bring it out into the light so it will produce those lovely, colourful bracts at Christmas.
- Check your climbing roses are securely tied to their trellis so as not to risk any broken branches during the winter storms.
- Put your garden furniture under cover to ensure longer life.
Posted on September 28, 2017
Tomato ‘Vilma’
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Solanum lycopersicon esculentum ‘Vilma’ (so-LA-num ly-koh-PER-see-con ESS-kew-len-tum) Family: Solanaceae Common name: ‘Vilma’ |
| Description: An open-pollinated, dwarf, bush-type tomato. Plant grows up to 24 inches (60 cm) and 12 inches (30 cm) wide. Regular compound leaves are dark green. Good yield of bright red, small cherry-sized tomatoes weighing about three-quarters of an ounce (20 g). Flavour is truly exceptional.
Special Notes: ‘Vilma’ has been specifically bred for container growing…purported to be from the Czech Republic but I have been unable to confirm this detail.
How to Grow: Start seeds indoors in late March through April. Optimum soil temperature for germination is around 24 °C (75 °F) for tomatoes. Pot seedlings up into gradually larger pots as they grow. When ready to pot up into their permanent growing pot for the season, select a 6 – 8 inch (15 – 20 cm) diameter pot which is a minimum of 6 inches (15 cm) tall. Typically, bush, or determinate, tomatoes do not need to be pruned. Removing the side shoots decreases overall crop yield.
In our Zone 7a garden: I grew this tomato variety for the first time in 2017. A dozen seeds were sown into 4-cell pots on April 8th. Seed pots were placed in a plastic tray on a heat mat under fluorescent lights hung directly above. Seven seeds had germinated by April 14th. All 12 seeds had germinated by April 21st. I selected five seedlings and potted those up into 6.5 inch (16.5 cm) diameter pots which were 6 inches (15 cm) tall.
Harvested a total of 50 fruits on first picking from all 5 plants on September 7th. Total weight: 10 oz (283.5 g). Next picking on September 11th netted 20 fruits weighing 5 oz (142 g). September 16th harvest yielded 34 fruits; weight 6 oz (170 g). Weighed individually, largest fruits were between 0.22 and 0.25 of an ounce (6.5 – 7 g)…not 20 grams as references stated. Judging by the photos I have seen of ‘Vilma’, the dimensions of the fruits on my five plants looked to be on a par, which truthfully, looks more currant-size than cherry-size. Definitely on the small size. But positively big…as in huge…on flavour. No dispute there. Two things I would do differently next year…stake the plants and fertilize with a liquid fish or seaweed amendment once a week.
Posted on September 25, 2017
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8 Houseplants with Beneficial Air-purifying Qualities
by Leslie Cox; Saturday; September 23, 2017
If you are a plantaholic like me, then you are already familiar with the many benefits in surrounding yourself in greenery…both outdoors and in.
But if you are not much of a gardener, you need to know there is a positive in placing at least three or four tropical-type plants throughout your home. Bottom line…air purification.
Depending on the furniture you own and the cleaning products you use, there could quite possibly be some not-so-very-nice toxins floating on the air currents inside the house. Certain plastics, for instance, emit a toxin called xylene into the air. The same toxin is found in some solvents.
Placing one 12-inch (30 cm) sized potted plant from the following list for every 100 square feet (9 sq m) of space in key rooms…living room, dining room, den, rumpus room…will go a long way to making your most used living spaces a healthier environment for you and your family.
- Aglaonema spp. – Chinese evergreens
- removes benzene, formaldehyde, and other toxins
- oxygen content in emissions is high
- does well in low light levels, but variegated cultivars need more sunlight
- needs good drainage
- Chamaedorea seifrizii – bamboo palm; reed palm
- removes formaldehyde
- natural humidifier
- prefers bright, indirect light
- needs regular water
- Dracaena fragrans ‘Compacta’ – compact cornstalk dracaena
- general air purifier
- removes formaldehyde
- tolerates low light levels well
- reasonably drought tolerant
- Dypsis lutescens – areca palm; bamboo palm; golden cane palm
- one of the best overall air purifiers
- prefers partial sun and well-draining soil
- reasonably drought tolerant
- Ficus elastic – rubber tree; rubber plant
- removes formaldahyde and other toxins from the air
- oxygen content in emissions is high
- prefers filtered light and rich soil
- quite drought tolerant
- Ficus maclellandii – banana-leaf fig
- general air purifier
- prefers indirect sunlight
- do not overwater
- Nephrolepis exaltata ‘Bostoniensis’ – Boston fern
- removes formaldehyde
- natural air humidifier
- prefers bright light but will tolerate lower light levels
- prefers regular water
- Phoenix roebelenii– pygmy date palm; miniature date palm
- removes formaldehyde and xylene (chemical found in plastics and solvents)
- prefers sun but will tolerate partial sunlight
- regular water
Caliroa cerasi (pear or cherry sawfly)
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Caliroa cerasi
Common name: pear sawfly; pear slug; cherry slug; pear slugworm; cherry slugworm Type: Pest |
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Life cycle:
Description & Life Cycle: Adult pear sawflies start emerging from the soil over a few weeks starting in mid-spring. They are non-stinging wasps, shiny brownish-black in colour and have two pairs of transparent wings which they hold folded over their backs when at rest. After mating, the females lay their eggs under the epidermis on the upper surface of a leaf using their saw-like ovipositor. The oval-shaped eggs are a tan-pale orange colour and roughly 0.04 of an inch (1 mm) long. They look like a small blister on the leaf.
When the first generation of larvae are ready to pupate, they crawl or drop to the ground…digging themselves into the soil. Duration is roughly 3 – 4 weeks with the second generation adults emerging in late-July or early August. Females lay their eggs in the same manner directly after mating. Second generation larvae appear in mid- to late August. These second generation larvae do the most damage, likely because their numbers are higher and they are preparing to over-winter. Severe feasting damage to the leaves can cause them to drop prematurely, thus weakening the plant. Luckily, they are not known to destroy their host plants. When these larvae reach the fifth and last instar stage, they crawl or drop to the ground and dig themselves 2 to 3 inches (2.5 – 7.5 cm) down into the soil where they spin a cocoon and over-winter.
Special Notes: Caliroa cerasi is native to Europe. It is unknown when this pest was first discovered in North America but speculation puts the timing as far back as colonial times. Today, it is found throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, parts of South America (Argentina, Chile, Uruguay), the United States, and Canada. “Pear slug” is the officially recognized common name.
Remedial Actions: Usually, the damage has been done before the gardener notices there is a pest at work. Best line of defense against the pear slug is to hit the affected plant with a jet of water or a dousing of insecticidal soap. However, this may prove difficult if the tree is way above your head. If the larvae are dropping to the ground to pupate, there is nothing available which will destroy the pupae once they are underground.
In our Zone 7a garden: We have been fortunate up until this year (2017) to have dodged this pest…and we have seven out of the ten host plants I noted above! (Pear tree, plum tree, apple, a flowering quince (Chaenomeles), a serviceberry (Amelanchier), a cotoneaster, and a Sorbus (mountain ash). This year, my Aronia melanocarpa (black chokeberry) has been hit. I only just realized the damage as I was harvesting the berries this week. Too late to do anything this year but I will definitely be watching for the adult sawflies to appear next April and May…although there is not much one can do to deter the adult females from mating and laying eggs. But I have read Neem oil may be effective in retarding the larvae from molting to the next instar stage. Worth a try. If it does not work, I can always turn a jet of water on them.
Posted on September 20, 2017
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Eggplant Steaks
by Leslie Cox; Saturday; September 16, 2017
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes at 375 °F (180 °C)
1 large eggplant
sugar
garlic salt
basil, dried
oregano, dried
2-3 large tomatoes
3-5 green onions
1 cup (250 ml) feta cheese
extra virgin olive oil
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 °F.
2. Using a basting brush, brush bottom of 9 x 13 inch (22.5 x 33 cm) baking dish with extra virgin olive oil. Set aside.
3. Slice eggplant lengthwise into ½ inch (1.25 cm) slices. Lay slices in baking dish. Do not overlap.
4. Sprinkle eggplant slices lightly with each of the following in succession: sugar, garlic salt, basil and oregano. (Option: Hold the basil and oregano and add on top of the tomatoes.)
5. Cut tomatoes into fairly thick slices and lay on top of eggplant slices.
6. Chop green onions and sprinkle over top of tomato slices.
7. Crumble feta generously over top of each eggplant slice. Try not to allow too much of the feta to fall off the slices.
8. Dribble a little olive oil over each slice.
9. Bake in 375 °F oven for 35 minutes. Remove from oven. Serve immediately.
