The Gardening Thymes

Transcription

1 Master Gardener Association of Grayson County The Gardening Thymes Spring 2018 Greetings! It s hard to believe that this issue marks the beginning of the 5 th year of our newsletter! Our circulation has more than doubled since the first year, and we have received many wonderful comments about our newsletter, which makes us extremely proud! Thanks to all of our readers for making our newsletter a success! The color of springtime is in the flowers; the color of winter is in the imagination. ~Terri Guillemets Congratulations To Our Interns! Carol, Elois, Heather and Luke They have successfully completed their Internships and have already shown that they are major assets to our organization. We are honored to have them join us! Coming Soon! We have been working with Twin Lakes Regional Medical Center on the planning and designing of a Community Garden adjacent to the hospital. We are pleased to announce that we are ready to start taking registrations this month. If you lack the space, a Community Garden is not just a place to grow vegetables, flowers and herbs. It is also a place to connect with other people, connect with nature or to be physically active. Each gardener will be assigned a raised bed or small plot to use throughout the gardening season for a nominal fee. If you love to garden and would like to join us, please call the Grayson County Extension Office at to get your name on the list for an information meeting on January 24th at noon. Please share this news with someone that might be interested. University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment Cooperative Extension Service

2 January: Pinch back indoor herbs regularly for culinary use and to encourage bushier growth. Clean and sharpen pruners, hoes, and other garden tools. Go through garden catalogs, plan your garden and start your garden journal. Be sure to keep bird feeders filled. Prepare your Winter Sown containers and set outdoors. Start Petunia, Impatiens and Coleus seeds indoors. Start broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, peppers, mint and oregano seeds indoors. February: Monthly Garden Tips! These tips are based on our average frost dates. Please use them as a general guideline. Our weather can vary greatly in Kentucky, not only from year to year, but also within the various zones. Check weather forecasting sources regularly for extended outlooks. Fertilize spring-flowering bulbs, if not done in the fall, when the green shoots are 1 tall. Do not prune any spring flowering shrubs until after they have bloomed. Prune brambles, grapevines, and late summer blooming shrubs. Take inventory and organize seeds packs. Arranging by planting date works well. Prune fruit trees and apply dormant oil before buds swell. Start Swiss chard, spinach and basil seed indoors, as well as more broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower and Brussels sprouts seeds. Black-eyed Susans, Canterbury Bells, Daisies, Forget-Me-Nots, Heuchera and Snapdragons are good choices of flower seeds to start indoors. March: Start pepper and tomato seeds indoors. Outdoors, put out transplants of broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower, plus onion sets. Plant seeds of beets, carrots, peas, radish, spinach, Swiss chard and turnips outdoors. Plant asparagus roots in a prepared bed. Begin dividing houseplants and start a fertilizing schedule. Patch bare spots in the lawn and begin fertilizing lawns mid-month. Prune any winter damaged trees and shrubs. Plant blueberries, strawberries and grapes. Divide hostas as shoots start appearing. Plant trees, shrubs, and roses. When garden soil is workable, plant peas and potatoes. Fill in low spots in the lawn and reseed. Top dress lawns with compost, or apply fertilizer. We are on Facebook! Keep up to date with the latest local gardening news plus upcoming workshops and seminars by liking us on Facebook. Master Gardener Association of Grayson County Kentucky

3 Preventing Plant Diseases In Your Garden By Robin Mundy, KY Master Gardener I wanted to write about the importance of keeping diseases under control in the home garden after hearing of someone losing a small greenhouse full of plants last spring due to disease. There was a lot of wasted time and effort in raising those plants, followed by a lot of work to make the greenhouse safe to use again. The plants had to be removed and burned, the potting soil was unusable and all of the interior surfaces of the greenhouse had to be sanitized, as well as all of the pots. What a disappointment for the gardener! The following tips should help keep your garden healthy: Buy disease-resistant seeds. Check to make sure any plants you bring home from the garden center don t show any signs of disease or pests. Make sure the soil is warm enough for the plants before planting, to avoid stressing the plant. Wash and sanitize hands and/or tools after handling infected plants. When fertilizing, follow directions on packaging to insure using the proper amount to keep plants healthy. Remove diseased plants from the garden. If the plant is just beginning to show signs of disease, remove the infected foliage and you might possibly be able to save the plant. Keep weeds pulled to eliminate competition for nutrients for your garden plants. Put weeds and plant trimmings in the compost pile. Keep pests under control, as they can also spread diseases to other plants. Water plants in the morning and avoid touching wet plants to lessen chance of spreading diseases from one plant to another. Allow for proper air circulation to guard against fungal diseases developing. Mulching not only helps maintain soil moisture and helps keep weed growth down, it also prevents diseases in the soil from being splashed onto the plants. Practice crop rotation to break the cycle of diseases and pests in the soil that affects different plant families. Have you ever wondered if a sick plant could make people sick? The short answer is no, probably not in most healthy people. People cannot contract the plant disease handling a diseased garden plant. Although extremely rare, there are two diseases of concern in humans. A person with a weakened immune system could possibly be affected by P. aeruginosa, which causes a type of soft rot in plants, and can invade the weakened tissues in humans. The other is Sporothrix schenckii, which is a fungus that can live on dead rose thorns, and the fungus could enter the body through skin scratches or by inhaling the spores. The produce from diseased plants is probably safe to eat, although the taste and texture may be undesirable. Avoid eating produce with mold or mildew. Sources:

4 Interesting Facts About Beans By Willis Willoughby, KY Master Gardener Beans are the second most popular plant in the home garden. They are easy to grow and extremely healthy. Common garden beans (phaseolus vulgaris) may be used for dry beans or green beans. Depending on variety, they may grow as bush beans or pole beans. Pole beans can climb wooden supports easily because of the texture, either sawed-out or poles harvested from thickets. A 7' bean stick is long enough to drive one foot into the ground if needed. I pinch the vines off at 6' to put strength into the productive part of the bean vine. Four sticks may be tied together at the top and the tepee will stand for a bean trellis. Varieties of beans may cross, depending on distance apart, the number of insects present, and the kinds of insects. The flowers are fertilized before they open, but a flower could be torn open and allow cross-pollination. One may grow varieties of beans together for years before a cross occurs, in which case one should go back two years to get pure seeds. I write this with seed savers in mind. Seeds have been saved since mankind thought to grow food. Until recently, a wedding gift of seeds or chickens was most fitting and proper. To some givers and receivers, they still are. Miscellaneous Thoughts: Leather britches beans are green beans split part way open to dry for later use. Greasy beans have pods that have an oiled look, but are not. Beans are legumes. Peas, peanuts, cow peas, alfalfa, clover, redbud trees, and black locust trees are legumes; in association with bacteria, they put nitrogen into the ground. Oscar H. Will had a seed business in North Dakota long ago. A Hidatsa Indian gave him a bag of bean seed. They were the Northern Beans we use today. 'Great Northern' was a railroad. Grayson County Extension Service (270) Commerce Dr. Fax: (270) Leitchfield KY graysonext.org Whitney Carman Agriculture & Natural Resources Agent Grayson County Cooperative Extension Service To file a complaint of discrimination, contact Tim West, UK College of Agriculture, ; Terry Allen or Patty Bender, UK Office of Institutional Equity and Equal Opportunity, ; or the USDA, Director Office of Civil Rights, Room 326-W Whitten Bldg. 14th & Independence Ave. SW Washington, DC ( ).

5 Terrariums By Luke Jacobs, KY Master Gardener Terrariums: low-maintenance, space-saving and simply beautiful. These are just a few of the reasons why terrariums are great for people living in small spaces or for those who just love to garden. Just by doing a Google search, you will get inspired by the variety of plants, rocks, and other decorative items you can add to your mini-garden. While they are easy to make, there are tips and other pieces of important information you should know so you can get the most out of your terrarium. What are terrariums? They are a small, enclosed environment for certain plants. Think of it as a mini-greenhouse. The containers for terrarium gardens are typically transparent, such as glass or plastic. The best material for a terrarium is glass. There are two types of terrariums, sealed and open. Sealed terrariums have a removable lid while the open terrarium does not. How terrariums work: They are indoor gardens in a sealed container. The plants and the soil in the terrarium release water vapor essentially recycling water. The vapor is then collected onto the walls of the vessel and trickles down to the soil. Terrariums are self-nourishing, which is why they require little maintenance if sealed. How to Plant: Add enough soil to make a 1½-2 inch layer in the bottom of the container. The soil should be porous to allow good drainage. The soil should be slightly moist for planting. It should not be too fertile so that the plants will not outgrow the container. Adding gravel in the bottom is needed to prevent the soil from becoming too wet. To keep the terrarium from smelling bad, add crushed charcoal. Woodland plants and houseplants may be used but not in the same terrarium. Use small plants that grow slowly. The plants should fill the container but not crowd it. If possible, collect plants from a nearby woods or see what a local greenhouse or garden center has to offer. When removing plants from the woods, do not mutilate the area. Only take plants that are plentiful in the area. Never completely strip an area of any plant. Additional Tips: - Water the terrarium only if the soil seems dry. Usually, only a few teaspoonfuls of water once a month is needed. - Rotate the terrarium occasionally to give a balanced form to the plants. - If the sides of the container become foggy, remove the lid until they clear. - Remove dead leaves and overgrown plants. Additional Sources: U.K. Publication: 4BE-15PO

6 Horticulture or horticulture-related field Scholarship! It s that time of year again The Master Gardener Association of Grayson County is pleased to announce we will be offering a scholarship to a Grayson County higher education student studying horticulture or a horticulture-related field for the 2018/2019 school year. We will start accepting applications after January 1, Deadline for submission: Monday, April 16, 2018 by 3:00 p.m. Contact the Grayson County Extension Office at for more information. Save the Date!!! Watch for announcements of upcoming workshops and seminars as they are scheduled via flyers around town, in the newspapers and on our Facebook page. Be sure to like us to see announcements posted in your newsfeed. January 24, Noon. Community Garden Registration & Information Meeting Please call to pre-register to attend the meeting. Meeting held at the Grayson County Extension Office, 123 Commerce Drive, Leitchfield, KY. Please use the West entrance in the back of the building. Saturday, May 5, Master Gardener s 9th Annual PLANT FAIR, Leitchfield For more information on all these events please contact the Grayson County Extension Office at and check out Master Gardener Association of Grayson County Kentucky on Facebook.