Winter Farmers Market and More – Coming Up

Winter Farmers Market January 7, 2012

The Second Winter Farmers Market will be held on Saturday, February 4 from 10 am – 1 pm at  the Second Congregational Church on Court Square in Greenfield. I attended last month and stocked up on beets, turnips, pears, apples, squash and Real Pickles sauerkraut. It is exciting that so much local food is available to us in midwinter. And even more exciting to know that plans are in place to give us even more local food all year long.

The February Farmers Market is the beginning of Winter Fare Week, a celebration of local food with many events planned. In addition to buying produce on February 4 shoppers will have an opportunity to attend a number of workshops.

Daniel Botkin of Laughing Dog Farm, a ‘seedy madman’ will inspire you as he shows off his favorite “open-pollinated” heirloom tomato (and other!) seeds that have inspired a decade of great gardening at Laughing Dog Farm. Dan will review the significance of “heirloom genetics” as well basic seed botany and seed saving/preserving protocols, including which ones need only to be gathered, cleaned and dried, (the “easy” ones…) and which seeds need more elaborate “isolation” and/or hand-pollination schemes. Seeds for sale and free!

Mark Lattanzi will show you how to can the delicious abundance of the summer and fall garden. Think about putting up your own local food this year.

Rachel Scherer will present Get Sauced. Did you know that condiments like “Sriracha” and “Tabasco” start with lacto-fermented chilis? That lacto-fermented fruit and vegetable chutneys are the culinary origins of ketchup and relish? This workshop will cover the basics of making lacto-fermented condiments at home, and the details of how to go from the general process to a custom recipe.

Annie Sullivan-Chin with Catherine Bryars will talk about the many benefits of composting and how to make it feasible in your home. Conversation topics include soil science fundamentals, how to get/build buckets and bins, troubleshooting a lazy compost pile, and a special show-and-tell about worm composting. Participants are encouraged to bring questions and experiences to share.

In addition to the workshops there will be a Local Food Barter Fair. How does it work? Anyone who has home-made food items items to barter will gather at 12:15 p.m. with their goods and take part in informal trading.  A great chance to meet your home-growing neighbors, practice the art of bartering, and bring home delicious food and goods without exchanging money.  Open to gardeners, gleaners, foragers, canners, dryers… even professional farmers!

I’ll be telling you about more great events coming  up the week of February 5-12.  Friends and Food. What a combo.

Gray Dog's Farm, Huntington

Gray Dog’s Farm is just one of the farms that is participating in the market. Other participants include Clarkdale Fruit Farm, Red Fire Farm that is moving to Montague, and

Ice and Snow and Fog – January

Cottage Ornee

The view from my bedroom window on January 27, 2012.

White Birch and Green Conifers

Ice is heavy.

Iced branches

And to think I was planning to collect forsythia branches to force today.

Yellow Birch

View from the Welcoming Platform. I have photographed this tree in every season and every weather. It is always beautiful.

Snowy stream 1-25-12

Temperatures hover at 32 degrees and the stream keeps flowing.

Spring Planted Bulbs for Summer Bloom

Gloriosa 'Rothschildiana' courtesy of Brent and Beck's Bulbs

The last planting season of the year is late fall when gardeners are racing to get in all the crocus, daffodil, scilla, snowdrop and tulip bulbs in the ground so they can look forward to an early spring full of color. But fall is not the only bulb planting season. There is a whole array of bulbs that need to be planted in the spring to bloom gloriously and often exotically in the summer.

Many summer blooming bulbs are native to tropical places that have a long hot growing season. Many will be happy in a container, while others are more commonly grown in the ground, but for the most part they are not winter hardy in our climate and cannot overwinter outside.

I have just ordered a Gloriosa ‘Rothschildiana’ from Brent and Becky’s Bulbs. Sometimes called a climbing lily, this unusual lily will grow to a height of about six feet and its tendrils need some kind of trellis or support to latch on to. The crimson flower itself has strongly reflexed slim petals, curving back from a green center with long graceful ‘eyelash’ pistils and stamens. Some gardeners have described this vining plant as looking as if it is covered with butterflies when it is in bloom mid to late summer.

Rothschildiana can be grown in a container or in well drained soil. It needs full sun, and since it is a tropical plant it is wise to place it where it will not only get bright sunlight, but where heat will collect and it will be protected from wind. The vital thing to remember with any container planting is that it must be kept watered, probably every single day, and they must get regular fertilization, often every other week with a half strength solution.

Crocosmia, also known as montbretia or sword lily grows from corms that are native to South Africa. Lucifer is the variety most seen in our area because it is hardy to zone 5 or minus 10 degrees. However, in zone 5 it should be heavily mulched for the winter. Lucifer is a dramatic plant with its strappy, iris-like foliage, and brilliant scarlet flowers on two to three foot arching stems. They are not only stunning in the garden, they work well as cut flowers and have a long life in a vase. New corms may take two years to bloom, but a large clump is a magnificent sight. It is a plant that gets lots of attention on the Bridge of Flowers.

Crocosmia 'Lucifer'

Crocosmia and the Gloriosa lily are both pest resistant. Rodents will not turn these bulbs and corms into lunch.

I love Oriental lilies with their recurved petals, but all lilies are beautiful. Gaining in popularity are what some are calling pot lilies, compact plants that do well in a container. B&D Lilies offer several of these smaller lilies including After Eight, a fragrant garnet-red lily with white banding that resembles some of the Stargazer lilies. It only grows to about 18 inches tall. B&D recommends at least a gallon potting soil for each bulb and warns that potting soils with fertilizer included must be avoided. Too much nitrogen will not help lilies and can hinder blooming. They also recommend using a rose fertilizer during the growing season, which is to say a fertilizer that has more phosphorous than nitrogen or potassium.

Rodolpha is pure white lily, similar to the magnificent Casa Blanca, but it will only grow to two feet, so it will be happy in a container, or in the front of a garden border.

Lilies love the sun, but they are hardy to zone 4 so they have no trouble coming through our winters. Even here in Heath.

Caladium 'White Queen' courtesy of Brent and Becky's Bulbs

Of course not all bulbs or corms or tubers produce beautiful flowers. Caladiums are big showy foliage plants that like the shade. Caladium foliage is prized because of its unusual colors and patterns. Moonlight is nearly white, lighting up a shady spot. White Queen is equally pale but vividly veined in red. Candididum Sr. has white leaves but the veins are green. Some foliage is wine red with dark green margins, some is green splotched with red. Not many plants can boast of foliage that comes in a full range of white, green, red and pink. A selection of cultivars will be available at local garden centers in the spring, but catalogs like Brent and Becky’s Bulbs will give a larger selection of bulbs that you can start early indoors.

I was interested that although caladiums like cool shade, they need warm soil to begin growing. Gardeners are advised to start them indoors in small pots that can be kept on a heat mat.

Caladiums do well in containers by themselves, or in a mixed planting with other annuals or perennials. They are also useful in cut flower arrangements, their handsome foliage showing off blooms to best advantage.

There are other familiar summer blooming bulbs and tubers. The Swan Island Dahlias catalog give a hint of the size and variety of dahlias. There are dwarf plants and small blossoms and large plants that will need staking to support stems that carry many blossoms. Dahlias are wonderful because the more they are cut for bouquets, the more they will bloom. Sun and well drained soil are the main requirements. Like lilies, dahlias do not like fertilizer with a lot of nitrogen.

Summer blooming bulbs can add color to your sunny garden and to your shade garden. The only difficulty is making choices among the hundreds of cultivars available.

Between the Rows  January 21, 2012

Let There Be Light!

Sky on January 24, 2012 9 am

Winter skies over the End of the Road.  For more  Skywatching click here.

Free Range Chicken Gardens – Timber Press Giveaway

Free Range Chicken Gardens: How to Create a Beautiful Chicken-Friendly Yard

Yesterday I heard a discussion about the environmental and economic situation on the radio. One speaker laughed and said we’ll all be stocking up on gold and backyard chickens. I don’t have any gold, but I do have backyard chickens. As do many of my rural neighbors. However, I know that gardeners who live in town on small lots are also setting up backyard flocks. The town ordinances allow up to ten chickens. No roosters!

If you don’t already lust after your own flock of pretty egg layers, a browse through the beautiful pages of Free Range Chicken Gardens by Jessi Bloom with seductive photos by Kate Baldwin and published by Timber Press will send you off to find the Murray McMurray Hatchery catalog.

To further seduce potential chicken farmers, Timber Press will giveaway the Free Range Chicken Gardens to one lucky person who will also win a complete chicken garden start-up kit, including:

• $50 gift card for chicken feed or supplies from McMurray Hatchery
• One chicken coop plan from The Garden Coop (a $20 value)
• 1 lb. of organic chicken forage blend and seeds for chicken-friendly plants from Peaceful Valley Farm & Garden Supply (a $20 value)
• A copy of Free-Range Chicken Gardens, of course.

All you have to do is go to the Timber Press website and sign up for this great prize.

I haven’t had a chance to read the whole book, which is dense with information about chicken house design, predators, keeping your garden safe from the chickens and beautiful photographs of charming gardens and all kinds of elegant chickens, but I wanted to give you plenty of time to enter your name before the February 17.

Just think what it means to have your own small chicken flock. Delicious eggs with marigold yellow yolks. And wonderful manure for the garden. Feed yourself and feed your soil.

Proof That Heath Loves Farms

Heath - A Right to Farm Community Roadside Sign

For more Wordlessness click here.

Snowy Sunday Walk at the End of the Road

Rabbit tracks

I woke at dawn and looked out the window to see three rabbits frolicking on the nowy lawn. Hardy rabbits. The temperature was 8 degrees. They were no where in sight when the sun was fully up.

White birch in winter

When the sun had gotten a little higher and the temperature had reached 16 degrees my husband and I decided to take a walk down the road. We passed our neighbor’s house with this beautiful tree that I have always admired.

Another neighbor has equipment in front of his house. I have always admired his way with a motor. Magic hands.

Corner of Rowe Road and Knott Road

We strolled all the way down to the end – or more accurately the beginning of Knott Road. It is just under one quarter mile from our house, and not much of a road.

Snowy roadside

On our way back up the hill, I stopped to admire the snowdrift next to a culvert. There is often water trickling down here, but not today. It is cold and silent.

Elm tree stump

Nearly home to the end of the road. The road turns here and leads us to the door. For many years we enjoyed the company of a magnificent elm. It finally succumbed to disease and had to be cut down. The stump is left, and although it is hard to see it has a sprout growing from the stump.

Seeds and Plants of the Year

Cayanetta Pepper

The All America Selections have been around since 1933 helping gardeners plant seeds, and buy nursery plants that have been proven to be dependable and giving high performance in many situations. This year they have chosen ‘Black Olive’ an ornamental pepper; ‘Cayanetta’, a mildly spice pepper; ‘Faerie’ an unusual yellow watermelon with the traditional pink/red interior; and ‘Summer Jewel Pink’ salvia.

All of these are annuals and all demand full sun. ‘Black Olive’ is very heat tolerant, not a challenge we have in our area. What surprised me is that ‘Black Olive’ was chosen in the flower category. It is a useful plant because of its dark foliage and lovely purple flowers, and because it can be grown in a container as well as in the ground.

‘Cayanetta’ can also be grown in a container, so those who like to do some spicy cooking can have good peppers close at hand on the deck or patio even if they do not have a big garden. The little red peppers, about three inches long, are very pretty.

It is always fun when a familiar and favorite fruit takes a new form. ‘Faerie’ is a good choice for the home gardener because the vines are slightly smaller than regular watermelons, only about 11 feet long. Also, the fruits average between four and six pounds, a perfect size for a family dessert. This is a crop that should be started indoors, preferably on a heat mat, a month before the expected last frost date. Fruit should ripen 60 days after transplanting.

‘Summer Jewel Pink’ is an annual salvia that will grow to no more than two feet tall and needs no deadheading to keep it in bloom from late spring into fall. It is an upright plant that needs no staking and does well in a container or in the ground. Like its 2011 predecessor ‘Summer Jewel Red’ salvia, it attracts pollinators like bees and hummingbirds over the course of its long bloom season. ‘Summer Jewel Red’ bears up under heavy wind and rain, and the goldfinches love its seed.

Once an All America Selection has been chosen, every year those seeds are marked with the AAS logo. Some fall out of use, but many remain favorites for decades.

AAS Trial gardens are operated all over the country and the results of those trials are tallied at the end of the year. The Massachusetts Horticultural Society has the only AAS Trial Garden in Massachusetts. The Berkshire Botanical Garden  in Stockbridge has a display garden of AAS seed winners, and there is an AAS Display Garden in Newton Center maintained by the Newton Community Pride Beautification Committee operated by volunteers.

I have found the annual blue salvia, ‘Victoria Blue,’ a Plant of the Year every year in my garden. I use it as an edging around my rose Shed Bed where the 18 inch spikes of rich blue look terrific with the pink roses. The salvia family is a large one, and if you are not already familiar with annual varieties ‘Summer Jewel Pink’ would be an excellent introduction.

Brunnera 'Jack Frost'

While the AAS chooses top annual plants, the Perennial Plant Association has chosen a top perennial every year since 1990. The 2012 Perennial of the Year is Brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack Frost.’ Brunneras are handsome shade loving plants that have forget-me-not-like flowers in the spring. ‘Jack Frost’ is notable for the silvery overlay and dark green veining. It is extremely hardy and grows in a mounded form about 18 inches in diameter with flower stems that are also about 18 inches.

‘Jack Frost’ does not have the kind of fragrance that deters deer, but the foliage is rough and does not appeal to deer who apparently have tender tongues.

I first saw these beautiful plants on the Bridge of Flowers where they are part of the shady Shelburne side entry, along with hostas, ferns and other shade loving plants. The golden grass Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola,’ the 2009 Perennial of the Year, seems to be a cascade of light, and along with ‘Jack Frost’ it brightens the shade in the Bridge’s entry garden.

I love seeing all the Plant of the Year choices various organizations choose because I can be sure they have been chosen for dependability in many parts of our country.  When going through catalogs you will see seeds and plants marked with award logos. If you have never grown an annual salvia or a brunnera, you can hardly go wrong choosing the variety of the year for your own garden. Mostly you just have to pay attention to whether a plant requires sun or shade, however AAS and the Perennial Plant Association have good informational websites that will give you full cultural information about this year’s plants, and all the plants from the past.

Watch for award winning plants in the catalogs that are filling your mailbox right now, and in garden centers in the spring. All America Selections are available as seeds, and as starts.

As I write it is snowing and blowing. It feels like winter has arrived. At last I can believe that spring will arrive too. I hope I won’t have to wait too long.

Resources:  www.all-americaselections.org;

Ornaments in the Garden – Plain and Fancy

Birdbath

While the ground is covered with snow and temperatures hover at zero, I’ve been trolling through photos of my visit to Seattle last July (with 70 other garden bloggers) and especially noticing ornaments in the garden, some plain and some fancy.  Many of us have birdbaths in our garden – even me – who has not ornamented my garden in any thoughtful way.

Fountain

It is not a big step to go from a simple birdbath to a fancy fountain. Bird lovers tell me that the sound of running water will attract more birds than a bird feeder.

Shiny beads

Strings of beads on a trellis is pretty simple. And simply pretty.

Mosaic bench

If you sit on this fancy mosaic bench you’ll get a fancy view of Seattle.

Steps and stones

I don’t know whether to call these steps plain or fancy. Stones aren’t fancy, but they can be used in fancy ways. I was surprised to realize that ornaments in the garden can be built right into the landscape.

Pebbles can be fancy, too. This pebble mosaic stair landing is beautiful.

Large urn

A large urn in the garden is a simple idea, and beautiful even if it is empty.

Urn with plants

Put plants in a fancy urn and you have double fancy.

Garden sculpture

Is this a sculpture – or is it a planter. Pretty fancy.

Bowling ball

Lorene Edwards Forkner invited all us garden bloggers into her Seattle garden. She knows how to make really simple work in the garden. And she has written a whole book about ways we can ornament our gardens simply for a fancy effect. Have you read Handmade Garden Projects: Step-by-step instructions for creative garden features, containers, lighting and more?

Entry to Japanese Garden at Bloedel Reserve

This small stone fox sculpture is set at the entry to the Japanese Garden at the Bloedel Reserve. Is it simple? Is it fancy? Is it perfectly elegant?

What kinds of ornaments do you have in your garden? Plain? Fancy?

Foliage Follow Up – January 2012

Orchid cactus

I rarely participate in Foliage Follow-up, but Pam Penick at Digging has prompted me to take a good look at the foliage around me at this time of the year.

I have owned this orchid cactus (Epiphyllum) for a number of years. I pay almost no attention to it which is shameful, because it would bloom regularly and magnificently if I did. You can see I don’t even give it the pedestal it deserves. For the past year it has lived in a bright rarely heated guest room where it seems happy even if it doesn’t bloom.

I am making a new year’s resolution to prune it back and repot it in the spring.  I think I will go upstairs and prune it this very morning.

I do have other succulents. Thanksgiving and Christmas cactus which are among the easiest plants to grow.  They even tell you when they need watering. Before any serious damage is done to the plant the succulent ‘leaves’ will begin to shrivel slightly and feel limp. It just takes regular watering to bring it back into fine fettle.

Christmas cactus, Schlumbergera bridgesii

This particular Christmas cactus lives in my bedroom, right next to a plump jade tree.

Jade tree, Cassula ovata

This jade tree is over 20 years old. My daughter cared for it during the two separate years we were living in China. She is as reluctant to prune as I am, and it grew so much more heavily on one side that the plant was leaning so dangerously that she propped up the stem with a small flower pot.  I finally did prune it  so that it was not only more attractive, but safer in its pot. Then a couple of years ago I left it right next to a north window in our unheated Great Room for the winter and I thought I had killed it for sure. It never got watered and became shrivelled and frozen, but I resurrected it in the spring when I gave it a radical pruning and watered it on a regular schedule. The leaves are now fat and healthy, if a bit dusty.

This citrus scented geranium is another plant I have had for several years. Still full of life, but another plant that is in serious need of pruning and repotting. Next month. I promise. I will also be able to take cuttings and start raising another generation.

Scented geranium foliage takes many different forms. Check the online catalogs like Hobbs Farm and Logee’s Greenhouse to see the full range. Scented geraniums do produce small flowers, but it is the scented foliage that is the appeal.

Prostrate rosemary

This prostrate rosemary did beautifully in its pot out on the entry walk all summer where it is hot and sunny. I brought it in and put in in the south window of the unheated Great Room which did go down below freezing yesterday, but it still looks fine. Unlike my upright rosemary which got nipped by cold in the Great Room earlier in the season and which I am trying to revive in a warmer, but still cool, room.

This is what foliage looks like outdoors this morning. I am glad for the snow cover before temperatures plummeted. Four degrees above zero this morning.

Pam, thank you so much for Foliage Follow-Up.