Maggie's FarmWe are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for. |
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Monday, July 18. 2016Superfruit, with TanagerEver tried growing Blueberries? I have tried any number of times and man, are they picky. I place them on the list of plants that only thrive where they feel like it. If they aren't happy, there ain't nothin you can do about it. You just have to admit defeat. Even if you have some modest success, without netting I would lose all of the berries to the Robins and Catbirds. On the farm where I spent my weekends growing up, wild blueberries grew all along the hayfield edges, reaching out from the woods over the barbed-wire fences. They grew up to 8' high, so every age had his own level to pick. They were so productive that it was no problem sharing with the birds. My Mom took coffee cans, made two holes with a nail and strung a string through them to hang around your neck, and painted our names on them with blue paint spots to indicate "berry can." Those cans hung in the barn for years. I have seen similar wonderful areas of wild highbush blueberries on Cape Cod, but was never there much during blueberry season. Despite what is said about growing them, the wild bushes seem to like boggy edges, or at least lowlands. There is no doubt that they need acidic soil. Not being a Maine guy except during grouse season, I have no experience with the Lowbush Blueberry. After a picking, my Mom would always make a Blueberry flat cake with hard sauce. Wow. Such memories. It's too bad there are no wild Blueberries on Maggie's Farm, but there are none. The Blueberry is not a true fruit. Furthermore, it's in the Rhodadendron family. It's in the (marketing) category of "superfruits" because they are supposed to be "good for you," whatever the heck that means (nothing). With some new full-sun garden space, I was considering trying again with a row of around 6 Blueberry bushes. Problem is, I want the small dark wild ones that look more black than blue with the intense wild tang, and not the fancy, fat, overly-sweet hybrids that you can get at the store anyway. Plus I don't want to bother with netting. Wiki has a good Blueberry entry. So does the US Highbush Blueberry Council. "Tobacco netting" for berries. Other ways to keep the birds from eating all of your berry crops. Also, in the NYT, a little story about a family of Scarlet Tanagers - a splendid bird - getting caught under bird netting. The netting has to be very well-secured to the ground unless you want to build a bird trap. These Tanagers are not rare in Eastern deciduous woodlands, but they aren't seen often because they tend to forage high and quiet. Here's the CLO bit on them.
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Saturday, July 9. 2016HydrangeasAround here the hydrangeas come into bloom now, just after the roses' first blooms have faded. Hydrangeas do not like the combination of full sun and dry soil. Here's a good, brief Hydrangea Care Guide Thursday, June 2. 2016We have wonderful readers - and they know treesThanks for identifying that tree yesterday. It indeed does turn out to be an Ashe Magnolia, a wild magnolia seen mostly in southern woodlands but which can be found as far north as Ohio. They seem quite happy in NYC. You can buy them here. Wednesday, June 1. 2016Identify this small treeGiant, tropical-looking leaves and large white flowers as in this photo from Sunday. Quite a few of them growing on the High Line.
Thursday, April 7. 2016Plant info
How Do Flowers Know When to Bloom? How plants 'feel' the temperature rise Mother Plants Tell Their Seeds When to Sprout - Parents pass down “memories” of recent temperatures to prepare seed for incoming spring weather Saturday, March 26. 2016Life in America: Easy jobsEasy jobs for early Springtime today: Purple pansies in a big pot - they do not mind cold nights Planted a pack of Sugar Snap peas in the garden. Soil still cool and damp, but whatever. Planted the 3 new dwarf hydrangeas in the front garden - they should be swell by July. A garden border is never done. Moved some perennials around. Now is the time. A border is never done. Planted my new hardy Chicago Fig in the back garden. Sturdy plant, hardly budded out yet. Counting on a modest crop this summer. Put 2 new tires on my wheelbarrow - solid tires this time, from Home Depot. Got sick of the inflatable ones. Started a tranche of Mouse Melon seeds indoors. Last year, I started them too late. Need more containers for more Mouse Melon seeds. Really do enjoy those little buggers and most people up here have never seen 'em. Need enuf seedlings to share with my gardening pals. Limed the lawn. It works. Rule of thumb: Fertilize things before green or buds emerge cuz the roots have already started growing. I did the delightful Milorganite 3 weeks ago. Thanks, Milwaukee. I like strong grass that can take abuse. In early June I will aerate it with a rented plugger. A mess for a week, but trodden turf loves it and so do the worms. Lawn is a stupid thing, but...
Sunday, March 20. 2016Fruit treesIt's time to plant bare-root fruit trees. A free ad for Stark Bros (in business since 1816) Consider a hardy, self-pollinating Peach. I have had great luck with those, and never sprayed or fertilized.
Thursday, March 17. 2016More you ought to know about your Hydrangeas, if you don't alreadyHydrangeas are popular in New England, but you have to know what you are doing in order to have happy plants. As summer-flowering shrubs go, they are fairly easy. Summer-through-Sept bloomers. We have lots of them, even a climbing one. - South of the New Jersey latitude, Hydrangeas can handle filtered light. North of that, they need more hours of full sun to be vigorous and to produce impressive bloom. - As their name implies, many varieties like water, mist, and fog. Good mulching prevents summer wilt if that's a problem. - A new or transplanted Hydrangea wants plenty of water the first year. They like rich soil too. Not hard clay. - For many varieties, you can sort-of control the color of bloom by acidifying or neutralizing the soil. - As we have said before, for good bloom you have to know the difference between your Macrophylla and your Paniculata. It's not rocket science. I think my favorites are the Lacecaps, which are Macrophyllas. - There are so many varietals, it is difficult to keep track of them all. GMO hybrids. - The Oakleaf varieties seem to be the toughest, least fragile. Big white blooms, late summer. - Many or even most varietals never want to be pruned and just want space to grow. It does not work to try to control a varietal that wants to be 15' high and 20' wide. Those big ones create their own cool, moist microclimate underneath. - There are new dwarf hybrids which work for small borders and gardens. Can mix these types with perennials. (You can get them cheaper elsewhere via googling.) - Excellent summary: Understanding Hydrangeas. Read it and learn.
- Photo is a Tuff Stuff lacecap, a dwarf varietal. Sunday, March 13. 2016Annual re-post: Pruning deciduous ornamental shrubs (with a link re Privet)It's shrub and tree-pruning season up here. When asked "When is the best time to prune a (fill in the type) shrub or tree?" my horticulturalist friend replies "When your blade is sharp." His point is that, even if there are optimal times to do it (ie late winter for most things), it's more important that it just get done sometime. Poor-pruning or neglected ornamental shrubs are not only unhealthy for these hybridized plants but also makes for an eyesore: leggy shrubs, overly-dense shrubs, and hedge-trimmer buzz-cut shrubs. (Hedge-trimmers are for hedges.) Beware of pruning anything before 2 growing seasons. Up here, probably the most common errors are made in neglected or wrongly-pruned hydrangea, lilac, and forsythia. Most people who grow roses know how to care for them (depending on the category of rose.) And I almost forgot to mention Privet. Here's the way to keep a Privet hedge going forever. Here's a good primer on pruning lilacs. I advise people to Google "shrub name + pruning" before taking a blade to a plant. Rejuvenating a long-neglected or wrongly-pruned shrub can take years because drastic correction can kill the plant. Sometimes better to get rid of it and start anew, or leave it alone. The reason to care about the timing of your pruning is because some ornamentals bloom on the previous year's growth, and some on new growth. For example, the Macrophylla types of hydrangeas bloom on last year's, but Paniculata types bloom on new growth (a good hydrangea pruning site here.) If you prune at the wrong time, you will have no flowers. This good pruning summary from Texas A&M says this:
Yes, for most things you prune from the bottom. Make sure you feed them afterwards and remember that roots get hungry before swelling buds appear. To keep well-established shrubs healthy, take out 1/4 to 1/3 of the oldest base shoots each late winter and thus, like lawn mowing, you keep them youthful instead of letting them attain their mature form. For many ornamental plants, we have to fool them into thinking that they are young. Photo on top: A row of hydrangeas on the bella Isola Bella, with a little rain blurring my lens. Those Italian gardeners prune the heck out of everything, and they do it right. Tuesday, March 8. 2016Hardy FigsThere is a new hardy Fig available nowadays. Brown Turkey used to be the toughest, but even it sometimes died here with a bad winter. With the Chicago Hardy, worst case is it dies to the ground but recovers rapidly from the roots and produces that summer. Hardy to Zone 5 Up north, figs tend to grow as shrubs rather than trees, reason being winter die-back. It doesn't matter. They produce a lot of fruit all summer given good loam, a little fertilizer, and plenty of sun. Mulch and water, especially the first year. When ripe, pick 'em and eat them when hot from the sun. Sunday, March 6. 2016It's near fertilizing time in Yankeeland, reposted annuallyAs the last snows mostly melt, the soil defrosts a bit, and the blackbirds return, it's time to fertilize flowering shrubs and trees and perennial beds in Yankeeland. Any further snows will be short-lived. Remember that roots of grasses, perennials, shrubs, and trees begin growing long before green shoots appear. By the time growth appears, it's sort-of too late for plants' spring feeding - especially woody plants. It takes a while for the food to get into the soil, and even longer to get down to the roots and then up into the plant. Rain is required. I cheat and put Preen on the perennial beds. It's not perfect, but it helps. For shrubs and roses, I use a stick to poke a 6-10" hole near the drip line, and pour some all-purpose fertilizer in there. Just like Jesus' fig tree parable. If you got too busy to do it in the fall, now is the time. I did my shrubs, roses, gardens, boxwoods, and lawns yesterday, and used up an old bag of Hollytone and an old left-over bag of lawn dolomite (lime) too. I have hollies and hybrid Rhodies in sheltered spots and a few Azaleas too where they are well-protected from winter winds even though we are north of the hybrid Rhodie and Azalea happy zone. North of the Holly zone too, but I love my hollies and the birds do, too. Heck, I can even get good hardy Crepe Myrtles to thrive here if they are well-sheltered and against the house. Green thumb, or dumb luck? They are well-sheltered, and close to walls and foundations. When they are in bloom up here in August, people wonder what the heck they are because they are a southern shrub/tree. Need to remember to get my lawns plugged in early June, but I will probably forget to do it because it makes for a week of muddy dog paws on the beds and couches. A hard-packed lawn is an unhappy lawn, and our local tool-rental place rents lawn-pluggers. Fortunately, I decrease our lawn size every time we add a new garden. That's good - but weeding and mulching new gardens is bad. Too hard. In a while I will mulch the heck out of the gardens and let summer do what it will. Can't win. But fertilizing is worth it. Sunday, January 31. 2016Hellebores, repostedThey are late-winter/ early Spring-blooming, shade-loving perennials with pleasant foliage. Heronswood offers a number of varieties. So does Bluestone. Some varieties bloom in the snow, long before spring bulbs. Here's how to take care of your Hellebores. Seems like a good idea to plant them in bunches. (In our view here at the farm, there are only two types of planting plans - massed - all of one species - and specimen plants. Random mixes are just a mess, we believe, most of the time. I violate the rule often) I am going to get me some and see how they do. (I wonder about the impact of online plant sellers on local nurseries and the old standard plant mail-order catalogues. Must be like the impact of Amazon on booksellers. Nurseries cannot compete with the online selections. Just look at Hosta Patch - 500 varieties of Hostas.) Monday, October 12. 2015The Mechanics of Eating AcornsAcorns are popular fall-fattening foods for all sorts of wildlife. The Indians depended on them too. It seems that all acorns are edible. Tuesday, October 6. 2015Time for Homemade Apple Butter
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Wednesday, September 23. 2015Grow your own Paw Paws
Remember this? Where, oh where is dear little Nellie? This custardy native North American fruit cannot be commercialized because it deteriorates so quickly after picking. The plant can handle only so much direct summer sun. Stark sells some cold-hardy varieties. My pals and I get a kick out of growing unlikely things in the chilly Northeast like fig, paw paw, and peach. It takes a green thumb. (Brown Turkey Fig can survive New England winters if properly protected. Just one plant can produce hundreds of fresh figs. The above-ground branches sometimes die back in winter here, but it comes back with a vengeance from the root in Spring.) Tip: Since we are approaching ideal fruit tree planting season, that Mutsu Apple is delicious, bears heavily, has large fruit. My neighbor has kept us well-supplied with his over-abundant crop this fall. Garden Cancers, Part 2 I posted about garden cancer plants a while ago. The Wisteria which shades our pergola and makes such a fine display in May sent runners around the porch and attacked our porch furniture like a Strangler Fig. Mind you, we cut the heck out of the thing back in early July but for 2 months it has been on an imperialist rampage. Where can I buy some Agent Orange? Fighting this thing becomes tiresome. It wants to take over the world. Sunday, September 20. 2015Grow your ownThe problem with growing fruit is that it all ripens at once. The reward is the emotional satisfaction of walking outside and harvesting with friends and family. Canning etc is a foolish, uneconomic, messy, mindless, homey chore. We all do some of that anyway because it feels good and is a link to the past. Peach trees to plant this fall (most trees prefer fall planting): Stark Bros. I have to remember to prune the heck out of my peaches this late winter. My Seckel Pears are still too youthful to bear fruit. My fig shrub died last winter due to global cooling but they often can survive northern winters if wrapped in sheets of polyurethane or garbage bags.
Monday, September 14. 2015Peach update, with piePeaches ripen late up here in New England. Yes, there are peach varieties which thrive in the North. As of now, I have had five friends over to pick grocery-bags full and have delivered bags to others. I'll ask a daughter to take a bag home to NYC today. And I have made substantial batches of peach jam, peach chutney, and canned spiced peaches. I am close to peached out with God and nature's abbondanza. Still, this is a pic of the tree yesterday after all that. Plus the windfall from yesterday's thunderstorm. The local deer do not seem to like peaches. Neither do the turkeys. Squirrels like them, but it's more of a crop than they can make a dent in.
I use no sprays, no fertilizer - out of laziness as much as anything else. These peaches are as sweet as honey. I guess I'll make more jam, but let's consider peach pie, peach crumble, and peach buckle (that's old-fashioned). Problem is that Mrs. BD and I are currently on low-carb, high protein heavy-work-out diet plans in an effort to delay the discouraging and ennervating effects of age and entropy. Anyway, there are two types of peach pie: a custardy one and the classic plain one. I like both but maybe prefer the more custardy one. There are many variations on both themes. Now Peach Crumble. Dynamite with some vanilla ice cream or heavy cream. I salivate as I write this.
As my final Peach Post of 2015, I'll offer this one:
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Monday, September 7. 2015A Saturday Drive to Litchfield County, CTLitchfield County is the quaintest, best-preserved antique corner of Connecticut. The area was well-settled in the early 1700s and, judging by the size and style of all of the old farmhouses, these were prosperous farmers. In this area, most of the old farms have been converted to weekend estates for the 1%. The antique places are perfectly-maintained. Old barns everywhere, still looking good. Thanks for all that charm and beauty, 1%ers. We went over there and took a drive through Southbury, Woodbury, Washington, and Washington Depot. Nice. We were en route to see the Hollister House Gardens in Washington (good pics on their site). Mrs. BD wanted to check it out and to maybe get some garden inspiration. The garden "rooms" are strongly architectural with walls and hedges, lots of stone, while the plantings are a jumble - or maybe not - probably a well-planned jumble. Engish-style gardens, the sorts of gardens my Mom aspired to. It's the owner's life work. We had an early supper at the GW Tavern. Good fish. Too much food. I'd put the place in the "Stuff-and-Waddle" category of restaurant, what my sister calls "Sticky Bun restaurants." My pics of the garden below the fold might or might not inspire your gardening - Continue reading "A Saturday Drive to Litchfield County, CT"
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Sunday, September 6. 2015Today is Peach-pickin' Day
I have a pal coming over today to help me with the harvest, and we'll split the harvest. He cooks stuff too, another old farm boy. It's been an excellent year for fruit trees in general in the Northeast: frigid long winter, wet spring, hot summer. Maybe Mrs. BD will make a few Peach Pies and tarts for friends and kids, and I'll can up some preserves and Peach Chutney. She is a crust-making expert And I will keep a bunch to ripen fully on the tree to eat. I am fond of fresh peach slices on vanilla ice cream. Aren't you? Tree has more peaches than we can ever use.
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Sunday, August 23. 2015Life in Yankeeland: Peach ChutneyIn 2 weeks it will be time to harvest my peach crop. I have a neighbor pal who likes to get into the tree with me, and shares the harvest. Mrs. BD will make us a couple of peach pies (my favorite pie), and I will can 10-12 jars of peach chutney. Some peach jam too. I don't bother spraying, so my fruit are not picture-perfect but neither am I. It's an abundant crop this year - note branch broken by the weight of the peaches. I'll let it hang and see what happens. For cooking, best to use peaches before they are ripe for eating.
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Saturday, August 22. 2015Jam and Jelly SeasonI had a little spare time the other morning, so I did one last harvest from my rhubarb patch to make another batch of Rhubarb-Hot Pepper Jam. Golly, it is delicious and tangy. For the pepper component, I used chopped sorenos, jalapenos, and some sweet red peppers too just for their flavor. A little lemon juice and a dash of salt. Rhubarb is not to everybody's taste, but I love it. I use one cup of chopped peppers per 3 cups of chopped rhubarb. I'll use up the rest of my chopped peppers to make ordinary hot pepper jelly. Sometimes I make it like a sauce, sometimes like a firmer jelly. Regardless, it is a bit too hot for some people. My peppery special jams and jellies go well with cheese, cream cheese, pork, chicken, scrambled eggs, or anything else. Available at your specialty food store never. Photo is hot pepper jelly with cream cheese, but goat cheese is better. Any cheese, really.
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Monday, July 6. 2015Hydrangea Season and Hydrangea ConfusionJuly is Hydrangea bloom around here. A wonderful thing. Gardeners want their shrub and/or perennial borders to have fun blooms to look at for as long as possible, and that takes thought and planning. (May is Azaleas, June is roses, etc). Hydrangeas want more sun than is often claimed, but too much will give them daytime wilt which weakens them. As their name indicates, they like some water (but the Oakleafs don't need it). It's complicated.
Even the pros get confused about how to grow the hundreds of cultivars of the beloved Hydrangea family of flowering shrubs. Each Spring, I renew my confusion - especially when it comes to the topic of pruning the different categories. Not to mention the newer ever-blooming types. Most nursery plants are Asian in origin (obviously with plenty of genetic engineering applied to them for blooming purposes), but the old-fashioned Arborescens group derives from the North American wild plant. My favorites are the lacecap types, but I admire them all. Here are a few things I have learned, none of which applies to all Hydrangeas: - Hydrangeas like water, and generally do not prefer full-day sun. At least half-day is fine, preferably in the morning. Full shade does not work. - The pink and/or blue hydrangeas are indeed acidity-sensitive in flower color - Planting them where they are free to attain their full size without normal pruning (other than that all deciduous shrubs, once they are established and healthy, benefit from removal of 1/4 to 1/3 of the plant down to the ground, or at least the leggy or woody stems, each year) eliminates a lot of complexity. - Save the dang plant label in a file (best to do with any new plant) - Hydrangeas do not like much nitrogen fertilizing: it makes them grow leaves, not blooms. - If you trim or prune your plant wrong, or at the wrong time, you won't get any bloom. Some bloom on new growth, some on last year's growth, and some seem just to do their own thing. Here's a very basic Identify your hydrangea. Here's Pruning your Hydrangeas. Here's more info on that topic. Here are some basics on growing Hydrangeas Photo on top: A lacecap, "Blue Wave" Some pics from this week, below the fold - we went through a Hydrangea phase before our Hosta phase before....well, gardening never ends. Continue reading "Hydrangea Season and Hydrangea Confusion"
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