- Jane Shellenberger
September 2024 Newsletter
August sailed by quickly. It’s been an interesting summer – certainly one to test those “drought-tolerant” plants. Heat stress is something we hear less about but it can have an effect on photosynthesis, water uptake, respiration and more. Are my plants and apples smaller this year because of heat stress or because I didn’t water enough? Not sure, but I watered a lot more than usual.
I was amazed to grow my biggest and best ever head of broccoli. The variety is Nutribud, a stabilized open-pollinated variety grown out by seedsman Alan Kapuler for years from PacMan, a popular commercial hybrid. I planted it out in May but it waited until we had a brief mid August cool down then quickly headed up. I harvested it as temps began to climb into the 90’s again. I always give broccoli afternoon shade and our cool nights are the saving grace. I’ve been building soil in that bed for years and use drip irrigation, but I would never have guessed broccoli would grow so well in this extra hot, dry summer.
There have been very few insects around, including cabbage moths. We have practically no mosquitos this year either which is unusual since I’m surrounded by irrigated hay country. But the grasshoppers are crazy! I use row cover on any crop I want to survive. Even my big mint patch looks like sticks. I’m sure many of you are also seeing the damage so I’ll spare you more gory details.
A couple of months ago I wrote about flocks of redwing blackbirds constantly hogging the feeders and cleaning them out so fast that I stopped putting seed out. But last week I put all the feeders back up in an effort to attract the birds, so they might swoop in and also eat the grasshoppers. I used to put out Nolo Bait in the spring but the factory in Durango that produces it burned down a couple years ago so it hasn’t been available. I don’t have chickens but this year they would have been worth the extra responsibility.
Lise Neer, our art director for the print magazine for so many years, moved to Pagosa Springs and got married at the end of June so we rented a cute cabin on Lake Pagosa for a few days. Chaffee County has a dark skies ordinance which made our stay extra special. Just a few colored lights here and there around the Lake meant restful nights and lots and lots of stars!
For more on this topic see our article: Reverence for the Dark Garden
In this September e-magazine we include an article on making your own flavored vinegars by Deb Whittaker, Herb Gourmet, and Building the Seed Bank by Maggie Gaddis, current president of the Colorado Native Plant Society. Keith Funk answers Fall gardening questions on bringing houseplants inside, pine needle drop, fall planting and lawn aerating.
– Jane Shellenberger
The Sweet Taste of Sour
Flavored Vinegar in the Spotlight
by Deb Whittaker
Move over Pepsi and Coke. After 5000 years, vinegar drinks have morphed into the 21st century beverage of champions. Low-cal, low sugar, no chemicals and preservatives - naturally fermented vinegar comes with a long list of health and beauty benefits coveted by trendy modern day America.
The practice isn't exactly new. For 50 years my great aunt started every morning with her "Christian cocktail”, a cup of hot water with some vinegar and honey.
Vinegar and its place in the fermented food craze we are witnessing now has served humans as a food preservation and purification method for millenia. What's new is paying $2.99 for a bottle of something you can make yourself at home in seconds. A simple glass of water with a splash of vinegar supplies the same panacea of health benefits renowned since the days of Babylon. Drinking vinegar-spiked beverages fell out of fashion for more modern health protocols some time ago, but, as with any trend, they are currently stronger than ever. GT’s Living Foods brought kombucha to the masses years ago when its founder was searching for a health drink for his ailing mother. Since then we started seeing centuries' old shrubs with their added sweetener and fruit in the cushiest bars across the country. Switchel, known as Haymakers' Punch, named for the field workers who swigged it, was the original energy drink, tinged with molasses, ginger and lemon. Then there's the modern day herbalists' fire cider with its powerful horseradish, garlic, and hot peppers to burn out the bugs that cause colds and flu.
However you take it, vinegar drinks claim many common and unusual benefits:
Building the Seed Bank
by Maggie Gaddis
Now is the time to think about starting next year's garden from seed. As summer flowers senesce, keep an eye out for the right time to harvest the seed. After the flower fades, the seeds mature. The right time to collect seed is the last minute before you think they will blow away or fall off. The seed pod will be brown and perhaps cracked open, but not fully open.
Some of the easiest native flowers to collect from include Rudbeckia, Solidago, Cleome, Liatris, Penestemon, and Ratibida. Collecting is fun on evening walks around the neighborhood (ask neighbors for permission). Check with your local open space managers for regulations on seed collection.
Growing native seeds in a greenhouse is a challenge because many require periods of cold (stratification) or physical weathering (scarification). It is much easier to move the seeds to their garden homes now and let the weather take care of the preparations. Likewise, preparing seed for storage involves numerous steps to isolate, clean, and dry them. Plant the seed now.
I own a gardening business and as a result, I have buckets of seeds from deadheading, lots of little seedlings that get out of place, and very little time to nurture the orphans. The picture below is my plant orphanage, a wild flower garden for my bees. It’s not all native, but it all started from seed or little seedlings with the exception of a peach tree we planted from a pot. The echinacea in the center was planted squirrel-style; I dug a little hole last Fall, dropped a spent flower/seed head into it and covered up. Voila! It is an echinacea plant this year, a factory of seeds with which to inoculate other garden areas. I don’t clean them; I put whatever plant material came with the seed into the ground and cover it up.
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