Passion For Plants, etc.

09/18/2022

Alan Alda and Mike Farrell got together earlier today and toasted the 50th Anniversary of MASH. Per Alda: "Mike Farrell and I today toasting the 50th anniversary of the show that changed our lives - and our brilliant pals who made it what it was. MASH was a great gift to us."

05/03/2021

Passion for Plants, etc. for May 2021
By Lynette Courtney

The Importance of Native Plants & Pollinators

It’s been a long winter, but it made time for me to take an in-depth look into our regional native plants & how important they are for holding together what we think of as our “Vermont landscape”. The interdependence between them and our very important native pollinators is vital. Without this interaction and co-dependency, our traditional native landscapes would disappear, as would many of our beloved bird species, who depend on native fruit & insects.
Did you know that the majority of the food birds feed their babies are caterpillars & insects? According to revered naturalist and author, Doug Tallamy, one oak tree can host over 100 varieties of moth caterpillars, which are important to bluebirds, warblers, and most others of our summer and year-round feathered visitors, to nourish their young. So when you
see tree leaves being munched on, you can realize that baby birds’ food is doing the damage as a part of the natural balance. As I like to say, “Everybody has to eat somebody!”
If you are interested in learning much more about native plants, I recommend the FaceBook group, “Natives of the Northeast”. Folks post pictures for identification, ask questions and are often given very knowledgeable answers &and important insight.

The Benefits of “No Till / No Dig” Gardening

I imagine that many Vermont gardeners are familiar with our state’s “favorite gardener”, Charlie Nardozzi & his weekend radio & TV spot, “In the Garden”. Recently, Charlie wrote a book “No Dig Gardening”, which explains the old, but revisited, method of never having to dig or till again. This will make so much less work, suppress weeds, create beautifully fluffy soil, which can be planted and harvested without tools. And as an important aid to our atmospheric warming, it keeps sequestered carbon in the ground. Every time you “work” your soil you are releasing carbon into the atmosphere.
To achieve this wonderful and easy, new way to garden/farm, here are some things to understand;
You can start right on top of your vegetable garden bed, (flat or raised beds), by spreading a few inches of compost, then cover with layers of chopped leaves, hay, straw, low growing cover crops, even cardboard. The idea is to create a place that will help keep moisture available to plants’ roots & to beneficial organisms which inhabit the soil. Your soil should always remain covered by materials that can break down over time, adding to the soil's fertility. This will be an annual activity, which very soon will begin to give you amazing benefits.
You can just poke seeds in with your fingers, without disturbing the soil and harvest carrots, potatoes and other root crops simply by pulling. Potatoes can be planted below the mulch & the potatoes will be easily picked from under the mulch. To harvest any plants which grow above ground, ie. tomatoes, lettuce, peas, squash, etc., all you have to do is, as Charlie says, just “Chop and Drop”. Any healthy plants & debris can just be cut & left on the surface of the garden to compost, while the roots will stabilize & hold the soil in place as they decompose. Even plant material from diseased tomato/potato plants, which completely decompose, will allow the wilt diseases to be destroyed, over the winter, though spores can blow in again and affect the plants, the following season.
I enjoyed Charlie’s online talk on the subject & you can too, by going to www.gardeningwithcharlie.com
I’m always happy to answer questions on my page, “Passion For Plants, etc.” or email [email protected]
Also watch for announcements on talks & demonstrations on these topics, as well as others.

Wishing You a Happy Growing Season Exploring New Ide

02/16/2021

I'd like to share this site with you as a source for native plants & seeds. I also have 35+ varieties of native plant seeds, which have spent the winter in my frig. I will be working on listing & offering them soon. If you are looking for anything in particular, please let me know. For anyone in or near Northeast Vermont, I hope to be offering a good selection of plants, native to my area during the upcoming season.

07/12/2020

I've just posted these Native Shrub pictures, to a Natives Plant group I belong to & wanted to get them on my site to share with you. I will soon be posting Native Plants, too. I just found my camera, after 4 weeks & just had to go out & use it. I also have other pictures of garden plants, flowers, insects, etc., (which aren't appropriate, on that site), to share, as long as I can figure out how to make it work. Technology & I don't often come to a "melding of the minds"!

07/02/2020

Here my most recent gardening column;

Passion For Plants, etc. July 2020

I took a tumble early in the season, twisted my knee & lost 6 weeks of essential gardening! I’m so glad to be back, but have been working long hours, every day, to catch up transplanting
vegetable & flower seedlings, which were started under lights, plus planting beans, potatoes, lettuce, spinach, peas and finally, today, carrots. Do to this horrid heat & humidity I have been weeding, adding compost, watering and then mulching strawberries, asparagus, tomatoes & peppers, with so many more to get to. The marvelous thing about putting down mulch is that it immediately shades the soil & keeps the moisture in the soil where the roots are. Compost & other natural fertilizers will break down, a bit at a time, feeding plants throughout the growing season. Also, as straw, hay or leaves break down, they create a wonderful habitat for earthworms, fungi and all kinds for beneficial micro-organisms, which all play important roles in the health of your gardens.
I know that a great percentage of my time outside, every day, is spent watering all of the plants I have in pots; natives and houseplants, which are happy to be outside for the summer. Also needing care are shrubs & trees I haven’t had a chance to transplant to their permanent spots. I always try to give any transplants going from gardens into pots, at least several days indoors, in a cool space, with moist soil and no direct sun. Plants which were happy growing outside, lose roots when dug up and need time to recover, without harsh conditions. Usually, adding potted plants to your gardens will be much less traumatic than transplanting into a pot. Water well in either case. You may notice the older, lower leaves may turn yellow and fall off, but if top growth is good the plant should be fine.
I have been enjoying doing “precision” weeding, with several long handled hoes, but with small metal “business ends”. The smallest, most pointed one is good for weeding in tight spaces. Luckily, well established gardens will shade out many weeds. This year the incredible number of dropped maple seeds have made removing their seedlings quite a job! Small weeds, with shallow roots, are having a tough time with the excessive heat & arid soil, which might be the upside to this weather pattern, for gardeners. I found this season to have produced many fewer buds on peonies & iris, along with no apple blossoms, as the trees take a needed break from their phenomenal output of fruit, last year. We’ll have to wait and see how drought effects small fruit production of various berries.
Calling all people who love MOWING their LAWNS! I have a few points of advice to help save your lawns, during prolonged heat and lack of rain.
First of all, DON’T MOW! Grass goes dormant, at times like these, in an attempt to save themselves. I know it looks dead, but it’s more like “laying low”!
Secondly, if you have been mowing your lawn to look like a golf course, please understand that the height you allow your grass to grow will determine how deep the roots go.
Very short grass equals very short roots, in very dry soil. If you raise your blades a few inches, all season, your grass will establish better resistance by growing longer, thicker roots, in the cooler, more moist, deeper soil. Also, if you decide to water the lawn, it will need to be a long, deep process, not a sprinkle, in the top inch or so. That’s just asking for more trouble! I guess I should mention that I learned these tips from taking a class given to Mass. Master Gardeners, by the woman who maintained Fenway Park’s playing fields. You can’t ask for a more knowledgeable source.
Four or five years ago, we had a very similar, long lasting dry summer, where folks’ wells were going dry. It was awful! Using your water wisely & protecting plants with mulch & deep watering early in the day, will make you and your lawns & gardens much happier & healthier.
To wrap up, I always want to mention our native plants, pollinators & summering butterflies. Last year I had an incredible time watching the life stages of American Lady butterflies. It seems I have a natural recurrence, (self-seeded), of “Pearly Everlasting” plants, in my hot and sunny “Driveway Garden”. I had heard, several years ago, that these plants were the larval food for the wonderful butterflies I had seen, late in the season, enjoying nectar from my garlic chive flowers. I was giddy when I realized I had captured a photo with five of them at once.
Last year, I found tiny striped caterpillars among the soft, silvery leaves. Some I saw where black and white, with yellow. Later, in another area, they were black and red, with white. I’m still tying to understand this, but caterpillars go through stages called “instars”, so these may have been juveniles at different stages. The best was seeing them making cozy, fuzzy “sleeping bags” out of the furry, white flowers, where they would complete their changes, emerging as butterflies. Now I am very careful when weeding that garden, that I don’t pull any of these very special plants.
Many plants we may pull up as weeds, are actually very important larval food, such as violets, grasses, clovers, asters, thistles, etc., for tiny to large butterflies which we can really help by knowing which caterpillars eat which plants. I found a good list which I share with you here;

Larval Food List

https://extension.psu.edu/programs/master-gardener/counties/york/maescapes/maescapes-blog/butterfly-larval-host-plant-list

I wish us all days with a few showers, cool nights for good sleep, bountiful gardens of color, scent and all kinds of pollinators.

I will soon be announcing a time to visit my gardens, check out available plants, especially natives and get to meet you and share tips & tales. I can also be found at The Flower Basket, in Hardwick, Vt., on Fridays, from 11-1, with an assortment of my plants. Till then…….Stay safe & well!

The butterfly species on this list are all native to Pennsylvania.

06/22/2020

Here's a link to a bunch of my native plant photos, from around my property.

53 new photos · Album by Lynette Courtney

04/27/2020

Passion For Plants, etc.
Column for April 2020
Tips For When To Plant, Ideas For Kids and “Citizen Scientists”

Finally, the giant mountain of snow, plowed to the end of the driveway, has completely melted. Hooray, spring is here, but wait……. It’s snowing like crazy and it’s really cold outside…. the snow’s all gone and it’s sunny & warm……….Bring in firewood, it’s in the 20s, more snow is coming and the wind sound like it’ll be a blizzard!
As Vermonters, we know that spring will get here, along with tulips, iris, peonies, apple blossoms, nesting birds, native insects pollinating native plants. Until then, we start seeds, under lights, to be ready, when the weather is. But how will we know?
Every year is different, on that we can depend. So how do we know when it’s safe to plant peas, beans or tomatoes. There are secrets that old farmers and life-long, observant gardeners know. The scientific word is “Phenology” and it’s not about feeling the bumps on someone’s head!
From my own observations, over the 20 years I’ve lived here, I have learned to get the hummingbird feeders hung, just before the “Old Outhouse” gooseberry blooms. It seems to work, each year.
Here are a few standard observations, which are helpful, whether you live way up on Walden Heights, in downtown Hardwick or any place in between. Very often, on even one property, there can be micro-climates, such as flowering bulbs, on the south side of you house, which come up first, because of all the warm sun & the house, which holds some of the heat. No matter where you garden, these tips will be a natural guide for you.
When crocus bloom, plant radishes, parsnips and spinach. When forsythia blooms you can plant peas, onions and lettuce. Blooming daffodils signal that beets, carrots and chard can be planted. Potatoes go in when dandelions bloom and perennials can be planted when maples first show their leaves. In this way, you can tell what’s right for your garden and your friends and neighbors can plant when it’s right for their spot.
It’s suggested to keep annual records of when you see your first insects, hear the first peepers or when migrating birds appear. This year, I felt bad for the red-wing black birds, who seemed to arrive very early, with snow covering the ground. By keeping track, for a number of years, we may observe our own regional climate changes or dwindling bird species, etc. For years now, I wait for the Hummers, then the Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, followed within days, by the Indigo Bunting.
Observing and chronicling can make you a “Citizen Scientist”! This is the perfect time for cooped-up kids to go out in their own yards, perhaps with paper and colored pencils, to start their own journal of observations and drawings. Record birdsongs on your phone or note how many petals each kind of flower has. Are the leaves on a tree opposite each other or alternating? What insects can you find on different forms of flowers? What is the order of butterflies as they appear? What kinds of birds are nesting nearby and what are they catching or gathering to feed the babies?
There are many Vermont and regional apps to help you identify species, such as eBird, iNaturalist, Merlin Bird ID, Go Botany, to name a few. Also many groups, on Facebook, you can join, to share and ask questions of others with common interests. Search for what is most interesting to you or your kids and enjoy delving in, to learn more.
One good thing about this tough time we are all going through, together, there may be time to learn something new!