Mossy Tea Pot

It's been a cold winter so far in Middle Tennessee this year. January is ending on a sunny note though which has made me want to get my hands in the dirt and plant something...anything really.

So I decided I find a planting project. I rooted around in the kitchen looking for just the right thing. Everyone has something fun to plant in if they just look in the right cupboard, something just sitting around collecting dust (or wood ash as in my case since we put in a wood stove insert).

Hmm, then it hit me, I have an old chick wire tea pot that I've never quite figured out what it's use really is. I dug into the old blue hutch and soon produced the pot. It's perfect for a topiary, why hadn't I thought of that long ago?

Annie (the garden dog) and I were soon out the door looking for moss. I found what I needed in the mossy ground under the magnolia tree. While Annie played games with a pair of cardinals, I gently lifted slices of moss with the pointy end of a trowel and stacked them in a pail I had brought with us.

Next I took the moss and lined the wire tea pot (mossy side out of course). Filled the empty space in the center with some decent potting soil and went on a new search for low growing sedums.

I found some out by the green house that had quickly covered the ground around the stone steps and slight bank that leads up to the greenhouse. I liked the color, a soft green-gray, that makes me think of spring. I gently lifted up little tufts with the trowel and placed them in the pail ready to transplant onto the tea pot.

Transplanting procedure was quick and easy and the sedums looked like they had always lived in a tea pot. I also found some sedum that likes to weep out of it's container on the back deck so I cut off a few pieces and stuck them into the sides of the moss - holding them in place with un-bent paper clips (forming a u shaped pin). It will be fun to have different textures covering the pot.

Sedums have to be one of the easiest plants to propagate. Cut (or just break off) a piece and stick it in something that resembles soil and it soon takes off and makes a new plant. Very encouraging for anyone who thinks they have a brown thumb.

Come spring I will move the tea pot out to the screened porch where it will be a cute conversation piece for the table.

The Garden in Winter

Our first snow started falling late in the day covering the earth in a fluffy white blanket. The reflection of the nearly full moon woke me up during the night and I could scarcely wait until dawn to get outside and have a look at the garden.

Annie and I headed outdoors early and the first thing to hit us was the silence. Snow makes everything so quiet. The silence was soon broken with a horrible crunching racket as my neighbor headed out the driveway to work. It was then I realized there was a layer of ice just under the snow.

Dog and cracked pot with camera in hand slowly made the rounds admiring the beauty of white crested magnolia leaves and ice encrusted berries. Snow makes everything clean and fresh, even the wheelbarrow full of old perennial cuttings pointing towards the fire pit with good intentions looked picturesque.

Hemlock branches were heavy laden and looked like a winter scene right out of “It’s a Wonderful Life”. Red and Yellow Twig Dogwoods seemed happy to show off their new winter coat that sparkled when the sun came up.

The plants on the living roof were tucked in and cozy under their blanket. Too bad they can’t settle in for a long winters nap. Although they face the north I believe the predicted 40 degree high would soon uncover them.

Birds sang happily as they darted to and fro snatching a quick sunflower seed from the feeder then dashing it against a nearby branch. The cardinals really showed out against the white background.

There is nothing like the beauty of a garden in winter especially with the addition of a little snow. Annie kept licking the snow like she had never seen it before. Being a transplant from the north I sometimes forget how wonderful a little snow can be. A “mini winter” now and then can be a good thing…a time to slow down, reflect and be ever so grateful when the sun comes out it melts away!

Sweet Annie Dog to Herb to Wreath

Sweet Annie, Artemisia annua is a favorite herb in my garden. It is a great addition to the back of the border filling in nicely with ferny foliage, needs no fertilizer or irrigation, has no pests, in fact it is a wonderful companion plant that calls and shelters many beneficial insects.

This plant continues to give the garden character in the winter with its reddish brown tree form that stands out and gives movement, color and texture to the landscape. Not to mention a sweet scent should you brush by it while doing winter chores.

It is such a unique herb I named our dog after it…Sweet Annie, a Jack Russell terror who has been with us now for almost 13 years. She too is a great addition to the back of the border where she digs up moles and often digs out under the fence in search of adventure. She too needs no fertilizer (although she does produce it), no irrigation, usually has no pests and is the best garden companion a garden girl could ask for.

Her white body with one brown ear gives a lot of movement and color to the landscape as she darts in and out of the garden beds looking for wild game in every season. I prefer to think of her personality as ‘sweet’ (some of my neighbor’s dogs might disagree) as her scent is dependant on whatever she has last seen fit to roll in or whatever scent I choose to bathe her in after.

Many of you may be familiar with Sweet Annie in herb wreaths. This herb is flexible and full, perfect for wreath making just before and during its bloom time. I made this one in September and it will be a lasting memory of summer in the garden all winter with it's wonderful scent. You can read about this herb and many others in my book "The Cracked Pot Herb Book" available on my website.

Grapes in Abundance

Grapes in the garden provide shade, fruit for culinary adventures and pliable vines for wreaths or anything in the garden or home that needs a little extra help in the funk department.

This year I had such an abundance of grapes that I was able to share (or redistribute?) the wealth with friends, neighbors and the birds of course.

The grapes were already established on a fence in the backyard when we bought the property seven years ago. Every winter I prune the vines back and make sure the wire that runs alone the fence to hold the meandering vines is in good repair.

If you haven’t guessed by now from the picture, they are concord grapes with large seeds. The color is deep, flavor is incredible - maybe even taste purple (Under the Tuscan Sun) but the seeds slow you down if you are trying to eat a handful while you are suppose to be gathering veggies from the kitchen garden these grapes border.
I decided to make grape jelly this year so I harvested a couple of huge baskets and got to work. After I washed the huge clusters I laid them out on towels to dry.
Next I plopped them into a large heavy stainless steel stock pot, added some water, set the temperature on med-low and put the cover on.

When they softened, I took them off the heat and put them in a stainless steel, heavy duty colander that nested in another stainless steel stock pot to catch all the juice. I mashed (pressed) the poor things until I had all the juice out and nothing but pulp left in the colander. I feed the skins and seeds to the compost pile…I wonder how many concord grapes will be coming up in the spring?

I wanted to put them in a jelly bag or cheese cloth but I could not find any so I determined the juice in the pan looked clear enough for jelly (for me and my family).

Next I followed the directions on the powdered pectin box – I bought some for low sugar and used half the amount of sugar. The jelly jars were still hot in the dishwasher (I used the sterilize setting). I put the lids and rings in boiling water so they were ready.

I ladled the hot jelly into the jelly jars, wiped off any sticky business, placed the lid on and screwed the ring nice and tight. I set them in a group on the counter and waited for them to seal. Some folks water bath…I chose not to for these batches of grape jelly.

Later I checked and all had sealed so I wrote the date and other notations like ½ sugar. I did make a batch with full sugar for all my sweet friends.

As you can see they came out “pretty as a picture” and a real treat at the breakfast table!

Who Invited this Bug to Dinner?

A recent trip to the kitchen garden to harvest some veggies resulted in a quest to identify this bug. Quick little rascals they are, I squished one before I even wondered what kind of bug it was. I could see these devils were sucking the life out of my broccoli raab so a quick search and destroy mission seemed an appropriate response from a farmer’s daughter.

Annie the garden dog was pleased with my instinctive action and soon joined in the fun hunting down and pinching them in half (that was me, Annie just chewed them up and spit them out) When we stopped long enough to admire our bug carnage the thought occurred to me to take a picture of one of these pretty insects to share with you all.

When I came back to the garden with my camera I had a hard time finding another bug on the broccoli raab. After a detailed search I did find this baby or youth bug (a nymph). He or she is really quite lovely to look at. So colorful that Annie and I just starred and took pictures and wondered why God made this pest so loud. He sure didn’t blend with his surroundings of green.

Maybe that is why every time we tried to catch one they would seem to roll to the underside of the leaf…like that would do a better job of camouflaging. Annie and I are a couple of old garden gals and we were not fooled with their hide and seek method of survival.

Turns out this cute menace is a baby harlequin. It will take 4 to 9 weeks to reach maturity (old enough to mate and lay eggs). Northerners will be happy to know this is a Southern insect. Seems they snuck in from Mexico sometime after the civil war (seemed safe then) and have since spread from sea to shining sea.

Unchecked these guys (and gals) will destroy whole crops of vegetables in the crucifer family such as horseradish, broccoli raab, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, kale, mustard, Brussels sprouts, turnip, kohlrabi and radish. In the absence of these favorite hosts, tomato, potato, eggplant, okra, bean, asparagus, beet, weeds, fruit trees and field crops may be eaten. I’m not so opposed to them eating weeds, perhaps I can now claim any weeds in my garden were allowed to grow as a trap for harlequin bugs (every gardener needs some kind of alibi).

The adult harlequin, Murgantia histrionica (I just try to remember margarita), which Annie and I have already “hand picked” so to speak are a yellow and black combination with red added in. They are basically a flat and shield shaped stink bug. When the wings are lying down it appears they have an “X” on their backs (Annie likes this easy to spot target).

The cycle of life (egg, nymph, adult) for the Harlequin is 50 to 80 days. During the winter they will hibernate in the garden and come back out ready to suck sap first thing in the spring.

Since I like to do things organically, ‘hand picking’ is an easy way to get rid of them. A great job for the kids or you can enlist a Jack Russell terror like Annie if you have one available (shoot, I will give you one on loan!) You will have to keep re-checking to get them all as they are good little hiders. Look for eggs on the underside and destroy those as well. Check too in the spring for those harlequins who dared to spend the winter sleeping in your garden.

Next step according to David Cook, entomologist working for Davidson County, TN is Pyrethrum and insecticidal soap. Mr. Cook also made the final ID on this beautiful bug (yes, I was perplexed at first). I sent the picture onto Mike Smith of Williamson County, he and I both thought it was the harlequin but David was kind enough to confirm.

David Cook also gave me to bug sites to share -

http://www.insectidentification.org/ http://bugguide.net/node/view/15740

He also recommends this book and says, “This is one of the best reference books on insects”:Garden Insects of North America, Whitney Cranshaw Princeton University Press, ISBN 0-691-09561-2

Thanks David and Mike for your help!

Scout Takes the Prize

There comes a time in every gardeners life when disappointment has to be sucked up so as not to hurt family feelings.

This night blooming cerus plant has taken 7 years to make a bud. I raised this plant from a cutting. I have faithfully carted it in and out of the garage for 6 of those 7 years.

Every night I have checked for the incredible aroma to be followed by a gorgeous bloom that is worth the seven years of waiting (so I’ve been told).
Somebody should have explained all this to Scout, our black lab grandpuppy who came to visit with his family. Scout had been playing on the porch doing what puppies do, knocking over plants, dispersing rose cuttings, chewing up plastic water bottles. But, when I went out to check the night blooming cerus bud (did I mention there was only one?)I couldn’t find it

Surely the evening light was playing tricks on me. No, I couldn’t find it anywhere – and then I found it…well, I found the little brown stub that use to hold the hope of a bloom. I don’t know where the bud went. I looked at Scout, he was guilty I could tell. (Note the puppy teeth marks on the leaf)

I walked back into the house and mumbled something like seven years…SEVEN YEARS… I now understand how Mr. Wilson felt when Dennis the Menace spoiled his party with all his gardening friends waiting for the night booming mock orchid to open in the pale moonlight.

Mr. Wilson waited 40 years for his plant to bud and the bloom opened and withered in a matter of seconds! I only waited seven years and hopefully there will be more buds next year.

Yes Scout took the prize, literally. But he did give me a great story and something to always remember him by!

Do You Have a Bumblebee Sleeping in Your Flower Bed?

This evening while I was wandering around the garden I noticed a lot of bumble bees. Some were gathering pollen, stuffing it into their baskets on their hind legs then moving on to the next flower. Other bumbles were just hanging under the flowers on the chaste tree blooms or cuddled-up in the center of the cosmos.

They looked like they were getting comfortable for a good night’s sleep. Is that possible that bumblebees sleep in the flowers? I started doing some checking and actually, even though it was almost dark, the females were still gathering food for everyone back at the ranch - baby bumblebees (larva), the queen, worker bees…

The males however don’t even have baskets built in for collecting pollen because they don’t have to worry about anyone but themselves. Once they leave the nest they don’t go back so their job is to feed themselves (pollinating plants as they go) and possibly when the time is right, get lucky and mate with a queen.

By early evening they find a flower to bed down in (or under). As they sleep their temperature drops so in the morning since they can’t get a jolt of java (like us), they have to wait for the sun to warm them back up or drink nectar; conveniently located in their bed, to get them energized once more so they can buzz back to work pollinating flowers and chasing queens.

Sometimes when bumblebees get soaked in the rain, they will look like they are napping but are just waiting for the sun to dry them off.

Do bumblebees sting? Yeah baby, it is not their first choice but when push comes to shove and you stumble over their nest (usually in the ground), they will sting many times over. Unlike honey bees that sting once and leave the stinger in you, the bumble can retract the stinger and keep on stinging.

Typically bumblebees are happy to just go about their business and are quite docile in nature. They will give a warning if you get too close by lifting up one of their middle legs as if they are saying. “Okay buddy - that is close enough, back off!”

Bumblebees play an important role in pollination. Without bumblebees, honey bees and other pollinators our food supply would be in jeopardy. Some species of bumblebees are being used in greenhouse growing operations to pollinate tomatoes and other food crops.

My grandson is quite taken with bumblebees, he sings a song about them that goes something like “I’m bringing home a baby bumblebee, won’t my mommy be so proud of me. The next verse is something about squashing the bumblebee; we will have to change that line!