Fall is not my favorite season

The mold spores make me sneeze.

Stuff dies.

My fun is almost over.

The days are annoyingly short.

But ...

Doesn't it just take your breath away?

5 Minute Garden Quiz answers

No one at the Eagle Point Farm Market aced this quiz. Did you??

WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO FERTILIZE AN OAK TREE?

a)  when it’s sick

b)   when you plant it

c)    never

c) never (fertilizing will not bring a tree back to life! Generally speaking, you should fertilize a tree only if the soil is lacking necessary nutrients. You can find this out with a soil test)

WHICH OF THESE SHOULD YOU DO WHEN YOU PLANT A DECIDUOUS TREE?

a)    prune the branches back

b)   leave the burlap on

c)    plant at the same depth as the top of the root ball

d)   stake it

None of these (research has shown that practices common in the past are unnecessary or even, in some cases, harmful. Pruning branches back does not benefit the tree; burlap often does not decompose, and the string tying it to the trunk can girdle the tree; experts now advise planting with the root ball slightly above grade; deciduous trees that are able to bend with the wind are stronger in the long run)

WHAT IS THE WORST  OF THESE 3 THINGS TO DO WITH YOUR FALL LEAVES?

a)    run over them with your mower, leaving the chopped-up leaves on the lawn

b)   blow them out to the curb to be picked up

c)    place them on your perennials to protect them from frost heaving

c) place them on your perennials (this is an invitation to moles and voles to eat your plants’ roots!)

WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO PLANT A BURNING BUSH (Euonymus alata)?

a)    spring

b)   fall

c)    summer

Never! (Burning bush is invading natural forests. The birds eat and spread its seeds) … sorry trick question

WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO PRUNE A BUTTERFLY BUSH?

a)    fall

b)   very early spring

c)    after it blooms

b) very early spring (a general rule: if a plant blooms on new wood, prune in early spring; on old wood, prune after it blooms)

5-Minute Gardening Quiz

'Beedy's Camden' kale -- so tasty!

Now that it's fall the time is right to "EAT MORE KALE." And if you've never liked kale, grow 'Beedy's Camden' next year. It will change your mind.

The Open Gate Farm day at Eagle Point Farm Market was lots of fun. I roped quite a few people (gardeners and non-) into taking this 5-minute gardening quiz. I'll post the answers on Friday!

WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO FERTILIZE AN OAK TREE?

a) when it's sick

b) when you plant it

c) never

WHICH OF THESE SHOULD YOU DO WHEN YOU PLANT A DECIDUOUS TREE?

a) prune the branches back

b) leave the burlap on

c) plant at the same depth as the top of the root ball

d) stake it

WHAT IS THE WORST THING TO DO WITH YOUR FALL LEAVES?

a)    run over them with your mower, leaving the chopped-up leaves on the lawn

b)   blow them out to the curb to be picked up

c)    place them on your perennials to protect them from frost heaving

WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO PLANT A BURNING BUSH (Euonymus alata)?

a)    spring

b)   fall

c)    summer

WHEN IS THE BEST TIME TO PRUNE A BUTTERFLY BUSH?

a)    fall

b)   very early spring

c)    after it blooms

Growing Potatoes in a Pot

I don’t have a lot of space in my garden, and I especially don't have space for plants that don’t show well. The tops of potatoes have to die in order for French fries to be born, I know that … but I just don’t want to have to watch. So this summer I got a humongous “smart pot,” which was actually designed for tree growers, filled it about a third with a soil/compost mix, and stuck it a hidden (but sunny) corner of my patio. My friends at Wood Prairie Farm recommended ‘Elba’ seed potatoes for a good yield. I placed about 8 on top of the soil, added more compost and a layer of straw and waited. They were healthy right from the start. Every couple of weeks I added more compost and straw until the pot was filled to the top. If it hadn’t rained non-stop all summer long I would have had to water. I’m not complaining. Really. So the vines got long and stringy and every time I checked they were still green. Last week they were still alive, though not a pretty sight, and I decided I had waited long enough for them to die. So I nudged them along to their destiny, otherwise known as my kitchen, by delicately eliminating the alive parts. I hope someone will do something similar for me if I hang on too long after I lose my functionality.

And just look! What a smart pot. 

Three Plants I Can't Live! Without, Part 2

Rose ‘Little Mischief’

This brilliantly colored rose has become my favorite garden rose. It’s in Bailey’s Easy Elegance series. Why do I like it better than you know who? For one thing it blooms and blooms without a mid-summer siesta.  For another, it stays nicely compact, under 3 feet. My son Dan planted ‘Little Mischief’ at the Glasbern Inn about three years ago, where it dances with Nepeta ‘Six Hills Giant’ all summer long. Every time I walk past it stops me in my tracks.

Nicotiana sylvestris

Tall, stately, attention-demanding, and night fragrant are four attributes that come to mind. Woodland tobacco also self-sows, just enough, not too much. This is the time of year I take seedheads from the 5-ft tall plants and toss them around the garden in spots where I envision it growing next year.

Gomphrena ‘Fireworks’

I’ve always liked the idea of gomphrena—bouncy little flower balls rising up through beds of zinnias or dahlias. The reality just never quite came through. Until now. ‘Fireworks’ is a new variety, offered by Burpee, and it does deliver! Tall, about 3 1/2 ft, but not floppy. Colorful but not garish. It's already on my seed list for next year.

Change is in the Air

I know they’re plotting. Plotting and scheming about how they’ll get the upper hand. I could just hear them in the garden today.

“Oh Persicaria,” asks Wood sorrel, “do you think I have time to set another round of seed?”

“Go for it!” replies Persicaria. “The Homo scapians aren’t watching now that it’s October.”

“That’s Hom escapians, I think,” Wood sorrel corrects.

“I’ve been sneaking seedheads in everywhere I can find an opening,” volunteers Foxtail. “All summer she’s been yanking out my babies and tossing ‘em in that big pile over there, but lately I’ve been getting a free pass! Oh, and it’s Home-too-lateagins, least that’s what I’m hearin.”

“You all are such losers,” pipes up Grandpa Ott. “She’s been after me like white on rice for months. Just three weeks ago she was in here searching out every last little seedling. Soon as she turns her back I say ‘Hit it guys!’ Look at us rippin—we’re up on top of the forsythia and reachin for the roof. No way she’s gonna git us off the branches before we finish makin seed. We’re wrapped around those branches so tight she’s bound to miss at least a thousand seeds! And isn’t it Oh-no-its-fateagains?”

Suddenly there’s a thump.

“Whazzat?” Foxtail, who was hit right in the seed head with a big black walnut, yells.

Everyone looks up. The oak and the walnut trees whisper calmly, so quietly no one can hear. No need for them to get excited. For the past 50 years they’ve been feeling the change in the air. Their plan is set. You can hear it in the breeze. “Shady days, shady days, shady days.” When the Too-little-too-late-agains have done and said all that they can say or do, nuts will sprout; trees will grow wherever their roots can find a spot of soil. Forests will happen and every critter and bug that climbs around in them and eats their leaves will prosper. Weedy little plants will weaken and disappear.

And no one will be there to care.

note: This is what happens when a gardener reads too much environmental literature.