Monthly Archive for February, 2009

Blue Grass Trust: Antiques & Garden Show

Published
by
Susan Smith-Durisek
on February 26, 2009
in Events & Expos
. 0 Comments

Judith Miller

Mary Palmer Dargan

Pretty in pink dogwood and new leaf green, invitations to the Blue Grass Trust Antiques & Garden Show are a reminder that winter is almost over, and spring is on the horizon. 

None too soon! 

The show at Keeneland opens March 13, and continues on the 14th and 15th.  Check the website for detailed information about events, social gatherings, reservations and admission fees.  Featured speakers include internationally acclaimed author Judith Miller, whose antiques guides have become annual collectibles in themselves; and landscape architect Mary Palmer Dargan, whose re-creations of 18th and 19th century gardens in Charleston, South Carolina, you might have already experienced.  Complimentary speakers, like Mark Henkle who knows his heirloom tomatoes and David Swayer’s orchid repotting workshop, offer ideas you can put to use right away.   There is always a great group of exhibitors with antiques, green goods, and home & garden accessories to explore.  Proceeds benefit the Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservatiion.

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Windy Corners: Going ‘Green’ is Blowing in the Wind

Published
by
Susan Smith-Durisek
on February 19, 2009
in Garden Shops
. 1 Comment
Windy Corners at the crossroads of Muir and Bryan Station Rds.

Windy Corners at the crossroads of Muir and Bryan Station Rds.

Windy Corners? 

 

In the far nothern reaches of Fayette County, where Bryan Station meets Muir Station, the old corner Food Mart has disappeared, and today only a gravel field and empty lot stand. 
Yet there is a breath of fresh air.   Folks from Gainesway Farm have purchased the lot and are collaborating with local architects at thoughtSPACE  to create a new ‘green’ development called Windy Corners, with plans to include a store, restaurant, and farmer’s market.  According to the thoughtSPACE website, the restaurant is “another brainchild” of Ouita Michel, chef and owner of the the Holly Hill Inn in Midway since the year 2000.  Hopefully, the resulting project will be a LEED certified building, a model for supporting local agriculture, and a fun place to find great food in a country atmosphere.   Stay tuned. 

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Ice-Damaged Tree Advice

Published
by
Susan Smith-Durisek
on February 15, 2009
in Other Writings ...
. 1 Comment
Breaking (under) the Ice  

 

The ice has melted, wind has died down, and there is a lot of wood piled up by the side of the road.  Many folks are at the point where they’re sizing up what’s left of their trees and shrubs, and making decisions saving or replacing them.  There have been some helpful columns written on just that subject lately.  Here are some you might want to read:

* Extension Horticulture Agent Annette Meyer Heisdorffer wrote an article about Restoration Pruning for the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer, with ideas from University of Kentucky Professor William Fountain about what to look for with damaged branches. 

*The U.K. College of Agriculture also provided a similar story in Aimee Nielson’s Ice Storm Dealt Brutal Blow to Landscape Trees in the Ag News; it is also based on Fountain’s advice. 

*U.S. Ag Net offers information from U.K. Forestry Specialist Doug McLaren, in its Ice-Damaged Woodlands will Benefit from Professional Assessment story.  The viewpoint from a forestry expert includes woodland management information.

* Not much of a consolation, however there may be an opportunity to check for the presence of the invasive Emerald Ash Borer in broken limbs.  Jennifer Stewart’s article in PhysOrg.com may be helpful. 

*Walking in the woods, or even under trees lining streets in your neighborhood, remember to look up to learn where branches are still hanging, ready to drop on unsuspecting hikers or parked cars.  See what Larry Lowe had so say about woodland hazards for outdoor activities in the Louisville Courier- Journal.

* Fayette County Horticulture Extension Agent Jamie Dockery gives some good advice about how to go about pruning a tree in his Frankfort State-Journal article, After the Ice Storm: How to Save Damaged Plants.  His advice about avoiding power lines is something we all need to heed. 

*One of the most useful “What to do” guides on this subject is the joint Illinois and Wisconsin State University extension publication Trees and Ice Storms: The Development of Ice Storm-Resistant Urban Tree Populations, complete with color photos of scenes most of us would like to forget, but need to remember to reduce potential for future damage.

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Darwin’s 200th Birthday … An Orchid Story

Published
by
Susan Smith-Durisek
on February 12, 2009
in General chronological posting and Insects
. 1 Comment

Happy 200th birthday, Charles Darwin!           Happy 200th birthday, Charles Darwin!  British naturalist, voyager on the HMS Beagle, and author of many books including the Origin of Species, Darwin was ahead of his time with scientific theories, penning thoughts that reached to the far distant past as well as keen observations of the world around him.

Take the example of this amazing white orchid which can be found in Madasgar.  It is called Angraecum sesquipedale, or the Comet Orchid.  In Latin, sesquipedale means one and a half feet, the amazing length of the nectar spur that was the subject of one of Darwin’s theories.  In his study of orchid cross-fertilization during the mid-1800s, Darwin noted that a moth that could pollinate it would need to have a proboscis, or nose-lie structure, that would equal the length of the nectar spur. In 1862, he wrote “ … in Madasgascar there must be moths with probosces capable of extension to a length of between ten and eleven inches!” The problem was that no one had ever seen such an insect anywhere before, and Darwin was mocked for his unusual idea.  It would have been unlikely anyone at that time would have seen a moth’s proboscis unfurl for a second in the dark of night anyway; even today with infrared cameras, it’s hard to catch.  Darwin died in 1882, but years later, in 1903,  a Sphinx Moth, a type of hawk moth, was found on Madasgar.  Called Xanthopan morgani subsp. praedicta, the praedicta recognized Darwin’s prediction that it indeed existed.  

INto orchids?  Check out the new review of Moth Orchids by Master Gardener Rachel Oskins.


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Hot Tomatoes!

Published
by
Susan Smith-Durisek
on February 7, 2009
in General chronological posting
. 1 Comment
Hot Tomatoes!     
Enough winter, already!  Let’s grow some tomatoes.  Big beefsteaks, or tiny cherry and grape varieties, whichever makes your mouth water with delight.  If your’re planning on growing from seed, this is the time to start.  Valentine’s Day is approaching, and they don’t call the tomato a ‘love apple’ for nothing.  Statistics show that after a generation or two of declines in home vegetable gardening, numbers of people planting vegetables are on the rise again, so get on board the tomato wagon and join the crowd.   If you’re one of the folks who hasn’t stopped growing your own, you know that the fresh, fully-ripened flavor is a taste experience you just can’t get from the grocery store.  Drop a comment here about what you’ve done that can help other growers.  If you’re a new or returning home gardener, read on for some advice and direction.

Decisions     
First you’ll need to decide what kind of tomatoes you’re going to grow, and if you want to start from seed and raise seedlings indoors, or wait and purchase already started plants later.  Heirlooms or hybrids? For eating fresh sliced or whole cherry tomatoes, canning or cooking?  Tomatoes can be grown in a rainbow of colors: near-white, deep purple, yellow, orange and yes, the traditional red.  You’ll also need some trays and peat-pots for sprouting the seeds, which will germinate and grow into seedlings for transplanting.  And then, where will you grow your plants?  In ground, raised bed, containers, patio pots or even in straw bales, it’s easy to put a plant in soil.  The hard part?  Just deciding to do it!

Where can you buy tomato seeds?  Garden stores locally, as well as mail-order catalogues and also seed exchanges carry an assortment.  Last year, I even found a great variety pack  of cherry tomato seeds on eBay!   I’ve listed a few of my favorite catalogs for you, but would love to hear from you about where you’ve found yours, and what kind you grow.   Bill Best, who has long been advocating people grow heirloom tomatoes, offers some expert advice in his article Heirloom Tomatoes.  TomatoFest’s list of Top Ten choices for 2009 also offers some background information.

Transplanting seedlings

        

Tomatoes are sensitive to cold, so you’ll need to wait until late May to put out transplants  That means that actually planting the seeds in trays indoors should be done about mid-March.  If you have beds with row covers, a bit earlier would work for you.  I raise my tomatoes in raised beds behind my hone, where they’ll get lots of sun and are easy to weed and water.  I learned a method of tying them up to strong stakes from BIll Henkle last year, called the Florida Weave, which weaves support string in and out between plants, with support stakes as anchors.  The Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service, and your county extension agent can help you with advice and information.  Yes, extension agents are still around, but working with updated information, and new on-line publications as well as on-line advice at GardenData, which is part of the new eXtension information system.  Check it out!

But more about this later.  For now, start gathering information, because this is the summer to learn how to find the best tomatoes of 2009, right in your own backyard.  No matter if you’re young, old or somewhere inbetween, tomatoes can be within your reach.  Check back for more information as the season progresses, and let me know what’s growing on.

 

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