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ancientbrit · 3 years

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Natters # 15 &16 06/09/2015

Subject: MI MG Natters #15 &16, June 9th 2015 Date: June 9, 2015 11:40:00 PM PDT Friday's clinic, two weeks ago, put us back in the numbers again. A lovely day with just Sam and me in attendance. We had a sudden rush arriving after 5:00 pm - our closing time, but we were able to get them all answered to the clients satisfaction - thank goodness. One lady from Israel (our second ) had been given some spurious information about growing conditions in Washington State, on which we were glad to set her straight. Her only growing experience to date had all taken place in Israel, which is obviously a wee bit different to Mercer Island. But I was able to reassure her, that yes indeed, Cyclamen do very well here, at which she was delighted. We talked about becoming a MG and she was much taken with the thought and she will be checking back with us at the Farmers Market, due to start on the 7th of June. One gentleman coming out of Rite Aid with an armful of plants stopped to ask if there was anything that would get rid of powdery mildew on zucchini. He had it last year and wasn't able to do anything for it. In fact there were a lot of clients who had experienced the same problem which also effected most of the cucurbits outside. At the time I could only offer the word that a solution of sodium bicarbonate is sometimes effective, although it wasn't very strong. Then when I was visiting Bellevue Nursery this week, I saw an item labelled 'Green Cure', which uses Potassium bicarbonate combined with a spreader sticker to enhance the fungicidal properties. It apparently kills powdery mildew & other plant diseases on contact with up to two weeks of residual protection. The literature lists 25 different diseases that are controlled and describes how it does it. On the literature, among those giving enthusiastic support to 'Green Cure' is an Advanced Master Gardener in Brookfield, CT. I am growing pumpkins and zucchini this year, so I am going to try it for myself. What a nice thought to find something like this that actually works. It is odorless, mixes & fully dissolves in water to spray, does not accumulate in the soil, is compatible with many beneficial insects and fruits & vegetables can be harvested an hour after spraying. Jean's favorite tree, Styrax japonica, now in its sixth year, is about twelve feet high and I find to my surprise that it is hugely fragrant. I didn't know that! The scent is fantastic and the whole tree is alive with bees all day - what a bonus. Give it another year or two and I will be able to remove some of the lower branches and it will be giving the shade it was planted to produce. A beautiful tree! This is Clem-a-tis "Romantika - a new one from Estonia I bought earlier this year and in bloom last Saturday for the first time. Although the color here looks great, it doesn't really do justice to the way it really looks. The main color is almost black and that lighter color bar along the center of the tepal is a deep ruby-red with a shimmer that makes it looks like velvet which has been caught here - quite incredible. A beautiful flower. ( I am sorry that processing this way does not allow the production of pictures) My Cardiocrinums are having a strange year. One I planted two years back shot up to about 7 feet high and is now in bloom. One of three 'pups' from my original, started to move a little after the big brother next door, but it has barely reached three feet high and is also in flower - not exactly a giganteum by any stretch of the imagination. I not sure exactly what I have here, but I will be keeping an eye on it. Looking at them today I had a sniff of their lovely perfume, but there was something else on the air which didn't appeal at all. It didn't smell at all like my compost pile, which only has a vegetable smell. This was quite rank - and then I almost trod on a dead Mole! It was just laid out on my footpath and I have no idea who I have to thank for this nice gesture, whether it was a gift from Pickle or the new cat next door or dropped by a crow - which doesn't seem too likely. Whatever, one must be grateful for small mercies - and I am. This has all taken longer to assemble than I had thought, so I will combine the last Rite Aid clinic with the first Farmers Market clinic on Sunday. Our last Friday at Rite Aid clinic this year was sort of crowded with four of us - Karin, Carin, Janet and myself, but it was a good day. When we weren't satisfying clients we were able to talk about various gardening topics and other fascinating subjects. We find frequently that some RA costumers assume that we are 'with' RA and we get drawn into helping them make choices of plants and I don't feel badly about this - it is about the only way we can really say how we appreciate RA's allowing us to store our stuff there all year - apart from our donating cookies, etc to their lunchroom, which is really appreciated. We always try to place one or three plants from RA's display on our desk to attract our clients. But all of a sudden there appeared a pot of 'Snow on the Mountain' aka 'Bishops Weed'. Karin had placed it there as she knows I cannot stand the stuff. She is the only person I know who has used it and never regretted the choice. She had it planted between two concrete strips along her driveway and it filled the space in nothing flat. I wouldn't trust it not to insinuate itself under the concrete into the rest of the garden, but as Karin was moving she wasn't too worried. I am still amazed that this thug is allowed on the market as it is almost impossible to remove once it gets a grip. The plain green version is Ground Elder and in England, it is a legal requirement that it be removed. Its reputation precedes it and house sales have been known to fall through when this plant is seen growing in the garden. At the Plant Sale, there had been numerous flats of a particular plant that looked okay when first divided and potted up. However, just before the actual sale, when plants were being checked, 28 of these plants had to be dumped because they were infested with Bishops Weed! There is a plant that secretes an oil in its roots which kills this darned weed. It is called Tagetes minuta and is so named for the tiny flowers it produces. The plant itself grows to about 3 feet high and is planted in and around the infestation. If left, it becomes apparent that it is working, as a roughly circular patch of dying plant appears around the Tagetes and when you check, although the weed stems are still there, they are hollow and very dead. This last Sunday was our first Farmer's Market of the season and I was joined by Joan & Janet. The weather was lovely and we were under a canopy with a constant breeze blowing through. It also seems that we have been rewarded with a permanent canopy location - right at the end of the street on the north side, with our backs to the parking lot. 'Couldn't be better, so I hope that Patty maintains our permanency there. It is always a pleasant clinic here as we get clients returning from previous years - it is quite like old home week. One couple returned to tell me that the ivy clearance that we had recommended last year was almost completed and they were interested in growing all sorts of things from cuttings etc. I mentioned air layering in which they became very interested, so I will be bringing them some information next week. They also had grown a type of African gourd last year which they brought to show us. It had been emptied and dried and is used as a musical instrument - rather impressive as they know how to play it. I told them about the small, different shaped gourds I used to grow in England. When they were ripe they were dried, varnished and polished and Jean used to display them in a fruit bowl. They looked quite attractive. A couple of friends came to visit one weekend and they were keen gardeners but not too knowledgeable. When my friend's wife went into work the following Monday, she told her friends about their visit and about her friend 'who grows turds, which he dries and polishes and his wife displays in a fruit bowl!' She has never been allowed to live this down! Then on Monday Becca had arranged for a load of MGs to visit Pat Roome and take a tour of her garden, which I found to be fantastic. Her veggie garden had two stands of peas, one of them about seven feet high and covered in plump pods. Her tomatoes were up to about five feet high with fruit about 2" in diameter. Apparently, Pat had sown the seed in February and planted them out in April when she judged it unlikely that there would be any more frost - 'really got that right! The thing that really impressed me however was the number of plants she had which are the same sort of thing that I grow - just way bigger. For instance, I have a Pineapple broom which I grew from seed I took from a mature bush in Yorkshire, at the RHS gardens there. Mine is about seven feet high - it has spent a few years in a pot which slowed it's growth somewhat! Pat's is taller than her house by several feet and is covered in blooms. I have a Chilean fire tree I bought at the F & G show, which is now five feet high. Pat's again is probably about 35 feet high with the topmost branches covered in scarlet blossoms, being visited by loads of hummers. And so it went, but how nice to see what I might expect to get in a few years' time. One plant that she has which appealed to everybody was a perennial Nasturtium. It has a neat arrangement of five leaflets arranged somewhat like an Akebia and it was growing up the side of a large evergreen hedge. At the top it turned over into the sun and was covered in scarlet blossoms. Pat had several rooted cuttings in her greenhouse and they all were picked up by some of the MGs. Unfortunately, we had to scoot a little before the tour came to an end as we had carpooled and Bev, who was driving, had another appointment, but the whole trip was well worth it and quite honestly I don't know how Pat manages it all. I am writing to thank her for her generosity in giving her time to us all. This first Farmers Market clinic was not as frenetic as last year when Bev and I literally didn't stop the whole day, clocking about 75 clients. This year we took 40 which I thought was a nice score. People were out in force and the Market looks all set to be a constant success. Hopefully, we can increase the numbers when we get the new sandwich boards in place. We had quite a lot of people who stopped by but didn't know we would be there apparently. I am not sure why they wouldn't know as we have been there constantly since it started, but there you go. Your fearless leader, Gordon

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