gardening

"Schoolchildren selling wonky carrots and soil-encrusted radishes will on Thursday be trying to tempt Waitrose shoppers to reject the supermarket's washed, bagged versions and instead stock up on fresh produce grown by their local schools. Twenty primary and secondary schools across London will participate in the School Produce Sale between 11am and 3pm at 10 Waitrose branches organised by the School Food Matters charity to sell fruit, vegetables, eggs, chutneys and jams. All proceeds from the sale will be kept by the schools for their own use – last year's pilot at a school in Kingston-Upon-Thames raised a total of £220. A handbook is also being produced for use by other schools wanting to grown their own fruit and vegetables. The School Food Matters founder, Stephanie Wood, explained that she set up her charity after hearing from a head teacher about pupils who were unable identify an onion. She hopes the scheme will continue to expand every year and added: "The schools that are... more... - Spidra Webster from Bookmarklet

Hmm, I think the best place is at the bottom of the garden, by the jasmine I think and maybe let the jasmine intertwine around it? And I think my Clematis montana is dead, I could no evidence of its existence! :( - Halil

Eriobotrya japonica Ultimate height 4-8 metres Ultimate spread 4-8 metres Time to ultimate height 20-50 years http://apps.rhs.org.uk/plantse... I've seen bigger, I'm sure they have been bigger, huge towering trees and as they said with a large spread. - Halil

mum said you can prune it and keep it small, but don't get too heavy handed! This is called yeni (new) dunya (world) in Turkish so in about 20 years I'll be sending you loads of "new world fruit" sign up for your share! :D - Halil

"The First Lady's organic garden currently has more than 30 kinds of vegetables, berries, and herbs... "We've harvested thousands of pounds of produce" since First Lady Michelle Obama first planted her White House Kitchen Garden on April 9, 2009, says Assistant Chef and Let's Move! Executive Director Sam Kass. Joined by 30 school children and White House staff, Mrs. Obama hosted her fifth annual Spring planting event on April 4th, installing more than 30 kinds of organic vegetable seedlings and seeds, including heirlooms and hybrids. A detailed crop list, with varieties, is at the end of this post. (Above, Mrs. Obama and a helper plant 'Tyee' spinach) Planting wheat seed Many of the vegetables are Obama favorites grown in years past, but the First Lady for the first time planted two kinds of wheat seed, 'Bread' and 'Club,' which Kass characterized as "experimental varieties." There's also six kinds of lettuce, four varieties of spinach, three varieties of potatoes, three kinds of... more... - Spidra Webster from Bookmarklet

"Every April communities, organizations, and individuals nationwide celebrate gardening during National Garden Month. Gardeners know, and research confirms, that nurturing plants is good for us: attitudes toward health and nutrition improve, kids perform better at school, and community spirit grows. Join the celebration and help to make America a greener, healthier, more livable place!" - Spidra Webster from Bookmarklet

"22 flowers (Amaryllis, Lilies, Zygocactus, Rose, Gladiolus, Gardenia) I took more than 7100 photos in more than 730 hours (using Canon 5D Mark II)" - Spidra Webster from Bookmarklet

"Johannesburg - Scientists at the University of Johannesburg have started a DNA bar-coding project to stop the smuggling of endangered cycad species in the country. Botany masters student Philip Rousseau started the project with the aim of creating a barcode library for the African Encephalartos species in an attempt to control collectors in America and the Far East who are prepared to pay up to R71 000 for a large specimen of a rare species, university spokesperson Herman Esterhuizen said in a statement. The plants - either plucked from the wild or taken from nature reserves and botanical gardens - are sold illegally. "Of South Africa's 38 species of cycads, three are extinct in the wild and the remainder has been pushed close to the brink by thieves," said Rousseau. "This project forms part of a global initiative to DNA barcode all the trees of the world within the next five years." Plant DNA Professor Michelle van der Bank of UJ's Department of Botany and Plant Biotechnology said... more... - Spidra Webster from Bookmarklet

"An endangered cycad in your possession could cost you R100 000 or 10 years' imprisonment plus three times its commercial value depending on the size and species if it has been obtained through illegal trade. A project was launched several years ago with the initiative of the World Conservation Union to control illegal trading of these plants and to relocate stolen cycads. Carl Brown, Conservation Services Manager, Western Cape Nature Conservation Board, explained: "A transponder, in the form of a microchip, is inserted in the stem of an adult cycad. A specific number on the chip is recorded in a data form in the national registry in Johannesburg. A plant from any of the provinces is identified by its unique number which also gives details of its location." So if a plant gets stolen it is easy to track and identify. Cycads are valuable because they are rare and it takes many years to grow a large plant. So any large cycad is assumed "kidnapped" from the wild. The plants originated... more... - Spidra Webster from Bookmarklet

I found out about a decade ago that there was such a thing as cycad thieves. Taking this class has let me know why that is. While looking to see whether any big thefts had made the news lately, I came upon this old article. It looks like people are "lo-jacking" their cycads now. - Spidra Webster

"There are currently 400 unique cases (species x site of action) of herbicide resistant weeds globally, with 217 species (129 dicots and 88 monocots). Weeds have evolved resistance to 21 of the 25 known herbicide sites of action and to 148 different herbicides. Herbicide resistant weeds have been reported in 65 crops in 61 countries. There are 1593 registered users of this website and 404 weed scientists have contributed new cases of herbicide resistant weeds. To see a list of the most recent additions to the site Click Here." - Spidra Webster from Bookmarklet

This is a much greater number of herbicide-resistant weeds than I'd thought were around. - Spidra Webster

""My general philosophy, I guess, is to stop and smell the roses ... and sometimes you have to grow them yourself," Gordon Hawkins reflects. He has cultivated an elaborate garden hidden above the streets of Cobble Hill for years. The roof is so packed with flowers, fruit, and herbs that he says fitting everything together is quite a challenge, but well worth the work. Tour the garden in this short documentary from the series New Yorkers, from Moonshot Productions. New Yorkers is an exploration of various walks of life in the city's boroughs, with profiles of a graffiti artist, and ice sculptor, and many more. The producers of the series discuss the project in an interview with the Atlantic Video channel here." - Spidra Webster from Bookmarklet

"Journeying to Suffolk to meet Charles Valin, head of plant breeding at Thompson & Morgan, I imagine a laboratory, a man in a white coat, seedlings and young plants ranged on benches in temperature-controlled rooms. But the site, an isolated piece of farmland with a few polytunnels, a glasshouse and five acres of trial beds, is surprisingly low-key for Britain’s leading mail-order plants company. This is deliberate. It means the calm, neat Frenchman, 32, can work in peace. He has earned it. In the six and a half years since he joined the company – a short time in plant breeding – he has bred the world’s first white bidens, the first properly dwarf buddleia, the first intensely scented trailing violas and, released at the start of this year, the first ever bright blue verbascum. The breeding of Verbascum 'Blue Lagoon’ (inset) had a larger element of chance than Valin would normally expect. In the hope of getting a red verbascum he was looking for deep-coloured plants to cross with... more... - Spidra Webster from Bookmarklet

My babies ;-) Still not sure why it took 1 year for them to be delivered, shame I never got on to them and asked for a discount or something, oh well. Wishing everyone a great week! - Halil from Bookmarklet

Cool, thanks and you also just confirmed how long they've been in pots, I need to start acclimating them to the outside now. - Halil

"Dear Sir/Madam: In the past year or so, I have seen a growing assault on a specific type of individual freedom. A seemingly innocuous activity has drawn the ire of local officials, and when I tell you what it is, you will think it is so silly you just might laugh. You might even think that paying attention to this issue is a waste of your limited time, but I can assure you from my own personal experience that it absolutely is not." - Spidra Webster from Bookmarklet

signed and retweeted. - Hieronymous Boob

Since the laws used are usually local zoning laws, I think going national isn't the best approach (unless you take a local city to court on the idea that it's an unconstitutional restriction of liberty) but I signed simply to show solidarity with the idea that growing edibles in one's front yard should damned well be legal. - Spidra Webster

"So apparently the world is divided into two groups. People who know that lawn crayfish exist, and people who go “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!” Up until an hour ago, I belonged to the latter group. And then I was idly raking leaves off some tender plants in the narrow, soggy flowerbed alongside the garage wall, and I happened to glance down into the burrow. The burrow that has been there since last year. The burrow that I thought had some kind of rodent in it. There was a crustacean claw in it. Attached to a crustacean. Apparently this is a thing in the South." - Spidra Webster from Bookmarklet

water moccasins freak me right out. - Hieronymous Boob

"Slugs will ruin a vegetable garden pretty fast unless some serious means of taking care of them is implemented. The electric fence has proven to be pretty well 100% effective in my experiments to date. The fence consists of two runs of wires spaced about 3/4 inch apart running around the perimeter of the raised bed - one wire is connected to the +ve terminal and the other to the -ve terminal of a battery. An electric current will flow through the slug if it makes contact with both wires at the same time. The resulting "shock" with usually cause the slug to turn back. I've been using a 9-volt battery as the power source, the battery lasts the whole growing season but the voltage drops to 5 volts or so by the end of the season (my measurements). It's a good idea to check the volage once in a while to make sure the battery is still providing enough voltage (corrosion can be a problem at the battery connectors). A few years ago when setting up a new fence I didn't have a 9-volt battery... more... - Spidra Webster from Bookmarklet

humane, cool - Halil

That's cool! You can also use those older solar panels made with either 12 volts or 24 volts. - AJ Batac

since 100's of new seedlings appear after a few days when I've clear the garden. I don't like saying I hate something in nature, but I'm beginning to hate alkanet so much! It's suffocated all my plants and I essentially have an organic borage garden. :( - Halil

Thanks for that link Spidra, yeah they have very hairy leaves/stems which are slightly irritant too when it comes into contact with your skin. - Halil

"Flowers as pretty as party dresses, with a gently sweet fragrance reminiscent of Grandma's dressing table, make lilacs sentimental favorites. In a world that swirls around us too fast, lilacs spark nostalgia ― possibly for a place where they once flourished, or perhaps for another era. But this nostalgia isn't easy to create everywhere. In mild-winter climates, you can't pop just any lilac ( Syringa vulgaris) into the ground and expect an exuberant show of blooms come midspring. You'll need to buy low-chill varieties. Why? Because most lilacs prefer the kind of winter chill that sends us scrambling for heavy wool coats. Not so the low-chill varieties. The first low-chill lilac, called 'Lavender Lady', was developed in Southern California 30 years ago by Walter Lammerts, a researcher and hybridizer with Rancho del Descanso ― a former wholesale nursery that's now the site of Descanso Gardens, a botanical garden open to the public. "Walter was an excellent hybridizer," says Bob Boddy,... more... - Spidra Webster from Bookmarklet

"Last night on Late Night, Jimmy Fallon won the superlative in adorkable, fanboy love for Keith Richards. While some die-hard fans get tattoos of their idols on their forehead, Fallon makes sure the satisfaction behind the memento (an autographed lemon) ripens (into preserves prepared by Mario Batali), and sprouts new life (as a foot-tall sapling). And in nineteen years, that life will come around full circle with the germination of a lemon" - Spidra Webster from Bookmarklet

"....Made in the USA.... Slim, lightweight design (8.7 ounces) that glides effortlessly into the tree No fruit or tree damage - No cumbersome baskets or bags to get tangled in the tree. Easy for anyone to use - fun for the entire family - no need for a ladder The Twister Fruit Picker® can be used to pick most fruit, large or small, soft or hard skinned One set of "small fruit adapters" included" - Spidra Webster from Bookmarklet

This is the first time I've seen this design. A fellow CA Rare Fruit Grower who grows small farm amounts of fruit says it works well for him. - Spidra Webster

good idea - SteVe C

"On a mild April night some years ago, I walked past a college dorm in New Haven and smelled something I couldn’t place. It reminded me vaguely of swimming pools. Was it chlorine? I sniffed again, more deeply than before. Suddenly I knew exactly what it was and hurried away, internally berating an unseen teenage boy. A few evenings later, in the same spot, I smelled it again. Filled with a sense of moral outrage I looked around, I looked up, and identified the culprit: A tree. More precisely, a Callery Pear, or Pyrus calleryana, a deciduous tree that’s common throughout North America. It blossoms in early spring and produces beautiful, five-petaled white flowers—that smell like semen. Like when you learn a new word and then see and hear it everywhere, after making the connection between Callerys and the scent of semen I saw and smelled them everywhere. I said that Callerys are "common": A preposterous understatement. In Manual of Woody Landscape Plants, which is for horticulturists... more... - Spidra Webster from Bookmarklet

I haven't smelled Callery, to my knowledge, so I can't compare. But Bradford Pears are a bit smelly. The smelliest trees around here (besides the odd female gingko) are carob trees. They smell really strongly weird. But I love them anyway. - Spidra Webster

Live webcast of this UC Agriculture & Natural Resources forum starts now. - Spidra Webster from Bookmarklet

Light pink, yellow undertones. None to mild fragrance. 25 petals. Average diameter 4.5". Large, double (17-25 petals), borne mostly solitary, cupped-to-flat, open, reflexed bloom form. Blooms in flushes throughout the season. Pointed, ovoid buds. - Halil from Bookmarklet

Of course it's scents-less. - Spidra Webster

The Queen's one isn't much better, unless you want a wall of thorns! see http://ff.im/NKtG3 - Halil

"The basis for the study began in July of 2010 when a shire mare from a rural Northern California farm was brought to the William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital for treatment of colic. Following protocol, the veterinarians on call screened the horse for Salmonella to avoid infecting other horses during hospitalization. She tested positive and after successful treatment for colic, went home. Her owners then notified the veterinarians that some of their other draft horses were sick as well — all 8 were tested and 6 came back positive for the same Salmonella Oranienburg strain, including the mare that still had the infection. Jay-Russell heard about the case from her colleague John Madigan, professor of medicine and epidemiology at the school. The farm’s owners invited Jay-Russell and Madigan to the farm to see if they could uncover the source of the Salmonella infection. They sampled water from horse troughs, manure storage piles, wild turkey feces and soil from the... more... - Spidra Webster from Bookmarklet

"The biodiversity of plants is decreasing. The big seed selling companies are only interested in a limited number of commercially interesting vegetables. In addition they mainly care about uniformity and the shelf life of their output and not about their taste and flavour.  With our project we want to inspire people to create new plant varieties using the traditional breeding methods. Next to that we are trying to collect funds so that we can continue with our own efforts to breed new and tasty produce." - Spidra Webster from Bookmarklet

"Chemical Ecology... ... examines the role of chemical signals that mediate the interactions between plants, animals, and their environment, as well as the evolutionary and behavioral consequences of these interactions. In the institute, organic chemists, biochemists, ecologists, entomologists, behavioral scientists, insect geneticists and physiologists work in collaboration to unravel the complexity of chemical communication that occurs in nature. The primary research focus is on the coevolution of plants and insect herbivores. The constant struggle of plants and insects as played out on the chemical theatre is the key to understanding the interactions that have produced the variety of species that exist today. Because plants are sessile organisms, they are limited in their possibilities to produce offspring and escape from herbivores and pathogens. They have overcome such constraints by producing a large variety of chemicals that are used to attract pollinators, disperse seeds,... more... - Spidra Webster from Bookmarklet

"Program: Nature Episode: What Plants Talk About When we think about plants, we don’t often associate a term like “behavior” with them, but experimental plant ecologist JC Cahill wants to change that. The University of Alberta professor maintains that plants do behave and lead anything but solitary and sedentary lives. What Plants Talk About teaches us all that plants are smarter and much more interactive than we thought!" - Spidra Webster from Bookmarklet

HIGHLY recommended. This show is so cool. Basically detailing that plants are more self-aware than we've given them credit for. - Spidra Webster

"The breeding of fruit crops is one of the most important but most neglected areas of horticultural science. Progress in fruit breeding has been far from spectacular. In the apple, all but a fraction of the world's production is based on cultivars which arose before 1910 (Knight and Alston 1969). Few important genes have been identified in citrus (Cameron and Soost 1969; Soost and Cameron 1975), the grape cultivar Chasselas was known at the tine of Joan of Arc, Cabernet Sauvignon is said to be Roman (Penning-Rowsell 1971), and newer crops such as avocado and macadamia are founded on the vegetative progeny of a few chance seedlings. Nevertheless, there have been substantial improvements in both scions and rootstocks in most of the major crops, but selection within and among existing genotypes has been the main basis of improvement rather than the creation of new genotypes by hybridization. Clonal selection and phytosanitary procedures have had a major impact on crop productivity. In... more... - Spidra Webster from Bookmarklet

"Plant Search Made Visual. Search for your plants intuitively using 1000s of images. Make your plant selection by visual or horticultural trait. With 100s of ways to search for plants by trait, you can easily make alternative choices depending on availability." - Spidra Webster from Bookmarklet

I have wished to have access to a plant identification tool for a long time. Will have to try this. :-) - Maitani

I haven't tried it yet. Found out about it by accident while researching available hort majors at UC Davis. - Spidra Webster

"Attend the U.S. premiere of this film about artists Antje Schiffers and Thomas Sprenger’s project Pantry, which examined the cultural and social activities of producing and eating food. Antje Schiffers and Thomas Sprenger belong to the artist initiative known as myvillages.org. In 2011, the group was invited to feed visitors for the Festival Über Lebenskunst in Berlin. For this event that celebrated sustainable living, everything had to be produced locally. Collaborating with locavore-minded organizations and individuals, it took one year to stock the pantry of supplies that would be consumed by some 8,000 festival attendees. Pantry documents this fascinating process. (Pantry, a film by myvillages.org and Martin König. Germany, 2012, 45 min. No MPAA rating. In English and German with English subtitles.) Following the screening, join Skirball curator Doris Berger as she talks with the artists about the Pantry project, as well as the new large-scale wall painting they created for the Skirball’s Ruby Gallery as part of their Let Me Show You Around project. A reception follows the program." - Spidra Webster from Bookmarklet

"Why supermarkets are jumping on the gardening bandwagon Big retail chains such as Waitrose, Morrisons and Next are lining up to take custom from longer-established garden centres." - Spidra Webster from Bookmarklet

Joe, with the return of spring, I'd like to visit Elizabeth Anna's here in Fort Worth. http://www.elizabethanna.net/ - Greg GuitarBuster