New plants and giveaways

I have been very busy in the garden lately. I have added a number of new plants to the garden, and most things are coming along very nicely. I have also been waging a losing battle with the weeds, digging them out with a full shovel.

One of my new additions is pole beans. I have made another trellis for them out of sticks from the woods. The bluebirds love to perch on it, but I haven't gotten a picture of it yet. The beans are sprouted and looking very healthy. Hopefully I can keep the critters off of them.

notice the bloodmeal sprinkled about to discourage critters

I have sown some new root vegetables too. I am trying two varieties of carrots, both heirlooms, of course, one white and one orange. They have not germinated yet, but I hope they will soon. I planted beets as well, and they are doing very well so far.

I also received some generous gifts for the garden over the weekend. Ike Mumma of the NPS at Antietam National Battlefield brought over an Alaskan cabbage plant. After seeing the garden on a visit to the house, a couple from Hagerstown brought an heirloom yellow tomato plant to add to the garden. Both are now in the garden and doing well so far.

Mr. Mumma's cabbage - flanked by mint springs to deter the critters

The new tomato

Other plants in the garden are doing very well, and already I am harvesting tasty things! My first plantings of red radishes are ready, so I have been pulling those. Some are sweet and others hot. Strawberries are also coming in and they sure are sweet and tasty!

Other plants out here in the garden are doing a little bit too well. I have a number of herbs that are spreading too much and need to be cut back. I hate to just throw them away though, so I am looking for people who are interested in taking some plants for themselves. Here is the list of plants that are available for the taking:

Peppermint

St. John's Wort

Lemon Balm

Oregano

Marjoram

Sage

Lamb's Ear

Rue

Let me know if you are interested. I would rather they go to good homes than the compost pile.

mint, St. John's wort, lemon balm

Enemies in the Garden

It has been a while since my last post, but the garden is progressing. As it gets warmer outside, more beds in the garden are being filled, some with pretty plants, others with weeds. Unfortunately all of this warm weather has also brought out some of my sworn enemies.

Public Enemy No. 1: The Groundhog

I planted my cabbages in the garden recently, much to the delight of the groundhog, who quickly nibbled most of them to nubs before I got any deterrents into place. Thankfully that is all she has seen fit to devour thus far, but it is very frustrating.

The National Park Service is attempting to trap the groundhog, but after a week the miserable little rodent is proving too smart to take the bait.

For now my best line of defense is sprinkling bloodmeal on the ground in each of the vulnerable beds. It seems to be working for now, though perhaps she has simply already eaten the choicest greens and will wait to return for more.

I intend several other tactics to repel furry pests of all stripes. This will include spraying vulnerable greens with cayenne pepper water, planting mints, calendula (pot marigolds), borage, or other plants which may discourage pests, and placing cotton bags of pet hair near the vegetables. If you have any other methods of passive resistance to recommend, please share them!

Public Enemy No. 2: Field Bindweed

Field Bindweed is a non-native, very invasive perennial plant. It is a relative of the Morning Glory and also has a rather attractive flower when in bloom. Unfortunately is also grows incredibly fast and out of control, strangling other plants and climbing on just about every surface imaginable. It spreads both by seed and by an unbelievably impressive root system which can grow many feet deep. It is also resistant to chemical herbicides of various stripes.

Bindweed has taken up residence in the Pry Garden and there seems to be very little I can do about it, short of constantly pulling it's surface shoots as quickly as I find them. The speed of the plant's growth is genuinely amazing. It threatens to strangle just about everything in the garden if left unchecked.

Enemies of the small and multi-legged persuasion are not yet a real problem, but that is merely a matter of time. My first current line of defense is planting some sacrificial crops near my vulnerable plants. I have planted radishes among my cabbages and peas, which will hopefully be more attractive to pests like flea beetles. When the time comes for worrying about cutworms, I will be employing protective rings to deter those nasty critters. Slugs are already an observable presence in the garden; my tactic with these slimy pests will be beer traps, something that has worked very well for me in the past. Slugs are attracted by containers of beer, in which they promptly drown. The possible pests are quite diverse, and I will likely wait and see what will be a problem before I go too crazy with my preemptive tactics.

Goldenseal

The biggest addition to the Pry Garden recently were two goldenseal plants. I found them growing on the Pry House property around the fire ring behind the house. I was initially surprised and skeptical to find it there because goldenseal is a rare plant in Maryland. Goldenseal is native to a wide swath of North America, but it's popularity as a medicinal herb in the 19th and 20th centuries led to over-harvesting and scarcity. After careful examination and research into look-alike plants, I am confident that this is indeed the real McCoy.

Goldenseal as I found it

The real tell-tale indicator that this is indeed goldenseal is its yellow-orange rootstock. I have read that this golden-colored root is what gives goldenseal its name.

The yellow-orange root of the goldenseal

Because the plants were growing in a very precarious spot, likely to be burned by a fire or weed-whacked by the NPS maintenance staff, I decided to transplant the goldenseal into the Pry Garden. I moved the first plant, but was too late on the second, and it was weed-whacked by NPS maintenance. It was roughly treated, but I transplanted it as well and it should recover.

Goldenseal in its new home

 Goldenseal was very popular as an herbal medicine during the Civil War. It was used to treat a wide range of conditions including cancer, especially of the breast, a range of digestive disorders and complaints, cirrhosis, complications with the female reproductive system and pregnancy, swelling and inflammation, persistent fevers, and host of other ailments, both real and imagined.

Goldenseal was such an important medicine in the 1860s that it became an official part of the Confederate Army's pharmacopeia. In 1862 the Confederate Medical Purveyor offered $1.00 per pound for a supply of goldenseal root.

The plant continues to be a popular alternative medicine today. Unfortunately it does not cure cancer, but is used in treating certain kinds of inflammation, digestive complaints, colds and flu.Goldenseal is used both in promoting and controlling the production of mucous in membranes throughout the body. It is also believed to have strong antibiotic properties. A quick search for goldenseal will yield a wealth of information about the plant and its medical uses.

On a different note, I have to thank Kevin Walker, historian in the cultural resources division at Antietam National Battlefield, for the contribution of some purple coneflowers, or echinacea purpurea, to the Pry Garden.

Echinacea was used during the 1800s similarly to today, as a treatment for colds, flu, and other common communicable diseases. For reasons that are not entirely known, it boosts the body's natural immune system. Echinacea is a common ingredient in over-the-counter remedies for shortening cold and flu.

Purple Coneflower in bloom

Spring Freeze

Spring may be here, but the cold is not quite ready to leave us. Our summery temperatures a couple weeks ago spoiled us, but we are back to more seasonable weather. For the second time since the official start of spring almost two weeks ago, we are expecting freezing temperatures overnight. As with our last freeze warning, I took some time this afternoon to cover the vulnerable plants and seedlings in the garden to protect them from the frost and cold.

I used old sheets, large burlap cocoa bean sacks, and straw to cover up the tender seedlings as well as some of the perennial herbs with vulnerable new growth. Hopefully it will keep the frost off the leaves and insulate the plants for in the wee hours of the morning.

Strawberries under a sheet

During the first frost I neglected to cover most of the hardier perennial plants, but a few of them were nipped by the frost. They will recover just fine, but I have taken care to cover those plants this time.

Marjoram with frost damage

Sage with frost damage

Lemon Balm with frost damage

Despite some cold nights, seedlings both indoors and outside are doing well. For the seedlings outside, it's just a matter of keeping some very invasive vines at bay, keeping the beds moist, and letting the plants do their work. Indoor seedlings should be ready for potting up soon and the cabbage plants can be moved outside. The next batch of seedlings should be along very shortly.

Radishes

Leaf Lettuce

Peas

Peas

Tomatoes

Spring Seeds

It has been a while since my last blog post. I have been very busy in the garden lately!

Spring is officially here, though it feels like it has been here for weeks already. This week the perennial plants in the garden are all leafing out and looking healthy with fresh green growth. Some plants already even have flowers!

Strawberries in bloom

This week I planted the first seeds in the freshly tilled garden beds. It is still too early from most of the plants that will grow in the garden (I hope), but these are some of the more cold-resistant vegetables, and can start earlier. With the unseasonably warm weather, I probably should have planted some of these a little earlier. In the ground this week: garlic, two varieties of radish, seven varieties of lettuce, claytonia (miner's lettuce), dill, and peas.

I lashed together some sticks from the woods to make a trellis for the peas to climb on. I think I may try this with some of my other plants that are hopefully yet to come, including cucumbers and calabash gourds. My old skills from the Boy Scouts came in handy.

I will talk in greater detail about some of the plant varieties that I selected for the garden in future posts. It seems unlucky to talk about them before they germinate. Some are familiar varieties, but others are a little unusual.

If this warm weather keeps up, I may risk planting some of my other seeds and seedlings a little bit earlier. I will have to keep an eye on the weather over the next week or so. I would hate for a surprise frost to spoil things, but I want to take advantage of as much good growing weather as possible.

I have been planting some more seeds to start indoors, and my existing seedlings are all doing fairly well. I will save this as a topic for a future post.

I have also started a compost pile, which will be the subject of another future post.

Tilling the Soil

On Thursday I began to till the raised beds in the garden in preparation for planting, which will begin in the next few weeks. I received another load of manure from one of our wonderful volunteers, Audrey Scanlan-Teller, who owns two horses. After spreading this second delivery, it was time to start working it into the dirt. My grandfather, Clifton Carwile, was nice enough to come up for the day and help me with the work.

It was a beautiful day, making the work outside all the more pleasant. We did the whole job by hand using shovels and turning forks. We turned over 8 1/2 beds, and the front section of the garden is ready for planting when the time is right. I will wait until April to till the back sections along the fence. It feels good to see an observable difference in the garden!

I also took some time to remove straw from around some of the perennial plants and pull out some weeds that are already starting to grow in the garden. Everything seems to have survived our unusally warm winter just fine.

Strawberries!

Unfortunately my indoor seedlings are not all faring quite so well. I have to confess that many of my first round of seedlings have died. However, my more recent planting are doing much better and are beginning to show their first true leaves. These later seedlings are growing in traditional potting soil instead of the coconut husk mixture used in the original seed-starting kit. They have also been exposed to better light from the beginning. I believe that these two factors may be the difference. I transplanted what remained of the first group of seedlings into a mixture of potting soil and dirt from outside, but it remains to be seen whether this will save them or prove too much of a shock. Hopefully pictures of happy, healthy plants are to follow.

Struggling with Seedlings

Because some of the plants for the Pry Garden need some extra time to grow, but it is still cold outside, I am attempting to start them from seed indoors. Unfortunately, some of the seedlings are just not doing very well, and are dying off. I have all but given up on my original plantings of cabbage and onions.

My medicinal herbs are doing somewhat better, but a few of those seedlings have not been looking so great either. I have been very troubled in trying to figure out what I am doing wrong in their care. I am confident that they are getting a good amount of light. I have tried not to over-water the seedlings, but kept them moist. I have given them fertilizer, but not too much.

In frustration last week, I planted a new set of cabbage seeds, but this time in potting soil. These have all sprouted and are already looking much better than the first group of cabbage. They are stronger and a darker green in color.

My sister Samantha is away at college, but I sent her back to school with her own seeds to grow for the garden. She is growing fennel, which was used both as a food and a medicinal herb during the 19th century. So far her seedlings are doing very well, strong and dark green. Her seeds were planted in potting soil in a makeshift dish. Perhaps I should have her grow all of my seedlings!

I am considering transplanting all of my current seedlings into potting soil. I think that expert gardeners might say that this is the wrong thing to do, but I believe that if I leave them where they are now they will only continue to die. The original seed-starting kit I purchased uses a mixture of shredded coconut husk rather than soil as a growing medium. I wonder if this is part of my problem, or if I am just finding it too difficult to properly use.

I have also planted my tomato seeds, but they have not germinated yet, so there is nothing see. Hopefully we will have more on that late.