“The Colonel’s garden: Yard is a project of the Tri-City Garden Club - Quad-Cities Times” plus 4 more |
- The Colonel’s garden: Yard is a project of the Tri-City Garden Club - Quad-Cities Times
- The Home Garden: Spending More, Enjoying It Longer - ABC News
- Start a medicinal herb garden - Oregonian
- Care for plants during drought - Carroll County Online
- Summer tomatoes get cold shoulder - San Francisco Gate
| The Colonel’s garden: Yard is a project of the Tri-City Garden Club - Quad-Cities Times Posted: 23 Aug 2009 12:43 PM PDT No one knows what Col. George Davenport's garden on what is now Arsenal Island looked like or exactly where it was located. But Faye Waterman of Bettendorf knows for a fact that he had one. In combing through microfilmed documents at the Rock Island County Historical Society Library in Moline, Waterman found a letter the City of Davenport's namesake wrote from St. Louis in 1843. At the end of the first page, he said he hoped his son would "attend and have garden made" by the time Davenport got home in May. Waterman did the research as part of a Tri-City Garden Club project to create a garden near the 1833 house that is maintained as a historic site and tourist attraction by the Col. Davenport Historical Foundation. The garden club, celebrating its 90th anniversary this year, decided on the project about 2000 because members felt it would have community impact and provide a feeling of geographic ownership for members regardless of whether they are from Iowa or Illinois, she said. If you visit the site today, you'll see a lovely flower bed filled with blooming plants that are either native to the Midwest or cultured varieties that were available in Davenport's time. Four individual beds are outlined in rock, and there is an arbor made of Osage orange that provides a pleasing frame and focal point. (Osage orange is the tree that drops hedge apples in the fall.) Getting to this point was much easier said than done, though, and there is more to the choice of flowers than meets the eye. Challenges to be met First, Waterman discovered that there are guidelines on what is proper for historic properties. Second, the women had to get permission from three different entities: the foundation, the Arsenal's public works department and the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. The agency initially said no because it had a report indicating there might be an American Indian burial mound in the area. The club did not have money to finance an archaeological dig, but as it happened, the foundation had secured funds for a dig for work at the house, so a core sampling to check for evidence of a mound was added to that project. The sampling found nothing, so the club was able to proceed even though four years had elapsed since members first talked about a garden. Col. Davenport's garden likely would have contained herbs and medicinal plants as well as vegetables, but club members decided on flowering ornamentals. Landscape architect Todd Wiebenga of Aunt Rhodie's in the Village of East Davenport designed a roughly 40-by-24-foot garden, and the club hired his firm in the summer of 2004 to strip the grass and haul in rocks to create the raised beds. Altogether, the club spent about $3,000 on the garden, including the Aunt Rhodie's work and to pay for the purchase of plants, seeds, hoses and faucet connectors, as well as for the construction of the first arbor. But the club's initial planting did little more than provide a smorgasbord for the island's animal population, including deer, groundhogs and rabbits. Back to the drawing board, and success Undeterred, members went back to the drawing board, researching plants that would meet three criteria: -- Be historically accurate to the colonel's time. -- Be vigorous enough to withstand the harsh winds on the site. -- Be unappetizing to deer, groundhogs and other critters. And if the plants could serve a purpose - such as an herbal remedy - so much the better because, in addition to beautification, the garden is intended as "an educational tool to enhance the visiting public's understanding of life in that era," Waterman says. Finally, club members wanted plants that would provide pretty colors from May through October. Club member Sue Laimans of Bettendorf did much of the research, and the second planting that went in during spring 2005 has fared much better. Two years ago, club members added four inches of topsoil to the planting beds - the island's sandy soil would not hold water - and dressed the beds with pine tree mulch. Buster Miller, a member of the foundation, says he and other members are "thrilled" with the garden for both its attractiveness and its educational value. "We are pleased they chose us," he says. "There was nothing there. It was a big open space that cried out for something."
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| The Home Garden: Spending More, Enjoying It Longer - ABC News Posted: 17 Aug 2009 07:28 AM PDT
Retail may be in a drought, but for many garden supply stores, it's been a green season in more ways than one. We're paying a lot more attention to beautifying our own backyards, perhaps because we're traveling less. Americans are spending about 20 percent more than last year on planters, benches and outdoor accessories, according to online sales tracker CSN. That's what often happens during a recession, apparently. Sharon Acocella, manager of Tony's Nurseries in Larchmont, N.Y., remembers her old boss saying years ago, "Economy's doing badly; we'd better buy heavy." She reports that while there's been a falloff in some categories — notably statuary and fancier items — there has been vigorous activity on other fronts. "Blue and black glazed pots are more popular than ever," she says. "We've re-ordered those, and many of our square and rectangular containers, too." Next door at Larchmont Nurseries, Gloria DeMatas and Donna Bianco echo the positive assessment. They've done well with wind chimes, window boxes and pottery. "We've sold lots of cobalt blue pots. They're so eye-catching; they stand out nicely in the garden, and all flowers look beautiful in a blue pot," says DeMatas. Birdbaths are another brisk seller. "Right now, people are enjoying staying at home," Bianco says. "Inside and out, they want to surround themselves with things that make them happy." People investing the last of their discretionary cash in their gardens probably want to enjoy them beyond the summer. Pam Brooks, president of online retrailer Arizona Pottery, likes the durability of polyresin planters, which resist the stresses of freeze and thaw and are conveniently lightweight. "They're crack-proof, weather-proof, and will never fade like plastic," Brooks says. A wide palette of hues, and styles ranging from classical to modern, make these a versatile choice.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Start a medicinal herb garden - Oregonian Posted: 17 Aug 2009 05:48 AM PDT Before synthesized drugs became available, all medicines came from plants, most of them sturdy ones that grow without a lot of fuss in the home garden. Here's what you need to get started: • Build raised beds and fill with organic potting soil. Frame beds with recycled plastic boards, wood or stone or simply mound soil up. • Mix composted manure and peat moss into the soil at a rate of 1 part manure and 1 part peat moss to 4 parts potting soil. Continue to work in manure around plant every year in spring, but don't overdo it. • To new beds, add 1/8 part rock dust (available at some garden centers, nurseries and at Concentrates, 801 S.E. Division Place) for the micronutrients and minerals. Add additional rock dust every two to three years. • Establish pH at 6.5 to 6.8. Use an inexpensive pH monitor to check soil acidity. If it's low, add ground limestone (also called agricultural lime; don't use dolomite lime) to neutralize. Use the amount recommended on the package. Check pH annually and adjust with lime. • In the beginning and every four years or so, add rock phosphate to bring up phosphorus levels and improve plant vigor. Use twice as much as lime, which has rate instructions on the package. • Don't get in a hurry. Start building a bed this year and plant next spring. Sow a crop of green manure this winter: annual rye grass, clovers, Australian field peas and crown vetch are all good candidates. The cover crop is a rich source of nitrogen. Come spring, turn it under, wait two weeks and plant. Add lime when you till in the cover crop to minimize the chance of nitrogen burn. • Once established, herbs require very little care. Don't overwater; you want roots to penetrate deep in search of water so they'll come in contact with more nutrients. Slightly water-stressed plants are stronger. Tomorrow: Good candidates for a medicinal herb garden -- HGNW staff If you want to automatically receive a daily homes and gardens tip, sign up here.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Care for plants during drought - Carroll County Online Posted: 23 Aug 2009 05:22 PM PDT In Carroll and surrounding counties, the land is parched. If you're a gardener you can probably tell by looking at your own garden which plants are suffering the most. Individual plants respond to drought in various ways. Plants may slow or restrict their growth, wilt or curl up in response to lack of water. Most newly established plants and trees need about an inch or so of water per week; however, those that are established can get by with somewhat less. Some plants, such as grass, become dormant after prolonged periods without water. It's nature's way of protecting the grass. The good news is that grass does grow back, so there's no need to water your lawn during a drought.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Summer tomatoes get cold shoulder - San Francisco Gate Posted: 23 Aug 2009 06:31 AM PDT Master Gardener advice lines throughout the San Francisco and Monterey Bay areas have been inundated with complaints from backyard gardeners about spindly tomato plants, poor fruiting and general failure to thrive. "Tomato season? What tomato season?" laughed Jack Schwegmann, recently manning the advice line for the Alameda County Master Gardeners. "The summer veggies got short-shrifted this year. It's just been too cold at night. "Table tomatoes just won't set fruit when the temperatures are below 55 degrees at night. The flowers come on but then just fall off," said Schwegmann, who, at 83, is philosophical about the occasional bad year. "It's one of those crazy things that happens now and again, when the weather just doesn't have any summer in it." The average high temperature in San Francisco was a brisk 65 degrees in July, 3 degrees lower than normal, according to Warren Blier, science officer at the National Weather Service's Monterey Station. Marin's Civic Center and the Oakland Airport recorded cooler-than-normal July temperatures, and San Jose's July high was a full 4 degrees lower than usual, averaging 80 degrees. "Oh, it's been poopy!" said San Jose gardener Bobbi LaPlante. "We even had rain. ... I won't be getting any tomato sauce this year." Making matters worse, many Bay Area gardeners have reported an eruption of late blight, a moisture-loving disease that has wiped out tomato harvests throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states this year. Plant scientists say the blight was spread, at least in part, by infected vegetable starts shipped nationwide by big-box stores. Aside from more heat, there's not much that can be done to boost tomatoes this late in the season. But you can avoid making things worse by watering tomatoes minimally, if at all, to discourage disease. Do not fertilize, which, if it does anything, will only promote leaf growth. Don't despair - any plants that have survived thus far may get a bounce from late-summer heat. And next year, consider cutting back on the finicky heirloom varieties in your garden and include a few of the sturdy hybridized standbys such as 'Early Girls' and 'Juliets.' Or, as longtime coastal gardeners refer to them, "tomato insurance." E-mail comments to home@sfchronicle.com. This article appeared on page L - 2 of the San Francisco Chronicle  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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