SACANDAGA GARDEN
CLUB - by Barbara Henry
Courtesy of the Edinburg
Newsletter
Our October meeting featured a visit from Jay Ephraim, Master
Gardener of Fulton and Montgomery Counties. Jay has been in education
in the BroadAlbin/Perth school system for many years and on his
retirement has put his teaching gifts to good use in a number of
presentations and workshops he does as a Master Gardener. Today,
he introduced us to worm culture to show us the benefits of worms
and to show us how easy it is to put a system into use in our own
homes.
Red wiggler worms are the preferred worms;
garden worms do not survive long in the enclosed containers we
use in the house. The
bin only needs to be about a foot and a half deep since worms are
surface feeders. It needs a lid and some air holes and a moderate
temperature such as found in a heated basement or corner of your
kitchen. Newspaper is a perfect bedding material, torn up and dampened
and with some soil added. Then you are ready to add your kitchen
scraps – but not meat or dairy products.
Worm castings are a natural and organic way
to enrich the soil. They provide a slow release fertilizer that
is beneficial to our
plantings, including houseplants, throughout the season. Synthetic
fertilizers are great for a quick boost but a rich, healthy soil
means you don’t need to spend money on synthetic fertilizers.
Natural compost tests out at a ph level of 7.0 which is what we
want to achieve in our gardens.
Some other facts that Jay gave us are that there can be over one
million works in one acre of soil and they can produce 700 pounds
of castings each day. Worms do not have teeth; they are hermaphrodites
(have both the male and female reproductive organs); they can live
as long as four years; they cannot reproduce by being cut up but
the portion with the head may grow a new tail if vital organs are
not damaged; worms mix and aerate soil, they act as mini rototillers
and their tunneling allows for deep water drainage and improves
soil structure and increases nutrient availability. There are over
3,000 species of earth worms in the world.
Jayne Hopper, Margaret Furcoe and Phyllis Smith
were our hostesses for this event and they created beautiful
arrangements to celebrate
this month’s theme – “I heard a bird at branch
of day/Sing from the autumn trees/A song so mystical and calm/So
full of certainties’ – Wm. Alexander Percy. Look at
these arrangements which are posted on the visitscandaga.com website
As winter approaches be aware of some issues that can face some
of our young or thin barked trees (cherry trees and crabapples
for example). Sunscald is characterized by long, sunken dried or
cracked areas of dead bark. On cold days the sun can heat up the
bark to the point where nutrient and water flow will start again.
At night the temperature goes down so the bark becomes cold which
kills the active tissue. If you have trees that might be susceptible
to this, you can wrap the trunk with a tree wrap of a light colored
material which will reflect the sun and keep the bark at a more
constant temperature. You should remove the wrapping after the
first frost. Newly planted trees should be wrapped for two winters
and longer if they are thin barked trees.
photo of Sunscald
Browning or bleaching of evergreen foliage can occur due to excessive
water loss from winter sun and wind. Again during sunny days the
foliage can warm up so that there is cellular activity which is
killed during the frosty cold nights. Early cold temperatures can
damage plants that have not hardened off properly. It is important
not to fertilize in late summer to early fall, you do not want
to encourage new growth that can be damaged. In the spring when
new growth has started, a late frost can have the same affect.
Yews, hemlock and arborvitae should not be
planted on the south or southwest sides of buildings or highly
exposed (windy, sunny)
places. You can prop pine boughs against them to protect them from
the win and sun and as a shelter to catch more snow, nature’s
insulator. You can also wrap plants with burlap, leaving the top
open for some air and light to come through.
In October make sure your plants are well watered – not
overwatered going into winter. Late August to September is when
we want to encourage the plants to harden off so we want to leave
them alone during this time. Tests have shown anti-desiccant and
anti-transpirant sprays to be ineffective.
If you have winter injury, wait until mid-Spring before pruning
out injured foliage. The buds are more cold hardy and they will
often grow and fill in areas that had brown foliage. If the buds
do not survive then prune the dead branches back to living tissue
and provide water and nutrients throughout the following year.
Thanks to Minnesota State Cooperative Extension for this information.
Our next meeting is our annual lunch and auction
at the Sport Island Pub on Thursday, November 5. If you don’t
have a reservation call any of our members and come join us.
