Leonard Moorehead, the Urban Gardener: Green Thumbs Anyone?
Sunday, May 01, 2016
Everyone has a green thumb. April has forgotten all but the last frost and green thumbs are easy to find. You’ll catch sight of them in garden centers and roadside stands. Some tug plant laden red children’s wagons; others seek the latest hybrid pansies. More often lately, heirloom stalwarts are the hip thing to do. Green thumbs are among us and we smile. There is much good at hand.
Move potted plants gradually outdoors. Choose a sheltered place in partial sunlight and protected from wind. Geraniums are hardy plants. Like gardeners themselves, a long winter indoors and limited sunshine is welcome. However a full day in direct sunlight will burn leaves. Breezes will break leggy stems. They will need more water.
Keep close to a door for quick nighttime storage just in case a last frost nips plants kept in constant room temperature. Groom leggy houseplants. Remove withered leaves, dead stems, and leggy growth. Spray with warm water or give a good shower to remove dust and thoroughly moisten the houseplant. Save the trimmed over growth, moisten the stems, dust with Rootone or other root hormone products.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTSoak clean 4-6 inch clay pots in ware until the pots are thoroughly saturated. Enjoy the sizzle escaping air bubbles make as the pots absorb moisture. Fill with potting soil; push a pencil until it hits the pot’s bottom. Be gentle, insert cuttings into the hole, press the soil firmly, down and around the cutting, remove all but a couple leaves and top off with additional soil. Water. Keep the cuttings moist in a place protected from wind and direct sunshine.
Begonias, geraniums, and many other houseplants are easy to propagate from over wintered mother plants. Once new growth emerges, transplant cuttings into larger pots or containers. They will tolerate much more sunlight when properly rooted. Save money for plants more commonly bought or get a jump start on smaller plants from the nursery.
Scented geraniums are a joy. Like other members of the vast geranium family, rose scented geraniums tolerate dryness. They are more rose scented than most roses. Geraniums bloom best as pot bound plants, a subtle hint for their care. They prefer well drained soil not particularly packed with nutrients. I keep a mother plant in the house over the winter for its benign presence. Rose geraniums become leggy late in winter. Each tender new stem becomes a cutting. They do well set out in the garden, best of all next to roses better known for their color and shape but lacking in fragrance.
Why stop at rose scent? Cinnamon, nutmeg, pineapple, lemon and many other scents satisfy the most discerning nose. Collectors are naturally drawn to assemble scented geraniums for their reliable boost to the spirit.
Although tomatoes and other warm weather plants are available, take advantage of cool spring for those plants that thrive on the shoulders of the growing season. Kale deserves a spot in the garden. Purple and red strains are the most nutritious and less seen offered in the local produce section. Give your garden space more punch by growing kales outside of the narrow definition of deep green. Curly leafed, deep purple ranging towards red colored kale lends extra nutrition and visual appeal to the garden. Kale may be planted late in winter and sown directly into the soil right up to Memorial Day. Established plants will yield many harvests, cut with sharp pruners close to the main stem, oldest leaves first. Remove flower stalks.
Kale and its Brassica cousins thrive in well drained soils high in organic content. Six hours of sunlight is their chief requirement. Permanent mulch not only keeps their root system undisturbed and moist but also prevents soil from splattering onto leaves. It is a gardener’s privilege to snack upon clean kale leaves from plant to mouth.
Avoid mass plantings of any one cultivar whenever possible. Healthy kale is insect resistant. Confuse predatory insects or at least give yours the advantage. Plant in several locations around the garden. Kale will tolerate taller neighbors during warm weather only to rebound late in August to offer continuous harvest until snow hides all but the last leaf. Many gardeners prefer cool weather kale for its great flavor. Grow in separate spaces for greater visual appeal and healthy insect resistant plants. Test different varieties in the quest for the best match between gardener and garden.
Kale’s cousins are legion. Cabbages and Brussel Sprouts thrive in the same soils and photo period. Plant thickly and thin out the smaller for early meals. At the first sign of infestation, not so common in healthy soils, spray with Neem or simply vegetable oil. The oils will control insects without any impact upon gardener or soil. Your favorite vinaigrette is a fine non-toxic insect spray. Mix garlic, oil, vinegar, rosemary and a tad of sea salt. Spray whenever insects appear on dry sunny days. Renew protection after rainfall or watering has washed stems and leaves. Tradition advises sprinkling table salt over cabbage heads for dense thick cabbages. The trace elements in sea salt offer many benefits to leached soils.
Utilize every chance to grow multiple crops in the same space. Peas are robust in cool spring and bolt as soon as warm weather settles in. Edible pod peas are good choices for space conscious urban gardeners. Nothing is sweeter than fresh picked peas. Raise a crop of peas for harvest 60-65 days after planting. Turn the soil over and bury the plants or cut and remove to the compost heap. Plant warm weather beans in the same location and enjoy harvest from August into late September.
Peas like simple trellis support. Here’s a great opportunity to be creative. Re-purpose found stakes, lumber or poles in the design of choice. Plant beans to grow up the same trellis as peas only taller. “Pole” beans clamor skyward in tight spaces. Enjoy the best of flavor and visual appeal with colorful French horticultural beans. Their fertile and abundant blooms attract humming birds. Scarlet runner beans are deep red, multi colored pink and red bloom types. Harvest pole beans when immature. It’s inevitable you’ll overlook some, save the mature beans for next year’s crop. Late in the summer, clear away the tired beans and sow kale for harvest in October and into the winter.
Thick permanent mulches cut down laborious weeding. Torn brown leaf bags are excellent buffers between dormant seeds and sunlight. Cover the brown paper with straw or hay mulch for more tidy appearance. Moist paper will become humus, dry paper endures for years. A layer of hay over the paper keeps the paper in contact with moist soil and out of sight. When a volunteer appears, they are easy to spot and remove. Perhaps though, volunteers pique your sensibilities. No one denounces the random Johnny Jump Up or Money plant. Plant pansies or their ancestral viola, the Johnny Jump Up, along the margins of the garden. Do not expect them to stay at home. Rather, violas famously roam to emerge in the most unexpected places. Welcome serendipity to the garden. Haven’t you had enough of spread sheets? The green thumbs around us are convinced.
Leonard Moorehead is a life-long gardener. He practices organic-bio/dynamic gardening techniques in a side lot surrounded by city neighborhoods in Providence RI. His adventures in composting, wood chips, manure, seaweed, hay and enormous amounts of leaves are minor distractions to the joy of cultivating the soil with flowers, herbs, vegetables, berries, and dwarf fruit trees
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