Spring Into Gardening! Saturday April 6

The Master Gardeners of Tompkins County are hosting a special day for gardeners on Saturday, April 6 at the DeWitt Middle School, Warren Road, Ithaca. Spring Into Gardening! features 20 different workshops on home vegetable and fruit growing, taught by staff from Cornell University's Horticulture Department, Cornell Cooperative Extension, and professional horticulturists.

EARLYBIRD DEADLINE EXTENDED!  Your choice of 5 workshops plus lunch for only $60! Download a brochure for the complete workshop schedule and registration form. Places are still available for all workshops.

Here are some of the cool and interesting classes offered at Spring Into Gardening!

 Learn how to graft your very own apple tree with Stephen Cummins from Indian Creek Farm

No extra cost for materials, and you get to take home the tree!

Take a tour of a successful school garden with DeWitt science teacher Wayne Gottlieb and learn how gardening can be part of the curriculum

Lee Ginenthal from Der Rosenmeister will talk about growing climbing and rambling roses

Can you really grow paw-paws in Ithaca? Find out at the Edible Landscape class by Josh Dolan, Gardens 4 Humanity

There are still spaces available in all the workshops so don't delay, register today!

Growing Fava Beans in Upstate NY, Part 1

When we lived in Ireland we learned how to grow broad beans, or what we in America call by the Italian name 'fava beans'. Favas are completely different from the edible-pod green beans we grow in the garden in summer. Fava plants get to over 3 feet tall and produce long pods with 6-10 widely-spaced beans. In mild winter climates like Ireland, England or northern California, favas are planted outside in the fall and make beans in the spring and early summer.

 The pods are not edible so you shell out the fresh beans, leaving behind a big pile of pods, then cook them lightly in a stir fry or pasta sauce. They also make an awesome bright green, hummus-like dip. Favas have a sublime flavor that is not like any other bean and they also freeze well. We always had lots in the garden and freezer when we lived in Ireland and we really appreciated having something different to eat with the usual spring crops.

Big, bushy fava bean plants

When we moved back to America last fall I wanted to see if it's possible to grow favas successfully in upstate NY. They prefer cool weather and won't make beans if the temperature goes above 80F. This means that planting them when the ground thaws in late March or early April is likely to result in no beans since it often starts getting hot in June. I know a local market grower who said he tried for a couple of years and never got any harvest due to hot weather in early summer so he gave up.

I decided to try planting favas in the fall, both outside and in our greenhouse, to see if I would have better success. I ordered seeds for four varieties: Banner, said to be hardy to 15F; Dreadnought, an old heirloom variety; Aquadulce, an Italian variety; and Crimson-Flowered, a highly-ornamental variety with deep red flowers.

Fava bean seedlings in the winter greenhouse

I sowed seeds in cell packs in our greenhouse in late November. (We have a 'solar greenhouse' that only goes a few degrees below freezing no matter how bitterly cold it is outside.) By early January I had stout little seedlings growing in small pots. I also planted six plants of each variety outside in December and mulched the plants with fall leaves. These outside plants were mostly covered with snow for the winter so I couldn't see if they were still alive.

 Fava bean plants are under the snow there somewhere!

In March two warm days melted the snow in the garden and I could finally inspect the outside plants - the hardier Banner plants were alive but still small; all the other varieties were gone or with black mushy stems.

 Banner seedlings survived the winter outside under snow cover but froze in March. 

A return to very cold nights with no snow cover in March finished off the remaining Banner plants in the garden.

Meanwhile, the greenhouse plants were growing fast and in February had to be transplanted into big one-gallon pots. In March they started setting flower buds and by the March 20, the first day of spring, Dreadnought and Crimson flowers are opening.

Fava bean plants in one gallon pots in the greenhousestarting to flower

 'Dreadnought' broad bean flowers

 Crimson-Flowered Broad Bean - Pretty enough to plant as an ornamental

Now the dilemma: It's getting hot in the greenhouse, maybe too hot for the flowers to make beans. At the same time, spring is late this year with night temperatures still in the 20's so I can't plant them outside yet. I'm going to move the potted plants onto our covered porch to harden them off, then once the night temperatures settle a bit I will move them into the garden, keeping some row cover handy to cover them up if it gets much below freezing.

I'm feeling hopeful about getting a harvest this spring, but I'm also trying not to count my fava beans before they are podded!

(Go to Growing Fava Beans in Upstate NY, Part 2)

Spider Bling

Spider's are pretty amazing.  Take Charlotte in the book Charlotte's Web by E.B. White.

Charlotte was a barn spider, probably from the writing spider family or Argiope.  She created a new web each night probably after eating her web each evening.  (Quick factoid: although it wasn't in the book, spiders do eat their webs. There's valuable nutrients in a spider web plus pollen, moisture and bug parts which help feed spiders.)

What was amazing about Charlotte was the designs she made in her web. She added Bling!

Here's a picture of a typical black and yellow garden spider.  I don't have a barn for barn spiders so when I see these spiders, I call out "Hello Charlotte!!".  They create amazing oval webs, strung between bushes, trees, houses ~ sometimes at face level. Grrrrrrr. 

GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2, user: Grapnell

This guy, also from the Argiope family, was photographed in Tanzania.  

GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2, Muhammad_Mahdi_Karim

 Note the heavy weaving in the center and how it is used as camouflage.  She's got Bling, just like Charlotte. :)  I wonder if there are some words hidden in there......

(CC BY-SA 3.0) user:User:Kepper66

Here's a "Charlotte" living in Iowa, who blinged up her web with an almost X.  Thankfully, this web is at knee level.... 

My "spider bling" has a scientific name: stabilimentum.  Not only do spiders design their stabilimentum as they please, some add twigs, debris and insect carcases to make the web more attractive.  I know, I know: dead insect parts and pieces *isn't* attractive to us but if we were spiders, they'd be simply lovely.  Charlotte held off on dead bodies in her creations although I bet little boys would love that added to Charlotte's Web!!

Back to the topic at hand.  The exact purpose of stabilimentum is up for discussion.  As we can see, it is used differently by different species of spiders.  Some stabilimentum has been shown to reflect ultraviolet light which can either deter predators or attract prey.  Imagine putting a landing strip on your web, advertising to flies "Hey, land here! It's safe, honest!!".  At the same time, imagine signalling to birds "Don't fly here, its all sticky and goopy."  

For orb spiders who create webs of golden reflective silk, this would not be why they use stabilimentum.  They may use it to reduce vibration and / or increase strength in their web.  Think rubber bands: webs need to flex and give to stay stable and hold prey while trapping and sticking to them as they struggle.  

Our Tanzanian writing spider used their stabilimentum to camouflage their outline (tricky, tricky!!) and make them appear larger to birds or other insects interested in eating them.  Also, scientists theorize it may be in webs because spiders create excess silk that needs to go somewhere.  Okay, that's not the most creative explanation but logical.  

How do spiders know to make these structures?  They just know. Pretty amazing!!

This growing season, keep your eye out for spider bling.  If you see a web with bling, take a minute and try to guess why the spider used it in their web.  If you have a pair of glasses that can detect ultraviolet light like that character in Star Trek, the Next Generation: look for little landing strips outlined in ultraviolet light. 

Stabilimentum aka Spider Bling!!  It's amazing stuff.

Master Gardeners at the Beneficial Insect Workshop

On February 20 six Master Gardeners from Tompkins County traveled to Broome County's CCE office in Binghamton for a full-day training on beneficial insects in the garden. Although most gardeners think of insects as pests, the truth is that the vast majority of insects are beneficial, either as plant pollinators or as predators who eat the bad guys that are feeding on your precious plants.

We all learned a lot about insects, and MG Jennifer Edmondson wrote a detailed account about what she learned that day and posted it on her blog Double E Gardens.

 After the slide presentations on insect anatomy and a gallery of beneficial insects, we learned how to pin insects for a collection.

 Chatting during the lunch break.

 Each county received a kit to start our own beneficial insect collection to educate the public about these good guys in the garden!

Stay tuned for a blog on spider bling by MG Jean Gerow that will be posted here soon!

Call a Conclave of Cardinals to *Your* Backyard

This month, Cardinals from all over the world are flocking to the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City to hold a "cum clave" to elect a new Bishop of Rome; aka the Pope.  

Fortunately for us, we don't have to wait for a Pope to resign to attract flocks of cardinals to our backyards: we just have to provide our feathered friends with food and places to stay!

Cardinalis cardinalis, our Northern Cardinal, is a year round resident of the Finger Lakes Region.  In the image above, the female is on the left, sporting fawn, almost olive colored plumage with red highlights and her male counter part in on the right in a bright red coat of feathers.  Both sexes wear a black eye mask, although on the male it is much more distinct. Many an avid bird watcher remembers seeing their first cardinal pair when young.  The striking red color,  triangular beaks and raised crest on their heads make them easy to identify.  I often wonder if the Cardinals of the Vatican, with their red robes and pointy head gear are mimicking our birds in their dress! 

Here is a listing of native plants you can add to your landscape to attract cardinals.  We've also noted when these plants provide food and if they are good for nest sites and cover.  These lovely birds frequently travel in pairs and feed on a variety of insects, seeds and fruits.  Cardinals also tend to sit low in shrubs and trees and forage on or near the ground.   The Cornell Lab or Ornithology provided this information.  Click and explore their pages to learn more about our feathered friends and what you can do to encourage them to visit your home and garden.  

	Summer Fruiting	Fall Fruiting	Fruits persist in Winter	Nesting	Cover
Nannyberry / Arrowwood (Viburum sp.)		X	X	X	X
Red Osier and Gray Dogwood (Cornus sp.)		X	X	X	X
Staghorn Sumac (Rhus Typhina)		X
Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia)		X	X	X	X
Wild Grape (Vitis sp.)		X		X	X
Crab Apples (Malus sp.)		X	X	X	X
Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida)		X		X
Service Berries (Amelanchier sp.)	X			X
Mulberries (Morus sp.)	X			X

What's GDD? IDK!!!

I learned two things today.

First, I'll never be a textster and secondly, I learned "GDD" is shorthand for Growing Degree Days.

Being a woman of a certain age, not being a textster (my word for a person who texts) is no big deal.  Being a gardener, knowing what GDD is, is a pretty big deal.

Intuitively, we know what GDD are and have worked our gardens using them without even thinking about it.  When you start seeing buds on certain trees or birds arriving and bugs flying, you know it's time to plant certain veggies and flowers.  Researchers have tracked and studied Growing Degree Days (GDD) for years and documented which plants and insects start emerging, growing, blooming etc. at what degree day accumulation levels.  A farmer who wants to try a new variety of crop will look at the GDD to see approximately when to plant, how long to maturity in his neck of the woods and if there is typically enough time to reach maturity for that variety in his region.  Likewise if you are looking to spray for the emergence of apple maggot or horned something creeping-crawly, you can look up how many GDD until they start hatching.  This is how many people use GDD in their IPM programs to help minimize pesticide and herbicide use.  

Cornell has a nice write up about this topic and links here.   You can read about how its calculated and the variables involved.

Plants and insects follow nature, not the calendar.  So should we - with a little help from our scientists.  OMG! WAC!! NTC.   (Oh My Goodness! What A Concept!! Now That's Cool. )

Non-Textstering Jean, signing out!

What to do in the Garden this Month

Spring is coming!  Birds are coming back to upstate NY and it's almost time to get our hands dirty ~ better find the fingernail brush soon. :)

What to do in the garden this month:

• Grab your gardening journal.  If you haven't laid out a plan for your vegetable garden, do so now.  Ditto any new perennial beds you'd like to install this season and any other areas you are thinking of re-vamping.  Make a note of the seeds you've received in and those still on order. 

• Trees and shrubs are best pruned prior to bud development.  Prune now to maintain shape and promote good airflow.  Spring flowering shrubs (such as lilac and azalea) and tree species that bleed (such as birch, elm, maple and yellowwood) should NOT be pruned now: wait until after flowering. 

• Turn your compost pile.

• It's time to begin fertilizing your indoor plants in preparation for end of April repotting. 

• There is still time to order seeds and start plants for spring planting.  Take another peek at those seed catalogues: is there anything else you'd like to try?