the juice from the flowers and leaves on their hands helps in catching frogs by attracting them and making them less slippery. So that gives the plant a practical side if you need to catch some frogs in your garden. Toad lilies are in the Tricrytis genus with the formosana, hirta and macropoda species most often offered for sale. Hybrids or cultivars of these three species make up most of what is generally in cultivation in the United States. Toad lilies are natives of the eastern Himalayas of Nepal and China and extend their range from Japan and south to Taiwan and the Philippines. They are very popular in Japan where many variegated sports have been discovered. They are rhizomatous and die back in the winter. I started out buying a half dozen hirta species plants by mail order. The hirta species grows about two feet tall and produces a clump of arching stems that develop dozens of flowers along the length of each stem. That was what I saw adver- tised in the magazine. Toad lily flowers are small, no bigger than shirt buttons, and come in a wide variety of colors rang- ing from white and to very dark purple. Many flowers show a white background heavily spotted with Editor’s Note: This is the Class 2006 First Place paper I discovered toad lilies when I spotted an advertisement in a garden magazine. Toad lil- ies were described as exotic plants with small orchid-like flowers that liked shade and bloomed late. The photo showed gracefully arching leafy stems with lovely flowers cov- ering the length of the stems. I was hooked. I knew I had to get toadies for my shady garden. I loved the funny name and I was frustrated try- ing to find plants that bloomed late in the season in my shady garden. That was about six years ago. Since then I have planted more than 40 toad lily plants representing more than 18 various species, hybrids and varieties. I love their first burst of flowers, some as early as August when few other things are bloom- ing, and I love that some are still blooming when the first hard frost hits, sometimes as late as November. They look wonderful with the two other perennials that bloom late in my garden, monkshood (Aconitum fischeri) and white snakeroot (Eupatorium rugusa). According to Allan Armitage in Herbaceous Perennial Plants, toad lilies get their name from a tribe in the Philippines that believes rubbing A quarterly publication of K.C. Area Master Gardeners January 2007 The BACK FENCE Check out the local MG website: www.muextension.missouri.edu/gkcmg/ Toad lilies continued on page 2 Vol. 33, Issue 1 Toad liies .................... 1 Along the alley ............... 4 Soil management and remediation .................. 6 The only national botanical garden ..................... 11 Editor's note ................ 13 Meet the regulars of the Back Fence team ............. 13 Do your vegetables have friends and enemies? .......... 13 In this issue Toad lilies by Terrence Thompson, MG Intern of 2006 Give me odorous at sunrise a garden of beautiful flowers where I can walk undisturbed. —Walt Whitman
Transcript
the juice from the flowers and leaves on their hands helps in catching frogs by attracting them and making them less slippery. So that gives the plant a practical side if you need to catch some frogs in your garden.
Toad lilies are in the Tricrytis genus with the formosana, hirta and macropoda species most often offered for sale. Hybrids or cultivars of these three species make up most of what is generally in cultivation in the United States. Toad lilies are natives of the eastern Himalayas of Nepal and China and extend their range from Japan and south to Taiwan and the Philippines. They are very popular in Japan where many variegated sports have been discovered. They are rhizomatous and die back in the winter.
I started out buying a half dozen hirta species plants by mail order. The hirta species grows about two feet tall and produces a clump of arching stems that develop dozens of flowers along the length of each stem. That was what I saw adver-tised in the magazine.
Toad lily flowers are small, no bigger than shirt buttons, and come in a wide variety of colors rang-ing from white and to very dark purple. Many flowers show a white background heavily spotted with
Editor’s Note: This is the Class 2006 First Place paper
I discovered toad lilies when I spotted an advertisement in a garden magazine. Toad lil-
ies were described as exotic plants with small orchid-like flowers that liked shade and bloomed late. The photo showed gracefully arching leafy stems with lovely flowers cov-ering the length of the stems. I was hooked. I knew I had to get toadies for my shady garden. I loved the funny name and I was frustrated try-ing to find plants that bloomed late in the season in my shady garden.
That was about six years ago. Since then I have planted more than 40 toad lily plants representing more than 18 various species, hybrids and varieties. I love their first burst of flowers, some as early as August when few other things are bloom-ing, and I love that some are still blooming when the first hard frost hits, sometimes as late as November. They look wonderful with the two other perennials that bloom late in my garden, monkshood (Aconitum fischeri) and white snakeroot (Eupatorium rugusa).
According to Allan Armitage in Herbaceous Perennial Plants, toad lilies get their name from a tribe in the Philippines that believes rubbing
A quarterly publication of K.C. Area Master Gardeners January 2007
The BACK FENCECheck out the local MG website: www.muextension.missouri.edu/gkcmg/
The only national botanicalgarden. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Editor's note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Meet the regulars of the Back Fence team . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Do your vegetables havefriends and enemies?. . . . . . . . . . 13
In this issue
Toad liliesby Terrence Thompson, MG Intern of 2006
Give me odorous at sunrise a garden of beautiful flowers where I can walk undisturbed.
—Walt Whitman
2 The Back fence January 2007
various shades of blue to purple such as shown by the formosana and hirta species. Some hybrids and cultivars show flowers that are white with a darker shading of blue or pink along the flower edge along with these spots. There are also pure white flow-ered varieties and some that just have a slight blush of color along the edge of white flowers.
The small flowers demand that toad lilies be planted in the front of the garden or close to a path so they can be seen close up. At the back of this essay are close-up photos (taken by myself) of various toad lily flowers that have bloomed in my garden.
The hirta species are showy when then are covered with flowers along the stem but generally bloom only a couple of weeks. The formosana and macropoda species and their hybrids and cultivars produce flowers in bracts at the end of the stem instead of along the entire stem. They do not show as many flowers at the same time as the hirta type but will keep on producing flowers at their tip ends for many weeks.
After that first mail ordered pur-chase I later found a good source for toadies much closer to home, Longview Gardens and Suburban Gardens in our area. At these stores I have found a wide selection of hybrids and cultivars of toad lilies, some blooming along their stems like the hirta species and others blooming at their tips like the formosana and macropoda species.
No matter what type of “toady” you pick they all prefer well-drained woodland soil with lots of organic material. They also like to be con-stantly moist, which can be a chal-lenge in the often hot, dry summers of our area. I mulch my entire garden heavily in the winter with cotton burr compost, which all my shady plants seem to love. Since I also grow a
dozen varieties of astilbe in my shady garden (which also require lots of water) I have laced hundreds of feet of soaker hose throughout my garden to help meet moisture needs.
Toad lilies are not without their problems, though. Although I have found them to be generally not both-ered by insects, rabbits or deer, some varieties seem to be more susceptible to fungus disease than others. The fungus attacks the leaves, generally from the bottom, turning the leaves yellow and later brown.
Because the fungus attacks at the bottom first, it makes me think that the problem is related to dampness from morning dew and lack of air cir-culation to dry the moisture quickly. A regular dousing with a good fun-gicide helps as does pulling off the diseased leaves and discarding them someplace away from the garden. I have had the worst problems with a hybrid called ‘Blue Wonder’ but some degree of the problem has been shown by most plants. Mostly it just affects the look of the plant. However, smaller, newly planted young plants are susceptible to being completely defoliated by the fungus if they are not treated.
My toadies didn’t like the extreme heat we got in August this year when the temperatures hovered around 100 degrees for almost two weeks. They didn’t wilt but they apparently stopped growing during this heat wave because some bloomed much later than they normally do. That later blooming combined with the early frost nip we received in mid-October put a premature end to a flowering stand of formosana along the lower edge of my garden where the frost hit the worse.
Although toadies are advertised to grow and bloom well in shade, as we all know there are various types of shade. Plant them where they get at least some dappled sun during parts
of the day and maybe some full sun for a couple of hours in the morn-ing. If they are placed in too dark of a spot they may grow and even bloom but they will not flourish. If you plant some of the new variegated types the variegation will not show much unless they are placed where they can get some full sun for a while in the morning.
The variegated cultivators generally can be disappointing if you expect to see prominent marking on the leaves. Generally they show some subtle white along the edge of the leaves. Two of the better variegated cultivars in my experience are the ‘Guilt Edge’ and ‘Samurai’. They do not grow as tall as some of the formosana spe-cies and make lovely specimen plants when tucked in along the edges of the garden. A new cultivar offered this year called ‘Guilty Pleasure’ was advertised as having leaves that came out lime green in color and turned to “gold” as the season progressed. In my garden the leaves on this cultivar just stayed lime green the entire sum-mer. The leaves are much lighter in color than the other toadies I have in the garden, so I am satisfied with that.
One of the real benefits of the named cultivars is that many do not get as tall as the normal species. The formosana species get about three feet tall in dappled sun and as tall as four feet in places where they get full sun in early morning. So the shorter varie-gated cultivars are perfect for planting in front of the taller species.
When you are shopping for toad lilies be sure to check if they are hardy to Zone 5 or below. One of my favorite toadies is Tricyrtis for-mosana ‘Amethystina’. It has drop dead gorgeous flowers tipped with dark blue on the petal ends with light blue spots on a white back-ground through the remainder of the white flower. It starts blooming in
Toad ilies continued from page 1
Toad lilies continued on page 3
January 2007 The Back fence 3
mid July and continues to bloom into fall. Unfortunately it’s a Zone 7 plant and won’t survive most winters here. A small garden center close to my house used to offer these plants in July. I would treat them as annuals by putting some in pots on both sides of the shady bench in my garden. That way I can enjoy the flowers up close when I sit on my shady bench after-noons reading a novel, something I do most summer days after the gar-dening is done.
Beside the Armitage book, another good book is that covers toad lilies is W. George Schmidt’s An Encyclopedia of Shady Perennials. There also is excellent information about toad lil-ies on the Internet. Two webs are the Suite 101 at http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/701/29595, and the Chicago Botanical Garden website at http://www.chicago-botanic.org/pr/press_releases/tricyrtis.html.
The Chicago Botanical Garden information is particularly good because the garden has run 10-year-long tests on which toad lilies did the best in the Midwest. “Toad lilies are noteworthy perennials for their late-season flowers, and with few excep-tions are superb garden plants for the Midwest,” the report said. “Excellent ratings were given to Tricyrtis formo-sana and T. hirta ‘Miyazaki’ because of their superior floral displays, robust
habits, winter hardiness and disease resistance. Flower production on the other toad lilies was usually low at peak bloom, but extended flowering periods of six to 10 weeks were not uncommon.”
Schmidt’s book An Encyclopedia of Shady Perennials mentions some toad-ies produce yellow flowers, the flava and oshumiensis species and a cultivar named ‘Amanagawa’. I think I want some of those plants. The problem, however, is there are just too many kinds of toadies and my garden is get-ting too full to plant them all. But I can try, can’t I?
Cramer, Harriet L. The Shadier Garden. New York: Crescent Books, 1997
Primary SourcePersonal experence of growing toad
lilies in my own garden.Web PagesAs cited in the text.
Dark Beauty
amethystina
Miyazaki
Tojenhttp://www.zetnet.co.uk/~pm/photos/
Toad ilies continued from page 2
by Joanne Couture, Class of ‘91
Play Garden Jeopardy: This Old English suffix (ending) of many plants’ names originally meant “root,” and generally designated herbs that had medicinal uses. What is...? (Solution at end of article)
Meet Some of the Class of 2006
Terrence Thompson has not been idle since he retired from the Kansas City Star (as reporter/political writer/consumer columnist/editorial admin-istrative manager) a few years ago. His large shade garden has “several hundred plants” from the more com-mon columbine, astilbe (a dozen-plus varieties), bleeding heart, hostas and ferns to the more unusual: toad lil-ies, Korean houttuynia lingularia, spotted dead nettle, woodland aster, windflower, white snake root, prai-rie trillium, wild ginger, mayapple, masterwort, barrenwort, lungwort, Solomon’s seal, and many more. “The problem is,” Terrence said, “I bought a couple of books on shade garden-ing and wanted to plant something of everything mentioned in those books.” (Frankly, Terrence, it’s a common botanical type of obsessive-compul-sive disorder that afflicts most MGs, especially in the spring.) Native plants thrive in his smaller, sunnier area: coneflowers, black-eyed susans, squaw weed, shining blue star, bee-balm. For a view of Terrence’s gardens, check his web site at www.ttviews.com. Then, click on “Perennial Garden.” This site is not accessible to all computers. Terrence also grows about a hundred orchids in his basement! Originally
from Oklahoma, Terrence found the most useful part of Level I training to be “What grows best in the KC area.”
Since Suzanne Minner moved to Lee’s Summit from Johnson County about three years ago, her garden’s been “evolving” and “expanding” in her newly built house. “Next year, it will stretch the width of the back-yard.” Roses, her favorite, have been doing well. Best performers: the popular floribunda ‘Knockout’ and the All-American ‘Honey Perfume,’ a well-branched floribunda with apricot yellow blooms and spicy fra-grance. She also likes David Austin’s ‘Noble Anthony’ (pink) and ‘Tamora’ (a soft apricot/yellow/pink). Suzanne especially enjoyed the Level I classes at Powell Gardens and Longview Gardens. She works building and maintaining websites for IRS.
Celine Porrevecchio also is a rosarian. Hybrid teas ‘Papa Meilland,’ a stunning red, and ‘McCartney,’ a strong pink (yes, named for Paul) are preferred for their fragrance, and the intense, red ‘Mr. Lincoln’ for its hardi-ness and beauty. She especially enjoys leisurely evenings listening to the water cascading in her water garden. But Celine also has a rather unusual area: a “Military Garden” originally planted for her son when he joined the Navy and, after 9-ll, “dedicated to all the military.” All the plants have military references, such as the peony ‘Warrior King’ she planted to honor a young friend who saved his platoon from ambush in Iraq. Celine also has iris, tulips, and “over a thousand King Alfred daffodils,” her husband’s favor-ite. Though she especially enjoyed the Level I class on trees, she admits that deer eat her fruit trees before she gets a nibble.
Bob Parkey specializes in veggies and fruits. He’s experimented with lettuce overwintered in a 2’ x 5’ home-made, cold-frame made of two small doors braced with two heavy boards,
stapled with plastic and covered with an old quilt in severe weather. In summer, his Brandywine tomatoes did especially well mulched with newspaper and grass clippings, and his okra (planted for the first time) produced “far more than I knew what to do with.” He had plenty to freeze for winter soup. Not so successfully, Bob moved sixty raspberry plants that his late mother-in-law had raised but summer’s hot, dry weather “took its toll.” Now he’s going to order about thirty of the new black raspberries his neighbor introduced him to, and use “soaker buckets:” four- to-six-gallon buckets with a one-eighth-inch hole punched in the lowest side . . . a trick from a nursery. It takes about forty-five minutes to drain, so very little water runs off. As for Level I train-ing—”I only wish I had the instruc-tion forty years ago!”
Peggy Mosbacher also had excep-tional luck with tomatoes. She planted the varieties suggested in the Kansas City Gardener: ‘Mountain Spring,’ a red hybrid determinate that resists cracking, and the popular ‘Jet Star.’ She supported them with “two lengths of twelve-foot cattle fence tied togeth-er teepee style in a raised bed. I mulch them with newspaper layers cover-ing two soaker hoses, and then add straw mulch as the plants get larger.” Her Roma and cherry tomatoes grow inside “concrete reinforcement wire fashioned into a round cage and sup-ported with metal fence posts.”
Peggy enjoyed all the Level I classes—”I now realize how much information is available”—and found “moisture levels and plant require-ments especially informative.” Originally from Illinois, Peggy retired from the North KC School District teaching secondary English and his-tory but still enjoys sub’ing.
Georgia Lou Quentin may have to convert her garden from shade (“lots of
� The Back fence January 2007
alley continued on page 5
January 2007 The Back fence 5
hostas”) to sun—she’s had a big pine tree removed. “The poor tree was old, big, and 90% brown . . . just old age and tired. I’ll miss it.” At least her dai-sies will benefit! Georgia went to the University of Missouri/Columbia, has lived in Kansas City most of her life, and is retired. As for her Level I class-es, “many times I learned the ‘why’ of what I learned from my father, who had a small home greenhouse, . . . and trees were something I really knew little about . . . I learned a lot.”
Marilyn Schade took early retire-ment from the IRS and swore to do “only FUN things!” But that doesn’t mean lollygagging around: “I want to make my whole back yard into a gar-den.” Right now, she’s especially fond of her lilacs, butterfly bushes, and tree peony, and prefers ‘Better Boy’ or ‘Early Girl’ tomatoes. Marilyn grew up in Pocohontas, Iowa, on a farm that’s been in her family for 120 years! A retired brother who lives there has an amazing vegetable garden on a former feedlot with four feet of black topsoil. (Control your envy, MGs!) The old barn built by her dad in the 40s is still kept in good repair—an unusual thing these days. As the entire area was for-merly old wetlands, Marilyn’s grandfa-ther (aided by family, including seven children) installed tile drainpipe that still functions today—though need-ing a bit tweaking here and there. Marilyn’s favorite part of MG training? “Plant diseases and control of pests.”
Carol Damon had “great success” with last year’s annuals in containers:impatiens ‘Hot Pink Double,’ New Guinea impatiens ‘Celebrette Purple Stripe,’ lantana ‘Simon Red’ and baco-pa ‘Snowstorm Giant Snowflake.’ In perennials, artemesia ‘Silver Mound’ superbly accented her ‘Knock Out’ rose shrubs. And phlox ‘Bright Eyes’ and ‘Laura’ were full and lovely. However, foxglove ‘Sunset’ and pen-stemon ‘Husker Red Beard Tongue’
had good foliage but “didn’t do much.” (Patience, Carol. Remember the old saying that most perennials take three years to grow up: “First they sleep, then they creep, finally they leap!”). Carol plans to add purple wisteria to the silver lace vine and clematis that cover half her pergola. She especially enjoyed the Level I tree class at Burr Oak. Carol, incidentally, works part-time at the Lee’s Summit Grass Pad.
Carol Rauscher, though living in a “maintenance provided area” of Lee’s Summit, has “carved out three nice sized areas for perennials and annuals” in addition to the container plants on their screened-in porch. Last year her favorite combination was orange-red zinnias with blue salvia ‘Rhea.’ “I’m just starting to like the bolder colors, after years of using pastels primarily!” Plus, she’s adding rhododendron, aza-leas, and hydrangeas to the wooded area behind them. Carol got “about 100 more ideas” from the Level I classes, and especially enjoyed the sessions on propagation, trees, pests, and soil. She’s still working as a Parent Educator for the school district, “mak-ing home visits to families with chil-dren from birth to pre-kindergarten.”
Sowings . . .
Jim Braswell (‘02) had a very use-ful article (even for us older perenni-als) in the 11/29/06 Kansas City Star, “Start Planning Now for Summer’s Garden.” Advice: Don’t forget to clean your gardening equipment and till the old veggie garden, but also check our gardening records (it doesn’t have to be one of those fancy $35 notebooks —an extra 2007 calendar will do) for “success and disappointments”—what worked and what didn’t. Jot down “what you want to do in the spring,” what new varieties to try, when to plant seeds indoors, etc.
For bird-loving MGs: Ardys Stone (‘98), who works at the Wild Bird
Center at 44th and Noland, reminds MGs to provide water in the winter not only for birds to drink, but also to “keep their feathers clean—neces-sary to keep them warm. Plus, provide suet for extra body fat.” When ice and snow cover the natural soil, birds need grit. You can buy ground oystershell or make your own: Save eggshells, and, if they haven’t been hard-boiled, boil, oven-bake or microwave them for a few minutes to kill e-coli or sal-monella. Crush in a blender or with a rolling pin. Toss leftovers in your veg-gie beds in the spring. (Note: Ardys’ husband, Stephen, is the MG cartoon-ist who contributes those clever, zany cartoons to our publications.)
Duane Hoover, Horticulturist at the Kauffman Memorial Gardens, has been combing the nursery catalogs. Some new heat-tolerant perennials he’s selected: award-winning nemesia ‘Blue Lagoon,’ osteospermum ‘Lilac Spoon’ (it has spoon-shaped petals), and fuchsia ‘Shadow Dancer’ —very early, compact, with forward-facing, profuse blooms Most of their annuals and some perennials are grown in the Powell Garden greenhouses. Duane’s favorite amendments? “In order first-to-last: compost, manure, small pine bark chips, or something like Soil Pep.”
Remember their late garden mascot, the ever-popular Rocky the Cat?
“As of right now, we’re not replac-ing Rocky. Two neighborhood cats have adopted the garden and are doing a great job of keeping the rabbit and ground squirrel population under control.”
What is a Wort, from the German “wyrt.” The first part of the word often suggested its medicinal use: lungwort, liverwort, soapwort, birthwort. The more common St. John’s wort flowered in June, around St. John Baptist’s feast day. “Wort” was in everyday usage till the 17th century. The Oxford English Dictionary finds over 400 examples of plants ending in “wort.”
alley continued from page �
6 The Back fence January 2007
Soil continued on page 7
Soil management and remediationby Bob Parkey, MG intern, 2006
Editor’s Note: This is the Class 2006 Second Place paper
Introduction
We owe our existence to a thin, fragile skin of weathered and unweathered geological formation on the surface of the earth. This mixture influenced by geological, topographi-cal and biological factors, forms a liv-ing entity, soil. When wetted by water of an appropriate nature, this becomes the fertile substrate from which all ter-restrial life evolves.
In addition to promoting and sus-taining life, soil acts as a living filter for the wastes generated by man and animals by purifying, recycling and detoxifying most toxins and patho-gens. Without this complicated and often mystifying process the envi-ronment would become degraded and toxic. Seldom is soil involved in disease transmission, yet more than often, commonly acknowledged microorganisms within the soil have allowed the formation by scientists of life-saying antibiotics.
Any society so brash or ignorant to allow water and soil to degrade beyond levels to which sustain food production will suffer consequences in urban, industrial and agrarian sectors. The health of national, regional and urban polities and issues of conserva-tion, sustainability, energy, land utiliza-tion, taxation, and food, fiber and feed production depend upon soil and its productivity.
What is Soil?
Soil may be described as a natu-ral entity evolving from biological and synthesized processes of nature. Origin, classification and description
of soil come from pedology, which considers soil a natural body and how soils occur in a natural environment.
Soil varies widely depending upon many factors, but is normally recog-nized as a well defined subdivision composed of characteristics and pro-files which can be recognized by the soil scientist. The term “soil” is nothing more than a collective term for all the known soils, much like the term “veg-etation” refers to all plants.
A vertical section of soil will reveal distinct and often less so distinct hori-zontal layers. Each section is known as a profile and individual layers are known as horizons. The horizons above the parent material are known as solum—a Latin term meaning soil, land or a parcel of land.
Upper soil horizons should contain considerable levels of organic matter and are easily identified by their dark color and smooth texture. Topsoil is the commonly used term for this sur-face soil.
Underlying layers (subsoil) contain less organic matter. Subsoils vary, but normally divide into two specific belts: (a) upper belt consisting of loss of organic matter and minerals, (b) lower belt having an accumulation of iron and aluminum oxides, clays, gypsum and calcium carbonate.
Layers of soil are often not easily defined due to a subtle and gradual transition. Horizons are usually more easily identified both visually and by observing impact on the growth of higher plants.
Topsoil is the major area of root zone development due to its abil-ity to carry nutrients and moisture. Cultivation of topsoil allows manipu-
lation and management of physical condition by allowing incorpora-tion of organic residues. Treatments with organic synthetic fertilizers and amendments such as limestone or gyp-sum are rather simply achieved. The productivity of a soil, dependent heav-ily upon its fertility may be manipulat-ed. The importance of topsoil substan-tiates the amount of soil investigation and research devoted to such.
Soils may also be characterized as organic or inorganic. Soils are nor-mally low in organic matter at their surface layers and often range from 1% to 10% organic matter. Soils in marshes, swamps and bogs often contain 80% to 96% organic matter. Organic soils contain more than 20% by weight organic matter, or are a dif-fering type containing 12% to 18% organic matter and are continually saturated with water.
What is Organic Matter?
Organic matter is an accumulation of partially decayed and synthesized plant and/or animal wastes or residues. As this material is continually being broken down by soil microorgan-isms, a constant effort must be made to renew these plant and/or animal wastes and residues.
Organic matter comprises only about 2% to 6% of a typical well-drained mineral soil by weight. This low percentage is more than offset by the impact on soil properties and plant growth. Organic matter is largely responsible for producing a loose manageable soil and is a major source of phosphorus and sulfur while remaining the sole natural source of nitrogen. The ability of organic mat-ter to increase the amount of moisture a soil can hold and the proportion of this water available for plant growth is critical. Organic matter is the main source of energy for soil organisms and without such all biochemical activity
January 2007 The Back fence 7
Soil continued from page 6
Soil continued on page 8
would come to a halt.Humus plays a major role in soil
organic matter. Materials not subject to the vigorous attack of soil organ-isms but are more resistant products of decomposition such as are synthesized or modified from original plant tissue are known as humus. Usually black to brown in color, colloidal in nature and known for its ability to hold water and nutrient ions, humus has the abil-ity to exceed even the holding power of clay—its inorganic counterpart. A small amount of humus will influence tremendously the ability of a soil to promote plant production.
The Importance of Proper pH
Lawns of questionable fertility must be monitored closely for proper pH. It would seem only natural for a rainfor-est to have extensive biodiversity of soil organisms and a desert to be quite marginal. Duke University has found this to be the opposite.
Soil samples collected from 98 sites throughout North and South America came from rainforests, tundra, grass-lands and deserts. Geographic area that was well studied had available data of seasonal temperatures, rainfalls, etc. Each soil sample was fingerprinted using a KNA technique that recognizes a relative index of diversity of species, rather than telling how many species are present in a soil sample.
Not one thing normally considered critical for the diversity of animals and plants was found to be the case—not latitude, moisture or temperature. The only factor found universally to be of importance was soil pH. Acidic soils harbored fewer species while alkaline soils showed far greater diversity. Soils of similar pH tended to support simi-lar colonies of bacteria even when sep-arated by large geographical distances.
The Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute in Walnut Creek, Ca. believes if you have the same pH you
will get the same microbes throughout the planet. Watch that pH in your soil!
Begin the Challenge!
Let’s take the above boring and detailed information and put it to practical application for the hom-eowner. Let’s assume your properly assembled soil samples have yielded an analysis showing a highly erodible soil needing a structured approach to allow it to reach its potential.
We’ll assume this is a typical yard in Eastern Jackson County, Missouri which the developer has allowed a scalping of most topsoil and having such valuable soil deposited against the basement walls when clay would have been far more effective for the result desired. But trucking in clay would impact slightly the bottom line in the developer’s annual income sheet, so therefore the unsuspecting hom-eowner is deprived of his/her right to have a quality topsoil resource. Most yards in Eastern Jackson, after scalp-ing, are mostly clay unless the hom-eowner is one of the lucky five percent
of land owners to have the soil type Sibley, a soil that has excellent growth potential once the organic matter and missing topsoil is replaced. Both topsoil and organic matter will take a coordinated effort and time to achieve.
We’ll also assume a slight elevation contour allowing proper drainage dur-ing normal precipitation, but a ten-dency toward serious erosion during heavy rainfalls due to lack of organic matter and quality topsoil.
In the Midwest there is a preoccu-pation to copy the English estate form of lawn management: a few stately trees of prominence, a few bushes and/or roses strategically placed far too close to the dwelling’s founda-tion and a large open area of grass of a monoculture normally poorly suited to climate, environment and soil conditions. Thus, the “American dream” contributes to a never-ending series of challenges. Housing develop-ment covenants all too often mandate the “cookie-cutter” template for both
cartoon by Stephen Stone
8 The Back fence January 2007
cartoon by Stephen Stone
house and yard being only distin-guishable by light reflective numbers on the mailbox.
To begin the process of managing and remediating the challenged soil, the first priority is organic matter and its merits discussed above. Due to a lack of accessible, affordable and assailable sources of compost, the best approach is to supply your own through the use of “green manure” or cover-cropping.
Let’s assume the home of your dreams sits in its grandeur in an open lot with the obligatory two maple trees during the latter part of August. It’s obvious much needs to be done to compliment the two eight year old Sunset Maples ignobly deposited by means of a tree spade two weeks prior to your current move-in date. The challenge to address the stress these two survivors of industrial nursery science have endured has your hands rather full, but the bog of mud in front of your house beckons.
Cover Cropping—Green Manure
A very suitable cover crop can be an excellent first step and even keep your neighbors semi-hospitable. Cover crops can be legumes, cereal grain crops or any appropriate mixture grown specifically to protect that frag-ile section of soil against erosion while adding significantly to soil structure, enhancing the resident soil fertility and lessening insect infestations. Cover crops are best used when soils are normally left vacant or when seasons allow their use without interfering with the main crop, which in this case is a lawn of some stature and much utility. Annual rye grasses make an excellent cover crop for the suburbs. Rye is attractive, quick-growing and a major root producing cultivar.
We’ll begin with tillage of the soil usually best accomplished by a repu-table lawn seeding service with experi-
enced personnel and adequate equip-ment. Review your proposed program with the lawn service and you will probably find not only some respect in that you demonstrate you are not the typical clueless homeowner, but also the impact on their bottom line because they will be seeding this lawn again come early spring. What you are accomplishing is the freedom from being enslaved to synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides much unlike that of the typical homeowner. By first and foremost feeding the soil, you will be able to diminish the loss of exces-sive nutrients, herbicides, and insec-ticides from the typical yard, which contributes to the never-ending cycle of water and soil contamination.
Total annual use in the United States is about twenty millions tons of NPK, and is the highest in the world. This excessive use of fertilizers and other chemicals have an adverse
effect on water quality and the flux of trace gasses from your soil to the atmosphere. To reduce this excessive wasting of nutrients, use formulations geared to the needs of your soil as diagnosed through your soil sample. Let your soil and grass tell you when topical applications are needed and don’t follow religiously the five-step program advocated by your local pur-veyor of grass seed, fertilizer, herbi-cides, insecticides and whatever else is in vogue this year.
The amount of potentially com-postable organic matter in the United States is about one billion tons per year. The proper use of these biosolids can dramatically increase soil quality and decrease use of chemical fertil-izers. Biological nitrogen fixations through legumes or green cover as we are applying in the annual rye seed-ing are two excellent ways to reduce
Soil continued from page 7
Soil continued on page 9
Janaury 2007 The Back fence 9
dependence on chemical fertilizers and the energy costs associated with the manufacture and transportation of such. The choice of appropriate sole management systems improves soil quality, allows appropriate carbon utilization, and improves the environ-ment and soil productivity.
Let’s assume the soil has been prop-erly tilled, fertilizer applied according to soil sample recommendations and an annual ryegrass suitable for your winter zone has been seeded with adequate compaction from a Brillion seeder or similar device. Moisture becomes the next critical factor along with climatic conditions conducive to seed growth.
Keep the soil moist, not overwa-tered, and limit traffic on the lawn as much as possible. A water-measuring device to assure equal and adequate moisture delivery to all areas of the new lawn can be merely an empty tuna can. When it is half full, move the lawn sprinklers.
With a normal fall and freezing temperatures not a concern until late October or early November, this lawn may require a few mowings to give the necessary manicured appearance. Do not bag the grass regardless how lush the growth and how deep the clippings after mowing. You are build-ing a cover crop or green manure for the lawn this coming spring and aim-ing to build organic matter, humus and topsoil.
Composting—the Indore Method
Now is the time to become a wel-comed member of your new commu-nity. If mature maples, oaks or hicko-ries are in goodly number in your neighborhood, there always exists an elderly family for which leaf removal is a challenge and expense each year. Become the answer to their problem by volunteering to remove those leaves at no cost and transport this multi-
colored treasure to your backyard composting area. Let’s hope you have had the foresight to construct three composting bins of suitable size and appearance to perform the task neces-sary without raising the eyebrows of those less familiar with gardening and composting.
The time honored Indore Process of composting was first recognized and advocated by Sir Albert Howard in England during 1947. His pro-cess though rather rigid is still valid today even though these principles particularly suited for the physical and climatic conditions of Indore, India. Although Sir Albert’s process was on a much larger scale than we shall explore, and most his piles were anaerobic, we’ll still follow most of his recommendations closely.
In this compost bin lay down a six inch layer of leaves which have been twice mowed or shredded with a rota-ry mower or similar device capable of reducing the leaf size to one-half inch diameter or less. Mix with fresh grass clippings or virtually any type of fresh green vegetable matter. The Indore process recommends two inches of manure on top of the leaf and grass mixture with a sprinkling of dried blood meal, hoof or horn meal and soil. A one inch layer of soil on top of the grass-leaf combination will nor-mally perform quite well if the soil is of good quality and not coming from your scalped front yard.
A typical scalped soil will need the assistance recommended above by the Indore method of composting. Since a sizeable pile of fresh cow or chicken manure will probably raise eyebrows, not to mention nostrils, a safer and possibly saner approach would be to purchase two or three bags of the cheapest dog food at your local dis-count store. By reading the label you will notice goodly levels of grain and assorted nitrogen sources along with
virtually no protein sources other than a protein meal of questionable qual-ity for the dog, but just about perfect for aerobic bacteria. Adding about one inch of dog food per six inches of the leaf-grass combination and cover-ing with a thin layer of soil until your compost pile is about three to four feet high and three feet to four feet diameter will be adequate. Remember to keep the moisture level consistent with each replicate of the above for-mulation. These ingredients along with macro- and micro-ingredients added to the dog food will assist in balancing the compost mix into a really fine fin-ished product which your plants, your soil and your soil’s resident population of microorganisms will readily accept.
Poke ventilation holes using a long crowbar or something similar, making certain the bar reaches all the way to the bottom of the pile. Several of these ventilation holes evenly spread in a circle approximately one foot from the edge of the pile and two such holes in the center of the pile should be ade-quate. A less exertive way uses a cord-less drill and a bulb auger of adequate length to reach the bottom of the pile. Due to the increased size of the auger over that of the crowbar, one-half the number of holes should be adequate. The cordless drive approach not only relieves compaction and discourages anaerobic bacteria formation and its resulting rank odor, but also moves and mixes the multiple layers thus increasing the aerobic effect. Adequate moisture addition becomes simple and should over-watering as in a heavy rain occur; the excess moisture can rapidly drain into these ventila-tion shafts.
For six weeks, watch your pile and respond immediately to any foul odors, which indicate over-watering. Immediately turn the pile, re-ventilate using the cordless drill or crowbar approach and monitor for additional
Soil continued from page 8
Soil continued on page 10
10 The Back fence January 2007
attention, if needed. If no activity or very limited activity occurs, the prob-lem is usually inadequate moisture. Use your ventilation holes as moisture entry areas, but add the moisture slowly so as to give time for lateral and vertical absorption.
After six weeks, remove this mate-rial and mix it in equal parts by weight with the remaining, or freshly gathered leaves and grass to the remaining two wire bins. Those leaves which came from the resident bin will have at least begun a composting process on their own and will act as an excellent starter for new composting piles. Layer six inches of the leaf-grass non-composted combination with approximately one inch of the product from the resident bin, water adequately, aerate and monitor normally. Refill the resident bin using the above original formula of dog food, leaves and grass mixed properly, adequate moisture, aeration and started product from the resident bin. This resident bin will become the incubator for all future compost-ing needs if used as directed above without any further need of cheap dog food as a compost starter.
In early spring, the two satellite bins should be able to contribute an adequate amount of quality compost for your vegetable garden. One inch of compost dug into the soil by spade or tiller is an excellent start for any new garden. Any remaining compost can be used to encourage annuals and perennials, not to mention how appre-ciative those two obligatory maples in the front yard will be.
Spring Seeding
With the gradual warming of late March comes the time to astonish your neighbors by completely turning under that dark green and luxurious stand of rye grass, if it’s still alive. If not, it has contributed greatly already to the organic matter and texture of
your abused yard. If the rye grass is green, it will need approximately six weeks to allow decomposition with-out soil nutrient competition for nitro-gen becoming a challenge between your new seedbed and the decompos-ing rye grass.
Regardless how dedicated an organ-ic gardener you are, swallow your pride and use adequate synthetic fertil-izer for the new grass seedlings. Once those seedlings have been mowed several times, the organic program can become your mainstay for healthy grass and topsoil by using compost as nutrient. Preferably, your seedlings are a mixture of fescue and blue grass appropriate for your growing area and by no means a monoculture of bluegrass or fescue. Profitable chemi-cal industries are built and maintained well by monocultures and the pests, weeds and diseases, which closely fol-low this approach. A bluegrass-fescue combination appropriate for your area will allow both grasses to show their strengths—fall and spring for the blue grass and hot dry summer for the fescue. This will also allow your soil to provide the nutrients needed for grass and lessen the amount of added moisture needed while decreasing the leaching effect of the continuous lawn sprinkler seen on most lawns today. You’re not just having a nice yard, but rather you are being a responsible steward of the soil and reaping the benefits healthy topsoil has to offer. The compost and green manure will give your soil a condition of qual-ity not normally achieved in years of “Chemlawn” technology.
By mid-July in year two, the weekly and sometimes daily watering ritual your neighbors have become enslaved to will cause your lawn to become infamous for its toughness. The lawn will speak for itself, but the real hero, the soil, will be ignored by the envious neighbor who will question you about grass type, fertilizer, mowing heights,
etc, and never realize those first few steps of green manure and composting produced that green miracle.
Summary
The world population increased to six billion in 2000, yet our soil reserves have decreased heavily due to degradation and conversion to non-agriculture use. Arable land per capita was .23 hectare in 1995 and will only be .14 hectare in 2050 if normal land management practices prevail. The quality of life of man and animal depends to a very large degree upon one of the poorest understood of all resources—soil.
In the old Roman Empire, all roads usually led to Rome. To improve our soil, our production of feed-stuff, animals and our way of life, all roads lead to adequate soil manage-ment. Soil quality must be managed, restored and improved. We have proved in a small way using the above lawn experience that it can be done. It only takes commitment, knowledge and foresight!
Works Cited
Brady, Neil C. The Nature and Properties of Soil. New York, Macmillan, 1984.
Brownlee, C. “Live Underfoot” Science News 14 January 2006: vol.169, p.21.
Campbell, Stu. Let It Rot. Pownall, Storey Communications, 1998.
Gerard, Robert “States of Carbon, States of Nitrogen” Acres, USA, June 2006: vol. 36, No.6, p.32.
Stell, Elizabeth P. Secrets to Great Soil. Canada: Transcontinental Publishing, 1998.
Summer, Malcolm E. and Lawrence P. Wilding, Handbook of Soil Science. Boca Raton, CRC Press, 2000.
Soil continued from page 9
Janaury 2007 The Back fence 11
My vacation to Maui and Kauai allowed me the chance to see several breath-
taking gardens. Let’s start with the only national botanical garden in the United States:
The National Tropical Botanical Garden www.ntbg.org is the only nationally-chartered (but supported through contributions and grants) tropical botanical garden in the United States. The NTBG is dedicated to advancing scientific research, public education and plant conservation. Conservation of tropical plant diver-sity, particularly rare and endangered species, is a focus. The NTBG includes four gardens in Hawaii, one garden in south Florida, and three preserves in Hawaii. In total, they include over 1,800 acres. All of the locations share similar climates because they lie near the Tropic of Cancer, slightly north of the equator. The NTBG’s dedication to education can be seen in this article. My McBryde Garden and Allerton Garden tour guide, Jon Letman, vol-unteered to read this piece for accu-racy and suggest enhancements, as did the NTBG’s Publishing Department. Thank you, Jon.
The five NTBG gardens are:McBryde: The first garden created,
McBryde is 252 acres on the south shore of Kauai. It is the largest ex situ* collection of native Hawaiian flora in existence, plus many other plants col-lected from the tropical regions of the world. Major research, education and propagation facilities are here with a 12,000 volume research library and over 50,000 dried plant specimens. NTBG is headquartered adjacent to the McBryde Garden.
The only national botanical gardenby Becky Peck, Class of 2003
Allerton: Allerton is called Lawa’i-Kai by the family and covers more than 80 acres that are adjacent to McBryde. The masterpiece of garden art and outside “rooms” that you find here are the work of Robert and John Gregg Allerton.
Limahuli: Limahuli Gardens is located on Kauai’s wet north shore in Haena. Their 1,000 acres of pre-serves cover a tropical valley that includes three distinct ecological zones. The actual garden covers 17 acres. This site has ongoing programs in watershed protection and studies in plant and animal stream life. In 1997, Limahuli “was selected by the American Horticultural Society as the best natural botanical garden in the US, noting its research, teaching and educational programs have demon-strated the best sound environmental practices of water, soil, and rare plant conservation in overall garden design.”
Kahanu: Kahanu is on the Hana coast, on the eastern shores of Maui. An oasis amidst the black lava flow, Kahanu’s 123 acres include collections from the Pacific Islands, concentrat-ing on plants of value to the people of Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia. Kahanu has the largest known col-lections of breadfruit cultivars, which serves as a germplasm repository for this food crop.
The Kampong (Florida): The 11-acre Kampong is on Biscayne Bay in Coconut Grove, Florida. Here, you find a collection of flowering trees and tropical fruit cultivars. The Kampong is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
I visited the McBryde Garden and Allerton Garden immediately after
they reopened following last winter’s torrential rain. Our visit focused on the lower altitude Allerton Garden due to the damage suffered in the rains by the McBryde Garden. The summit of Mt. Waialeale in Kauai’s interior had received 130 inches of rain in about six weeks.
Mr. Allerton began Allerton Gardens when we was 63 years old. He has a “Midwest connection.” Robert Allerton was born in Chicago. See this link for more details: http://www.allerton.uiuc.edu/html/history.html. Before coming to Kauai and buying this property, Robert Allerton created the Robert Allerton Park by contributing his private estate, The Farms, outside Monticello, Illinois, to the University of Illinois http://www.continuinged.uiuc.edu//alerton/. The Allerton home and adjacent beach property on Kauai are well-known for their inclusion in the opening shots for each week’s Fantasy Island show. In more recent years, you may recall the giant winding roots of the Moreton Bay fig trees where dinosaur eggs were found in Jurassic Park. These trees’ roots encircle and choke other trees within their reach. To get a perspective on their size, see the photo above; I am, at five-feet-six
Botanic continued on page 12
12 The Back fence January 2007
inches, standing within the roots.Our tour guide, Jon, told us there
were three types of plants in Kauai: native, Polynesian, and modern intro-duced plants. Generally speaking, most of the flowers we associate with Hawaii are not native. Only about 1100 species are, and they do not include anthuriums, birds of paradise and red ginger. See the photo (below) of a very endangered plant, the kanaloa, getting ready to bloom. Only one of these plants still exists in the wild and the plant in the garden has not set viable seed. NTBG is attempt-ing to save this endangered species using micropropagation techniques (tissue culture).
Breadfruit is another passion of the NTBG. Part of the fig family, this tree can produce fruit for 50 years or more. The huge fruit is round, oval or elongated. When roasted, the fruit is creamy white or pale yellow, with the texture and fragrance of bread. Some say that it has the taste of potatoes. Most are seedless, but some variet-ies do have seeds. On the NTBG web site, click on Breadfruit Institute to learn more.
If you can’t make the trip to Hawaii right now, at least make the trip to the internet and go straight to www.NTBG.org. It is worth your while.
I found that in Hawaii, historical
gardens are not just at the botanical gardens. Staying on the south shore of Kauai, I found that my hotel, Kiahuna Plantation on Poipu Beach, contained a historic garden: Moir Pa’u a Laka or “skirt of Laka” after the Hawaiian goddess of hula and the early Hawaiian name for the area.
The resort was originally the estate of Hector Moir and his wife, Alexandra “Sandie” Knudsen. Mrs. Moir’s father
gave the couple the property as a wedding present. Their lava stone manor home was the site of many social gather-ings because Hector Moir was the manager of the nearby Koloa Sugar Plantation. The home is now the
main lobby of the Kiahuna Plantation resort.
The gardens were Sandie Moir’s hobby. Like all gardeners, she learned from her mistakes. She first planted tropicals with high water require-ments like ginger and heliconia and they failed to thrive due to low rain-fall. Next, the cactus and succulent garden was born. She continued adding rare and exotic cactus, suc-culents, trees and other plants like wiliwili, hau, coconut and plumeria. Her brother-in-law was a world trav-eler and presented her with specimens from his travels. Many of them are still in the gardens as are many of Sandie’s
antiques. The orchid and bromeliad section is so impressive it causes employees and guests to donate more plants! I have never seen dendrobium
orchids that were nearly as tall as me before. Take a look at the accompany-ing photo. Everything that grows in Hawaii seems to grow bigger!
In 1948, the gardens were classi-fied as “one of the ten best cactus and succulent gardens in the world,” rank-ing with Huntington Gardens and the Royal Gardens of Monaco. They have appeared in Life and Sunset magazines and in the book Great Gardens of America among other publications.
The fiftieth state is a real beauty. Mahalo, Hawaii, for an experience to remember.
*Ex-situ conservation means liter-ally, “off-site conservation”. It is the process of protecting an endangered species of plant or animal by remov-ing it from an unsafe or threatened habitat and placing it or part of it under the care of humans. While ex-situ conservation is comprised of some of the oldest and best known conservation methods known to man, it also involves newer, sometimes con-troversial laboratory methods.
Botanic continued from page 11
Orchids at the kiahuna Plantation resort
Janaury 2007 The Back fence 13
editor’s noteby Jim Braswell, Class of 2002
Effective very soon, maybe by the time this issue of Back Fence prints, I will be retiring from my 31-year job in the pharmaceutical industry. Although I will have lots of “free time” on my hands, my future plans will surely take care of that. I have applied for several seasonal, part-time, wildlife/conserva-tion jobs. If accepted, these will likely take me away from the KC area for considerable lengths of time. I will also be attending photography school in Montana for several weeks, to fine-tune my nature photography skills and to help promote my current nature photography business.
Even with all these activities, I am hoping to continue working with the Back Fence and the many team members that make it such a joy. But to assure that my time away does not adversely affect the Back Fence, Becky Peck has agreed to be a co-chair of the Back Fence. When I am at home, Becky and I will work closely together on Back Fence matters and when I am away, Becky will act as sole editor. Even then, I’m hoping to have e-mail avail-ability to assist Becky, when needed.
Thus, from this time forward, if you wish to contact us about Back Fence articles, ideas, etc., please e-mail both of us with any correspondence:
us gets the message in a timely man-ner. Thanks for everyone’s understand-ing and help with this matter. If you have any ideas or suggestions for the Back Fence, please let us know.
Jim
Meet the regulars of the Back Fence teamby Jim Braswell, Class of 2002
Often, we take things for granted. I just wanted to take a small portion of this issue of the Back Fence to highlight some of the key team mem-bers that work together to make this a special, little part of the Master
Gardener’s of Greater Kansas City.First, I’d like to acknowledge all the great work done by Laurie Chipman
(Class of 1998). Laurie is our layout person . . . to simplify, she’s the one who makes the presentation of the Back Fence so attractive, making the articles, pho-tos and Gardoons fit the allotted space. Without Laurie’s great work, I’m afraid our publication would look very ordinary and would remind us all of our high school term papers (yuk!). Laurie has been involved in the layout for about 8 years. She owns her own business, Chipman Design, and has been self-employed for more than 20 years. Her work involves graphic design, illustration and proj-ect management, working with professional writers, photographers, marketers and printers all over town. Her specialties include annual reports, catalogs, greet-ing cards, displays, brochures, calendars, etc. Thanks for lending your talents to the Back Fence, Laurie!
Next, what would our publication be without the Gardoons? I’m sure these put a smile on your face, as they do mine. Stephen Stone (Class of 1997) has been involved with artwork for the Back Fence since 1997, when asked by late Master Gardener Bill McCue (then editor of Back Fence) to help with some art-work. Although Stephen had not drawn anything since he joined the Kansas City Police Department in 1965, he nervously proceeded. I think you would agree with me that he has done an exceptional job. By the way, the term “Gardoons” comes from “gardening” and “cartoons” and the copyright of “Ardyart” comes from his biggest admirer and supporter, his wife Ardys (also a Master Gardener, Class of 1998). Thanks, Stephen, for bringing a little chuckle into our lives!
Are you like me and open every issue of Back Fence to see what’s new in the lives of our Master Gardener brothers and sisters? Thanks to Joanne Couture (Class of 1991), we can always catch up on what’s happening to each other. Her tenure with the Master Gardeners includes being a former member and chair of the Speaker’s Bureau and Steering Committee. When asked how long she has been working on the “Alley” column, Joanne tells me “for years”, going back to when Bill McCue was editor (circa 1997). Joanne sees the column as a fun thing since she loves to write. Joanne previously taught high school literature and writ-ing for 21 years and has also been a “roving” technical writing instructor for vari-ous metro businesses. Her main interests are gardening and birding, and Joanne is a former member of the local National Audubon group. Thanks, Joanne, for keeping us up-to-date with local Master Gardener news!
If you were to pick up a series of Back Fence issues, what author would you find probably contributed articles to every single issue in your hand? The first name that should come to mind is Becky Peck (Class of 2003). Becky can always be counted on when we need articles for the Back Fence. She loves to write and travel, often combining these interests to give us a great look at local, regional or national gardens. This past year, Becky was instrumental in developing and main-
Regulars continued on page 16
1� The Back fence January 2007
There is scientific research to support the concept that cer-tain combinations of plants
benefit each other. Practical experi-ence also shows benefits for certain combinations. Companion planting can be traced to the Native Americans and their concept of the Three Sisters: corn, bean and squash. In true envi-ronmental cooperation, the corn pro-vides a climbing stalk for the beans; the beans provide nitrogen to the soil to nourish the corn; and the squash leaves spread out, preventing com-petition from unwanted vegetation and shade for corn’s shallow roots. Companion planting is, of course, one of the concepts of organic gardening.
The benefits of plant combinations can be many and varied. It may be as simple as similar growing require-
ments. One plant may shade another or become a “plant trellis” for a vin-ing friend to climb. This helps use garden space more efficiently. One may be a good replenisher of nitro-gen, which the other plant needs. The scent of some friends helps to drive away the bug predators of the other. Or, conversely, they may draw bugs that attack the pests of the other. I began my quest to find plant friends and foes with Carrots Love Tomatoes by Louise Riotte. I then went to the Organic Gardening magazine web site. Although both are highly consistent, I did find controversy. My book said tomatoes are foes of cabbages. The Organic Gardening site said “Tomatoes are repellent to diamondback moth larvae, which are caterpillars that chew large holes in cabbage leaves.”
This would make them a friend to the cabbages.
What would make two vegetables unsuitable as garden neighbors? Let’s take tomatoes and corn. The tomato fruitworm and corn earworm are iden-tical. Sometimes sharing is not such a good thing, so keep them apart. Carrots will have poor flavor if they have long periods of hot weather, OR. there is too much nitrogen. Putting them next to a plant that produces nitrogen might detract from their fla-vor. It would also be common sense to intermingle vegetable plant types in the garden rather than planting several rows of the same plant in one large section. This creates a huge welcome sign for pests of the mass planting.
Here are some of the more com-mon vegetable garden plants and their friends and foes. During these remaining winter days while you plan your garden, consider plant-ing your vegetables by their favorite neighbors this year and let us know how it works out:
Do your vegetables have friends and enemies?by Becky Peck, Class of 2003
Cabbage family (includes Hyssop, thyme, wormwood and Strawberries, tomatoes, pole beans.cauliflower, kale, kohlrabi, southernwood, aromatic plants or broccoli, collards, brussels those with many blossoms, peppermint, sprouts, rutabaga and turnip) celery, dill, chamomile, sage, rosemary, onions, beets, cucumbers, potatoes
For another opinion on companion planting, Master Gardener Sally Jean Cunningham has a book called Great Garden Companions. Consider adding it to your winter reading list.
Pea Carrots, turnips, radishes, cucumbers, corn, beans, potatoes, as well as many aromatic herbs
Pepper, sweet Basil, okra
Potatoes Sweet alyssum
Pumpkin Corn
Radish Nasturtiums, beets, spinach, carrots, Hyssop (European mint). Do not parsnips, cucumbers, squash, melons, rotate with cabbage, cauliflower, tomatoes, kohlrabi, bush beans, brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, broccoli pole beans, spinach or turnip as they are all members of the cabbage family.Salsify Mustard greens, watermelon
Shallot Most garden vegetables Peas, beans
Spinach Strawberries, radishes
Squash Radishes, nasturtiums
Tomato Asparagus, chives, onion, parsley, All members of the cabbage family, marigold, nasturtium, carrot, garlic potatoes, fennel.
Turnip Hairy vetch, peas, radish, clover Hedge mustard, knotweed, and do not rotate with members of the cabbage familyWatermelon Potatoes
16 The Back fence January 2007
The Back FenceQuarterly pubication of the k.c. Metro area Master Gardeners
University of Missouri, Lincoln University, U.S. Department of Agriculture & Local University Extension Councils Cooperating University Outreach & Extension does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability or status as a Vietnam era veteran in employ-ment or programs.
taining our biweekly column (“On the Grow”) in the Kansas City Star. Becky is a CPA, working during the day and teaching accounting at William Jewell at night. Her free time is devoted to her three children, gardening, horseback riding and her pets (four dogs and a cat). Thanks for all your help, Becky!
Working with these long-term team members has really been a joy for me and I look forward to continue working with each of them. Thank you, all!
