The Yellow Farmhouse Garden

We have a flower bed that is right next to a concrete slab. It gets full sun all day and reflected sun from a white wall. It also does not get watered as much as it should.

Because of the hot, dry conditions, we had problems getting plants to grow there.

The solution to our problem was to plant sedum, in this case the variety “Dragon’s Blood”. It is a low growing (3″-4″ tall), sprawling plant that has reddish foliage, hence the name “Dragon’s Blood”.

As the branches grow, they tend to root themselves at that point. Once they are established, they can withstand very dry conditions.

As an additional bonus, they will also flower. Here is a photo I took last week of our Dragon’s Blood sedum blossoming:

As you can see, the sedum densely covers the space, effectively choking out any weeds. It’s a great plant for a difficult area.
Bob

Michigan is reaping the harvest from “globalization” once again. In addition to losing our Ash trees and automotive industry, we can now add to the list our pine trees.

On July 6th, an individual Sirex Woodwasp was collected from an insect trap in Macomb County. These pests were first found in New York back in 2004. Agricultural scientists have been monitoring their traps for this woodwasp ever since. They came into our country via wooden crates made with infested wood.

So it’s official, Michigan is now on the list of areas having this problem, joining New York, Pennsylvania and Ontario.

We have our own Woodwasps but they only attack weak and dying trees. The Sirex, on the other hand attacks all pine trees that have two or three needles per bud. These include Austrian, Jack, Red and Scotch Pines. Even the most vigorously growing trees are not immune to destruction.

Here is a photo of the culprit:

Photo: David R. Lance, USDA APHIS PPQ, Bugwood.org

The female uses its stinger to “sting” the tree and lay its eggs inside.
Sometimes the female dies after laying the eggs and can be found dead but still stuck to the bark:

Photo: Paula Klasmer, Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria, Bugwood.org

The eggs hatch and the larvae (worms) tunnel under the bark and kill the tree:

Photo: William M. Ciesla, Forest Health Management International, Bugwood.org

The oozing sap is a symptom of Sirex Woodwasp infestation…

Photo: Dennis Haugen, Bugwood.org

Let’s hope that our Agriculture officials are right and this pest will pose no threat to our forest industry.

Bob

I believe if you looked back and counted, you will find that I have posted more entries on the subject of Garlic than any other topic.

Well, here is another chapter in the garlic story…harvest time.

The garlic tops have mostly turned yellow and fallen over. That’s the signal. It’s time to dig the garlic. Many people suggest that you knock over all of the plants at this time and let them dry further in the garden. We don’t do that because we have overhead irrigation and the combination of water and garden soil tends to stain the outside skin of the garlic bulb. Staining doesn’t hurt them, but they just don’t look as nice.

We just loosen up the soil near each garlic plant with a garden fork to help us lift them from the bed.

After digging, they get a quick rinse from the garden hose.

Then they are laid out on a table in a shady spot to air dry and cure for several days.

It is during this curing period that the individual cloves form their papery skin. I used a bulb of garlic yesterday and the cloves were surrounded by a skin but it was still white and soft making it a little hard to peel.

Once the garlic has cured, the tops may be cut off and the bulbs stored in the fridge until use.

“Soft neck” garlic tops may braided to form a “rope” of garlic. This makes a very nice gift for your cooking friends.

We harvested somewhere between 400 and 500 bulbs of garlic from our 6 beds this week. Most will have their tops cut off and be given away to our garlic loving friends.

Bob

Oregano is one of my favorite things to grow and harvest. Since it is a perennial, I don’t have to worry about planting it every year and it grows so vigorously that it chokes any weeds that try to “invade its space”.

To harvest it, we simply cut the entire stem. It then goes immediately into the dehydrator (set at 95F) for a day or so.

Wearing latex gloves, we slide our fingers down the stem and the dried leaves come right off. The leaves are packaged in Zip-Loc bags which then are stored in a cool dark place to preserve the flavor and the wonderful bright green color.

I use a lot of oregano when I cook and let me tell you, store boughten oregano is not even in the same league as this stuff!

Bob

We are at the “tail end” of our lettuce harvest. We usually grow at least 3 types of “heading lettuce”…

Iceberg:

Buttercrunch:

Romaine:

Seeds from all three types were obtained from Johnny’s Selected Seeds.

Bob