Weather « The Yellow Farmhouse Garden

November 14, 2019

Witch Hazel blooming in the snow

Filed under: Flowers,Insects,Shrubs,Weather — Tags: fall flowering shrubs, flowering shrubs, Late fall, owlet moth, Snow on flowers, Winter flowers, Witch Hazel — bob @ 5:08 pm

Even though the meteorologists had it in their forecasts, the recent big snow and cold temperatures still took us all by surprise. With normal highs in the low fifties and lows in the mid-thirties, some parts of the natural world were caught unprepared too.

I’m sure our witch hazel bush wasn’t expecting over a half-foot of snow and temperatures down in the single digits. Late fall is the normal blooming time for witch hazel. Sure enough, there it was, blooming in the middle of all that extreme weather.

We have our witch hazel planted near a window so we can enjoy its flowers indoors while looking outside.

In addition to flowering in November, witch hazel is kind of unusual for a native plant in that it has both seeds and flowers on its branches at the same time.

The seeds that are present this fall are from flowers that were pollinated last fall. They begin developing in late fall then over-winter on the plant. The following spring the seeds begin growing again and develop into a full-mature seed in the fall. Once the seeds are mature, they are ejected from their seed capsules with a pop! that sends them many feet away. It really is a fascinating plant.

One question you might have is,if witch hazel flowers in the fall when it’s cold outside, how are they pollinated ? All of the bees, wasps, flies, ants or other usual pollinators are not flying or dormant this time of year.

It turns out there are moths that stay active during freezing weather. These moths belong to the owlet moth family (Noctuidae). They fly at night looking for sources of nutrition such as tree sap. And it just so happens witch hazel nectar is a perfectly acceptable food for them. Just like bees, when the moths feed on the nectar, they also inadvertently move pollen around allowing pollination to occur.

We rarely see these moths because they fly at night. I remember back when I was a young kid, I once saw some moths flying in the cold weather. It struck me at that time as being pretty odd.

So did the early snow bury the owlet moths and prevent witch hazel pollination this year? Probably not, the witch hazel was blooming well before the snowstorm and probably were already pollinated by that time.

Bob

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May 3, 2019

Monitor soil temperatures often this spring

Filed under: Soil,Weather — Tags: garden soil conditions, seed germination, seed sprouting, seeds in garden, soil temperature, soil thermometer — bob @ 3:01 pm

Soil temperatures have been cool enough during April that it has slowed down plant growth. My winter rye cover crop looks to be a week behind last year at this date and last year was later than normal as well. So that means we’re really behind. The apple tree buds have finally, slowly opened.

This may be the year to monitor soil temperatures more closely than usual if this cooling trend continues.

Some vegetable crop seeds can be sown into cold soil and do quite well under those conditions while others will not germinate or grow at all. There are certain minimum temperatures that seeds need in order to germinate. Seeds languishing in cold soil will be damaged or more likely, rot in place before they sprout.

For example, at 35 F you can expect spinach, onions, parsnips and lettuce to germinate. We’re well past that point by now.

Although not as durable, a kitchen thermometer makes an adequate replacement for a soil thermometer

Beets, cabbage, cauliflower, swiss chard, radishes, turnips, peas, and broccoli will all germinate at 40 F. Even though they are not technically seeds, seed potatoes will begin to grow at that temperature too.

Sweet corn requires the soil temperature to be at least 50 F. If they are pinched for time, some farmers will plant corn at lower soil temperatures but they always use seeds treated with fungicide to keep them from rotting in the soil.

A minimum soil temperature of 60 F is needed for warm weather crops like beans, cucumbers,melons,pumpkins and squash seeds to sprout.

Keep in mind that these are minimum required temperatures. Optimum germination temperatures may be five, ten or even twenty degrees higher in some cases.

You may have noticed that I didn’t include many common vegetables like peppers or tomatoes in these lists. That’s because in our growing area, those plants are generally grown as started transplants, not from seeds planted directly into the ground.

Bob

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February 1, 2019

Looking at last year’s saved seeds

Filed under: Seeds,Weather — Tags: old seeds, saving seeds, seeds, vegetable seeds flower seeds, viability of seeds — bob @ 1:45 pm

This is the time of year I drag out all of my old seeds from last year and years before that. I always like to take inventory to see what I’ve got on hand before I order anything. We’re in the middle of winter and not all of the seed catalogs have arrived yet.

You would think that after all these years I would have come up with a better system for keeping track of my seeds since I have dozens of different varieties. You know maybe a spreadsheet, color-coded vials, a numbering system things like that, but I don’t.

Some of my current seed collection.

Seeds don’t last forever. In rare cases however, seeds can germinate after decades or even centuries. One famous example is a Judean date palm seed that germinated and grew after 2000 years. Seeds that we use in the home garden typically last just a few years unless special steps are taken to preserve them. If they’re in an unopened, original envelop, they’ll have a better chance of remaining viable for longer periods of time. That’s the principle behind the survival seed kits that are sold on line.

Seeds that are kept dry and in a cool place fare better than those that are exposed to moisture or heat. Located above the Arctic Circle on a remote island, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault takes seed saving to the extreme and is able to store seeds from around the world for expended periods of time. Home gardeners on the other hand, can only do so much. Most of the time we seal up our seeds the best we can and keep try to them away from temperature extremes.

Here’s a chart I put together a while back that you can refer to when deciding whether or not to keep a particular type of seed. I’ve only included the more commonly planted food crops. This assumes that seeds are kept under typical conditions found in a home. Clip it out and save with your seeds.

SEED VIABILITY CHART

Five years	Four years	Three years	Two years	One year
Broccoli	Beets	Beans	Chives	Onion*
Brussels Sprouts	Squash, winter	Leek	Corn	Parsley*
Cabbage	Squash, summer	Lima beans	Okra	Parsnip*
Cauliflower	Swiss chard	Peas	Pepper	Peanut*
Celery	Tomato	Soybean (Edamame)	Popcorn† † may lose viability after one year	* may retain viability for two years
Cucumber
Eggplant
Kale
Lettuce
Muskmelon
Pumpkin
Radish
Rutabaga
Spinach
Turnip
Watermelon

Many people believe that the larger the seed is the longer it will stay viable. Looking at the chart you can see that seed size is not a factor. Compare corn which are large seeds with celery seeds that are quite small. Corn can be stored only for two years before it loses viability while celery lasts five years.

Bob

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December 20, 2018

Protecting my bonsai from bitterly cold winter temperatures

Filed under: Garden Preparation,Weather — Tags: Bonsai, burying bonsai, DIY bonsai, polar vortex, winterizing bonsai — bob @ 12:10 pm

There’s some talk among weather prognosticators about a speed bump developing in the polar vortex this winter. Some are saying very cold, below normal temperatures are just over the horizon and heading our way. If you haven’t already done so, now’s the time to finish up prepping your garden for winter.

I’ve done all I can for my gardens making sure they are all set for the cold weather . The last item I had on my outdoor things-to-do list was winterizing my bonsai trees. Usually I have them all tucked in around the first week of December but this year it’s been so mild that I left them out until this week.

Every year I change the way I winterize them but there are a couple of important things I always make sure happens. First, the roots and tops are protected from the extreme cold and fluctuations in temperature. I do that by digging an over-sized hole in a protected area big enough to bury my pots.

The second thing is to make sure melt water doesn’t settle in to the pots. Re-freezing of water in the pots can cause them to break due to the expansion that occurs when water freezes. So, I tip the pots on their sides keeping the water out.

Placing them on their sides also allows part of the top branches to be in the hole. The surrounding soil helps moderate the temperatures that they are exposed to.

This year I dug my hole in a well-drained area near a group of white pine trees. The trees will slow down brisk winter winds lessening the chance of desiccation.

After placing the trees in the hole I covered them with a layer of white pine needles. That will help insulate them and make it easier to clean off the soil when I take them out in the spring. Then I took the soil that was left from digging the hole and covered the needle covered plants. I also banked up the soil on the pot end of the hole giving additional protection to the roots.

Here the plants are in the hole and partially covered.

Finally, I hauled in tree leaves and covered the entire area including the plants. A small amount of branches are still peeking up through the leaves. Later, when the Christmas tree comes down I’ll cut off boughs from it and lay them over the mound. The boughs will help catch snow allowing it to drift over the spot and provide even more insulation.

I know this sounds like a lot of work for a few plants but my bonsai are valuable to me. I’ve been caring for one tree for seventeen years so I sure don’t want to lose it now.

Bob

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May 1, 2018

Two weeks behind schedule in April

Filed under: Weather — Tags: cold spring, cool spring, degree days, growing degree days — bob @ 8:47 am

The colder than normal April has been a topic of conversation with just about everyone. Mostly I hear people complaining about it but when I talk to people who spend a lot of their leisure time outdoors, the conversation gets much more interesting.

Fishermen I’ve talked to have mentioned how far behind their season is. Mushroom hunters are wondering about their upcoming picking season. Other outdoors people are saying much the same thing. As a gardener, I have to concur, we’re about two weeks behind normal. The agricultural weather people at MSU have measurements and statistics backing up observations made by us outdoors types. The statistic they look at is “growing degree days”.

The growing degree days system is a way of calculating when a crop should be planted and at what stage of growth it should be during the growing season. This is much more accurate than looking at the calendar and expecting “the corn will be knee-high by the fourth of July”. A month like the April we’ve been experiencing demonstrates just how inaccurate simply looking at the calendar date can be.

Late April the rye cover crop was way behind last years growth.

The photo above shows the rye in 2017 was over a foot tall at the same date.

Plants require a certain amount of heat in order to grow and reach their different developmental stages. For example, corn seed germinates, then the seedling grows and forms leaves. The plant later forms silk and tassels out. After fertilization, ears of corn form and eventually ripen. A certain number of growing degree days will have accumulated at each one of these stages.

Insects, since they are cold-blooded, also require heat to grow and progress through their stages of growth: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Like plants, at each stage a certain number of degree days must have accumulated before that particular stage is reached. That gives farmers and gardeners a tool to help predict when an insect pest might arrive and cause damage.

So now that we are two weeks behind at the very beginning of the growing season according to the calendar, what does that mean for us in a practical sense? One way of looking at it is: insect pests have no choice in the matter. They are already two weeks behind in any development they might have made during a normal year and even further behind if this were a warm April. Gardeners will most likely be planting their gardens at pretty much the same time, say near the end of May. If the trend continues, conceivably it would mean gardeners will have a two week head start ahead of the insect pests.

It will be interesting to see how this cold start to the season plays out.

Bob

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