Hello
Gardeners!
Here’s
another very short quiz about trees. Since National Arbor Day is April 24th,
I thought I’d focus on trees this month.
This is a true/false question so you have a 50-50 chance of getting it
right.
Can
trees communicate with each other?
True
or False
If
this question stumps you, check out this: Plants
and the Internet
Or
check out this: Plant Talk?
You
may think your trees are just quietly standing in your yard, growing in a lazy
oblivion of other plants, but actually it is more like a juicy drama you could
watch on TV. Trees are involved with great struggles of life and death every
day. They depend on interactions and friend and family networks, similar to
people. Mother trees feed saplings and young upstarts wait for the old monarchs
to fall so they can take their place in the sun. It’s who you know, not what
you know that can spell life or death to a tree.
Now
you’re shaking your head and thinking I have never heard a tree talk even in a
language I don’t know. But trees and other plants do communicate albeit in a
language we cannot hear and at such slow speeds that it would make your
internet communication seem like light-year fast.
You
need to get past the concept that the only ways to communicate are ways people
invented. I’m sure you’ve heard animals communicate by sound or action or at
least seen them do that on some nature show on TV, but plants communicate as
well. We humans like to think we are above all creatures; animals and plants,
but are we?
For
those of you who want a quick overview, here’s a less than 3 minute video about
plant communication.
I’ll
leave you with a quote from one of my favorite books, The Hidden Life of Trees
by Peter Wohlleben:
“A
tree’s most important means of staying connected to other trees is a ‘woodwide
web’ of soil fungi that connects vegetation in an intimate network that allows
the sharing of an enormous amount of information and goods. Scientific research
aimed at understanding the astonishing abilities of this partnership between
fungi and plant has only just begun. The reason trees share food and
communicate is that they need each other. It takes a forest to create a
microclimate suitable for tree growth and sustenance. So it’s not surprising
that isolated trees have far shorter lives than those living connected together
in forests.”
April
24th is National Arbor day—Plant a Tree!
Onto the topic
intended for the Seed Talk tonight, How to Design a Garden.
You
can easily search the internet on how to design a garden and I encourage you to
do so. One of my favorite sites for gardening is by Joe Lamp’l’s called Joe Gardener. He has podcasts, video and
more. But I selected a few others that may help you.
1.
Figure out what you want to grow.
Vegetables,
flowers,
natives?
Once you decide on what you want to grow, look up those plants and find out
what type of soil, sun and moisture they require.
2.
Where do you want a garden?
Where
you place your garden will define the sun, soil and moisture levels you have to
work with. When deciding on the location, keep in mind other activities you do
in your yard such as recreation activities and outdoor eating. Do you want to
see your garden from a window inside your house?
How
much work are you willing to invest? It’s always better to start small so you
don’t feel overwhelmed come the hot days of summer. Try Ten
steps to starting a garden
3.
Know your soil.
Is
your soil mostly sand, clay or silt? How much organic matter is in your soil?
What is the pH of your soil? All good questions when you want to grow
vegetables or flowers. To get a soil test see U of MN soil test
No
matter the type of your soil, it will always benefit from adding compost.
4.
Know how much light your garden will receive.
Most
vegetables need full sun, which is 8 or more hours of sun a day. Flowers range
from shade to full sun. Placing a tomato plant on the north side of your house
won’t kill the plant but you may not get any tomatoes. Planting shade loving
hostas in the full sun will result in sun burnt and shriveled leaves. A
fun way to map the sun in your yard.
If
you’re planting rows of vegetables consider the orientation
of the rows to maximize the sun.
5.
After you draw up a plan, it’s time to dig and plant. Soon you can be proud of
the flowers and vegetables you grew yourself! Remember to keep your plan where
you can find it again, so you can practice crop
rotation for future seasons.
Seed Distribution
I started up the seed
distribution again. The next pickup date
is Friday April 17th, from 4-5pm at the White Bear Lake library’s
parking lot. I think growing your own vegetables is an essential activity
as you are providing food for your family. There are also annual, perennial and
native plant seeds available. I will run it the same as I did in March except
if you want, I can put your bag of seeds in your trunk when you arrive. An
updated list of available seeds is on the blog site. You must pre-order your
seeds by sending me an email with your list of seeds by April 17th
at noon, wblseedlibrary@gmail.com. You can read the details
at the blog site WBL blog site.
I will have another seed pickup on Saturday April 25 from
9-10 am at the White Bear Lake library’s parking lot. To pick up seeds on this
date you must have your order in by Friday April 24 at 7pm.
A note about the Seed
Library’s blog site, WBL Seed
Library. As it is a blog site the most recent post will be first or the
most visible. Previous posts will be under ‘Archive’ on the far right. To find
information of the seed distribution and the lists of seeds available you need
to look under the ‘Archive’ heading.
Please consider
planting an extra row or plant or two for the seed library! We will especially
need pea, bean and lettuce seeds for the next season.
Seed talks
Seed talk on April 14, 6:30 pm, How to Design Your Garden
Cancelled. I was not
able to get Zoom to work on my computer, but I included some information in
this posting.
Seed talk, May 12, 6:30 pm, How to Grow Tomatoes with two
Master Gardeners
Cancelled, but I will
provide some tips for growing tomatoes.
Happy Planting!
Pam
Contact info for the
Seed Library:
Email:
wblseedlibrary@gmail.com
Blog
site: WBL Seed Library
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