Hymenocallis and The Girl's Tomato Clubs

Posted on August 9, 2011 by Jay White

A lovely hymenocallis border around an out building at the Milam County Museum.

This weekend, my wife and I were returning from my 30th class reunion in Waco. On the way home we passed through Cameron, Texas . Cameron is a charming little town full of friendly folks and beautiful Victorian homes. It is also the county seat of Milam County. Since we love old homes and old courthouses, we decided to ride around and do a little exploring. We quickly found our way to the courthouse and happened on two very fortuitous finds.

The Texas State Historical Marker honoring Edna Trigg and the Girl's Tomato Clubs

Girl’s Tomato Clubs – Our first “find” was a state historical sign that was erected to honor the accomplishments of Mrs. Edna Westbrook Trigg and the Girl’s Tomato Clubs of Texas (for more information check out my article in Hort Update). Exactly one hundred years ago, Mrs. Trigg started the first all girl agricultural clubs in Texas. These clubs were established as a way to introduce rural youth to the latest in agricultural practices. There were several of these types of clubs throughout the south during this time and they were collectively called “canning clubs”. According to Marie Comer (founder of the Girl’s Tomato Clubs in South Carolina) these clubs were established to “not learn simply how to grow better and more perfect tomatoes, but how to grow better and more perfect women.”

From the start, these clubs paid special attention to improving the heart, head and hands of the members. If you recognize that last phrase, you should. It is the original motto of 4H. I add this because these “canning clubs” were the precursors of the modern 4H organizations that we are all familiar with.

Lovely hymenocallis at the Milam County Museum

Hymenocallis – The other thing that I “discovered” in Cameron was an incredible hedge of hymenocallis growing around the perimeter of the Milam County Museum. This museum is the old county jail. During its operation, it housed both inmates and the family of the county sheriff. Today it is furnished much like it was before it became a museum. The museum had three incredibly beautiful borders filled with a very beautiful variety of hymenocallis.

Hymenocallis is a large scale plant. Some varieties can reach four feet. They have large, smooth, glossy, deep green foliage that looks great even when the plant is not blooming. The flowers are large, white cups with long, “spidery” stamens. Some people call hymenocallis spider lily or swamp lily. However, they are not lilies at all. Hymenocallis are members of the same plant family as amaryllis. There are 63 varieties that are native to the tropical areas of the Americas. One variety of interest to us in the Lone Star state is called the “Texan Spider Lily” (Hymenocallis liriosme). The “Texan Spider Lily” has large white flowers with yellow centers and blooms throughout the summer.

A hymencallis border at the Milam County Museum. With foliage this lovely, who needs flowers?

You can plant Hymenocallis bulbs in the spring or the fall. They should be planted 4” to 6” deep with the neck of the bulb exposed. Space the bulbs 1’ apart in full sun or partial shade. They like well drained soil that has been deeply worked with organic material. Water regularly but do not over water. 1” per week should be fine. Hymencallis also do well as potted plants.

If you have never been to Cameron, you should make time to visit. It is a lovely community that is close to Waco, Temple, Bryan-College Station and of course, Brenham. In addition to the museum, Cameron hosts the annual Dewberry Festival in the spring. It also has several antique bridges, a miniature model of the city, and many large scale murals on downtown buildings. It is also home to Ideal Poultry. They are the largest producer of backyard poultry in the country. So, if you are looking for something to do on one of these last hot summer weekends, load up the camera and head to Cameron. Who knows what you will find!

One of the murals in downtown Cameron. This one honors the dairy industry and milk producing plant that was once there. Notice the shape of Texas in the cow's spots.

Eight Ways to Stretch Your Garden Dollars

Posted on August 4, 2011 by Jay White

Right now, times are tough and everyone is looking for ways to save money. Gardeners are no exception. Gardening is a lot of fun and almost 5 million Americans practice some sort of gardening at their homes. However, if you are not careful, your little garden can wind up costing you a lot of money. Whether you grow vegetables or ornamentals, these timely tips will allow you to get the most out of your garden without draining your bank account.

A bunch of narcissus and oxbloods given to me by a friend

Publicize – If you love to garden, tell people. You will be surprised how much stuff people will give you once the word is out that you like to grow stuff. I have a friend that inherited an old home. The previous owners were avid gardeners and the abandoned yard is full of heirloom plants and bulbs. When she found out that I love old fashioned plants, she told me I could have anything I could dig up. So far I have harvested literally hundreds of daffodil, spider lily, oxblood lily and crinum bulbs. I have also transplanted some yaupons. I am going back this fall to get some flowering quince and crepe myrtles.

My row garden with hay mulch

Mulch – If you have read much of my blog, you know I am a big fan of mulch. Mulch reduces the amount of water you use, so lower water bills. It also suppresses weeds, so less is spent on herbicides. Mulch can be expensive if you buy it in bags. That’s why I never do that. I buy my mulch in bulk. Each year I buy three different types of mulch. I get hardwood mulch from my local landfill. I drive up in my truck and they load me up. I pay a very modest 1 cent per pound for this mulch. I use this hardwood mulch in my flower beds in the early spring. I buy it then because the “mulch” that is in the landfill has generally been sitting there composting since fall. So, if you buy in early spring, you get mulch that already has a good percentage of it that has already turned to compost.

I also buy mushroom compost in bulk. I get mine delivered from a local firm. While it is a little pricey initially, it is the best money I spend all year. My last load of mushroom compost cost me $320 for a ten cubic yard dump truck load. While it is technically compost, I use it much like you would use mulch. I practice no till gardening in my kitchen garden. I simply put several inches of this on top of my beds either right before or after planting. Even though it is pre-composted, it continues to break down in the garden and supply vital nitrogen and other essential nutrients to the plants. It also suppresses weeds and conserves moisture.

I also use a lot of hay as mulch in my vegetable gardens. Hay can be expensive if you buy the little square bales. However, you can usually find round bales for anywhere from $50 to $80 and the farmer will usually deliver. A round bale contains as much hay as 10-12 square bales. When you buy hay or straw to use as mulch, be sure to ask the farmer if it has been treated with any herbicides. Some of the herbicides sprayed today can linger in the hay and will kill your vegetables if used as mulch.

Several trays of azelia cuttings that I helped a friend of mine prepare

Propagate – Propagation is by far the cheapest way to increase your plant material outside of someone giving you plants. Propagation is generally pretty easy. A quick Google search will provide you with very good instructions and very good videos to watch so you can see exactly how it is done. Some plants are incredibly easy to propagate. Roses are one of these. Other plants that are very easy are coleus, sweet potato vine, lantana, coral honeysuckle and many more. Also, all of the bulbs that naturalize here can be divided every two or three years. Simply dig them up in the fall, pull them apart and replant.

An old "cowboy bathtub" repurposed as a planter

Reuse – My wife and I are “junkers”. We love going to garage and estate sales. We find a lot of very useful things for the garden at very cheap prices at these sales. Almost all of my gardening tools came from estate sales. So did my big tiller. Another thing that we are always on the lookout for are old galvanized buckets. We use these as planters. We also buy almost every terra cota pot that we find.

Compost – If you don’t have a compost pile, start one. Compost is truly an amazing gift to your garden. It is easy to make and it does so much for your plants and your soil. There are a million ways to compost, so pick one and just do it. I make my own compost. However, I just don’t generate enough to meet all of my needs. However, I garden on a fairly large scale. If you have a small garden or if you only grow in containers, you can probably make enough free fertilizer and soil conditioner from your kitchen and yard waste to meet your needs.

Be creative – I love to tackle little landscaping projects around my house. I would do a lot more if landscaping materials weren’t so expensive. Since I don’t have a large budget to support my hobby, I am always looking at magazines and other landscapes to find cheap alternatives for my landscaping designs. A perfect example of this happened the other day. While at a garage sale, my wife found a HUGE box full of those old glass insulators from electric lines. We bought the whole lot for $20. There were well over 100 insulators in the box. We are going put Christmas lights inside them and use them to line one of our paths. We will have a very cute and cool night light set up in the garden and all it will wind up costing us less than $50.

My wife enjoying a Framer's Market in Tulsa, Ok

Buy off season – Right now is the best time to buy perennials. Nurseries that have not sold all of their spring stock now have whatever is left DRAMATICALLY marked down. You will find sales of up 75% off at most nurseries and garden centers right now in the hottest part of the year. Sure the plants you buy will need a little extra TLC to get them safely into the fall, but for 75% off, the extra TLC is worth it.

Sell your harvest – Finally, if you do so well in your frugal garden that you can’t use all that you grow, sell it! That’s right. Sell the bounty from your garden and actually make a little on your hobby. Right now, the demand for locally grown, organic produce and flowers has never been higher. Just about every city and town in America now has a Farmer’s Market of some kind. Booth rent at these markets is usually very low and you will be surprised at how much you can sell.

Linnaeus Teaching Garden

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Jay White

A statue of Carl Linneaus, the father of botany and the namesake of the Linneaus Teaching Garden

The Linneaus Teaching Garden in Tulsa is an incredibly beautiful place that was a gift to the citizens of Tulsa by the citizens of Tulsa. The garden is the vision of a true Master of Horticulture named Barry Fugatt. Mr. Fugatt is the resident horticulturist at the Tulsa Garden Center. In 2005 he approached the director with a plan to create a garden that would educate the people of Tulsa on the horticultural possibilities for their own yards and gardens.

A lovely bed as you approach the teaching center

Over the rest of 2005 and 2006, 3000 people contributed the $800,000 needed to get this project off the ground. With funding secured, the city authorized the use of 1.5 acres in Woodward Park to be used as the home of what was to become the Linneaus Teaching Garden. Industry sponsors donated the material and labor to build the structures and hardscapes. This trend of giving has continued and the garden has now thrived for five years without the need to take any public money.

Summer phlox and a bumble bee

The center is staffed by a cadre of trained volunteers. To work here, you must complete a 12 week course that covers everything from plant taxonomy to landscape design. Once the course is complete, the volunteers agree to provide at least 40 hours of their time to the garden each calendar year.

In the yupneck’s humble opinion, this type of garden is needed in every city in America. The gardens are beautiful and they are filled with plants that grow well in Tulsa. There is no sales pitch. If you want to beautify your yard or start a vegetable garden, then all you have to do is stroll around this 1.5 acre oasis. Every planting is clearly marked and selected soley because it does well in the Tulsa area. If you want to know more about the plants or the methods that have caught your eye, then you can ask any of the very friendly and well trained staff for the additional info.

Lovely water feature

The Linneas is not just about ornamentals. The vegetable garden was just as lovely as the beds. I loved the extensive use of containers. As more and more urban dwellers catch the gardening bug, container gardening is going to become a much more common way of growing veggies. Containers are easy to get started and easy to maintain. In fact, a container filled with the appropriate media (soil) will generally have fewer weeds, require no chemical fertilization and use much less water than a traditional, in the ground, row garden. One complaint I have often heard people make about container gardens is that they cannot grow big vegetables like corn. The Linneaus has obviously disproved this urban legend.

I have never seen corn grown in a container. Very interesting. I also liked seeing the whiskey barrels reused as very attractive container gardens.

With the feel of a public garden and a mission of education, this garden is an incredibly rare and valuable resource for the gardeners of Tulsa. The fact that it is completely funded by private donations and staffed by people that are as passionate about horticulture as I am makes me love it even more. I wish I had something like this in my neck of the woods.

Pansies in the middle of June! I don't think were in Zone 9 any more!

The Potato Box Experiment Is A Complete Failure

Posted on June 28, 2011 by Jay White

This is what failure looks like. Out of two large potato boxes, this is all I got.

Well, all of the foliage of the potatoes in my potato box died so I decided to take the boxes apart and harvest my 200 lbs of potatoes. Imagine my shock when I took the sides down from the box growing the red La Soda’s and found — NOTHING!!! That is right, nothing. Not a single little potato. So, much discouraged, I proceeded to take apart the box containing the white Keenebec’s. I was relieved to discover that this box was not a total failure. I found one tiny little potato, smaller than a ping pong ball. So, I am calling both boxes failures.

I don’t yet know what went wrong. I followed the instructions that I found on the web very carefully. I spent quite a bit of time, effort and money on this and it was a complete and total disaster. I will be doing some research to see if I can get to the bottom of this mystery.

Everything looked so good in April. I really cannot figure out what went wrong.

I just cannot yet accept that this is a bad method for growing potatoes. There are just too many magazine articles and web posts about it for it to be an unsound method. Right now, I am going to write this off to a bad year. My friend Cynthia Mueller tried to grow several varieies of potatoes in her BCS garden and she had dismal luck as well. As I have talked to other gardeners I have found that this was a hit and miss year for potatoes in general. Some folks did well, but many folks that I have talked to have not had any luck either.

I am not a quitter. I will try this experiment again in the fall. Fall potatoes are a bit trickier than spring potatoes but I am going to try nonetheless.

A Garden Shower

Posted on April 6, 2011 by Jay White

Andrew and Bridget with their new container garden

Bridget O’Brien and Andrew Hoyt are getting married! Bridget is the Tours Program Manager at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston and her betrothed is an English teacher at the Christo Rey Jesuit College Preparatory School in Houston. To celebrate their upcoming nuptials, my daughter Heather and her friend Lindsey Smith threw them a “Garden Shower” this past weekend. Now from what I gathered, a “Garden Shower” is much like any other bridal shower. Invitations were sent, punch was made, cakes were baked and gifts were presented. However, where this one differed was in the entertainment. Now I have to admit, I have never actually been to a bridal shower before. But, from what I am told, the entertainment usually takes the form of silly party games. Not this one. This shower, being garden themed, featured a very engaging, entertaining and educational garden speaker.

If you haven’t guessed by now, that garden speaker was me. While I am not really all that famous, I do love talking to others about gardening. Most of the attendees were young museum professionals that have the desire to garden but are somewhat lacking in the space. So, we covered several topics related to container gardening. As one of Andrew and Bridget’s gifts, the group worked together to create a 15 gallon veggie/flower garden that they got to take home. In that garden, they will be growing and harvesting tomatoes, cucumbers and marigolds.

The yupneck explaining the finer points of plant selection

Most of the attendees are recent college graduates that work for non profits (translation-they are still poor), so we also talked quite a bit about plant selection and propagation. My friends at A&M donated a very large coleus that we proceeded to chop up and turn into about 20 new plants. Each guest got the opportunity to take cuttings and root them in their own 5” bio-degradable peat pot.

The betrothed and a large portion of the Education Department of the MFAH. From left to right: Andrew Hoyt, Bridget O'Brien, Lindsey Smith, Sarah Wheeler, Margret Mims and Heather White

All in all, it was a lovely event. We laughed, we learned and we gardened; a perfect afternoon! I would like to thank everyone that came and say a special thank you to my daughter for inviting me to participate in this celebration. Andrew and Bridget, I wish you all the best. May your life and your garden be bountiful!

Garden Experiments

Posted on April 5, 2011 by Jay White

I love to experiment in my garden. Every year, I grow something that I have never grown before or I try to grow an old stand-by in a new way. This year, I am doing both.

My first experiment this year is potato boxes. I am currently growing white potatoes (Kennebec) and new potatoes (La Soda) in wooden boxes that I “add to” as the potato plants grow. According to the website that I found (http://www.re-nest.com/re-nest/gardening/how-to-grow-100-pounds-of-potatoes-in-4-square-feet-081760), these 2’ X 2’ boxes can yield about 100 pounds of potatoes each. While I am a little skeptical of these numbers, I will let you know how accurate that estimate is in a few weeks.

One of my two potato boxes

The process for this is pretty simple (see the drawing below). Basically, make four corner posts 33” long ( I used 4X4’s). Cut two 1X6’s 24” long and two more 25 ½ “ long. Screw them to the corner posts. Place your seed potatoes (I used 12 whole potatoes) in the bottom of the box and cover with soil (I used mushroom compost). As the plants grow, keep covering with soil or compost so that no more than 6” to 12” of plant is showing. As the planting area gets full of soil, add another row of 1X6’s and continue the process until the box has sides that are 33”. Once the box is full and plants are coming out of the top, you can remove the bottom layer of 1X6 and harvest as you need.

So far, my experiment seems to be working just as it has was described. The Kennebecs are doing great. I already have three layers of 1X6 in place and I will probably have to add another this weekend. The new potatoes had a slow start but they are beginning to take off now. I can’t wait to finally weigh my harvest and report my results back to you.

I am also trying an experiment with my tomatoes. Normally, I plant my tomatoes in my potager. However, since I have decided to grow mostly herbs and flowers in the potager, I moved my tomatoes to the row garden. While visiting with my friend Bill Adams, I learned that he grows his tomatoes in pure mushroom compost. Since Bill is a true Master of Horticulture and the undisputed Tomato King, I decided to follow his lead and do the same thing. I took my Mantis tiller and dug a furrow about 9” deep. I then took my tomatoes out of their pots and placed them in the bottom of the furrow. Next, I back filled with the compost and watered them in. I am supporting them with a cattle panel and I gave the whole area a thick layer of straw mulch. So far, everything looks like it is doing great. I planted the same varieties this year as last so I will have some ability to judge which method did the best. (Check out Bill’s book “The Texas Tomato Lover’s Handbook –http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-AgriLife-Research-Extension-Service/dp/1603442391).

In addition to these two “method” experiments, I am growing three new vegetable varieties this year. The first are daikon radishes that were given to me by blogging friend “The Gracelss Gaijin”. Daikon is a staple of Asian cuisine and I can’t wait to try them. I am also growing “Chinese cucumbers” that were given to me by my friend Emy Chen. This variety of cucumber is supposed to have a very mild skin that makes it great for slicing. Can’t wait. My final “new veggie” for this year is the “Tigger Melon”.

I got my seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds (http://rareseeds.com/shop/). Tigger is a small melon with very sweet, white flesh. These one pound melons have a great aroma and taste and are perfect for a single serving. However, the most exciting thing about this melon is it’s orange and yellow stripped skin. This heirloom has such a cute name and attractive wrapper that my wife had her second graders plant it in their school garden. Check back in the summer to find out how these experiments went.

Cheap Tomatoes

Posted on May 11, 2010 by Jay White

A friend at work told me that she wanted to start growing her own vegetables as a way to cut down on her grocery bill. I encouraged her to start a small garden but I warned her that she probably would not be saving money by doing so. She was not to be deterred. She had done the math! She would grow tomatoes in hanging baskets that cost $19 each. Since each plant would produce 10 pounds of tomatoes her cost would be just $2 per pound. Any fool could see that was cheaper than what Whole Foods was charging for a pound of organic tomatoes.

After a couple of weeks I checked in on my friend to see how her hanging tomatoes were doing. She was pretty pleased with all things horticultural, but she was a little dismayed about how much she had spent. The two hanging bags set her back $38, soil and tomatoes were another $20. Then she had to figure out a way to hang them. Since her patio did not get enough sun, she fashioned a rolling support out of galvanized pipe and fittings and a patio umbrella stand. This cost her another $100. My friend had learned a very important lesson. Gardening can provide you with many things. Unfortunately cheap food is not usually one of them.

I am happy to report that my friend did not allow her initial start up costs to deter her gardening efforts. In fact, she has now expanded her gardening operation and is successfully growing herbs and veggies in giant pots in her yard. She no longer tries to justify her hobby as a money saver. She now gardens just for the fun of it! She is growing her own food, spending time out doors, reading books and talking to other gardeners. She has definitely caught the gardening bug.

A lovely pot of chard and parsley at Thompson and Hanson’s in River Oaks

Watching my friend get so excited about gardening put me in a reflective mood. I started wondering, “What is it about watching things grow that makes me, and countless others like me, kind of nutty?” What exactly does gardening provide that makes us return to this pursuit year after year? I know this, gardening provides me with a link to my past. As I get older being connected to my history gets more and more important. I also get the majority of my exercise and all of my sore muscles and back aches in the garden. It gives me a place to express my creativity and it provides me with a window into the wonder of life. Gardening relaxes me, humbles me and keeps me ever watchful and hopeful. It is place where I gather and pass on my knowledge. I have talked to many gardeners and they all seem to agree. The garden is a place where we invest our time, talent and resources. We all receive many gifts from the garden. Unfortunately, cheap food is not generally one of them.

Here are the links for the vendors mentioned in this article:

http://www.thompsonhanson.com/

http://www.gardeners.com/Outdoor-Planters/OutdoorPlanters_Dept,default,sc.html