Tidbits, Some Yummy!

Florence Fennel growing indoors in a pot in the cafe at the Chicago Botanical Gardens.












The weather is going to turn incredibly brutal this coming week here in central Wisconsin. Days of temperatures in the upper 90s and dew points in the 70s, conditions that will make central Wisconsin feel like a tropical desert, because, of course, we haven't had much moisture.

With all the places I grow plants, here in my own yard, at the family garden, a my small nursery, the retail area where I sell plants, and clients for whom I do some work; this next week I will have my hands full with watering tasks.

Up in northern WI, my friend DebiO! has been busy putting up peaches and blueberries in her blogpost, "Just Peachy!" All that stainless! Oooooh!

Others of you are looking for information on weeping Red jade crab apples. They only grow about 6 feet tall because they start their weeping thing at about 5 feet. I don't think they are ever grafted 9other than possibly a root graft) and you have to prune and do some top work to achieve a nice flattish umbrella shape, but there are very few water sprouts, if any really, so this is not an onerous task.

The last couple days, I have been weeding like a mad woman. The family garden having been a fallow field has surprisingly few broadleaf weeds, but it does have quack grass. I really hate crab grass, pigeon grass, and turkey foot, and I have to assume those annual grasses do not compete well with quack grass because there are none of those. There is quack grass, though.

Having been sick for two days, I have lost weeding time. As the mission of this garden is organic, one of the ideas I incorporated was space. I felt watering might be an issue. The closer together you plant things, the higher their water needs. I know this is anti-thema to all the square foot gardening (principles I employ in the potager here in the village), but space is the great luxury at the family garden.

Secondly, I have definite yield goals, so I didn't want plant stress from heat and lack of rain to impact that more than I could control. Already, we have MUCH more greens and salad lettuces than either family can consume. Some of our cabbages are ready to harvest. I cut the first and it was marvelous, nearly twice as big as my nephews' heads. It was a Savoy-style and incredibly beautiful as well. (We have been little bothered by cabbage moths.)

I cut a Florence Fennel for my sister-in-law,too. It is a veggie she is totally unfamiliar with. She gets really excited about all this organic product coming out of the ground at her house. I cut it above the ground. I held up the end of the fennel for her to inhale the rich anise flavor. "Oooh!"

She confessed to me she didn't know how to chit or plant potatoes (which we did together in the spring), nor did she know what they look like when they are are growing. Yesterday while weeding the potatoes, I found a Yukon Gold thrown up by the errant passage of the tillers' blade. It was the size of an egg, and it got her very excited.

This whole project has been a food exploration for her.

My son, on the other hand, is like a rangy, young lion, prowling the yard looking for where his mama "hid" the growing 15 hills of Yukon Golds (his favorite). I planted just a few for use as fresh salad potatoes.

For my son, it is not about the growing...

Just the eating!

The Crocus are Blooming!

The crocus are blooming! I'm sure many others have had crocus before me here in zone 4. Mine are on the north side of my house in my hosta bed under a white pine. That's not the best location if I want to be first. I don't. I planted them there simply because those hosta take their time. That whole shady side of my yard where I dug up the very sparse grass and planted my lush bed of hosta (65 different cultivars!) is pretty boring in the spring before about the third week in May.

Yesterday, I also took a chance and planted out six spinach transplants. I know it is a bit early, but I wanted to get a feel for whether I have a significant rabbit problem this spring. Lot's of proof (rabbit poo) from the winter, but no sightings in my relatively small backyard.

I also planted some sugar snap peas along the wiring for my grapes and the west side of my privet hedge. I am always looking for spots to double duty and figure the nitrogen fixing ability of the peas will help the grapes, strawberries, and privet. The grape wiring and privet can serve as pea fence, and I'll take my crop and run with it.

Peas are very problematic here in central Wisconsin. They like it on the cool side. Remember just scant two weeks ago out temps were not getting up to freezing during the day. This Sunday the projected temperature in mid-70s to 80 degrees! Many gardeners do not even try peas, particularly edible pod peas, in spring because of the unseasonable temperature spikes we can experience here in the Central Sands area. Once in a while I do see a commercial crop of peas, although two crops of soy beans, or regular beans are more common.

The night prior to planting my peas, I soaked them in warm water. Hoping a germination early next week! I'll post them when I get them!

Pruning Grapes and Leonardo di Vinci's Vitruvian Man

Well, it was an incredibly beautiful, SEASONAL spring day, today. I called the village library to check with our very own village weather prognosticator; yes, the village SNOW WITCH! So what's up? Is spring here?

I call. "Is the Snow Witch in?" "No," comes the casual reply. "So, is her forecast still posted for the year?" The librarian on duty doesn't hesitate, just gives me the bad news.

"The Snow Witch says three more measurable snowfalls."

Damn! I asked, "When was she last in to update her findings?"

"She came by this morning," was the droll reply. Damn! Damn! Damn!

You see, our village Snow Witch is not wrong about these things. Further consultation with the weather prognosticators in the village gives additional information; one of the snow falls will be a heavy one.

"Ugh!" My mother had crocus blooming this morning. My hepatica are green! Come on!

No wonder the Snow Witch is not in!

Regardless, today I begin working on my yard. I still have a couple feet of snow in places. I rake where I can. This is the latest in six years I have pruned my grapes. They are on my list for today.



If you have never pruned your grapes, the chore may seem incomprehensible. If that is the case, I recommend cutting off all but 6'to 7' of the vines so you can see what you you are doing.


This picture shows two grape vines clipped back to 6' or 7'. I did that in the fall.



Next keep in mind, that if you mess it up, there will be a next year. When keeping grapes, your goal to to prune them to increase your yield. I like to trim back the vines to 6' to 7' in the fall to remove material that may have been exposed to fungal diseases. I leave the rest to provide additional protection in the winter to the crown.

During the growing season I tie my grapes to wires running north and south strung between two 4' posts. This allows the prevailing NW to SE winds to provide good air circulation. This is supposed to prevent diseases. Grapes are susceptible to many of the same diseases and pests which affect roses. To date, I have not been affected by any pests, nor diseases.

I have tried to illustrate a couple things. The red parts are the oldest parts of my grape vines. Those sections boxed in pink our this last year's growth. The wires I have high-lighted in blue. Three years ago's growth is orange. The year before last is in yellow.


These parts I have circled in yellow are last year's growth. Cut them back so you can see what you are doing. The bark on the vine that appears to be peeling is typical of a grape vine and nothing to be concerned about (green rectangle).


The first year, I let them grow. The next year, I started to try and see the form of Leonardo di Vinci's "Vitruvian Man". The farther you get from the trunk of the grape the less vitality the budding spurs have. Also, you want to prune before too much energy is expended with leaf development. In central Wisconsin, you want to prune before April 10, preferably between the last weekend in March and first weekend in April.

Circled in yellow are the coming fruiting buds for this year.


These vines actually were tip die-back and are dead. This is why I do not do my pruning all the way back in the fall.


These vines are some left from last year's growth. Cutting these into foot-long lengths and burying about 2/3 of each in a potting medium, keeping them moist, and placing them in a protected spot will encourage them to root. I usually use Rootone to root them and get 100% to root. They root so easily, if you wanted to forgo the Rootone, they would most like root anyway. In that case, I would attempt to root a few extra to be sure I got the number I intended to plant.


All finished!

I have two grape varieties, Frontenac and Othello. My vines are approximately 6 years old now. The second year in the ground, one of the vines were inadvertently clipped off at the ground. I thought at the time that was to be the end of the one, but the next year it grew back, only lagging for a year or so (the one circled in green).

You want to leave 6" to 18" of branching running off from the trunk both left and right at two levels (equivalent to the legs and arms). The length of the branches should include two to three bud spurs. When you have mature vines you will eight to twelve fruiting buds per plant. Think of "Vitruvian Man" when pruning.

Grapes do not like competition with grass and weeds. I do have mine underplanted with strawberries, which seems to work well, however. I use a 10-10-10 fertilizer and water them on a weekly basis. To have grapes grow well, the most important ingredient is that they be well-watered, especially when the grapes are growing quickly after the summer solstice.