Soil Testing

 Monday, April 1, 2013

Good morning from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the snow is now several inches lower than it was last night after hard rains and wind. Just the same there is plenty of snow in the fields and woods and the larger critters of the forest such as the deer and bear have yet to make it out to our fields. The next few days of warmer weather should see a difference. Snowmobile trails have all been closed around here and other winter snow sports are tricky based on where you live or visit. Many have decided to close for the season.

It seems strange to Gail and me that we are already entering another year the our flower farm on Route 2. We should be "over" calling it "new" now but there are many customers from our Peacham Pond days that still haven't made the visit.

As I was culling some of last year's pictures this morning, I came across an old folder entitled "Clay" It contains pictures of my first introduction to real clay...the stuff that suggested on our first year of ownership that perhaps we should become potters. I remember so well when the real estate broker asked if we wanted to test the soil before we bought it and I said no that I could fix up about any soil and based on it's proximity to the Winooski River, I expected that there would not be a single type of soil  but  multiple types, each with it's own challenges. I didn't know for sure but it turned out that I was correct.

As the bulldozer began working the top of the land to make an entrance off Route 2 and a place for a building, the cursing of the operator signaled one of the soil types--clay. As the dozer pushed forward, clay rolled in layers like a jelly roll until it couldn't move any more. The big machine's tracks become packed with clay time and again and we had to stop and use shovels and bars to free them. It was not good work and all of us were covered in gray clay before we finished. I had chosen a good contractor who knew Vermont and just because he used expletives as he worked didn't mean the end product would be less than I expected. He was good with the dozer and I would hire him again. Several days later after tons of gravel and a couple thousand feet of road fabric, that task was complete.

No matter how big you intend your garden to be, I strongly suggest soil samples and soil tests early on. Vermont does have a number of soil types and some are better for grapes or apples than for flowers or strawberries or corn and it's helpful to know that up front. From my days helping people write business plans, I know that it's best to eliminate as many surprises as possible. Master gardeners, farmers, successful gardeners in your neighborhood are all examples of people who will be happy to offer advice and make your gardening endeavors much more successful. Every state has an extension service within its agricultural department and these are the people who can help right from the start. Private greenhouses and nurseries often offer springtime courses to answer the same questions and make it easier to understand what to do after turning that first shovel of soil.

So if a new garden is in the cards for coming weeks, plan now, draw a map, line up a soil test kit, attend seminars, talk to your neighbors, figure wind direction, notice where the sun rises and sets. Gardens are great fun and like anything else that we do, planning ahead makes for a bigger smile in the end.

Writing from the mountain where the sun has come out again and the temperature has risen to 48.1°. I like this a lot!  Gotta get going.

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
On Facebook as George Africa and also as Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens
On Twitter as vtflowerfarm
Always here to help you grow your green thumb!

Beaver Buddies.....Or not?

 Friday, March 29, 2013

The dark sky over Peacham Pond has been at a standstill for a couple hours now. The temperature hangs at 32.4° and the windless morning is only interrupted by a few raindrops that fall-stop-fall-stop. Still no birds at the feeders but the red squirrels are having a convention. But this morning I just want to mention beavers, a fascinating but often troublesome critter known to bother  me at the flower farm every spring. 

Our land is surrounded on a couple sides by the Winooski River and each spring as beavers seek out new places to live, they always seem to arrive at the nursery. Beavers care little about flowers but they enjoy the poplars, bass trees and the few birches that line the river. At one time they even  dammed the river on the Marshfield side of the property and caused quite a mess until the river was freed again of tons of trees.

This picture is of an old but still very active beaver house on Bailey Pond just outside Marshfield village. I never got a firm count on the number of occupants but during the past couple years they have taken out the road twice that I know of. They dammed a culvert and flooded a whole length of the old railroad bed during a rainstorm and it took bazillions of loads of fill to get the road back.

 I like to see beavers work but as trapping has almost become a thing of the past, beaver numbers have soared and they have begun to bother people by flooding large areas and even changing pond levels by plugging overflows and exit culverts.

These last two pictures show a strategy at Marshfield Pond to keep the pond level constant and not allow beavers to dam the overflow at the bridge and possibly take out the entire front of the pond during a heavy rain or spring flood. The wildlife folks always employ these culverts to keep the water level low even though the beavers think they are creating a bigger dam. You need a few engineering skills yourself to calculate water flow in and out but if you stick with it, even trial and error and more pipe will work.

Beavers can flood your land and if you are a gardener not interested in water gardening, you have no choice but to help them move along. They generally remain in an area until the food source/dam construction material source begins to diminish. I have read that this is 7-9 years although the beaver house pictured above has been active for 20 years. If you call a game warden they will probably tell you that you are permitted by statute to kill the beavers to protect your land. This is like saying that the warden has bigger fish to fry. He or she might be able to suggest a trapper who will remove the offenders  by shooting, live trapping or (leave it said) other forms of trapping. But keep in mind that trappers are not really interested in beavers if the time of year is off and the pelts are not viable. They also want to be paid for their service time and that means not only setting traps but checking them regularly by law. This all may sound pessimistic and it is but keep in mind you are placing your resources up against a beaver's and the beaver feels your property is his/hers. My only suggestion is that if you see any beaver activity on your property, work fast and don't delay. Protecting your home, out buildings, equipment, lawn, gardens, fields, crops and livestock is important.Give it some thought.


Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where 7 blue jays just arrived at the feeder by my office window. It still looks like heavy rain before too long.

Best Spring Wishes!

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
On Facebook as George Africa and also as Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens
On Twitter as vtflowerfarm
Always here to help you grow your green thumb!

Crows At The Compost Pile

Thursday, March 29, 2013

34.5° now, windless, as the sun struggles to get through the clouds. Sugar snow fell briefly last night and the close-to-freezing temperatures after midnight allowed the snow to cling to everything above ground like a kid's hair to a party balloon. 

A sat here a while ago cruising along through email and thinking about how much easier it has been to write on Facebook and Twitter than on this blog. I have neglected the faithful and seem to return with an excuse like a person of religion returns to church on Easter but not again until the following year. I have been disappointed with blog readership and have yet to figure out why when I link blog posts to Facebook, many fewer people read the posts than read regular posts. Perhaps notice of a blog posting suggests something too long to read and folks allow their brains to redirect themselves to reading that which requires less concentration. I don't know but maybe one of you who understands social media metrics better than me can share some thoughts.

I went outside earlier to dust off the bird feeders and replenish the breakfast buffets. The red polls are in their glory and their numbers are the largest I have ever seen. Over two hundred were here earlier this morning and I just did a quick count out the kitchen window and stopped at 239 on the feeders on that side of the house. While outside I heard the conversations three crows were having from the maple that hangs over the compost pile. I don't speak crow very well but I do know that these were conversations of spring and the happiness that it brings to all critters, humans included. The crows talked for quite some time excepting the two pictured above who have been in that maple, quiet and motionless since I screwed their plastic bodies to a limb years and years ago. They are crow decoys that some people actually use for hunting. But to me crows are the scavengers of the world, the clean up batters who clear bases and win games. The decoys are well known to the real birds but over the years the phonies have conjured up a lot of  "Heh, look at those birds!" as visitors have toured the gardens.

I'm still thinking about blogging and social media. I like it all. I started yesterday morning with a phone call from a FB friend in Erie, Pennsylvania who reported it was snowing there and spring was not quick to arrive. An hour later I received a call from an incredible cypripedium grower in Germany and we started by comparing weather issues across a very similar latitude. That grower is Michael Weinert, owner of Frosch Exclusive Perennials  http://www.cypripedium.de/English/english.html  Michael grows lady slippers like you have probably never seen before. I fully intend to begin to grow these at Vermont Flower Farm in another year after I raise up a guard dog to stand post because Michael's hybrids are beauties!! Check out his site if you get a minute.

The clock is moving faster than I am this morning and I have promised Alex we will leave for Hanover and West Lebanon by 10:30. I better get going! Be well and enjoy today. If all else fails today, find a maple sugar house that is boiling and go taste a fresh crop of the best syrup the world has to offer. Vermont is the best!

George Africa

The Vermont Gardener

Vermont Flower Farm

On Facebook as Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens and also as George Africa

On Twitter as vtflowerfarm

Always here to help you grow your grow thumb.... and remind you "Social Networking Works"!

Coleus, Not Impatiens

 Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Good morning from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the snow has just begun. An hour ago friend Carlene wrote from mid Vermont to say that there was an inch on the ground and it was snowing. I took Karl out again and a couple flakes drifted to earth but before I just got back to the house the snow was pouring from the sky. At this rate I can envision an inch an hour and with the temperature at 28.8°, the snow will be plentiful and the possibility of rain should diminish.

 If you read my Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens Facebook page (Like it?)  or my personal George Africa FB page this week,  you'll have seen my comments about avoiding impatiens this summer. For a bazillion years impatiens have been used in shady places and half sunny places as a dependable annual with plenty of blooms and lots of color. But in the past couple years Downy Mildew and other plant maladies have struck and not long after the impatiens are planted and have caught on nicely, they seem to fall over and die. For a year now the word from the plant production world has been to think differently about your bedding plants and avoid spending time and money on something that may well fail.

Coleus are one of the substitutes and there is no shortage of color and leaf styles to substitute for your favorite impatiens. Gail has always bought in coleus from her friends at Clausens' Greenhouses in Colchester and we have never been disappointed. Each year new varieties are released to the market and it's not that difficult to have something that fellow gardeners have not seen or grown.

 The leaf styles are intriguing and leaf size ranges from petite to 10"-12" leaves 3"-4" wide. Some coleus can be trained to 5 feet tall and a couple feet wide and those "big guys' look great in the background or planted in large containers.

I'll make an album on Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens to show a full dozen coleus we grew last year. I suspect the flower show in Essex this weekend will have a good display too. If you want to replace impatiens and haven't tried coleus before, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where mourning doves are feeding heavily on cracked corn and millet as two red squirrels circle the bottom of the feeder eating leftovers. Safe travel!

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
On Facebook as Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens and also as George Africa
On Twitter as vtflowerfarm
And we are always are here to help you grow your green thumb!

Red Squirrel Visits

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Just finished plowing two driveways to be sure I have room for snow if the impending storm turns out to be snow instead of a mix here on the mountain. The forecast has changed for three days now but something is coming this way so I wanted to have things cleaned up. I try to keep in front of the mailboxes clean for Lois the mail lady as I don't like to make it harder for her to reach from her driver's seat with that long pincher thingy she uses to get the mail in the box. She's still the kind of mail lady who will bring anything to the door that doesn't fit in the box and she's always certain that Alex gets his books at the door because she knows he counts on them.

I've been in my office a lot lately because I've been wrapped up in a cold virus that just wouldn't quit. It seems a lot better today and I am already grateful not to be coughing. Many reminded me that it was a three week virus and it looks as if it will end in about that amount of time. Being inside I have had time to begin making changes to our website that Gail wants completed before I report an updated version. None of it is difficult, it just takes time and I am making progress. I should have it ready to post later in March.

Being in the office means that I have been able to watch the platform feeder. A flash of feathers causes me to turn for a look-see and thus far there is nothing new from the bird world but I have seen lots of birds. As the snow here deepens, the bird population increases and of all the birds I have probably seen more woodpeckers of late coming out of the forests for suet. 

During the past month the number of red squirrels has increased to six and I cannot say they please me. They are always hungry and they scare away the birds. They refuse to feed on the ground despite my attempts to leave plenty of food by the holes they leave in the snowdrifts. They are used to me now and when I approach with a morning buffet for the birds, they seem annoyed to have to move out of the way.

Red squirrels can be a real nuisance if they get in your house but so far we have never had the problem. I contend with their ravenous behavior and enjoy  their smiling faces, sometimes reminding them to behave or face death. A neighbor told me that last year he relocated dozens but frankly I have no time for live trapping and squirrel relocation programs.

As thoughts turn to spring and this weekend's flower show in Essex,  I still have a few more orders to place. We need a few more hydrangeas and there are a few common perennials I need in quantity to finish the swaths of color I am planting along the river fence. Check it out next summer for a display that is more colorful each year.

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where blue jays just succeeded in taking over the feeder from a very irritated squirrel. Best gardening wishes! Write us with design questions.

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
On Facebook as Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens and also as George Africa
On Twitter as vtflowerfarm
Always here to help you grow your green thumb!

 

New Garden Construction

Sunday, February 17, 2013

A cold, windy day here on the mountain. The temperature struggled to get to 10.2° and then faltered and slipped suddenly back to 9.3° and now it is slipping further. We are on the edge of a front that is moving up the coast and apparently delivering some snow but all we have here is the cold. Inside work is providing a chance to catch up on overdue thoughts and today it involves garden design. 

When Gail and I purchased the land on Route 2,  we wanted a place to reconstruct a very popular part of our business on the Peacham Pond Road. That involved an intensively planted shade garden that grew bountifully within the confines of an old barn foundation.The place had acquired a reputation and for us the good part was it sold a lot of hostas and associated shade plants when gardeners could see mature examples of what they were seeing in 1 gallon pots. I knew that recreating what was in place for +6 years was going to be a challenge in an age of gardeners wanting "instant big" and I knew folks would be disappointed for a while. Not only were they disappointed, they regularly shared their feelings!

 

The new land had what I thought was a great site and I learned the land as I learned how to pull stumps with a new tractor. Weeds and vines were thick, alders, both dead and alive, were everywhere and the land went from bone dry on the east side to damp-all-summer on the west. It was wrapped on two sides by the Winooski River but the advantages outweighed the disadvantages.

I was working days back then so each night after work I'd cut brush and load the truck until it was full and another area was ready. When everything was cleared I began with herbicides to get rid of the weeds and vines. Then I came in with the tractor and rototiller and spent hours going back and forth to bring up hidden tree roots and stones. 

I cannot say it was easy but passing friends and people I have never met beeped horns and waved encouragement and I kept going. This was not a home sized garden by any means but the principles of good site preparation remain the same. You have to get to soil level, rid the area of unwanted vegetation and debris and then see what you have for soil, sun, shade and moisture.

With the soil well amended and a layout in mind, I began planting. Some mature hostas were brought in from our house while others I took from pots, grouping 3 to 5 together to form a showy example of each variety over time.

I added three varieties of maple trees for autumn color, some lindens, and some yellow leafed locusts and Nugget Ninebarks to contrast with the yellow hostas. I used orange flagging markers to lay out the paths so I could change them as the planting continued. By this point in the process I had a helper digging, labeling and crating hostas during the day and I was planting each night.

Now it's been five years since the garden was started. It's far from planted and atypical interruptions like the biggest floods in the history of Vermont slowed it's completion. But now the hostas are looking fine and the companion plants are maturing too. Most of the hostas on display are available for sale as potted plants and some are freshly dug depending on inventory.

The garden is worth a look-see if you are in the neighborhood as it provides lots of lessons in garden construction. I'm usually available for a tour but call or write ahead to be sure I'm there. Garden clubs are welcome too as long as Gail knows what's going. 

Questions about construction? 

 

George Africa

The Vermont Gardener

Vermont Flower Farm

On Facebook as Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens and also as George Africa

On Twitter as vtflowerfarm

Always here to help grow your green thumb!

Plan For Butterflies

 Thursday, February 7, 2013

Just back from a walk with Karl the Wonder Dog. It's early yet and there's a slice of moon showing between the naked tamaracks and fir balsams and there are a few stars around. Trees are cracking in the woods from yet another night of below zero temperatures. The sky over Peacham Pond shows evidence of a clear and beautiful day ahead but I know differently. I always trust the Eye on the Sky Weather at the Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium in St Johnsbury and they are confirming we have snow coming late today and possibly into Saturday morning. It seems odd that over recent years, larger storms have settled in Boston than in Vermont but the two storms setting sight on New England will drop more on southern parts than here.

My pre-storm chores are already finished save for mounting the plow on the truck and that will happen this afternoon sometime. Everything is set in case we lose power as we did the other night. That leaves me today to continue updating our web page. Alex has some shopping he wants to do late morning and I don't know where that will take us. In winter when plants are dormant we have less of a schedule and that's really nice.

The latest series of trade and gardening magazines that have arrived have headlined using native trees, shrubs and flowers to lure butterflies and birds. I like that idea and have always kept it simple and productive. Years back--2004 I think it was--we put an addition on the house and part of the success was a steep bank outside my new office window. Long term I had plans for a patio affair but that part is still a thought, not a reality. What we did do was buy an assortment of 7 different spireas to hold the bank and bring in some flying beauty. It sure worked. All 35 spireas are now 3-5 feet across and each spring they put up new stems that turn  to white, purple, red, maroon, lavender and creamy yellow flower heads that lure in all sorts of bees and butterflies by day, night flying moths after dark. This was an inexpensive fix for a large area. Gail added a few clumps of daylilies here and there and I added some basic echinacea, some yarrows, rudbeckias, and liatris.

Many of these plants including the spireas self seed so over time the area fills in nicely and the insect actors multiply too.

From my experience, the plantings brought on smiles as butterflies arrived that I had not seen before and that made the project even more interesting. Today a few more milkweeds and mullein have worked their way in and although some gardeners see these rouges as just that, I find them to be season extenders that keep me in Monarch butterflies into September and goldfinches all winter feeding on mullein seeds.

So if the snow deepens over the next couple days at your home, think about plants that will bring a different level of happiness to next summer's gardens. It's not expensive and it is rewarding. Kids love butterflies too and it's a way to encourage an early understanding of our earthly neighbors and how we have to work together to keep things in balance.

Guess that's it for this morning. A large blue jay is looking in the window at me as if to say "Sunflower please." I do not speak blue jay but I can "see" the request. Be well!

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm
On Facebook as Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens and also as George Africa
On Twitter as vtflowerfarm
Always here to help you grow your green thumb!

Lilies, Lovely Lilies

Monday, February 4, 2013 

11.3° here on the mountain with a 4 mph wind and puffs of large snowflakes covering everything in  2" of cotton candy-like fluff. The squall is supposed to end by mid-morning and then the temperature will rise into the twenties--for a change.

When you're in the gardening business, customers become family and sometimes you lose track of a few members once in a while but sooner or later they seem to return. Yesterday morning Gail was at the Cabot store buying me a jar of grape jelly for a batch of Super Bowl meatballs. An older couple came up to her and inquired "Hi,  aren't you Gail, the lily lady?" Gail has a great memory and she remembered them as customers who purchased a number of lilium every year for years and then probably lost us when we moved. She explained where we are now and what we grow and they said they'd come see us this spring. The meeting is similar to inquiries I am receiving lately about where did the lilies go. Readers know the answer but gardeners who have been absent for a few years might not. But that's how it is with gardeners. They come to a nursery year after year and then find a new pursuit or a new nursery. But sooner or later you often see them again.

Here are pictures of a few we used to grow just so you can see what might still be on the market if you want to give lilies a try. Of all flowers, lily hybridization is probably the closest to the floral industry. That's why available lilies change every year and why a few years down the road you might not be able to find a favorite again when voles think more of yours than you might. Florists have to be happy with new colors and sizes and that's the rationale. A tall yellow lancifolium is up top, Arena next down here.

Bellingham hybrid

Acapulco

Orienpet named Empress

Black Beauty

Gold Band

Golden Stargazer

Leslie Woodriff

Regale

Mona Lisa

Rosy Dawn

Smoky Mountain

Siberia

Uchida

There are lots of lilies out there and the North American Lily Society is a good place to begin to gather information before making a decision. Today is a good day to give lilies a look-see. Good luck!

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where 17 morning doves just showed up for breakfast. I have to get going here. I 'm taking a friend to a doctor at 9--orthopedic surgeon--get the picture?

George Africa

The Vermont Gardener

Vermont Flower Farm

On Facebook as Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens and also as George Africa

On Twitter as vtflowerfarm

Always here to help you grow your green thumb!

Groundhog Day 2013

Saturday, February 2, 2013

I have the fire in the wood stove crackling' as the rest of the house sleeps on. Even Karl the Wonder Dog is deep in dreams of chasing red squirrels and not bugging me about a  first morning walk. That's a change. It's still dark outside but I know the sun is rising as the temperature drops, first to 3°, then zero, now -2.1°. At least for a change there is no wind outside and the quiet after three days of howling is probably why others sleep while I keyboard along. Quiet is nice.

Today is Groundhog Day and there's no hope that a woodchuck will even stir in Vermont. They may be dreaming about a vegetarian breakfast but clearly their hibernation of sorts will not be interrupted by temperatures this cold. Woodchucks are interesting animals that I have long had love-hate relationships with. As my gardening endeavors have grown, even the sight of a woodchuck causes bad feelings.There is nothing cute about a woodchuck in a garden.

As a young boy finally permitted to hunt by myself, I pleased the next door farmer by hunting his fields and eliminating hole diggers who created bad situations for the cows and horses. I learned later on that relatives in Connecticut enjoyed an annual barbeque and woodchuck hunt in which prizes were awarded for the most chucks shot and then the chucks were cleaned and barbequed for a very big feast. I ate woodchucks that I shot later on and I taught my son Adam not to shoot anything if he didn't intend to eat it. I think the first time he hunted alone he brought back a woodchuck and I taught him how to clean it. Life goes on.

But woodchucks are a nuisance and the aren't my friends. Last summer I spotted a female and I thought she had to go. Then I saw her with four kids and I thought they had to go. Then my entire field of perennial phlox--30 varieties strong-- was eaten to the ground and I knew they had to go. I was still in repair mode from prior year floods so the chucks took a lower priority and one day (odd that I saw this) the chucks took up moving across our fields and gardens, across Route 2 and up into my neighbor Gerry's fields. I had seen some coyote scat and didn't think anything of it but perhaps the coyotes hassled the chucks enough to get them moving. Kinda like the days when a friend would appear every Saturday morning with his Jack Russell who would hunt himself silly and keep the chucks moving to other places.

Woodchucks will eat your whole garden up and will dig holes under trees and sheds and rocks. They will surprise you with their whistles or with their offspring but they will distress you with missing plants. Relocation is important  to maintain sanity and live trapping is a possibility. Tractor Supply, Agway, or any of the farm stores sell humane live traps and woodchucks are not difficult to catch. The Internet has plenty of how-to information on this and probably the only caution is that there is a good chance that your woodchuck might turn out to be black and white when you go to check your trap. That's just another woodchuck insult as skunks garden along side woodchucks, especially if your lawns or gardens have Japanese beetle infestations. But that's another animal story.

Good luck with your gardens and your animals. Today in Vermont, good gardening books, the Internet and winter farmers markets are the best we can do for entertainment as it will not warm much. At the very least  we can be left by the fire contemplating "how much wood does a woodchuck chuck".

Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where my coffee cup is empty and the Hearthstone needs another log. Stay warm! Picture above is a woodchuck hole along the Winooski River right next to my now missing in action phlox.

George Africa

The Vermont Gardener

Vermont Flower Farm

On Facebook as Vermont Flower Farm and Gardens and also as George Africa

On Twitter as vtflowerfarm

Always here to help you grow your green thumb!