Society Garlic

I remember it vividly.

My divorce was final on the first day of Spring (over a decade ago). I was living in Destin at the time and had "re-located" to the east side of the area, known as SanDestin. I went to Walmart and bought a bicycle for $69.00 and spent my non-travel, non-working days riding my bike around the neighborhoods that were nestled between the Choctawhatchee Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.

While I am not, by any means, a bitter ex wife, my marriage was not a healthy place to be. It was not until I was out of it that I realized just how life had gradually transitioned into something that was not how I wanted to live. That Spring was the most gorgeous Spring that there has ever been. I remember commenting on it to a friend and their comment was "well, you must be happy". I was. I digress -but this brings me to the Society Garlic.

In the SanDestin area, I kept seeing these mounds of green spiky plants with clusters of star-shaped lavender flowers. While riding my bike around, I would stop and pick them from the resort's common grounds (being careful not to be spotted). They made excellent cut flowers that would keep for up to a week - allowing me to bring more of this most beautiful Spring into my home.

Two years later, I relocated to Northeast Florida in an effort to reduce some of my work related travel time. As I was looking for a new home, one of my top choices had this same plant in the front yard. This was the house that I ended up buying. I learned that the plant is "Society Garlic".

It supposedly gets it's name because it smells like garlic. I have never grown garlic, so I don't know what the plant smells like. However, I can tell you that, while it does have a distinct smell, it is not unpleasant at all and does not smell like the garlic that ends up on toast and spaghetti. The foliage looks kind of like chives and it spreads through bulb-like clumps. Except during our mild winters when it will sometimes turn brown, it looks great year-round and blooms from Spring through Fall. I have found it to be pest and disease resistant. And when I want more, I get the shovel and just dig out some of those clumps and replant it in a new location with great success! It remains one of my favorite plants and the flowers are still often cut and put in vases and bottles all over my house.

Beer Bottle Border

I think it all started with a conversation with my neighbor about my bottle tree. Anyway, she was telling me that she had seen flower bed borders in Italy that were created from wine bottles. The bottles were buried about half of the way, top down, into the ground along a garden edge to create the border.

Well, I just knew I had to take this idea and run with it. I love my wine, however I always drink the really fine wine that comes in a carton with the tap to prevent oxidation; therefore, I did not have a good source of wine bottles from which to work. However, I do like beer and I like it in a bottle; one of the greatest pleasures in the world is an ice cold beer after cutting the grass on a hot summer day.

Ironically, about this same time, my local recycling service quit collecting glass- so I just started saving the bottles that would otherwise have gone into my recycle bin. After a while, I figured it was time to proceed with this new project.

I had scouted out the perfect location - an area that ran parallel to my fence that separated some garden beds from my vegetable garden. I had stepping stones here already and I felt I needed a border to better define the area.

I got out my hole-diggers and dug a little trench about 5 inches deep and inserted the bottles top down. I then filled in the spaces between the bottles with the extra dirt. It took a couple of rains for the dirt to settle well in between the bottles, but I am pleased with the end result. I did not have enough bottle to do the entire area on my first run - but all the more reason to have another beer and save the bottle!

I usually drink either Corona Light (a clear bottle) or Amstel Light ( a brown bottle). I decided to just stick with the brown bottles for this project. Certainly, a nice imported beer gives my border a little more class! Really, I think green bottles would be prettiest.

Incidentally, when reading a book, African-American Gardens and Yards in the Rural South, I discovered that my idea is not so original. Blue and brown snuff bottles, brown Clorox bottles and soda bottles filled with colored liquid were used to line the walkways in African-American yards in the rural south.

Faith Based Gardening

My faith is very important to me and the very cornerstone of my peace and sanity. Gardening is also important to me (and my sanity). When I read this article, that combines the two, I felt compelled to pass it along. It presents new ideas and possibilities. Really, though, isn't all gardening based on faith?

A Bible Garden Is a Horticultural and Historical Challenge
By DEAN FOSDICKTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: Saturday, June 14, 2008 at 6:01 a.m.

People who grow gardens grow in faith, according to the Rev. Marsh Hudson-Knapp, which accounts in large part for the Bible garden he helped established adjacent to his church a quarter-century ago."A lot of people's spirituality is rooted in nature," said Hudson-Knapp, pastor of The First Congregational Church of Fair Haven, Vt. "There's always been a deep (biblical) connection with gardening. With each new season, life is bursting forth again."

A Bible garden is not a theme recommended for the casual hobbyist. Cultivating every flower, shrub, food crop or fruit mentioned in the Scriptures is a daunting objective, especially if you're trying to be exacting about plant choice. More than 120 plants have been mentioned in the Bible, although that total is open to interpretation.
How do you determine, for example, exactly what kind of "burning bush" was cited in the story of Moses (Exodus 3:2). Or what is meant by such figurative imagery as "grains," "trees" or "sweet smelling plant?" "We decided not to be all that precise," Hudson-Knapp said in a telephone interview. "We use substitutes at times, especially where we can't duplicate the growing conditions of certain plants. That means going with the botanical cousins; the same genus, but a different species."

There are plants of the Bible and then there are plants of the Bible lands, said Lytton John Musselman, who chairs the Department of Biological Sciences at Old Dominion University and is author of "Figs, Dates, Laurel and Myrrh: Plants of the Bible and the Quran."

Read more.... http://www.theledger.com/article/20080614/NEWS/806140368/1326&title=A_Bible_Garden_Is_a_Horticultural_and_Historical_Challenge

The First Tomato

I've been watching it all week. Just yesterday evening, I told my sister that this was to be a very special weekend. I had my fresh white bread and mayonnaise ready. It was almost time.

The first bit of color had appeared on a tomato on one of my plants. It started as a pale pink and was gradually getting more red with each passing day. I decided to let it get really, really red and truly "vine-ripened" before indulging.

Home grown tomatoes were something I took for granted during my childhood. We had them at every meal during the summer. It wasn't until I had none for a while that I became aware of just how precious they are. The first sandwich from the first home grown tomato is always a special occasion. No bacon, no lettuce - not even a slice of Vidalia onion - I always want my first sandwich of the year to be pure, with nothing to drown out the true taste that never comes from the grocery store version.

I woke up early this Saturday morning and stepped out side with my cup of coffee. Still half asleep, I glanced over in the direction of my prize possession. I didn't see that little spot of red that I've been eyeing all week. Some leaves must be blocking my view, I assumed. I refilled my coffee cup and bravely walked closer. What was that on the ground? Did my tomato fall off of the vine overnight?
It was a worst-case scenario. I guess some of my little over-night visitors have been watching my first tomato with the same anticipation as I. You see, when I rest my head on my pillow and close my eyes at night, my back yard comes alive. I see the signs the following day - the trampled plants, the entrances to tunnels, the newly dug trenches, the broken limbs, the suddenly dirty water in my cats' bowl. I never think that much about it. I figure there are little creatures out there that need a place to play since they have been pushed out of their natural habitat.

But this morning, I felt like my little friends had over-stepped their boundaries and worn out their welcome. I felt violated. There it was, on the ground, a half eaten tomato. The little creep that did this did not even have the audacity to eat the entire thing or hide the evidence. It was just left there as if to send a message to me to let me know that it is not just my garden.

Homemade Insecticidal Soap

Speaking of treating whiteflies, I saved this "recipe" several years ago. It was provided by a Duval County, FL Master Gardener and published in my local paper. Not only does it save you money, it is an environmentally friendly option to harsh chemicals.

Homemade Insecticidal Soap

• 2 tablespoons concentrated dish detergent
• 2 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 gallon of water

Combine all ingredients and pour into spray bottle. Spray all parts of the plant, including the underside of leaves. Repeat in 5 to 7 days, then as necessary.

Do not use soap sprays on gardenias or shrubs with sensitive leaves. If in doubt, spray a small area and check back in three to four days for damage to the leaves.

What is that white stuff growing on my___________?

Just fill in the blank. This past weekend was my weekend for "white stuff" (of the plant kind).

Did it just appear overnight - or I have I been paying so little attention? I was working in my yard on Saturday. First I noticed it on my Firebush, then my firecracker plant, and then on my boxwood; then there was that stuff growing on my hibiscus and something else on my crepe myrtle. I have encountered these friends before but I thought I had discouraged them from visiting again. I suppose they were just hibernating all winter and waiting for the opportunity to come out of hiding as the days get warmer.

I always try my best to make an educated guess in identifying plant problems, although there are many with similar characteristics and symptoms

I am quite sure that the stuff' on my fire bush, firecracker and boxwood is all from the same family. It looks like someone took a cotton ball, pulled away some of the cotton, wet it and glued it onto the woody part of the plants. At first, it looks like a fungus of some kind. If you poke at it with a twig, you will see a little white alien looking creature start crawling away. My best educated guess tells me this is a planthopper. Technically, they are suppose to hop away, but mine just crawled. Surprisingly, they are not too harmful to your plants. You can blast them away with a water hose. I usually try to cut away the parts that are heavily infected. I think it makes me feel better, just in case I misdiagnosed.

The creatures that invaded my hibiscus are a different story. My plant has something on the backside of the leaves that looks like thin wispy sections of that white polyester fiber used to stuff pillow cushions. A closer inspection reveals a white spiral pattern which are eggs. When I shake the plant, "white flies" fly away. This is (appropriately name) the giant white fly. They damage plants by sucking the sap and leaving behind a sticky liquid that can promote black sooty mold. Again, I cut away the infected branches. I plan to watch it and if necessary treat it with an all purpose insecticide. A more gentle treatment is to wash it away with a heavy stream of water and/or treat it with an insecticidal soap.

The white stuff growing on my crape myrtle is not from an insect, but from a fungus. It is powdery mildew and is quite common on some varieties of crape myrtle. Patches of white to grayish powdery growth occur on the surfaces of leaves, flowers and new shoots. Infected parts of the plant are usually distorted and stunted. This fungus thrives in high humidity and mild daytime conditions. It seems I aways see this late spring or early summer. My standard treatment is the same as with other fungi and insects. I cut away the infected branches and try to avoid using chemicals unless absolutely necessary.

The Five Year Plan

Years ago , I remember reading that it takes about five years for your plants to become established and for you to get a good idea of the outcome of your landscaping efforts. A little later, someone told me once you get everything kind of where you want it, you lose interest in it all and then it becomes just 'yard work'.

In regard to the first observation: If this is true, then I am on a continuous, forever rotating five year plan. I move plants and garden boundaries like I use to move around furniture in my house. Things die, things get too big, a once sunny location becomes shady, your neighbor prunes their tree and all of a sudden you have full-sun again. The list goes on and on. I like it that way. It is an evolution. Everyday is full of surprises and I've just made up my mind to have fun along the way.

In regard to the second observation: this may be true for some, but definitely not for me. My love of being outside and playing in my yard continues to grow and I hope it never goes away.