Trendspotting: Backyard Chickens

by | Apr 12, 2014 | Gardens to Drive

Do you need some garden help?

chicken trioBy Teresa Woodard

 

Black Java

Black Java

Meet our newest gardening crew – two black Java and two cuckoo Maran chickens.  Yes, these hens are tilling, weeding and even fertilizing the soil as we prep our vegetable garden area.  Plus, they’re laying beautiful brown eggs and bringing us lots of laughs.

 

According to Mark Glover of BackyardchickensHQ.com, hatcheries’ sales are up and the small-order sales are growing the most.  Besides their gardening benefits, chickens are attracting more attention as people want to live sustainably, know their food source and protect some of the rare heritage poultry breeds.

Cuckoo Maran

Cuckoo Maran

 

When my 14-year-old son Mark and I started talking about keeping chickens, we visited a friend’s farm and learned about their care. While we fell in love with their mixed flock and their beautiful eggs, we postponed our own chicken raising.  Two years later, we decided to move ahead with some hens (my son couldn’t wait for chicks to grow up to lay eggs) and returned to the farm to purchase a couple of their dual-purpose (egg and meat) heritage breeds.

Now that we’ve had “the girls” for a few weeks, we delight in gathering their eggs in the morning and turning them loose in the garden for an hour after dinner to watch their antics as they dig for grubs and follow Mark around the garden as he shovels up worms for them to devour.

 

If you’re interested in learning more, we encourage you to visit a poultry show, take a backyard chickens class and check out the links below.

Garden Happenings: Plant Sales

by | Apr 5, 2014 | Happenings

By Teresa Woodard

The plant-buying frenzy is about to begin, and there’s no better place for one-of-a-kind plants and great gardening advice than a public garden’s plant sale.  Besides, the sales generate significant income for botanic gardens, arboreta and plant societies.

There’s a month-long series of sales throughout the Midwest.  Many feature auctions, pre-sale party nights, workshops and book signings.  To get first dibs on plants, check out the pre-sale events typically offered to members. No doubt, the membership privilege is well worth the $25-$50 annual dues.

Also, come with questions.  Many of the volunteers have first-hand experience growing the plants for sale.  So, don’t be afraid to ask for their favorite tomato plant, native shade tree or miniature varieties.  The only danger is you may end up with a trunk full of wonderful plants.

Aullwood CGWhile there are many places to shop, this year, we’re highlighting the Native Plant Sale at Aullwood Audobon Center in Dayton, Ohio. I loved revisiting the late conservationist Marie Aull’s woodland gardens, while doing a story for the recent issue of Country Gardens magazine.

At Aullwood’s natives sale, you’ll find 100 different species — from woodland wildflowers like celandine poppies to prairie favorites like compass plant and milkweeds to wetland stars like cardinal flower.  They’ll also have ornamental grasses like little bluestem and native trees and shrubs such as flowering dogwood, sumac and spicebush. To save time, submit a pre-order form by April 7, and orders will be ready for pick up on April 11 or 12. If you pick up on April 11, you also have shopping privileges at the plant rescue sale featuring trilliums, bloodroots, Virginia bluebells and more. After shopping, be sure to see the spring ephemerals starting to bloom at Aullwood Gardens.

Other places to shop include:

 

Favorite Flora: Wild Ginger

by | Apr 2, 2014 | Favorite Flora

Wild ginger (Asarum canadense): Edible… or not?

Asarum canandense resizeBy Debra Knapke

The question: “Is it true that you can use it like ginger?” The answer: “well, yes and no”. This shade-loving, native perennial has a history of culinary use as a ginger substitute. The roots have been powdered and candied, but the chemistry of wild ginger is different from the true ginger (Zingiber sp.) of South Asia. Wild ginger’s flavor has been described as potent, but Dr. Art Tucker, professor emeritus of Botany at Delaware State, cautions that only the essential oil, in small amounts, has GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status. This makes me reconsider my desire to taste-test the root.

The ethnobotanical record and current use for wild ginger reads like a manual in how to cure just about anything. The most common uses have included: improving digestion and appetite; curing coughs, colds, bronchitis, and sore throats, supporting the immune system and healing wounds. But, before you go experimenting, consider that most recommendations were accompanied by this caution: contains aristolochic acid which has been found to be carcinogenic and mutagenic – causing cancer and mutations, respectively.asarum canadense flower crop 2

In the garden, wild ginger is a beautiful ground cover that increases its diameter slowly; 24-30” wide in two to four years. The curious maroon flowers are under the leaves, close to the soil where they are pollinated by beetles and flies. Look for the flowers in mid-April or so. This may necessitate getting on your knees and bowing to your garden.

Wild ginger is native in 25 states in moist woodlands. In the garden this translates to well-amended soil in shade to part shade. Ginger mapIt is tolerant of a wide range of pH, and can withstand short periods of dryness once it is established. However, wild ginger is not tolerant of flooding. Slugs and snails can be an issue, especially in wet seasons, but I have found the damage to be minimal, certainly not worth any control measures.

We all need to be aware of supporting our native insects. Wild ginger offers food to the larval stage of the gorgeous pipevine swallowtail butterfly. The caterpillar eats the leaves and thereby ingests aristolochic acid which makes it poisonous to birds. For this same reason, it is not favored by deer.

Pipevine Swallowtail Jim McCormac

Mating pipevine swallowtails that are safe from hungry birds because of their diet of wild ginger leaves and milkweed nectar. Photo credit: Jim McCormick

Multi-functional, beautiful and low-care; what more can you ask from a plant?

To learn more about wild ginger and  other rare plants, check out FloraQuest and consider signing up for the next field trip to Marblehead, Ohio, May 12-13.

Snapshots: Spring Bulbs

by | Mar 27, 2014 | Gardens to Drive

IMG_0541Small signs of hope springing up everywhere

By Michael Leach

Spring aims tiny green spears in its fight against winter.

Seemingly insignificant, the pointy shoots of snowdrops, crocus, daffodils, iris and other early bloomers take aim at winter’s soft underbelly. Sooner or later (probably later given the ice cover on the Great Lakes this year), winter will slowly collapse like a malevolent balloon, float to the ground and dissipate with the last frost.

Long before that, tiny, triumphant banners of lavender, pink, yellow, red, purple and white will wave in afternoons that grow ever warmer and twilights that linger ever longer.

Many Midwest gardens remain snow covered or ice crusted as this longest and coldest winter in ages sneers in contempt at the first warming breath of southern winds.

Don’t despair.

Nature’s pulse quickens. Shoots are drawn irresistibly to the sun. Despite the snow and the cold — blossoms will open, lawns turn green and feet run shoeless once again.