Patrick's Garden — A fresher look at gardening.

Is Glyphosate Really A Poison? Consider It A Friendly Garden Tool

by Patrick on May 22, 2013

Before my paralyzation forced me to retire, I spent twelve years in the advertising agency business focusing on agricultural clients. I moved to St. Louis and one of my clients was Monsanto, specifically Roundup in the Southern and Western US markets. This was from 1993-1996.

My key objective was to speed up the adoption of no-till farming methods n the South where the practice was not as embraced as in the Midwest.

Al Gore has been criticized for his characterization of Roundup in Earth in the Balance: Ecology and The Human Spirit (2006) as a safer herbicide because its mode of action affects just one enzyme. He went on to advocate that it should serve as a model for future product development.

In How to Eradicate Invasive Plants (2013), Teri Dunn Chace does a great job in explaining the unique mode of action of the product:

“Glyphosate by itself is not a poison. It works by interfering with a plant’s ability to manufacture key amino acids, thus thwarting protein production. This interference, essentially, makes it impossible for the plant to photosynthesize and go on living.”

From my internal Monsanto education, glyphosate actually inhibits the action of just one key enzyme. This is why it’s been so easy for Monsanto to develop Roundup Ready crop seed that is resistant to applications of Roundup. So growers have been able to apply cheap, generically priced Roundup to kill the majority of weeds as opposed to more expensive pre-emergent that are more hostile to the environment. But recent scientific papers have found glyphosate to be associated with birth defects and is lethal to amphibians. Glyphosate should not be used near water sources or water gardens.

One of the benefits of Roundup is it is systemic and so the chemical is translocated through the entire plant killing roots and all. This makes Roundup so effectives on mature weeds with heavy root systems and weeds with long taproots. But this action can take up to seven to ten days, so it’s different than slash and burn weed killers that destroy only the tissue that is directly exposed to the product.

I was surprised when Dunn Chase suggested and endorsed the off-label, paint brush method of application. She says you can “mitigate environmental harm by painting on, rather than broad case spraying the product, which is more diffuse and less targeted. In some cases, you may have to use a higher concentration for stem painting to be effective.”

I have painted Roundup on the the leaves and stems of weeds that are found in the midst of a desirable planting with much success, I have taken advantage of the systemic action and have carefully painted the foliage with a hobby-like paintbrush. This method, though controversial, is very effective. Some believe there are significant health risks in being in such close contact of the product.

From my personal experience, there are two major weeds that Roundup is not effective on. Both nutgrass and henbit are not phased by glyphosate.

So while no herbicide is safe, I hope you now feel better about using Roundup in your gardens and yards. But my question to you is, do you feel better about using Roundup?

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Colorblend Tulips at Trinity Entrance

by Patrick on May 2, 2013

If you’ve never been to the Colorblends wholesale tulip site, you’ve been missing out. And by wholesale I mean these 200 bulbs at the entrance to my home at Trinity Nursing & Rehab were donated by my Mum for a little over $70.00. This combo, my favorite to date and a keeper is — Rainbow Coalition.

One of my true frustrations on my blog is I can’t manage my own photographs. A man in a power chair with one functioning arm does have his limitations. If I was in control, I’d be out there at 7 am or dusk to capture the perfect image like back in my professional days when I managed the multi-million dollar advertising accounts for agricultural clients like Bayer and Monsanto. I recall getting up at 4am with a photographer and art director to capture a rolling Napa Valley vineyard landscape for an image ad for a grape fungicide. And I also recall toasting our completed efforts with the best damn glass (or perchance glasses) of red wine at around 8am. (You know what they say about those who have a drink before noon…) So you can imagine my frustration begging for images from anywhere I can get them. But I’ll let you imagine what my blog would look like if fate hadn’t put me in this damn chair.

On the Colorblends website, each combo seems to have blooms of each color peaking at the same time. But these are grown in the ideal conditions in Holland. Last year I tried a combo of three dark purples that bloomed individually with a little overlap. We had 50 on each side. Todd, the world’s best gardening bus driver and I thought 100 on each side was needed for full impact.. So one of my best friends, Wally, axed out a bunch of big tree roots to double the size of the bed. Todd was a Nazi about his insistence we had to buy bone meal.

Between Mum, Todd, Wally and myself, our team effort has had so many people coming back to my room to thank me for our efforts. And it brings me great joy to put a smile on their face or slow down admirers from their crazy life. How do you think we did, my friends?

Behind our Therapy room are two 2′ X 6′ boxes I inherited when I came to Trinity that were covered in preschool drawings. I had them painted lime green with this Colorblends combo appropriately titled – Stop the Car in mind. The orange was the star at first but now I love the open, fluffy orange with the tighter purple as a nice foil and when encased in a lime box…priceless. Sometimes I feel like I know what I’m doing until the next unforeseeable surprise. Know what I mean, friends?

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Science Behind Pinching Plants

by Patrick on May 1, 2013

I have very fond memories of my childhood visiting my grandparents on their farm on the edge of the Australian Outback. It is here where I learned the basics of how to garden. One of my earliest lessons was all about pinching plants. My grandmother said “Paddy, the more flowers you pick, the more flowers you will get.” As I recall, she demonstrated this quite well with, of course, zinnias, roses, dahlias and geraniums.

I would learn the science behind the phenomenon years later in my training to be an Extension Master Gardener in Johnson County, Kansas. At the end of a branch of any plant is the terminal bud where all growth develops and in that tip is a hormone that suppresses the growth of the axial buds (the side buds). When the terminal bud and its hormone is removed by cutting or pinching, the side buds are permitted to go forth and prosper leading to more compact plants and higher yields of flowers and vegetables.

Don’t be intimated by pinching your plants. As the above photograph simply demonstrates, all you need to do is take your hands and pinch out the flower bud and a few leaves at the tip of the plant. The other way of course is just keep cutting your flowers and the side branches of the side branches will deliver flowers galore.

One of the best examples for pinching is the top image. Coleus get treated just like other plant but you want to create bushy plants with healthy leaves of instead of leggy plants with insignificant flowers.

Earlier in the season, you should pinch new annual flowers as soon as you plant them. The seed companies are breeding plants to look great in the pack bloom And

Continued pinching of perennials gives more flowers but more importantly, it creates stockier plants less susceptible to wind and storm damage. Here is the Sedum ‘Matrona’ shortly after pinching.

Just look at all that resplendent growth and energy courtesy of the pinching process:

And the most dramatic example of the benefits of pinching has to be tomatoes. A couple of good pinches before the plants set will at least double your food harvest. The same goes for peppers, eggplants and even vine vegetables. And don’t forget about basil for your pesto. WOW, will you see a huge difference with it.

So you newbies or lazy experienced gardeners, get out there and pinch and cut and turn your garden into a beautiful, prolific paradise. Nan, even if you didn’t know the science behind it, you were absolutely spot on and now what you shared with me is being passed on to a new crop of gardeners. Thank you, my dear.

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The Pawpaw Tree Uncovered

by Patrick on March 31, 2013

Lewis and Clarke shared in their journals they were fond of them . In their 1806 expedition rations ran low and the soldiers found them to eat. Jefferson grew them at Mount Vernon (What didn’t he grow at MV? ) What are ws talking about here? Why it’sAsimina trilobar,or better known as the the humble pawpaw tree. The North American Pawpaw is the only temperate cousin of a tropical fruit genus. They are found growing all over the eastern side of the country but do grow very well in the Midwest.

The fruit starts green as is shaped like a mango growing from 3-6″ and then turns into a yellow fruit with unattractive black markings. With a consistency of custard, the taste has been described vanilla banana blend. You will need to have a cross pollinator for maximum fruit set. I saw a report that it requires 400 chill hours to set fruit. So, not a tree for the South (They can’t have everything.)

To date, pawpaws have yet to market to supermarkets, just an occasional farmers market. There are no hybrid pawpaws but some scientists have found superior selections in the wild. One man who is helping the pawpaw progress to a marketable crop is plant scientist Neal Peterson. In fact, he’s spent 35 years on the objective of making it something you could buy at the supermarket. His selections have larger fruits with more flesh. But now he has some competition selecting pawpaws. In fact, in 2009 the land grant school, Kentucky State trialed 23 selections of which Peterson had three he bothered to trademark. His selections are Shenandoah, Rappahannock and Allergeny. I doubt you’ll see these sexy names at the market someday,

So lots of progress is being made. I have to wonder why there are no hybrids to date. The biggest limiting factor is the harvest period is only three weeks. But hybridization could widen that window to six weeks? Maybe one day it will be seen as a commercially viable crop and hybridization work will begin. I can just imagine what price the first ones could bring in the gourmet market (That’s the agriculture economist in me shining throu

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Time to Unwrap My Christmas Gift For Just You: John Denver’s ‘The Garden Song’

by Patrick on December 19, 2012

Well, I’ve been waiting for you to unwrap your Christmas gift from Patrick’s Garden for over two years now. I just keep forgetting it under the tree. I’m not ashamed to say I’m a huge fan of Mr. John Denver. How could one man project such a wholesome and humble persona in the drug induced 1970′s. But more importantly he was a songwriter whose iconic songs are as relevant and fresh as they ever were.

But I had never had heard of The Garden Song until I stumbled upon it on youtube one day with him backgrounded by the Muppets. He wrote it and it appeared on John Denver (1979). My favorite parts are the background singing foxgloves and the moutheywatermelon and even the thistle.

So to unwrap, just hit the title of this post and John and his merry Muppets will Christmas magically appear.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good growing season in 2013.

Patrick

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Two Australian Heirloom Vegetables

by Patrick on December 12, 2012

I was born in Australia and moved to the States in 1978 at the age of 13. I do remember my grandparents had a veggie market garden when there was a a prolonged drought and the wheat crop and lack of pasture for the sheep used for wool weren’t bringing enough income. It was less than an acre according to my Mum. Even though I was a child, I remember picking small vegetables.

The garden was situated on 50 acres between the Namoi River and a billabong. The billabong is a creek fed by the river that returns to the river at some point. Pop created a rough stone road at a low point where he could get to the 50 acres. Sometimes a heavy rain made the road impossible to drive over the billabong. But the river irrigated the whole garden and so most years they had an impressive harvest.

Yates was the only major seed company that sold open-pollinated seeds that were mostly Aussie varieties but they did import some varieties from other parts of the world. But I do remember two classic Aussie varieties I’d like to share with you.

‘Queensland Blue’ Heirloom Pumpkin.

Since there is no Halloween in Australia,there were no orange pumpkins just blue when I was a kid. The most famous was the ‘Queensland Blue’ named after one of Australia’s five states at that time and is available at Baker’s Creek Seeds, the behemoth heirloom seed company. Be sure to request the most beautiful and largest seed catalog in this county.

The deep orange flesh and the dark blue makes a stunning combo. (Check out the today’s color wheel to see such a display.) This is still one of the varieties that is still a popular choice after all these years yielding 10-20 pound beauties..When Aussies made a roast during my days it was always the ‘Queensland Blue’ which looked fantastic with just potatoes on the plate.

But my favorite Aussie heirloom is the ‘Crystal Apple’ cucumber which is still a big favorite yet today. I searched here in the US for many years and even tried the very bitter lemon cucumber in case they were the same thing. YUCK .I finally saw it added at Baker’s Creek two years ago. It’s also available at Seed Saver’s Exchange. I have several 2′ X 5′ planter boxes and having a friend building an eight foot trellis for the middle of some of them.where I plan to grow some of these cucumbers.Should make some pretty image for the blog.

Im my days it was the best selling favorite being grown and aI high yielder. Baker’s Seds recommends harvesting them at a smaller size of three inches high and wide than we did back home which should make them better suited for a trellis.

Part of its allure is it has a very think thin skin unlike the traditional long green choices. So the only prep is to score them with a fork around it and then enjoy the mld taste. I’ll give you updates butI i think you should consider for the ground or trellis this next year.

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The Windowboxes at Trinity 2011

by Patrick on December 1, 2012

The most impactful part of my nursing home garden has to be the 12 window boxes that line the two large canopied balconies on either side of the entrance. You may remember that each box is lovingly cared for by my garden fanatic bus driver, Todd, who pinches back, fertilizes, holds off bugs and waters to put on a gorgeous display for the enjoyment of our residents and visitors.

This year I invited Todd to join me in selecting this year’s selections which I could sense meant a lot to him and we had a ball. It’ s a little daunting to create so many combos at one time. We tried to reuse the best combos but it was hard to find all of them this year like ‘Fortunia Pink Picotee’.

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