Weekend of July 20, 1996
This column is about your garden.
The writer—professional gardening editor/writer Dorinda Beaumont—
lives smack in the middle of our region—Rosendale.
So it’s about your zone, your soil, your plants.
Once a week Dorinda will chastise you, commiserate with you,
tell you what you absolutely can’t leave for another week,
all the while drawing inspiration from the daily journals she’s been
keeping for several years about her gardening experiences here in the Hudson Valley.
A few weeks ago, I recommended netting to protect berries from the birds, and cautioned that it should be securely pegged to prevent birds from becoming trapped underneath. There's turned out to be another danger. Sometime within the last few days, a yard-long black snake, probably after a mouse or vole, lunged into the netting on our currant bushes, entangled itself, and died. Presumably the rodent got away but I felt badly about the snake. Were I given the choice, I'd rather have black snakes than rodents. That's a gardener's point of view, but it is true that nothing larger than a mouse need fear the harmless black snake. Trying to cheer me up, my husband told me the jerk should've looked where he was going and my neighbor said it was probably going to eat all the currants.
VEGETABLES AND SMALL FRUITS
It will soon be time to harvest the annual garlic crop. When the tops begin to yellow, we "lodge" the plants, which is to say we push them over with our feet to hurry the ripening of the leaves. When the tops turn one third yellow, it's time to pull them, let them dry a few days in the shade, cut off the tops and store in a cool, dark place. I grow hard-top German red garlic, which isn't braidable but stores better than soft-top garlic. From 36 cloves planted last October, we'll have a supply that will last until next July, as well as cloves to plant this fall.
To do this yourself, look for locally grown garlic at farm markets this month and save the best you find for planting in late October. From then on, you can save your own seed garlic from year to year. By continuing to select and save the best, you'll improve the quality dramatically, because garlic is a plant that adapts to a specific place. I grow three dozen heads every year. Four years ago, all but six of the heads fit through the mouth of a mason jar. Last year only eight heads did.
TREES, SHRUBS AND VINES
Dutchman's pipe is the vine with huge heart-shaped leaves that shelters porches on so many of the older homes in Kingston. While not as showy as a clematis, a rose, or even a morning glory, this climber gives more shade and privacy for a lot less fuss. A northeastern native, Dutchman's pipe thrives in any average soil, with anything from a few hours to a full day of sun, and without any special attention in the way of feeding, watering, or pruning. Unlike the equally easy-care wisteria, you don't need to worry that it will bring down the house with its weight or chew up the roof shingles with its tendrils. I grew up in a house with a front porch completely screened with Dutchman's pipe and I don't remember that anyone ever did anything for it. In return, it cast a cooling shade and allowed us to eat summer breakfasts outdoors in our shorty pyjamas.
FLOWERS AND HERBS
Asiatic lilies are the flower of the week in my garden. These hardy bulbs won't be in the stores until fall, but the mail-order "bargain offers" are rolling in. I caution you to read the fine print; size matters. Many of the low-priced bulbs are smaller than the industry standard top size of 18-20 cm. and will produce inferior results. It wouldn't be too bad if they could be relied upon to build size over time, but in many gardens lilies dwindle rather than increase. The same size standard holds for the fragrant Oriental lilies just starting to bloom now, the Chinese trumpet hybrids, tiger lilies, and the new crosses between Asiatics and longiflorum lilies.
The next tricky thing about buying lily bulbs is freshness. A lily bulb never goes completely dormant and thus does not take kindly to being dug and stored. Many experts say that American-grown, rather than Dutch, bulbs are fresher. I've had good results by calling to find out when the lilies are due to arrive, getting there then, and planting immediately. You can't do much about the way the bulbs are handled before you get them, but you can get them right in the ground as soon as you have them.
When it comes to choosing varieties, need I mention that the screaming orange ones are the most vigorous? The orange tiger lilies do well for everyone. I also notice that I planted three of a yellow Asiatic called 'Destiny' in 1991 and I now have six of them. It may be a fluke.
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