From the Garden: January 2009

Saturday, January 24, 2009

70 days from setting out transplants. Indeterminate. Chocolate Cherry is so much more than a pretty face! These 1-inch beauties boast the most flavorful tomato tang in the family, from their delicious thin skins to their combinations of gels and solids, sweets and meats, in every bite.

Appearing in clusters of 8 all over this compact vining plant, these miniatures ripen delectably from green to lavender to richest mahogany. They have a fresh-grown flavor and texture no store-bought variety can equal, from their rich fragrance to that great bite as they are popped whole into your mouth or scattered on salads. Truly a gourmet variety, they keep coming all summer!

To make the most of this flavor, you may want to harvest these tomatoes a day or two before they are fully ripe and let them bake in the sunshine of a kitchen window. This prevents cracking and theft from birds, who also find them irresistible, and assures that each Chocolate Cherry reaches its peak of flavor. There's nothing to compare in the cherry tomato family!

This plant reaches 5 to 6 feet high and about 3 feet wide, sometimes continuing to grow and set new fruit into autumn. It might just do for a large container, and should certainly be front and center in the vegetable garden.

- Park Seed (link here)

Iris cristata

This vigorous, rapidly spreading groundcover is exceptionally easy to grow!

Fresh green foliage and bright blue flowers in mid-spring distinguish this vigorous, rapidly spreading ground cover. Exceptionally easy to grow, it forms a drought-tolerant, weed-choking mat, 4 to 6 inches tall. This Iris is a wildflower, but ours are nursery-propagated plants.

Native to the northeastern United States, Crested Iris is very easy to grow in any well-drained garden soil. Once it establishes in your landscape, it spreads happily, flowering determinedly year after year. Try it in the front of the border, as edging, and in containers. You will find it adaptable and carefree in full sun (in cooler climates) to partial shade (farther south and southwest). Zones 3-9.

- Wayside Gardens (link here)

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Thermo planter

Cost effectively grow tropical plants in a cooler climate. Reduce your heating cost by warming the pot, not the entire greenhouse. Grow tomatoes and cucumbers indoors during the winter. Display patio plants outside earlier and longer.

This ingenious planter gives you optimum growth, flowering and fruiting. The energy-efficient, 15-watt heater in the inner pot is the secret. It is thermostatically controlled to switch on during cool times and off during warm times, keeping plant roots evenly warm at 80º-85º F. An insulating outer pot and an insulated top cover complete the system. Great for citrus, tomatoes, hibiscus, palms and others. 3 gal. (13" diam. x 9-3/4" H.)

- Charley's Greenhouse (link here)

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Master Gardener Week 0

Thursday Jan, 15 was the first meeting of my Master Gardener class at Boerner Botanical Gardens.

It was designated Week 0 because it was an organizational meeting.

The combined enrollment for Milwaukee/Waukesha is 125, and it looked to me like about half were in the Milwaukee section. The room was full.

Lots of talk about volunteer opportunities at places like the Zoo, State Fair Park, Ten Chimneys, Old World Wisconsin, etc.

There were 300 volunteers in 2008. That number seems low to me considering there have been Master Gardeners in the metro area since 1976.

The topic of the next meeting is botany. I read about gardening all the time, but I have not studied botany since my biology class at MSU over 30 years ago.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Stevia

Stevia is a South American herb that is a very interesting plant.

Sweeter than sugar and non-caloric.

http://www.stevia.com/

http://www.parkseed.com