Rodd's Seeds of Wisdom Horticultural tips and tricks from Rodd Moesel

January is one of the months when we spend the least time outside in the garden or landscape because of short days and the generally inhospitable weather. Even in January you can use the nice days to finish cleaning up the ice storm damage and pruning your trees and shrubs.  This is a great time to plan your landscape and decide on new trees and shrubs you want to plant this spring. You can study seed catalogs, visit your local nursery or garden center  or browse gardening information on the internet to select the nursery stock,  vegetables, annuals and perennials you want to plant this spring and where you want to plant them. You could also attend the Home, Landscape and Garden show at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds this Friday, Saturday and Sunday and enjoy several magnificent landscapes built for your enjoyment and to provide garden ideas.  The show will feature several nurseries, garden centers and landscapers exhibiting between the storm windows, doors,  storm cellars, lawn chairs and other home and garden products and speakers. Several local and state gardening groups and schools will be at the show so you can learn about their programs. The Oklahoma Horticulture Society, a volunteer group of state wide garden and plant lovers that offers a great newsletter, regular speakers and tours will be at the show so you can join and start participating with these fun and interesting gardeners to enjoy Oklahoma  focused programming.

I get many questions about what I think about organics, sustainability and green gardening. I view virtually all work you do in the yard and garden as for the greater environmental good as long as you are planting and maintaining live plants and not plastic or artificial shrubs and flowers. All living plant material absorbs, in fact, needs carbon dioxide and greenhouse gasses to conduct photosynthesis just to maintain itself and more importantly to grow. Plants are the most effective way to absorb and sequester carbon back into the ground. In general, the bigger the plant canopy the more clean oxygen the plant gives off for humans and the more carbon dioxide and gasses it absorbs, uses and sequesters.  The answer to many environmental challenges is to plant more trees, shrubs, turf and plants.

Organic gardening has been a big issue for decades but has been a popular trend for many year since the publication of Rachel Carson’s book, “Silent Spring” published in 1962. The organic movement goes through periods of increasing attention and support, particularly after some type of food safety scare whether with beef, lettuce or other foods. I certainly respect and have no problem with those who want to raise their own or buy organic produce and food crops  but I feel completely safe eating non organic produce and food as long as the produce is well washed and I feel comfortable with the grower, store or restaurant where I get the food. I do feel more comfortable with food that is grown in the United States as that gives me more confidence in the production methods and the quality and integrity of the food safety standards and inspections.    You should be prepared to pay more for true organically grown produce at your local farmers market or grocery store as it costs more per pound to grow most crops organically. The nitrogen fertilizer is much harder to deliver to plants without using commercial or chemical fertilizers and usually results in lower yields in organic systems. As the weather gets hotter in the summer the bug pressure increases substantially and it gets harder to maintain organic yields without losing more vegetables or fruits to pests and diseases. The physical appearance of organic fruits and vegetables often suffers as we move into the summer months in large part because of this increased pest and disease pressure. These days most commercial vegetable and fruit growers are very careful not to over fertilize because of the high cost of fertilizers and their own concern for the environment they need to protect if they want to continue as a viable growing operation. These costs and all this attention and discussion have dramatically reduced over feeding which can effect water quality and future crop yields.

When I was a boy growing up, commercial growers had access to much harsher chemicals and often applied them on a weekly or regular schedule to both control known pest and disease problems and as a preventative or barrier to future problems. As environmental awareness has grown, as growers have had to deal with rapidly increasing costs of chemicals and a much more limited arsenal of chemicals and since the physical act of spraying is just about the least favorite activity for every  grower, especially young growers, most growers now actively practice IPM or integrated pest management. Most grower only spray now when yellow sticky cards or other trapping techniques indicate that a problem has reached a certain level and then they spray for that problem and usually use a targeted chemical. Most growers have reduced their chemical use by 50 to 80% over the last decade. It will be very hard to feed our growing world population without the use of chemical fertilizers, fungicides and insecticides especially with agriculture now expanding into energy production for ethanol and other fuels. This will create increasing pressure for crop lands and higher yields to give us both food and energy.  

You can certainly grow your own organic food if you will take the time and effort or support your local growers who make that commitment of time and resources to grow organic food for you if you choose to go that way because of allergies or for your personal peace of mind. I will continue to eat food grown both organically and with chemical fertilizers and pesticides but I am especially anxious to support our local production as much as possible. If you haven’t grown any of your own vegetables or fruit trees for a few years, think about growing a few of your own tomatoes, peppers, squash or melons this year. Few things surpass the joy of growing your own food, watching it ripen, picking it when vine ripe, washing the harvest and eating tasty, crisp, fresh food.

Happy New Year! We hope you had a very happy and rewarding 2007 and are full of excitement and anticipation as we enter this fresh year of 2008 which affords us a new clean start. Every year results in special memories and experiences that accumulate to tell the stories of our lives. Although we get a fresh start each year we hopefully are wise enough to learn from our experiences in the earlier preceding years to do a better job each new year in picking out how to spend our time, what skills to develop, whom we want to spend our time with and the myriad of other choices and decisions we get to make each day. A new year gives us a great opportunity to re-evaluate whether we are happy and growing in our jobs, our families, church, community, friendships, education and hobbies. The older I get the more I have come to realize that if something is not working in family, church, work or personal relationships it may involve my attitude or carrying too much baggage or memory instead of exercising forgiveness and giving things a fresh start. The New Year seems a good time to re-evaluate, to forgive and to start fresh but blessed with the knowledge and experiences of past successes and short-comings.

Our yards and gardens can use a fresh start or a review every now and then as well and a new year provides a good opportunity to do just that.  If your trees and shrubs got slammed by the ice storm that may have created issues that force you to do some planning and of course the first thing you have to do is prune out the damaged branches or cut down trees or shrubs damaged beyond recovery. After dealing with the emergency issues, take some time to decide if you want to spend more or less time outdoors in the year ahead. Do you want to grow any of your own food? Do you want to add new trees or shrubs to your permanent landscape? Do you like the amount of flowerbeds you have now or do you want to add new beds around the trees in the front yard or new flowerbeds along the front sidewalk? Do you want to remake your backyard into an outdoor living area? Do you want to add a garden pond, a cold frame or a greenhouse? Do you want to add stone walks or create a butterfly or wildlife garden?

There are an endless array of possibilities to change or upgrade your personal outdoor living and landscape environment. If you want to spend more time outside getting a physical workout, taking in some sunshine, and communing with nature you can easily tackle most all these projects yourself and may only want to hire a landscaper or gardener for heavier projects like laying stone pathways or digging garden ponds. If you don’t want to tackle the actual physical work but still want to enjoy the beauty and serenity of an upgraded landscape you can hire the landscape design and installation services from a local nursery or garden center to make these dreams and visions a reality. Many people enjoy the experience of planting their own color annuals or vegetables, mowing their lawn and basic yard maintenance but if you prefer to spend all your outdoor time with a glass of iced tea in a swinging chair or on a patio recliner you can hire really good yard services to mow and trim your yard and even plant your seasonal color plants.                

Take time to decide how you want your yard to look and how much of the work you want to do and how much you want do with your children, the help of neighborhood youth or you can hire commercial landscapers, garden centers or lawn services to help you plan, create and maintain the yard and gardens you have dreamed about. Whether you are going to do the work yourself or have someone to do the work for you this is good time of year to do a soil test. Dig down to about 6” deep at several places in your flowerbeds or lawn and then use samples from 3 or 4 similar areas to fill a pint bottle with soil. Take the bottle to your nearest OSU county extension office and they will run a good soil test for $10.00 and get the results completed in about 2 to 3 weeks. Since the cost of fertilizer has shot way up the last couple of years and with all of us working to be more responsible with the environment soil tests make more sense now than ever. In this region we usually do not need any additional phosphorous and may not even need any potassium. You may only need to feed nitrogen to your lawn and possibly even your gardens. There is no sense to pay for more fertilizer than you need and the extra phosphorous can negatively affect our water quality and encourage more algae bloom in streams and lakes. I would encourage you to do a soil test in your front yard and another from your backyard and maybe a third from your main flowerbed. When you get your results take them to your local nursery or garden center to help you select the best fertilizer program for your yard without wasting valuable minerals and resources. You will probably save enough on your fertilizer to pay for the soil tests plus you will be more environmentally responsible to only feed what is needed this spring and summer. 

All the mail order seed and garden catalogs are now mailing out so this winter season is a great time to review these catalogs and pick out new plants you want to try. I like to encourage you to buy locally and our local nurseries offer many new plants but occasionally there will be specialty or unusual plants that are only available by mail order or over the internet.  Do try something new as it can be fun and lets you feel like a plant explorer and gives you something to show friends and talk about. Have fun planning your garden and make time to enjoy your yard and gardens as part of a very special 2008.

Ice storms are not my idea of fun. I really enjoy one or two decent winter snows each winter because the trees, shrubs and over all landscapes are just beautiful when cloaked in a layer or bright white reflective snow. One or two nice snows a year doesn’t cause very much damage, just puts our world on slow or pause for a few hours or even a day or two and is just postcard beautiful. Few things are as inspirational or beat the beauty of the sun coming out or a full moon shining on a fresh layer of snow covering our landscape. Ice on the other hand can be quite beautiful when the sun or light bounces off the covered tree branches or leaves like they are covered in diamonds or crystals but ice is so heavy it can cause mind boggling damage and frankly is not much fun as we Oklahomans have been reminded this last week.

I don’t remember so many significant ice storms when I was growing up but the last several years have certainly produced several heavy ice storms that have caused major damage to our trees, shrubs, overhead electrical, telephone and cable wires.  Over 650,000 electric service customers learned a new appreciation for their electric service when they went to turn on the switch and there was no power. The problem was further complicated for those without water if their well pump or the pumps for the water system they use were without power. Imagine our forefathers just 100 years ago at statehood going through the whole year without electric, water, gas or even sewer service instead of just a few hours or days. Maybe these experiences are to help us truly appreciate our blessings, we too often take for granted.

The tree and shrub damage is just heart breaking for me and most of you and not as easily restored as OGE or your electric cooperative getting your power lines back up or your electrician remounting your service box. This ice was heavy enough and thick enough to damage young trees and old mature hardwood trees alike depending on their shape, orientation and locations. We often expect the most ice or high wind damage to fast growing softwood trees like Bradford Pears, Silver Maples, Sycamores, Mimosas and the like. We expect less damage to slow growing harder wooded trees like Pecans, Walnuts, Pin Oaks, Caddo Maples and Sweet Gums. Bradford Pears have probably received the most consistent damage with many now one sided or open style trees. I have seen a few where all the branches peeled down like a banana to leave just a stump or one or 2 vertical standing branches.

It seems that the more vertical the branching style from the trunk the more damage this storm caused and the flatter or more horizontal the branching the less damage. Most Bald Cypress trees branch out almost flat or near 90 degrees from the trunk and appear to have less damage as they did not bend as far down from normal with the ice load as a tree like the Bradford Pear where the branches come out and then turn up almost parallel to the trunk. With the nicer weather this week all the ice load has melted off and some of those branches that looked like they might be lost may have bounced back up to their normal position or at least closer to normal. Trees like Pin Oaks and Magnolias that had not dropped their foliage had a lot more surface area to catch the ice and are two of the trees that look a lot better this week since the ice melted. Although we lost a lot of branches on the magnolias many of the branches that were bowed down so far have lifted back close to normal and will probably be okay. It is best to hire a certified Arborist or a local nursery or landscaper to do the tree pruning and cleanup if you are not able to do it yourself.  Don’t get too anxious and prune too quickly or carried away and prune out branches that might bounce back or survive. With these significant tree losses we need all the tree canopy we can save. Do prune out and make clean cuts where possible when the branches are actually broken out or have structural cracks. I have seen significant damage to trees that were here before statehood, trees planted in the thirty’s to the fifty’s in response to the dust bowl as part of the conservation and wind break effort of our predecessors and even recently planted trees. Many trees had received some damage in earlier ice storms in 2001 or even January of this year. After the tree canopy is altered by earlier ice or high wind damage it seems more vulnerable to additional damage as future ice or wind can reach down into the crown of the tree in new ways with part of the canopy or tree cover missing.

I’m seeing hundreds of truckloads of branches headed to the landfill and it is a terrible waste to send all these years of great biomass to the dump instead of to a collection yard to burn for fuel or even to grind for mulch. Many of our cities could do better in handling this tree growth for a high value use instead of only using it to fill our limited landfill area. We will all need to do a lot more tree planting the next few years to restore and add to the tree canopy of our state. Now is a good time to be thinking about the best spots in your yard and the community to add trees and to be thinking about the type of trees you will want to plant.

Don’t forget there is still time to buy poinsettias, Christmas cactus, amaryllis, flower arrangements, Norfolk Island pines or other plant material to liven up your Christmas celebration. Gardeners love gifts of plants, tools, gloves and garden center gift certificates as you finish your Christmas gift list. Speaking of the beautiful Christmas Poinsettias one of our readers, Janet Williams, did some great research on Ambassador Joel Poinsett and advises me that he was not actually the first director of the Smithsonian Museum as I mentioned in my last column. As a South Carolina Congressman he apparently led an effort called the National Institute for the Promotion of Science that was involved in the debate that led to the Smithsonian Institution we know and love today. He may not have been the first director of the Smithsonian but he did still introduce the poinsettia to the United States and we will always remember him for that. Thanks for correcting us and we hope you each and everyone have a very Merry Christmas Season and a great 2008.

Happy Thanksgiving! What a remarkable week with all the celebrations for our state centennial and now one of my favorite holidays – Thanksgiving. Civilizations have had various types of harvest festivals for centuries to commemorate the end of another growing season and the successful harvest of grains, corn, vegetables, fruit and other food to help sustain them through the winter and into the next growing season. Our ancestors learned to save the best seeds or roots from one season to start the crops anew the next season. When the pilgrims made it to New England and struggled with the first crops as they were learning to farm the new land they were especially grateful for that first life sustaining harvest. The American tradition of Thanksgiving became our harvest festival that very first autumn. They shared the Thanksgiving celebration with the Indians they had befriended and who helped them get established.  This began the tradition of sharing this holiday celebration with family and friends. Since before we were a country we have gathered to celebrate our bountiful harvest and the many blessings we enjoy in our lives.

Although we still face lots of problems and challenges in our daily lives I have to think we have it pretty cushy compared to our forefathers when they landed on the east coast to establish that first colony or even our  ancestors who were settling our state a mere 100 years ago. Those early pilgrims had to spend most all of their time and effort planting, raising and harvesting the crops that provided them food, clothing and shelter. Even 100 years ago most of the early Oklahomans had to concentrate on raising the crops and the animals to provide their basic necessities. By statehood we did have local markets to buy and trade produce, eggs, grains and meat so part of the population was able to move into retailing, teaching, law, manufacturing and other activities besides farming. Most early Oklahomans were still tied to the land as subsistence farmers.  As the years progressed folks started growing more flowers or plants for beauty and personal enjoyment in addition to their all important food production. With the land run and the tens of thousands of new small homesteads and the influx of so many subsistence farming families the native prairies were cleared and planted from edge of property to edge of property.  In many cases this intense clearing and over use of the land helped lead to our serious dust bowl problems a few decades later in the 30’s when we hit a period of significant drought. Hundreds of thousands of families fighting for survival and to establish homes, farms and communities had cut down the native trees and brush for fuel and to maximize their growing land to support their families. For the most part the land responded and produced crops to support many growing families. When the drought hit families along with the stock market crash and the collapse of many financial institutions many families did not have sufficient harvests and had to leave this new land. Many headed west to California or back to where they had immigrated from. The early Oklahoma settlers had stripped much of the land and when the new crops would not sprout and grow from the parched land it left millions of acres to blow in the wind. As a result of that crisis Oklahomans learned the importance of working with the land and Oklahomans became leaders in conservation and have done a pretty good job at practicing sustainability before it was cool. These early settlers and farmers brought many new crops and plants to this state and did the hard work in figuring out what crops and plants grew here and over time have helped select the strongest and best plants we grow today.

 I am so thankful that I can raise vegetables, fruit trees and flowers because I want to, not because I have to. I am thankful for my wonderful and understanding wife, Dona, my remarkable Mom, my sweet sister and sharp brothers and their special spouses and my wonderful nephews and nieces. I am thankful for my special church family, the wonderful people I work with and so many fantastic friends. I am thankful for my good health, the talents I have been given and the special experiences and challenges I have enjoyed. I am thankful to be an American and to be able to travel where I want, work the kind of job I want, to be able to worship, speak and generally associate with those I choose. I’m thankful to be an Oklahoman and to share this young state with so many warm, friendly people who are usually glad to help when needed and still exhibit a pioneer spirit. Please take a little time to count your blessings and celebrate the life of choices we enjoy including the freedom from subsistence farming and the dust bowls that challenged those Oklahomans before us.

First we had the centennial to celebrate the first 100 years of our state as we look ahead to the next 100 years. Now we celebrate Thanksgiving and give thanks for our respective harvests and the fruits of our labor even as this growing season ends this Thanksgiving weekend with a hard freeze. We look ahead to Christmas, a time to celebrate the birth of Christ and to give and share from our bounty or harvest with family, those special people in our lives and those in need. As we look ahead to the season of poinsettias enjoy your family and be in a spirit of Thanksgiving.

Fall colors are in various stages across our great state as we have been teasing our trees and gardens with a few light frosts as they and we prepare for our first hard freeze. Northwest Oklahoma has already dealt with that four hours below 28º hard freeze weather that kills most annuals and puts most perennials, deciduous shrubs and trees into winter hibernation. The rest of us will have that experience very soon as we make the annual march into winter. Make sure to bring inside any plants or cuttings of tender plants you want to save until next season. If you believe we may have a nice extended Indian summer after a light freeze or two you may want to cover or protect some selected tomatoes, other vegetables or flowers for a few early light freezes to see if you can earn several more weeks of flowers or vegetables. You can cover tender vegetables and annuals with sheets, blankets, towels, boxes or commercial row covers to try and extend the season until the freezes come too hard or too often.

The pretty fall color on our trees and shrubs is one of my favorite annual nature shows and everyone gets to enjoy it no matter where you live in our state. No question it is more impressive in the areas with more trees and some rolling terrain as in southeastern Oklahoma or northeast Oklahoma but a single maple or other tree in your own backyard or nearby park can be quite amazing. Fall color goes pretty quickly, not as fast as a sunrise or sunset, but like them, the fall leaf color is constantly changing so make some time at this season of year to enjoy the fall color as you take your daily walks, bicycle rides or drive to work. There are pretty and interesting trees in every neighborhood and it is fun to watch the leaf colors transition from green to tones of red, orange, yellow and then brown. It is even fun to watch the leaves release from the trees like magic carpets and fly, glide or float to the ground to land on the earth. Their highest and best use is as compost or mulch across the ground or used in flowerbeds as mulch and then to add nutrition back to the ground. Please find a use for them in your gardens in building up the soil instead of dispatching them to the landfill. The leaves want to return to the earth and enrich the soil as they complete their cycle of life.

It is a good idea to mulch the top of the soil around tender perennials, shrubs and plant material that is marginal for our temperature zone with a natural mulch of bark, collected leaves, cottonseed hulls, pecan hulls or compost. The mulch will act like a blanket or comforter to help keep the soil warmer and more consistent in temperature. A 2 to 4” layer of mulch on top of the soil should help tender plants survive the long, hard, cold winter. Remember to water your trees, shrubs, and overwintering plants periodically this winter if we don’t get some regular rains. This will help your plants to avoid dehydrating and increase this chance of winter survival and success next spring.

If you have not already planted some pansies in your yard please get out and get some to plant in your flowerbeds, by your front porch or into container gardens and urns. Few plants are as encouraging and uplifting as seeing the fun flower faces of pansies persevering through a cold, dark winter to greet you each time you come or go from your house or as you look out the window. These crazy guys bloom during ice or snow and on very cold dreary days. On the worst days they look a little wilted but as long as you water them every once in a while they will bounce right back and are downright perky anytime the sun is out.  They are available in all kinds of funky purple, red, blue and yellow colors, many with a lower face of black or other bold color to create a lively winter show. Plant pansies in a bright sunny area to get the best show this winter and early spring before they wither in the heat next spring.

Tulips used to be only for the very wealthy of European royalty as tulips were one of the first great collecting, breeding and trading fads. A single cherished bulb would trade for tens of thousands in current dollars. Today all of us can collect and plant the amazing tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, crocus and other spring flower bulbs to enjoy in our own yards and at a very reasonable prices. No matter which of these spring bulb crops you most enjoy, now is the time to get them planted. Plant some crocus along your main sidewalk, in the front flowerbed or planted randomly out amongst the lawn to give you your first glimpse of spring color. Plant tulips for their royal display of proud petals reaching for the sky in the sunny flowerbeds where you want to make a real statement.

The beautiful yellow, white and orange flowered narcissus or daffodil is probably the best adapted spring bulb for our area. It often will naturalize and come back year after year to make impressive clumps to let us know that spring really has arrived. If you go buy and plant your bulbs by early December, you can plant them normal depth. If you wait later you will need to plant them a little shallower to still get blooms this spring.   The sooner you plant them with a little bone meal or blood meal the more root growth they will have this winter and the more impressive they will be this spring.

Here we are just changing daylight savings time, flirting with our first hard freeze and we are already talking about spring. Please get outside to watch the leaves do their fall color, plant some pansies and spring flowering bulbs and soak in the great outdoors.