“What's Growing On...”

Cooperative Extension of Cumberland County www.njaes.rutgers.edu/extension Extension Education Center 291 Morton Avenue Phone: 856-451-2800 “What’s Growing On...” Volume 16 Number 4 Winter 2013 Edition Published Quarterly Inside this issue: RUTGERS COOPERATIVE EXTENSION ON THE RADIO Rutgers on the Radio 1 For agriculture news and horticultural tips, listen to me, Pam Burton, on the RCE From the Desk of.. 1 Agricultural Program on Monday, Wednesday & Thursday on WSNJ AM 1440 & Pine Cone Bird 2 1240 at 11:30 pm announcing local workshops, seminars, and horticultural tips. Feeder Cranberry Harvest 3 Illex Verticillata 4 From The Desk of Pam Burton Phoradendron 5 Leucarpum As we enter into this chillier time of the year, I always have difficul- Why leaves change 6 ty with the shorter days and longer nights. I truly believe that if it’s dark color out, we should be asleep! But winter really is a restorative time for plants Flat Pods on Pole 7 and people and despite the cold and snow, I continue to love the change Limas of seasons. In the winter months, I have marveled at the ice on bare branches of trees, and have seen fog on a snow covered garden. I have Christmas Tree Care 8 looked for the first signs of spring as the witch hazels bloom and have Flowering Cabbage 9 watched my Golden Retriever make doggie snow angels. I have poured and Kale over seed catalogs in preparation for the spring plantings and I have been Your Harvest Table 10 happy every year as the winter equinox passes and leads us to longer Winter Skin Care 11 daylight. Master Gardener 11 Overview This year in particular I am looking forward to the 2014 class of Master Gardeners. The 2014 program of classes includes some interest- Garden Checklist for 12 ing new topics as well as some exciting new speakers. Among the new December topics is a class specifically concentrated on explaining the Rutgers’ Mas- Things to Do for 13 ter Gardener Program with an emphasis on the volunteer requirements January both from volunteer and administrative perspectives. Please be sure to Checklist for 14 all mark your calendars for the first class, which is held January 7, 2014 February from 9:00 am to 12:00 noon. There are full educational hours for this Available Fact Sheets 15 class and it’s important to come out and give a warm welcome to our Class of 2014. Check out our 16 Website Attachments Please tune into WSNJ 1240 AM on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 11:30 AM to hear the agricultural report. You will often Master Gardener hear me say “…and so it goes…” as a tribute to my Gram who played Class schedule such a large role in my love of all things of nature. VOL. 16, ISSUE 4 “WHAT’S GROWING ON…” Page 2 Pine Cone Bird Feeder Horticulture Therapy Program Doris Morgan, Mary Ellen Walker and Dee Shiell, Rutgers Master Gardeners I have had the pleasure of participating in this class when I was the Director of West Cum- berland Senior Center. The Master Gardeners arrived complete with supplies and I wondered if those who were taking the class realized the behind-the-scenes work that goes into preparing for the class. The first thing that needed to be done was to determine how many people would be at- tending which determined the amount of supplies that would be needed. The next step was to take a walk outside on a bright fall day to gather the pine cones from white pine trees which are overly abundant on the ground at this time of year. Next was a stop to a store or two for plastic plates, plastic knives, ribbon, peanut butter, bird seed and Crisco oil. The Master Gardeners started their workshop with an explanation of what the Rutgers Mas- ter Gardener program is and a reminder to the group that there will be a new class starting in Janu- ary 2014. They also briefly explained the concept of Horticulture Therapy and then began the in- service by handing out the supplies. Each attendee got one plastic plate, one plastic knife and two pine cones. We were all instructed to choose a length of ribbon for each of our pine cones and to tie this onto the pine cone with a long loop for hanging outside. I chose to tie the ends of the ribbon to each pine cone so they could be looped over a branch of a tree when I was done with my project. Several jars of peanut butter were put on the table for us to share and we were encouraged to scoop as much as we wanted onto the pine cone with our knife. Of course, part of the fun was getting sticky fingers from the peanut butter. Then, the Master Gardeners poured a generous amount of bird seed onto our plates and we rolled the peanut butter pine cones in the bird seed until it was covered. Because the sap from the white pine cones was on our hands, the Master Gardeners shared their tip of the day: Crisco oil takes off most of the sap. It was fun to see everyone’s approach to this project as some used a large amount of peanut butter and bird seed and approached the workshop with joyous abandon. Others were more cau- tious in their approach but certainly enjoyed it equally as well. I hung my pine cone bird feeder outside my kitchen window so I could enjoy watching the birds feast on it. This certainly is a project that you could do at home and one that children could participate in as well. VOL. 16, ISSUE 4 “WHAT’S GROWING ON…” Page 3 Harvesting Cranberries Cranberries are native to North America and are an important crop for New Jersey growers. In fact, during the 2011 Home Gardeners School at Rutgers, it was reported that New Jersey cranberry growers cul- tivate about 3,500 acres of the fruit, producing about 550,000 barrels a year. A barrel is the traditional unit of cranberry measurement. It is equal to 100 pounds. That volume is in large part due to the optimum soil conditions found in South Jersey which are highly acidic, sandy on top and mucky below. It’s tradition to think of the cranberry recipes around the holidays and we look forward to them on our Holiday menu. Let’s face it, the Holidays would not be the same without cranberry sauce. But do we give any thought as to how the cranberries get from the farm to the market? There are actually two methods of harvest and the “wet” method is used extensively in New Jersey for those cranberries that are destined to become juice or sauce. The cranberry bogs are flooded about 12 to 18 inches above the vines and then mechanical water reels that look like giant egg beaters are run over the vines to shake the berries loose. The berries float and a cranboom is used to surround them into a tight circle before being pushed up a loader and into a truck by conveyors. From there, the cranberries are trucked to a cleaning station and then on to a processing plant to be heat-processed into sauce or juice which is then canned or bottled and finally shipped to the grocery store. One of the “newest” cranberry prod- ucts on the market is white cranberry juice which is made from immature (or not yet red) cranberries versus the red color of ripe cranberries. The wet method of harvesting just spoken about reaps approximately 99% of the yield of the cranberry crop. The dry harvested berries, on the other hand can be sold as fresh fruit but with this method about 30% of the crop is lost when the berries fall to the ground under the vines. Basically the dry method uses machinery with teeth that pull the berries from the vines and conveys them to pallet boxes. Even as far back as our early settlers, it’s been recognized that good cranberries bounce. To this day, the harvested berries are subjected to the bounce test using special wooden barriers which separate the good from the bad, before being accepted for packaging. The next time you are in the grocery store and cranberries are on your list, you will now have a better understanding and appreciation of the process that it takes to get the crop from the farm to the market. I would also urge you to consider making cranberries a year round addition to your menu. Not only are cranberries delicious but they are very high in Vitamin C. Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station; http://www.cpe.rutgers.edu/stories/Cranberries-in-NJ- Rutgers-Home-Gardeners-School.html Union County College (NJ); http://faculty.ucc.edu/biology-ombrello/POW/cranberry.htm UMassAmherst; http://www.umass.edu/cranberry/cropinfo/howgrow.html University of Maine; http://umaine.edu/cranberries/cranberry-facts-and-history/ Burlington County College; ttp://staff.bcc.edu/pines/PDF/Intermediate%20level%20Cranberry% 20Worksheet%20ANSWER%20KEY.pdf VOL. 16, ISSUE 4 “WHAT’S GROWING ON…” Page 4 Ilex verticillata or Winterberry Winterberry is one of my favorite winter plants. Winterberry is a medium-sized ornamental shrub that has a slow growth rate. At maturity in an urban setting, it will reach about 8' tall by 8' wide but will reach larger proportions in the wild. It has specific requirements for growing conditions and performs best in full sun with acidic, organically-enriched, moist soils.

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