What's Growing, Spring 2018

Cooperative Extension of Cumberland County Extension Education Center Phone: 856-451-2800 291 Morton Avenue Fax: 856-451-4206 Millville, NJ 08332-9791 www.njaes.rutgers.edu/extension Cooperative Extension of Cumberland County 1915-2015 “What’s Growing Inside this issue: Volume 21 Number 1 Spring 2018 Edition Published Quarterly Rutgers on the Radio 1 RUTGERS COOPERATIVE EXTENSION Garden Gab 1 ON THE RADIO Butterflies 2 For agriculture news and horticultural tips, listen to me, Pam Burton, on the RCE Agricultural Program on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Leaf Compost 3 Thursday on 99.9 FM SNJ Today announcing local workshops, seminars, and What’s HOP-pening? 3 horticultural tips. Note: Local TV Channel 4 and www.snjtoday.com simulcasts live radio spots as they are aired Signs of Spring 4 Mulch Mound Mania 4 Garden Gab International Eggplants 5 Recipe for Success 6 Yoga has many poses with names that translate to “things found in nature”, including animals. My golden retriever, Tessa does the best Bottle It! 6 downward facing dog pose that I’ve ever seen, taking her time in the pose Save The Date 7 and smiling while she’s at it. In yoga, we commonly practice poses with Herbs & Veggie plant list 7 names of wheel, plough, tree, sun salutations, mountain and lotus poses, all related to nature. This common thread between yoga and nature Flower Plant List 8 comes as no surprise to me, and I’ve had the pleasure of doing yoga Fancy Plants 9 classes in vineyards and in my own garden, at the beach and on a sail- Water Conservation 10 boat. Master Gardener Classes 11 An integral and important part of a yoga practice is meditation, and Kids Corner 11 that’s where I find my time in my garden serves me well. There is no bet- ter way to connect back to reality and reset priorities than to spend a day Creatures & Critters 12 in the garden preferably with Tessa and a few of my best friends. As Upcoming Calendar of 13 spring arrives and I once again feel the soil in my hands while I work the Events earth as the suns’ rays warm my soul and I breathe in the smell of green, Green Knight Newsletter 13 all is right with the world for that moment. Namaste (a salutation said at Soil Sample update 13 the end of yoga classes). Garden Tips for March 14 And so it goes, Gardening Tips for April 15 Pam Burton Gardening Tips for May 16 Available Fact Sheets 17 856-451-2800 Ext 4 Attachments: Monarch [email protected] Teacher Network flyer Rutgers Cooperative Extension 100 Years of Service in Cumberland County “WHAT’S GROWING ON…” Page 2 Butterflies Host larval plants are less showy than the nectar plants, however, they do serve as an integral part of the butterfly life cycle. Host plants can provide food, shelter, camouflage, and chemicals used for protection, courtship, and reproduction and are a vital component of a good butterfly garden design. Dill and parsley are two herbs that the New Jersey’s state butterfly, the black swallowtail, use as host larval plants. Plant plenty of both in your gardens so the black swallowtail larvae can eat it and you can too! In a butterfly garden nectar plants are showier than host larval plants and adult butterflies like to feed from purple, red, yellow, orange or pink blossoms. Flowers look best when planting in clus- ters, and that’s what attracts the butterflies as well. Your garden will look its’ best if there are blooms of varying height throughout the entire season. Butterflies are cold blooded so they need to be warm to fly, choose plants that love full sun and plant your garden in a sunny location. Add a few rocks for them to bask on in the sun. Include some shelter for protection from windy days like a windscreen of flowering shrubs. Finally, add some wet sand or provide some puddles so the male butterflies can gift that to the females during the mating process. Please take some time to visit the Pollinator Garden at the Extension Education Center, 291 Morton Ave., Millville. To learn more about butterflies come to the Monarch Teacher Network classes on August 20th and 21st from 8:30 am until 4:00 pm each day. The cost is a reasonable $99.00. Rutgers Master Gardeners of Cumberland County will have several host larval and nectar plants for sale at the Wheaton Arts Eco Fair on May 5th, including dill, parsley, beebalm, blackeyed susans, butterfly weed and coneflower. Resources: http://extension.psu.edu/natural-resources/wildlife/landscaping-for-wildlife/pa-wildlife-8 http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/categories/insect http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/uw057 http://extension.psu.edu/natural-resources/wildlife/landscaping-for-wildlife/pa-wildlife-8 Photo taken by Pam Burton at RCE “WHAT’S GROWING ON…” Page 3 Leaf Compost If you followed the recommendations on Rutgers Fact Sheet 074 this past fall on Backyard Leaf Composting, it’s likely that you will be able to reap the benefits of it this spring, as normally backyard leaf compost takes 4-9 months to be ready for use. The process of the microbial decom- position of the organic matter results in a decomposed substance similar to the natural organic matter found in soil. The finished compost will not resemble a pile of leaves, it should be dark, friable and crumbly with an earthy odor. The primary use of leaf compost is as an organic amendment to improve the organic content of the soil and improve the moisture holding capacity and tilth. There are very little nutrients in the leaf compost so it should not be considered a fertilizer. Definitions per Mirriam-Webster: friable: easily crumbled or pulverized friable soil ; tilth: the state of aggregation of a soil especially in relation to its suitability for crop growth; cultivated land : tillage What’s HOP-pening? Home brewing is more than just a passing interest. If in doubt, google “breweries in New Jersey” and/or home breweries” and you will discover the ever-growing popularity of this brewing industry in New Jersey. Hops, Humulus lupulus, are used in making beer. Hops are perennial plants and it is the female that produces lupulins which contain oil and resins that produce the aro- ma and bitterness in beer. Rutgers fact Sheets specifically on growing hops which are FS 992 enti- tled “Hops in the Backyard” and FS 1276, “New Jersey Commercial Hops Production FAQs”. Growing hops requires pre-planning with careful consideration given to purchasing disease free rhizomes, proper site selection, construction of the trellis system, and the time considerations neces- sary for training and pruning the plants. The plants can grow as tall as 15 feet so be certain that the site selection allows for adequate vertical growth! While they are growing, there are watering and fertilizer re- quirements, as well as concerns of insects and diseases. In the 1920’s commercial hops production moved west primarily due to the disease of downy mildew, making selection of disease free plugs vital to your overall success. Finally, the harvesting, drying and storage of hops have specific recommendations. Several senses are used to determine when the hops are ready to harvest. Look for a golden yellow color of the lupulin glands at the base of the cone petals. Squeeze the glands and feel for a sticky fragrant residue. Squeeze the hop cones which will feel light and dry and will bounce back. Don’t be surprised if you feel the need to have a draft when harvesting, as the hops will smell like hops, or beer. Hops are large plants and the light green hop cones are quite attractive against the dark green leaves. Consideration can be given to using hops as part of the home landscaping on a trellis or arbor. Resources: http://www.uvm.edu/extension/cropsoil/wp-content/uploads/DownyMildew.pdf Northeast Hop Alliance: https://www.northeasthopalliance.org/ “WHAT’S GROWING ON…” Page 4 Signs of Spring One of the first signs of spring is the sighting of skunk cabbage or Symplocarpus foetidus . These plants get a bad rap because of their well-earned common name and the odor that goes along with them but in reality they are quite fascinating. The perennial plants are thermogenic meaning that they actually produce their own heat as a byproduct of cellular respiration as they grow attracting flies to the heat, which assists with the pollination process. Nature has also provid- ed skunk cabbage with roots that actually grab onto the soil and contract the plant deeper to pre- vent heaving from freezing and thawing. In this area you will see them in their natural habitat where the woods meet the water and in places where the swamp mud threatens to suck down your boots. You may also find the elusive Epigaea repens or Trailing Arbutus while hiking in an evergreen forest . This native plant is a low-growing evergreen with wonderful dark green leaf color. Trailing arbutus forms a dense mat and produces whitish fragrant pink flowers in spring. Trailing arbutus is a shade loving plant that prefers an acidic sandy soil. It’s extremely hard to transplant and is very slow-growing. Resources: http://www.psu.edu/dept/nkbiology/naturetrail/speciespages/skunkcabbage.htm http://ocvn.osu.edu/news/eastern-skunk-cabbage-early-sign-spring http://www.hort.uconn.edu/plants/detail.php?pid=164 https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/all/epigaea-repens/ Mulch Mound Mania One of the most common practices that well-meaning homeowners employ is to create mulch mounds around their trees and shrubs, not realizing that they may be committing those plants to a slow death by oxygen starvation, disease susceptibility, an increase in excess heat, pH changes and the death of the inner bark for above ground root flares.

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