All the Dirt on Gardening

The sunny days of late fall and early winter have homeowners and gardeners outside, armed with clippers and rakes, cleaning out planting beds, dumping flower pots and burning leaves. These are time honored traditions that are being challenged because being a little less tidy helps wildlife and the environment. It is time to put down the tools and reconsider fall-winter cleanup. Gardeners have always been advised that allowing leaves and fall plants to stay in the garden untouched will attract harmful insects, rodents and diseases. In some cases that is true but the other side of the story is that leaves, clippings and standing flower stalks help birds and beneficial insects make it through the cold months. The same leaves, stems and twigs that we used to bag and dispose of can be transformed into habitat and soil amendment. Leaves can even stay on the lawn as winter mulch if they are first chopped with a lawn mower. Lawns that are mulched with chopped leaves and clippings ne...

  After the pilgrims arrived on Plymouth Rock in 1620, a drought year was followed by a good harvest. Guests were invited to share a meal where they could thank God for the squash, beans and corn that the Wampanoag Indians taught them to grow. Chief Squanto spoke English so his help had saved the Pilgrims from starvation. The tribe also taught them plant-based medicine and how to identify poisonous plants. On the day, General William Bradford’s men hunted wild duck and the Wampanoags brought deer. Without electricity or running water, four women cooked dinner for 150 guests at the three-day feast. It is likely that the meal was spit-roasted meat, boiled fowl, lobster, fish, cornbread, sweetened stewed fruit and water. Bradford’s records include corn meal bread, fish, chestnuts, hickory nuts, onions, squash, beans, honey and maple syrup. Since the Pilgrims came from England and Europe, Thanksgiving was partly based on English and European Harvest Home holidays. Ancient...

http://ecommons.cornell.edu/handle/1813/1346 Horsemint, Mentha longifolia, has 7 subspecies - 1. Mentha longifolia subsp. longifolia . Europe, northwest Africa. 2. Mentha longifolia subsp. capensis (Thunb.) Briq. Southern Africa. 3. Mentha longifolia subsp. grisella (Briq.) Briq. Southeastern Europe. 4. Mentha longifolia subsp. noeana (Briq.) Briq. Turkey east to Iran. 5. Mentha longifolia subsp. polyadena (Briq.) Briq. Southern Africa. 6. Mentha longifolia subsp. typhoides (Briq.) Harley. Northeast Africa, southwest Asia. 7. Mentha longifolia subsp. wissii (Launert) Codd. Southwestern Africa. The British garden site Shoot provides a few more common names: Wild mint, Kruisement, Horsemint, and Buddleja mint. www.plantzafrica.com It spreads by underground rhizomes, provides lots of bee and pollinator pollen as well as having culinary and medicinal uses. "Found in most parts of the country and easy to harvest, wild mint is a popular traditional medic...

At our local Muskogee farmer's market Sharon Owen of Moonshadow Herb Farm sells a lot of grass for indoor cats and dog/cat treats that she bakes herself. Given American's love for their pets, it is no wonder that now garden centers are planning to make room for pets. They want your pet to get pampered and for some garden centers, pet specific products make up 20%-50% of their sales and profits. So what can you expect to see besides bird baths and feeders, flower pots and hanging baskets? www.charlierandallpetfoundation.org  Look for as much as half of your favorite garden center to become focused on pet food, boutique beds, food dishes, toys and treats. But they will be items not available at your local big box stores. Pet costumes rang up $370 million this Halloween so no doubt you'll see those, too. What about pet grooming at your favoriet garden center? Would you go for that? Drop off the dogs and wander through the plants, fertilizers, pots and fount...

Butterflies have their favorite parts of the world though their native range changes from year to year based on weather patterns. For example, as our weather has become record-breaking hot and dry, fewer native species hang around our area. They can't find enough food to raise their young. Before this particular weather pattern began, we had hundreds of Monarch butterflies stopping by to eat nectar, puddle, rest, lay eggs and then move on south in Aug, Sept, and October. Now their appearance is unreliable and sparse.  I read that last year when New Mexico had a drought plus the smoke from western fires, their native butterflies went to Texas for food and water. Smart little butterflies. Butterflies of the World Foundation, based in OK posted a list of our OK native butterflies with photos at http://www.botwf.org/page316.html . Click on over to enjoy nature's beauty, identify a butterfly in your garden and to check out the beautiful photography.

Gypsum outcroppings Northwestern Oklahoma and West Texas soil, like New Mexico’s Chihuahuan Desert, was formed 220 to 270 million years ago when the area was under water. These locations have islands of Gypsum, Dolomite and Shale deposits from when they were ocean floor. Gypsum (hydrated calcium sulfate), is the primary ingredient in plaster of Paris and wallboard – a difficult, low-nutrient, environment for plant life. The seeds of most weeds and non-native plants cannot grow in it. Among the native plants, there are a few called True Gypsophiles that grow only on gypsum outcrops and gypsum-rich soil. ( For more scientific information about Gypsophiles, see http://tiny.cc/r4cmnw at Oberlin College.)  Gypsum-loving plants include: Bougainvillea, Angel Trumpet, Bicolor Mustard, Fiddleleaf, Sandwort, Prickly Poppy, Blanket Flowers, Prairie Dropseed, and several native Daisies, Sunflowers and Asters. In September, the Oklahoma Native Plant Society held its annual me...

Human parents talk and sing to their unborn babies to bond them to their voices. We play music to soothe them and cheer them when they hit a rough patch. Discover Magazine reports that Fair Wrens teach their unborn chicks a thing or two, also. Fairy Wren father with 2 chicks www.australiangeographic.com.au "In Australia, a pair of superb fairy-wrens return to their nest with food for their newborn chick. As they arrive, the chick makes its begging call. It’s hard to see in the darkness of the domed nest, but the parents know that something isn’t right. Whatever’s in their nest, it’s not their chick. It doesn’t’ know the secret password. They abandon it, flying off to start a new nest and a new family somewhere else. It was a good call. The bird in their nest was a Horsfields' bronze-cuckoo. These birds are “brood parasites” – they lay their eggs in those of other birds, passing on their parenting duties to some unwitting surrogates. The bronze-cuckoo egg looks very m...