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The Lowdown
Dr. Jeremy Cowan 477-2145
Regional Horticulture Specialist
Tim Kohlhauff 477-2172
Horticulture Program Coordinator
Anna Kestell 477-2195
Education/Clinic Coordinator
Master Gardener County Website
http://www.spokane-county.wsu.edu/
Master Gardener Foundation
of Spokane County
http://www.mgfsc.org/
WSU Master Gardener Site
http://mastergardener.wsu.edu
HortSense Fact Sheets
http://hortsense.cahnrs.wsu.edu/Home/
HortsenseHome.aspx
On Line Timelog Reporting:
http://ext.wsu.edu/Volunteer/logon
Spokane County Master Gardeners
May 2015
Inside this issue:
Year of the Soil 1
Emergency Info 2
Foundation News 4
Book Review 6
Armchair Gardener 8
Year of Soil 10
Events & Classes 12
Garden Tours 14
Upcoming Events 16
Extension Information
Soil is a non-renewable resource. What does this mean? It can take thou-sands of years to build a soil. But it only takes a heartbeat for soil degrada-tion to occur. Without soil, we would not exist. Soil feeds humanity and sup-ports life on this planet. Soil is the living skin of our earth. Soil forms over time through a complex interaction between the biology and the geology of a given place under open skies. Scientists refer to these as the five essential soil formation factors: time, climate, topography, parent material and biolo-gy. We can argue about which of these factors holds the most significance.
However, it is clear that biology gives a healthy soil vibrancy and life. “Dirt” defines a soil that has lost its organic matter, stripped of both its teeming soil ecosystem and the dead carbon, which would have been recycled to create building blocks for new life. “Dirt” becomes vulnerable to erosion and degradation. The Dust Bowl of the 1930s even today teaches a harsh lesson. Wind, for example, still erodes over 700 million tons of vulnerable soil annually. Additional millions of tons of irreplaceable soils wash away into the rivers and out to sea each year. We can’t replace a soil that has been lost. But, we can help heal the land and prevent further degradation by restoring organic matter to the soil. Be gentle with our soil. It is alive.
By Kathleen E. Callum
LIVING SKIN OF THE EARTH!
The
Year
of the
Soil
2015
The Lowdown Page 2
Your safety and the safety of our clients is a serious concern of ours. Since the
clinic will be opening next week, we would like you to take a moment to review
our evacuation plan.
In the event of an emergency, it is important that you are aware of the
procedures that are in place.
1. Emergency Evacuation—On the following page you will find our evacuation
route map. Please take time to familiarize yourself with our exit procedures.
2. Medical Emergency— dial 9-1-1.
First and foremost, please call emergency services 9-1-1.
There are several people in the building that have been trained in
basic emergency medical assistance and the use of our AED device.
After calling emergency services you may ask another volunteer to
seek out one of these persons.
We have access to an AED (automated external defibrillator) device
but it is still imperative that emergency services be called immediately!
3. Facilities Emergency—In our building, Randy Walters is in charge of facilities.
If Tim or Anna are not available, go to the front desk to request help from
Randy.
All of this information (and more!) can be found posted at each work station and
by the main computer at the front desk by the door.
The Lowdown Page 3
Meet at the Flagpole for
roll call
Primary Route Secondary Route
Meet at
the
Dumpster
for roll
call
EVACUATION ROUTESEVACUATION ROUTESEVACUATION ROUTES
If, for any reason, we are required to evacuate the County Extension building, the map above has
our exit routes from the Plant Clinic noted in red. Please study the map and familiarize yourself
with our exits.
Because we serve the public, it is possible that a client may be in the clinic at the time of
evacuation. We are responsible to take our clients with us and let Tim or Anna know how many
clients are with us.
Please do not leave the extension grounds as we will want to take a roll call.
AED
The Lowdown Page 4
FOUNDATION NEWS
GARDEN FAIR 2015
The Lowdown Page 5
Kurt Madison 1-May
Marilynne Mueller 1-May
Jennifer Wengeler 6-May
Janet Shellenberger 8-May
Kay Loibl 9-May
Carol Albietz 9-May
Julie Levine 12-May
Lona Bademian 17-May
Dorene Harter 19-May
Laren Sunde 20-May
Linda Dashiell 20-May
Teena Kushner-Burnett 29-May
Karen Parks 29-May
Lynn Meyers 30-May
We are so glad you are with us!
GARDEN FAIR 2015
The Lowdown Page 6
The Tao of Vegetable Gardening (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2015, 265 pp., $24.95)
by Susan Mulvihill
I admit it. The title of this book initially put me off. I don’t have anything against Taoism or other philosophies and religions, but I just couldn’t wrap my head around what The Tao of Vegetable Gardening must be about. Perhaps I should have read the book’s subtitle more closely -- “Cultivating Tomatoes, Greens, Peas, Beans, Squash, Joy, and Serenity” -- before passing judgment.
When I finally sat down to read it, I discovered this is a thoughtful, at times quite funny, infor-mation-packed gardening book that has taught me a great deal.
In the first six chapters, the author begins by briefly relating a teaching or fable from Taoism, and then weaves her own garden tales around them.
For example, in the “Balance” chapter, she discusses growing the right-size garden, dedicating one’s limited time to the most important and/or rewarding tasks, and finding the right approach to soil and tilling (adding enough organic amendments, not doing too much tilling, using the right amount of water and fertilizer). She advocates soil-testing rather than just adding nutrients to the soil.
When it comes to dealing with pests, she suggests a gardener be realistic about the efforts one has to make to get a harvest.
In the “Non-Doing” chapter, Deppe points out how we should be efficient at what we do rather than doing something just because it’s how we’ve always done something, even if it isn’t neces-sary.
One chapter section is entitled, “Twenty-four Good Places Not to Plant a Tree,” which is a great lesson on properly locating a tree. That’s something our clinic clients should have! She also co-vers “Seven Reasons Not to Chop Down a Tree” and “Thirty-seven Reasons for not Planting Vari-ous Vegetables” (my favorite is “I don’t like the taste... And I don’t care how well it overwinters. Part of the reason it overwinters so well is nothing else likes to eat it either.”)
From chapter seven on, Deppe packs so much information that all gardeners should know, it makes a reader really slow down to try to absorb everything.
(continued on page 7)
The Lowdown Page 7
(continued from page 6)
For example, she has a 38-page chapter on important information a gardener should know about growing tomatoes. She explains the difference between hybrids versus open-pollinated varieties and the importance of avoiding hybrids since they don’t breed true from saved seeds.
An alarming development Deppe discusses is how late blight has become so prevalent in the eastern and southern regions of the U.S. It is a huge risk to heirloom tomatoes, reproduces both sexually and asexually, and spreads by water, wind, tools, and clothing.
While late blight doesn’t currently survive in temperature regions like ours, she suggests several strate-gies gardeners and farmers should employ. These include growing your own tomato plants or purchas-ing them from a local nursery that has grown them, avoiding purchasing plants from the big-box stores (which may have purchased their plants from areas of the country where late blight is a problem), and avoid overhead watering to keep the tomato leaves dry.
There were a couple of issues Deppe brought up that I felt could easily be addressed through the use of drip irrigation and plastic mulches but it’s possible her farming set-up makes those methods prohibi-tive.
The tomato chapter also includes a list of late-blight-resistant hybrid varieties as well as other disease resistance, and lists heirloom and open-pollinated with disease resistance. She has her own seed com-pany, Fertile Valley Seeds, and has put her knowledge from a career in molecular genetics to use to produce heirloom and open-pollinated vegetable seeds.
She shares her impressive experience on other gardening topics such as weeding, growing squash, pro-ducing abundant crops of greens, and cultivating peas and beans.
A lot of space is devoted by Deppe to seed-saving and how to “dehybridize” hybrid varieties so we can save those seeds for future crops and generations. I’ve learned quite a lot from that chapter.
She is outspoken on several issues, such as grafted tomatoes and the limitations of hybrid varieties, but to be honest, her views are sensible and realistic.
Carol Deppe has also written two other garden books you may be interested in: The Resilient Gardener: Food Production and Self-Reliance in Uncertain Times and Breed Your Own Vegetable Varie-ties: The Gardener’s and Farmer’s Guide to Plant Breeding and Seed Saving. Both are published by Chelsea Green Publishing.
The Lowdown Page 8
GORGEOUS BLEEDING HEARTS AND POPPIES
By Eva Lusk
The bleeding hearts (both the Dicentra and the Lamprocapnos spp.) in the garden are in full
bloom. Never heard of Lamprocapnos? Neither had I. But we’re all very familiar with it because
it’s our old friend, that wonderful and spectacular bleeding heart formerly known botanically as
Dicentra spectabilis.
The name change is the result of newer genetic research, which has discovered that Dicentra
spectabilis doesn’t share a common immediate ancestor with the other Dicentra species and isn’t
as closely related to them as their appearance implies.
It is now classified as a separate genus and goes by the name of Lamprocapnos spectabilis. The
choice of name is not arbitrary, but rather based on rules established by the INTERNATIONAL
CODE OF BOTANICAL NOMENCLATURE which says that pre-existing names get precedence.
And there is a record of an article from the middle of the 19th century calling our much-loved
bleeding heart Lamprocapnos spectabilis. So now we’re stuck with a much less melodious name.
For more details on this, in an understandable format, check out the following website: https://
jeansgarden.wordpress.com/2012/10/28/botanical-identity-crisis/
Most of the smaller bleeding hearts, including our native Dicentra formosa,
continue as Dicentra species. All bleeding hearts as well as Corydalis used
to belong to the Fumitory or Bleeding Heart Family, which has now turned
into a subfamily (Fumarioideae) of the Poppy Family (Papaveraceae).
If you take a close look at bleeding heart flowers, you’ll find that there are
two small sepals and four petals—two larger outer ones and two narrower
inner ones. The picture of Dicentra ‘Burning Hearts’ at right shows the small
sepals near the stem, the larger outer petals, long and narrow inner petals—
and with one of those inner petals cut away—the pistil and stamens as well.
It probably isn’t going to surprise you that the other subfamily of the Poppy Family
(Papaveraceae) is the Poppy Subfamily (Papaveroideae). It includes poppies of all kinds and
bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis), which has just finished blooming in my garden. But whose
very attractive foliage sticks around for a good part of the summer.
While the single flowered version is not quite as showy as the double flowered type, both are abso-
lutely charming in the early spring garden when flowers are not as plentiful. They do well in part
shade, too.
(continued on page 9)
The Lowdown Page 9
(continued from page 8)
Two large clumps of red Oriental poppies (Papaver orientale) have been
thriving in a sunny spot near the vegetable garden for the last twenty
years. The drawback to this plant is that it has great looking seed heads
after flowering, but unattractive foliage that is best hidden away. Black-
eyed-Susans (Rudbeckia spp.) and Echinacea do a good job of that in my
garden.
These days, there are an amazing number of other poppy colors available, too, allowing gardeners to pick
their favorites to complement any color scheme. ‘Royal Wedding’ is pure white with a dark eye;
‘Princess Victoria Louise’ has salmon pink petals. ‘Drama Queen’ sports the most astonishing purple
streaked ruby petals and these are just a few choices.
Years ago, I bought a seed packet of California poppies (Eschscholzia spp.), and they’ve flowered all
over the vegetable garden ever since. There are even a few white ones that come up and all add some
welcome color to the predominant greens that rule there. Full sun for these, or they get leggy.
Sun loving Iceland poppies (Papaver nudicaule) aren’t actually native to Iceland, but do grow in cooler
northern climes. They usually are short-lived perennials, but act more like annuals in our hot summers.
A good choice for the woodland garden is the celandine or
wood poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum) of North America
(at left). It looks quite similar to greater celandine
(Chelidonium majus), an invasive European native (at
right), so be sure you check the plant label when you buy
it for Stylophorum, not Chelidonium.
Another charmer for the woodland garden, the Welsh poppy (Meconopsis cam-
brica), seen at lower right, is a little smaller, with lacier leaves, but similar,
cheery, bright yellow flowers that show up well in shade, even from a distance.
The Poppy Family members provide us with many plants that deserve to be per-
manent residents in our gardens. They’re a delight for our eyes, usually easy to
grow, and give us varieties for both sun and shade. Most also have attractive foli-
age that is garden-worthy after the flowers have gone.
The Lowdown Page 10
Sustainable Gardening 101
By Kathleen E. Callum
When I was a child, the day we rototilled the garden in the spring was one of the most exciting. The tilled garden soil lay like a brown, sweet smelling, blank canvas poised to receive all of our hopes. What being doesn’t love a blank canvas? My family painted our future with vegetable starts and seeds. Our mouths watered in anticipation of ripe watermelons, corn and peas. Then, the reality of a grueling summer weeding schedule set in. We
used the rototiller to till the pathways of our sprawling farm garden, over and over again, rather than annihilate them with toxic chemicals. But vegetable rows still had to be hoed or weeded by hand. Over the last decades, we’ve come to realize there are other approaches more sustainable for the soil as well as us.
Ruth Stout’s pivotal book How to Have a Green Thumb Without an Aching Back: A New Method of Mulch Gardening, published in 1955, popularized what was later to become a lasting trend for “no till”, “deep mulch”, “lasagna”, and “no dig” gardening. These methods return precious organic matter each year to the soil in form of the layers of mulch. Covering the ground surface with or-ganic matter protects the soil from erosion, increases water storage capacity and supplies essential nutrients. Traditional garden methods deplete carbon and are hard on soil biology. Alternatively, deep mulching improves the quality of life for soil flora and fauna. And it improves the quality of life for the gardener. Turns out, earthworms don’t love a blank canvas or rototillers.
Over the decades since Stout’s publication, our nation has delved into soil sustainability and alter-native means of producing our food. The popularity of the organic and sustainable gardening and agriculture movement has introduced a bewildering array of innovative and far-reaching concepts like biodynamic farming, carbon footprint, conservation tillage, local food systems, organic farm-ing, permaculture, regenerative agriculture and whole farm planning. Today, we recognize that bare soil is vulnerable to erosion and that “recreational tillage” can be almost as problematic for soil biology as chemical control of pests and weeds. How can you learn more about agricultural methods beneficial to us and the planet?
The USDA Alternative Farming Systems Information Center (AFSIC) introduces environmentally friendly gardening and agriculture concepts with its handy publication Sustainable Agriculture: Definition and Terms (Special Reference Briefs Series no. SRB 99-02) available online from:
http://afsic.nal.usda.gov/sustainable-agriculture-definitions-and-terms-related-terms. Did you know, for instance, that the USDA AFSIC refers to organic agriculture as a system that integrates "cultural, biological, and mechanical practices that foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity”? More simply put, alternative gardening is any sustainable method that grows healthy food and makes your earthworms happy!
The Lowdown Page 11
What Soil Type Do You Have In Your Garden?
By Kathleen E. Callum
You can learn a lot about your soils completely on your own. The most basic question about soil is: "What kind of soil do I have?” Determining soil texture “by feel” is one of the sim-plest methods for discovering the physical characteristics of your soil. Soil Scientist Craig Coggins explains how to form putty-like "ribbons" (at right) to feel out your soil type. Here is a link to this handy demonstration:
http://online.wsu.edu/onlinemedia/presentations/mgard_master_08_art%28c141%29/player.html.
You can also refer to the excellent flow chart published by USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). The "Guide to Texture by Feel" flow chart is an awesome educational tool that helps key out all soil types: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/soils/edu/?cid=nrcs142p2_054311. This flow chart better helps me understand the more quantitative soil textural triangle. The textural triangle is standard in most soils texts and classifies soil based upon percent of sand, silt and clay. The "Guide to Texture by Feel" flow chart, which many prefer, is much more user friendly and intuitive, especially for beginners. Texture by feel is a technique that can be used right in the field, does not require any equip-ment, nor take any extra time.
One familiar method for measuring the amount of sand, silt and clay that makes up your soil is looking at settling rates of each in a tall (like a quart) jar. The Colorado Master Gardener program provides detailed instructions for estimating soil type with this method at http://www.ext.colostate.edu/mg/gardennotes/214.html. If you have silt or clay particles, the jar method of determining soil texture can take anywhere from 2 hours to several weeks. However, this method gives the most quantitative results for a simple home test.
Another way to explore your own soil is to find what is already mapped and freely available! The USDA NRCS started life, way back in 1894, as the "Division of Agricultural Soils in the U.S. Weather Bureau." Many people knew this agency best as the "Soil Conservation Service (SCS)." The name of the agency officially changed to its current one in 1994 to reflect a broader conservation stewardship mission. The USDA NRCS is the federal agency responsible for coordinating the National Cooperative Soil Survey, which has mapped the soils of over 95% of the counties within the United States.
You can find the soil series mapped for your garden or yard by clicking the green start button at the online Web Soil Survey at http://websoilsurvey.sc.egov.usda.gov/App/HomePage.htm. A soil series is the smallest unit of classification in the USDA NRCS taxonomy. Soil series are analogous to a species in biology. They are homogeneous and as such share similar characteristics. Click on different tabs and links in Web Soil Survey to learn more about the physical and chemical properties of your soil, as well as its uses and limitations.
The Lowdown Page 12
GARDEN TOURS 2015
Hello from the Garden Tour Committee. We are excited about our upcoming tours and feel
like the fun part of the garden tour is to meet and visit with old and new friends after the
tour. Our goal is to make you feel greeted and welcomed so please let us know how we are
doing. We are nicely asking you to sign up to bring a dish to one or two of the tours this
summer. If we share the load no one will feel overwhelmed. Please know you are never
excluded because you don't bring a dish, we realize there are extenuating circumstances. At
each current tour we will have an RSVP and Dish sign up sheet for the following tour if you
know you are coming. We are trying to calculate the RSVPs to the food provided. You can
also let one of us know any time before the tour.
Remember the tours are every other Wednesday. Please know the RSVPs are most
courteous to the host. We thank you for your help in making this an enjoyable time of food
and friendship and for supporting the garden tours. If you have any questions please feel
free to call me,
Mollie McDonald, at 220-0373 or talk to one of our Garden Tour Committee members.
Mollie McDonald, Julie Levine, Julie McElroy, Carol Albeitz
UPCOMING GARDEN TOURS
May 6 - Tim Stiess- Historical gardening/ Landscape planning - 416 W. Park Place (Corbin Park)
May 20 - Chattaroy Cheese - Goat farm/Cheese production - (North)
***Saturday May 23 (8:30 am) - Turnbull Wildlife Sanctuary - (Cheney)
June 3 - Marilyn Lloyd - 3620 E. 35th Ave - Preview ‘Spokane in Bloom’ Garden Tour (South)
June 17 - Pat Lynass - 7508 N. ‘F’ St. Education TBD (5-mile)
The Lowdown Page 13
Planting for Pollinators
Thursday, May 14
6—9 p.m.
WaterWise Landscaping & Drip Irrigation
Thursday, May 21
6—9 p.m.
WaterWise Landscaping & Drip Irrigation
Saturday, May 30
9 a.m. - noon
Composting
Saturday, May 30
12:30—3:30 p.m.
2015 CLASSES
GARDEN TOUR Information
Hello, again, from the Garden Tour Committee. You may have noticed that many Garden Tour
Participants come with “Garden Tour Kits”. Our goal for our garden tours is to have very little
waste. The idea for Garden Tour Kits came about gradually. These kits are put together with
recyclable and reusable items. Some suggestions have been using pie pans as plates, cloth
napkins, sewing up reusable-style bags out of donated material, silverware from Value Village
or Goodwill. You might have also seen some swanky up-scale reusable packs. Several of
these were donated to the Garden Tours and then subsequently won by Garden Tour partici-
pants. Every now and then we get these kits donated. We will always let you know when they
are up for sale or to be won at a Garden Tour. In the meantime, we encourage all to get crea-
tive with their own reusable Garden tour Kit!
Mollie McDonald
Julie Levine
Julie McElroy
Carol Albeitz
The Lowdown Page 14
LOWDOWN SELF STUDY QUIZ
1. How does ’dirt’ differ from ’soil’?
2. ‘Dirt’ is left vulnerable to erosion and what else?
3. How much fun did you have at Garden Fair this year?
4. Where can you learn some teachings of Taoism along with gardening
tales?
5. Carol Deppe devotes a lot of space in her book to what important
topic concerning future crops?
6. What name is Dicentra spectabilis known by now?
7. What is the name of our native bleeding heart?
8. Which type of wood poppy should we avoid and why?
9. What do ‘no till,’ ‘deep mulch,’ ‘lasagna,’ and ‘no dig’ gardening
return to the soil each year?
10. Where can you find the soil series mapped for your garden?
The Lowdown Page 15
April Lowdown Quiz
Answer Key:
1. B
2. B
3. False
4. D
5. Insect larval stages
6. Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden
7. Susan Mulvihill
8. Salix caprea
9. Bishop’s weed
10. Garden Fair
11. Warmth, fertilizer, talking
12. Name, characteristics, color
Bonus: Denise Eaton
Clinic Stories
(or ‘Tales of the Master Gardeners’)
By Kris Moberg-Hendron, editor
We all have some great stories to tell of our times in the Plant Clinic.
I have heard many (and probably told many).
Anna and I think it would be fun to gather stories throughout the year and compile them into a really
entertaining reading experience.
The stories could be funny or serious, happy or sad, enlightening or aggravating.
Each month we will publish a story (or two) in the Lowdown.
At the end of the year we can publish all the stories in one of our shorter Lowdown editions.
OK, now I know you have all been busy preparing for Garden Fair, but it is over already and I would
love to have your stories to put here! Just send them to Anna. It’s as easy as that!
Send in your Plant Clinic stories!
They do not have to be from this year, bring
up the past! Now is the time to do it!
Persons with a disability requiring special accommodation while participating in our programs may call the WSU
Extension at 477-2048. If accommodation is not requested at least three weeks in advance, we cannot guarantee the availability
of accommodation on site. Extension programs and policies are consistent with federal and state laws and regulations on non-
discrimination regarding race, color, gender, national origin, religion, age, disability, and
sexual orientation. Evidence of noncompliance may be reported through your local Extension office.
Calendar of Events
MAY
Wednesday 6 Garden Tour: Tim Steiss 6 pm
Saturday 9 TIEG Garden Expo @ SCC
Monday 11 MG Foundation Board Meeting 1 pm
Thursday 14 Public Education: Planting for Pollinators 6 pm—9 pm
Monday 18 Clinic ID 3:30 pm—5 pm
PCS training 5:30 pm
Wednesday 20 Garden Tour: Chattaroy Cheese 6 pm
Thursday 21 Public Education: WaterWise Landscaping 6 pm—9 pm
Saturday 23 Garden Tour: Turnbull Wildlife Sanctuary
Thursday 28 MG Spring Meeting 1 pm—5 pm
Saturday 30 Public Education: WaterWise Landscaping 9 am—12 pm
Public Education: Home Composting 12:30 pm—3:30 pm
JUNE
Wednesday 3 Garden Tour: Marilyn Lloyd 6 pm
Monday 8 MG Foundation Board Meeting 1 pm
Wednesday 17 Garden Tour: Pat Lynass 6 pm
Monday 29 Clinic ID 3:30 pm—5 pm
PCS Training 5:30 pm
