Potato Planting Time

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After being stored in a windowless room in my basement all winter, the potatoes were brought out in to the sunlight to be planted.   I grow seven kinds of potatoes: Kennebec, Yukon Gold, Red Norland, Russian Fingerling, Adirondack Red, Adirondack Blue, and Viking Purple. 

·        Kennebec, Late season, good winter keeper, large to very large tubers, tan skin, white flesh, developed in Maine in the 1940’s, released to the public in 1948. Good boiled, mashed, or baked.

 ·        Yukon Gold, Early to Mid-season, good winter keeper, medium tubers, tan skin, bright yellow flesh, developed in the 1960’s in Ontario, Canada, release to public in 1980.  Good for boiling or baking, as well as frying.

·       Red Norland, Early season, poor winter keeper, medium tubers, red skin, cream colored flesh, developed in North Dakota in the 1950’s, good boiling potato and often harvested mid-summer as a “new potato.”

·       Russian Fingerling (aka. Russian Banana), Mid to Late-season, fair winter keeper, elongated small tubers, tan skin, yellow flesh, developed in the Baltics, good boiling potato, roasted, or pan fried.

·       Adirondack Red, Early to Mid-season, poor winter keeper, small/medium tubers, red skin, pink flesh, high in anti-oxidants, Developed at Cornell University in New York State, released to the public in 2004, good roasted, mashed, pan fried.

·       Adirondack Blue, Mid-season, poor winter keeper, small/medium tubers, purple skin, deep purple flesh, high in antioxidants, Developed at Cornell University in New York State, released to the public in 2003, good mashed. roasted, or boiled.

·      Viking Purple, Mid to Late-season, good winter keeper, large tubers, purple/rose skin with pure white flesh, good baked, mashed, or fried.

 

Traditionally, many folks used Good Friday to mark the day for potato planting, and since Easter always falls on the Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox, that day is also a “planting by the stars” tradition.  In any event, potatoes are very cold hardy, and as long as the soil can be worked, and temperatures are on the rise, potatoes can be planted. 

Last year, I tried the straw method, a la Ruth Stout.  Ruth Stout was an East Coast gardener who wrote a few books about her “no-work” gardening methods.  Ruth would lay her seed potatoes on the ground, then throw straw on top of them – no digging, no work.  When I tried that method, all I managed to harvest was a bunch of slug eaten tubers, most not fit to eat.  I was also encouraged to try the straw method when I read about it in my old Farmer’s Encyclopedia from the late 1800’s – the excerpt is shown below:

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This year I’ve gone back to a more traditional method.  Many books talk about digging a trench and pushing the soil to one side, then as the potatoes grow, push the soil back around the plants, and hilling the soil up around the plants – which the old farmer’s encyclopedia advised against – who to believe?  The trench method may work fine, if you have the room – these same books want the gardener to space the seed potatoes 18 inches apart, in rows 36 inches apart, my garden is not that big.  I simply dug down about six inches, put down a potato tuber, then slightly covered the potato.  When it starts growing, I’ll push the rest of the soil back over the tuber.   Other than mulching with some straw to shield any potatoes forming near the soil surface from the sun, and turning green (green=solanine=toxin=inedible potato.)

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The tubers are spaced about a foot apart

I laid out my potatoes with approximately a one foot spacing, once I determined that my layout would work, I dug my hole and placed in a seed potato (seed potato = an untreated and disease-free tuber, used to grow a potato plant – super market spuds are treated to retard growth, an may not grow, if planted.)

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One tuber is placed in the bottom of each hole then lightly covered with soil

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The potato bed after planting

Vegetable Seed Update

A week ago vegetable seeds were planted, both inside and out, you can read about that here.  Of the carrots, lettuce, and beet seeds that were planted outside, so far, only the lettuce is making an appearance.  Meanwhile, inside, the tomato, pepper, ground cherry, parsley, and broccoli seeds are all up in just a weeks time. Bottom heat certainly helps.

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The tomato and broccoli seedlings were thinned to a spacing of about an inch and a half, or so.  Scissors were used to clip off the unwanted seedlings rather than pulling, since pulling out the unwanted plants may disturb the roots of the other plants.

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Thinning by clipping

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The bottom row of tomatoes has just been thinned, the upper two rows are next

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The appearance after thinning. The plastic wrap still covered the unsprouted parsley – the cover was removed today, as they have now come up.

  Over the next few weeks as daytime temps get into the 60’s and 70’s the flats of vegetable seedlings will start to spend some of their time outside – at first in a wind and sun protected area and for less than an hour, then each day the time will be extended and more exposure to the sun will be possible as the plants “harden off.”

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Senior Living Goes Native!

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‘Pixie Meadowbrite’ Purple Coneflower complements the purple blooms of Leadplant in front, with yellow Paradox Coneflower to the rear of the photo.

Often (always), when I’m in my car, I check out the landscapes surrounding homes, carwashes, hospitals, banks, etc. – mostly it is the standard hedges of Japanese Yew, with some daylillies, a crabapple or two, Pfitzer and Hetz Junipers growing out of their planetary and spiral sheared shapes, even an occasional Yucca to remind us of their tenacity, since no one has used them in a planting design since the 1970’s.  Oh, and big useless swathes of lawn – lots of lawn.  Americans love their lawns.  These plantings mostly reflect our post-war (World War II, that is) fascination with the  formal gardens of Europe – of course, we called them “modern landscapes,” rather than European inspired landscapes, because, heck, we’re Americans, and we don’t copy, we lead.

Palos Park 1957

This Mid-Century house has it all, large lawn, evergreen trees, sheared foundation yews, Pfitzer Junipers, even a row of hosta along the driveway. This was the standard landscape installation for too long.

In 1956, Garrett Eckbo, a landscape architect, and World War II veteran, wrote in his book The Art of Home Landscaping:  

“In the Southwest, where native vegetation tends towards dull grays and browns, the strong dark or clear greens of plants from more humid areas (grown with irrigation) are a welcome relief and contrast, and definitely render the climate more livable.  In grasslands and prairies we plant trees; in forests we clear open spaces and plant grass; in the desert we introduce both trees and grass.  All of these changes have the  function of equalizing, improving, and humanizing these landscapes, making them better places for us to live.” 

In another part of the book Eckbo does encourage lawn only where it is necessary, and to choose trees and shrubs that will not outgrow their location so that their need for pruning is minimized.  If only that happened in the real world.  In the real world, we have three story tall Norway Spruce trees terrorizing all other plant life and blocking the winter sun, lawns in arid Las Vegas, escaped English Ivy taking over our East Coast forests, and Limestone rip-rap surrounding our ponds and walls of metal pilings around our lakes – all in the name of making our surroundings better – more “humanized”.  Great. 

Fortunately, I have noticed changes in the last few years in just how “improving our landscapes” is defined.  In 2000, while working at OWP&P Architects in Chicago, I found myself designing a planting bed for the Skokie, Illinois Public Library, wanting to include the low prairie shrub New Jersey Tea, Ceanothus americana,  I called a large wholesale grower, Midwest Groundcovers, to ask if they had it available; they weren’t familiar with the shrub.  Fast forward, 10 or 12 years, and they not only carry New Jersey Tea, they have an entire section of their catalog dedicated to ornamental Midwestern natives and actively promote their use.  Great! 

In 2011, I was asked to redesign the front landscape of a senior living facility in Des Plains, Illinois.   The client wanted something that looked good the year around, and specifically requested that Midwestern native plants be included in the planting scheme.  All of the new plants, with the exception of Virginia Sweetspire, are Midwestern natives, some, such as the ‘Pixie Meadowbrite’ Purple Coneflower and ‘Autumn Blaze’ Maple are hydrids of native crosses. 

Upon arriving at the site, the first thing I noticed was the overgrown spruce trees planted near the foundation of the building.  All of the shrubs were pruned into submission, rather, I should say sheared into shapes that defied description.

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Their will to live is mightier than the power-shear – but just barely.

There was no hope for moving the overgrown spruce trees, they had to be removed.

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This spruce tree is trying to grow between a rock and a hard place – “Time to limb it up,” is the typical response to this misplaced planting.

Here, on the north facing wall, the spruce was replaced with a Red Maple hybrid, underplanted with Virginia Sweetspire, Itea virginica, Turtlehead, Chelone glabra, and evergreen Christmas Fern, Polystichum acrostichoides. The white flowered ‘Annabelle’ Hydrangea behind, and the Hazelnut shrub, to the left, were retained.  The pictures that follow where taken in July of 2013, one year after planting.

2226On the east facing wall, native Serviceberry, Amelanchier sp., and Black Chokeberry, Aronia melanocarpa, (both have great fall color, and white flowers in the spring) as well as many Midwestern prairie plants replaced the spruce.  See the planting plan, below, for species names and layout.

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The Blue Baptisia (center right) with its gray-green leaves will form a 4 foot by 4 foot “shrub” when it reaches its mature size in a couple of years. Blue lupine-like flowers show in June, with ornamental seed pods all winter.

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The yellow flowered Sand Coreopsis, C. lanceolata, was installed just a few weeks prior and will show off its mounded habit as it matures. Finches love the seeds that this low-growing flower provides.

In 2013, the wobbly shrubs were removed and more sunny natives were planted, including Nodding Onion, Sand Coreopsis, Purple Coneflower, and Winged Sumac, along with a hydrangea that was moved here from the existing planting at the entry doors.  The rounded shrub, is actually a witch-hazel that will be allowed to grow into its natural picturesque form.

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This part of the bed was planted just a month prior to this photo being taken. Nodding Onion in the foreground is just coming into bloom.

The parking lot island bed was originally planted with a low growing juniper, daylilies, and a Norway Maple – not much to catch the eye, but slightly better than lawn, which is often the default planting, or river rock.

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The plants that I chose for the island bed are tough prairie residents that could both take the heat of summer, as well as piles of snow in winter.  Their mature heights are all under 3 feet when in flower.  These pictures show how they are faring after going through their first winter, and in the middle of their second summer.

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The plants were also chosen for their ease of maintenance (no deadheading needed, just mow the planting in the early spring, before new growth appears) and were installed in large repeated groupings so that their individual ornamental qualities will be appreciated by even the most staunch traditionalist.

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The 18 to 24 inch spacing allows the Prairie Dropseed grass to show off its elegant form as it matures. Soon the soil will not be visible below them

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A large grouping of Nodding Onion about to come into flower in late July, with the pods of earlier blooming Blue Baptisia showing behind

This new landscape will get better and better with good maintenance and with time.  The goal of creating an interesting year-round landscape was achieved.  And far from being dull, it is a “welcome relief and contrast” to the monotony of the landscapes that surround too many of our homes and businesses.  It shows that including regionally native plants can make for an ever changing and vivacious landscape, full of life, and full of beauty.

North Facing Bed Planting Plan:

South Foundation Plan ACAD

East Facing Bed Planting Plan

East Foundation Plan ACAD

Island Bed Planting Plan

Island Plan ACAD

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Consilience and Concinnity, A Few Thoughts by Dr. Gerould Wilhelm

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Jerry Wilhelm Aug 2011 Calumet

Dr. Jerry Wilhelm at the Thismia hunt, August 2011, Wolf Lake

I first met Dr. Jerry Wilhelm in Hopkins Park, Illinois, on the property of my good friend Dr. Marianne Hahn in July of 2000.  I was part of a small group of about a half dozen people with the goal of botanizing this forgotten corner of Kankakee County.  Marianne has been restoring Sweet Fern, the name of her sandy Black Oak Savanna, since 1998, when she purchased her first three contiguous plots of land.  The 100+ acres have since been dedicated as an Illinois Land and Water Reserve.

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Marianne Hahn 2013

Dr. Marianne Hahn, retired microbiologist, at Sweet Fern

Fourteen years later, that day is a bit of a blur and I took no photos to record the event, but one thing I remember of that midsummer’s day, other than being the one chosen of lug the five pound copy of Plants of the Chicago Region, was Jerry’s excitement of walking through a very large colony of Polygonum Careyi, Carey’s Heartsease, a fuzzy stemmed member of the buckwheat family.  I can’t say that I felt the same excitement about the five foot tall plant, at my 5’8” frame, it was a struggle to walk through, and I was glad to get out of it, but I am not a renowned botanist and respected authority on Midwest native plants.  No I am not.  Nor am I the co-author of Plants of the Chicago Region, Jerry, however is.  He along with the late Floyd Swink compiled the 4th edition, published in 1994 by the Indiana Academy of Science.   

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Dr. Wilhelm signed my copy of his book at the end of the day

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The front piece in “Plants of the Chicago Region” showing a photo of Thismia

Eleven years later, our paths crossed again.  This time it was in the Calumet Region of Chicago, Chicago’s Southeast Side.  To celebrate twenty years of conservation in the area, a Thismia hunt was held, a veritable Who’s Who in natural areas conservation attended the event.  Several groups were formed and sent out to scour different local areas, my group went to Miller Woods, near Lake Michigan in Indiana.  It was great fun.  Thismia, not seen in the Chicagoland area in nearly one hundred years, was not found that day either.

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All participants received a T-shirt during the event

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The sponsors of the event

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Stephen Packard, in the straw hat, looking on as Linda Masters speaks to the group at the Thismia hunt

Last month, I, along with two of my friends, had the pleasure of sitting through a presentation given by Dr. Wilhelm at Independence Grove, in Libertyville, Illinois.  The host of the presentation was the Upper Des Plains River Ecosystem Partnership, or UDPREP, a group whose mission is “to preserve, protect, and enhance the Upper Des Plaines River Watershed through stakeholder education, collaboration, and technical assistance.”  With that mission in mind, Wilhelm spoke primarily on the importance of soil moisture, and the role it plays in maintaining a healthy ecosystem.

Jerry started out by equating our role in the natural environment to that of a pilot at the helm of a plane; he recalled what his mother would remind him, when she felt he was going astray as a boy, namely, that we must learn the rules, and abide by them, if we don’t, we are airplane pilots that are “losing air speed, altitude, and experience.” 

By burning woodlands and grasslands, as well as collecting wood for fuel, American Indians he said, historically, kept these areas open and full of sunlight thus playing a key role in keeping Midwestern landscapes in consilience, each separate element properly functioning so that other elements can function properly as well, as in a piece of mechanical equipment, a typewriter with all of its keys.  The result of a properly functioning ecosystem is concinnity – harmony and beauty.  As 21st century stewards of the earth, we need to know the rules and abide by them, or, as Wilhelm reminds us, we are headed for a rough landing.

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An open woodland, kept healthy with a seasonal burn, Crete, IL, 2013

“Annual autumnal burns are most healthy for biodiversity,” and he goes on to mention that they promote healthy populations of our native bees.  If too much duff builds up, the burns are too hot, and has the opposite effect of biodiversity.  In addition, annual burns, according to Wilhelm, keep organic matter high in the soil, thus reducing surface runoff during rain events, increasing available soil moisture to plants.

But soil moisture from rainfall is only one important source of water that is utilized by plants.  He briefly noted that condensation and respiration are two other important sources of water – “production goes down 50% if plants don’t get morning dew.”  As far as respiration as a source of water, as anyone who has spent a summer detasseling corn knows, the humidity inside a cornfield is much higher than outside the rows (this author’s personal observation.)

He went on to say that unburned, unmanaged woods result in a reduction of sunlight (less than 100 foot candles) hitting the ground layer, over time, as organic matter is lost from the soil, it is not replaced, there is no equilibrium as would be the case in a healthy system with more sunlight.  No annual burns = no grass layer = no organic matter being replenished by the roots of these lost grasses and associated forbs (wildflowers) due to the increased shade in unmanaged woodlands.  Grass roots die off, he mentioned, every three years, adding organic matter deep into the soil.  The loss of this regenerative process results in rainfall that runs off the bare surface of the soil, causing erosion and exposing fibrous tree roots, rather than penetrating deep into the lower soil layers.

“Corn and soybean plants do not add enough organic matter to the soil to keep up with what is lost due to tillage.”  Wilhelm mentioned that land can be in CRP (Conservation Reserve Program, administered by the USDA) for ten years and add ten tons of organic matter per acre and after 90 days of tillage that organic matter is completely lost.  On average, he notes that, ours soils today contain less than 2% organic matter.

Organic matter in soil, according to Wilhelm, creates an important “interface” between “heaven and Earth” that is currently lost.  Some of the effects include:

·       Temperature regulation

Wilhelm mentioned that ant populations go down without thermoregulation, organic matter helps the ants regulate temperature for larvae.  He noted that healthy woods have 15 to 20 ant species, while unhealthy woods have less than 5 or 6 species, and those are mostly non-conservative species.

With less than 52% soil moisture, soil loses its connection to the thermal mass of the Earth below.

·       Reduces runoff

      Soils with higher levels of organic matter not only allow water to enter the soil, it holds that moisture and  makes it available to plant roots.

·       Reduces leaching of potassium in to streams

The lack of organic matter (which binds soil elements) allows phosphorus to leach through soils into water bodies, a cause of filamentous algae blooms.

·       Increases soil moisture balance

Organic matter holds a certain amount of water, making it available to plants, the remainder flows through the layers of soil, out through seeps and into rivers and other bodies of water.  These moist soils along rivers therefore had trees due to the available soil moisture, according to Wilhelm.

Dr. Wilhelm touched on a number of points in his nearly two hour discussion.   The overarching message, however, is that we all, by our actions, however seemingly small, determine how well the living environment all around us functions, or fails to function.  Commoditized agriculture, he points out, does not take into account “high internalized costs” and that native plants, important keys on the typewriter that is our environment, continue to decrease overall – “A plant must be part of a system to fulfill its function, remnant ecosystems must be preserved so that we can grow out from them.  We need to treat every drop of water where it falls, as a resource, not as something to get rid of – water is a blessing not a bane.  Currently, we are losing airspeed, altitude, and experience.”

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