HAPPY 4TH OF JULY FROM DALLAS GARDEN BUZZ!
Pictures by Starla!
The Color Purple
One of the main tasks at The Raincatcher’s Garden right now is installing drip irrigation. Our liscensed irrigator, Doug Andrews of Double D Landscapes is at the helm.
Doug Andrews, Double D Landscapes
The process of irrigating a large garden like The Raincatcher’s Garden is cumbersome. Purple has become our new favorite color and the reason is that our future plans include harvesting water collected from the roof of nearby buildings. The color purple is used to identify pumps, tanks and pipes carrying reclaimed water for reuse. Purple or what looks like a pretty shade of lavender means non potable or non drinkable water. At our garden on Joe Field Road we had two large 2500 gallon cisterns collecting rainwater off our large shed. We don’t have them yet for our new garden and will judiciously use city water in the meantime. Anyone want to donate rainwater cisterns?
Purple Tubing for Drip Irrigation Installed at The Raincatcher’s Garden
In the meantime, our plant success depends on our amended soil, heavy mulch application, and hand watering. More rain is welcome!
Find out more about Drip Irrigation as taught by Dr. Dotty Woodson, here.
Ann
WHY SHOULD YOU CONISDER PLANTING NATIVE?
PLEASE READ THIS BOOK: Bringing Nature Home-How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in our Gardens by Douglas Tallamy PhD
Do you feel pretty good about your understanding of the importance of native plants in your landscape? Or—do you think “the native plant thing” is yet another fad and you know red roses and nandinas form the framework for all “good” gardens? It doesn’t matter at all—either way—this is the book for you.
This is not the perfect book for us here in Texas. The author lives in the Northeast and any of the plants profiled are specific to that region. However, that in no way diminishes its value. The basic ideas remain the same whatever the location. Dr. Tallamy, whose doctorate is in entomology, presents the wonderful, terrible idea that what we, as caretakers of our land, no matter the size, are making life or death decisions for a host of creatures simply by our plant choices.
The book effectively makes it clear that Nature is “here” in our gardens now. We cannot assume that plants and animals are fine somewhere “out there in the wild” because there just is so little of the wild left.
That’s upsetting—it means taking responsibility for our actions. But it’s also an incredible opportunity to make a difference for ourselves, our family, our community—and beyond.
The introduction presents the major concepts to be considered. The wild creatures we want in our world simply will not be able to live without food and places to live. Things look grim, for creatures are gone or greatly reduced in numbers. But hope is there it’s not too late to save many plants and animals—but to do it we must change our ways.
Alien plants have replaced native ones to an alarming extent. Now all plants capture the energy from the sun but most alien plants are not able to provide support to native insects they cannot eat them. Insects are the major way that energy is transferred to other creatures. This is not just the author’s opinion—there is research to prove it.
Increased use of native plants can produce at least a simplified version of the diverse ecosystem that used to exist. The charts that show the insect populations supported by native plants as opposed to alien ones are truly eye-opening.
All the chapters on insects are educational—but the one on aphids—do not miss it. Aphids are amazing creatures—you will never think of them as disgusting little pests ever again.
If you read even a part of this book you will gain insight into the complex web of interactions between plants insects and other animals.
Susan
Pictures by Starla
Orchid Heaven
Friday, June 5th, More than a dozen Master Gardeners from The Raincatcher’s Garden visited the Tarrant County Demonstration Garden for helpful ideas and then traveled to D&B Orchids, the Orchid Greenhouse run by Dr. Dotty Woodson and her husband, Berry Woodson.
We were overcome by the sight of approximately 8,000 orchids and the botany lessons taught by Dotty that day.
Meet some of the stars of our visit to D&B Orchids.
Phalaenopsis
It was intoxicating. Orchids everywhere! This purple orchid was growing out of a pot, one of many, hanging from the rafters of the greenhouse.
Vanda
And just when you thought you had found your favorite, another would steal the show.
Angracum from Madagascar
Dotty’s husband was the recipient of the Herb Hager Award for Hybridizer of the Year from the American Orchid Society for his hybrid, Phalaenopsis Jose Carreres. Hopefully, Starla snapped a picture of it that we can share.
If not, looks like we will have to make another trip to D&B Orchids.
Ann
Video by Starla
Pictures by Ann
Thank you Ana and Michele for arranging the trip!
WaterWise Tour Saturday, June 6th, 9am-3pm
We have been blessed with rain this year and now out of drought, so why do we need to be WaterWise? As one Texas rancher said “Texas is a continuous drought with intermittent floods.” Already you see gardens drying out and sprinklers being turned back on.
Dallas residents must practice the principles of WaterWise Gardening. So here’s your chance to see and learn.
Saturday, June 6th get out the door before 9am to experience the many WaterWise Gardens in Dallas. The self guided, free tour is sponsored by City of Dallas Water Utilities, City of Dallas Parks & Recreation, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and the Dallas County Master Gardeners. Tour Headquarters are set up in 3 Dallas locations with gardening classes taught by Master Gardeners at each location.
These are some of the best gardening experts in our town!
Along with the free classes, 19 gardens are on tour and 7 demonstration gardens. The Raincatcher’s Garden will be fully staffed. Stop by and see us, we hope we are #1 on your list.
Go to savedallaswater.com for a tour map.
Classes
Central Tour Headquarters
City of Dallas – White Rock Pump Station, 2900 White Rock Road, Dallas, TX 75214
9:00 a.m. – WaterWise Gardening – Chrissy Cortez-Mathis
10:00 a.m. – Why, Where & How of Planting Your Landscape Tree – Eric Larner
11:00 a.m. – Redesigning Your Landscape – Judy Fender
12:00 p.m. – Best Trees for Your Landscape – Eric Larner
1:00 p.m. – Landscaping for the Shade – Judy Fender
2:00 p.m. – WaterWise Gardening – Judy Fender
North Tour Headquarters
Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center – 17360 Coit Road, Dallas, TX 75252
9:00 a.m. – WaterWise Gardening – C.A. Hiscock
10:00 a.m. – Plant Propagation – Roseann Ferguson
11:00 a.m. – Soil Preparation – C.A. Hiscock
South Tour Headquarters
City of Dallas – Kidd Springs Recreation Center – 711 W. Canty Street, Dallas, TX 75208
English
9:00 a.m. – Plants That Like to Grow Here – Kevin Burns
10:00 a.m. – Vegetable Gardening – John Hunt
11:00 a.m. – Lawn Care for Weed Owners – John Hunt
12:00 p.m. – Plants That Like to Grow Here – Kevin Burns
Bilingual (English-Español)
1:00 p.m. – Plant Propagation/Propagación de Plantas – Judy Meagher
NOTE: Dallas County Master Gardeners will be available from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. to answer your gardening/landscaping questions in English or Spanish.
NOTA: Los Jardineros Maestros del Condado de Dallas estarán disponible de 9:00 a.m. a 1:00 p.m. para responder a sus preguntas de jardinería/paisajismo en inglés o español.
9 a.m.-3 p.m. June 6. Free. 214-670-3155
Ann
Quote by: Pete Bonds, president of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association
Fried “Green Potatoes?”
If you are a southerner, you probably know that unripe, green tomatoes, when fried or made into chutney, can be a culinary delight. However, green potatoes? AVOID THEM!!
Neon Green Potato from Carolyn’s Garden, Not Photo Shopped! Beware, Even Green Tinged Potatoes Should not be Eaten.
Now is the time that many vegetable gardeners are harvesting the potatoes that they planted in late January-February. If, as recommended, you have been hilling up soil against the stem of the potato or kept adding soil and compost to a potato bin, the odds are good that you will not find any “green” potatoes. However, if the ever-growing bunches of potatoes have managed to heave themselves out of the ground and are exposed to sunlight or if the potatoes have been exposed to extremes of heat or cold — beware. Those greenish potatoes can be potentially deadly. In fact, even potatoes brought from the store, if not properly stored in a cool, dry, dark place, can develop a greenish tint if exposed to too much light.
The greenish hue that can be found on potatoes exposed to light is actually chlorophyll. Not a bad thing, you say, because we eat chlorophyll in many leafy greens. However in the potato, the presence of chlorophyll also indicates the presence of solanine, a glycoalkaloid poison found in species of nightshade. This bitter nerve toxin crystalline alkaloid is part of the plant’s defense against insects, disease, and predators. It is found primarily in the stems and leaves of potatoes but can also be found on any green spots on the skin of a potato and on buds.
Solanine interferes with the body’s ability to transmit impulses between cells. Ingested in large enough quantities, it can cause vomiting, diarrhea, headaches and even paralysis of the central nervous system. Though an average adult would have to eat a very large quantity of green tinged potatoes (which are often quite bitter, a good warning sign) to have neurological damage, children may be more susceptible to ill effects. In general, it is probably best to throw away any potatoes that have green eyes, sprouts, or greenish skins.
As B. Rosie Lerner, Extension Consumer Horticulturist at Purdue University says: “The next time you see a green potato, be thankful for that color change. It’s warning you of the presence of toxic solanine.”
Carolyn
Picture by Carolyn
More info about potatoes :
One Potato, Two Potato, Hopefully More
More May Recipes
Heirloom Tomato Tart with Black Pepper Crust
Black- Pepper Tartlet Crusts
Ingredients:
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup unsalted butter
¾ cup sour cream
Directions:
In the work bowl of a food processor, combine flour, salt, and pepper; pulse to combine. Add butter, and pulse until crumbled. Add sour cream, and pulse until mixture comes together. Remove mixture and form into a disk; wrap with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut 6 (5-inch) rounds from dough. Place a round in bottom and up sides of each of 6 (4-inch) tartlet pans. Line tartlet crusts with parchment paper to cover bottoms and sides, and top with pie weights. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven; cool slightly. Remove pie weights and parchment paper. Return to oven, and bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove from oven, and cool.
Pesto
Ingredients:
3 cups fresh basil leaves
3 tablespoons fresh oregano leaves
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 garlic cloves, peeled
¼ cup grated fresh Asiago cheese
¼ cup toasted pine nuts
½ teaspoon coarse salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
⅓ cup olive oil
Directions:
- In the work bowl of a food processor, combine basil, oregano, lemon juice, garlic, cheese, and pine nuts; pulse until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary. Add salt, pepper, and olive oil; pulse until smooth. Prepared pesto can be stored, refrigerated in an airtight container, for up to 3 days.
Linda
The black pepper crust and pesto recipes are part of the Heirloom Tomato and Goat Cheese Tartlet recipe on the previous post.
May Recipes from the Master Gardener Meeting
Linda, Evelyn, and Judy and Tarts
Heirloom-Tomato-And Goat-Cheese Tartlets
Ingredients:
Black-Pepper Crusts (see below)
Pesto (see below)
3 cups heirloom tomatoes, cut in half
1 teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 (4-ounce) package goat-cheese crumbles
Garnish: fresh oregano and microbasil
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 400°.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and place prepared Black-Pepper Tartlet Crusts on baking sheet. Spoon about 3 tablespoons Pesto into bottom of each crust. Fill each tartlet with tomatoes, and season evenly with salt and pepper. Sprinkle cheese over tomatoes, and bake for 15 minutes, or until cheese is slightly browned.
- Garnish with oregano and microbasil, if desired. Serve immediately.
Black- Pepper Tartlet Crusts
Ingredients:
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup unsalted butter
¾ cup sour cream
Directions:
In the work bowl of a food processor, combine flour, salt, and pepper; pulse to combine. Add butter, and pulse until crumbled. Add sour cream, and pulse until mixture comes together. Remove mixture and form into a disk; wrap with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut 6 (5-inch) rounds from dough. Place a round in bottom and up sides of each of 6 (4-inch) tartlet pans. Line tartlet crusts with parchment paper to cover bottoms and sides, and top with pie weights. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven; cool slightly. Remove pie weights and parchment paper. Return to oven, and bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove from oven, and cool.
Pesto
Ingredients:
3 cups fresh basil leaves
3 tablespoons fresh oregano leaves
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 garlic cloves, peeled
¼ cup grated fresh Asiago cheese
¼ cup toasted pine nuts
½ teaspoon coarse salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
⅓ cup olive oil
Directions:
- In the work bowl of a food processor, combine basil, oregano, lemon juice, garlic, cheese, and pine nuts; pulse until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary. Add salt, pepper, and olive oil; pulse until smooth. Prepared pesto can be stored, refrigerated in an airtight container, for up to 3 days
Lettuce Prep for Butterhead Lettuce Salad
Butterhead Lettuce and Spring Vegetable Salad
Ingredients:
5 teaspoons white balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2 heads butterhead lettuce, washed and dried
6 radishes, trimmed and thinly sliced
1 large carrot, peeled and cut into thin strips
2 ounces alfalfa sprouts
Jane with Sprouts!
Directions:
- In a large bowl, whisk together vinegar and oil; season with salt and pepper.
- Tear lettuce into bite-size pieces and add to bowl along with radishes and carrots. Toss; season with salt and pepper.
- Divide salad equally among four plates and top each with sprouts. Serve immediately.
Yield: 4 servings
Asparagus Ready to Eat
Parmesan Asparagus Roll-Ups with Lemon Dipping Sauce
Ingredients:
1 package phyllo dough
½ – 1 cup Parmesan cheese
1 stick butter, melted
30 asparagus spears, washed, woody ends cut and dried
Lemon Dipping Sauce
Directions:
Take pastry out of box and unfold one package of sheets. Cover sheets with a just barely damp paper towel when not using.
- Remove one sheet of phyllo and put on a work surface. Brush the entire sheet with butter; put another sheet of phyllo on top, brush second sheet with butter.
- Cut pastry sheets into six even strips, cutting from one short end to another.
- Sprinkle each phyllo strip with Parmesan cheese.
- Wind one phyllo strip around each asparagus in a spiral manner starting at the base.
- Repeat with phyllo until all the asparagus is rolled up.
- Brush the tops of the phyllo dough with butter and sprinkle with Parmesan.
- Put the asparagus on 2 parchment lined baking sheets and bake at 350° for 15-20 minutes, until the phyllo is light golden brown.
Lemon Dipping Sauce
Ingredients:
½ cup sour cream
½ cup mayonnaise
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 garlic clove, pressed
1 teaspoon lemon zest
Dash of hot sauce, salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Put all ingredient s in a bowl and mix well. Serve with asparagus. Chill if not using right away.
Linda
And what about those Blackberry Pie Bars? Click here!
Dallas County Gardener’s May Meeting
Did you know that anyone can attend a Dallas County Master Gardener meeting? Tomorrow we are hosting the May meeting at our new garden with the purpose of talking to our membership and friends about the progress of The Raincatcher’s Garden of Midway Hills.
Come so you can hear from our exciting array of speakers: Elizabeth, Eric, Lisa, and Susan. Learn from them, education is the purpose of our garden. We will be sharing detailed plant information tomorrow and on this blog through hand outs created by Elizabeth. Take a look at our garden plans and tour The Raincatcher’s Garden to understand the height and depth of what we are trying to do on about an acre of land in North Dallas.
Dallas County Master Gardener May Meeting
11:30 a.m. Thursday, May 28
11001 Midway Rd., Dallas 75229
Program
An Introduction to the New Raincatcher’s Garden of Midway Hills
Tours will be offered before and after the general meeting.
Buds, Bricks & Baskets
African Free Trade Baskets, Leather Handles! Reasonable Prices! We have Fallen in Love with These!
The Baskets are ideal for gifts or gathering produce from your garden.
Oregano, Phlox, Tomato Starts, Fig Trees, Cast Iron, Coneflower, Turk’s Cap- Great Prices!
Fill up your card with homegrown plants from our member’s own gardens. We have tables of little starts you’ve just got to take home at Sarah’s “cheap” prices. Plants will be priced from $1 to $5, with a few special items priced a tiny bit more. Plan on filling up your cart! Yesterday it was hard for me to pass by the phlox I saw from Susan’s garden!
Bricks make the perfect contribution to the new garden.
Honor a loved one, recognize the special person that introduced them to gardening, or remember a friend or family member with a personalized brick. The bricks will serve as part of the entry to the Raincatcher’s Garden under the newly reassembled arbor. Bricks are priced at $50 for a 4”x 8” size or $125 for an 8” x 8” brick. Orders will be taken at the May 28 meeting with installation later this year. If you would like to participate and can’t come to the meeting, leave a comment and we will contact you.
Cash, checks or credit cards accepted.
A note about our lunch sales: Thank you to the 98 who purchased box lunches to enjoy during the meeting.
To accommodate feeding almost 100 people we had to stay firm with our reservation deadline. Oh, the planning that goes into an assembly of cooks like we have had the last few days! Hope any who missed the deadline for lunches will understand. We will have more events this summer. Subscribe to Dallas Garden Buzz, to get the details first!
Confession: I didn’t sign up for lunch in time, but you can be sure I will be first in line for a fig tree!!
Ann
Friend or Foe?
Being a master gardener means –sharing gardening wisdom—sometimes thats easy:”No you really should not order grass seed from the Sunday supplement magazine.”
But other times its not so easy. And that brings up the question of the moment: “Is this bug good or bad” Or worse, “friend or foe”?
Ladybug, The Gardener’s Friend, Known for Eating Aphids
First ask your questioner “what makes a bug ‘good?” Of course–they eat “bad” bugs–everyone knows that. But this is the thing insects are most often specialized in is their eating. You, for example, might have a great wish to eat ice cream–but if there is no ice cream–carrot sticks or even–chocolate cake–might do. Most insects are not like that. They eat what they have, over a very long time period, been designed to eat.
So, that means if you want the so-called good bugs in you garden–what do you also need in your garden?? Oh no–its bad bugs!!! Yes its true and its the only way. You really must rethink the whole situation.
Red Wasp, a Beneficial Insect, Not a Foe
Balance is what the garden needs. That isn’t something that happens overnight or even stays that way once its achieved. Remember playing on a seesaw? It took awhile to get the perfect balance–and then someone jumped off!! Thats how it can seem.
But with healthy soil, a diversity of plants, as many native as possible, and reasonable maintenance you will have some amazing experiences of natures ability to make what first seem like problems into beauty. Oh yes–watching ladybug larvae eating aphids –well its beautiful in its on way. The wasps that eat some monarch larvae also eat those caterpillars that love the broccoli.
So, When you are asked “friend or foe?” Well ask you questioner to pull up a chair–it may take awhile.
Susan
Pictures by Starla
