Our May issue features an article on chickens and their place in the garden, by Peter Garnham. The photos with the article show Barbara Emerson's hens, which she got last spring. Barb will be blogging about her chickens over the next several weeks. Last week she welcomed some new chicks to her flock. Below is her report.—Meg

So far six of the eight baby chicks I am expecting have reached their new home….joining their adult “cousins” that are featured in the May issue of Horticulture. It had been quite a journey for them, but surprisingly they were quite boisterous when I put them in the cardboard box they will call home until they feather out and can move outside. All are heritage breeds. There are two Polish and two Rose-Combed Leghorns chickens for me, and two Rhode Island Reds for my friend and chicken-raising mentor, Dave. Soon to come are two Barred Rock chicks for Dave.

Here is a bit about the trip they made. Fertile eggs take about 20 days to hatch. These chicks were born on Friday, April 4, in Iowa (at Murray McMurray Hatchery). They were mailed through the USPS on Saturday, April 5, to my friend Norm on the South Shore of Massachusetts. (The majority of mail-order poultry companies require a minimum order of 25—our eight chicks were part of a larger order Norm made.)

When they are mailed, all the chicks are crowded into a smallish box and this keeps them warm for the trip from the hatchery. They aren’t meant to eat or drink for two days after hatching, so they can use up the remaining yolk that has been feeding them during the hatching process. So not having food and water while they are in the mail system is OK.

Early last Monday morning, Norm got a call to pick them up at his local post office. As soon as he got home from the post office, Norm dipped each chick’s beak in water to clue her in about how to drink. Norm is an experienced chicken raiser and he said this is the most active group he has ever seen and they all survived the trip. It is not unusual to lose one or two.

I picked up our chicks from him on Wednesday and drove them to my home on the North Shore. We asked for my and Dave's eight to come labeled so that we could tell them apart from Norm's chicks, which are a different breed. But there was a miscommunication and two were not labeled. No problem there—we’ll call Murray McMurray and get details about how the Barred Rock chicks look, and Norm will i.d. them and bring them to me this week to join the others.

Lots of travel for anyone, let alone a baby chick!—Barb

4/14/2008 9:32:44 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0] 

by Meg Lynch, Editor

I sowed seeds of cosmos, marigold, and love-in-a-puff last weekend (indoors).

I like to start my seeds in individual pots, instead of flats. I’ve found that the cardboard cases that juice and tonic bottles come in make good trays for the pots. I can easily move them all at once to the sink for watering and to a brighter position once the seedlings sprout.

The cardboard is very sturdy, since it is meant to carry glass bottles. The plastic liner that wraps around it makes it even sturdier and somewhat waterproof.

This was a 12-pack of Snapple iced tea, and 9 three-inch pots fit well in it. Last year I used a 24-pack to hold 48 one-inch pots.

3/20/2008 11:07:49 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [4] 

by Meg Lynch, Editor

First, thanks to all for the comments on my previous post about Gerard the living stone. I do have seedlings as well as Gerard, which I started last summer. I'll try to get a picture of them—but they are still really tiny, so I'm not sure how the picture will come out.

In the meantime . . . the New England Spring Flower Show is going on in Boston this week. Sara and I were at the show last night, when the theme was "Plant Geeks." (That's us, I guess—and proud of it!)

At our table, we ran the "Plant Geeks Olympics," a 10-question quiz. Halfway through the night we decided it was a bit on the too-hard side, but everybody was a great sport about it and had fun, which is really what the show, our quiz, and gardening is all about. We had a good time talking to fellow gardeners and taking in the beautiful garden displays. (And the music of the player piano stationed near our table. Will I ever get "Margaritaville" out of my head?)

Here are the questions on our quiz. Answers appear at the bottom of this post.

1.    Agapanthus is native to which country:

a.    Egypt
b.    Algeria
c.    South Africa
d.    India

2.    There are over 3,000 registered named varieties of which plant:

a.    hosta
b.    astilbe
c.    clematis
d.    daisy

3.    The genus name of flowering tobacco is _________________.

4.    Aronia arbutifolia, Fothergilla major, Itea virginica, Rhus copallina are good native alternatives for this invasive ornamental plant: __________________

5.    Cape fuchsia is the common name for:

a.    Fuchsia magellenica
b.    Phygelius capensis
c.    Oenoethera canadensis
d.    Dicentra spectabilis

6.    There is a blue impatiens. True or False?

7.    What is the new genus name for coleus? ______________

8.    How can a gardener identify a plant in the Mint family? __________________

9.    ‘Cosmic Purple’ is a cultivar of what kind of vegetable? ______________________

10.    Botanically pronounced, Cotoneaster rhymes with “Easter” or “Faster”?

ANSWERS:
1. c, South Africa
2. a, Hosta
3. Nicotiana
4. We were looking for burning bush (Euonymous alatus)
5. b, Phygelius capensis
6. True
7. Solenostemon
8. The plant has square stems
9. Carrot
10. Faster (co-tone-ee-AST-er)

3/12/2008 9:50:58 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [2] 

by Meg Lynch, Editor

Another sure sign of spring, for me, is when my living stone (Lithops sp.) begins to shed its old body—which is really just pairs of water-filled leaves.

This is a succulent plant native to South Africa, where it sits low in the ground, protected from grazing animals by its pebble-like appearance. I had wanted a living stone for a couple years before I finally found a local greenhouse that had some.  It was July 15, 2002, to be exact—I noted it in the cactus and succulent diary that I kept at the time:

“LIVING STONES!!!     !!!     !!! Very excited! One is greenish and the other grayish/peachish—they look good and I will take careful care of them!”

At some point soon thereafter the gray one died, though I don’t seem to have noted it.

On March 1, 2003, I mention that lately the still-living living stone, the green one, which I dubbed Gerard, “started to open a pinhole and that turned into a large oval-shaped separation and inside there are what look like tiny Gerards.” I had been hoping it was going to flower. But it was just going through the routine of a living stone: to shed its leaves each year, revealing new leaves inside. Sometimes they open to show more pairs than the last year, and form large clumps this way. (Gerard has held steady at two pairs.)

It has done this right around the middle of February every year since. It takes a couple months for the old leaves to completely shrivel away. All of my references say not to water a living stone at all until it has finished this routine, but toward the end I do give it a little water. I think it helps to move the process along—the new leaves swell up with water, and as they do they shrug the old leaves farther off.

Read more about living stones

Mail order living stones

Get the reference in the title of this post

2/26/2008 4:12:23 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [4] 

by Meg Lynch, Editor

I know spring is around the corner when my houseplants start to perk up. Here are the first of my cacti to bloom. Some others have buds forming. These are planted together in the bottom half of a clay pot designed to cook a chicken. It is the perfect shape and depth!

These first blooms prove for me that the sun is getting stronger and the daylight hours, longer. Do you know we start Daylight Savings Time in three weeks?  I can’t wait to be getting home while it is still light out—looking at the garden is a great way to end the day.

Read Lisa's blog

Read Sara's blog

2/15/2008 4:18:50 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [1] 

by Meg Lynch, Editor

My fiancé and I went to a wedding in the Des Moines area over the weekend. We had some spare time, so we checked out the Des Moines Botanical Center. It was a great break from the frigid weather! Even John, who is not exactly a “plant person,” enjoyed the colorful bulb display blooming inside the entrance. (He took these photos with his cell phone.)

The main part of the Botanical Center is a Plexiglass and aluminum dome, 150 feet wide and 80 feet tall at its highest point. The collection of plants growing in the dome includes unusual tropical plants, familiar houseplants, shrubs, and fruit and nut trees. Some of the palm trees there are quite large, and you follow winding paths through the dome, heading up and down to different levels, so you really get the feeling of being in a lush tropical garden. And it is always fun to see the plants you grow as houseplants in their natural state (big!).  

The Botanical Center also has an annex called the Gardener’s Showcase, where volunteers design exhibits demonstrating design ideas or certain groups of plants, and classes and events take place in the center’s classrooms.

The temperature was -2 when we left Des Moines on Sunday, heading for the airport in Omaha. I spotted a billboard for Omaha’s Botanical Center (or Lauritzen Gardens) and remembered writing a little box on an event there when I first started working at Horticulture. Too bad we had flights to catch. (Right, John?) I’d like to get there someday. Preferably a warm one!

Read Lisa's blog

Read Sara's blog

2/12/2008 3:17:54 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0] 

by Meg Lynch, Editor

Here's a fun contest. At Success With Seed, they are asking for recipes that uses at least one ingredient (or more) that can be grown from a Park Seed plant or seed. Park Seed employees will judge the contest (yum), and they say they are looking for creative and enthusiastic use of homegrown food. (Be sure to read the official rules, etc., over there.)  You could win a gift certificate to Park Seed.

Personally, I love carrots mashed with rutabaga and a little butter and ground black pepper. Not sure that's really a recipe, but feel free to enter it, somebody. And everybody, try it!

Visit Success With Seed

Read Lisa's blog

Radish 'Rainbow Sprout' mix. Photo courtesy Park Seed.

2/1/2008 4:43:18 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [1] 

by Meg Lynch, Editor

The Eco-Lawn has sprouted! I saw the first shoots about five days after I sowed the seeds. Now (about two weeks after sowing) there is a nice square of turf. I was impressed with the seeds' quick sprouting, because I did not cover the pot with a plastic bag to create a humid environment. Usually I do that, especially here in the office, where the air is very dry.

The Eco-Lawn has an interesting texture—sort of rubbery. I haven't watered it much, but it is doing well, as you can see.

1/25/2008 4:43:49 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [1] 

by Meg Lynch, Editor

When a company has a product about which it is particularly excited, it sends an announcement and information to publications with hopes the product will be covered. These are called press kits. Sometimes it is just a letter, but sometimes it includes a sample of the product or some sort of gimmick (which can be really wacky!) to catch an editor's attention. Here's a press kit I received recently, which I think qualifies as the cutest I've seen. (And here I am writing about the product, so I guess it worked.)

The product is a grass mix called Eco-Lawn, developed and distributed by Wildflower Farm, in Coldwater, Ontario. It is billed as drought-tolerant lawn that grows in sun, part shade, or shade and requires less frequent mowing than conventional lawns, because it grows slowly. The information also says it doesn't need fertilizers and pesticides. It is made up of seven fescue grasses (four native species, three hybrids).

I sowed the "desk lawn" they sent me, so, with hope, we'll soon see what it looks like.

For more information on Eco-Lawn and Wildflower Farm, click here.

1/11/2008 4:33:45 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [1] 

by Meg Lynch, Editor

Well, I was planning to post Part Two of my favorite garden-related Christmas gifts right now, covering the items best described with a picture, as I promised in my last post (Gift Ideas, Part One). Naturally the camera battery is dead. It is charging up now.

In the meantime, I thought I'd tell you about a conversation Sara and I had yesterday. This is "water cooler talk" at Horticulture.

She was telling me about her new boots (about which she has just blogged), and we got to talking about gardening footwear preferences. She wears waterproof garden clogs. I told her how I wear old running shoes. She asked, "Don't your feet get wet?" And I said they do, if it is particularly muddy out. Water does tend to soak through. Wet feet would drive her crazy, she said. It doesn't bother me; also, once you take off your sneakers they dry pretty quickly.

We wonder if all gardeners could be separated into two groups: those who don't mind wet feet and wear any sort of old shoes; and those who do mind wet feet and wear specific mud shoes or boots. Deep thoughts.

Read Sara's blog.

Read Lisa's blog.

12/14/2007 11:52:33 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [20] 

by Meg Lynch, Editor

I've been thinking about garden-related gifts that I've received at past Christmases. If you have gardeners on your list, or you are making some wishes of your own, they may inspire you. Books, note cards, pots are always good choices, but these are "biggies" that have me still on my best behavior.

Probably the most exciting was the small light stand that I got last year. I honestly felt dizzy when I opened it up. When you give someone a light stand, you are giving the gift of more space. That's pretty amazing. Mine is a one-shelf unit, just the right size for keeping a few "extra" houseplants (let's be honest, they're all essential), and in late winter I use it to start a couple flats of seeds.

Then there's my beautiful silver bracelet. It is a narrow cuff inscribed with the words "Play in the Dirt." That's an all-time favorite.

Two other items I have in mind would be better described with a photo, which I'll have to take . . . I'll post again soon!

Read Lisa's blog.

Read Sara's blog.

12/4/2007 4:38:20 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [1]