LUXURY LIFESTYLES: Gardening Bug

Is it heredity, a dirt-born malady or a combination of both?

The first gardening lesson I recall was hunting for tomato worms on plants as tall as I was, and handing them to my dad to squish. The strange “eyes” on each segment of their bright green bodies demanded touching, and then squeals as the strange horns on their rear ends moved in self defense. Lesson two, how to peel and eat a grapefruit, sprinkle it with salt, and watch the world of my backyard beneath the cover of our grapefruit tree’s strong branches. My dad and I solved life’s problems while pulling weeds and picking beans.

Welcome to the new gardening column for Door County Magazine. As the selected gardening “expert”, I’ll share with you my knowledge and experiences of growing plants and sometimes watching them not grow at all. I’ve been rooting around in the garden since I could walk, and inherited my green thumb from my father, the experimental gardener.

I learned the basics of gardening while growing up in California – an admittedly easy state to garden in, year round. Then I moved to Door County. The land that continually births rocks; hosts summers that require tomato plants to grow, set flower and produce red tomatoes in 80-90 days; requires that houseplants be moved in and out of doors seasonally; and having to contend with a whole new set of insects and critters. Thankfully I was living with native Door Countyites my first few years here, fruit farmers no less, who shared their knowledge of hostas, bulb digging and live traps – a contraption this softie couldn’t live without.

My efforts at gardening organically are just that … efforts. There are instances when financial and time constraints dictate that I use a non-organic herbicide (plant/weed killer) or that I fill my truck up at the city compost pile rather than using bagged compost. In this quarterly column, I will showcase various gardening methods, with an emphasis on the organic, not just because it’s trendy, but because growing organically is more sustainable in all aspects. I also think kids benefit from the real life “Where’s Waldo?”-type skills of hunting and hand picking the bad bugs from plants. And really, to a kid, what’s not fun about squishing a bug, or scooping up handfuls of mud to create an irrigation system between plants?

With this column, I want to share knowledge I’ve gained through college horticulture classes, the Door County Master Gardener Association and almost 30 years of playing in the dirt. I’ll work to share information on gardening trends and innovations, and I want readers to share their own gardening experiences and knowledge. Your comments, suggestions, and tips will help shape the focus of this column.

Spring will soon bring colors back to Door County, and I know my hand trowel is itching to get back to the dirt. For your garden this year, consider planting these All American Selections (AAS) that have been tried and tested by a network of independent, expert judges. The AAS has been conducting trials on flower and vegetable varieties since 1932; the organization has a solid reputation for picking strong performance plants.

All American Selections for 2011:

GAILLARDIA ‘Arizona Apricot’ – 12” tall plants with 3-3.5” daisy-like flowers; drought-tolerant when established; full sun perennial. Remove spent flowers to encourage blooming.

ORNAMENTAL KALE ‘Glamour Red’ – Waxless, shiny leaves with intense, vivid color. Fringed leaf with flower heads 10-12”. Full sun annual; leaf coloring begins when night temps fall below 55 F for about 2 weeks.

SALVIA ‘Summer Jewel Red’ – 20” tall, with bright red, ½” blooms on flower spikes, great for attracting hummingbirds. Blooms 50 days from sowing. Full sun.

VIOLA ‘Shangri-La Marina’ – 6” plants keep to low-growing mounding habit. Colorful and prolific 1 ¼” blooms with light blue petals and velvety dark blue face with white border. Frost tolerant biennial (blooms in fall and returns in spring). Prefers full sun.

PUMPKIN ‘Hijinks’- small-sized, 6-7 lb. fruits of uniform size and shape. High yields, notable resistance to powdery mildew, easy fruit removal from plants and excellent stem attachment. Vines spread to 15 feet. Full sun; harvest 100 days from sowing seed, 85 days from transplant.

TOMATO ‘Lizzano’ – 16-20” tall, with 20” spread, vigorous semi-determinate variety with low growing, trailing habit good for patio containers or hanging baskets. Produces bright red, baby cherry-sized fruits. Tolerant of Late Blight disease.

TOMATO ‘Terenzo’ – 16-20” tall, determinate (1 season only) bush variety; low maintenance, producing fruits more resistant to cracking. Brix sugar content of 6% makes this a sweet tomato. Produces standard round cherry sized tomatoes.