Oh! Grow Up

Chicks and tiggers, giv’em the brush

I used the phrase chicks and tiggers instead of ticks and chiggers when I was young just to aggravate my brother. Chiggers are not bugs or insects. Chiggers are the juvenile (or larval) form of tiny mites, the Trombiculidae. Mites are arachnids, like spiders, and are related to ticks. Chiggers may be even more aggravating to gardeners than I was to my little brother using this tang tungler.

It is a myth that nail polish, bleach, alcohol, turpentine or salt water will rid you of ticks or chiggers. Chigger mites are unique among the many mite families, only the larval stage feeds on vertebrate animals; chiggers dine on us only in their juvenile (or larval) stage. As adults, they become vegetarians that live on the soil.

My eye sight has never been good enough to the tiny red chiggers. I usually discover them after they have settled in for dinner. I am the main course. Chiggers are tiny. But you can brush them off. They are looking for tender, thin skin such as where the skin wrinkles and folds. Sadly, the longer I live, the more ideal dining area I provide for ticks and chiggers.

As if chiggers aren’t annoying enough, this illustration and the following paragraph are right from the Ohio State University Extension Fact Sheet HYG-2100-98

Bites

Chigger larvae do not burrow into the skin, nor suck blood. They pierce the skin and inject into the host a salivary secretion containing powerful, digestive enzymes that break down skin cells that are ingested (tissues become liquefied and sucked up). Also, this digestive fluid causes surrounding tissues to harden, forming a straw-like feeding tube of hardened flesh (stylostome) from which further, partially-digested skin cells may be sucked out. After a larva is fully fed in four days, it drops from the host, leaving a red welt with a white, hard central area on the skin that itches severely and may later develop into dermatitis. Any welts, swelling, itching, or fever will usually develop three to six hours after exposure and may continue a week or longer. If nothing is done to relieve itching, symptoms may continue a week or more. Scratching a bite may break the skin, resulting in secondary infections.

disgusting, huh?

The best way to avoid them is to take a soapy shower after you have been stamping around outdoors. Though they are young, chiggers are vulnerable to temperatures. Chiggers are most active in the afternoons, and when ground temperature is between 77 and 86 degrees. Researchers have also found that chiggers actively avoid objects hotter than 99 degrees. Rocks that have been baking in the sun are usually free of chiggers, and make a safe place to sit when you are in a chigger-infested area. Chiggers become completely inactive when temperatures fall below 60 degrees; temperature below 42 degrees will kill the chigger species that bite us.

Excellent information about preventing and caring for tick and chigger bites is on the Missouri Department Of Conservation Web site: If you are in an area that probably has chiggers, the best thing to do is take a soapy shower as soon a possible. A shower or bath is the best defense. If this at is not possible, give them the brush. A brisk brushing off of your arms and legs will crush or knock them off before they c an attach. State health department officials have documented a 300 percent increase in tick-borne disease in Missouri since 2003. Good information about ticks is also at the Missouri Department of Conservation website.

From:
http://nicholsgardennursery.wordpress.com/2009/05/31/gmo-beet-roots-busted/

My friend and fellow writer Rose Marie Nichols McGee, has this story on her blog,
The Gardener’s Pantry.

GMO Beet Roots Busted

Posted on May 31, 2009 by Rose Marie

The presence of viable GMO sugarbeet roots in recycled potting soil is the lead article in today’s Corvallis Gazette Times/Albany Democrat Herald. The beets were identified because they bore numbered tags. I’m not going to repeat or paraphrase this article which is an excellent example of hometown journalism and why we need our newspapers. For the rest of this article go to her blog.

You’ve been hearing us talk about Spring Fling 2009 in Chicago.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Time

Webster says a Busmans Holiday is a holiday spent in following or observing the practice of one’s usual occupation.

Gardeners and garden bloggers from across the country gathered at their second annual gathering, the Spring Fling for Garden Bloggers. This year, we were in Chicago. The best part for me is to actually meet these people that I have come to know and count as friends.

Our sponsors have been generous, many are lawn/farm/garden suppliers that we, as passionate gardeners, have known for years. For example, when I moved to a home with three acres, one of the very first things I bought was a pony Troy Built Tiller.

I used that tiller for years, and even loaned it out to a lot of neighbors. That Troy Built tiller taught me one
thing. Investing in good tools is well worth the money. Buying good garden tools makes a gardeners life easier. You don’t have to worry about tools breaking or failing when you are just starting a gardening project.

So when the garden bloggers gathered, some of the sponsors were old friends of ours. Troy built came by to say welcome and thank you. Troy Built would be singing to the choir to tell this group of gardeners about their quality products. I know their garden equipment is great. I want to thank them for their sponsorship. I didn’t win the Troy Built prize, still I’ve had years of never-fail use from their equipment.

LEHR is a new product name to me. LEHR is dedicated to a cleaner planet through environmentally friendly technology. Immediately, I know I am going to like this company.

I was lucky enough to win their propane powered eco trimmer. LEHR is committed to their customers, their neighborhoods and the environment. Everything that carries the LEHR name is designed and developed to be cleaner, greener, and more user friendly than comparable products on the market.

On my blog, Oh Grow Up!, I’ll tell you all about it. We have a one acre lot, which loosely translated means, hours of trim work every week spring to fall. A few of the other sponsors included Renees Garden, Ethel Gloves , Sunset.com and Garden Shoes Online.

We concluded the bloggers gathering with a visit to Garfield Park Conservatory. Jens Jensen (1860-1951), the architect, designed interior rooms to look like outdoor landscapes. Jensen placed plants directly in the ground and framed views by keeping the center of each room open, with a fountain or a naturalistic pond as the centerpiece.

Gardening is a lot of work. It’s our job. Our hobby, our pastime, and what we do to relax.

Guzmania ‘Sir Albert’ Bromeliad

Fresh Beans Snap

All the gardeners are out gardening. So, for those of you who don’t garden but like to eat, this blog is for you. If you are not blessed with a neighbor who grows too much and likes to share, then consider visiting the Farmers Markets.

If you are lucky enough to find fresh beans that are not the usual grocery store type limp grey/green bean, snap them up. Variety is one of the advantages of local Farmers Markets.

French Cuisine – Rabbit Food

Since the rabbits in my neighborhood have developed a taste for haricots vert, I’ll be looking for them at the farmers’ market. Haricots vert [ah-ree-koh VEHR] is French for “green bean.” If you are not brave enough to try the pronunciation in public, just ask the farmer for those skinny French green beans. These tiny tender green beans are great served cold and lightly marinated. The neighbor next door makes a pickled green bean called Dilly Beans.

I always steam more than I think the two of us can eat for dinner in the hope that there will be leftovers for my lunch. It rarely happens. My husband and the rabbits have this in common: they will eat every haricot vert in site. I planned to grow a bumper crop of the skinny French green beans, but evidently word got out among the wildlife population. Rabbits eat what I grow and my sweet husband eats what I buy at the market. There is always a haricots vert shortage at my house.

Botany Vs. Gardening

Looks suspiciously like Eggplant Parmesan.
Weeds Parmesan

My sweetie is a botanist. I am just a simple gardener. The botanist, told me that eggplant is not on the food chain. If it is not on the food chain, I wonder why the Burpee and Baker Creek sell eggplant seed with all the other vegetable seed.

Still, even the clerk at the Garden Center knew this. When I went through check-out, I made the enlightened comment that eggplant wasn’t considered part of the food chain by some gardeners and botanists. “I know,” she said. “I agree. You won’t find eggplant anywhere near my garden.” Maybe the Garden Center doesn’t know it has mislabeled all of the eggplants as vegetables.

As Sweetie explains it, eggplants aren’t plants, they are weeds really, and not meant to be food. I planted eggplant in the garden anyway. Later this summer, we will try a new recipe: Weeds Parmesan. It’s a favorite of mine that tastes remarkably like Eggplant Parmesan.

I’ve Got Worms!

Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California posts this rather philosophical reflection:

The humble earthworm: memento mori extraordinaire: “Remember that thou shalt die.” The Conqueror Worm, devourer of prince and peasant. Metaphor for the frailty of the flesh, subverter of monuments, leveler of empires. Emblem of the vanity, the evanescence, and the end of all human endeavor. And yet, paradoxically, this earthworm, this great destroyer, is also a great builder – a builder of fertile topsoil, itself the sustainer of all civilization.

Sounds a little Shakespearean, doesn’t it?
I bought 50 encapsulated earthworm cocoons from Gardens Alive!

They arrived in May, a good time for me, because the soul had been weeded and was ready for planting. My goal for the red worms is they will grow forth and multiply to a sufficient level to maintain a healthy soil. I planted these ready-to-hatch egg cocoons just like garden seeds, only deeper. Earthworms are living composters.

As I start out with a new organic vegetable garden, I don’t have a lot of earthworms in the raised beds because I made the garden soil myself. The surrounding lawn has plenty of earth worms. (Some of the worms are so big, they startle me when we encounter each other. At first, I think they are garden snakes.)

For my vegetable gardens, I was aiming for a lighter soil than the clumpy clay of southeast Missouri. The raised beds warmed earlier than the surrounding grounds and I was able to work the soil in the raised beds sooner this spring. The Lumbricus rubellus (litter worm or red wriggler) eggs should be hatching now and in the weeks to come.

The next day after I planted the encapsulated eggs, a squirrel dug up a couple of egg cocoons, but left most of the 50 undisturbed. So, I replanted the ones the squirrel dug up. I don’t know if they will hatch or not. These aren’t the same red worms as are in my vermicomposter. I’ll tell you about the garbage eating worms another day.

So far the only threat to the worm population is Rob and Hood, the odd couple of the Robin world that follow me every where waiting for me to dig up or otherwise disturb the soil, providing them a buffet meal. Some times I cover up the worms I unearth in hopes the lazy team of Rob and Hood will not turn the worm into lunch.

Earthworm castings turn garden soil into black gold, speeding the development of nutrient-dense, moisture-dispersing humus. Gardens Alive! recommends one egg capsule or cocoon for each square foot of garden.

I admit I wasn’t the scientific about the cocoon planting. But I did note which beds received the eggs. Oh, and I also poked a couple of cocoon eggs in the straw bales.

The soil is in pretty good shape from the look and feel of it. This growing season will be the test of the soil. In the fall, I’ll have a soil test from the UM Extension. University Extension also demonstrates How to Build a Compost Bin, which shows several methods of composting.

My goal is to increase the worm population in the raised beds. The worms will aerate the soil by tunneling through the ground, leaving nitrogen-rich castings to feed the plants.

My hope is that the earth worms can populate the garden faster than Rob and Hood can eat.