The Joy of Growing Nostalgic Sweet Peas

The very mention of the name sweet peas (Lathyrus odoratus) summons romance and the memories made in your grandmother’s flower garden. Vintage in appearance and highly scented in smell, sweet peas are one of the easiest and most productive annual flowers to grow.

Preferring and conducive to cooler temperatures, this nostalgic favorite can be directly sown into soil as soon as ground can be worked. They prefer a deep, rich, preferably loamy sand soil (with ample amounts of compost), and good drainage. It will speed up germination if you soak your seeds in warm water for a few hours before planting at a depth of between ½” to 1”. Sweet peas need a bit of darkness to sprout. Expect germination within 10-21 days if soil temperatures remain 50-60° F. Sweet peas need roughly 50 days of cooler temps under 60 degrees to have a continual bloom. In the Intermountain West, these cooler days coupled with copious amounts of mulch will ensure prolific flowering all the way into the warmer season of summer. Heirloom Spencer and Grandiflora sweet peas are two highly prized varieties. Both are highly scented and will grow 3-5’ tall.

Sweet peas are a wistful and vigorous growing, climbing, and vining flower, using tendrils to wind around tall supports. Because of this, they need a trellis or other support system for climbing. Think lattice work, homemade twig obelisk, a tall woven arbor made from willow, a hand-hewn split rail fence, or any other vertical supports that your grandmother might have worked with in her garden. The more old-fashioned, creative, and clever, the better!  Also, once your plants are 6-8” tall, pinch off the top 1”, which will force the stems outward and stimulate growth, which will produce even more branches, tendrils, and flowers.

Sweet peas are very sentimental and have proven year after year to be a favorite for home gardeners, cut flower farms, and florists. Plant some in your early spring garden and they will soon be a favorite of yours. What a wonderful way to start making sweetly-scented, old-fashioned, and long-lasting, garden memories for your loved ones! 

Houseplants Outside

Houseplants make wonderful outdoor plants in pots, planters, and any other container. They are interestingly eye-catching and are a great addition to shaded areas. Houseplants have quite a variety of foliage with many different shapes and sizes. Some are spiky, some are mounding, and some are trailing. Some have leaf color and flowers which gives contrast to container arrangements.

Propagation
Many houseplants are easy to propagate by cuttings. Take a cutting and put it in a mix of perlite and peat moss. Supply bottom heat if possible and never let it dry out. You will know it is rooted when it doesn’t give when slightly tugged on. Then it can be transplanted into a small pot with regular potting mix. Once established in pots it can be transferred to a larger container.

Cactus can beused to make desert bowls and are easy to propagate as well. Using tongs, a piece can be broken off the mother plant. Set it in soil suitable for cacti. Most will thrive and root. Use good cactus mix soil and breathable containers like terracotta for your planters to provide good drainage. Creativity has no limits. Cacti can be in the sun and watered as needed. It’s a myth that cacti like to be dry all the time. They like water but they don’t want to sit in water. That’s where providing good drainage comes in. A terracotta bowl with a drain hole and a nice variety of cacti can create a miniature desert setting.

Moving Houseplants Outside
Be sure the temperature is warm enough before putting any houseplants outside. As with any other tender annual, they won’t thrive in cold weather. Expect them to die with the first frost in the fall unless they are moved back into the house to overwinter. They are houseplants after all. Below is an example of a large pot in a place that gets very little light. It is made up of Spider plants, Asparagus Fern, and Impatiens. It might be even more stunning by adding some Purple Leaf Wandering Jew.

Start your cuttings early to give them time to develop roots. Already established plants can also be purchased. A little creativity is all that is needed. Some houseplants that work well are as follows: Spider plant, Wandering Jew, Lipstick, Asparagus Fern, Philodendron, various cacti, Mezoo, and other succulents. 

Design it! Create it! With the right location and a bit of TLC, it’s easy to create and enjoy houseplants in an outdoor setting.

Gardening Tools for Gardeners with Limited Motion

Have you given up some of your gardening time due to arthritis, injury or mobility issues? There are adaptive tools that will allow you to continue your hobby with less pain and difficulty with grip strength and movement. Tools can be purchased or created that have longer handles, larger grips and supportive cuffs.

Long handles allow gardeners to reach further from a seated position or into a flower bed. Using a child-size rake in this case may be the better option due to lighter weight of the tool. Hand trowels can also be adapted to have long handles. Shovels can be adapted to have large, D-shape or round handles at the top to make pivoting while digging easier. 

Hand tool grips come in a variety of adaptation to help gardeners. If gripping the tool is difficult, the handle should be the same size as when you put your thumb on your fingertips creating a circle – about two inches. If current tool handles are too small, you can add tape or pipe insulation to the handle to create a larger and softer handle. Easy grip trowels and weeders are also available for purchase with a vertical handle rather than a horizontal handle. This keeps the wrist and forearm from twisting and causing pain. Ratcheting pruners allow the gardening to grip multiple times to cut through limbs rather than one hard grip to prune.

When wrist or forearms are injured or in pain, handles can be adapted or purchased with a special grip cuff. The cuff keeps the wrist in a neutral position and can also have an adapted handle on the side allowing for more strength coming from the upper arm to be used. Velcro arms straps can be added to other tools with similar results.

If the injury is temporary, tools can be adapted with options that can be removed. Permanent conditions may need to include remodeling the garden to include some structural changes such as raised beds and larger hardscape paths. Tools are available to make gardening a pleasurable hobby for all gardeners.

How to Water Your Garden

Signs of spring are all around and the patch of dirt you put to bed last fall is ready to plant! Many people assume that planting seeds are the most important part of gardening, but proper watering is a crucial element. Keeping your plants hydrated may not seem like a big hurdle in May, but without a good plan in place, you’ll be very frustrated by mid-July. It turns out, there are a few different ways you can effectively keep your garden watered. Let’s summarize 3 basic methods for watering and analyze the pros and cons for each.

Overhead Sprinkler

Probably the simplest and most straight forward way to water a garden is to strategically set up an overhead sprinkler. Of course, there are different styles of sprinklers that can provide water to a large garden area. Two advantages of using an overhead sprinkler system are the ease of installation and low cost. Another advantage for this method is the ease with which you can measure the amount of water being applied to your garden. You can see the water hitting your garden then place bowls or buckets throughout to catch and measure the amount emitted.

There are some disadvantages and cautions to keep in mind when using overhead sprinklers. First, with most overhead sprinklers it is estimated that only about 30% percent of water coming from the sprinkler is utilized by the plant due in part to evaporation. Also, along with providing water to your plants you are also refreshing the weeds that share the garden space allowing those to thrive as well. You will find that you have bigger, happier weeds alongside your plants. Finally, overhead watering provides water to the plant leaves which, especially if wet through the night, encourage mold and fungal disease.

Drip System

Another popular way to water a garden is to utilize the drip system. A drip system was invented to combat all the dangers of overhead watering by applying water directly to the base of the plants. A visit to your local hardware store will reveal the various types of tubing and attachments available to create a drip system. One type of tubing comes with holes 12-18 inches apart so that when attached to your hose and laid in rows, the water runs onto the plant’s base. Drip irrigation provides water near the base of the plant, leaving the upper foliage dry and less susceptible to fungi.

You can also utilize a type of thick black tubing that does not have pre-made holes. With this you purchase smaller “feeder tubes” then puncture them through the main tube. You can customize exactly which plants will receive water by placing the emitter tube at the base of the plant. This works especially well in flower beds or with the bigger plants in your garden such as tomato plants. Drip systems are great for weed prevention by watering the plant and not the entire garden area. They use less water because less is obstructed by leaves and lost to evaporation and/or wind.

As a disadvantage, installing a drip system can be costly, especially if you have a large

garden area. It can also be labor intensive at the start to purchase and install. Incorporating a drip system into your sprinkler timing zones adds another level of labor and requires some expertise. Also, a drip system will require that you dismantle and store the parts in your garage every Autumn. You will also need to keep an eye on your system to be sure the tubes remain unclogged and the parts in good working order, then replace or maintain parts as necessary. Because the holes that emit water in the tubing are small they can become clogged from sediments in the water. Installing a filter at the water’s outlet source or hose bib can help.

Soaker Hose

Finally, another watering method that replicates the drip system is the use of a soaker hose. A soaker hose attaches to your main hose and when the water is turned on it literally seeps out of the hose wetting the area around it. Like the drip tubes, a soaker hose is applied to the base of plants so its roots receive needed moisture and the leaves stay dry. It can also wrap around an area making it useful for a crop of small shoots like carrots.

A soaker hose will apply more water between plats than the drip tube so you may find a trail of weeds there. Soaker hoses are generally less expensive than drip tubes but because of their woven fabric and depending on your water type, soaker hoses don’t last through multiple seasons. This means you’ll have to expect the regular purchase of replacements.

You may find that you use more than one method for your garden area depending on each plant. Or, you may enjoy the ease of staying with one method. 

The task of developing an ideal system for watering that fits your needs and matches your time and budget will be a process. Don’t be afraid to explore different methods, get out there and enjoy what you create!

Getting More Out of Your Ground Cover Plants

I have a very long strip of landscaping area between my lawn and the cul-de-sac, with six different types of plants growing (see photos below). I want to propagate those plants to make many more and fill in the area. In this article I will give the basic principles of propagation used for ground cover plants grown in this area.

Crown Division, or Division Division is form of plant propagation where new plants are not grown from seeds or bulbs but are separated from the parent plant. The crown of a plant is where its stem meets the roots.

• Carefully lift plant clumps along with some soil removed from the roots.

• The crown may then be cut into sections with a knife.

• Individual growing points (shoots) that contain roots may be used to form new plants, or if a larger plant is desired, several shoots may be left together.

• When dividing large, old crowns, it is often best to discard the older, center portions and replant the young, more vigorous shoots that have developed on the edges of the clump.                                                   

Stem Cuttings A stem cutting includes a piece of stem plus any attached leaves or buds, so it only needs to form new roots to become a plant.

• Cuttings should be 4 to 6 inches in length and taken from vigorous, healthy plants.

• Remove the cutting from the mother plant with a sharp, clean knife.

• Use a rooting hormone.

• Cuttings should be placed (stuck) in a propagation medium that retains moisture, yet is porous. Do not allow the medium to dry out.                          

Leaf cuttings
A leaf cutting uses just the leaf for propagation, so both new roots and new stems must be formed to create a new plant. Leaf cuttings first must form roots and later shoots. Depending upon the species, it can take several months to produce a plant suitable for transplanting from a leaf cutting.

• Remove only a leaf blade or the blade and a portion of the petiole.

• Apply rooting hormone, and sink the petiole into the rooting mix.

• The base of the leaf blade should just touch the mix.

• Place the pot in a plastic bag in a bright spot.

Root cuttings Though very few plants can be propagated from root cuttings, the technique is simple. 

• When the plant is dormant, dig it up and cut off robust segments of the root, 2-3 inches long. 

• If the roots are thin, lay them horizontally on the rooting mix and cover with 1/2 inch of the damp mix. If the roots are thick, lay them horizontally or place them vertically into the rooting mix, covering them completely. If placing the root vertically, make sure the end of the cutting that was nearest the crown of the plant points up. 

• Put the pot in a plastic bag and place in a bright spot. In several weeks, shoots should emerge from the rooting mix. Keep the pot in the plastic bag until new roots have formed on the shoots.   

The chart below shows some of the common ground cover plants grown in the Treasure Valley of Idaho.

Common Name	Scientific Name	Best Ways to Propagate
Stonecrop	Sedum spurium	Division
Periwinkle	Vinca minor	Division
Mazus	Mazus reptans	Rooting at the nods
Creeping thyme	Thymus serpyllum	Division, seeds or cuttings
White Woodruff	Golium odorstum	Self-seeds
Lamb’s Ear	Stachys bysantina	Self-seeds profusely
Houseleek / Hen & Chicks	Sempervivum tectorum	Leaf cuttings
Moss Phlox	Phlox subulata	Division, stem/root cuttings
Prickly Pear	Opuntia macrorhiza	Stem cuttings
Snow-in-Winter	Ceratium tomentosum	Self-seeding, division
Rockcress	Arabis caucasica	Seed, division/stem cutting
Candytuft	Iberis sempervirens	Division, or stem cuttings
Basket-of-gold	Aurinia saxatilis	Self-seeds, or direct seeds
Bearberry Cotoneaster	Cotoneaster danneri	Stem cuttings
Silver Mound	Artemisia schmidtana	Division every 2-3 years
Rose Moss / Purslane	Portulaca grandiflora	Cuttings
Ajuga	Ajuga reptans	Seed or division

Bees–Wasps –What’s all the Buzz?

Many creatures (seen and unseen) call Southern Idaho backyards home. For many of us, our introduction to flying yellow and black insects was an unwelcome and painful sting. Through experience and education, we know that some of these flying creatures are more friendly and less aggressive than others. 

Identifying the subtle differences between each species is not always intuitive–but important. It’s not as simple as identifying good vs. bad or friend vs. foe. Understanding each species can help us manage a safe and healthy backyard ecosystem. 

Bees – While there are 25,000 different species of bees, SW Idaho is home to more than 400 native bee species as well as some introduced species, such as the European honeybee and the alfalfa leaf cutting bee.  While it may be obvious, only honeybees (not native to Idaho) generate honey. The most common bees are worker bees who collect pollen to feed the queen and support the hive.  Bees also perform the important job of pollinating our gardens and fruit trees.  While generally less aggressive than wasps, bees can and will sting. 

Wasps – While known by many other names (hornets, bald faced hornets, yellow jackets, etc.) all are technically wasps. There are 30,000 wasp species. They can be recognized by their pointed lower abdomen (not furry), narrow waist, and shiny, slender cylindrical shaped legs. All wasps hunt food and build nests. Adult wasps cannot eat solid food. They return solid food (other insects, meat, fruits, etc.) to the nest to nourish carnivorous larva. The larvae digest the solid food and emit a sugary waste substance which is a primary food source for adult wasps.

There are two general wasp classifications, social and solitary.  Social wasps work together to build nests. This process begins from scratch each spring; they never return to the old nest. Adult wasps harvest decaying wood material. This wood material, once mixed with saliva, produces a paper-like substance used to construct intricate and often very large nests. Wasps build nests in voids found in homes (attics, walls, trees, bird houses), fences and sometimes in underground vacated animal dens.

Unlike bees and social wasps, solitary wasps do not participate in a social system. Solitary wasps excavate underground tunnels or build mud nests.

Wasps propagate in spring and early summer. As the worker wasps’ life cycle comes to a close in late summer, their hunt for food is their only purpose and they become very aggressive. While wasps are veracious hunters of pest insects, which is a valuable service; their venomous stings are painful and sometimes lethal. In early spring, remove nests close to human activity. Keep your home area clear of wasp nests by sealing foundation cracks and keeping garbage covered. Consider creating designated ‘wasp’ spaces luring them far away from BBQ and outdoor recreation spaces with bait or pheromone traps. Or give them their own zone. Forewarn your family and friends to steer clear of wasp zones.

The Tachytes wasp, common 

in our area, is a solitary wasp that makes its home underground. So as you can see, it's not as simple as a Friend or Foe. These complex insects present some risk but also provide benefits to our ecosystem. For more, here's a link https://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/1448/cir1448.pdf Identification of Bees in Southwest Idaho—A Guide for Beginners

Why Raised Garden Beds?

Raised garden beds are a great choice for anyone who has a small space or wants to control the soil quality. Another good reason for raised garden beds, it is great for all ages, health conditions, and mobility types. We all love healthy grown foods, so with raised gardening beds it is easier to manage and control the quality of the soil to get better yields.

Evaluate what your needs are, how much room you have, and how much time you want to commit to your gardening space. 
   Consider the different designs available and see what appeals to you. You will want to know your budget and choose the layout or plan that will work best.  

    Check out this site for many great ideas on types of gardening beds and different designs. 

    Look at your location and decide what plants you want, the amount of sunlight you are going to have, and how long your growing season is for your region. Make sure to add in drip irrigation, which will conserve water; set the drip at the base of your plants. Leave space for walking paths around your beds.

    Think ahead, if you need to cover your garden beds to keep out flying bugs and birds, add design components that will make it easy to net the spaces. This type of design is very useful for fall cold snaps when you need to shelter plants from the cold evenings. You can also use hoops for coverings. The size of your bed should be an arms length to reach far enough to get to your produce; 4 feet is a good width for your beds. If you have rodents that burrow, you may need to put down a wire mesh to block any digging into the bottom of garden boxes.

    Soil preparation is key in a raised bed, so adding in compost and organic material is necessary. The beds can be filled cheaply with rocks, gravel for drainage, grass clippings, fall leaves, twigs, branches, logs, even cardboard boxes, or paper sacks.
    Don’t forget to get your mulch on top to retain the moisture. Keep in mind you do not want to put any items in the bed that have insect contamination or chemicals.  
    Get creative in your planning and designing, use what you have, so many different components can be used for raised beds. REPURPOSE, RECYCLE, REUSE!!