Planting Pits and other Outdoor Activities

In the United States, for reasons best known to themselves, December has been declared both National Pear Month and National Fruit Cake Month, along with the 15th December being National Cupcake Day. In China, presumably because their ancient culture really appreciates such, the Chinese celebrate the winter solstice, 21/22 December, by feasting on dumplings in northern areas, sticky puddings in the south. But why this Christmas Day, Thursday 25th December, Americans will celebrate as National Pumpkin Pie Day is to the rest of us a mystery. Elsewhere we have other ideas in mind.

We might as well celebrate and get it over with. Leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, convicted sex offender Warren Jeffs, has warned his followers the world will end by 2013. He’s predicted this less than successfully a number of times in the past, but maybe he’ll get it right this time. Meanwhile, we continue to prepare for another gardening season . . .

Diversion No. 1

They sound like shady underworld figures – masked devil, razor grinder, black prince – and their buzz is beginning to sound like Christmas for eastern Australians, reported The Sydney Morning Herald. There are also cicadas with names such as green grocer, cherry nose and floury baker.

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Back in the days when plant nurseries were hand-dug, one boss claimed early winter was “good digging weather” – his crews had to dig nonstop to keep warm. A more modest home garden attempt might be made to prepare planting pits for next years’ vegetables. Excavate three or more feet deep, first carefully setting aside the topsoil. Then backfill with compost or plain garden waste of any and every description, yours and the neighbours’ discards. Cover with the paler subsoil, then the topsoil leaving it piled up over the pit or trench. It will subside overwinter but even mounded up somewhat the following late spring it makes a splendid home for favourite vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and squash.

Diversion No. 2

A new study that decoded the DNA sequence of the kiwifruit has concluded that the fruit has many genetic similarities between its 39,040 genes and other plant species, including potatoes and tomatoes. The study that appeared in Nature Communications has also unveiled two major evolutionary events that occurred millions of years ago in the kiwifruit genome.

Should you go to the time, trouble and expense of winter-protecting susceptible shrubs and small trees? Over much of Canada, the answer would be a most resounding affirmative. However, in heavily populated southern Ontario and southwest British Columbia, gardeners are becoming more ambivalent. Cocooning in burlap upright junipers, cedars and similar evergreens seems to remove a major reason for their installation: to provide green colour in an otherwise all to often bleak winter landscape. It also prevents them being draped with seasonal decorations. The problem is that, global warming or no global warming, every ten or so years a major fall of heavy, wet snow may still be expected. This plays havoc with life in general and conifers in particular. And irrespective of such occasional meteorological mishaps, salt sprayed up from Ontario streets can play havoc with nearby hedges, coniferous or deciduous. Hence a screen of burlap stapled to two-by-two posts can provide effective insurance against such saline situations.

Diversion No. 3

Pottering around the garden or fixing up the house has been linked to a longer life. Scientists from Sweden monitored the health and activity of 4,232 people over 60 suggested the risks of heart attack and strokes were cut by 30 percent. The findings were published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

Should you buy a real Christmas tree or tolerate a fake one? It is an annual conundrum. Just how environmentally sound is the cut pines, spruce and firs raised by the hectare or even their pot bound alternatives? Can this be better than the artificial alternative, inevitably from communist China where their tolerance of religion is in other areas so noticeably lacking? Last season plant biologist Clint Springer, PhD, assistant professor of biology at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, said buying a real tree may not solve the world’s climate ills, but it is better than using an artificial one for a few years and then tossing it. Now you’ve got the party going, keep in with the horticultural theme and further impress your guests by explaining that a fungarium is where fungi samples are stored for scientific study; one who researches pollen should correctly be called a palynologist; and a psammophyte is sand-dwelling vegetation. Then quickly pass the snacks around, refill the glasses and turn the conversation back to Christmas trees.

Diversion No. 4

It’s coming from cotton country, a weed that’s whacking the Midwest. Palmer amaranth, Amaranthus palmeri, can shoot up as high as 7 feet, and just one plant can produce up to a million seeds. Herbicide is increasingly futile against it, and the weed’s thick stems and deep roots make it hard work to clear by hand. It can slash yields and profits when it gets out of control [Sources: Nanaimo Daily, Pueblo Chieftain]

Rudolph may or may not have had a red nose but he certainly had blue eyes, at least over winter. In keeping with the season comes news from a study reported by scientists from University College London, U.K. and the University of Tromsø, Norway that reindeers’ eyes change from gold to blue with the Arctic seasons. Adapting to extreme changes in light levels in their environment also helps reindeer to detect predators. Apparently blue eyes see better in the low light associated with winter in high latitudes. Whether this also explains the prevalence of such optics among the human populations of northern Europe, permitting them to detect sledges loaded with goodies, the researchers failed to mention.