Michigan Gardener - Your guide Great Lakes gardening: Garden Event Calendar / Expert Advice / Plant Profiles / Tree Care

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Slow economic recovery continues to fuel growth of vegetable gardening

June 30, 2011 •

From Associated Press via NPR:

Many of the millions of people who turned to gardening to save money during the recession appear to be sticking with it during the recovery as food prices remain high and interest in safe, fresh and local food grows nationwide.

Forty-three million American households planned to grow at least some of their own food in 2009, a 19 percent increase from the estimated 36 million who did the year before, said the National Gardening Association, citing the most recent figures available. Spending on food gardening — including growing vegetables, fruit trees, berries and herbs — jumped 20 percent in one year to $3 billion in 2009 and stayed at that level last year, said Bruce Butterfield, research director for the nonprofit association.

Read the full story here.

Website Extra: A Gardening Community

June 29, 2011 • 1 Comment

More stories about enthusiastic gardeners in the Westacres community:

Photos by Sandie Parrott
Mary Beth Ridenour’s trumpet vine (Campsis radicans) is around 80 years old. It was moved from a previous home where it grew for many years.

Mary Beth Ridenour

Ridenour’s husband planted over 50 trees and conifers in the originally sparse yard. Just for fun, a red bird relaxes in the arms of this weeping Norway spruce.Dramatic conifers, trees, a bridge, and a giant 80-year-old trumpet vine (Campsis radicans) make up Ridenour’s garden. The vine was moved from a previous house. Concerning its care she said, “I just prune it a little, nothing else. It is just in the right spot—hummingbirds love it.”

In 1971, Ridenour moved into her house that was originally built in 1935. She lived two miles away, rode the Westacres bus and wanted to live in the neighborhood. She attended a meeting and found out a house was available. “No outside advertising was done back then; only word of mouth,” she remembered.

“It was Bill’s garden (her husband, now deceased). I never gardened until he died. There wasn’t a tree on the property when we moved in. Bill planted all of the trees, about 50. He also built the wooden bridge. I wish I had gardened sooner. I enjoy it now,” she enthused.

Margie and Mick Popovich

In 1986 Margie and family moved to Westacres to a house built in 1936. “My husband grew up on a farm and had his own ideas about where we should live. I went to school with kids from Westacres and always envied their lifestyle. When we looked at our house, the previous owner (the original resident) had an enormous garden, and the deal was done,” Margie recalled.

Husband Mick is the gardener. Margie claims Mick wears boots from May to October. “He is happiest when he is putzing outdoors. I love going out to the yard with a basket to pick my own vegetables. A basket of corn with basil and tomatoes, or flowers for the house, it just completes me. He does all of the vegetable gardening and I have never seen a prettier, more organized vegetable garden,” gushed Margie.

Margie and Mick Popovich’s garden and barn create a country view in a suburban setting. Mick built the greenhouse and incorporated windows he found in the trash along the road.Mick offers a tip for pests: “The only pest control I do is attracting wrens—they are tremendous insect eaters. We have several wren houses. I always look for them to return in the spring and love the way they sing. Crop rotation is also important. Besides that, a few bugs don’t bother me as much as chemicals do!”

Margie continued, “It isn’t unusual to be standing in the kitchen and hear, ‘Hi Margie and Mick,’ because neighbors are in the garden picking strawberries. We give a call when they are ripe: ‘Come when you like—just lock the gate.’ Kids come and go; I look out and see them picking berries and think life couldn’t get any better!”

This lovely vignette displays a birdbath, picturesque birdfeeder, and Margie’s favorite flower, black-eyed Susan.

Mary and Joe Fox

Mary Fox gardens for her family and also their CSA farm (Community Supported Agriculture). “My dream is to feed the community! I’m trying to encourage people to eat locally. I garden using organic practices. With demand increasing, I need more space. My neighbors are donating their backyards for me to farm (an original idea by the creators). My goal is to feed my 20 CSA members, sell lettuce, salad greens, herbs and edible flowers, with the surplus going to food banks,” explained Mary enthusiastically.

A section of the CSA farm (Community Supported Agriculture) owned by Mary and Joe Fox. Mary promotes eating locally-grown food.Joe Fox shows off one of his ISA Brown chickens.She continued, “My CSA shareholders also can purchase eggs from my pastured chickens. If West Bloomfield allows me to continue what I’m doing with gardening and chickens, it will be preserving the legacy of Westacres. It would take Westacres full circle from Depression era residents in 1936 to recession residents in 2011; quite a tribute for Westacres 75th anniversary.”

Why are the leaves on my Japanese maple green?

June 26, 2011 •

I have a Japanese maple that has become a green tree rather than a red tree. The tree is planted on the west side of my home and gets a little sun, about an hour or two in the morning and by noon it is in full sun until sundown. The tree does have a little red on the tips of the leaves but looks nothing like our neighbor’s Japanese maple, or like it looked a couple years ago. Also, it looks like a bush and really grew quite a bit this year. Can it be trimmed a little? It has some branches that make it look a bit wild.

The ability of red-leaved varieties of Japanese maples to remain red throughout the growing season is very variable. It is nothing to be concerned about, and you are not doing anything wrong if your tree is otherwise healthy. The variability of coloring may be attributed to the characteristics of the specific variety and its exposure to light conditions. They have the best red color in a spot that is as sunny as the tree can tolerate. This is the point just before the leaves scorch.

Because named varieties don’t come true from seed, they are grafted to a species rootstock to ensure the same coloring and characteristics as the parent plant. Some varieties, like Acer palmatum ‘Atropurpureum,’ are bright red in spring and fall, but only tinged with reddish bronze during the summer months. Some go from fire-engine red to pinkish to green with red veins and petioles; others from purple-red to deep maroon, on to green and back to crimson in the fall. The color varieties are endless! Most likely your Japanese maple is a different variety from your neighbor’s.

Since your tree looks more like a bush, the growth may be coming from the rootstock. Examine your tree to determine where the green branches originate. If there are absolutely no original red leaves appearing on your tree, then it has responded to the dying back of the red-leaved grafted variety by sending up new growth from the base. The rootstock was not a red-leaf variety, as rootstocks are generally selected for their hardiness and vigorous growth, which you have already observed in the bushy green. With the sun and wind exposure of the plant site, and the more typical Michigan winter temperatures, the graft area may have been too stressed. Your choice is to prune what you have or remove it and start over.

Corrective pruning and training can be done at any time of the year, except when the sap is rising in early spring. Cuts should be made just beyond a pair of buds on the twig. Usually, this will then produce two side shoots. When removing a larger limb, like any other pruning, the cut should be made just above the branch collar, the ridge or line where the branch joins an older branch or stem. Major pruning should be done during the dormant season after the leaves have fallen, in October or November, well before the sap starts rising prior to leaf production in the spring. Fine, twiggy growth must be removed, especially from cultivars in the ‘Dissectum’ group. A tree that is too bushy invites insect and disease problems. Pruning is also important to properly display the plant’s structure. Part of the beauty of these maples is the trunk and limb structure and texture, especially during the winter months when the foliage is absent.

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