Connecticut Garden Journal

If this summer has taught me anything about current weather trends for gardening, I should expect more extreme, summer weather events in the future. It seems we bounced from hot and dry weather to humid conditions with torrential rains all summer long.

One way to help mitigate the problem of torrential rains is to build a rain garden. Rain gardens are sunken areas in your lawn, planted with perennials and shrubs that can take occasional flooding.

The concept is simple. Find, or construct, a low spot in your lawn where water can naturally drain during summer rain storms. You can also direct the water there with rain spouts or furrows in the lawn. By concentrating excess water in a rain garden and letting it naturally filter into the soil without running off, you'll avoid overwhelming municipal sewage systems. Also, you're keeping this precious water resource in your yard where it can help trees, shrubs and plants grow.

It's best to select native plants that can tolerate some flooding, and are hardy and suited to your sun conditions. Some good examples of natives for Connecticut include swamp milkweed, astilbe, summer sweet, silky dogwood, Joe Pye weed, winterberry holly, red chokeberry, aster and rudbeckia. There are so many plants options that you can still create a beautiful rain garden in your yard that has color from spring until fall. There are lots of resources available on-line, such as the University of Connecticut's Rain Garden Design Guide and App, to help you construct a rain garden. And Fall is a great time to tackle this project.

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It's apple season and we've all heard the story of Johnny Appleseed. According to folklore, he wandered the Midwest in the early 1800's planting apple seeds. He was eccentric, often walking barefoot and wearing a burlap sack.

While the folklore is mostly true, I thought I'd elaborate. Johnny Appleseed was born John Chapman in Massachusetts. He wasn't just an errant, wandering apple seed planter. He grew up growing apples and planting the seeds had as much to do about his love for apples, as acquiring land.

Back in the 1800's, frontier law allowed settlers to claim to any track of land that had signs of permanent development. This included apple orchards. So, Johnny would wander in unsettled regions, create an apple tree nursery on the land and sell mature trees to settlers who moved in.

The apples he planted weren't for fresh eating, but for making hard cider. That was the drink of choice in the 1800's. Unfortunately, many of those original trees were cut down during prohibition or died out because the apples were small, gnarly and not tasty. However you can still buy a descendent of Johnny's trees at specialty nurseries.

Johnny Appleseed was a character. He was a follower of the Swedenbourg religion and as a vegetarian, never wanted to harm plants or animals. So he never used grafting to make new trees. Since he planted so many seeds, he personally created a huge, genetic diversity of apple varieties. Some were the forebears of modern varieties such as 'Delicious'.

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Every September I break out the hot water bath pot and start canning tomatoes. This is something I remember my mom doing every year and it always seemed she'd choose the hottest, most humid days to can her tomatoes. I still can in honor of Angela, but also because I love the taste of canned tomatoes in winter sauces and soups. I've changed mom's recipe to make it a little easier. I can tomatoes sliced in quarters with the skin on. I find I can break down the tomato skins quickly in a blender just before using them in winter. I can a mix of pints and quarts for various recipes. I still drop a large basil leaf in the jar and really pack the tomatoes into the jar just like mom. The hot water bath method is simple. Check websites, such as the University of Connecticut Extension Service, for up-to-date canning information.

Another way to preserve the harvest is drying. We mostly dry herbs, although with a dehydrator you can also dry many vegetables including tomatoes. Collect herb stems and hang them upside down in an airy, shaded room. They'll dry well and can be stored in glass jars for 6 months.

We also freeze much of our bounty. I like making a fruit shake almost every morning year round. So, we freeze lots of strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, currants and honey berries for my shakes. But we also freeze tomatoes, sweet corn and leeks for winter use.

So, consider preserving some of your harvest so you cook with home-grown produce in January.

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Asian pears have become popular for their pear-like flavor with an apple-like texture. This pear was developed in China, but spread to Japan and Korea and now is grown around the world. We love the crispness of the fruit and the delicious, sweet, pear flavor.  

We grow a few different varieties of Asian pears. 'Twentieth Century' has a yellow skin, soft flesh and mild flavor. We really like the brown-skinned varieties, such as 'Shinsui'. This is an early maturing brown, skinned variety that is very productive. If fire blight disease is a problem on your pear and apple trees try resistant varieties such as 'Shinko'.

Grow Asian pears as you would European pear varieties. They like full sun on well-drained, loamy soil. I found ours grow okay in clay soil as long as the soil doesn't stay too wet in spring and we plant in raised beds to promote better water drainage. 

The trees can grow to 30 feet tall in a pyramidal shape, but ours are staying a more manageable 15 feet. Asian pears need two different varieties for cross pollination, but you can also get pollination from European or ornamental pear trees. 

Fire blight may be an issue on some varieties and there's always aphids and psyllids that can cause problems on the leaves. These insects are controlled by lady bugs and insecticidal soap sprays. My biggest problems are squirrels and birds eating the ripening fruits. Baffles around the tree trunks helps deter squirrels, while netting keeps birds away. Usually we get so many pears that we don't mind sharing some with the wildlife.

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I have a great fall perennial for you. It produces an abundance of white or pink, daisy-like flowers in later summer and autumn, it's deer resistant, spreads by seed or rhizomes so fills in an area quickly, tolerates wet soils and is a fantastic pollinator plant. Interested? It's Boltonia.

To most gardeners, Boltonia looks like an aster. In fact, its common name is false aster. Boltonia grows 3- to 5-feet tall and wide, and flowers more profusely than asters. White varieties, such as 'Snowbank', literally look like snow has fallen on the plant because of the hundreds of flowers when in bloom. Pink flowering varieties, such as ' Pink Beauty', offer the same flower show, but in a different color.

 Like aster, Boltonia is tough, hardy and versatile. It grows well in part to full sun, is drought tolerant, but also thrives in wet areas in your yard. It grows in most types of soils including clay, spreads well as a wildflower, is a great pollinator plant and is deer resistant.

Because Boltonia can spread, plant it where it will have room to roam. Mix Boltonia with asters, Helenium, Joe Pye weed, turtlehead, and other late summer bloomers in your garden or wildflower area. If planted in the shade, it may get leggy. Support the plants with stakes or top the young plant when it's 1-foot tall to promote bushier growth.

Divide Boltonia every few years to keep it in bounds in the garden and make new plants to give away. Other than that, it's a carefree, colorful addition to your fall flower bouquet.

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I first ate kerala or bitter melon, when I went to India in the early 1990's. I remember eating bitter tasting vegetables when I was in the Peace Corps in Thailand, so I wasn't too surprised by the flavor. What I really liked was how local villagers cooked it. Roasted, stuffed, steamed or sautéed it added a depth of flavor that I love.

I've grown kerala in our garden for years. This year I've grown it in our unheated greenhouse and it has taken off! Instead of waiting for fall to harvest, I've been munching on kerala for weeks already and there are few pests.

Kerala is a member of the cucumber family. It has warty or smooth skinned fruits. It's also a strong, vining plant, so grow it on a fence or trellis in full sun on well-drained, fertile soil. Pinch long vines to hastening fruit production and keep the plant in bounds.

Even if you aren't a fan of the large, cucumber-sized fruits, the vines are attractive with lobed leaves and pretty yellow flowers. Fruits grow quickly in the heat. I try to keep on top of the harvest by picking fruit on the young side.

No one else in our household likes the bitter flavor, so it's a special treat that I grow for myself. My usual way of eating them is sautéing kerala in a pan with sweet onions, sweet peppers and maybe garlic. I love the combination of slightly bitter and sweet flavors. The key to controlling the bitterness is to cut unpeeled fruits in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds.

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It happens every spring. I look where the hardy hibiscus is supposed to be growing and I see nothing. The bulbs are blooming, the spring perennials are flowering, but no signs of our hibiscus. Instead of panicking, I've learned to be patient. I know hardy hibiscus takes its time in spring.

While hardy hibiscus is late to emerge, it makes up for lost time in July and August. With the hot, humid weather, the plant explodes into growth reaching 3- to 5-feet tall and they start flowering. I'm not talking about dainty black eyed Susan type flowers, I'm talking 8-to 10-inch diameter, round discs of color. The flower show goes on for weeks and I guarantee you that visitors to your garden will be amazed.

Hardy hibiscus is related to the tropical hibiscus shrub you may have seen in warmer climates such as Florida and Texas. But, it's hardy to zone 5. It grows into a large perennial, flowers in colors ranging from white to deep burgundy and some varieties such as 'Kopper King' have burgundy colored foliage, too. The 'Luna' series has large flowers in white, red or pink depending on the selection. It's a great late summer flower to add pop to your flower garden.

Hardy hibiscus grows best on well-drained, moist soil. It likes moisture, so keep it well watered if you have a summer drought. It flowers best in full sun. Come fall the plant dies back to the ground with a frost. It's a low maintenance perennial only requiring compost in spring for fertilizer. Insects, diseases and animals seem to leave it alone.

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When I suggest growing mint to a gardener, they sometimes go running. Mint has a bad reputation of spreading, sprawling and generally trying to take over the world. But not all mints are created equal when it comes to plant growth. Certainly, peppermint, lemon mint, spearmint and their off shoots, such as chocolate mint (it smells like chocolate but doesn't smell like it), will spread quickly and readily in a garden. But more unusual mints such as ginger mint, banana mint and pineapple aren't as aggressive.

Another way to grow mint is as a ground cover. We have fruit trees in our lawn with mulch rings around them. But instead of spreading mulch around the trees, we plant mint. The mint grows well creating a nice ground cover that we can use in drinks and cooking. Even if it gets into the lawn, I don't care. I like the mint fragrance when I mow over it. Mint also flowers and is a favorite of beneficial insects and pollinating bees and butterflies.

In the garden the best way to grow an aggressive peppermint or spearmint is by leaving it in the container and burying the pot in the soil. The pot acts as a natural barrier. Of course, over time the mint will spread out of the pot, but it's easier to keep tame.

Mint is also a good container plant on your deck or patio. In fall, simply cut it back and bring it indoors for winter. Placed in a sunny window, it'll resprout and give you fresh mint fragrance and taste all winter long.

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They're back!!! Every year at this time I start searching for the tomato hornworm. It's not hard to see the damage. These caterpillars of the hawk moth start out small on the tops of tomato plants. As they eat, they grow and turn into 4 to 6-inch long monsters! Well, maybe they aren't that scary, but they can cause lots of damage on leaves and fruits.

Once you start seeing some munching of the leaves, start looking for the caterpillars. I look for the dark green, droppings as a sign of their arrival. When you find the droppings on lower leaves, look up. Chances are there's a tomato hornworm right there. Although they're big, their colors camouflage them perfectly among the tomato leaves. Every morning we go hornworm hunting dropping them into a pail of soapy water. You can also feed them to chickens.

If you still can't seem to find the hornworms doing the damage, try going out at night with a black light. The tomato hornworm caterpillars will glow and become very evident.

For big patches of tomatoes you might have to resort to Bacillus thuringiensis or Bt spray. This bacteria kills larvae in the moth/caterpillar families including hornworms. Coat both sides of the leaves with spray and in a few days they'll start dying. Be careful not to spray other plants as Bt will kill all caterpillars, even good ones. If you find tomato hornworms with white protrusions on their back, leave them. That's the cocoon or pupa stage of a braconid wasp that is parasitizing your hornworm. These a good guys in your garden.

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Our zucchini and summer squash are cranking out fruits everyday now. The winter squash and melons are vining and life is good in the vegetable garden. But, this false sense of security won't last long. Unless you're diligent, squash pests, such as squash borers and bugs, will attack without any advanced notice.

You'll know you have squash vine borers by the the vine suddenly wilting mid day, even if the soil is moist. Check at the crown of the squash plant. You'll probably see tunneling and frass right near the soil line. That's from the squash vine borer larvae that tunnels into the stem causing it to wilt and eventually die. To control this caterpillar, with a sharp knife slit along the stem until you find the larvae and remove it. Bury the slit stem in soil and hopefully it will reroot. To prevent these attacks in the future, grow butternut squash, which vine borers don't like, or cover the squash plants with a row cover to prevent the adult fly from laying eggs. Remove the cover when flowering for pollination.

Squash bugs start as small grey insects running around the leaves. They quickly can attack, leaves, flowers and fruits if left unchecked. Start by checking the undersides of melon, zucchini and winter squash leaves looking for copper colored eggs laid in groups between the leaf veins. Squish or cut they out and destroy them. If you check every few days you'll keep the population under control. If not, you can try organic sprays, but squash bugs will be hard to stop once their numbers swell.

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