Papayas in Muskogee

This summer our local nursery, Blossoms, got a shipment of tropical plants from Florida. We picked up a papaya, thinking it would make a fun addition to a hot spot. Not only is it 8-feet tall, it is making fruit.

There are at least a dozen papayas. Will they ripen before the first hard frost? Who knows. In the meantime, it is entertainment for the garden staff (me and hubby).
Can you see it? Between the two plants is the veggie garden's resident toad. S/he bounces around from leaf cover to basil cover when I'm weeding out there.
Eat those buggies, little toad friend.

October's Flowers and Vegetables

This flower bed is bursting with fall color

In another spot, marigolds peek through Weigela.


Our little vegetable garden continues to work hard.

Every day it produces something that winds up on the table.


Now the former cucumber trellises are covered with gourd vines.


The tomatoes and eggplant became tonight's stir fry. Lettuce seedlings went into the open spots yesterday, in time to take advantage of the October rain.



A package of seeds arrived today. I'm going to try to grow lettuce in cold frames.
Have you had any success with that kind of project? What works? Any advice?

Peachy Flowers and Fall Bugs

Peach is a just right color for fall. It blends in so well with the bright gold marigolds, shiny yellow bells, red salvias and umber sedum blooms.
Photo: Apricot Blush Zinnia

Photo: Dahlia from Old House Gardens


Can you tell I rely on zinnias to fill the late summer beds and keep them looking exciting until frost?

Photo: And then there are the fall bugs to deal with. The search is on. They aren't red milkweed beetles.

Ah, they are milkweed leaf beetles. Thanks to the Texas Entomology site Texas Ento dot net we now know that their formal name is Labidomera clivicollis.

The Bug Guide calls them Swamp Milkweed Leaf Beetles.

Iowa State's site says that there are actually 457 separate insects that eat milkweed. The author notes that the bugs aren't a problem unless one is trying to raise milkweed as a crop.

Well, but I'm raising milkweed to make Monarch waystations

.... so, do I drop those bugs into soapy water or let them eat, lay eggs in the soil and come back in bigger numbers next year?

Not exactly a moral dilemma but what would you do? Let them eat and make babies or drop them in the bucket?

October's Changing of the Guard in the Garden - Planting Seeds

Time to plant fall greenery.
We have just the right weather for putting in a few vegetables to boost the healthy components of winter's dinner table.

Chard, kale, lettuce, broccoli raab, mustard, Pak Choi and spinach can be planted in a sunny spot now and still have time to produce baby greens for salads or stir fry.

Chard, raab and kale can be used to make fresh rolls filled with cooked, seasoned rice.

Raab, rapini or broccoli di rapa, is easy to grow. The new leaves flavor salads and sandwiches, the larger leaves and pseudo broccoli heads can be steamed.

Kale has a dozen varieties. 'Lacinato' is cold tolerant and light frost sweetens its leaves.

Pak Choi is added Asian soup, steamed with garlic and olive oil or chopped into salad.

Spinach lovers don't have to be told about its many uses from vegetarian lasagna to wraps.




Prepare and amend a sunny bed. Use leftover veggie seeds from your spring garden or buy a few packs of the ones you know your family will eat.

I just ordered 5-new kinds of lettuce from Baker Creek. They are our geographically closest seed catalog company. My selection was based on the Cornell growers recommendation site.

Oklahoma State University recommends many varieties for Oklahoma gardens -
Black Seeded Simpson , Grand Rapids T.B.R. , Prizehead (red) , Red Sails
Salad Bowl , Waldmann’s Green, Butterhead , Bibb , Buttercrunch , Juliet , Merveille Des Quatre Saisons, Romaine , Little Gem , Romance, Batavian – (combo. of romaine & head)
Cardinale , Little Loma , Nevada , Assorted Greens
Mizuna , Pak Choi , Red Mustard , Red Kale
Arugula , Mache , Mesclun - misc. salad mix , Mizuna , Radicchio , Upland Cress
Mustard - Florida Broad Leaf, Southern Giant Curled, Tendergreen
Kale - Red - Red Russian, Green - Verdura, Blue - Vates

If you miss this planting season the next one is Feb 15 for early spring vegetable seed planting.

Caring for Queen Mums

Chrysanthemums are the queens of the fall flowers whether they are in pots, baskets, or cut flower arrangements. Because they are so easy to grow and breed, chrysanthemum varieties have multiplied.

Faribault Growers (faribaultgrowersinc.com) divides their mail order plants into 3-categories: Garden Decorative, Football and Novelties. Novelties are spiders, cushion, and Matchstick. Footballs have 4 to 7-inch blooms. Garden Decorative mums are the ones we find in local stores as plants.

Diana Hartman, president of the Oklahoma City Chrysanthemum Society said, “The plants you can get at home improvement stores are freeze hardy in Oklahoma.”

Lanna King of King’s Mums said, “Heat and rain are not a problem for chrysanthemums as long as you plant them in well-drained beds.”

Tips for your potted mums – Put drainage holes in any pot wrapping paper. Give them a sunny location and moderate water.

When the flowers fade, cut off the dead pieces, put the plant in a bright spot like the garage, and water them occasionally. After the last frost of the winter (around April 15), water and fertilize, then put the plant in a partly shaded place outside to acclimate it. In a week, plant it into the garden with a little slow release fertilizer.

Plant them the same depth they were in the pot, in any good garden soil, where they will get at least 6-hours of sun. Add compost, leaf mold or peat moss to the soil removed from the planting hole before putting it back in around the plant’s roots.

Cutting back and pinching the stems is done in June, July and August.

Hartman grows for chrysanthemum shows, so her plants are staked, one stem to a stick. Every leaf and bud is removed except the top one.

Growers apply Superphosphate, 3-pounds per 100-square feet and Gypsum or Dolomite lime 10-pounds per 100-square feet. Home gardeners use 15-30-15 such as Rapid Grow or Peter’s Potted Mum from August 1 to bloom.

To make more of your favorite mums, take 6-inch cuttings, remove lower leaves, and plant in a protected place.

Chrysanthemums were recorded in China by 15 B.C. and in Japan by the 8th Century A.D. Their roots were boiled as a remedy for headaches, the petals were eaten in salads, and the leaves were brewed as a tea.

Mums belong to the Asteracea Compositae, or daisy, plant family. Their close relatives include dahlias, sunflowers, marigolds, zinnias, Shasta daisy, Feverfew and cosmos.

Annual Chrysanthemum varieties such as German Flag, Court Jester, Dunnettii, Shasta, Painted and Crazy daisy, can be grown from soaked seed as long as you can provide a constant 75-degree environment by using a thermostatic heat mat. Do not cover seeds whether you start them in the greenhouse in Feb-March or in the garden in mid-April.

Swallowtail Garden Seeds (http://www.swallowtailgardenseeds.com/) has Rainbow Mix Tricolor, Chrysanthemum carinatum, seeds. The flowers of this annual are daisy-like multi-colored purple, orange, rose, yellow and white daisy-like. $2.95 for a packet with over 2,500 seeds. 2-feet tall, easy to grow.

Thompson and Morgan (http://www.tmseeds.com/) has 8-seed-varieties, and plants including pom pom, Northern lights and coconut ice.

Membership in the National Chrysanthemum Society http://www.mums.org/ is $20 a year. For Oklahoma City chapter information such as meetings and shows, contact Diana Hartman at 405-495-0129 or Oklahoma@mums.org.

UNM Yard and Garden Newsletter

An excellent issue of Yard and Garden Newsletter is available at this link.

Have you ever cut open a grapefruit and found a germinating seed inside? I have and mused that it was odd and wondered how it happened.

In the October University of Minnesota Extension newsletter, David Zlesak explains that process.

"The phenomena of seeds germinating while still in the fruit on the parent plant is called vivipary. Some specific varieties of plants are more prone to it than others and atypical environmental conditions can also trigger it. It is common to find germinating seeds within grapefruits or oranges because of storage temperatures atypical from what would be found in nature. Generally, viviparous germination is negative because seedlings soon find themselves with limited resources and die."

Who knew?

Grow Food Not Lawns

Ft. Collins Colorado has a new promoter of the national effort to convert lawns into vegetable and herb gardens. Grow Food Not Lawns is a nonprofit that was formed by Bob Jones to teach members of the community to grow their own food in their own yards.

Steve Solomon wrote Gardening When It Counts Growing Food In Hard Times a couple of years ago in anticipation of just such a time as the country seems to be facing in the year ahead. Solomon's online resource of free information is called Soil and Health. Here's a link.

Bob Jones and his cohorts are actually teaching citizens in local communities - how to compost, how to grow organically.

The Loveland CO paper, Reporter Herald, reported the story. Click to read. Jones has a Google group - Click here for more information.

Tip of the trowel to Jones.