By Sheryl Kleinschmidt, Somervell County Master Gardener

Learning how to garden successfully in Somervell County has been a real challenge to this native Central Texas gal.  Little did I know how blessed we were to have the sandy, loam soil we all took for granted.  I’m always bragging how easy it was “down south”.   You simply toss the seeds on the ground, stomp them a couple of times, water and wait.  It was a done deal.

Not so in the land of rock, cactus and juniper ash.  My yard has only a few inches of viable soil before my spade hits stuff so hard it would take a jack hammer to bust it loose.   Therefore, I’m always on the look-out for ideas to improve my vegetable gardens.

With little yard space to spare, I decided to put in a square-foot garden last year.  Prior to my Master Gardener training, I unwittingly chose soil from a dairy that I thought would be suitable for my bed.  It turned out to be a mistake as it packed when watered.

I started adding compost material to the bed, but it wasn’t breaking down quickly enough to help the situation.  WORMS!   Worms came to mind, so I started doing a little on-line research and came across an article showing how to make worm towers.  Perfect!

After gathering all the materials needed and enlisting the help of a friend, my PVC worm towers were ready to be placed in my garden.  I followed the directions step-by-step and proudly deposited my store-bought worms into their very own Holiday Inn.  How could they not “go forth and multiply”?  After all, they had a ritzy little house, food and water.

Every day I checked my towers to see what the worms were up to.  Not once did I actually see a worm, but assumed they were well and happy.   But, as spring turned into summer it became apparent that not only were my worms not happy—they were DEAD!

What did I learn from the worms?  1)  Their towers needed to have more ventilation holes.  2)  Their towers needed to be buried further down in the soil.  3)  They don’t like to be soaked with the hose at full-blast every day (or ever).  4)  Pampered worms kept in cold storage don’t adapt too well to the Texas heat.

For those of you interested in making/using worm towers, here are a few simple instructions:

1.  Cut PVC pipe into 2-3 foot sections.   Pipes with a larger diameter should do better (6-8”).
2. Drill ¼ “ holes at various intervals up/down the pipe, leaving the top 4” undrilled.
3. Dig a hole in the center of your garden that is deep enough to bury all but the top 4” of the pipe.
4. Bury the pipe and back-fill dirt around it.
5. Fill the tube about ½ full of moist organic material such as straw, shredded newspaper, leaves and kitchen scraps (no grease or meat).
6. Add about 50 worms to the tube.  I recommend digging them from another flower bed or area that is rich in worms as these critters have already adapted to the environment.
7. Place a square of screen wire over the top of the tower to keep out flies/critters.  You can also cover that with a flower pot to keep the wire in place.  Terra cotta works best.
8.     To maintain, keep the inside of the tube moist, but spray the water gently.  Add organic scraps as needed.

So, that, my friends, is what the worms taught me.   Nature is like that, you know.  If we will just sit still and observe what is right before our eyes, we can learn a lot—even from worms…………….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

by Katie Hunholz, Somervell County Master Gardener Intern

Used for 8000 years…known for its versatility, appearance, performance, and comfort…America’s number one value-added crop…provides thousands of products and millions of jobs.  What plant could I possibly be describing? It’s Gossypium hirsutum, or Upland Cotton.

Used throughout history in places all throughout the world- China, India, Pakistan, Africa, and North America- cotton continues to play a vital role in the economy and industry of the United States.  In fact, the US is the second biggest producer of cotton (China is the top producer), and 37% of the world’s cotton is exported from the United States.

With a growing season that lasts 150-180 days, cotton is an extremely time-consuming crop (the longest of any annual crop in the US).   However, the products that are produced from this crop make it all worth the wait.  Cotton farmers have an advantage since all parts of the cotton plant are useful. The cotton boll (the white, fluffy part of the seed head) forms when the plant is ready to seed (~130 days after planting).  It is then plucked from the plant, ginned (separating the lint from the seeds), carded (combed to straighten out the fibers), spun into yarn, and woven into cloth.   Cottonseed oil, from the seeds, is found in many of our foods.  And the leftover seed portion becomes food for livestock.  The leaves and stalks of the cotton remain behind with the farmer, who can then till the plant material back into the soil- acting as fertilizer for future crops.

As the desire for cotton increased throughout the world, new technologies, such as the Spinning Jenny and cotton gin, made the production of cotton a more efficient process.  Cotton was the inspiration for much of the technology developed in the 1700s, as well as a huge contributor to the Industrial Revolution.  As cotton production increased in North America, the economy began to rapidly increase as well.  The economy of the northern states was booming through the selling of cotton products, whereas the southern economy was being fueled by the farming of the cotton crops.  In fact, the need for more land for growing cotton was one of the main impetuses behind the Western expansion.

Despite the many benefits that come from such an influential plant, the production of cotton is not without its trials.  As America’s biggest export in the mid 1800s, the production of cotton fueled the increase of the slave trade.  This increase of slavery was a large contributor to the American Civil War, as many people objected to the owning of fellow human beings.  Another negative impact of the production of cotton has been the increase in the use of aggressive pesticides.  Even though less than 3% of the world’s farmland is dedicated to the production of cotton, this production uses 25% of the world’s pesticides.  The boll weevil, a small insect with a huge appetite for cotton, costs the industry almost $300 million each year as farmers fight to control this pest.  And, this financial impact does not consider the inevitable impact this will have on the environment.

The advance of modern technology makes many things obsolete, but cotton is not one of them.    Cottonseed oil is found in food, margarine, cosmetics and soaps.   Cotton fibers are still used to make clothing, sheets, and towels.   Even with the creation of synthetic cotton, the authentic cotton has many superior qualities- including,  better absorbency, a texture ideal for cleansing, and the ability to withstand extremely high temperatures (a quality necessary for sterilization).  All of these facts concerning cotton, point to one obvious conclusion: the impact of cotton- both in the past, and in the present- has greatly changed our world.

Sources:

• Laws, Bill. 2012.  Fifty Plants that Changed the Course of History.  New York. Firefly Books, Inc. p. 88-93.
• Cotton Counts. The Story of Cotton.  Cotton.tamu.edu. cotton.tamu.edu/kidseducation.html. (12/20/2013)

By Donna Hagar, Somervell County Master Gardener

It must have been the mistletoe
The lazy fire, the falling snow …
… It only took one kiss to know
It must have been the mistletoe!

 Ah, tis the season for the quintessential mistletoe. Mistletoe is an important part of the holiday season. Many girls and boys stole their first kiss by standing under mistletoe branches.

Unfortunately, mistletoe has some qualities that Christmas love-birds probably prefer to ignore. Mistletoe, or Phoradendron tomentosum is a parasitic plant, growing on limbs of trees, with elms and hackberries favored among our native trees. Mistletoe can grow 2-5 feet in diameter, and with its evergreen foliage, becomes highly prominent in our landscape trees in the winter, when their host trees have lost their leaves.

As a parasitic plant, mistletoe grows into the wood of the host tree sucking water and minerals. Even though mistletoe is a true plant, meaning it can make its own nutrients from photosynthesis, it is the use of the tree’s water resources that can cause the biggest problems.

While mistletoe rarely kills entire trees, limbs are certainly weakened by the loss of water, and with the added drought endured the last few years, mistletoe is just one more added stressor that trees must overcome, and thus may make the tree susceptible to other problems.

While mistletoe is present 12 months of the year, the high visibility during the winter months springs homeowners into action to control the plant. Small infestations can be controlled simply by removing infected limbs at least 12 inches below the mistletoe. Because the roots of mistletoe are embedded into the tree tissue, cutting just the plant, leaves roots behind that will just sprout more mistletoe.

Again, because the root system is so closely tied to the vascular system of the trees, chemical controls are not affective without also adversely affecting the tree.

Mistletoe produces white berries, which are eaten and spread by birds. It takes 2-3 years before a mistletoe plant matures to produce the berries, so control early is the most promising means of keeping it in check.

Are there benefits (other than the obvious ‘first kiss’) to this prolific plant? As mentioned above, birds do feast on the berries, which are high in fat and full of protein. Other mammals, deer, squirrels and porcupines also partake in the berries. Several bird varieties nest in the foliage of mistletoe. Mistletoe is host to 3 varieties of hairstreak butterflies. Research is also being done on the extracts of mistletoe in the treatment of certain cancers.

So, friend or foe? Although a parasite that can weaken affected trees, trees can survive well with small infestations. So removal is recommended if it can be done safely and economically.

Resources: aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu; National Wildlife Federation Dec/Jan 2014