Memories from the past....

I think I am safe in revealing this as the Statute of Limitations is probably up after 65 years, so here is a story from my childhood!

Got an email this morning about using milk as a fungicide on plants that have mild cases of fungus on them. At the top of the email, it showed the photo above, of some old style milk bottles in a wire carrier, that milkmen used to use when milk was delivered each morning to your house. Some of you reading this post won't have a clue about what I'm talking about as this just doesn't happen anymore!

Anyhow, it brought back lots of memories of when I was just a little kid, about 4 years old. I grew up in a small town in southern Idaho and the milkman delivered the milk to peoples back doors every morning. Milk wasn’t homogenized back then so the cream would rise to the top of the bottles when it sat for a short time. Well, I somehow acquired a taste for the cream...actually I still have cravings to buy a carton of half and half and drink it just as it is!

But back then, I would wake up when I heard the milkman leave the bottles of milk at our back door at about 5:00 in the morning and would get up, get dressed, quietly sneak out of the house and follow the milk mans route, and go to the neighbors back doors and take the paper lids off the milk bottles and suck the cream off the top of the milk bottles, put the paper lids back on and move on to the next house!

Eventually I would get caught in the act when someone would come out to get the milk and there I would be happily sucking the cream off the top of the milk. They would call my Mother to come and get me and I’d get punished…and my poor Mother would be so embarrassed! I was a slow learner however, or was it the taste of the cream that I just couldn’t give up, because after a few days there I would be again, drinking the cream off the top of the milk bottles early in the morning on a neighbors back porch!

Thanks for reading! Have a great day.

Ron, the plant man

SIERRA MADRE WISTERIA PLANT...ONE OF THE WONDERS OF THE PLANT WORLD!

Saw an amazing sight today....Bonnie and I drove up to Sierra Madre and saw very beautiful and historic Wisteria plant. I had heard about the Wisteria way back in the late 1960's when I worked at Monrovia Nursery in Azusa, but had not had the opportunity to see it until today.


A little background about the Wisteria. It was planted in the year 1894 shortly after the home in Sierra Madre was built. The story says that the woman who owned the home drove her horse and buggy to Monrovia and bought the Wisteria plant for 75 cents! The house was later sold and the new owner built trellises for the Wisteria to climb on, and it thrived...it thrived so much that it eventually grew into he walls and fireplace of the home and caused the roof to collapse! A new home was built 200 feet north of the original home, and the Wisteria was still nurtured, but trained to grow away from the new home. Even back then, the Wisteria was a popular attraction when it was in full bloom, and many people came from around the area to enjoy the beauty of the very large and beautiful Wisteria plant. Eventually the property was sub-divided and another home built but was connected by the Wisteria. Now once a year the owners of the two homes allow visitors to come and walk through the backyards so the Wisteria can be viewed by the many people who appreciate the beauty and magnitude of this very large plant.

Guinness Book of World Records has named this Wisteria to be the World's largest flowering plant! It is estimated that at the height of the bloom time, it has 1.5 million blossoms with 40 blossoms per square foot. It weights 250 tons and the branches extend 500 feet out from the original planting spot. It covers an area of about 1 acre.

When I was working at Monrovia Nursery Co. in Azusa, back in the mid to late 1960's, the Wisteria plant was showing signs of decline, and someone from Sierra Madre asked if anyone from the nursery could help save the plant. A few people from the nursery went and looked at the Wisteria and it was determined that the roots were in a weakened state and that was the cause of the decline. The nursery folks planted several 5 gallon Wisterias around the trunk of the plant and let them establish for a year, and then went back with the best grafters that the nursery had and they grafted the stems from the 5 gallon plants into the main trunk, to offer additional healthy roots to help support the vine...it's called a 'nurse' graft. It must have helped as 40 years later the Wisteria is still doing fine!

The only downer about the visit today, was that it was pouring rain and so it was difficult to really linger and enjoy the beauty and history of such a magnificent plant! It also drove the craft fair away from the downtown area of Sierra Madre, so Bonnie wasn't able to look through the many vendors booths to see what treasures she might encounter in such a place. We will however, be watching the website http://www.sierramadrechamber.com/wistaria/photos.htm for the date when we can go back next year to see this wonderful plant once again, and hopefully it will be nicer weather! Check the website above so you can read more about this amazing attraction that is practically right in our own backyard!

Thanks for taking the time to read this post!

Ron, the Plant Man

Earth boxes

Wow....here is a photo of my Earth boxes just 3 weeks after planting them up! Compare the photo to the one posted with the first entry so you can see how much everything has grown. There are about a dozen green tomatoes hidden in there and 5 or 6 peppers also. Lots of flowers and buds forming so I'm sure there will be a bounteous harvest down the line. I've never seen such growth and very large leaves on the peppers and tomatoes. So far, the Earth boxes have lived up to everything they claim to be. You have to be sure to add water everyday...or at least every other day to keep them moist. No signs of insects or disease on any of the plants. So far, this is the easiest crop of tomatoes I've ever grown. If any of you have struggled with gardening, I'd surely recommend that you try gardening in an Earth box...It certainly has been easy for me!

Thanks for visiting. Come back often to see new posts.

Take care,

Ron, the Plant Man

Earth boxes

Wow....so far very impressed with the performance of the Earth box planters. The only work necessary each day is to add water to the reservoir. The plants are doing great. I don't think I've ever grown any better looking tomato and pepper plants! Nice strong looking plants, healthy and full foliage, and they are growing everyday. I think it helped to start with healthy and strong plants to begin with, as they have just continued on without ever even slowing down. I'm glad that I gave the Earth boxes a try.

Will keep you posted in a few days and will include photos as the plants get bigger.

Thanks for reading.

Take care,

Ron, the Plant Man

A Summer Without Sunshine!

It’s been cool, cloudy, and drippy for months now, and we are well into July! This is the first time our once lovely Muskogee Crape Myrtle has ever had mildew on it! I said 'once lovely' because last summer the city contractor 'trimmed' it, and I use the term 'trimmed' very lightly as they really butchered the daylights out of it, but that is another story for another day. Just the other day I remarked to my wife that I was thinking about writing a book called “The Summer Without Sunshine….a true saga of Southern California”....so here is a blog entry with the same title! Anyhow, can anyone tell me when the “global warming” is supposed to start?????? Look on the bright side though, we are saving tons of $‘s not running the air conditioner and not having to water the plants and lawn (oops, a dirty word anymore) so much this summer. My controller is still set at 30% of the normal summer watering times!

Oh, and another benefit of the cool weather…our Avocado tree doesn't have any Persica mites on it this year! Probably the first time in about 10 years that there are no mites on the foliage. Also, the orange tree doesn’t have any of that ugly leaf miner yet this summer. Maybe they come a little later in the season. They are fairly new so I don’t have their schedule down pat yet.

A downer however are the gorgeous Plumerias. They don’t have ANY flowers yet. They usually start blooming about mid June in my back yard, but all the flower buds are still very small and tight. Even if we get a sudden rush of normal summer weather, it looks like it will take the buds about 2 to 4 weeks to grow enough to make some beautiful flowers! Bummer!!!!

See you next time,

Ron, the Plant Man

Earth boxes

Every morning I add water to the Earth boxes...decided to measure how much they use every day, so this morning I added 40 ounces of water to each box, or about 1 quart and an additional 3/4 cup. That took care of filling the reservoirs. Then, just to be on the safe side I also added some water around each of the tomatoes and peppers that are planted. The potting soil seemed to still be moist around the plants, but I just wanted to make sure they still had enough water. The tomatoes and peppers are all looking really good. Strong and healthy with a fair amount of new growth showing at the tips of the plants. As the old adage goes, so far, so good!

Bye for now,

Ron, the Plant Man

Earth boxes

In reading the garden blog, 'Dirt Du Jour' from my friend (although I've never met her) Cindy McNatt, several months ago, she wrote about an interesting item that I looked into. They were planters you can make yourself called "Earthtainers". They are built out of Rubbermaid storage containers that turn into self contained garden containers. I went to the website and watched the video and downloaded the instructions. Cindy's comment was that they are big and ugly...which they are, but they are also very practical, and would work for me to grow a few tomatoes and peppers as I have no place in my yard where they would get enough sunshine. However, after seriously thinking about it, I decided that I probably just didn't have the right tools to build these things, nor the desire to go to the several stores to gather all the necessary parts to get them assembled! For those interested, here is the link to the Earthtainer website: http://www.tomatofest.com/

In another post by Cindy, she mentioned that she had a friend who had grown tomatoes in a product that was purchased ready to go. They are called "Earthboxes". Out of curiosity, I went to the website, http://www.earthbox.com to see just what they were. I was a little hesitant about what I saw...I thought they looked too small to grow large tomato plants in, but Cindy said they were doing well for her friend, so I asked my wife, Bonnie, to get 3 of them for my birthday. Well, being that my birthday is in mid June, I seriously thought that it might just be too late in the season to start tomatoes but after visiting a local nursery and seeing some really nice looking tomato plants, I thought I would go ahead and give it a try.

The "Earthboxes" were ordered from the website and it took a few days for them to get here, and when they arrived there were a few time constraints so I didn't get them planted until until last Monday and Tuesday...right after the 4th of July! Will I ever get tomatoes planting them so late in the season???? Well, we will see as the summer progresses.

A few points that I noticed about setting up the "Earthboxes". The set that I got contained everything you needed to get started....planter mix, fertilizer, dolomite, and casters so the boxes can be moved around fairly easy. They are built so there is a reservoir of water in the very bottom, with a tube that you add water to keep the reservoir full. On top of that is a grid to keep the planter mix slightly above the water, however in two corners the planter mix goes down into the reservoir so that the water can 'wick' up to moisten the rest of the planter mix. Now, the instructions said to mix the dolomite into the top 4 inches of the planter mix, so I did, but wondered if this was really necessary as our Western waters are so alkaline that I really thought I could have left this out. In hindsight, I should have done one planter with the dolomite, one with only half the dolomite, and the third with no dolomite, just to see if my observations were correct. Oh well, maybe when I replant next time.

After filling the box with the planter mix, you add the water to the reservoir. They conveniently build them so you can't add too much water. When it reaches the proper level, the excess water runs out of an overflow in the bottom to the planter. I finished two of the boxes and set them in place and then filled them with water. I put off planting them until the next day hoping that by then the planter mix would be moist. Much to my surprise, the planter mix as not very moist the next day, although I had added water to them twice on the previous day. Oh well, I just had to get the tomato plants in....couldn't wait any longer so I went ahead and planted them up. Although the instructions didn't say to do this, I added water to the top around the young plants after they were planted, just because the mix seemed to be too dry and I was afraid the newly planted tomatoes and peppers would dry out if I didn't!

The whole planter is topped of with a plastic cover...you cut holes in it so you can put the plants into the planter mix. Sounds easy, but I guess I'm just not very coordinated as the holes I cut look too big. You only want to make them large enough to insert the rootball through and into the planter mix underneath, then fold the flaps back down around the stem...mine look pretty messy but I suppose it will still work.
Well, here is a photo of the finished planters...I have 2 tomato plants in two of the boxes and 4 pepper plants in the third box. Come back often to see updates on the progress they are making.

Take care, and have a nice day!

Thanks for visiting.

Ron, the Plant Man