By Debra Knapke

If you are wondering what Santa should be bringing to your favorite gardener, here are a few suggestions based on what I would like. Many gardeners would be happy with a load of compost, but if you want to give something that lasts longer, here are a few suggestions.

1. Pruners:Corona Tools has some of my favorite pruners and saws for money-conscious gift-givers. Try the FlexDIAL® ComfortGEL® Bypass Pruner at 3/4 inch. Notice it has bright orange handles.

Retail varies from $27.00 to $35.53 depending on the dealer.

2. Soil Knife:AM Leonard carries a version of the tool that goes everywhere with me, the soil or perennial knife.  You can choose the Classic or the Deluxe style, and if you add a sheath, then your giftee will be less likely to lay it down in the garden and lose it!

Retail for the classic is $19.99; $29.99 with the sheath. Retail for the Deluxe is $23.99; $31.99 with the sheath.

3. Forged Trowel: DeWitt of Holland makes beautiful hand tools for that special gardener in your life. Who needs diamonds when you can have one of these forged works of art? Warning: the wooden handle will disappear in the garden. Ask me how I know.

Single tools or combination sets are available online and at your local garden centers; cost varies with the tool.

4. A compost bin is also on the wish list, so I can compost my vegetable scraps from the kitchen. My Mother’s Day redwood compost bin, a gift from approximately 16 years ago, has finally fallen apart.

For your favorite gardener, you can build one from old wood pallets, but know that they will breakdown quickly. If you build a bin system, please do not use treated wood. There are plans on the web for building compost bins made of wood, wire and plastic.

If you are not the handy type, there are many types of compost containers to buy made out of metal, plastic and wood. Retail cost can be as low as $29.99 to over $400.00. Check out the Mantis compost tumbler ($299) and the Ecostack composter ($128).

5. Garden Gloves: For your favorite gardener, please be aware that gloves can be difficult to buy for someone else, so do your homework. Look at the gloves your giftee uses. I suggest several pairs in bright colors . . . remember about losing things in the garden? For gardeners who actually use gloves and garden-hardy, each pair may last a month or so. Favorite glove brands include West County Gloves, Fox Gloves and Bamboo Gardener. Also consider nitrile gloves for working in wet places or rose gloves for the rosarian in your life.

7. Time: Offer a coupon of your time to work with your gardener in the garden. Or hire some help at the beginning of the season. Find out which tasks are onerous – spreading mulch? – and find a local landscape professional to do the job.

6. Heartland Gardening book:  I’m definitely giving copies of our book “Heartland Gardening: Celebrating the Seasons” to several friends. Our blog book is a collection of gardening lessons and meditative essays woven among beautiful images and illustrations. The book leads readers through the region’s heralded seasons, offering tips for favorite plants, recipes for beloved edibles, plant design ideas and advice for top garden destinations.        

8. World Peace: I can’t think of a better place to practice peace and love than a garden. 

Wishing you all a beautiful and balanced holiday!!!

By Debra Knapke

Here’s the latest podcast on “Garlic: The Indispensable Condiment.”

https://anchor.fm/teresa40/embed/episodes/Garlic-The-Indispensable-Condiment-e1vkvr

Previously published in Edible Columbus (Winter 2016, p. 8-9), you can find the printed article here.

“My final, considered judgment is that the hardy bulb [garlic] blesses and ennobles everything it touches – with the possible exception of ice cream and pie.”  The Unprejudiced Palate (1948)

For recipes, see Good Eats: Garlic Scape Pesto.

Check out Debra’s last podcast on Late-Season Garden Maintenance Tips

https://anchor.fm/teresa40/embed/episodes/Late-Season-Garden-Maintenance-e20857

By Michael Leach

Magic lanterns hover then zig-zag over the lawn. Giggles and whispers and cricket serenades fill the night air. The yellow flashes of pinpoint lights inside the lanterns are too dim to illumine the smiles and looks of wonder.

Flashes of light are everywhere. Miniature hands reach out, gently enclose a blinking star that flew down from the sky so far above.

The star hunters are barefoot and step lightly in the cool, grass. Baths await, but for now the tiny green soles rejoice in the sensation of walking on silk, watered by the dew of heaven. They don’t know it, but bare feet on dewy, soft grass will bring them back here in an instant, back to collecting flying stars on a warm, velvet night.

Old mayonnaise jars, with a layer of clover, grass and leaves on the bottom, are sealed with lids. A dozen air holes were punched into the lids with a nail before the hunt began. This gives the little stars breath and food for the night. They will be released come morning. Perhaps the little hands will catch some of the same stars again.

The children don’t want to believe the lights are insects. They can’t picture lightening bugs emerging from the lawn, the flowers in the tidy, colorful borders, or the hay field beyond the fence. They will believe this in only a year or so. For now, these are winged stars making an ever-changing constellation called Summer Memory.

Near the rented vacation farm house runs a little creek; its cold water, so welcome after playing in the hot sun, then wading knee deep. Toes squishing in the muddy area of the bank.

There’s squealing, splashing, squealing. Delight fills the languid, humid air.

A rope swing dangles temptingly from the fat, black tree branch overhanging the wide part of the creek. The water here is deep enough for a comfortable landing when dropping from the swing, but not too deep. Besides the children are good swimmers, and the adults are as close and cautious as a cardinal’s parents when it’s just out of the nest.

Squeal!

Splash!

Memories will return at the sight of a massive tree limb overhanging a slow-poke creek. The best summer memories last a lifetime. They return now and then, even in winter. Magic lanterns never lose their glow.

The Back Story — I wrote this as an assignment for the Grove City (OH) Writers Group: “Describe the best summer of your childhood.” Almost the same day the assignment came, I heard an account from my sister of the “adventures” my great-nieces and great-nephew, ages 7, 5 and 3, savored at rented farm house near Asheville, NC. Hearing about hunting lightening bugs and playing in a creek brought back memories of similar summer escapades. Perhaps you, too, have summer memories to share with us.

The Heartland Gardening bloggers are heading to the Grove City Wine and Arts Festival, this Friday and Saturday.  Look for us at the Writer’s Table where we will be answering garden questions and selling/signing our book “Heartland Gardening: Celebrating the Seasons.”

The festival, now in its seventh year, draws 30,000 wine and art enthusiasts from all over Ohio and beyond. Sample wines from 20 wineries including Grove City’s own Plum Run Winery. Admission is free; and wine sampling tickets are 3 for $5 or 8 for $20, including a sampling glass.

To learn more, visit the Grove City Town Center website. 

Debra and Michael will be promoting our new book Heartland Gardening Celebrating the Seasons as part of the Local Authors Expo, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at the Southwest Public Libraries Grove City (OH) location. The event highlights the creative efforts of writers from Grove City and the surrounding area. Along with book sales, several authors, including Michael, will read from their works

Teresa, meanwhile, will be supervising the installation of landscape border then volunteering with the Master Gardeners Volunteers at a fairy gardening workshop at Hurt-Battelle Memorial Library in West Jeffferson (OH).

For more info on the expo please visit www.swpl.org.

Debra will be discussing how to Grow, Muddle and Cook with herbs with Ann Fisher on WOSU 89.7 NPR-All Sides on Friday, May 11th at 11:00am

The Art of Fashioning Liquid Refreshment

By Debra Knapke

My first mojito… a warm summer evening and a cool drink made of spearmint, lime, sugar and rum. Not having a lot of experience with cocktails, this drink was a revelation: a way to get rid of an overabundance of mint from one’s garden and relax at the same time.

The art of creating drinks with herbs is not a new craft. In the past, herbs and alcohol were used to make water safe to drink. One drink – a shrub – was made with vinegar, fruit and herbs. This preserved fruit drink added Vitamin C to the diet in a time when fresh fruit was dear. The below shrub combines lavender and blueberries which are usually in flower and fruit at the same time.

Photo by Jennifer Martin

Recipe: Blueberry-Lavender Shrub

1 pint blueberries, lightly crushed

1 c. sugar

1 c. apple-cider vinegar

8-10 lavender sprigs with flower buds only, no leaves

Combine slightly smashed blueberries with sugar in bowl and stir. Cover with plastic wrap and store in refrigerator to macerate – fruit releases its juices in the presence of sugar  – for 1 day. Place lavender sprigs in the vinegar and infuse in a dark place for 1 day. Use a fine mesh strainer: pour blueberry mixture through and press lightly to squeeze out any remaining juice. Strain vinegar over the blueberries in the same strainer. Scrape any remaining sugar into juice.  You may need to pour the juice back through the fruit to capture all the sugar. Pour through funnel into clean bottle. Cap and shake vigorously, and mark date on bottle. Store in refrigerator for a week before using. Can be refrigerated up to six months.

In the 18^th and 19^th centuries, herbs muddled and drowned in alcohol became the infamous patent medicines which were said to cure all that ails you. And if they didn’t, at least you didn’t care after tippling several small glasses of Dr. Pierce’s Family Medicine.

A more refined use of herbs and alcohol is the making of liqueurs and aperitifs. But beware: many of these are high in alcohol and are sometimes better used as a flavoring for a cocktail or diluted with seltzer or club soda. A note about water:  Tonic has quinine, Mineral Waters – Perrier, Pellegrino – are naturally carbonated, Seltzer is plain water that has been carbonated, Club Soda is carbonated water with added minerals

For the temperate drinker herbs can be muddled with hot water to create tisanes (herbal teas) or infused with cool water and stored in the fridge for when you need a pick-me-up. This summer, experiment with different flavors. Try combining cucumber and spearmint or strawberry and basil.

Bon aperitif!

Debra will be discussing how to Grow, Muddle and Cook with herbs with Ann Fisher on WOSU 89.7 NPR-All Sides on Friday, May 11^th at 11:00am

Visit a Public Garden on Public Gardens Day

By Micheal Leach

Public gardens sparkle with enough delightful facets to rival an engagement ring.  A bona fide plant geek, such as myself, is expected to say such a thing. Other people sing praises of these treasures, too, even if they don’t  know a trowel from a trug.

Yet many people have no clue. The parks, gardens, arboretums and botanic collections are hidden in plain sight. They don’t think about them, much less visit, unless a garden geek relative or friend comes to town.

The labyrinth at Chadwick Arboretum

The American Public Gardens Association (APGA) aims to change this by creating more awareness of these places. There’s even a day designated as Public Gardens Day, Friday May 11.

I’ll confess, National Public Gardens Day isn’t noted on my calendar, and it’s probably missing from yours as well. A press release from The Ohio State University Chadwick Arboretum & Learning Gardens, in Columbus, was my wake-up call.  Casey Sclar, executive director of the APGA is making an appearance at Chadwick’s annual fund- raising plant sale May 10-12.

Steven Still garden at Chadwick Arboretum

Perhaps this post will stir some interest in public gardens in your part of the Midwest and elsewhere — and inspire your support for the plant sales and other fund raisers that benefit them. Many Midwest towns, small cities and metro areas offer appealing public spaces. Check out this list from APGA.

There’s good reason to support them. In an age where more “woe is me” comes with each new day, nature connections are essential survival tools. Science keeps proving what gardeners and other “outsiders” have always known: Being in nature, working with plants and other outdoor activity is good for you.  Even a short walk in a natural setting, whether woods or park, calms pulse and lowers blood pressure.

Woodland Garden at Chadwick Arboretum

 Besides Chadwick, there are plenty of cool public gardens in Ohio’s capital. As I reside in suburban Columbus, let me toot our horn on a few of the many spots to see should you come this way. There’s the Columbus Park of Roses, a popular wedding venue and one of the nation’s largest public rose gardens. Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens offers multiple appeals to green thumbs and their friends and families. The Topiary Park downtown even charmed an English garden friend of mine. Inniswood Metro Gardens features an array small gardens. On a grander scale is Dawes Arboretum in nearby Newark. The Japanese garden there is a sure cure for stress.

Besides all these pluses, Sclar reminded me of OSU’s history of horticulture and the entire city of Bexley being an arboretum. While Columbus is only the 15th largest metro area, but it has a “depth of horticulture.” 

“The Columbus area has a rich diversity of public garden spaces and served as the site of the 2012 Annual Conference of public garden professionals,” said Joan Thomas of the APGA. “These gardens are doing amazing things and showcase horticultural excellence among public gardens in the U.S.” 

Mary Maloney, Chadwick’s executive director, invited Sclar.  She is among several central Ohio public gardens representatives active in APGA leadership positions. 

Sclar and Maloney are to appear on “All Sides with Ann Fisher”” on WOSU 89.7 FM  May 11 as part of the annual Spring Sale and Auction Fundraiser. 

Like most public gardens, Chadwick Arboretum is dependent on earned revenues for support. Such support comes from sales, weddings and other activities. About 70 percent of public gardens have corporate events, such as meetings, Sclar said.

By why should the non-gardener care about such gardens?

“They are places for wellness, health, and beauty,” Thomas said. “They provide a welcoming setting for social connection with others, whether walking, taking a class or listening to a concert; they serve as places to mark life occasions; they are a place for mental healing and peace for those needing it (whether veterans, caregivers, those grieving, or those just needing to power down).”

Plus they are excellent places to find what performs best in the local area, Sclar added.

No wonder there’s a day set aside to celebrate these places.

To learn more, check out our friend Diana Lockwood’s article from Sunday’s Columbus Dispatch.

Tune in for Debra’s pea planting tips and recipes. https://anchor.fm/teresa40/episodes/Favorite-Edible-Peas-e1blk7