We have a compost bin that turns grass clippings, leaves and yard waste. even Japanese Stiltgrass, into humus. When mixed with the garden soil in the spring it helps to make vegetables tall, healthy and good producers.

We also have a way to turn grass clippings and vegetable peelings into compost over-night. The only work involved is putting the plant matter into the chicken coop. By morning what was green the night be-fore, has been magically trans-formed into droplets which are

quite good for the garden. Fresh chicken manure contains 0.9% to 1.5% nitro-gen, 0.4% to 0.5% phosphorus, and 0.8% potassium. Chicken make a lot of poop. One chicken can produce 8–11 pounds of manure monthly. With our 9 chickens we get about 100 pounds of the stuff every month.

As good as the compost bin and the chickens are in enriching the soil, this year I want to try out green manure over the winter. Cover crops are called green manure when a gardener turns them into the soils to provide organic matter and nutrients. The early fall is the time to plant the cover crops which, when tilled in the soil in the spring will rot in the ground and enrich the soil. If you Google green manure crops you will find a pleather of suggestions including legumes such as vetch, clover, beans and peas; grasses such as annual ryegrass, oats, rapeseed, winter wheat and winter rye; and buckwheat.

The idea is to grow the plants over the winter and dig them under in the spring. One study I read found that growing green manure can reduce the loss of the key nutrient nitrogen in the soil by up to 97 percent compared to soil left bare.

continued on page 2

Volume 4, digital edition 10 Gardeners of Wake County, Inc. — Raleigh, NC October 2020

Green Manure Mark Boone, Past President

Club Meetings

End of the summer season got you down? Nothing happening in your garden right now? Is your garden trying to tell you it needs some pizzazz? Then you need to zoom in to our October 20th Gardeners of Wake County meeting to hear Mark Weath-ington discuss “Shrubs for Au-tumn Exuberance.” Mark is the Director at the JC Raulston Arbo-retum where he is most pas-sionate in his work to connect people with plants. Mark’s mantra is that life is too short for boring plants and, Heaven knows, no boring plants are al-lowed in any GWC clubmem-ber’s gardens! As always, club members in good standing will receive a Zoom link via email to see the presentation live and text questions to our pre-senter. If you miss it, or more sadly still, if you’re not a GWC member, we’ll post a recording a few days later on the GWC web-site. Better yet, join the GWC and enjoy the action live! The trou-ble starts at 7:30 PM, Tuesday, October 20th. Don’t miss out!

Club Officers and Committees

Board members President: Virginia (Ginny) Parker Vice President: Kathleen Thompson Secretary: Jim Moore Treasurer: Mac Williamson Immediate Past President: Paul Hoffman At-large board members: Leslie Cohen, Chris-tine Elliott, Rich Engates, Eddie Robinson

Committee members Activities Chairs: Will Farmer, Reed & Chris-tine Elliott (seed swap), Renee Engates (refreshments), Mark Boone (picnic), Ginny Parker (awards banquet) Audit: Charles Gilliam, Sharon LaRusch, Don-na Farmer, Reed Elliott Azalea Sale: Charlie Leverett Beautification Awards: Laine Thomas Club Awards: Jim Moore Endowment Investment: Charles Gilliam Friendship: Donna Farmer Historical: Donna Farmer Membership, Barbara Brown Newsletter Editor: Reed Elliott Nominating: TBA Programs: Kathleen Thompson Projects: Sharon LaRusch, Lynn Swanson Publicity: Charles Gilliam Scholarship: Joanne Boone Telephone: Johnny and Sherrill Johnson Webmaster: Reed Elliott Immediate Past President: Paul Hoffman

Contact Us

For additional information email our Club at gardener@gardenersofwakecounty.org Contact Ginny Parker, President, by phone at home: 919-832-5483 or by cell: 919-880-3233 Our Club webpage is available at https://gardenersofwakecounty.weebly.com/

Green Manure (continued from page 1)

The only problem is it takes work in the spring to use a string trimmer to whack down the cover crop and a lot of shoveling to turn it under the soil so it can rot in place. I wondered it there could be a lazier way to get the benefit of a winter green manure without the work of digging it in the ground. I think I’ve found it. Daikon radishes.

This summer I tried an experiment. I bought a num-ber of fully-grown daikon radishes at the Asian Mar-ket and planted them in my woodland garden. They almost instantly sprouted and looked lovely for a bit. After a while the tops died off and then the entire radish turned in to a brown goopy substance which appeared to me to have the full texture and look of what comes out of the backside of an animal. When the radishes rotted, they left holes in the ground which aerated the soil. Emboldened by this result I’ve decided to plant a bunch of daikon radish seeds this fall.

The seeds are available in bulk from a number of online retailers. They describe the benefits of daikon radishes as:

Reduces soil compaction High Biomass production Increases water infiltration Excellent erosion control Great weed suppression Fast establishment

When bought in bulk, the seeds cost around $2.50 per pound. I planted my seeds the last week in Sep-tember. Ask me in March how my winter green ma-nure experiment turned out.

End of the summer season got you down? Nothing happening in your garden right now? Is your garden trying to tell you it needs some pizzazz? Then you need to zoom in to our October 20th Gar-deners of Wake County meeting to hear Mark Weathington dis-cuss “Shrubs for Autumn Exuber-ance.”

Mark Weathington is the Direc-tor at the JC Raulston Arbore-tum where he is most passion-ate in his work to connect people with plants. Mark grew up in Southern Virginia without any love of plants at all until taking a horticulture class in college. That’s right, no childhood mentor or garden to play in proving it’s never too late to discover new about ourselves. He achieved his MS and BS in Horti-culture and Sociology at Virginia Tech. His career includes Director of Horticulture at the Norfolk Bo-tanic Gardens and horticulturist at the Atlanta Botanic Gardens.

As a lover of plants, Mark has traveled to Japan, China, Taiwan, Ecuador, and New Zealand to name a few, looking for and bringing back plants from these areas to trial, grow and help to distribute through the JCRA where new plants are generously shared.

Also a garden writer, credits include his acclaimed book, Gar-dening in the South: the Complete Homeowners Guide as an outstanding source for inspiration, plants and practices for southern gardeners and gardens. And, of course, expect to find his articles in many gardening magazines including Horti-culture, Carolina Gardener, American Nurseryman, Virginia Gardener and HortScience. Mark also writes a column for the Raleigh News and Observer.

It is Mark’s mantra that makes me smile every time I see it: Life is too short for boring plants. How true it is! You can witness Mark’s humor and fun ways to learn about all these fabulous shrubs by zooming in at our GWC October meeting at 7:30 PM, Tuesday the 20th. See you there!

Shrubs for Autumn Exuberance! by Kathleen Thompson, Vice President

I have another story from our rainy week’s stay at Carolina Beach this June. Every time we’ve been a cousin (several times removed) Martha’s, I’ve admired the six foot blue agave at front corner of the driveway. I’ve heard I think from Tony Avent that due to the extra rainfall they get in North Carolina you don’t have to wait 100 years for a century plant to go into its life ending blooming here. This spring Martha’s plant was in full flower, sending up a single stalk three stories high by the time we arrived. Contemplating the spectacle before me, I couldn’t help noticing all the pups, some rather sizable, surrounding the main plant and I was

stricken with a severe case of plant envy. A little voice went off in my head, “You can dig out a little pup and take it home. Martha won’t care – she won’t even notice.” On the other side of my head, another little voice was saying, “No! No! No! You should never take, I mean steal, a plant from someone’s yard without getting permission from the owner.”

I wrestled with my conscience for about four days before I finally did the right thing and called Martha. Lo and behold, she replied, “I hate that plant. I’m going to have all of it torn out after it finishes blooming. You can have all the sprouts you can dig up.” Overjoyed I immediately switched from thoughts of plant theft to thoughts of plant rescue and carefully (there were some rather large spines) dug out twelve pups rang-ing from 3 inches to 1 foot high. I now have the three largest offshoots planted in my yard. They are doing well, but I’m waiting to see if they make it through the winter in Raleigh – I don’t think I’ve seen one similar at JC Raulston. The others are in pots. My conscience is speaking up again say-ing that part of plant rescue is spreading the rescued plants around. So if several of you tell me you would like to share in the rescue effort, I’ll need to give you one.

Honesty Was the Best Policy Paul Hoffman, Immediate Past President

Joslin Garden Share and Care Sharon LaRusch and Lynn Swanson, Projects Co-Chairs

Fourteen of our members gathered on the beautiful fall morning of September 19th at Joslin Garden in Raleigh. We were treated to a brief history of the property by Director Chris Heagarty, followed by a tour through the winding woodland paths and various “rooms” of the gardens. William and Mary Coker Joslin established their home and garden in the 1950’s on what had been terraced farm property. At the time it was on the northern outskirts of

Raleigh; it is now a woodland treasure in the heart of the city, centered between White Oak Road, St. Marys Street, and Anderson Drive. Cultivated over 65 years, the 4.5 acre property holds both native and culti-vated plants along woodland walks and in more formal garden areas. After the death of the Joslins, the house and gardens were donated to the City of Oaks Foundation, with the added protection of a conservation easement held by the Triangle Land Conservancy. The property has been open to the public on certain days and is approach-ing a goal of being open year-round as a public garden. After our tour, 11 GWC members stayed to donate some work time in the gardens. With our project

at Longview on hold, we visited Joslin with the idea of trying on a different “hands-on” project. The

various areas of the garden presented the opportunity of choice in tasks. One group headed over

to an infestation of stilt grass and completely cleared it out, revealing a lovely grove of hydrangeas.

Another group headed to the street side edge of the property and cleaned it up, beautifying the

approach to the property. A little weed pulling and tidying was also accomplished in the formal gar-

den. When we were finished, the difference that our club members made could be clearly seen and

enjoyed. Director Chris Heagarty contacted us to say, “Thank you for the FANTASTIC job your club

did in just one morning at Joslin Garden.” He welcomes our return as a club or as individuals.

My Corner of the Garden by Reed Elliott, Editor

Not that I’m complaining, mind you, but the blistering hot days of summer seem to have passed unusually quickly this year. My wife and I have already had to break out the flannel shirts, long pants, and fleece jackets for our early morning strolls through the local neighborhoods.

The exuberant vegetable gardens out front of our house have begun to shut down and I’m a little wistful, as I always am, to wave goodbye to the final few green beans, cucumbers and, especially, the bright, cheery, suc-culent tomatoes that are like nothing you can buy in a store. True, the basil seems happier than ever for now, and, at least at our house, suppressing the irrepressible Ancho, bell, and jalapeno peppers remains out of the question.

Last week, Chris finally cut down and dug out the last of our zinnias and sunflowers, much to the dismay of the local goldfinch population who seem to regard us as one of the neighborhood’s better outdoor dining facili-ties.

The crisp mornings are reminding me that it’s about time to start setting out at least a few winter hardy plants. We’ve had great luck with Chinese cabbage and bok choy in past years and all the locals swear by kale, rutabagas, and standard cabbages, though none of those are my personal favorites.

A few years ago, back in the day when we had face-to-face monthly GWC meetings (was there ever really such a time?), I remember Will Farmer buttonholing me to extol the virtues of planting garlic and that’s another one that needs to be set out soon. The little garlics will snuggle deep under their blanket of soil, ignoring cold, even snow, to pop up joyfully as soon as next spring’s warmth arrives. If you haven’t tried growing your own garlic, I’ve got to say it’s about as simple and trouble-free an experience as anything I’ve ever dealt with in the garden. You can even plant garlic cloves from the store (although specialty garlics from the nursery are usual-ly more interesting). All that’s needed is a little fallow ground. Break up your garlics into individual cloves and shove them an inch or two into the soil. After that, just forget about them until they wave to you in the

spring. Yes, fall and winter have their virtues, too, so let’s bundle up and enjoy them!

And, speaking of virtues, one thing we can all do is help our fellow gar-deners. This month, the GWC Garden Share and Care comes early, Sat-urday, October 3rd—that’s only a couple of days away. Sharon LaRusch and Lynn Swanson need all the volunteers they can get for three mini-projects and three different locations on that day. If you haven’t already sent in your RSVP, do it now. They can be reached at:

Sharon Lynn 1-919-656-1717 1-919-345-9708

I’ll hope to see you there!

New Members

The Gardeners of Wake County welcomes anyone and everyone who loves gardens and gardening.

This month we’re happy to have added Tom Packer of Raleigh to our GWC family. Be sure to say “Hi

and welcome” when you see him! Now’s a good time, too, to remind everyone that it’s about time to

renew GWC memberships for 2021. Contact Barbara Brown—she’s in the Club Directory.