Isolation of sweet corn

Descriptions of Semilla-catalogo nuclei ultrasweet and tender can tempt a gardener to plant several of new hybrid maize - and add a few rows of popcorn and ornamental corn for good measure.

A big mistake. Corn is wind pollination and pollen of a variety tassels can be diverted to other silks. To cross different types of corn, taste and sensitivity of the resulting nuclei are affected. The worst-case scenario: non-edible ears.

Advances in corn breeding in recent decades have led to new kinds of hybrid, including supersweet, synergistic and sugar-enhanced. In addition to its very sweet flavor, these hybrids follow sweets after the harvest - a clear advantage for farmers market. While many gardeners have changed to the sweetest hybrids, some prefer the traditional taste of traditional varieties of maize, as the 'Queen of the silver' and 'Golden rooster'.

The genes responsible for sweetness result not of genetic engineering but of natural mutations in the cornfield. Through controlled crosses, breeders create hybrid varieties in which sugar-producing genes occupy the place of production of starch genes. But the wrong kind of pollen can deny a job of breeder by reintroducing genes that lead to the hard cores, starch.

To avoid stray pollen and preserve the sweetness, all types of sweet corn must be insulated from the field of corn, ornamental corn and popcorn. In addition:

Traditional: isolate the super sweet varieties pollen.Improved sugar: isolate the pollen super sweet and traditional.Synergistic: isolate the pollen super sweet and traditional.Supersweet: isolate from all other types of corn.

Physical isolation requires a separation of at least 100 feet between plantations and may be impossible in a small garden of the home. (Even at 100 meters, stray pollen can drift in, causing a few grains of starch by ear.) A more practical way for gardeners House to prevent cross-pollination is sowing times stepping or selecting varieties with different numbers of days to maturity, so that varieties will not release pollen at the same time. It points to a gap of 14 days between the dates of ripening.

Photograph by Christa Neu

Originally published in Organic Gardening magazine, February/March of 2014

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Xeriscaping

In areas of the country where drought is measured in years, years in which winter rain not to fill the reservoirs - xeriscaping is becoming a way of life in the garden. This method depends on the basic principles of water savings, increasing the content of organic matter in the soil and mulch, as well as on the use of native plants and the reduction of areas of lawn drinking water.

A Xeriscape (from the Greek xeros, which means dry) is a garden of water savings designed for a dry region. Xeriscaping is especially useful in the Western half of North America, where little rain in summer and gardeners rely heavily on irrigation. Savvy gardeners have been incorporating some of these principles in their own gardens for years. The idea gained wider notice and an official name, in 1981, when the Denver Water Department developed the concept and the design policy as a way of dealing with West chronic water scarcity. Eastern gardeners even in rainy areas relatively reliable can benefit through a subsidiary called mesiscaping, or plan a garden which is only moderate in the use of water.

Principles of water-saving

Design doesn't have to be the desert gardens. Xeriscapers highlight that these gardens can be lush and colorful. Gardeners in any region can use the seven principles of design in design or rejuvenate a garden.

1. Saving water incorporated into their planning and design. Map of microclimates and soil types, with particular attention to the places that remain moist longer and those that dry faster or harder to irrigate your garden. In its design, plan of areas of high, moderate and low water use, based on your map. Group plants with similar water needs of these areas. Put your plants alta-el water use where you can appreciate them more, for example, near an entrance or a patio.

2. Improve your soil or selecting adapted plants. For plants with high or moderate water needed, dig the soil deeply and adding plenty of organic matter. Many drought-tolerant plants prefer wooded ground. These group and leave their land without amendments. See the entry of soil for more information on improving your organic soil.

3. Limit the area of lawn. Lawns are alta-el use of water areas. Although some grasses tolerate drought better than others, all grass needs similar amounts of water to look good and be healthy.

Design to be a little oasis of green grass. Xeriscape experts calculated that the average detached garden needs no more than 800 square feet of lawn. Site of your lawn with a patio or entry, so activities can range from one to the other.

Keep the rounded edges and avoid areas of irregularly shaped or narrow strips of grass. Peninsulas and irregular shapes have more border area splicing with routes or areas of bare soil heat up quickly, and the heat will promote more rapid loss of moisture from the grass. Planting turf only to the level of the soil to reduce runoff. Choose the herbs that are drought tolerant and adapted to the type of soil and region.

4. Use mulches. Mulch any area flooring with 2 to 3 inches of organic mulch or gravel or stone thick padding. It can either be placed on grass landscape-resistant fabric. The little rain that falls will be able of soak the porous mulches. Overall design keep in mind: you don't want a big mulch your garden area because it is not a green landscape.

Photo: (cc) theophilos/flickr

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Tomatoes and Ground Cherries

Skin with jagged stripes of green and burgundy made 'Black Zebra' the best-looking tomato in the 2013 test garden. The taste is sweet and rich, typical of so-called "black" tomatoes. Fruits top out at about 4 ounces.
Tomato Growers Supply Co

Hybrid beefsteak 'Brandy Boy' has the incomparable 'Brandywine' in its family tree, so its rich and mellow flavor comes as no surprise—but it's a bit earlier to set fruit than 'Brandywine' and less prone to cracking.
Burpee

We'd heard good things about 'Cosmonaut Volkov', a Ukrainian heirloom, but this was its first appearance in our test garden. It didn't disappoint, scoring high marks for flavor and productivity.
High Mowing Organic Seeds

When fully ripe, these big golden tomatoes have a red blush that radiates upward from the blossom end. There's a hint of fruitiness to the low-acid flavor.
Territorial Seed Co.

Fungal diseases often slow down the tomatoes in our test garden well before fall. Not 'Jasper'—its tiny, tangy fruits just kept coming.
Johnny's Selected Seeds

We didn't get to taste many of this tomato's small, torpedo-shaped fruits; nearly all of them split before they ripened from amber to pink. But the few we sampled were juicy and refreshing.
Seeds of Change

As its name suggests, 'SuperSauce' is all about size. The huge fruits, weighing up to 2 pounds, are on the dry side, meaty, and with few seeds—ideal for making sauce, and good sliced for a sandwich, too. Our plants produced an astounding quantity of fruits.
Burpee

Upright growth distinguishes this species of ground cherry, also called Cape gooseberry, from other types. It is not nearly as prolific as 'Aunt Molly's', another heirloom ground cherry we grew in the test garden, but its fruits have a bolder, jazzier flavor.
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

Photography by Patrick Montero

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Take advantage of a small garden

With the need to keep the chemicals in the water system and the task of routine maintenance (where are all the cuts?), grass has earned a reputation as a four-letter word. But for all the debate about the iconic green matter of the United States, a lawn is still in the most yards, and is often in fact, part of what they consider as "Garden". As a designer, I often ask to include lawn in a plan of the garden as a place for children to play (another reason to avoid harsh chemical regimes to keep it green and lush). My approach is that if you have a lawn, use it as an element of dynamic jardin-diseno and not as the main feature - or a way to fill the extra space. Less it is more, and if you design your small carpet of lawn carefully, it can be a very effective component. It is also one of the lowest cost in your Toolbox for the landscape design.

When the grass is used as filling between gardens, which is often, it makes no sense to the global composition of your garden. This garden, beds dotted with poorly defined way scattered seemingly at random, not made good use of the plants or the space. A lawn filled so often you end up struggling to survive in shaded areas where conditions are stacked against prosper, because grass usually does best in Sun and well-drained soils.

Photography by Linda Oyama Bryan and Hoerr Schaudt

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Green Peach Aphid

Myzus persicae

Nothing succeeds like excess. Such is the green peach aphid’s strategy. Able to infest hundreds of plant species, producing up to 80 offspring in a few weeks, and appearing well before its natural enemies, this pest is one of the first on the scene and quickly becomes problematic on garden plants. Green peach aphids are, not surprisingly, light green, though some may be pink or yellow. They have two distinct life cycles: a sexually reproductive life cycle that occurs on stone fruit trees (Prunus spp.) and another, clonal, life cycle in which females give live birth without mating. The clonal offspring are genetically and physically identical young that, in turn, give birth to more clones.

The sexual stage occurs in the fall, allowing the green peach aphid to overwinter as eggs. In protected environments and warmer climates, however, adults are active all year. This is particularly troubling in greenhouses, as they can appear seemingly out of nowhere. Outdoors, the eggs hatch around the same time that peach buds swell, often as early as February. The newly hatched females produce 30 to 80 clones until they become too crowded or their host declines. Then they start producing winged females, which disperse to hundreds of suitable host plants.

These winged aphids are truly nefarious. Moving from plant to plant, they leave a few clones at each stop. Given that clonal offspring are literally born pregnant, just one aphid is an infestation in the making. Furthermore, the winged adults transmit viruses as they move between hosts. Despite being very weak fliers, winged aphids can spread for miles when carried by the wind.

Though aphids have amazing reproductive and dispersive capabilities, they are only ephemeral pests in organic gardens with good floral diversity. Green peach aphids are like candy to their natural enemies. They readily fall prey to parasitic wasps, lady beetles, predatory maggots, and lacewing larvae. Infestations can usually be controlled simply by waiting for beneficial insects to arrive. Early in the season or under glass, they can be dislodged with a strong jet of water or sprayed with an OMRI-listed horticultural soap or oil.

Originally published in Organic Gardening Magazine, February/March 2014.

Illustration: Jack Unruh

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