Growing Degree Days

sundance, originally uploaded by nice+smooth ultramedia.

How fast plants develop is largely dependent on the weather. Cold weather means slower growth whereas warmer weather brings faster growth. Flowers don't bloom because it's April. Plants bloom because April (as well as March, February, and January) have brought warmer temperatures. While calendars are a great way to keep track of plant development, a better way might be to track just how much warmth a plant has received.

This can be done by logging growing degree days ("GDD"). A GDD is a simple calculation. In essence, it's a running tally of the number of degrees above a base point. Although there are many ways of calculating GDD, the easiest way is to take the average daily temperature (high + low / 2) and subtract a base temperate. 50 F is a good base point. Below that, most plants don't grow so well. So, for example, if today's high were 70 and the low was 40, we'd have 5 growing degree days.

Great. So what's that mean? From this events like bloom and pest emergence can be predicted. Plants develop at somewhat specific times. For example, corn is ready at about 1360 GDD. Red maples begin to bloom at 75 GDD. Forsythias get going at about 86 GDD.

From Weather Underground to your local extension agency, GDD data is plentiful. The NWS NOW Data has sensors all over faithfully logging GDD. In fact, there's one not more than a mile away from the grange, which should make it easy to log events based on GDD. While there are plenty of resources for commercial growers, there appear to be few geared toward gardeners. For example, a tomato might take 70 days to bear ripe fruit, but, how will colder or warmer weather affect fruit set and maturation? As such, I'll try to log events and key them to GDDs.

Sources
National Weather Service, National Corn Growing Degree Day Tally
Mont. St. Univ., Using Growing Degree Days to Predict Plant Stages
Ohio. St. Univ. Ext., Biological Calendars (fantastic power point)
Ohio. St. Univ. Ext., Summary of Phenological Events
National Phenological Network
Ohio. St. Univ. Ext. Growing Degree Days as a Method of Rating the Maturity of Corn Hybrids
Weather Underground, Degree Days
NYS GDD Tracker
UMass GDD Checklist (providing information about the timing of blooming and pest emergence based on GDD)

Fooling Nature: Forcing Forsythia

Plants bloom in the spring as the weather warms up. For the most part, plants aren't as smart as my readers. They can be tricked into blooming months ahead of time. Suckers. A whole bunch of plants, from forsythia to fothergilla, can be forced to bloom. Forsythia is a good candidate. Cuttings can be taken relatively early and they are quick to bloom when brought inside.

"Mimic springtime and your branch will bloom"
Although forcing blooms requires little more than warm temperatures and water, the plants must be out of their dormancy phase. Forsythia's usually ready by mid-January.

On a relatively warm day when the branches aren't frozen solid, take a bunch of cuttings and bring them inside. Mash up the ends with a hammer or your forehead. This will help them suck up lots of water, which, it seems helps them bloom. Next, stick them in a warm place and stare. Within a week or two, you'll have flowers.

top row l to r: 1/25, 2/3; bottom row l to r: 2/8, 2/10

Sources: "Garden Geek," Iowa State Extension Service, About.com

Raised Bed Construction Plans

The thermometer suggests otherwise, but warmer temperatures are not too far off. It's time to get building. After a few weeks of research, here's a compilation of my raised bed gardening knowledge. In the thumbnails are plans for a 4' by 8' raised gardening bed I made using Google SketchUp. Unlike most designs I found, this one has a trellis for growing peas and training tomatoes. Although a trellis can be fashioned out of PVC, the wood should provide a more soothing appearance.

UPDATE: See the finished product here. See how to string a trellis here.

The Benefits of Raised Beds
Much has been written on the subject, such as here, here, and here. In short, raised garden beds give complete control over soil conditions. The soil is keep loose and well aerated because we're not walking all over it.

Wood: Natural or Pressure-Treated?
This structure will take a beating. It will be outside in the elements, freezing, thawing, roasting, and, it will almost always be wet. Under these conditions untreated lumber (except for naturally rot resistant species like cedar or black locust) will almost certainly rot in a short amount of time, perhaps a couple of years. Pressure-treated, however, easily might last a decade or more. Even though some authorities state that newer pressure-treatment agents such as ACQ are safe to use around kids and food, let's not forget that the old formulation, CCA, has been taken off the market out of fear that it was leaching arsenic into the environment. With all of this conflicting information, others simply play it safe and go with untreated wood.

The Materials
The Raised Bed Frame
(2) 8' 2x12s
(2) 4' 2x12s
(1) 4' 2x4
(4) 1' 4x4s

The Trellis
(2) 5' 2x4s
(1) 8' 3" 2x4
(2) 3' 1 7/16" 1x4s (bracing)

Vegetable Root Development

rutabagarama, originally uploaded by Splat Worldwide.

Growing plants is as much about feeding the soil as it is feeding the actual plant. At the intersection of plant and soil is the root. Here's a link to exhuastive treatment of root development of vegetable crops. Published 80 years ago, it still remains a wonder resource.

No Knead Bread

No Knead Bread, originally uploaded by tpl108.

The New York Times ran an article back in November that was perhaps the biggest thing to happen to bread since some outside-the-box thinker had the bright idea to slice it. The technique is remarkably simple in an almost too-good-to-be true sort of way. Whereas most bread recipes require 7 to 10 minutes of kneading by hand or stand mixer, this recipe involves none of that. Time, lots of it, in fact, substitutes for work.

It's simple. Quickly mix your flour, water, salt and yeast; let stand for 18 hours; turn it out onto a counter top for 2-3 hours; plop into a heated cast iron pot and bake for 45 minutes at 450 (30 minutes with the lid on and 15-30 with the lid off). That's it. The bread has a crisp crust with a crumb filled with large holes typically seen on rustic breads like ciabatta. It tastes great, too.

I deviated from the recipe a little bit, substituting bread flour for all-purpose, using 1/3 tsp of active dry yeast instead of instant, and 1 tbsp of kosher salt instead of 1 14 tsp of table salt.

The recipe
3 C bread flour
1 5/8 C water
1/3 tsp active dry yeast
1 tbsp kosher salt

Observations
The loaf started to burn on the bottom at around the 30 minute mark. Even with the lid on, the bread had a nicely browned crust after a half-hour in a heavy cast iron pot. Next time, I might consider either putting the pot higher up in the oven or lowering the temperature to 400. Also, the bread was too salty. Two teaspoons of kosher salt should do it.

Even though it's a simple technique, as with any bread recipe success is often as much as matter of feel as it is hewing close to the instructions. Look, feel, and smell should guide you as much as the clock.

Video here and original NYT recipe here.

UPDATE: Here's a good tip. Mix up all the flour, yeast and salt before adding water. Even if you do goof up the order, chances are the bread will still turn out well. To resolve the burnt bottom, I moved the dutch oven up a level and lowered the heat. 30 minutes covered, 10 minutes uncovered made a great loaf, with a center, that was slightly undercooked. But, no burning. Just crisp golden crust. (I need to get out more.)

When Forecasters Jones

Weather forecasters seem to be a reserved bunch of folks. When the Patriots win the Super Bowl, they're not out there rioting and flipping over cars. They're out there telling folks to put some gloves on, for heaven's sake. There's no whooping, no hollering, no bullets from the AK.

So, it's a rare day, indeed, when this coarse facade is lowered and the emotions leap out. In the afternoon forecast discussion issued by the National Weather Service in Boston, the prospect of a huge nor'easter next week was apparently too much for one meteorologist, as witnessed by the following lead. (ed. note - forecasters always write in capital letters)

WOW!!! HOW ABOUT THAT 12Z GFS AND 12Z UKMET? [Has a nerdier sentence ever been written? I love it.] A CLASSIC NEW ENGLAND COASTAL BOMB WITH SYSTEM BECOMING VERTICAL STACKED...YIELDING A LONG DURATION WINTER EVENT HERE.

LOTS OF DETAILS TO BE WORKED OUT...ESPECIALLY ON HOW PROGRESSIVE THE
WESTERN RIDGE BECOMES AND ITS AMPLITUDE...WHICH WILL ULTIMATELY
IMPACT THE CONFIGURATION AND DEPTH OF THE DOWNSTREAM TROF HERE IN
THE EAST. HOWEVER ENOUGH SUPPORT HERE TO KEEP CHANCE OF SNOW IN THE
FORECAST THU AND FRI. STAY TUNED!

It's unusual for any technical forecast discussion to put so much emphasis on a 162 hour forecast. Just how badly do you think this guy wants it to snow? While this storm does look impressive, especially considering that the model appears to foreclose the possibility of any rain/snow mixing, it's hard to imagine that the near total lack of snow this season hasn't played at least some small part in this forecaster's jonesing for snow.

Book Review; The Worst Hard Time

Motherly Love eases Oklahoma Dust-bowl Hardship, originally uploaded by chrisjman.

For most, the 1930s dust bowl is little more than a few pages in a textbook. Lots of dust, little rain, and an uncompleted assignment from Mrs. Watts to read the Grapes of Wrath are the familar reference points for this time in American history.

An environmental disaster on a scale previously unknown, the Dust Bowl was the product of unbridled national ambition. An attempt to work the unworkable and make the barren fertile. Ignoring warnings, sod-busters plowed under the grasses of the southern plains and exposed millions of acres of soil to the elements, all in an effort to join the then-rising wheat empire. It was the last of the frontier. The last chance to claim and prove up a homestead in a nation that was slipping its agricultural roots.

The outcome is familiar. The beneficial rains of the 1920s were an aberration. By the 1930s, the rains stopped. The soil dried out and great dust storms bankrupted the wheat empire.

Whereas Steinbeck describes the okies who left the Dust Bowl, Timothy Egan's "The Worst Hard Time" describes the lives of those who stayed.

The book is remarkable. A page turner in the most unlikely of subjects. Tracing the rise and fall of the southern plains, where promoters promised that dust clouds raised by plows would actually increase rain fall, Egan demonstrates the perils of toying with the environment.

Links to excerpt and NPR interview.

Cold Snap Forecast for Midweek; Low Temps Great for Peonies

pink world, originally uploaded by ms.lume.

A pool of arctic air is forecast to slip southward into New England on Wednesday, bringing a much-needed dose of seasonal reality to the grange. Forecasters predict temperatures will bottom out around 5 above.

This is great news for the peony that was transplanted in the fall. Peonies are incredibly hardy, withstanding temperatures as low as 50 below and rewarding gardeners with giant blooms the following spring. In fact, peonies, much like the homeless polar bears, need prolonged winter temperatures below 40 degrees. This chill breaks the plant's dormancy and prepares it for spring. Without the cold, it likely will not bloom.

This blog is moving.

A Walker's Nightmare, originally uploaded by starbeard.

In a few days, the IT staff will have completed the migration of backyard granger to a new URL, backyardgranger.blogspot.com.

Adjust your browsers and expectations accordingly.

Site Considers Changing URL; Thoughts Welcome

Considering changing the url to something like backyardgranger.blogspot.com. I'm not sure if blogger would even permit it, but am eager to hear thoughts.

So, my readers, all 5 of you who check back every day for updates (you know, I do have a feed that will let bring new content to your reader as soon as I post it, but I'm thankful for the traffic nonetheless), what do you think?

Earthworms Harming New England?

Before we add earthworms to the list of all things great like fluoride, exercise, and Ghandi, some scientists say that earthworms are changing the ecosystem as part of a 350-year-old invasion that creeps along at a half-mile per year. Apparently, earthworms are not native to New England, as all worms east and north of New Jersey were wiped out by glaciers during the last ice age about 10,000 years ago.

Although they do aerate the soil, according to the Boston Globe, "they can munch through the duff layer and can leave behind a homogenized hard soil layer in as little as three years. Invasive plants such as barberry and buckthorn can move in more easily, and erosion can increase. Scientists also say the worms change the chemical structure of the soil, and they are studying whether trees like sugar maples get fewer nutrients in regions colonized with the worms."

Hmmm. Maybe I should heap composting alongside of clubbing baby seals.

Read the full story here.

UPDATE: Apparently, the hardwood forests of Minnesota have similar issues with the earthworm as witnessed by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resource's "Contain those Crawlers" campaign.

Winter Composting; Earthworms Abound

Earthworm, originally uploaded by Satrina0.

Winter is a tough time to compost. The early stages of decomposition are marked by temperatures as high 140-150 degrees Fahrenheit, as several types of bacteria go to work. Winter makes composting difficult by preventing the pile from getting hot enough to support the compost-loving mesophilic and thermophilic bacteria, the main players on the compost stage. Fortunately, a mild fall ensured that these guys had plenty of time to do their thing before winter's arrival.

Two months ago, the pile was filled to the gunwales. Since then it has easily lost 20% of its volume, thanks to decomposition. With garden fork in hand, I checked-up on the pile and turned it to provide oxygen and break up any clumps.

What I found were the hallmarks of late-stage decomposition. As the bacteria peters out, temperatures moderate, opening the door for the physical decomposers: macro-organisms. Throughout the pile were hundreds of earthworms, some of which were the gigantic kind typically found on a dissection table. Earthworms are perhaps the most important players in this whole process. Consuming bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and organic matter, they leave behind nutrient-rich castings. In addition to primary consumers like earthworms, a few secondary and tertiary consumers, like centipedes, were present.

What was once a large pile of leaves, food scraps, and grass clippings, is now a crumbly, black, wonderfully earthy-smelling mass of compost. Amazingly, despite the relatively cold weather, the pile continues to break down, easily digesting two big pumpkins from Halloween, three pounds of old onions and several heads of lettuce in the past two months.

By early summer this compost should be cured and ready to use.

Frost/Freeze Maps

Frosty Morning, originally uploaded by shrike1964.

Here's a link to a great set of maps from NOAA that depict the probabilities of when the first and last frost will occur. The last freeze on the grange usually comes around the last week of April or first week of May.

Merry Christmas

Boston Public Library, originally uploaded by tpl108.

Taken on the steps of the Boston Public Library, this is the statue, "Science," which, along with "Art," stradles the library's entrance.

Columbus Avenue Christmas

Columbus Avenue Christmas, originally uploaded by tpl108.

Looking inbound. Christmas can't last forever and neither can my fascination with Christmas lights.

More Christmas Lights

Christmas Lights, originally uploaded by tpl108.

Christmas Lights

Christmas Lights, originally uploaded by tpl108.

There is still very little to report from the gardening front. The last bit of rosemary was harvested and dried. The sedum finally petered out early in November, but have already set the beginnings of what will be impressive growth in the spring.

In the meantime, enjoy this picture I took in my neighborhood last night.

Church of the Covenant

Church of the Covenant, originally uploaded by tpl108.

Boston Public Library

Boston Public Library, originally uploaded by tpl108.

Make Way for Ducklings

Make Way for Ducklings, originally uploaded by tpl108.