You see our
names as authors of gardening articles
every week in the local newspapers. We
are wrapped up in our hobby and
avocation of gardening. Besides writing
articles, we can actually garden. Some
of us have individual trial plots at the
Trial Garden at the Ag. Building in
Gettysburg. We may be growing our
favorites, or a plant we are curious
about, or a plant we are trying to learn
more about. Check out these eight
individual plots when you visit our
garden.
Everybody grows
peppers and tomatoes, but you will be
impressed with the health and size of
the plants and fruit produced by Dick
Colehouse.
He had ripe
tomatoes early in July and he has
already harvested many green peppers.
His plants are extremely healthy.
Alice Boeshore
also is growing vegetables. In her case
it is broccoli, Swiss Chard, cabbage and
assorted other veggies. Again her plot
shows her devotion to gardening; the
plants are big and healthy and she will
be getting a good crop. Some of us run
out of space at home so we expand our
garden to the Trial Garden.
Our next
vegetable gardener is Dick Englund. He
is growing potatoes the easy way. His
potato cuttings were laid on the soil
and then covered with straw. The
potatoes are doing the work by producing
new potatoes. The straw is considered
the compost or soil that would cover the
potato. A hint is to use as your
covering the ornamental grasses you cut
down in early spring. This is a good use
for the grasses that can be a real
problem to dispose of otherwise. Come
see his arrangement.
Phil Peters has
a foot in both gardens: he is growing
hot peppers both as ornamentals and as
food. There are many types of hot
peppers that range from mild to very
hot; they also range in color from green
to yellow to red and even purple. The
plants can be small and uniform or they
can be rangy and tall. One pepper called
‘Explosive Embers’ lives up to its name.
It has purple leaves and flowers and red
and purple peppers. He is also growing
‘Medusa,’ ‘Tangerine Dreams,’ both
ornamentals and the edibles Cayenne 2
Super Hybrid and ‘Marbles.’ These are
all cultivars of Capsicum annuum.
Ann Radcliff and
Liz Miller are both growing dahlias in
their plots.
Soon you will be
seeing the beautiful and remarkable
flowers that dahlias produce. There are
many different cultivars and
classifications in the dahlia world and
Ann has planted the thirteen different
types that are used for dahlia shows.
Ann has been growing and showing dahlias
for many years and is considered our
resident expert. Liz is new to dahlia
growing, but her plants are looking
good.
Another plot
contains plants that will attract
beneficial insects.
Martie Young has
planted a variety of plants--sunflowers,
monarda, dill, parsley, lavender and
other herbs. The common denominator here
is that the flowers all attract bees,
wasps, soldier beetles, hummingbirds,
butterflies, lady bugs, and other
beneficials. These insects will help by
pollinating the flowers and by repelling
or eating the bad bugs. You probably
won’t see any aphids on our plants if
there are ladybeetles.
Many other bad
bugs will be absent or very sparse. If
you are at the garden on a sunny day, be
sure to pay attention to the small flies
and bees that hover over the flowers and
the number of butterflies that are
flying among our flowers. In the evening
you will see frequent visits from birds
(tree swallows especially) that are
eating the bugs and thereby controlling
damage to our plants.
We have begun to
collect plants that will especially
attract butterflies. We have planted
garden phlox, echinacea (cone flowers),
and borage. Soon we will be adding
another garden for butterflies that will
include both plants for the butterflies
and plants for the caterpillars. This
way we will ensure that the butterflies
will always be there. Charles Snyder is
in charge of the Butterfly plants. He
recommends the Butterfly Garden at
Hershey Gardens.
Also at the
Trial Garden you will see the compost
display put together by Roy Thomas. He
is truly dedicated to compost and
showing other people how to compost. He
has built and collected quite a
selection of different composting
bins--all of them are successful at
composting and all are easy to build or
obtain on your own. You will soon be
reaping the benefits of making your own
compost.
And what garden
would be complete unless there are a few
weeds--in this case Bill Devlin is in
the process of nurturing some of our
most hated plants and labeling them so
you will know what they look like and
what you want to get rid of. Obviously
all he has to do is watch them grow!
Our Trial
Gardens have as their main objective to
educate but in this case the education
is very enjoyable. Where else can you
see the variety of annuals we show every
summer and learn which ones to use in
your garden? You can look at our
perennials to get ideas for your own
garden. It is said that gardening is
America’s "Number one hobby." It has to
be true. If you see someone working in
the Trial Garden when you are in the
vicinity of the Extension Office, come
and talk to us and find out what we’re
so excited about!
Read
other articles by Martie Young