Fall is a great time to divide perennials

Now that it is officially fall, it's a great time to divide perennials that have gotten too big for their current location, are producing fewer flowers, or as in the case of plants like Iris, have a dead whole in the middle of healthy foliage.

I have several to tackle this year, and last night a bearded iris got my full attention. Not only was this plant huge, it had a huge whole in the center and there were weeds and even a small tree that were growing in between the rhizomes.

Dividing Iris is really quite simple. You just need to dig up the rhizomes and carefully pull them apart. I also found some rotting on some of mine which I cut off and added to the compost pile. Once divided, replant what you want and give away the rest.

It's really that easy and it's virtually impossible to damage the rhizomes. When replanting be sure the roots are well covered but that the top of the rhizome is only just beneath the surface. If it's planted any deeper, it will not bloom next year. You'll also want to cut back the foliage so the plant's energy can focus on re-establishing itself in the soil.

Photo from UMN Extension.

Doing our part for the bees

I've always loved fields of sunflowers. It's one of the wonderful sites of late summer and early fall that make me smile. And, knowing that they attract bees is an added bonus, especially with the current plight of this creature that is so vital to the survival of all living beings.

Earlier this week I witnessed how the sunflowers and bees were really symbiotic as I watched them feed on the sunflowers growing in our garden. Every flower had at least one bee and many had two or more. The bees were all hard at work, doing their part for the plants.

Actually, I've been watching the bees all summer and seen them at work pollinating zucchini, cucumbers, and a wide variety of other plants and flowers. For some reason, though, the site of the yellow and black bodies on the sunflowers really brings it all home - how every bit of God's creation works together.

Slug soup and other creative pest measures

I HATE slugs. I know it's somewhat irrational, the fierce feelings these slimy creeping plant eaters conjure up in me, but they really bring out the worst in me. I know there are many very sane ways to attack a slug problem--from ground-up eggshells spread around plants, to flour spread on top of the soil and from commercial slug bait to beer-filled saucers.

This last option reminds me of a swim-up bar and seems a bit too festive for a mortal enemy. I've actually tried this in the past and it does work, but I really got some strange looks when I went to the party store and asked them to point me in the direction of their cheapest beer. Of course, I wasn't going to spend top dollar on an import or specialty brew!

Today I was in the garden doing some clean-up and harvesting some goodies for dinner when I found several families of slugs living in the holes where I pulled carrots from yesterday. Then, when I went to cut some corn mache for salads I found at least three zillion living under the leaves. That's when I became slug-ocidal.


While I know that it probably wasn't good for the soil, I dropped some canning salt down into the carrot holes and found a perverse joy in watching the slugs sizzle. But, beyond that, if they were laying eggs down there, hopefully the salt took care of the next generation as well.


My disdain for slugs is long-lived and I've used multiple methods to control them over the years like the saucers of beer for them to slime-up to, become drunk and drown; stabbing them with random sticks and crushing them with rocks. In addition to the salt in the holes, today's method also included slug soup.

This creative approach started with me scooping them up with a hand shovel and dropping them by the dozens into an empty ice cream pail. I then filled the pail with water, sealed it and placed in an area that gets a lot of sun and that's very hot. As I write this, I realize that I may be taking this loathing to an extreme, but there's something strangely satisfying in finding new ways to get rid of my garden nemesis.

Now that I've calmed down a bit, I decided to do some research about slugs to see if they have any redeeming value whatsoever. Guess what I found out? They don't! Here's a brief primer on the slug:

An information sheet from Cornell says that gray garden slugs were brought to America from Europe in the 1800s. My question is WHY? Why would they do that? The only logical explanation is that the slugs were actually stowaways that made there way to this country on the plant matter the Europeans brought with them when they came to America to make a new life.

Slugs have an average lifespan of nine to thirteen months and if they have enough cover can survive mild winters. Slugs are hermaphroditic, which means they have has both male and female reproductive organs. A slug could start out as a male, then become both male and female,
and finally become solely female. There are also some slug species that can self-fertilize, or, produce offspring without needing to mate with the opposite sex. After mating, the slug will lay 8 - 60 clear, jelly-like eggs in sheltered areas on the ground. An adult slug can lay 300 - 500 eggs during its lifetime. With numbers like these, it's no wonder they get so numerous if left to their own devices.

Garden slugs increase in size during summer and reach sexual maturity in late autumn. According to some information I found on Texas' extension service website, slugs only reproduce in early spring and they tend to reproduce faster on alkaline to neutral soils than on acid soils.

Now that I know that rabbits have nothing on slugs when it comes to procreating, it's time to take a more rational approach to control. Slugs like it cool and damp, which is why mulch in a garden can be a challenge. On one hand, it's great for the plants, but on the other hand it's also great for the slugs.

Slugs do have some natural enemies; and if you're OK with having them in your garden, they're a good way to naturally control the slug population. Toads, garter snakes and ground beetles all enjoy making a meal of these slimy pests. I like this method of control because it's natural and it doesn't require adding chemicals to the garden. Then again, finding them and smashing them doesn't hurt the environment either!



How about you? Do you have unusual ways to ridding your garden and landscape beds of slugs? I'd love to hear about your approach.

A strange edible gardening season

The performance of edible plants varies from year to year. This year is no exception, in fact, it's probably a year that fits one of the extremes - at least in the Northern Midwest.

It's been colder than normal, and as a result, everything is at least one month late. In fact, I'm glad we included Early Girl Tomatoes in this year's plantings. True to their name, they were earlier than the others; but the first two weren't ready until Labor Day! The other tomato plants in the gardens are at least two weeks from having ripe fruit. Hopefully the colder-than- average weather doesn't mean our first frosts will be early, too.

If we do get early frosts, the good news about tomatoes is that they will continue to ripen even after removed from the plant. The flavor isn't as good, but at least it's not a total loss. Once tomatoes are picked, they can be wrapped in newspaper or placed in a paper bag. Either way, add an apple to the package because apples secret a chemical that will speed the ripening process.

Although it's been a disappointing season here, there have been plenty of other areas of the country that have experienced terrific growing seasons. If you're in this camp, check out Rosiland Creasy's blog (the original edible landscape gardener) for a great recipe to enjoy your tomato bounty.

Look for more tips about harvesting this year's bounty on my Examiner pages as well as here on the Edible Garden Landscaping blog.