Edward Vielmetti is inviting you to A2B3 lunch on Thursday at Eastern Accents in Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104

purple beans for dinner; or, anthocyanin pigmentation in Phaseolus vulgaris

We had purple beans for dinner, from farmer's market.  I heated some olive oil in a pan and cooked them through until they had turned all green, and then salted them a little at the end.

The recipe called for adding chopped almonds but it didn't happen; instead I served the boys tofu that I had cut into cubes and boiled (boiling it improves the texture quite a bit, firming it up more to my liking).

I don't know which variety of purple beans we had.  A search of the net unearthed the "romano purpiat bean" (from Territorial Seed)

60 days. Everything about this purple Romano bean is noteworthy: healthy robust plants, deep violet stems, lilac blossoms, and lustrous purple pods. The 5 inch, flat pods are so tender, crisp, and delicious that we found them irresistible picked fresh from the plant. Cooking the pods turns them a brilliant jade-green with a nearly stringless texture. Remarkably productive plants reach 24 inches tall and tolerate cool, early plantings. Brown seeds.

and Peaceful Valley has the Royalty Purple variety

Phaseolus vulgaris Tender Annual Bush. Purple bushes with short runners and purple flowers. Bright-purple stringless 5"-6" pods cook to dark green. Buff colored seeds germinate in cold, wet soil. Bred by E.M. Meader at the University of New Hampshire and introduced in 1957.

Why are beans purple?  Good question.  I got as far as finding this:

Genetics of flower and pod color in Phaseolus vulgaris

Christian A. Okonkwo, and Carl D. Clayberg
The Journal of Heredity 1984:75(6):440-444
© 1984 The American Genetic Association 75:440-444

A new locus, Prp (purple pod), having five alleles affecting anthocyanin pigmentation of corolla and pod, is described in Phaseolus vulgaris L. The allele Prp produces dark-purple corolla and is fully dominant in this respect over the other four alleles that determine light-purple corolla. In the absence of Ro, Prp is responsible for medium-purple pod when homozygous and light-purple pods in combination with the other alleles. The alleles prp^sh2 and prp^sh give green pods shaded with purple and are codominant with the prp^st allele, which causes green pods to be striped with purple. These four alleles are dominant for pod color over prp, an allele causing green pods when homozygous. The interaction of these alleles with the genes Gri, V, and Ro, which also affect anthocyanin pigmentation of corolla and pod, is described. No linkages among these four loci were observed.

That's from 1984; I don't know enough about bean genetics to go any further.

(Oh, and they are delicious.)

saturday Ann Arbor farmer's market report, u-pick fruit coming up, and what's in bloom

I was at market on Saturday (yesterday) and kept an eye out for fruit and for new things at market.  Here's some details.

Sour cherries were gone; sweet cherries were $5-$6 per quart.
Both Erie Orchards and Sodt's Berry Farm had blueberries for $40 for a 10# lug.
Basil, $1.00 to $1.25 a small bag, or $10/# (organic).
Grandma from Grandma's Kitchen brought 70 dozen eggs and was sold out at noon.

The U-Pick local report from Mark Charles:

Dexter Blueberry Farm's web site says they'll open on July 20. 

Makielski's raspberry farm says "2 weeks"  (about July 25.)

and the field report from the Buhr Park wet meadow from Andy Brush

Today at wet meadow II, I saw the following in bloom:

• Bee Balm
• Black Eyed Susan
• Yellow Coneflower
• Prairie Dack (just getting going)
• Butterfly Milkweed
• Hoary Vervain
• Daisy Fleabane
• Common Milkweed

the violets growing in my yard make me happy

They are nothing special, really, just ordinary lawn violets.  I love them, and I love it when they come out in the spring time.  When they appear I have warm memories of my great aunt Gail Clark who kept violets at home and who was named after the plant.

Candied violets are said to be very easy - dip the violet flower in egg white and then in sugar.

More reading, of course:

• Prodigal Gardens May weblog has information about violets, dandelions, morels and wild asparagus in Wisconsin.
• A Traverse Forest Feast is the title of a My North magazine article about violets, dandelions, morels, ramps, mint, nettles, and wild leeks in the northern Lower Peninsula.
• Sydney Farr in My Appalachia writes that the best time to go morel hunting is when the violets are in bloom after a spring rain.

but best to just be outside

Woody plants - identifying the trees of Michigan

Every year the U of Michigan teaches a Woody Plants class.  I didn't take it when I was in school, but my sister did, and it's one of these legendary courses that people remember for a long time.

Here's the links and notes I could find easily.  It's prompted by the Ann Arbor Chronicle's story about the city of Ann Arbor tree inventory going on now, which I hope will yield a precise map of where all of the public juneberry trees are.

Course listing: NRE 436: Woody Plants Biology and Identification

Woody Plants is an intensive field- and lecture-based learning experience, in which you will learn to identify 160 trees, shrub and vine species that are important in Michigan environments. You will learn about their taxonomy, distribution, habitat associations, and biogeographic history and how to identify them in their leafless winter condition. The lab component consists of weekly field trips in the Ann Arbor area, which include riparian and floodplain habitats, glacial lakes, moraines, bogs, fens and mesic forests. The lectures cover elementary aspects of plant identification, taxonomy and ecology; however, the broader themes include biogeographic history and the assembly of Michigan plant communities, both before and after major glaciations, ecological specializiation, and impacts of global warming and other anthropogenic environmental changes.

Woody Plants - Sitemaker

The required textbook for Woody Plants is Michigan Trees by Burt V. Barnes and Warren H. Wagner. The authors taught the Woody Plants class from 1965 to 2005 and know their topic well. The books are available at Shaman Drum bookshop on 311 State Street.

Burt Barnes home page at SNRE

Undergraduate and graduate teaching in forest ecology; landscape ecology; natural history, and identification of Woody Plants. Research focuses on the theory and application of the landscape ecosystem approach. Studies emphasize spatial mapping of landscape ecosystems as the basis for conserving and managing ecosystems at multiple scales. Research on diversity of ecosystems and biota in upland, riverine, and wetland ecosystems. Specific areas include genetic and systematic studies of aspen species (genus Populus), worldwide and comparative studies of east Asian and North American forests and species of the temperate zone.

An early edition of Michigan Trees, in 1913, as seen on Google Books -

Michigan Trees: A Handbook of the Native and Most Important Introduced Species

By Charles Herbert Otis

Edition: 2

Published by The Regents, 1913

Original from Harvard University

Digitized Apr 11, 2008

246 pages

first frost in Ann Arbor MI 2008 - cover your tomatoes! - warnings

Cover your tomatoes!

Here's this spring's suggestion list for how to protect your tomatoes from frost.  More suggestions welcomed.

First frost warnings for 2008 follow; I got this message via the Emergency Email Network (free).

MIZ069-070-075-076-082-083-

041200-
/O.NEW.KDTX.FR.Y.0003.081004T0600Z-081004T1200Z/
OAKLAND-MACOMB-WASHTENAW-WAYNE-LENAWEE-MONROE-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF.PONTIAC.WARREN.ANN ARBOR.
DETROIT.ADRIAN.MONROE
1214 PM EDT FRI OCT 3 2008

FROST ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 2 AM TO 8 AM EDT SATURDAY.

THE NATL WEATHER SVC IN DETROIT/PONTIAC HAS ISSUED A
FROST ADVISORY.WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 2 AM TO 8 AM EDT
SATURDAY.

CLEAR SKIES & CALM WINDS WILL LEAD TO VERY COLD TEMPS
TONIGHT. TEMPS ACROSS EXTREME SE MI WILL DROP
INTO THE LOW TO MID 30S ALLOWING WIDESPREAD FROST TO DEVELOP.
SOME OF THE MORE RURAL LOCATIONS FURTHER AWAY FROM THE GREATER DETROIT AREA
MAY EVEN SEE TEMPS BRIEFLY DROP BELOW FREEZING.

A FROST ADVISORY MEANS THAT FROST IS POSSIBLE. THOSE WITH
AGRICULTURAL INTERESTS IN THE ADVISORY AREA ARE ADVISED TO TAKE
MEASURES TO PROTECT TENDER VEGETATION. SENSITIVE OUTDOOR PLANTS
MAY BE KILLED IF LEFT UNCOVERED.

$$

How to get rid of Japanese Knotweed

We have a patch of land that should be doing something productive but instead is growing Japanese Knotweed.  I'd like to fix that.

The simple description of how to deal with it seems to be to smother the affected area (using tarps or old carpets) and to do container gardening on top of that ground cover.  (ref about.com)

It's time to think about it now, because I know that come May, it'll be growing with wild abandon.

How to plant tomatoes upside down (so that you can move them out of the way of frost)

In the "try this next year" category, here are some designs for a planter for tomatoes where you put the tomato seedlings in a bucket and then hang the bucket upside down. Two advantages are obvious: one, that if there's frost, you can move the bucket out of the way, and two, you can grow in places where you don't have soil.

Three, I guess, is that you can plant something nice in the top of the pot and have it do double duty.

There's apparently television advertising for these things (which tells you how much TV I watch) but these look pretty easy.

without further ado:

from greenthumbs.tribe.net :

My 83 year old dad told me he use to grow upside down tomatoes in an old tin, they would put a small hole in the end of the tin (I guess a paint tin? not sure what type tin they used) and plant the tomato plant upside down and at the top of the tin they would plant a pepper plant. He said they flourished! I have the upside down container that I am going to plant my tomatoes and herbs in this spring...I can't wait!

the Michigan Sportsman Forums thread from Frantz:

I had great success with tomato plants, but peppers did poorly. I drilled a single hole and fed my seedlings up through the bottom. This year I am making the hole a little bigger and putting the plant through the inside of the bucket and using some landscape cloth to gold it all in. Last year the buckets with chives, parsley and basil growing on the top side did better. I think because it held the water in better for the tomato roots.

the comments on a Lifehacker post:

Wow! If I knew there was a market for this, I would have had my grandmother patent it years ago. Since I was a little kid, she always grew her tomatoes upside-down -- by just using a simple plastic bucket & a few strategically placed holes.

And, as an added bonus? She planted azaleas on the top, so it not only looked pretty, but it would keep the bugs & other nasty critters from going after the tomato plant underneath.

We coulda been millionaires.

Instructables has pictures, planting in a coco fiber pot:

You will need the following materials:
-hanging coco basket with a hole in the bottom of the frame
-dirt (more on this later) I used peat moss, manure, and vermiculite
-something to hang it from (I used a Shepard's hook)
-and a tomato plant!!!!

The plant needs to be a baby plant, not one of those huge 1 gallon bucket plants.

Curbly has an illustrated How To Make An Upside Down Tomato Planter

Thank you for your DIY upside down tomato planter. It is the cheapest, most attractive one I've seen online. I planted two with Bush Celebrity Tomatoes and a third one (the one in the middle) planted with Jalapenos. I planted Thai Basil, Italian Parsley, Purple Sage, Sweet Woodruff, Italian Oregano, and Sweet Basil in the top of the planter. I realized that my pots are hanging a too low, so I have to shorten the cord, but I think they came out pretty good! Can't wait to see if my tomaotes and jalapenos will grow good upside down!

There's some art to the companion planting too.

How to protect tomatoes from frost

Frost warnings for Ann Arbor for tonight; that's kind of late.

In the spirit of gardeners everywhere, here's some collected recommendations for dealing with frost damage in your garden.

From Zimbabwe and Farm Radio International:

Protect Tomatoes from Frost

By Livai Matarirano, Zimbabawe

You can grow tomatoes even in cold weather. A farmer in Zimbabwe, Mr. Francis Handwa, uses cooking oil or milk bottles filled with water to keep tomato plants warm. This is a good alternative to covering tomatoes if used bottles are easy to get. Here is how he does it.

Francis fills cooking oil or milk bottles with water until they are three quarters full. While the plants are still young, he places the bottles upright on the ground among the tomatoes. He places one bottle beside every third plant in every other row. He makes sure that the neck of the bottle appears above the plants. When the plants get taller than the bottles he places stakes beside the tomato plants. He hangs a bottle on each stake with a string. The bottles hang 10 centimetres above the plants.

from GardenersNet:

Tomatoes like it hot! They will die if exposed to frost. Make sure to plant them after the last frost.

Tip#1: Cover your young seedling if frost is predicted. A simple and easy cover for small seedlings is to buy large or extra large plastic disposable cups. Place them over the seedling at dusk, and remove them in the morning. There is usually little or no wind on nights with frost, so they are not easily tipped over.

Tip#2: If you get a light frost overnight and you did not cover up your plants. Go out early before the sun rises, and spray your plants with the garden hose. This melts the ice off the plants and may save them.

From Tomato Casual:

If a more serious frost is coming, cover your plants with something to keep the frost from ending up on the leaves. I like to use sheets but anything like plastic, sheeting, newspaper or other material that can be used like a gentle covering will suffice.

Leave the cover on until the temp breaks that frost level in the mid morning and your plants will be none the worse for wear. Do not, however, leave plastic on the plants in the hot sun as this is damaging to the tomato plant and all your attention will be wasted.

Rebecca's Garden Blogs:

If you still have tomatoes on the vine, keep bed sheets on hand. When frost is in the forecast cover the vines early afternoon before the sun starts setting. This will help trap the daytime heat before the soil cools. Also, try to extend the sheets to cover as much ground as possible. I stretch mine out and put a stone on top to hold it in place. This creates a tee pee which too traps more warmth. Remove covering once the sun comes up.

From the Columbia Missourian, Put plants to bed with a blanket tonight

According to Sapp, it’s best to cover plants with cloth. A simple flannel bed sheet will do the trick, but make sure that it is lifted slightly off the plants so they have a little breathing room. Cardboard also works, Sapp said. Take a box, place it over low plants and flowers, and then open the box top during the day so the plants can soak up the sun.

Contrary to popular belief, Sapp said plastic isn’t the best option for covering plants because it doesn’t sufficiently shield them from frost. Stick with cloth and cardboard to save the seedlings.

From Rutgers University, Planting and protecting warm season vegetables

Water walls- There are various clear plastic devices that have long tubes connected in a circle. Once the tubes are filled with water, they will stand up on their own and provide a great deal of frost protection for early tomatoes. The water filled tubes heat up during the day and retain heat during cold nights to protect plants. These thick water walls provide effective insulation to counter cool temperatures. The water walls need to be staked to prevent them from blowing over with strong winds. After frost dates have passed, these devices can be removed

stay warm

Michigan Morel Map 2008

You don't really think I'm going to tell you where to pick morels, do you? Even my mom won't tell me where she gets hers.

What I can share is some set of things that people are tracking for timing for when morels appear, and forums where this stuff is being discussed by experts.

There is a terrific list of morel mushroom information carefully collected by The Great Morel; lots to read, if you want to know more.

The Michigan Sportsman Forums report on the Morel Progression Sightings Map for the year, which gives you big dots showing approximate locations. This is a current April 25, 2008 selection.

Absolute Michigan's story on the 2007 Boyne City Mushroom Festival includes plenty of details.

The Grayling, MI visitors bureau guide to the morels of Crawford County Michigan gives away details, but being coy, recommends that you bring your own log book and note where you found yours.

UPDATE: Mike Gould of Ann Arbor has a story originally in the Ann Arbor Observer about Roonquest: the mushrooms that bloom in the spring about morel hunting near Charlevoix.

UPDATE: More morel information by video at Youtube - see e.g. VideoMorelHunting collection of accounts and movies.

UPDATE: Morel mushroom hunting in the Upper Peninsula w/report of nothing yet as of 4/25 in Menominee County. thanks @frnash for the link

UPDATE: Superior Sights on Morel Mushroom Picking in the Upper Peninsula says their favorite spot is northwest of Newberry, MI, in Luce County, and says that the best times in the UP for morels tend to be end of May to early June.

UPDATE: The music of the Mushroomer's Waltz (MP3) comes from the National Morel Mushroom Festival in Boyne City, MI, May 15-18 2008.

Hoop house basil? Some early research

It's January, which means no farmer's market basil until July or August. Not too early to start thinking about it, though, especially thinking about how to grow your own - perhaps using a hoop house to speed the process along. Here's some preliminary research to share.

http://mdmintake.blogspot.com/2006/08/basil-anyone.html

Brooke and I had a great time at the farm this afternoon. And by great, I mean I now know why Tricia is always wearing carhartts, a straw hat, gloves and boots. The weeds on the farm? Not so much like the weeds in our garden.

http://deberosahomestead.wordpress.com/2007/12/09/portable-hoop-house-construction/

This year we built a portable hoop house on Deberosa for tomatoes and basil. It was fairly successful but as you can see from the storm post, it didn’t survive an extremely bad wind. I think it would have survived it the rain did not make the ground so soft that the rebar simply pulled out of the mud. Oh well, we’ll rebuild for next year - it will just be a little shorter and perhaps oriented lengthwise to the prevailing wind.

http://quetzalfarm.com/tour.htm

Early in the spring we plant basil and cucumbers in our hoop house. It is significantly warmer than outside, allowing us to harvest much earlier. The basil will grow into fall.

http://www.newfarm.org/depts/beginning_farmers/0603/greens2.shtml

Basil’s really the only herb to which we give much attention, and it responds well. It flourishes in the heat of the hoop. Keep cutting back the terminal buds and it’ll bush out. Give it an occasional shot of fish and it may produce for months.

http://www.vpi.org/urban_farm.html

ReVision Urban Farm is an organic micro-farm whose guiding vision is environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable urban agriculture. The farm grows a wide variety of food crops on three reclaimed urban lots totaling one-acre of growing space. The farm enhances the delivery of nutrition services throughout our community and increases local awareness of the social, environmental, and economic benefits of sustainable urban agriculture.

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