By Duane Pitts
WSU Grant-Adams Master Gardener 

Old dogs can learn new tricks

 

Last updated 8/3/2022 at 1am



Little did I know that becoming a WSU Master Gardener was just the beginning of my knowledge about gardening! Retired from teaching, I did not expect the adventures of becoming a life-long learner in gardening, too. It has been an interesting journey, to say the least.

Among my first journeys as a volunteer Master Gardener, I helped answer gardening questions for people at the Moses Lake Farmers Market. I quickly discovered how little I knew and that without my mentor’s help and handy books as references, I would have been up the proverbial creek! Veteran Master Gardener, Barbara Guilland guided me through the Q&A process so clients and I would know the answers to questions.

I clearly recall one question that took me some time to find an answer. A man from Soap Lake asked me how to grow a Linden tree from seed and how to know which seeds would germinate. I was stumped! Totally! He said he would be back the next week, during which time I researched until I found answers. Linden tree seeds take up to two years to germinate and viable seeds are discovered by dumping seeds into a bucket of water. Those seeds that float are not going to grow. Wow! I was amazed that seeds could take that long to germinate, much less that floating seeds will not produce.


Another journey took me to the Washington State University (WSU) experimental orchard station near Wenatchee for an MG field trip. There, WSU horticulturalists grow apple trees to determine which ones would produce and taste the best. I had no idea that WSU grew trees to help apple growers. I got to taste what would become the Honey Crisp – it was absolutely delicious. I could tell why growers would want to invest in this tree. And I got to take a few fallen, bruised Honey Crisps home.

Working with the Garden Club in Soap Lake and going to Dry Falls Visitor Center at Coulee City were delightful trips for me as well. Master Gardener Mark Amara and I gave the Garden Club our assessment of their flower garden and confirmed for them what was needed. Mark and I also helped the Dry Falls State Park Interpretive Specialist identify native plants at the Dry Falls Visitor Center. We dug holes to sample soil depths, described soil characteristics, and gave the manager information he needed to go forward with his vision of a native plants garden for visitors.

Another on-going journey has been the research for clients and articles I have written for the quarterly Grant-Adams Master Gardener newsletter, Grounded. The learning curve has been great in many topics. I always thought that goats did eat tin cans, but they don’t. They do eat about everything else, though. Straw bale gardening was new to me, but I tried it in my garden three years ago and, amazingly, it worked.

As for learning about berries and other garden crops, I expanded from having blackberries in the vegetable garden to making a separate 10-foot by 60-foot berry patch enclosed in a critter-proof fence and covering it. This area houses strawberries, thornless blackberries, gooseberries, raspberries, blueberries, huckleberries, jostaberries, black currants, with a few tomatoes in grow boxes (another experiment), eggplants, and hot peppers, yams and potatoes as well as a small herb garden with lemon balm and sage. The thorny blackberries I grow on the back property line for the birds.

I also learned that forests do move – about 6 miles north a year by seed dispersion to avoid some of the heat associated with climate change. Trees also protect each other, which was new to me.

The critters that live near me are fascinating to watch. Rock chucks emerge in late April or early May and hibernate by end of August or early September. Quail live in small family groups during the spring and summer, but in the fall and winter gather in larger coveys of around 100 quail. I feed the quail on our property during the winter, as food is scarce for them. Jerusalem crickets do live in this area, and irises come in 100s of different types and sizes!

Identifying two insects were two of the most intriguing clinic research diagnoses I have done. One was finally confirmed as a Jerusalem cricket though I had to research several bug guides before I discovered what this huge insect was. The second was a homeowner’s inquiry about a wasp or wasp beetle. It turned out to be a long-horned wasp beetle. This beetle feeds on dead wood, so it poses no concerns for homeowners and does not sting – it just looks like it could. It mimics a real wasp to protect it from predators. Smart insect.

All this is just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak, about my journey in learning about plants and animal life as a Master Gardener. Plants and animals are smart in their adaptations and living in a desert-like environment. I have one fig tree that has just begun to leaf out when I thought it would die. The more I learn, the more I am amazed at how little I actually know. This old dog is learning new tricks all the time!

 

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