Gardening often resembles a random walk in which every turn in the garden reveals another opportunity to pursue or problem to solve. Today’s column follows that pattern with three current topics, unrelated except for being “on gardening.”
Sulfate of Ammonia
While clearing out “stuff” I found two 20-pound small bags of sulfate of ammonia fertilizer, which is 21% nitrogen, 24% sulfur and not much else.
Sulfate of ammonia is a long way from a complete fertilizer. It provides a rapid flush of growth and green color in foliage, and is often used on lawns. (I removed my lawn about twenty years ago.)
This special-purpose fertilizer also can be used to promote the growth of other plants, shrubs and trees in the garden, but it can over-stimulate plants, encourage tender foliage that insects particularly like, and in time acidify the soil. It should be used sparingly or not at all.
Another possible use of sulfate of ammonia would be to speed up decomposition in a compost pile: Washington State University researchers found that it would also lower pH (acidify) and raise available nitrogen. However, this is an inorganic salt, produced by combining ammonia with either sulfuric acid or gypsum and calcium carbonate. My garden is strictly organic, so I will either donate my stash to a lawn lover or dispose of it as toxic waste.
Seed & Bulb Exchange
Marina Tree & Garden Club will hold a Seed & Bulb Exchange at the Marina Farmer’s Market (at Reservation Road and Vista Del Camino) on Sunday, October 20th, 10:00–2:00.
Bring seeds, bulbs, tubers or root divisions to share or find something new for your own garden. The event welcomes both home-collected and commercial seeds, flowers, vegetables and California native plants.
Bring your offerings between 10:00 and 12:00. If possible, include the plant’s common or botanical name, blossom color and other information that gardeners like to know.
The Exchange is free and open to all, with or without items to share.
Bring a friend!
Swapping Flowering Vines
Years ago, I used half-inch copper tubing to build a trellis six inches wide and twenty feet high and attached it to an elevated deck. On this trellis I grew a common Woodbine Honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum), a woody twining climber. I became tired of this plant, but removing it was a daunting task.
Fortunately, a tireless student came to work in my garden and soon put the honeysuckle in the green waste. Then, at a Berkeley Botanical Garden sale, I found a Chilean Jasmine (Mandevilla laxa), a climber with beautiful, slightly fragrant blossoms and more than enough exotic appeal for this prominent trellis.
This image of the Chilean Jasmine blossom is from Annie’s Annuals, a nursery in Richmond, California that supplies retail garden centers, and also offers plants by mail.
Change can be refreshing!