Gardening

Gardeners’ Q&As at the Galveston Home & Garden Show

By Dr. William M. Johnson, Galveston County Extension Agent - Horticulture

March 22, 2007

Master Gardeners provide considerable assistance to the Galveston County Extension Office in providing a variety of educational programs for residents throughout Galveston County. The next time you meet a Master Gardener, please give them a thank you for their public service.

Appreciation is also extended to the sponsors of our booth: William (Bill) C. Ansell, CPA and Ann S. Masel, CPA of DRDA, P.C. located at 1011 Tremont, Galveston, Texas. Their gracious support made it possible for our Master Gardener volunteers to participate in the Home & Garden Show.

The following is a sampling of the questions we received:

Question: How can I attract beneficial insects to my landscape?

Answer: Donya Camp is a Master Gardener and has also earned additional certification as a Master Gardener Specialist in Entomology. Donya brought several display boxes from the insect collection she maintains at the County Extension Office in Dickinson. Donya’s collection of beneficial insects generated considerable interest and lots of questions, including the one above.

The use of beneficial insects to help manage their pest relatives has been a mainstay among gardeners for a very long time. There are a number of excellent advantages to this method of insect pest control. Utilizing beneficial insects requires a minimum of effort by the gardener and helps reduce the incidence of insect pests with resistance to insecticides.

Gardeners can attract and keep our natural friends in their home landscape and gardens by following a few recommendations, many of which are just good gardening sense that we use anyway. One way to conserve beneficials is by avoiding indiscriminate use of insecticides. While they play an important role in pest control, indiscriminate and improper use of insecticides can also pose hazards to ourselves and our environment. For more information on how to attract and maintain beneficial insects, visit the website address provided at the end of this column and click on the link entitled "Beneficials in the Gardens."

Question: I've never seen any of my carrot, turnip and beet plants develop seed heads. Where do the seeds come from?

Answer: There are several vegetable garden plants that are biennials. Biennial plants produce leaves and store carbohydrates during their first season of growth. During their second season of growth, they draw on their stored carbohydrates to produce flowers and seed.

Biennials die after producing seed. Beet, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, celery, kale, kohlrabi, leek, onion, rutabaga, Swiss chard and turnip are examples of biennials grown in the vegetable garden. Since we usually harvest them for their edible portion during their first season of growth, we do not see them produce seed.

Question: What is neem oil? I've heard it is a safe, organic insecticide.

Answer: Neem oil is a botanical pesticide extracted from the seeds of the neem tree. The active ingredient is azadirachtin which functions as a growth regulator that interrupts the insect's growth cycle causing death to larval and pupal stages.

Neem oil provides effective control for whiteflies, mealybugs, thrips, aphids, and ceratin other soft-bodied insects. It is also effective as a fungicide for control of foliar diseases like powdery mildew. It is toxic to bees if applied while bees are active. While some insecticides pose less risk than others, all insecticides should be handled and used with care.

Question: I’ve heard that only male eggplants should be used in cooking, as they are not as bitter and have fewer seeds than female eggplants. Can you tell me how to tell the difference at the store?

Answer: "Male" and "female" eggplant is a case of unfortunate terminology. During pollination of flowers, male pollen was transferred to female parts of the flower, resulting in the fruit we eat.

Different varieties of eggplant may be more bitter and different varieties may contain more noticeable seeds than others. Regardless of the variety, the seeds become more noticeable as an eggplant fruit matures. So an eggplant picked when very mature to over-mature will likely appear "seedier" than others picked when less mature, even those from the same plant.

Pick eggplant fruits from the garden when full size is reached but while the exterior is still a glossy purple. Once the exterior becomes dull purple, the eggplant fruit is over-mature.

Question: What makes lettuce taste bitter?

Answer: Any factor that stresses the plants can cause the bitter taste. With lettuce, it usually is excessive heat and/or insufficient water. Close spacing of plants and advancing age could also make lettuce taste bitter.

Dr. Johnson is a horticulturist with the Galveston County Extension Office of Texas Cooperative Extension, Texas A&M University. Visit his web site at http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/galveston/index.htm

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