Rye, Cereal Rye, Ryegrass, Annual Ryegrass, Perennial Ryegrass, Winter Rye… a lot of terms to keep up with. It can get really confusing because those common names are often randomly (and incorrectly) applied. So, it's important to appreciate the difference between “rye” and “ryegrass”.
Annual Ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) is a highly adaptable short duration cool-season grass native to southern Europe. It is widely distributed throughout the world, including the Americas. For our climate in Tennessee, Annual Ryegrass is commonly used as “winter fill” for lawns, being seeded into stands of warm-season grasses near their Fall dormant period. The ryegrass will grow throughout the winter and into spring. In
the summer, the return of hot weather initiates regrowth of the warm-season grasses as the ryegrass dies off. Annual Ryegrass can also be used as a winter cover crop, or for livestock forage.
Perennial Ryegrass (Lolium perenne) is a cool-season turfgrass often combined with Kentucky Bluegrass. Rapid germination and aggressive establishment are traits that make this grass popular for overseeding and renovation of lawns. In Tennessee, Perennial Ryegrass is widely used as winter cover for dormant Bermudagrass lawns.
Commonly called “rye” or “winter rye”, Cereal Rye (Secale cereal) is a grain with a growth habit similar to wheat. In the USA, rye is harvested for grain and is also grown for pasture, hay, and as a cover crop. For use as a green manure, Winter Rye is the most hardy of all cereals and usually exhibits strong growth during the cool temperatures of late Fall and early Spring.
If, like me, you’ve had confusion in the rye, I hope this short summary has been helpful.
Garden on! blog entry and photo by Mark Murphy, CMG
sources: Annual Ryegrass, Forage Management in the Mid-Atlantic, Maryland Extension fact sheet 775. HortAnswers, University of Illinois Extension. Turfgrass Maintenance, Overseeding Bermudagrass with Perennial Ryegrass, UT Extension W161-J. Alternative Field Crops Manual, University of Wisconsin Extension, University of Minnesota Extension.
As temperatures fall, we get to enjoy the most spectacular fall colors as trees and shrubs begin to turn their leaves. This of course also means that those of us with tree-filled yards will soon be trading in the lawn mower for the rake. | Whether you bag your leaves or gather them into piles, raking is an important job that keeps your yard tidy and your lawn healthy. But don’t stop there! Those fallen leaves can provide two useful materials for your garden, leaf mulch and leaf mold, for FREE!
Leaf Mulch:
Leaves make great mulch and winter ground cover for gardens and around shrubs and trees. This will help insulate plants and protect them from winter freeze damage.
Since large leaves tend to compact down when they get wet, it is important to shred your leaves first. An easy way to do this is to run over them with a lawn mower a few times. A mower with a clipping bag is great for this and will save time. Another way is to put your leaves in a garbage can and use a weed whacker to chop the leaves into pieces. (Please wear safety goggles when you do this).
Leaf Mold
Leaf mold (sometimes you see it also spelled as leaf mould) is simply decomposed leaves. This material is great for improving soil structure and improving the water-holding capacity of soil. A University of Connecticut study found that soil amended with leaf mold increased its water-holding capacity by almost 50 percent.
Leaf mold is very easy to make: Just put fallen leaves into a bin or wire enclosure and turn them every month or so. It does take a bit of patience as it may take six to twelve months for the leaf mold to be ready for your garden. Shredding will speed things up a bit as it helps the leaves to decompose more efficiently.
Once ready, place the leaf mold around (but not touching) the crowns of your plants to help them maintain moisture during summer. Or dig some of it into your soil to make it less dense and help roots penetrate and take up nutrients more easily.
| A great time to mulch your garden is after the first few frosts. Clear your planting beds of any dead vegetation and remaining weeds, then apply about 2 inches of your leaf mulch. In the spring, you can till the leaves into your garden. No matter how you recycle your leaves, they’re sure to be a great (and free) resource for your garden.
By Sabine Ehlers, CMG
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October 15th is the average date of the first Fall frost for most of middle Tennessee. Many of you may have
already had light frost at your home this week. It’s a great time to extend the growing season for some cool-season crops by using a Cold Frame.
So, what is a Cold Frame?… you might think of it as a tiny greenhouse; except that you don’t walk inside it – a cold frame is typically only a couple of feet high – and it does not have a secondary heat source (other than sunshine). By collecting heat from the sun and offering shelter from frost and drying winter winds, a cold frame can give you the opportunity to harvest some fresh produce throughout the winter.
Leafy greens such as lettuce and spinach are among my favorite crops for the cold frame. You may also want to try beets, carrots, and other veggies that thrive in cooler weather. There’s nothing quite like harvesting a fresh garden salad in January!
Essentially, a cold frame is nothing more than a box with a clear or translucent lid. You might even be able to construct one with salvaged items, at little or no expense. Here are a few tips that come to mind from my own cold frame experiments:
1. Find the top first. Old windows and glass doors are popular items to top off a cold frame. But, whatever
you use, it can save a lot of hassle if you pick a material or item(s) for the top first, and then construct the “box” to provide the correct size and support for the top.
* be sure to take appropriate safety measures when using or working with glass.
2. Angle southward. Angle the top so it can more easily shed rain and snow. Also, orient your cold frame with the angled top facing south, to collect as much sunshine as possible.
3. Due to its natural rot –resistant properties, Cedar is a nice wood to use for cold frame construction. If you
don’t have access to some cedar boards, even plain pine will usually last a few years. Pressure-treated (chemically treated) lumber is generally not recommended for use around vegetable beds.
4. Be available. A cold frame requires attention, sometimes daily. Except for the coldest and cloudiest days,
a cold frame will usually need to be opened or vented during the day. With bright sunshine, temperatures can easily exceed 100 degrees inside a closed cold frame; which will cook your cool-season veggies! And, you will usually have to return to close the cold frame for the night. As an option, you can go “high-tech” and install temperature-sensitive automatic venting devices on your cold frame {at additional expense, of course}.  <----Starting the box.
For this cold frame, I used 1" x 6" cedar boards for the back and sides. I planned to use part of an old corrugated plastic "greenhouse panel" to let more light in at the front, so I used a shorter 4" board there.
In the picture below, I've added the translucent panel to the front. The back is now 3 boards tall (18"), and a single "side board" was cut diagonally to make the slanted side pieces.
 <----- Test-fitting the windows.
I used some old wood windows to top the cold frame. Here, I'm testing the fit with 2 windows. A third window was added to complete the top.
Later, I cleaned the windows and plastic panel, to allow the maximum amount of sunlight into the cold frame. I also reinforced the windows in areas where the old frames were about to rot out.
Tip- adding hinges to connect the windows to the back of the cold frame makes for easier venting.
<----- Here's the cold frame positioned in the garden, ready to be planted with transplants or seeded.
It was still pretty hot at this time, so I came back a few weeks
later and added the hinged windows.
Got any other cold frame tips?… if so, please add a comment to this blog.
Garden on…
blog post and photos by Mark Murphy, CMG
Blackberries and Raspberries (along with many other small fruits) can be planted any time they are dormant, usually from November 1 to March 15.
Choosing The Best Varieties
There are many varieties of Blackberries and Raspberries to choose from. Since not all of them do well in our climate, here are some recommendations on varieties that work well in Tennessee:
| Blackberries
Thorned:
Thornless:
Raspberries
Summer Red:
Black:
Purple:
Fall-bearing Red:
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Cheyenne, Shawnee, Choctaw
Chester, Hull, Navaho
Latham, Titan
Cumberland (aka Blackcap), Bristol, Jewel
Brandywine, Royalty
Heritage, Ruby, Autumn Bliss | By choosing different types of brambles, you can potentially harvest fresh fruit five to six months each year. For more details on any of these varieties (i.e. fruit size, maturity date, disease resistance), check out this UT Extension Publication: SP284Selecting a Planting SiteAlmost any soil type (except sandy, poorly drained, or drought-prone ones) will work. If possible, plant blackberries and raspberries a minimum of 300 feet away from wild or existing brambles, to reduce the potential for disease problems. Avoid areas where tomatoes, potatoes or eggplants have recently been grown, to reduce the potential for verticillium wilt. Also, keep in mind the space these type of plants need: | Spacing for Raspberries
In row 2.5-3 ft, between rows 8-10 | Spacing for Blackberries
Thornless: In row 8 ft, between rows 10 ft
Thorned: In row 3-4 ft, between rows 10 ft
| Planting Correctly: Either root cuttings or root suckers can be planted. If root cuttings are used, plant them about 3 to 4 inches deep. If root suckers are used, make holes large enough and deep enough to completely spread the roots. Once planting is done, firm the soil around the plant and water well. For a fall planting, consider adding mulch at the base of the plant to help reduce winter injury. For more information on small fruit, come see us for the upcoming FREE Fall Gardening Workshop: 'Easy to Grow Small Backyard Fruit: Blueberries, Blackberries, Raspberries, Figs, and Muscadines' at the Farmers’ Market (September 7, 9:30 am), visit our UT Extension Office, or Ask a Master Gardener. Happy Fall Gardening! Blog by: Sabine Ehlers, CMG
It’s time to give your landscaping shrubs one last light cut. Pruning should end 10-12 weeks before the last frost date to allow new growth to harden off. The last frost date in Middle Tennessee is generally October 15th, so counting back 10 weeks puts us right at August 6th.  Pruning too late will stimulate plant growth and an early freeze, while that growth is still tender, will kill the young tips. This could lead to more die-back, and set the plant up to be more susceptible to disease. Stimulating growth by pruning can also interfere with the plant going into winter dormancy which can make it more likely to be damaged by cold. Cold damage can cause branch die-back, basal cankers and even death. Don’t prune spring flowering shrubs (azaleas, dogwoods, forsythia, etc) in the fall. These plants have already set buds so you would be cutting off next springs flowers. As a general rule, plants that flower BEFORE July 1 should be pruned AFTER flowering. Plant that bloom AFTER July 1 should be pruned in late winter or early spring. Trees and other herbaceous plants may be best pruned in late winter or early spring while the plants are dormant and before buds begin to swell and open. Do not prune when temperatures are below 20 F. For more information see the UT Publication “Best Management Practices for Pruning Landscape Trees, Shrubs and Ground Covers" here: UTPB1619. Blog by: Linda Lindquist, CMG
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