Growing Galloping Horseradish

By Barbara Melera

Once you have committed to being a vegetable gardener and living in your home for at least five years, you should consider creating beds for three spectacularly delicious plants: Asparagus, Rhubarb, and Horseradish. Time is the greatest challenge for gardeners who wish to raise these three vegetables because it takes three years for an asparagus patch to mature, two years for a rhubarb patch to mature, and six months for a horseradish patch to mature. With this in mind, you need to get started now.

The Egyptians knew about and used horseradish as early as 1500 BC. At the time of the Jewish Exodus, horseradish was designated as one of the “five bitter herbs” that Jews were told to eat during Passover. The early Greeks used horseradish as a lower-back rub and an aphrodisiac. By 1300–1600 AD, the root was being used by Europeans, especially in Central Europe, Scandinavia, and England. It was increasingly used for medicinal purposes such as cough expectorant and treatment for food poisoning, scurvy, tuberculosis, and colic. During the 17th century, horseradish gained new popularity as an ingredient in “Horseradish Ale” made from horseradish, wormwood, and tansy.

The horseradish variety that is most popular today is ‘Malinor Kren’. It originated in Czechoslavakia more than 100 years ago and is still the most reliable horseradish available.

Horseradish is sold as crowns and sticks. Crowns are the main stems and are very hard to find. Sticks are the runner roots that emerge from the main stems and can grow to 20+ feet. Sticks are sold much more frequently than crowns.

Annually, more than 24 million pounds of horseradish plants are processed to produce approximately 6 million gallons of prepared horseradish.

Growing Horseradish

To plant horseradish roots, dig a hole 1 foot in diameter and 8 inches deep. Loosen the soil at the bottom of the hole. Place the root in the hole with the small end at the bottom of the hole and allow the root to rest along the side of the hole so the top of the root just breaks the surface of the soil. Refill the hole with a mixture of soil and compost or dried cow manure and mound up the dirt 2–3 inches above the soil’s surface because the dirt will settle with time and watering. Make sure the top of the root is left uncovered.

Keep the soil slightly moist. The composted soil mixture should provide the plant with enough nutrients, but can be supplemented with a low-nitrogen fertilizer two to three times during the year. For the most pungent flavor, do not harvest the roots until the leaves have seen a hard frost. One-year-old plants have the most flavor, so dig the roots up each year and replant in the spring. Horseradish roots may also be planted in the fall like onions and garlic.

Root Vegetable Tips

Root vegetables are essential for those gardeners looking to live off the production from their vegetable gardens. Should we ever face a worldwide disaster, it will be the root vegetables— asparagus, rhubarb, potatoes, onions, shallots, horseradish, sweet potatoes, carrots, turnips, etc.—that will be key to humanity’s survival. Learning how to grow and nurture root vegetables should be a part of the curriculum of every middle and high school in this country. In fact, it once was. I hope each of you includes some root vegetables in your garden. They are delicious, nutritious and essential! o where such as in a hall, in your home office, or next to your bed.

Barbara Melera is president of Harvesting History (www.harvesting-history.com), a company founded in 2016 to provide horticultural and agricultural products, largely of the heirloom variety, along with garden tools and equipment.

Horseradish root photo courtesy of Frank Vincentzderivative work — The Man in Question (gesprec) · (forðung), CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons.

For a change, arrange ready-potted flower bulbs in a tall vase so the flower bulbs barely peek out above the rim. If the pot holding the flower bulbs sinks too far below the rim, raise it up by using a little upside-down flower pot or pebbles.

For more flower arranging inspiration, go to www.ilsysays.com

Flower Arranging for the Spring Holiday Season

Brighten up your home with flowers in radiant spring colors, from a single stem to a big vase just bursting with flowers. Bulb flowers are a quick and easy way to give your home that look and feel of springtime—perfect for the spring holiday season!

An arrangement of branches is simply part of the Easter tradition. If you think this is old-fashioned, however, think again. They’re right back in style. To make one, start with a fairly big vase, preferably glass. Fill the bottom with clean water and put some twisted branches (or pussy willow or flowering forsythia) in it. Among these branches, arrange long-stemmed bulb flowers such as yellow Persian buttercups (Ranunculus) or white tulips, or limit the color scheme to just a single color. Finish it off with matte-black Easter or spring decorations.

The basis of each bulb flower is its bulb, so why not show it off as well? To create this effect, place each hyacinth with its bulb still attached into small glass vases that reveal the bulbs and their roots. These add a botanical touch to your house. Almost all bulb flowers are available as ready-potted bulbs that you can place either indoors or outdoors. Using them in your home is a nice way to connect the indoors with the outdoors.

Celebrating a spring holiday meal together calls for a beautifully decorated dining table. A vase of fresh flowers such as tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, or grape hyacinths provides just the right touch.

Make a flower still life in a spring theme by filling a plate or bowl with items like colored Easter eggs and individual spring flowers, for instance. Then casually arrange your still life some-

Orchid Watering Tips

With National Orchid Day coming up on April 16, Westerlay Orchids (www. Westerlay.com) shared these easy tips for how not to be an orchid killer. After all, they were voted plant of the year for 2023!

Soak, Drain, Thrive! It literally takes 3 minutes to step up your orchid game and keep them thriving. They could provide a lifetime of beauty if you stay in this routine:

• Check the roots that are in the plastic liner. If they are green and the bark is dark and moist, watering can wait a few more days. If the roots look gray, and the bark is dry, it’s time to water.

• Place the orchid in the kitchen sink in inside a watertight container like a large bowl.

• Pour water onto the bark, and let the water fill the container to the halfway mark.

• Let the orchid soak for at least 20 minutes. If the orchid is very dry, it can even soak for one to two hours.

• Remove the orchid from the water and allow it to drain. Re-purpose the drainage water for your outdoor plants so the water doesn’t go to waste.

• Return the orchid to the decorative pot and location. Enjoy! o

Begin Mowing Your Lawn at the Proper Height

Valerie Smith of Sod Solutions shared the following tips for spring lawn maintenance. Spring maintenance tips differ somewhat from maintenance practices that take place during the rest of the year because the weather is beginning to warm up and new growth is starting again.

Before the onset of summer heat, lawn patchwork and a light top dressing with a sand and topsoil mix is a great way to recover any weak areas. Plugs can be purchased to fill in areas of the lawn with bare spots.

Aerating your lawn is also an ideal way to help deliver nutrients and break up compacted soils. Smith typically recommends doing this once every couple of years. If you notice thatch that is thicker than 1⁄2 inch, dethatch in late May.

The timing of the first mow of the spring for mature, established turfgrass lawn varies widely depending on the area you live in. Grasses come out of dormancy differently depending on the environment and temperatures your area encounters.

Generally speaking, however, midMarch is about the time to begin your regimen for spring green-up and mowing. It’s important to note that the first mow of the spring shouldn’t take place while warm season grass is dormant.

Mowing heights vary for each grass type, but you should never remove more than a third of the leaf blade from any grass type. If you mow more than this, you risk scalping the grass. To find out the ideal mowing height for your specific grass type, view the Lawn Mowing Guide at https://sodsolutions.com/ lawn-care-guides/mowing/.

Lastly, a good tip for spring is to make sure your lawn mower blades are sharpened so the blades slice neatly through the grass rather than ripping the tender new growth. If the grass blades aren’t cut neatly, the mower is damaging them, which opens the grass to the possibility of disease. Performing regular maintenance on your mower is good practice for the end of the mowing season or before spring takes place o

New Plant Spotlight

Sanguisorba x ‘Plum Drops’ PPAF

Intrinsic Perennial Gardens, Inc., announce their first Great Burnet (Sanguisorba) introduction: Sanguisorba x ‘Plum Drops’ PPAF.

Intermediate plants grow 3–4 feet tall and 2 feet wide. They bloom heavy in August and continue into October with hundreds of fingershaped, plum-colored flowers.

The plants have clean, deep-green pinnnate foliage below the upright wiry-like stems. They are hardy to USDA Zones 4–9. This easy-to-grow plant prefers a moist to average soil in full sun.

It combines nicely with fall Asters and ornamental grasses like Calamagrostis and Deschampsia. While these plants are widely available in the EU, they are an up-and-coming genera in the U.S. market.

For more information, visit www. intrinsicperennialgardens.com. o

Quick Links to Recent Washington Gardener Blog Posts

• Cherry Blossom Viewing Alternatives in our Region

• Daphne Plant Profile

• Hydrangea Care and Maintenance

• Nature’s Best Hope with Doug Tallamy

• Bountiful Berries

See more Washington Gardener blog posts at WashingtonGardener.blogspot.com o

March–April Garden To-Do List

• Avoid walking on and compacting wet soil in the garden.

• Prune grapevines.

• Put up trellises and teepees for peas, climbing beans, etc.

• Plant peas, potatoes, beets, turnips, radishes, cabbage, mustard greens, onion sets, carrots, and kale.

• Set out traps for mice, moles, and voles.

• Get a soil test.

• Do soil preparation—add lime, compost, etc., as needed.

• Mulch beds with a light hand.

• Start or update your garden journals.

• Clean out any old debris from last season from your growing beds.

• Turn your compost pile.

• Repot root-bound houseplants and start fertilizing them.

• Clean leaves and debris from your water garden.

• Do not be alarmed if your pond turns green from algae bloom—this is natural until your water plants fill the surface area. Add a barley ball to combat it for now.

• Cut back ornamental grasses.

• Water during dry spells.

• Cut your daffodils for indoor bouquets, but do not combine daffodils with other flowers in one vase. They give off a toxic substance that may kill off your other blooms prematurely.

• Weed by hand to avoid disturbing newly forming roots.

• Walk your garden to look for early signs of fungal disease.

• Divide perennials and herbs.

• Fertilize new growth.

• Plant and prune roses.

• Transplant small trees and shrubs.

• Buy or check on your stored summer bulbs (such as dahlias and caladiums). Pot them and start to water to give them an early start on the season.

• If you started seeds last month, thin them and start the hardening-off process.

• Start some more seeds—try flowering annuals like impatiens and petunias.

• Prune fruit trees as their buds are swelling. Check for dead and diseased wood to prune out. Cut a few branches for indoor forcing, if desired.

• Build a raised bed for vegetables. Add lots of manure and compost.

• Buy an indoor plant to liven up your office space. Try an orchid or African violet.

• Cut back and clear out the last of your perennial beds.

• Feed birds and provide nesting materials (try dryer lint), as well as houses, for the start of their family season.

• Plant a tree for Arbor Day, which falls on different dates in different states. In our area, it is the first Wednesday in April for Maryland, second Friday in April for Virginia, and last Friday in April for DC. In addition, many local groups and towns have their own celebrations.

• Read a good gardening book or magazine.

• Cut some branches (Forsythia, Quince, Bittersweet, Redbud, etc.) for forcing into bloom and enjoying indoors. o