nl may 13
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11
Inside this
issue:
Weed of the
Month
2
Edible of the
Month
3
Pet Scaped Gar-
den
4
Walk on the
Wild Side
4
Backyard Medi-
cine Cabinet
5
Organic Mowing 6
Wisdom 6
Likes & Links 7
Coming Events 7
Book Review 8
Save Some $ 8
Puzzle Page 9
Last Word 10
...for discerning weeders May, 2013 An Okaloosa County Master Gardener Publication
PLANT SALE SUCCESS!
DON’T FORGET TO
LOG YOUR HOURS
ONTO THE VMS
SYSTEM!
Click here to enter
As you all know, we had our Native Plant Sale on April 13th. The plants we purchased from Dodd
& Dodd were amazing and the plant shoppers who attended were all thrilled. Here’s to hoping we
make this an annual event!
A huge thank you to the set-up crew, hospitality,
and the sale staff! Heard nothing but good com-
ments about the whole event!
22
WEED OF THE MONTH By Jenny G.
Dock, Heart-wing Sorrel Rumex hastatulus Have you noticed the weed with a reddish colored seed head which is growing along the road sides right now? It has been seen in the median of Rt. 85 between Crestview and Ft. Walton Beach for the last month! In early spring any unmown roadside, in town or in neighborhoods may be host to Heart-wing Sorrel, Rumex hastatulus. Commonly called Dock, this weed is in the buckwheat family. It is a medium to tall annual weed. Leaves are ba-sal, which means they grow close to the ground in a clus-ter. The species name hastatulus is Latin for ‘spear-shaped’ which refers to the appearance of the leaves. The flowers start out green, then turn to red when mature.
Looking at the in-dividual flowers closely, they look heart-shaped which gives it its name! It reproduces by seed. This weed is common in sandy soil throughout the coastal plain of the southeastern US. It occurs from cen-tral Florida to Tex-as, and north to Montana, Illinois and Northeast to Massachusetts.
Dock is one of the host plants for the Cowpea Curculio, Chalcodermus geneus, a tiny beetle that measures only 4.8 to 5.5 mm. It feeds on legumes like snap beans, and lima beans, but cowpea is its favorite. Other crops at-tacked are cotton, soybean, and strawberries. “Of all the Rumexes that grow in the South, Rumex hastatulus is probably the most tasty. The tart intense-ly green leaves are hard to misidentify—edible wise—and the bloom that turns from white to red is pleasing to the eye. Its nickname, Heart-wing Sorrel, de-scribes the mature red-dish, winged seed pods. Rumexes have long been used in salads and as potherbs. They make a good stuffing for freshly caught fish! But, they’re best known in sorrel soup popular in France.” Note: A nettle sting is painful because the sting contains acid. Rubbing the sting with a sorrel leaf or any of the docks/rumex can relieve the pain because the leaves con-tain an alkali that neutralizes the acid and reduces the sting. The same leaves work pretty well on bee and ant stings but soap or bicarbonate of soda may work better. Sorrel will not work against wasp stings because they con-tain an alkali. To neutralize those you need an acid such as vinegar, citric acid, pickle juice or even tomato juice. http://www.eattheweeds.com/sorrel-not-a-sheepish-rumex/ http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fw036
“What appeals to us in being near to nature is na-ture's music, and nature's music is more perfect than that of art. It gives us a sense of exaltation to be mov-ing about in the woods, and to be looking at the green; to be standing near the running water, which has its rhythm, its tone and its harmony. The swing-ing of the branches in the forest, the rising and falling of the waves, all has its music. And once we contemplate and become one with nature our hearts open to its music.”
The Sufi Message of Hazrat Inayat Khan
33
IPOMOEA BATATAS By Shari F.
Who? Sounds like that girl from Brazil, right? Naw, this one is a favorite table staple in our part of the country. Sweet Potatoes! No pantry closet should be without. This golden vegetable is available at all the grocery stores in several forms… frozen as mashed, frozen as fries, frozen in chunks, fresh in the produce department, and as dessert! Sweet po-tato pie has become a Thanksgiving treat in many former Yankee households. The local life-time Panhandle farmers say “the darker the skin, the sweeter the meat”. The history of the Sweet Potato goes back to what is now referred to as BCE. In South America, Peruvian sweet po-tato remnants dating as far back as 8000 BC have been found. Dr. Daniel F. Austin, postulated that the center of origin of I. batatas was between the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico and the mouth of the Orinoco River in Venezuela. The 'cultigen' had most likely been spread by local people to the Caribbean and South America by 2500 BC. providing strong supporting evidence that the geographical zone pro-posed by Dr. Austin is the primary center of diversity. The much lower diversity found in Peru–Ecuador suggests this region should be considered as secondary center of sweet potato diversity. The sweet potato was also grown before western explora-tion in Polynesia. Sweet potato has been radiocarbon-dated in the Cook Islands to 1000 AD, and current thinking is that it was brought to central Polynesia around 700 AD, possibly by Polynesians who had traveled to South America and back, and spread across Polynesia to Hawaii and New Zealand from there. It is possible, however, that South Americans brought it to the Pacific, although this is unlike-ly as it was the Polynesians who had a strong maritime tra-dition and not the native South Americans. The theory that the plant could spread by floating seeds across the ocean is not supported by evidence. Another point is that the sweet potato in Polynesia is the cultivated Ipomoea batatas, which is generally spread by vine cuttings (slips) and not by seeds. Sweet potatoes are now cultivated throughout tropical and warm temperate regions wherever there is sufficient water to support their growth. For example, sweet potatoes were introduced as a food crop in Japan in 1735 and in Korea in 1764. The town of Opelousas, Louisiana's "Yambilee" has been celebrated every October since 1946. The Frenchmen who established the first settlement at Opelousas in 1760 dis-covered the native Atakapa, Alabama, Choctaw, and Ap-
palousa tribes eating sweet potatoes. The sweet potato be-came a favorite food item of the French and Spanish set-tlers and thus continued a long history of cultivation in Louisiana. In the Southeastern United States, sweet potatoes are tradi-tionally cured to improve storage, flavor, and nutrition, and to allow wounds on the periderm (the secondary protective (dermal) tissue that replaces the epidermis during growth in thickness of stems and roots) of the harvested root to heal. Proper curing requires drying the freshly dug roots on the ground for two to three hours, then storage at 85–90° with 90 to 95% relative humidity from five to fourteen days. Cured sweet potatoes can keep for thirteen months when stored at 55–59° with less than 90% relative humidity. Colder temperatures injure the roots. (Too much for this person to consider!) Besides simple starches, sweet potatoes are rich in complex carbohydrates, dietary fiber, beta-carotene (a pro-vitamin A carotenoid), vitamin C, vitamin B6, manganese and po-tassium. In 1992, the Center for Science in the Public In-terest compared the nutritional value of sweet potatoes to other vegetables. Considering fiber content, complex carbo-hydrates, protein, vitamins A and C, iron, and calcium, the sweet potato ranked highest in nutritional value. According to these criteria, sweet potatoes earned 184 points, 100 points over the next on the list, the common potato. Sweet potato varieties with dark orange flesh have more beta car-otene than those with light-colored flesh. White flesh sweet potatoes are drier and not so sweet. In North Florida planting dates are from March thru June, using transplants or slips of Beauregard, Centennial, or Vardaman varieties. Vardaman is a bush type Sweet Potato for small gardens. Slips are available locally in most garden stores mid to late May and are a breeze to plant. Somewhere while researching this luscious veggie, it was mentioned that Sweet Potatoes cannot be shipped across state lines. REALLY! That means the fresh sweet taters we buy at the grocers are raised close to home. Fresh from Florida! Ed note: Dr. Austin is affiliated with the Dept. of Biological Sciences, Florida Int’l Univ., Miami; Research Assoc., Fairchild Tropical Garden, Coral Ga-bles, Fl.; Emeritus Professor, Florida Atlantic Univ., Boca Raton, Division of Sonoran Desert Studies Arizona-Sonora Desert Mu-seum, Tucson, AZ and author and eco-nomic editor of Economic Botany.
44
THE PET SCAPED GARDEN By Linda M.
As promised, last month we
began this article on pets and
your landscape. This month
we conclude with pet waste
management.
It's important to clean up af-
ter your pet. Pet waste can
contain bacteria and parasites
that can infect animals as well
as people who spend time in the landscape. These micro-
scopic dangers include E. coli, giardia, and hookworm,
which cause uncomfortable symptoms or even severe ill-
ness.
Pet waste left on the ground can wash into storm drains,
which empty into the nearest body of water. The nutrients
in pet waste encourage weeds and algae growth, and use
up oxygen in the water. Make sure to pick up dog waste,
tie it in a plastic bag, and place it in the trash. You can
even flush pet waste down the toilet (but don't flush "kitty
litter"). Never put pet waste in your compost pile. Rodent
and rabbit bedding can be composted. Do not add any cat,
dog, or ferret waste to the compost pile, many intestinal
parasites are transmissible to people. Most, if not all, pet
reptiles are carriers of salmonella, so no reptile waste ei-
ther.
When cleaning out the litter box, cat waste may be
scooped out and flushed down the toilet, and the used lit-
ter should be bagged, sealed and placed in the trash.
Dumping the entire contents of the litter box down your
toilet will cause plumbing problems and prematurely fill
up your septic tank or sewer system with indigestible ma-
terial.
Pet waste, urine especially, is a major culprit of lawn dam-
age from dogs. Turf damage usually appears as greener,
more vigorous patches of lawn or brown dead spots sur-
rounded by a dark green ring of turf. This can look similar
to brown patch and dollar spot, so it is important to moni-
tor animal behavior on your lawn to determine whether
the problem is due to dog waste or lawn disease. When
dogs urinate on grass, they are dumping concentrated ni-
trogen and soluble salts onto the turf. This produces a fer-
tilizer “green up” effect in small amounts and burn spots
in larger amounts. Urine appears to cause the most dam-
age on turf with low soil moisture, in months when turf is
not actively growing, and on over-fertilized turf.
Dog feces also add surplus nitrogen to lawns, but it is re-
leased much more slowly than through urine. Solid wastes
mainly cause damage through smothering turf, but this
can be avoided by raking it up and disposing of the feces.
You can heavily water the spot where a dog urinated on
the lawn, to dilute the urine and minimize damage.
Use fertilizers and pesticides as sparingly as possible, if at
all. Even “pet friendly” or “non-toxic” products can cause
problems, most notably gastrointestinal upset. The more
natural and organic your garden, the safer it will be for
your pet.
WA
LK
ON
TH
E W
ILD
SID
E
It’s May already, and the beginning of summer for our area.
Warmer days, but we still may get a cool evening now and
then. Here are some of the wild activities you can look for.
Birds
Brown peli-
can and white
ibis young are
now visible in
nests. Least
terns and
snowy plovers
nest on Pan-
handle beach-
es, sandy flats and flat rooftops. Bald eagles begin migrating
north. Breeding begins for many resident and summer
songbirds. The last of the cedar waxwings and goldfinches
head for their northern breeding grounds.
Mammals
Gray bats congregate at maternity caves now through mid-
July.
Reptiles
Courtship ritual of adult alligators begins, noted by the loud
and resounding bellows and water slapping. Continues
through June.
Loggerhead and green sea turtles begin nighttime nesting
on sandy beaches. Soft-shell and alligator snapping turtles
complete egg laying.
Fish
Bluegill are bedding at the full moon. Redbreast sunfish and
spotted sunfish begin spawning in rivers. Pompano running
in the surf in north Florida.
Insects
Mating season of the invasive Love Bug species begins and
lasts until September.
Don’t forget to provide a water source if you are attracting
wildlife to your landscape.
55
THE BACKYARD MEDICINE CABINET By Karen H.
Gardening for independence continues. We've grown tea and the sweetener for the tea. This month we'll look at what we can grow in our gardens to stock the medicine cabinet. The subject of al-ternative medicine is immense and has proponents and detrac-tors on all sides. For this article, I'll focus on plants that we can grow readily in our home gardens that are believed to be useful for some common ailments and problems.
Herbal remedies have a long and varied history. A book called “The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine”, was writ-ten by Emperor Huang Ti in the year 2697 B.C. and dealt with herbal remedies, acupuncture, diet, and the prevention and cure of physical and mental ailments. Herbal remedies were common in the New World as well. Native Americans used plantain for snakebites, and sassafras for fe-vers, while birch bark was used as a natural splint for setting frac-tures. A Native American doctor in the Massachusetts Bay Colony by the name of Joe Pye showed the pioneers how to harvest and recognize many herbs, sharing his considerable knowledge about good herbs vs poisonous ones. (And maybe if you also grow Joe Pye Weed you too have always wondered how it got its name. Look no further: http://tinyurl.com/bjw75qb. Herbalism hasn't always been looked on favorably around the world and in fact at certain times it has been deemed witchcraft and we all know where that led to in 17th century colonial Massachusetts.
So, what are some of these plants and the medicinal properties attributed to them? Most of us are probably very familiar with the aloe vera plant and its usefulness in treating minor burns, but other plants are known to have soothing properties for burns and minor abrasions. The use of aloe vera, goldenseal and calen-dula ('pot marigold') are described here: http://tinyurl.com/bjmngrp
Headache? There is a long list of plants that are believed to pro-vide relief, including honeysuckle, rosemary and peppermint among many others. One of the most effective is said to be lime flowers. Curses. My lime tree only blooms once a year so perhaps I'd better look into growing an everbearing lime variety! This
article contains lots of advice for what to use and how to use it to combat headaches: http://medicinalplants.us/headache
Indigestion and stomach aches may respond well to several herbs including chamomile, licorice, anise, ginger, thyme and fennel. Suggested remedies: http://tinyurl.com/ate46tj Or you can try using dandelions. I love it that they're described below as 'cost-effective'. At last, reasons to love dandelions! http://tinyurl.com/amgpv7x
For skin problems, aloe vera makes the list again along with san-dalwood, tea tree oil and neem. Neem?? Hmmm, I'm not sure I
want to use the same product on my skin that we gardeners know to be an insecticide, miticide and fun-gicide. But here's the information anyway: http://tinyurl.com/a8fu5ml
Insomnia and anxiety are both treated by many of the same prep-arations. These articles describe pros and cons of several of them. I am intrigued by the claims of the hypnotic effect of valerian but per-haps not enough to want to try it as a sleep aid. And red poppies? Not too sure about that one either. For my money, I think I'll stick to my nightly cup of chamomile tea dur-ing times of stress... and perhaps
add a salad to that! Did you know that lettuce has a calming effect? When I read that, I remembered my mother telling me that wilted lettuce, one of her favorite dishes, always made her sleepy.. It does seem that there is a basis in fact for that: http://www.botanical-online.com/remediesinsomnia.htm
This morning I happened to catch a show on the Cooking Chan-nel with the intriguing title of “Grow Your Own Drugs”. Future episodes to be broadcast include “Petals” May 1; “Shrubs and Trees” May 8; and “Wild Plants” May 15. The full episode list: is here: http://tinyurl.com/a6n56aj
And here is a handy guide to growing many of these plants:
http://tinyurl.com/bauvzcv
Natives in Bloom courtesy of Jane
M.
Spring garden courtesy of Karen H.
66
Those clever French have adopted a new organic lawn mower. It runs on grass and is being used to keep the grass mowed around the Eiffel Tower and even City Hall in Paris. The gas savings alone would justify this move but this lawn mower produces the fertilizer necessary to keep the lawns green and growing AND the fertilizer is organic and biode-gradable. Even the Louvre is getting in on the act. These mowers are motorless and inde-pendent and work with only minor maintenance. Unlike the workers who drove the gas powered mowers, these new mowers are not mindful of the 35 hour work week observed in France. Welcome to the world of ovine mowers with some of the genus capra also work-ing the lawns of Paris. What??? You don’t know your sheep from your goats? Just wait until they join the union. Paris has come up with an unconventional way to keep its urban
grass trim without costing the earth. Earlier this week, the city enlisted four black sheep as part of a pilot project to munch away a section of the city’s gardens in northeastern Paris. Eco-efficient and petite in size, the four legged lawnmowers are
Ouessant sheep, named after a small island west of Brittany. “It might sound funny, but animal lawnmowers are ecological as no gaso-line is required, and cost half the price of a machine. And they’re so cute,” says Ferme de Paris sheep keeper, marcel Collet. Between April and October, the new “park workers” will graze grounds the size of eight tennis-courts in three tow-week-long sweeps in a move to promote biodiversity and make the grooming of the capital’s green areas more sustaina-
ble—replacing both chemicals and lawn mowers. Out of work, they will be resting back at a farm on the outskirts of Paris. http://tinyurl.com/cycgm4k
GREEN LAWN CARE courtesy of Lynn F.
MOTHER’S LESSONS courtesy of Sandie O.
My mother taught me TO
APPRECIATE A JOB
WELL DONE. “If you’re
going to kill each other, do
it outside. I just finished
cleaning.”
My mother taught me RE-
LIGION. “You’d better pray
that will come out of the
carpet.”
My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL. “If you don’t
straighten up, I’m going to knock you into the middle of next
week.”
My mother taught me LOGIC. “Because I said so, that’s why.”
My mother taught me MORE LOGIC. “If you fall out of the swing
and break your neck, you’re not going to the store with me.”
My mother taught me FORESIGHT. “Make sure you wear clean
underwear, in case you’re in an accident.”
My mother taught me IRONY. “Keep crying and I’ll give you
something to cry about.”
My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS. “Shut your
mouth and eat your supper.”
My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM. “Will you look
at that dirt on the back of your neck.”
My mother taught me about STAMINA. You’ll sit there until all
that spinach is gone.”
My mother taught me about WEATHER. “This room of yours
looks as if a tornado went through it.”
My mother taught me about HUMOR. “When that lawn mower
cuts off your foot, don’t come running to me.”
My mother taught me HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT. “If you
don’t eat your vegetables, you’ll never grow up.”
My mother taught me GENETICS. “You’re just like your father.”
My mother taught me about my ROOTS. “Shut that door behind
you. Do you think you were born in a barn?”
My mother taught me WISDOM. “When you get to be my age,
you’ll understand.”
And, my favorite, my mother taught me about JUSTICE. “One
day you’ll have kids and I hope they turn out just like you!”
Don’t forget. This is YOUR newsletter!
Let us know subjects you’d like to see covered.
All submission appreciated!
77
LIKES & LINKS During the past month, we’ve had a lot of links forwarded
to us. We’ve included some really good ones for you to
check out!
Interested in wildlife? Ever wonder where our migrating
wildlife goes? Check out http://www.learner.org/jnorth/
for a cool web site for tracking wildlife migrations.
plantAnt.com is now an official FNGLA locator! By using
this absolutely free service, you’ll be able to: search all types
of plants, view FNGLA member map & directory, automati-
cally search botanical or common names, narrow your
search by distance to your location, view pictures, pricing
and descriptions, sort your results by price, distance, size,
etc. and so much more! www.plantant.com
An interesting Ted Talk on greening the world’s deserts and
the possible effect on climate change. http://tinyurl.com/
chtyecq
Chicago, home to the nation’s largest vertical farm http://
tinyurl.com/9wmbzah
COMING EVENTS
May 4 Escambia County Master Gardeners Spring Garden
Discovery Day and Plant Market, 8am-noon, Stefani Road Ex-
tension Office.
May 4 Gardening Friends of the Big Bend will host a “Birds in
Your Backyard” workshop at the Quincy, FL UF North Florida
Research and Education Center (I-10 exit 181) from 8:30 am to
12:30 pm. Registration is $20 for non-members and $15 for
members. For more info Friends@ifas.ufl.edu
May 7 Lawn Care in Northwest Florida. 10:30am at the
Crestview Public Library, Crestview.
May 10 National Public Gardens Day!
May 11 Niceville Garden Club invites children ages 8-12 to
“Make a Floral Design for Mother”. 10:00-11:30 at the Unitarian
Universalist Fellowship of the Emerald Coast, 1295 N. Bayshore
Drive, Valparaiso, FL. Reservations required. Children must be
accompanied by an adult.
May 11 Dogwood Garden Club of Gulf Breeze presents Ad-
vanced Floral Design Study course 7. Registration at 8:30, class
begins at 9am in the north room of the Gulf Breeze Presbyterian
Church. $65 for the 3 advanced classes. For more info contact
Linda Henderson 936-4950
May 13 “Monday’s in the Garden” presents “Raised Bed Gar-
dening” with Tina Tuttle, 10am. Milton Gardens at PSC Milton
campus. Master Gardener CEUs available. This will be a hands-
on demonstration so come prepared to plant the beds.
May 13 You are invited to join the Valparaiso Garden Club field
trip to the Dragon’s Mead Daylily farm just north of Panama
City. A lovely day in the garden at the peak of the daylily bloom.
You’ll view beautiful plants and have the opportunity to buy the
plants straight out of the ground.
May 16 Tri-County Horticulture Study group, an outreach or-
ganization of the Valparaiso Garden Club, to meet at Eden State
Park (Walton County, Hwy 395N) for a discussion on antique
roses. 10am. Free, no membership or dues, men are wel-
come. For more info, contact Marie Harrison at 678-2842 mari-
eharrison@valp.net or Joyce Waters-Smith at 269-2170
joycews@cox.net
May 17 Landscape Problems: Diseases and Weeds, Okaloosa
County Extension, 3098 Airport Road, Crestview. $10 8am to
12:10pm. To register call 850-689-5850.
May 17 Navarre Flower Show open to the public (Judging on
May 16)
May 18-19 PFGC hosts annual Secrets Gardens Tour. Nine gar-
dens will be featured over 2 days. $15 tickets.
May 18 Dogwood Garden Club of Gulf Breeze presents Ad-
vanced Floral Design Study course 8. Registration at 8:30, class
begins at 9am in the north room of the Gulf Breeze Presbyterian
Church. $65 for the 3 advanced classes. For more info contact
Linda Henderson 936-4950
May 23 FFGC District I Meeting, Christ the King Episcopal
Church, Santa Rosa Beach hosted by Green Thumb Garden Club
and DeFuniak Garden Club.
May 25 Dogwood Garden Club of Gulf Breeze presents Ad-
vanced Floral Design Study course 9. Registration at 8:30, class
begins at 9am in the north room of the Gulf Breeze Presbyterian
Church. $65 for the 3 advanced classes. For more info contact
Linda Henderson 936-4950
May 25 Bromeliad Society of NW Florida presents its annual
Spring Plant Auction, 2:30 until dark. 519 Palisades Rd, Pen-
sacola. For info: 476-9960 or 476-0928.
88
BOOK REVIEW by Marg S.
This time I’m going to highlight a few of the titles available
through the UF/IFAS bookstore.
First, SP 437 Invasive and Non-native Plants You Should
Know, Northwest Florida, is being discontinued. While
supplies last, they are being sold for $20.
Second, SP 467 Best Native Plants for Southern Gardens,
by Gil Nelson. This 412 page, illustrated volume is $29.95.
Third, SP 370 Common Mosquitoes of Florida ID Deck.
Helps identify 33 different mosquitoes you might encoun-
ter in Florida. $12.00
Fourth, SP 462 Sustainable Gardening for Florida. Half of
all royalties from sales of this book will be paid directly to
the Florida Chapter of The Nature Conservancy. $24.95
Lastly, SP 459 Florida Wildflowers in Their Natural Com-
munities. 384 pages with over 500 color photos and de-
tailed descriptions. $24.95
If you have a Kindle, don’t
forget to search “free” gar-
den books. There are loads of
titles under the free section
that won’t cost you a dime.
For example, there is a free
book, The Garden, You, and
I. This book was originally
published in 1906, written by
Mabel Osgood Wright. It’s a
delightful read.
“Where is human nature so weak as in the bookstore?”
Henry Ward Beecher
SAVE SOME $ by Marg S.
Some creative ideas for helping save some
of our hard earned dollars when it comes
to gardening.
HUMMINGBIRD NECTAR
Combine one part plain white sugar and
four parts water. Slowly heat the solution
for 1 to 2 minutes to allow the sugar to
dissolve and slow fermentation. Allow the
solution to cool completely before filling
feeders. Unused nectar may be stored in
the refrigerator, covered, for up to one
week.
PLANT MARKERS
Take a lid from a tin can or a plastic lid,
write (or stamp) the plant name you need.
Insert the lid between the tines of an old
fork and insert near the plant.
MAKE SEED SPACING EASIER
Take an old measuring stick (wood kind)
and drill holes at the one inch marks (or
whatever spacing you prefer). Make sure
the holes are large enough to allow a pen-
cil or dowel to go through. Lay your yard-
stick along the plant row and mark your
planting holes!
REUSABLE SHOPPING BAGS
Reusable shopping bags can be used as
planting containers! Remove the plastic
bottom insert and cut off the handles. Fill
with potting medium and plant away! The
bags will break down over the season and
can be composted.
CLEAN IT UP!
Gardening tools aren’t cheap. Keep the
ones you have in good working order. Al-
ways clean your tools before you put them
away. Keep the edges sharp. You’ll save
time and money in the long run.
CHECK OUT SALES
Don’t discount yard sales. Especially mov-
ing sales and estate sales. Take the time to
make the rounds and score inexpensive
containers and tools!
START WITH SMALLER PLANTS
When you get plants from a retail location,
choose smaller plants. They usually cost
less and will transplant better than large
specimens.
GROW WHAT YOU EAT
If you are growing vegetables, grow what
you’ll eat! Try growing the more expensive
foods that you buy in the store all the time.
If you find yourself spending a lot of mon-
ey on fresh herbs, get that herb garden
going!
KEEP A RECORD
Not only keep track of what you planted
where, but keep a running record of your
garden expenses. You’ll be able to see
where most of your money is going and
maybe find a less expensive solution.
AND SOME OTHERS
-Buy only the quantities that you need.
-Use local sources for heavy stuff to save
on shipping costs.
- Make friends with someone who owns a
pick-up truck.
-Be nice to garden center clerks. You’d be
surprised at the money saving information
you may glean from them.
-Purchase late in the season when there
are more likely to be discounts.
We all love to garden and saving money
while you’re at it makes it all that more
enjoyable!
Don’t forget—time is money as well. If you
can find an easier and less time consum-
ing method for doing something—do it!
99
PUZZLE PAGE
Q O Z D A Z M U L C H W D K C D X
W I Z M B A B E A E D A H S F D A
L R P R A K E Z G M T O K I I S E
M Y X Z P L R I N E L U D N S L P
Y G H C N E B L I E W U P H Q D O
D S V E F V E I D S D J O P C G T
S R O K X T Y T E Y I V U U V R T
T H Y K M R R R E G E T T Q E R I
V O R S D A E E W L N W A B T M N
D B E E R N S F U A O I M M V R G
M R B V A S R K L R R I L T E X I
G C B O I P U P M K L L F D J L Z
R Q U L N L N S O C C Q E E E J C
L C R G A A O T F A R G P W K E E
H O H F G N Z T H O S E E C O W S
L G S G E T T R E L L I S A S R X
W C A C O D W A T E R E N U R P T
BENCH
CLEMATIS
CLIMBER
CUTWORMS
DRAINAGE
FERTILIZE
GLOVES
GRAFT
HOE
HOLE
HOSE
MULCH
NURSERY
PLANT
POTTING
PRUNE
RAKE
SEEDLING
SHADE
SHRUBBERY
SHOVEL
TRANSPLANT
TRELLIS
TROWEL
WATER
WEEDING
1010
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I have come to the conclusion that I
am very glad that (a) I do not have nosy
neighbors (b) the homes in my neigh-
borhood are single story ones and (c)
that my back yard has high fences.
To begin with, I got the genius idea
that I wanted an outdoor shower. I
never liked walking through the house
after a day in the garden. Usually, you
could follow my trail of garden dirt and
plant parts.
Thankfully I had help with the con-
struction part and I now have an out-
door shower. I hook up a camp shower
when I first go out and by the time I’m
done with the garden chores, the water
is warm.
Lattice work was installed for privacy
but to be quite honest, it doesn’t hide
much. So, I installed roll up blinds. In
theory, this would have worked won-
ders—in practice....refer to (a) (b) and
(c) above.
I have to admit that I do enjoy the
shower—even with the questionable
coverage. At least it’s in the back yard
and the UPS driver only goes to the
front (otherwise he could be struck
blind).
It rained today so I know that I’ll be
out slug hunting again tonight. Sure, I
could put down slug bait but I’d rather
not. I put on my head lamp, gather up a
can with salt and a rubber glove. With
any luck it will be before midnight
(that’s when I was out there yesterday).
Refer again to (a) (b) and (c).
Then there was today, a baby bunny
decided to go into my greenhouse. I
don’t have a problem with rabbits but I
didn’t want the little guy in there. I’m
not the most nimble person in the
world and anyone who has been
around baby bunnies...let’s just say it
wasn’t pretty. He finally left but I swear
I heard him laughing as he exited.
So indeed, I’m really glad that the
neighbors can’t view my ‘escapades’
most of the time. But I can’t help think-
ing about when I was growing up and
we didn’t have all this ‘privacy’.
Back then, we lived in row houses
(what they call townhomes now). The
backyards all faced the alley and every-
one had a back gate into the alley.
There were fences between the yards
but they weren’t high wooden things.
No, these were just the right height to
lean on. Not so high you couldn’t ‘hop
the fence’ to go play with your friends
but high enough to provide a comforta-
ble leaning spot.
Those fences heard a lot of stories
during the summer months. Who was
where, prices, politics, and sports. De-
bating on who was growing vegetables
the wrong way and passing over a
warm pie.
The front porches were occupied as
well but these were for ‘visiting’ or for
watching the world go by. It was a
more proper place, to be on the front
porch. You never knew who might be
walking by so you behaved yourself.
But the backyard fences, that’s where
friendships were made, arguments
took place, and apologies were accept-
ed. Babies were admired and grief was
shared. You were raised to mind your
own business and not gawk into a
neighbors yard. You had your ‘privacy’
because everyone ‘minded their man-
ners’.
The fences marked property bounda-
ries, not boundaries between people.
Today, we build high fences. We say it’s
for privacy, to keep the kids safe, etc.,
etc. We build fences to keep the world
out. Actually, I think those fences don’t
keep out the world as much as they
keep us in.
Well, time to go hunt slugs and enjoy
the evening. The neighbors won’t see
me. Gee, I miss the leaning fences.
Marg S.—Editor
Shari F., Karen H. and
Linda M.—Co-Editors
LAST WORD By Marg S.
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