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February 5, 2003

Here We Go Again...
How about the weather this past weekend?  I hope everyone had an opportunity to get out and enjoy it.  Kevin and I took the boys and one of their friends to Shawnee Mission Park for a hike.  Couldn't pass up the opportunity to be outside with nature.  It was really great!  A little muddy but what's a little mud when you're a boy.  Great things to see.  We walked the paths and found trees that had been chewed on by some busy beavers.  It was fun to see the kids get so excited when we found another tree or dam that the beavers had built.  We walked and walked until the kids could no longer go on without complaining.  We were all exhausted later that evening due to amount of fresh air and exercise that we had experienced throughout the day.  Sheer pleasure!  It was a nice break to be able to be outside all day!  Hurry up Spring!  

This week it's back to winter.  The pendulum we're riding on is quite extreme.  Once again the meteorologist's are calling for a slight chance of snow maybe tonight or Thursday.  Hopefully their predictions are right and we'll receive some badly needed moisture.  I have been talking with a few Savvygardener's who are already planting seeds or getting ready to start planting seeds.  Either way we have great resources on our website to help you get started.

One other note.  My friends John Bruntzel and Jan Olson, fondly known as The Gard-n-Wise Guys, are now doing their radio show for a full two hours every Sunday morning from 7AM - 9AM on WDAF 61 Country.  Their show is entertaining and educational so I highly recommend tuning in.  They will help you get through the winter with great gardening ideas and even better they'll put a smile on your face.

~ Shelly  

Speaking Of Seeds...
It's getting to be seed starting time around here.  Depending on how adventurous you are there are seeds to start indoors now and many, many more to start in the weeks to come.  Need some help getting started?  We've got two very handy (and popular) articles that you might enjoy:

Valentine's Day Looks Rosy...
Valentine's Day is fast approaching.  If you are giving or getting potted miniature roses we have some tips to keep them looking great.  

  • Start by providing the plant with as much sun as you possibly can.
  • Keep it cool.  Avoid temperatures above 75°F and never place your rose near a heat source.  
  • Keep the humidity high by placing it on a tray of pebbles filled with water.  
  • Remove faded blossoms and turn the plant frequently to counteract its tendency to reach for sunlight.  
  • Monitor it carefully for spider mites and discourage mite infestation by giving your rose a shower in the bathtub every two weeks.
  • When warmer weather arrives in April, you can plant your valentine gift in a sunny position in your garden or move it to a larger container to add color to a corner of your deck or patio.

Source

Frosty Footsteps...
Try to avoid walking on your grass or ground covers while they are frozen.  The frozen leaves are brittle and easily damaged.  Ajuga is especially sensitive to being walked on during the winter, and large portions can die back, leaving bare spots for the spring.

 


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Appropriate Use Of Force...
One of the great winter pleasures is forcing the stems of certain woody plants into bloom for indoor display.  Three of the easiest are forsythia, pussy willow and flowering quince.  These plants have now gone through enough cold weather to satisfy their chilling requirement and should bloom if given the right conditions.

Choose a day that is above freezing for collecting branches for blooming.  Cut the stems, keeping the stem length to 3 feet or less and place them in a bucket of water.  Once you have all the branches you want, bring them into the house and soak them in warm water for several hours to ensure that the stems and buds are fully hydrated (a bathtub works well for this).  Next, place them in a container that has a warm preservative solution and place them in an environment with high humidity and plenty of light.  Floral preservatives accomplish two functions; they prevent bacterial growth in your water and provide nutrients and energy for the life processes of the plants.  

Normally, forsythia will take about 9 days to flower, quince will require between 12 to 20, and pussy willow needs from 5 to 15 days.  The time required will vary depending on your indoor conditions and how late in the winter the branches were collected with less time being required for later collections.  Most woody plants will remain in flower for about a week before the blooms start to fade.

Source

 


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Winter Wisdom...
A few days in the forties and many gardeners are breaking dormancy - just like those crocus that couldn’t wait and started to appear before this sudden return of winter cold!  Breaking dormancy means making calls - to the hotline.  We've got lots of answers to your mid-winter questions in this week's
Winter Wisdom...

On Onions...
Last week we talked about our love of eating and growing onions.  The good people at the Johnson County K-State Research & Extension have added some important facts for gardeners new to growing onions.

Onions can be grown from sets, plants or seed.  Sets are small onion bulbs that are planted in the spring to produce green onions or bulbs later in the season.  Most onion sets for sale in garden centers are usually poorly identified by variety.  Since they are poorly marked, it makes it a gamble to know what the flavor, use or keeping quality of the bulbs may be.  Large onion sets, larger than a nickel, will usually bolt or produce a seed stock thus reducing the quality of the bulb.  It is best to plant smaller sets or separate the sets by size and use the larger sets as green onions in the spring.

Plants are sold in bundles or growing in trays and are usually identified by variety.  Since they are normally labeled, more information is available about the quality of the bulb.  Choose healthy, green and fresh transplants.  Onions can be grown either way.  Which is best for you depends in what control you want over storage, flavor and use.

Source

Finally...
"Gardeners , like everyone else, live second by second and minute by minute.  What we see at one particular moment is then and there before us.  But there is a second way of seeing.  Seeing with the eye of memory, not the eye of our anatomy, calls up days and seasons past and years gone by."

~ Allen Lacy, The Gardener's Eye

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