|
January 6, 2008 |
|
Snow Day!
I knew Monday was too good to be true. Sunny,
warm and close to 70. Perfect weather and I was lucky enough to
be outside the entire day. Tuesday - rainy, colder and a chance
of snow. Same song, second verse. I kept hoping that the storm
would miss us, but it didn't and here
we are at home all celebrating a snow-day.
OK, I'm not necessarily celebrating but the kids are.
We broke out of the house at about 1 PM and headed with a couple
of friends to Westwood Park, the local "snow hill" in our area.
I, looking oh so chic in my Nanook of
the North wear, actually took a couple of turns on a very fast
sled. I am sure most anyone could hear me screaming "Look out!"
I looked like a crazed Nanook of the North but I will admit to
enjoying myself. You will seldom hear me say I was having fun
outside in the cold and snow. None-the-less the kids had a good
time and we ended up seeing several friends. Not a bad snow-day
after all.
It is that time of
year.
The Metropolitan Lawn & Garden Show,
held at the American Royal, kicks off
this weekend. It runs all weekend and you can find more
information at their website. March
brings us
Leavenworth's 2nd Annual Home & Garden Show, "No Place Like
Home". The dates are Saturday, March 8th and Sunday, March 9th
at the Riverfront Community Center downtown Leavenworth, Kansas.
Lots of things going on so you won't want to miss it. Put it on
you calendar now and visit their site
for more information.
~
Shelly
Seed
Starting With Structure...
Starting more
than three or four different varieties of seed indoors can get
confusing if you're not organized. To keep from missing the
start date for any of your seeds you might try our simple
procedure: Organize your seed packets in piles based on the
number of weeks before "last frost" to start them indoors. This
should be indicated on the seed packet and can be found in our
feature When To Start Seeds Indoors. Pick the date which you
feel safe calling "last frost". We use the first full weekend in
May. In our example we are now 11 weeks from the weekend we will
transplant our seedlings. That means that by this weekend we
will have already started any seeds that indicate starting dates
nine weeks and higher. For the remainder of your seeds secure
them together in their respective groups with a rubber band. For
each group attach a sticky note with the date of the weekend
they need to be started. Place the packets front-to-back, in
order by starting date, in a small box. Each weekend remove the
packets at the front of the box for starting. Next weekend's
seeds are now at the front and awaiting your return in seven
days.
Proper Rose Pruning...
Lots of gardeners are wondering if they missed their chance to
prune their roses. Fear not. Modern roses should be pruned
just before the buds break dormancy after the last frost. Still
plenty of time to think about it.
Rose pruning
is the key to successful summer blooms. Prune roses back 25
percent if you want lots of medium-sized blooms. Prune back 50
percent if you want fewer, larger flowers.
Trim Now, Butterflies
Later...
Butterfly bushes reward
us all with great
gatherings of butterflies every summer. To make sure
yours are in
top shape for summer you need to trim
them back to about 12 inches this time of
year. This helps promote a well shaped bush with larger
flowers.
Reading Roses...
Whether you're giving roses to your sweetheart or just planting
some new ones in the garden this year it's always helpful to
know what message you might be sending.
- Red - Love, Respect
- Deep Pink - Gratitude, Appreciation
- Light Pink - Admiration, Sympathy
- White - Reverence, Humility
- Yellow - Joy, Gladness
- Orange - Enthusiasm, Desire
- Red & Yellow Blend - Gaiety, Joviality Pale
- Blended Tones - Sociability, Friendship
Of course
you should feel free to break the rules to accommodate a
favorite color. If your valentine prefers yellow over red we
suggest you stick with yellow.
Source
Tipping The Scales...
We've had lots of e-mails asking about
effective control of scale on houseplants. Because scale
in indoor environments enjoys overlapping generations successful
treatment will require two to three insecticide applications at
l0-day intervals. When feasible,
large numbers of these scales can be physically dislodged by
gently wiping the leaves with a dilute mixture of water and
dishwashing detergent. You should combine manual and chemical
control for best results.
Source
Winter Tree
Clean-Up...
Late winter is a great time to prune many
deciduous trees. Look over your plants now and remove dead,
dying, unsightly parts of the tree, sprouts growing at or near
the base of the tree trunk, crossed branches, and V-shaped
crotches.
Plant A Row For The
Hungry...
Kansas City's only food bank, Harvesters,
has launched
Plant A Row for the Hungry encouraging local gardeners to
plant an extra row of vegetables or fruits and donate the
produce to Harvesters. The nutritious, fresh-from-the-garden
foods will be distributed to the nearly 60,000 people who turn
to Harvesters for emergency food assistance every week.
Visit Harvesters for more information...
Finally... "Probably more pests
can be controlled in an armchair in front of a February fire
with a garden notebook and a seed catalog than can ever be
knocked out in hand-to-hand combat in the garden."
~
Neely Turner |