Del Monte is calling for your tips on using various ingredients in your cooking. Share your own or vote for your favorites for your chance to win prizes including a $10,000 trip to California and more in Del Monte’s Add Some Garden Contest and Instant Win Game.

To enter the contest, share a tip about how to use each week’s ingredient in a tasty recipe. To enter the instant sweepstakes, vote for your favorite tips.

The grand-prize winner of the contest will receive a $10,000 culinary vacation to Napa Valley and San Francisco. Other contest winners will receive $500 retail gift certificates and Dutch Ovens.

The 500 instant winners will receive $25 retail gift cards.

Entry into Del Monte’s Add Some Garden Contest and Sweepstakes is open to US residents aged 18 and up. Enter up to ten times weekly through January 25, 2013. Read more…

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Travel

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Friday, November 16, 2012 4:26 AM CST

(BPT) – You’ve managed to navigate the holiday crowds at the post office, the mall and the office party, but you still need to get over the river and through the woods to gatherings with family and friends. Before you hit the roads, rails or skies this holiday season, dash through these helpful tips to make your trip as jolly as possible and, while you’re away, help you get a good night’s sleep.

* Be prepared: Don’t forget the necessities for the inevitable travel delay when packing your luggage and gifts. Pack each child a personal travel bag with surprise snacks, new books, small toys, art supplies and a travel-sized blanket and pillow. Bring yourself a book, crossword puzzle or correspondence to catch up on. Whether it’s a canceled flight, delayed train or road construction, planning ahead to keep your family occupied during these hold-ups ensures you will all arrive at your destination in a festive mood.

* Avoid the lines: Fly at non-peak hours by booking an early morning flight or a late night red-eye when airports tend to be less crowded. Pre-printing your boarding pass at home allows you to bypass the ticketing agent and self-serve kiosk. If you don’t have to check luggage, you can proceed directly to the security checkpoint. Pack lightly by planning outfits that can be mixed and matched and save on checked baggage fees because, face it, you always over-pack. Finally, arrive early – two hours in advance for domestic and three hours for international flights – because who wants to be running stressed-out through a crowded airport?

* Book a hotel: Having the entire extended family in one house is priceless for days of nostalgic meals, gift exchanges and photo ops. But between Grandpa’s snoring, the baby’s 3 a.m. feeding and Aunt Ida’s rambunctious labradoodle, it doesn’t always translate to a silent night of sleep. Instead, book a room at the Hilton Garden Inn, where your family can enjoy all the comforts of home including free WiFi, a fully equipped fitness facility, 24-hour business center and in-room refrigerators and microwaves for your favorite holiday leftovers. Guests who book a two-night minimum stay at a Hilton Garden Inn (Thursday through Saturday) through Jan. 6, 2013, using the “Holidays with Heart” rate, will receive a complimentary cooked-to-order breakfast. In addition, Hilton Garden Inn will donate a portion of your stay to Feeding America to help provide 500,000 meals for families in need.

* Plan alternative routes: Long car rides can be tedious, but when they’re extended due to heavy traffic, construction or weather issues, the trip can quickly turn into a nightmare. To help dodge traffic, check current freeway conditions online just before you leave to determine any immediate problems. Download a traffic app on your phone and have your passengers periodically check for upcoming delays during your trip. Keep maps handy – both electronic and printed in case of unpredictable cell service – so you can quickly find alternative routes around congested areas. Also, plan ahead for gas, food and rest stops in case of the unexpected … weather, car trouble, bathroom breaks or cravings for candy canes.

With a little forethought there are small things you can do to keep your family entertained, in good spirits and well-rested during holiday travel to ensure that your trip is full of merry making and fa la la la love.

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Take a journey through America’s history on a Washington D.C. tour

This is the time of year when families begin to look for that perfect Christmas tree.

Look for a tree with a healthy green appearance.

Run your hand along the branches to see whether the needles are fresh and flexible. They should not come off in your hand.

Bump the trunk of the tree on the ground. If tree needles fall off, the tree is not fresh. You can expect a few brown needles to fall off, not a lot

Make sure the base of the trunk is straight and 6 to 8 inches long so it can fit into a tree stand.

If you see splits in the trunk, the tree may have dried out previously.

Locally grown trees are usually fresher and less expensive than trees that have been shipped from a distance.

If your tree is going to be kept outside several days before it goes into the house, place it out of direct sunlight and wind to keep it from drying out. If the base of the tree has been cut within the last four to six hours, it will not need to be re-cut; if longer, the base should be re-cut so the tree can absorb water.

Cut straight across the trunk (not at an angle), and remove an inch or more from the bottom. A cut tree will absorb a lot of water, particularly during the first week. It can use 4 to 6 quarts of water per day. It can last the entire holiday season if it is fresh when purchased and given proper care.

Decorating with plants

Potted plants make great holiday decorations. In addition to the traditional poinsettia, most garden centers and nurseries carry cyclamen, kalanchoes, Christmas cactus and other colorful plants for the holidays.

When buying these plants, check the foliage and flowers carefully for signs of insects, such as mealy bugs and whiteflies. The plant should have healthy, lush green foliage and exhibit no signs of wilting or droopiness. Wrap the plant well in newspaper or a brown paper bag for transport home to prevent injury from the cold.

Once home, lighting is the most limiting factor. Choose and arrange plants according to light requirements. The brightest light is direct sunlight through a window on the south or southwest side of the house. Plants will grow toward the light, so it is important that they be rotated once a week to prevent them from becoming lopsided.

Plants should be kept out of drafts. To keep plants more attractive, remove faded blooms so they produce more flowering bulbs.

Most houseplant problems arise from overwatering. Plants grow best if the soil is moist, without excessive water.

By Carol Stocker
Almost a century before New York’s celebrated High Line was converted from an abandoned elevated railroad spur into an aerial park, Shelburne Falls near Greenfield created its famous Bridge of Flowers from an abandoned railroad bridge over the Deerfield River in a true pioneering act of readapting the refuse of the industrial age.

Next summer Boston may have its own “bridge of flowers” over the Fort Point Channel on the historic 1908 metal truss “swing” bridge.

The Boston Committee of the Garden Club of America has contributed $60,000 to benefit horticultural beautification projects for two of the busiest pedestrian crossroads around the Rose Kennedy Greenway. At the Nov. 16 annual meeting, Chair Michele Hanss gave The Boston Harbor Association a $50,000 grant for installation of a horticultural display along the historic Old Northern Avenue Bridge linking the Rose Kennedy Greenway with the developing Seaport District.

The “Harbor-Link Gardens” proposal will transform the bridge, once considered an eyesore by many, with planters of labeled hardy seaside perennials and shrubs and with blue colored paving.

The Boston Committee’s Blossom Fund also presented $10,000 for the Christopher Columbus Park Circle Project to JoAnne M. Hayes-Rines, president of Friends of Christopher Columbus Park. This seed money will underwrite redesign of the misconceived pedestrian circle at that waterfront park.

Pedestrian use of both areas has greatly increased since completion of The Big Dig.

The office of Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s issued his statement of support: “Beautifying this bridge will attract more visitors to the popular Harborwalk and act as a fitting gateway to our rapidly growing Innovation District. Improving the Northern Avenue Bridge will also create a visual link to the Rose Kennedy Greenway, and I commend the partnership of public, private and non-profit sectors to help get the job done.”

At its annual meeting at The Country Club in Brookline, Hanss also presented Vivien Li and landscape architect David J. Warner, of Warner Larson Landscape Architects, with an Asian spruce, the first plant for the project, which is scheduled for spring completion. Li is president of The Boston Harbor Association, which has succeeded in creating the 40 mile Harborwalk which surrounds and is connected by the bridge. “This generous support will help to set a standard for future plantings and sustainable design along the waterfront,” she said, adding that local businesses will help with long term maintenance. Nearby luxury hotel developer Eric Sachsse voiced support and called the modest initiative “exceptionally impactful.” Landscape architect Warner Larson will provide pro bono services for the design and oversight of the installation.

Funding from the Boston Committee of the Garden Club of America is raised from a membership of 1100 women from 14 garden clubs in Greater Boston and southern New Hampshire. Said Hanss, “The mission of our consortium is to support horticultural initiatives in Boston that can have an impact on a greater number of people than similar projects each of our member clubs undertaking in our individual communities. Making horticulture and open space a priority in Boston will have a ripple effect throughout the region.”

The Boston Committee meeting’s speaker was Don Rakow, director of the Cornell Plantations, which encompasses 150 acre arboretum and over 4300 acres of natural areas at Cornell University. His research focuses on the history and management of public gardens. He said urban parks began a revival in the1990’s with the return of affluent populations to the city’s center. (He mentioned that the Boston Common, created in 1634, was the nation’s first urban park.)

Major trends in public gardens that Rakow identified including children’s gardens, and efforts to broaden use with multi-lingual signage, wheelchair accessible entries and distribution of free passes at churches and WIC sites.

Public gardens are also wrestling with climate change, Rakow said. Staff at the Arnold Arboretum have documented that many plants are blooming 10-14 days earlier in the spring than those collected in the past as herbarium specimens for Harvard.

And if its still needed after Hurricane Sandy, here’s another climactic change caveat: on August 28, 2011, rain runoff from Hurricane Irene (at that point a tropical storm) flooded the Deerfield River and engulfed the Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne Falls.

(BPT) – You’ve managed to navigate the holiday crowds at the post office, the mall and the office party, but you still need to get over the river and through the woods to gatherings with family and friends. Before you hit the roads, rails or skies this holiday season, dash through these helpful tips to make your trip as jolly as possible and, while you’re away, help you get a good night’s sleep.

* Be prepared: Don’t forget the necessities for the inevitable travel delay when packing your luggage and gifts. Pack each child a personal travel bag with surprise snacks, new books, small toys, art supplies and a travel-sized blanket and pillow. Bring yourself a book, crossword puzzle or correspondence to catch up on. Whether it’s a canceled flight, delayed train or road construction, planning ahead to keep your family occupied during these hold-ups ensures you will all arrive at your destination in a festive mood.

* Avoid the lines: Fly at non-peak hours by booking an early morning flight or a late night red-eye when airports tend to be less crowded. Pre-printing your boarding pass at home allows you to bypass the ticketing agent and self-serve kiosk. If you don’t have to check luggage, you can proceed directly to the security checkpoint. Pack lightly by planning outfits that can be mixed and matched and save on checked baggage fees because, face it, you always over-pack. Finally, arrive early – two hours in advance for domestic and three hours for international flights – because who wants to be running stressed-out through a crowded airport?

* Book a hotel: Having the entire extended family in one house is priceless for days of nostalgic meals, gift exchanges and photo ops. But between Grandpa’s snoring, the baby’s 3 a.m. feeding and Aunt Ida’s rambunctious labradoodle, it doesn’t always translate to a silent night of sleep. Instead, book a room at the Hilton Garden Inn, where your family can enjoy all the comforts of home including free WiFi, a fully equipped fitness facility, 24-hour business center and in-room refrigerators and microwaves for your favorite holiday leftovers. Guests who book a two-night minimum stay at a Hilton Garden Inn (Thursday through Saturday) through Jan. 6, 2013, using the “Holidays with Heart” rate, will receive a complimentary cooked-to-order breakfast. In addition, Hilton Garden Inn will donate a portion of your stay to Feeding America to help provide 500,000 meals for families in need.

* Plan alternative routes: Long car rides can be tedious, but when they’re extended due to heavy traffic, construction or weather issues, the trip can quickly turn into a nightmare. To help dodge traffic, check current freeway conditions online just before you leave to determine any immediate problems. Download a traffic app on your phone and have your passengers periodically check for upcoming delays during your trip. Keep maps handy – both electronic and printed in case of unpredictable cell service – so you can quickly find alternative routes around congested areas. Also, plan ahead for gas, food and rest stops in case of the unexpected … weather, car trouble, bathroom breaks or cravings for candy canes.

With a little forethought there are small things you can do to keep your family entertained, in good spirits and well-rested during holiday travel to ensure that your trip is full of merry making and fa la la la love.

• This year, add some holiday color to the garden. Buy several strings of multi-colored lights and wrap them around a deck banister, install them up in an arbor or pergola, or high up crisscrossing a patio. Use bright LED lights.

• Cover patio, pool and deck furniture. Remove cushions.

• Now is the time to turn off all irrigation and winterize the system.

• Tulips should be planted in the garden now. Plant tulips in outdoor containers, too!

• Check your local garden center for great “end of the season” deals on plants, bulbs, lawn equipment and containers.

• Now is the time to check gas-powered equipment. We are fast approaching the final days of cutting grass. Do maintenance work as required, and be sure to add a “gas conditioner” to the gas tank of all equipment after its last use for the year.

• Plant Paper White narcissus bulbs now for Christmas blooms.

• Add some winter color to your landscape with camellias. These evergreen shrubs are blooming now through March. If you see a variety that strikes your fancy, buy it. Some like shade, others do well with more sun. Some can grow very large, so check the labels.

• Remove leaves that have fallen onto shrubs. Use a leaf rake and rake gently.

Todd Goulding provides residential landscape design consultations. Contact him at GouldingDesignGroup.com or 345-0719.

By

GEORGE WEIGEL

The Patriot-News

on November 15, 2012 at 8:01 AM, updated November 15, 2012 at 8:05 AM

Brought to you by

George Weigel’s Garden Tip of the Week video: How to winterize the yard
Somehow we’ve gone from summer to almost winter in the blink of an eye. That means it’s time now to do a bit of winterizing in the landscape to protect tender plants, keep breakables from breaking and save those tender young tree trunks from becoming a winter snack for deer. George Weigel shows you some of the details in this week’s Garden Tip of the Week video. Video by: Christine Baker, The Patriot-News
Watch video

Somehow we’ve gone from summer to almost winter in the blink of an eye. That means it’s time now to do a bit of winterizing in the landscape to protect tender plants, keep breakables from breaking and save those tender young tree trunks from becoming a winter snack for deer.

George Weigel shows you some of the details in this week’s Garden Tip of the Week video.

For more garden tips, check out the links below.

• Keeping track of mum colors in a move
• How to stop carpenter bees without affecting honeybees
• How to control whiteflies
• Check out more gardening tips and tricks »

Look for George Weigel’s Garden Tip of the Week each Thursday. George Weigel is the garden writer for the Patriot-News and also owner of a garden-consulting business for do-it-yourselfers, garden-tour host, frequent garden speaker, Pennsylvania Certified Horticulturist and certified gardening nut.

Related Stories

George Weigel’s Garden Tip of the Week: Four favorite fall shrubs for your backyard

George Weigel’s Garden Tip of the Week Video: Four favorite fall shrubs for your backyard

The Sacramento River
Discovery Center will
meet at 7 p.m. Thursday
at the Farm Bureau building
at 275 Sale Lane to
learn about “Winterizing
your Yard and Garden.”

Danielle Zane, former
manager of Red Bluff
Garden Center, will provide
attendees with tips of
what to prune, mulch,
spray, fertilize, plant or
any other activities that
need to take place this
time of year to produce a
beautiful yard and garden
in the spring.

This topic is particularly
important to the volunteers
that at helping at the
Discovery Center garden
to plant new native
species in the revitalized
garden.

Additional volunteers
are needed to help
with propagation of some
old favorites and the
planting of wild flower
seeds.

The presentation will
be followed with a question
and answer period
and refreshments will be
available.

The SRDC Calendar of
events and 2013 membership
forms will be available.
SRDC is selling
Mendocino National Forest
Christmas tree permits
and they will be available
at this time.

For more information
or to volunteer please call
Bobie Hughes, volunteer
executive director, at 527-
1196 or send an email to
bhughe1@tehamaed.org.

The center is at 1000
Sale Lane within the
Mendocino National Forest’s
Red Bluff Recreation
Area and is open to the
public Tuesday through
Saturday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

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11:40 am November 13, 2012, by Tim Tucker

The NCAA announced plans Tuesday for a season-long celebration of the 75th year of what has come to be known as “March Madness,” starting with a float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade in New York and culminating with the Final Four in Atlanta.

The NCAA said it will roll out programming and events throughout the season to celebrate the teams, people and moments of the men’s basketball tournament.

“It will be a really fun story to tell,” Dan Gavitt, NCAA vice president of men’s basketball championships, said in a statement. “Today’s March Madness is more than a basketball competition, and we’re excited to help focus a lens on the historical role it has played on college campuses and across our country.”

The first NCAA tournament was held in 1939, an eight-team tourney won by the Oregon Webfoots (now Ducks). Since then, 308 schools have had teams in the Division I tournament. The 75th tournament will start with 68 teams and end with the Final Four in the Georgia Dome on April 6 and 8.

The celebration starts next week in New York, where former tournament stars Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Christian Laettner will ride on the March Madness float in the Macy’s parade and will be honored the next day during the championship game of the NIT Season Tipoff event in Madison Square Garden.

Other 75th-year celebration plans announced by the NCAA:

• An interactive year-by-year timeline of tournament history, posted at ncaa.com/marchmadness.

• A fan vote, starting in January, to select the favorite teams, players and moments of March Madness.

• Programming and commercials across various platforms of the CBS and Turner networks.

• On-campus activations to showcase various schools’ places in tournament history.

• “The March Madness art collection,” paintings commemorating each championship team and its coach, to be displayed at the NCAA’s fanfest during the Final Four.

• And in partnership with Samaritan’s Feet – an organization that provides shoes to needy youth around the world – a season-long effort to raise funds for 75,000 pairs of shoes.

Locally, the Final Four organizing committee is seeking more than 2,000 volunteers “to help with everything from greeting guests at Atlanta hotels to assisting with youth and community events.” Online registration for volunteer positions opened to the public this week at www.volunteerfinalfouratl.com.

The Atlanta Local Organizing Committee expects Final Four weekend to bring 100,000 visitors to the city.

The NCAA Divisions II and III men’s championship games will be played in Atlanta the same weekend as the Division I Final Four, marking the first time the champions of all three divisions have been crowned in the same city. The Divisions II and III title games will be played in Philips Arena on April 7, the Sunday between the Final Four’s semifinal doubleheader and title game.

— Tim Tucker, AJC

Tri-Citians wanting to support an annual Christmas event that lets less-fortunate kids shop with cops can help by enjoying a steak or barbecue dinner.

Law enforcement officers will be helping servers at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Texas Roadhouse in Kennewick, while raising money for the Fraternal Order of Police’s shopping event.

Last week’s Tip-A-Cop at Olive Garden raised $2,700 for Cops and Kids, commonly known as Shop with a Cop.

It’s the first time officers have held a Tip-A-Cop event at Texas Roadhouse, 845 N. Columbia Center Blvd. Officers at Texas Roadhouse also will be collecting special tips to benefit Kids and Cops.

At the annual event, kids get $100 to spend at Walmart in the Tri-Cities. They get paired with an officer who helps them get holiday gifts for their families.