Guest(s)

David Perez is an attorney with Perkins Coie and former assistant director of the Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality at Seattle University’s School of Law. He led the efforts behind the Washington Voting Rights Act of 2012.

Gillian Marrah is a psychotherapist in private practice since 1980. She uses canine and equine assisted therapy in her work.

Gail Savina is the director of City Fruit.

Willi Galloway is the host of the gardening and cooking website called digginfood.com. Her book new book is “Grow, Cook, Eat.”

Ingela Wanerstrand is a horticulturist, pruner and owner of Green Darner Garden Design. She learned how to prune fruit trees from books and school but mostly from several big, beautiful old trees that she has been restoring and pruning every year for 13 years.

If you want to know more about organic gardening, or have had trouble growing, one Grand Junction organization will offer help. Today members of the Organic Gardening Club met to discuss ideas and share tips for organic gardening specific to the valley.

“We just chat about organic gardening and growing food without chemicals inputs, and how to build the soils, and what plants are good to grow,” explains Marian Dorn, Coordinator of the Organic Gardening Club.

Though organic gardening has been thought to be more challenging compared to conventional gardening, Dorn explains that if you have a healthier soil to begin with, which organic growing provides, then you have less chance of insects invading and attacking your plants. Organic gardening can lead to the overall success of your garden with healthier plants as the result.

“Other people just know so much. It is fun to hear what people know. They have had different experiences,” says Dorn.

The group shares anything from plants that grow best in our climate to health benefits of certain organic foods.

“They have found that there are some nutrients that are much more prevalent in organically grown produce. Also some plants can take up a lot of toxins, especially carrots, those are one vegetable that you want to grow or buy organically,” Dorn says.

She also stresses the importance of soil.

“In Grand Junction the soil is very alkaline and it is very important to get lots of good organic matter in your soil,” she says. “The soils here vary too, so you have to pay attention to where you are growing in the valley also.”

The group’s next big event will be a seed swap. Here, fellow gardeners can freely exchange seeds with one another that they may have not otherwise had.

If you would like to know more or become apart of the group, contact Marian Dorn at 970-255-0417. The group meets the second Sunday of every month at the Botanical Gardens.

Tips to help you in the garden and around the house during the late summer days:

— If your tomato blossoms drop but no fruit forms, temperatures are likely too warm. Try a “heat set” tomato for next year’s crop. If you see dark spots and brown scars developing, make sure you’re watering regularly and consistently.

— If your flowers are looking uninspired by now, try adding one of our six favorite plants — from purple Alternanthera to red and green Coleus — for late-summer color.

— Grass is a natural air conditioner in summer months, at 50 to 75 degrees, even when sidewalks and streets are as hot as 100 degrees. It’s a good idea to let your grass go dormant during dry summer periods instead of watering regularly. Your yard will green up again in the fall; for now, use water resources for new plantings, old trees and vegetable gardens or for newly divided perennials.

— If you have heavy pots or planters on a wooden deck, slip decorative “feet” underneath to keep them off the wood. This way, excess water will dry off instead of seeping in and rotting the wood.

— Every few months, walk along your fence and shake it for signs of instability. Repair, reinforce or replace damaged portions. Check the finish or if unpainted, clean with a wood soap product. Remove any plants creeping up the wood so they don’t pull fence posts apart over time.

— Check your home for gaps and cracks where cool air can escape, such as attic doors, baseboards and old weather stripping. Fill, repair and replace as needed and save up to 20 percent on heating and cooling bills.

— If you have a wood-burning stove it’s not too early to order wood now. The extra time will make your wood perfectly seasoned for the cold months ahead. Just be sure to keep it somewhere dry with plenty of ventilation.
 

PEOPLE planning a renovation can get tips and advice from the experts at the Herald Sun home show.

Australians will spend more than $35 billion renovating their homes this year, with kitchens and bathrooms the most popular makeovers.

Kitchen and bathroom designers will be among the specialists on hand at the four-day expo next week.

About 40,000 people are expected to flock to the show to get the latest information on trends, products, designs and technology.

The Garden Stage will offer organic gardening tips and advice on how to create the ultimate outdoor room and the Builders’ Block will have information for people wanting to build their dream home.

The Herald Sun home show is at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre from Thursday, August 16 to Sunday, August 19.

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Tickets cost $20 for adults and $16 for concession holders. Children admitted free.

For more information go to melbournehomeshow.com.au
 

TV show puts Weymouth garden centre in the limelight

2:00pm Friday 10th August 2012 in News

By Emily Stott

STOPPING BY: Jonathan Bennett, Carol Klein from Gardeners World and Angela Bennett

BENNETTS water garden found stardom for the day when BBC’s Gardeners’ World came to Weymouth.

The presenter and gardening expert, Carol Klein visited the gardens to talk about the history of water lily hybridisation.

Each week the programme visits different gardens around the country to interview the gardeners and give gardening tips.

Angela Bennett, of Bennetts water garden, said: “Carol waded right into the pond with my husband and they interviewed him in our little boat.

“It’s lovely that they enjoyed it too and she was so friendly, what you see on TV is what she’s like, she’s just a really lovely person.”

Angela said Carol Klein loved the gardens.

She added: “It’s so nice for somebody like her to say that, it makes it all worthwhile.”

This isn’t the first time Bennetts water garden, on Putton Road, Chickerell , has been featured on Gardeners’ World. They were interviewed 11 years ago and
visitors today can still remember seeing the programme.

Jonathan Bennett is the owner of Bennetts water gardens.

He landscaped the lakes in the mid seventies and also came up with the idea to have the Monet style bridge in 1999.

The bridge proved to a huge tourist attraction which led to the tea room and fully licensed wedding gazebo.

The gardens can also boast to have thousands of exotic lilies on display which were originally planted by Jonathan’s father in 1959.

They hold the National Plant Collection of water lilies which means that they aim to document and preserve water lilies to help protect them in the future.

This scheme is part of the conservation charity Plant Heritage.

Gardeners’ World featuring Jonathan Bennett is due to air next Friday at 8.30pm on BBC2.

Noell’s garden chat with the prince at home

9:31am Friday 10th August 2012 in News

A HARD-working volunteer shared gardening tips with Prince Charles when she was invited to a ceremony at his home in Gloucestershire.

Noell Leather, of Knowsley Road, Ainsworth, spent 10 minutes talking to Prince Charles at Highgrove House.

She was invited in recognition of the 20 years she has spent volunteering with Lancashire Wildlife Trust.

Noell Leather combines chairing the Croal Irwell Volunteer Group with being voluntary manager of Summerseat Nature Reserve.

The mother-of-two organises working parties of 15 to 20 people on the reserve, which is run entirely by volunteers.

Noell, aged 64, admits she was “bowled over” when she was told she was going to meet the prince.

She said: “It was absolutely brilliant.

“It was really exciting. I have always been a great fan of Prince Charles and feel he talks a lot of sense about issues such as the environment.

“It was a lifetime’s ambition to meet him and see his garden.”

Noell and the other long-serving volunteers were given a tour of the gardens at Highgrove.

They enjoyed a champagne reception as Prince Charles spent two hours speaking to guests.

Noell shared her tips for creating a wildflower meadow and they discussed other gardening problems.

She said: “He was very human and easy to talk to.

“He was genuinely interested in what I had to say and he gave his complete, undivided attention.

“The whole day was absolutely wonderful. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I enjoyed every minute of it.”

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Posted: Friday, August 10, 2012 11:40 am
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Updated: 11:43 am, Fri Aug 10, 2012.

MP Green Fair Offers Gardening Tips Sunday

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Local gardening experts will attend this year’s Mt. Prospect Green Fair on Sunday, Aug. 12 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. to answer questions and offer gardening tips.

Hosted in conjunction with the Mt. Prospect Lions Club Farmers Market, this year’s Green Fair will also have two scheduled story times for children and other learning opportunities.

A raffle will be available with prizes including a produce basket and rain barrel.

The farmers market is held Sundays at the Mt. Prospect train depot west commuter parking lot at the corner of Northwest Highway and Main Street (Route 83).

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Farmers Market

Heathers were once the national plant of upland Britain, they were a part of our psyche and appeared everywhere, not in the least on the front of almost every car that visited the moors – a sprig of heather was every motorist’s lucky mascot!

These days they are not so well loved. Of course, the reason for their widespread colonization of moorland was to feed and shelter grouse. Every summer, great swathes of moorland were burned, so heather shoots would provide food for growing birds, the older heather providing shelter from the elements and birds of prey.

Maybe these days the association with the gentry is not so favourable, and the poor heather is not so revered but no garden of British flowers can be without heathers, they are hardy, colourful and full of interest, fun to grow and there are many varieties to choose from.

Why heather?

Apart from the flower colour, heathers have wonderful, flat leaves which change colour throughout the year. They deepen and intensify as the year goes on and sometimes russets and browns take over. Their habit is like any plant used to growing in harsh conditions, squat but defiant and almost dome-shaped.

It is the myriad flower colour that makes the plant such a display. The ‘purple headed mountain’ is down to heathers and this brash display can explode in our gardens too.

Peat

Heathers grow well in peat. Indeed their slowly decaying stems make a good portion of peat. Peat and water make a very acidic solution, which is ideal for these plants. If you want to grow them, you need to replicate this and use special compost – ericaceous compost. You can get it without peat these days, so we don’t wreck whatever is left of this special habitat for the sake of our gardens.

Planting

I like to give my heathers a good amount of drainage – adding grit to the compost, and since my soil is not acidic, I have to add ericaceous compost. However, I do it in such a way as to isolate the compost from the rest of the soil, so it isn’t ‘diluted’ by the ingress of water from the rest of the garden. This means growing in containers, sometimes burying the containers so you cannot see them.

Heathers make great path liners, or rockery plants, and will cling on to life in very little compost. I give them a feed in the spring but apart from a little water they need little care, save pruning. Remove older stems to bring out new ones, so your heather doesn’t become thin and woody. This way the plant is constantly renewed.

Take cuttings

These take easily, simply take one of your prunings and remove the lower (last year’s) leaves then place the shoot into some ericaceous compost. Of ten cuttings, expect five or six to take, and you have new plants for next year!

How much?

They do not grow well from seed for most gardeners, so you have to buy plants, which can be a little expensive. You can buy sets of three plants on the internet for about £7.00 but the newer, larger varieties can cost double or triple this.

That said, after about a year growing, you can take cuttings and grow your own stock, so an initial investment can pay off in the long run.

For more tips and offers visit my website or join me on Facebook and don’t forget I offer a daily snippet of gardening advice on Twitter

 

You can also order my book The Gardening Year at the special Daily Mirror price of £12.99 + PP (reduced from £18.99)  Just call Haynes Publishing on 01963 442030 and quote MP. Lines open 08.30 – 17.00 Mon-Fri 

By ecoRI News staff

The following is some growing advice from Massachusetts author Elizabeth Morse Read’s forthcoming book “Toward a Sustainable Kitchen”:

• Just like children, plants need a healthy home (soil), good nutrition (water and fertilizer), sunshine (real or artificial), protection from destructive influences (disease, pests, weeds and severe weather) and lots of support as they grow (trellises, cages). You can spend a fortune buying all of the above, but it’s much more practical to create your own homegrown solutions from your kitchen’s resources and repurposed stuff.

• Dirt is the crumbly gray dust you find in the cracks of sidewalks and nothing but weeds will grow in dirt. Loam is the moist, chunky brown soil, full of decomposing organic matter that provides nutrition for flowers and vegetables. This organic material is basically the “compost” you create in your kitchen crock — vegetable peelings, eggshells, coffee grounds — that you then mix up with carbonaceous waste, such as shredded newspapers, cardboard egg cartons, toilet paper rolls, even dryer lint, in a compost bin.

• Plants don’t grow in the cold or the dark, so find a south-facing window, balcony or patch of land you can convert into a garden. If your driveway is taking up the southern exposure, consider container planting and park your car on the street. You also can consider a green roof garden or convert your garage/basement into a mini-greenhouse. And many towns and cities have community gardens you can join.

• Vining plants such as peas and cucumbers grow vertically, so throw a fish net over the fence or tack an old volleyball net on the outside wall of your garage. For indoor vertical gardening, repurpose a wooden pallet and create a waterfall-effect garden of herbs and salad greens. Bushy, spreading plants such as zucchini or chard need a lot of horizontal space or a half-barrel container all their own. Tall-growing plants such as tomatoes and peppers need artificial support like stakes and cages so they don’t topple over when the wind blows or they’re heavy with fruit.

• Destructive influences, depending upon where you live, could be your neighbor’s cat that thinks your garden is a litter box; assorted wildlife (deer and rabbits) that thinks your garden is free lunch; insects and low-life forms (slugs and snails). The best way to be rid of them is to learn about their behavior. Many insects don’t like the scent of marigolds or garlic; deer don’t like the scent of dried blood; you can construct a “fence” from old window screens to keep out the cats and rabbits. Put out a pie-plate of sweetened water to drown the slugs and snails.

• If you don’t sprout your own seeds, make sure that the seedlings/plants you buy are healthy stock from a reputable farm or nursery. Those displays of 2-foot-high tomato plants at discount stores come from the “puppy mill” version of Big Ag farms. They have been known to spread diseases and alien insects not only throughout neighborhoods when introduced by some newbie gardener down the street, but also throughout entire regions, such as the 2010 tomato blight along the eastern seaboard.

• This is the kind of gardening savvy that’s hard to find in books: One elderly gardener once told me to drive long iron — therefore, rust-able — nails throughout the garden after planting. He said it would repel certain insects and confuse moles. I don’t know if it really works, but I still do it every year, and I’ve never encountered a mole.

• By Michelle Mudd – Victoria County Master Gardener Intern Edited by Charla Borchers Leon
• Originally published August 9, 2012 at midnight, updated August 9, 2012 at 4 p.m.

• 

• 

• Suggested watering methods for summer vegetable garden

• •  Drip irrigation

  •  Soaker hoses

  •  Handmade soaker*

  •  Rainwater Harvesting Barrel*

  * Most cost effective

  Remember: Do not water ground surface in the middle of the day.

• Last Lunch and Learn With the Masters For 2012

• •  PROGRAM: Composting and mulching presented by Victoria County Master Gardener Ed Gregurek

  • WHEN: Noon-1 p.m. Monday

  • WHERE: Dr. Pattie Dodson Public Health Center, 2805 N. Navarro St.

  • Free to the public

  • Bring your lunch and a drink

  …

• SHOW ALL »

Last Lunch and Learn With the Masters For 2012

•  PROGRAM: Composting and mulching presented by Victoria County Master Gardener Ed Gregurek

• WHEN: Noon-1 p.m. Monday

• WHERE: Dr. Pattie Dodson Public Health Center, 2805 N. Navarro St.

• Free to the public

• Bring your lunch and a drink

With the hot century-breaking temperatures, many of us cringe at the idea of wanting to have or even continue growing our summer vegetable garden.

We, in fact, were feeling the high temperatures toward the end of spring this year.

So, before you retire your garden hat and gloves, let me help to inspire you to keep those vegetables growing and keep the bountiful harvest of fresh vegetables coming into your household to enjoy.

The tips I am going to share with you will help in maintaining your summer vegetable garden without it being such a daunting task.

Importance of water

As with any living plant or creature, water is a key element in producing a healthy and thriving summer vegetable garden. Most vegetable plants require 1 inch of water per week to wet the soil to a depth of 6 inches. Light or sandy soils require more frequent watering than heavier, dark soils. When the soil feels dry to your touch at an inch or two into the ground, it is time to water. If your plants are planted on mounds, you will want to create a moat or trench around each plant so the excess water has a place to go.

Deep vs. shallow – A deep watering at the base of the plant is more beneficial than a shallow watering after your plants are established. The only time it is beneficial for many short waterings is when you are trying to germinate seeds. Then, after seeds are established, you should then migrate to longer more infrequent watering, which encourages root growth and strength. Most plants do not take kindly to wet leaves as this may induce blight or leaf scorch.

Time of day to water – The best time of day to water a summer vegetable garden is in the morning, preferably before or by 9 a.m. If the climate you live in is dry, such as ours in South Texas, you will want to implement watering in the evening as well. No matter where any of us live, do not water in the heat of the day. I can’t express this watering tip enough. Even if you forgot to water in the morning, you can make it up to your plants when you water later that evening.

Types of watering devices

Drip system – Other types of watering devices besides your hose or sprayer would be the installation of a drip irrigation system, which is scheduled by a timer. Benefits of a drip system include plants receiving more water applied directly to the plant feeding system with maintenance of optimal soil moisture, and less possibility of disease and scorch with water not splashing the leaves of plants.

Soaker hose – A soaker hose is a commonly used device, which is installed by laying the hose at the base of the plants and weaving the hose on the plant rows. They are best used with timers for on/off control and provide a consistent watering pattern for longer periods of time while soaking the ground and watering plants.

Cost-effective devices

Hand-made soaker – There are two more watering devices you can make yourself and at the same time will conserve energy and, most importantly, save the money in your wallet.

The first is a hand-made soaker, which is excellent for your deeper-rooted vegetables.

All you need is a clean, 2-liter plastic bottle. Remove outside plastic label. Drill two to three holes using a 3/32-inch drill bit into the cap of the bottle. Then cut off the bottom of the bottle. Place at a 45-degree angle 4 to 6 inches into the ground next to the plant not disturbing the root system and fill with water. As the soil around the bottle dries and shrinks, water will drain from the bottle and replenish moisture to the surrounding soil.

Harvesting rainwater – Another cost-effective watering method is harvesting rainwater simply by placing a barrel with faucet attachment beneath a gutter or any place rainwater runs off your roof. Make sure you do have a lid so no unwanted debris will enter. When you are ready to water, simply attach your garden hose to the barrel faucet and water. Vegetable plants perform well with rainwater, as it does not contain harmful minerals and, in many cases, chemicals.

Mulch to preserve water in garden

Using organic mulch is a great way to preserve water in your garden soil. Types of organic mulch to consider are straw, leaves, compost and peat moss, just to name a few. Mulching 3 to 4 inches will not only keep the soil in your garden moist and cool, it will also help keep the weeds out, as they tend to compete with your summer vegetable plants for nutrients and water.

Whether you are a beginner or seasoned gardener, incorporating these few basic tips will help in producing a plentiful harvest for your family to enjoy all summer long.

The Gardeners’ Dirt is written by members of the Victoria County Master Gardener Association, an educational outreach of Texas AgriLife Extension – Victoria County. Mail your questions in care of the Advocate, P.O. Box 1518, Victoria, TX 77901; or vcmga@vicad.com, or comment on this column at VictoriaAdvocate.com.

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