Posted: Friday, July 6, 2012 10:47 am

Gardening Tips: Some beach plants can survive locally

By Matthew Stevens

RR Daily Herald

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0 comments

I’m writing this week’s column from vacation at a small town near Virginia Beach. My family has been coming here every summer for about 15 years, and I’m always fascinated by the landscaping.

It is a fairly wealthy area so, as you might expect, many of the houses have very lavish landscapes with finely manicured lawns and lovely trees and shrubs, but that begins to change as you approach the shore. The closer you get to the beach, the more the landscape starts to resemble the beach itself. Yards become little mounds of sand, with only a select few plants able to withstand the harsh beach environment of hot sun, sandy soil, salt and wind.

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Posted in
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on

Friday, July 6, 2012 10:47 am.

If you know anything about gardener’s
you know that they cannot
keep a secret, gardening secrets that
is.

They love to pass along their
knowledge or some new tip they
have heard of.

Red Bluff Garden
Club members are always seeking
out new ideas to try out and then are
happy to share that information
with others.

The following is an assortment
of helpful tips and gardening information
collected over the years, and
yes, most from other gardeners.

Hot weather is upon us and these
are ways to save water in your garden.

Set you automatic sprinklers to
run in the early morning and finish
before 8 am, this will reduce evaporation.

You will also find that plant
disease and water damage are
reduced.

Observe your sprinklers as they
run. Adjust them as necessary to
reduce overspray on sidewalks,
roads and patios, etc. Repair damaged
sprinklers immediately. Quick
repairs and adjustments can save as
much as 500 gallons each year.

Minimize water loss in pots by
using water-retentive potting soils
in all container gardens.

Add soil
polymers to your potting soil at
planting time. Polymers store water
for plants’ use as the soil dries.

When is the “right time” to
divide plants? The general rule is
that you divide plants in the opposite
season of their bloom, in other
words, divide summer or fall
bloomers in the spring and spring
bloomers in early fall.

Birdbaths

filled with slimy green
algae?

To keep algae down in your
birdbath spread pennies over the
bottom, I have tried this and it works
well.

Another trick is to fill your
birdbath with fresh water and place
six to eight stems of lavender flowers
bound together with a daylily
leaf and lay the bundle in the water.

(My grandmother used this trick).

One bundle of lavender will keep
the water algae-free for two or three
weeks.

During really hot weather
change more frequently.

Disinfecting your pruners
between cuts is an important way to
keep your plants healthy and disease-
free.

When using your pruning
tools to cut diseased stems or
branches, disinfect them after each
pruning session with a solution of
three parts rubbing alcohol and one
part water.

Keep the mixture in a
clearly labeled spray bottle, soak
cutting surfaces with it and then
wipe the pruners dry with a cloth to
prevent rust.

When deadheading or
pruning your rose bushes use a
Clorox disinfectant wipe to clean
the blades of your clippers after
each rosebush.

Did you know that bananas are
good for your roses?

Forget expensive
fertilizers for your garden.

Old
banana peels work just as well for
growing fabulous flowers and
yummy veggies.

That is because
they are rich in potassium and phosphorus.

Banana peels are especially
helpful for roses.

Save them until
they are crisp and crumbly, cut
them into small pieces, and bury
them a few inches in the soil around
your rosebush.

—–
The Red Bluff Garden Club is
affiliated with Cascade District
Garden Club; California Garden
Clubs Inc.; Pacific Region Garden
Clubs and National Garden Clubs,
Inc.

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• 

A gardener’s toolkit should include Topricin Pain Relief and Healing Cream

Don’t break your back bending over your begonias–protect yourself from potential aches, pains, and injuiries with preparation, prevention, and prompt treatment.

Rhinebeck, NY (PRWEB) July 02, 2012

Summer is the season where people enjoy manicuring their lawns and tending their gardens in anticipation of enjoying fresh, homegrown produce and glorious flowers.

Gardening offers many benefits such as providing stress relief, an outlet for creativity and is an excellent activity to just get us moving. But just like any other form of physical activity, there are risks of injury.

As amateur and professional gardeners dig, bend over, rake, plant, reach, prune, hoe, lift, twist, move, carry debris and create gardening masterpieces, it’s important they protect themselves from potential hazards. If done improperly, gardening and yard work can lead to muscle and joint pain, repetitive strain injuries, tendonitis and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, as well as other accidental injuries.

“Planting, raking, weeding, digging, pruning, stooping, reaching, carrying heavy debris, and operating machinery puts stress on the hands and wrists,” says Lou Paradise, president and chief of research at Topical BioMedics, Inc., the makers of natural Topricin® Pain Relief and Healing Creams. “Gardeners spend hours performing these activities and without proper form, it can lead to a variety of problems such as sprains, twisted ankles, hand and wrist pain, lower back and shoulder pain, ankle, feet and knee pain. Don’t break your back bending over your begonias—protect yourself from potential hazards.”

To help stay injury free throughout this gardening season, Topricin offers the following tips.

To avoid/reduce injuries:

–Be sure to warm up/stretch as you would before any physical activity.

–Wear gardening gloves (to lower the risk of skin irritations/cuts and reduce blister formation) and use kneepads or use a foam cushion to make it more comfortable and less traumatic for knees.

–Dress to protect yourself from lawn/garden pests. Wear long-sleeved shirts and long, light-colored pants tucked into socks or boots and check yourself and family members for ticks.

–Wear goggles when doing things like weed-whacking and ear protection when using loud equipment.

–Protect yourself from the sun by covering up with long sleeves and pants made in breathable cotton, wear a hat and sunglasses, and if you use a sunscreen make sure it is as safe and natural as possible (for recommendations, visit the Environmental Working Group at http://www.ewg.org).

–Stay hydrated. Remember that you’re outside in the heat, working up a sweat and perspiring.

–Keep tools of the trade in tip-top shape by making sure your power equipment is working properly and your tools are sharpened and properly stored.

–Do not mow grass when it’s wet. Before mowing, walk around the yard, checking for sticks, stones, toys, and other foreign objects that could shoot out from under the mower.    

To prevent and treat injuries:

Aches and pains don’t have to interfere with summer gardening when you practice prevention and follow activities/injuries with appropriate treatment protocol.

Topricin Pain Relief and Healing Cream is a favorite treatment for gardeners around the country. Fueled by nature not chemicals, Topricin is a blend of eleven natural biomedicines that naturally help the joints detoxify by stimulating the body’s desire to drain toxins and excess fluids from the muscle tissue, which restores blood flow back to normal and helps heal the damage that is causing the pain.

–As a preventative, Topricin can be applied prior to outdoor activities. For example, if you are planting bulbs, apply Topricin lower back, hands and wrists, which are points of stress. Topricin can also be applied to exposed areas of skin, acting as a barrier to the urushiol oil in poison ivy.

–Topricin helps relieve symptoms of pain from other gardening aliments such as blisters, tick bites, Lyme disease, poison ivy, and minor sunburn and dehydration.

HOT AND COLD THERAPY:

Hot and cold therapy, along with Topricin, can shorten the duration of the recovery so the body heals faster and you feel better sooner.

–ICE is the first course of action, for the first 24 – 48 hours to help with inflammation. Ice therapy has an effect when the ice is REMOVED. Ice stops the blood flow, when removed it releases fluids and toxins, stimulates lymphatic and toxin draining and more blood flow. Basic procedures for ice therapy: 10 minutes on; 5 off; 10 on, 5 off.

–MOIST HEAT and ICE/HEAT:

–HEAT: 48 – 72 hours after injury try using heat on the injured area. You’ll know it’s OK to continue if you don’t feel worse afterwards. Heat draws more blood to the area and removes toxins.

–ALTERNATING HOT AND COLD: Cold and heat can be very powerful when used together at this point. Protocol – takes about 45 minutes:

–Start with HEAT for 10 minutes; followed by 5 minute break. Then COLD for 10 minutes, followed by 5-minute break, then HEAT again for 10 minutes. Follow with application of Topricin.

Topricin Application Instructions:

–Generously apply Topricin as needed three inches on and around to affected area/injury. Rub in well until absorbed. For best results, apply evenings, morning/after bathing and 3 – 4 or more times during the day as needed.

NOTE: For severe pain and swelling, seek medical attention (Topricin may be applied as a first line first aid treatment while enroute to a medical facility).

About Topical BioMedics, Inc.

Topical BioMedics is the research and development leader in patented topical natural biomedicines for pain relief. The company’s flagship product, Topricin® Pain Relief and Healing Cream, was introduced in 1994 and is now a leading natural therapeutic brand. A combination biomedicine formula, Topricin has been awarded a patent for the treatment of pain associated with fibromyalgia and neuropathy.

Topricin products are formulated with approved medicines as found in the HPUS (Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States) and are in compliance with federal rules for homeopathic over-the-counter medicines. Safe for diabetics and pregnant and nursing women, the products contain: no parabens, petroleum or harsh chemicals, are odorless, greaseless and non-irritating, and produce no known side effects.

For more information or to sign up for the free newsletter Natural Healing, Natural Wellness visit http://www.topricin.com

SOURCES:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Home Safety Council

PDF


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White pine weevil damage on a blue spruce.

   Q: Some of the tips of my Colorado blue spruce tree are browning and dying. I’m attaching photos. Could you please tell me if I have insects or a disease attacking it?

   A: It’s usually hard to nail down a definite diagnosis from a photo, especially since a variety of problems can lead to similar-looking results.

   In this case, it looks like the problem is attacking only a few random branch tips. I can think of at least two causes of that kind of damage. One is a bug called the white pine weevil. The other is a fungal disease called tip blight.

   The good news is that neither is typically fatal to the tree. I’d just snip off the dead tips for now and see if that doesn’t solve it.

   If it’s a weevil problem, pruning will remove the feeding larvae if you get to it ASAP (i.e. before the larvae pupate into adults and fly off, usually by late July). Beneficial insects and even birds feed on this pest, so the problem may take care of itself even if you do nothing.

   If it’s disease, removing the diseased parts removes at least some of the spores that can spread and lead to repeat infections.

   I wouldn’t spray anything until 1.) you’ve got a worse problem than this and 2.) you’re sure whether it’s weevils or tip blight.

   Weevil feeding damage is easy to spot under a hand lens or similar magnification. Extension offices and garden centers are two good places where you can take a cutting to have it examined.

   To nail down tip blight, cuttings can be sent to Penn State’s Disease Clinic. Plant pathologists there evaluate diseases and send diagnoses and suggested treatments to Pennsylvania homeowners at no charge. Here’s a link to the clinic’s web page for instructions: http://plantpath.psu.edu/facilities/plant-disease-clinic.

Adding a simple, shallow birdbath to your garden can have multiple benefits—for you, for the birds and for your garden! Here are five things a garden birdbath will accomplish in your flower or veggie garden. It will:

1. Attract more birds (of course), which will help aerate the surrounding soil

2. Attract birds that will eat bugs, thus helping with garden pest control

3. Attract wasps, which are key predators of pests (such as cabbage worms) that love to eat your garden crops

4. Attract beneficial insects that help with crop pollination

5. Teach you more about the natural, wonderful, quirky habits of all kinds of birds

A few tips to keep in mind are that you don’t need anything fancy, birds can benefit from a birdbath in all seasons (not just summer), and you should prune plants surrounding the fixture so birds can look out (which they’ll naturally want to do as they keep an eye out for predators).

For more info, plus tips on how and where to set up your birdbath, check out the article Birdbaths Are Good for the Garden.

Also, if you’re specifically looking for great advice on helping with pest control in your garden, see Organic Pest Control: What Works, What Doesn’t.

Related articles:

• A Natural Approach to Gardening
• Try New Varieties in Your Garden
• You Can Grow $700 of Food in 100 Square Feet!

Photo from Fotolia

Gardening provides many benefits. Besides fresh vegetables, beautiful flowers, and manicured lawns, it is a creative outlet and a great way to get exercise and fresh air. But just like any other type of physical activity, there are risks of aches, pains, and injury. Here are tips from Topical BioMedics to help gardeners enjoy working in the great outdoors with less pain.

Rhinebeck, NY (PRWEB) July 02, 2012

Summer is the season where people enjoy manicuring their lawns and tending their gardens in anticipation of enjoying fresh, homegrown produce and glorious flowers.

Gardening offers many benefits such as providing stress relief, an outlet for creativity and is an excellent activity to just get us moving. But just like any other form of physical activity, there are risks of injury.

As amateur and professional gardeners dig, bend over, rake, plant, reach, prune, hoe, lift, twist, move, carry debris and create gardening masterpieces, it’s important they protect themselves from potential hazards. If done improperly, gardening and yard work can lead to muscle and joint pain, repetitive strain injuries, tendonitis and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, as well as other accidental injuries.

“Planting, raking, weeding, digging, pruning, stooping, reaching, carrying heavy debris, and operating machinery puts stress on the hands and wrists,” says Lou Paradise, president and chief of research at Topical BioMedics, Inc., the makers of natural Topricin® Pain Relief and Healing Creams. “Gardeners spend hours performing these activities and without proper form, it can lead to a variety of problems such as sprains, twisted ankles, hand and wrist pain, lower back and shoulder pain, ankle, feet and knee pain. Don’t break your back bending over your begonias—protect yourself from potential hazards.”

To help stay injury free throughout this gardening season, Topricin offers the following tips.

To avoid/reduce injuries:

–Be sure to warm up/stretch as you would before any physical activity.

–Wear gardening gloves (to lower the risk of skin irritations/cuts and reduce blister formation) and use kneepads or use a foam cushion to make it more comfortable and less traumatic for knees.

–Dress to protect yourself from lawn/garden pests. Wear long-sleeved shirts and long, light-colored pants tucked into socks or boots and check yourself and family members for ticks.

–Wear goggles when doing things like weed-whacking and ear protection when using loud equipment.

–Protect yourself from the sun by covering up with long sleeves and pants made in breathable cotton, wear a hat and sunglasses, and if you use a sunscreen make sure it is as safe and natural as possible (for recommendations, visit the Environmental Working Group at http://www.ewg.org).

–Stay hydrated. Remember that you’re outside in the heat, working up a sweat and perspiring.

–Keep tools of the trade in tip-top shape by making sure your power equipment is working properly and your tools are sharpened and properly stored.

–Do not mow grass when it’s wet. Before mowing, walk around the yard, checking for sticks, stones, toys, and other foreign objects that could shoot out from under the mower.    

To prevent and treat injuries:

Aches and pains don’t have to interfere with summer gardening when you practice prevention and follow activities/injuries with appropriate treatment protocol.

Topricin Pain Relief and Healing Cream is a favorite treatment for gardeners around the country. Fueled by nature not chemicals, Topricin is a blend of eleven natural biomedicines that naturally help the joints detoxify by stimulating the body’s desire to drain toxins and excess fluids from the muscle tissue, which restores blood flow back to normal and helps heal the damage that is causing the pain.

–As a preventative, Topricin can be applied prior to outdoor activities. For example, if you are planting bulbs, apply Topricin lower back, hands and wrists, which are points of stress. Topricin can also be applied to exposed areas of skin, acting as a barrier to the urushiol oil in poison ivy.

–Topricin helps relieve symptoms of pain from other gardening aliments such as blisters, tick bites, Lyme disease, poison ivy, and minor sunburn and dehydration.

HOT AND COLD THERAPY:

Hot and cold therapy, along with Topricin, can shorten the duration of the recovery so the body heals faster and you feel better sooner.

EDITORS’ PICKS

Decorating Tip: Feng-shui dos, don’ts

Learn the feng-shui dos and don’ts for your entryway and kitchen.

Do:

– Create an inviting and eye-catching entrance, both inside and out.

– Include uplifting “greeters,” such as a waterfall or piece of artwork.

Don’t:

– Pile up paperwork, trash or broken objects near the doorway, inside or out.

– Walk into a wall or dead end. If necessary, add a mirror to help visually expand the space.

— HGTV/ Scripps Howard News Service

Home-Selling Tip: Show as much as possible

When you are selling your house, it is important to make it available for showings as much as possible. Try to allow as much time as possible per day for your agent to show your house. This means you need to leave the house before they arrive and return after they leave. Also, be ready at a moment’s notice –– you don’t want to miss out on any opportunities to show your house.

— FrontDoor.com

Going Green: Write a note, recycle shoes

Recyclebank has teamed up with ShoeBox Recycling, a for-profit Pennsylvania shoe recycler, to create a more personal connection between Americans who donate their shoes and the people in developing countries who need affordable footwear. Those who donate are encouraged to write a note and insert it inside the shoe for its eventual recipient to read, what the campaign says “humanizes” the process of donating. Recyclebank is a company that gives incentives to recycler with deals and discounts from local and national businesses.

— Earth911.com

Did You Know …

International buyers bought homes throughout the U.S. in the past year, but four states accounted for 51 percent of the purchases: Florida, California, Texas and Arizona. — Realtor.org

New Product: Sony NSZ-GS7 Internet Player

Sony will soon be selling the NSZ-GS7 Internet Player, which is another attempt at providing a successful Google TV platform. The box is much smaller and sleeker than the Logitech Revue, says Consumer Reports Electronics Blog, and it comes with a redesigned universal remote control with a touchpad on one side and a keyboard on the other. There is also motion control for gaming.

Garden Guide: Before you leave for vacation

If your garden soil is dry, water before you leave for vacation. A good irrigation will last 10 to 13 days. Mulching also prevents water loss. Mulches should be used for weed control as well as for growth regulators. They tend to make gardening easier and more efficient. Water thoroughly before applying mulches. Apply mulches no more than 4 inches thick. If you can afford it, consider a timer system, even with above-ground sprinklers or drip-irrigation hoses.

— University of Illinois Extension

Greenfinches, seen here as a juvenile begging from its male parent, can attempt second or third broods into late summer. Photo: Steve Young (www.birdsonfilm.com).

Summer gardening advice from the RSPB

Posted on: 02 Jul 2012

---

With summer gardening often accidentally endangering breeding birds and other wildlife, the RSPB has provided a series of tips for nature-friendly horticulture.

The top tips include giving your cat a bell. Its natural hunting instincts mean it can be a threat to garden birds. If you have a pet cat, make sure it wears a collar with a bell attached so birds get an early warning when there’s a predator about.

The more plants you grow, the better it is for wildlife, which is a great excuse to get out there and fill your garden with greenery. Grow flowers among your vegetables, climbers up the walls and in pots on your patio. Where possible, avoid using chemicals to kill insects or weeds. Pesticides can knock vital levels out of the food chain, and there are usually more constructive ways of working with nature to sustain a healthy garden.

With all the rain we’ve had recently, it may seem odd to suggest storing it to water your plants, but only a few months ago there were in drought conditions and a hosepipe ban. Water butts are very environmentally friendly because they collect and store rain water, allowing you to recycle it and give your plants a good drink at the same time.

It is also good to delay hedge cutting and trimming until autumn. The main breeding period for garden birds is between 1 March and the end of August, so it’s best to avoid cutting trees or hedges during this time so as not to disturb any nests. Conifers can provide nesting sites for a variety of species at this time including Blackbird, Robins, Greenfinch, Goldcrest and even Sparrowhawk and crows, so real care needs to be taken during any cutting.

Over 170,000 people have registered for the RSPB’s Homes for Wildlife scheme, a free online service in which you feed in basic information about your garden, generating gardening advice specific to your type of garden. Visit www.rspb.org.uk/homesforwildlife.

 

Other News

New vision overseas?

Posted: 01 Jul 2012
The RSPB has cautiously welcomed the publication of a Government White Paper that sets out a positive environmental vision for the UK’s Overseas Territories

Read more…

---

First Canadian bird conservation report

Posted: 30 Jun 2012
Bird Studies Canada and Nature Canada have released the first-ever ‘State of Canada’s Birds’ report, drawing on 40 years of data to show how the country’s birds are faring.

Read more…

---

Seychelles nature rehab project

Posted: 29 Jun 2012
Nature Seychelles has launched an innovative project to enable vulnerable people to improve their wellbeing through contact with nature.

Read more…

---

Wildlife railroaded by Network Rail

Posted: 28 Jun 2012
Network Rail has come into conflict with the RSPB, local residents and British Transport Police over the destruction of trackside vegetation.

Read more…

---

A golf course too far?

Posted: 27 Jun 2012
A huge development directly next to one of Portugal’s most important bird reserves has been given the go-ahead by the local government, causing international concern.

Read more…

---

  2 3 4 

Pesky rabbits and grazing deer are the normal nuisances green thumbs face during the seasonal upkeep of their gardens.

A record heat wave is a different hassle altogether.

Attendance was sparse for a garden walk at Luthy Botanical Garden on Sunday afternoon thanks to the overbearing humidity and heat that has gripped the Midwest in the past week. Between periodically wiping the sweat off their brows, those who did attend were introduced to a bevy of plants and trees while picking up a few tips on how to maintain a garden under such extreme conditions.

“That kind of heat, and we’ve associated drought with that heat, greatly impacts your watering schedule,” said Bob Streitmatter, garden manager at Luthy Botanical Garden.

Streitmatter said that certain measures can be taken in order to battle the debilitating effects of severe heat. Increasing water and mulching are obvious prevention tactics, but trying drought-tested plants such as cacti and the Arkansas Bluestar – a shrub known for enduring clay-like soil in the south – also are alternatives for the more ambitious gardener.

If the dry heat persists for the rest of the summer, Streitmatter advised that gardeners should target long-term plants such as trees and shrubs for their preservation efforts.

“Our plan of attack is to focus on the long-term plants,” Streitmatter said. “We try to keep those well watered. Sometimes grass is recoverable, but you can always plant new grass. You can’t always plant new trees.”

The gardening expertise was an added bonus to the tour through Luthy’s lush scenery. A vast rose garden showcased a species of rose that was selected out of an original field of 10,000 roses. And towering over the garden was a 50-year-old Fernleaf European Beech tree, a relic from the first few years of the Luthy garden.

“Since we are a botanic garden and we’ve been around since 1951, we do have some older specimens,” Streitmatter said. “The Fernleaf Beech is a special icon here at Luthy Botanical Garden because it has been here so long and is such a beautiful specimen in all seasons.”

Jim Smith, a Lacon resident who enjoys the gardening process, made the drive into Peoria to walk in the garden but was unaware that Streitmatter would be dispensing trivia and tips along the way. Smith admitted that tending to a garden is a difficult task, and hearing Streitmatter’s tidbits of knowledge should help in the future.

“He must be a master gardener,” Smith said. “It’s nice to hear tips from him instead of the guy at Lowe’s.”

 

Thomas Bruch can be reached at 686-3181 or tbruch@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @ThomasBruch.