ESSEX JUNCTION — The 2013 Vermont Flower Show will be held March 1-3 at the Champlain Valley Exposition. The event, presented by Green Works/Vermont Nursery and Landscape Association in collaboration with University of Vermont Extension and others, will feature colorful display gardens, a landscaped model garden railway and a flower judging competition, as well as special activities for kids, cooking demonstrations, more than 80 vendors, and a full slate of educational workshops. Hours are Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., and Sunday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Admission is $15 for adults, $12 for seniors (60 and older) and $3 for children (3-17). A weekend pass is $30.

Vermont certified horticulturists will be available throughout the show to answer gardening and landscaping questions. Visitors also can attend seminars to learn about flower, berry and vegetable gardening; landscape design; insect pests; water gardens; ecological landscaping and other horticultural topics from experts from UVM, state agencies, garden centers and nurseries, landscaping firms and other organizations. Keynote speaker Stephanie Cohen, author of the “Perennial Gardener’s Design,” will give talks on colorful, showy perennials for the home garden and perennial garden design. For a full schedule of seminars and workshops along with other show information, visit http://greenworksvermont.org/vermont-flower-show.

By William K. Alcorn

alcorn@vindy.com

NILES

There is a sense that the local economy is improving among exhibitors and visitors at the Mahoning Valley Home and Garden Show in the Eastwood Expo Center at the Eastwood Mall complex this weekend.

The show started Friday and runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today. Admission and parking are free.

Everybody who comes through the door — and there have been lots of visitors — seems to be a serious buyer, said Dominic Baragona, president of Mid America Events of Niles, which produced the home show.

Baragona said about 4,000 visitors came through the doors Friday, and by 2 p.m. Saturday, more than 5,000 already had been counted, and he estimated Saturday’s total would reach 9,000.

In the past few annual shows, most people have walked around looking but not doing a lot of buying. However, this year many more are stopping to talk to one or more of the 150 vendors at the show, Baragona said.

One of the serious buyers Saturday was John Blue of Girard, who was at the show with his nephew, Damian Blue.

Blue said he is planning quite a few family home- improvement projects, such as roofing and siding, and he picked up a lot of brochures, got some ideas and even arranged to receive some bids.

John Perry of Poland and Matt Karlovic of Hubbard, sales consultants for CVS Creative Vinyl Systems, said more people at this year’s show are looking seriously.

They are not planning to move, they are planning to improve where they live and are looking for top- quality products for their projects, said Karlovic. CVS has offices in New Castle, Pa., and Salem.

Enchanted Gardens Landscaping of Canfield had one of several landscaping displays at the show.

Business started picking up in 2012, and a lot of people at the show are looking to do something this year, said Mark White, owner and designer for Enchanted Gardens.

“Outdoor living is a huge trend, with projects featuring kitchens with stoves and running water and living rooms with fire- places,” White said. He said patios can range from $5,000 and up. The show display would cost about $30,000, he said.

There also are several stage activities today at the show including how-to-do-it seminars presented by Home Depot at noon and 3:30 p.m., and a live cooking demonstration at 1 p.m. by chefs from the Firebirds Wood Fired Grill in the Eastwood Mall.

From 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., people can bring family heirlooms and just old stuff to have auctioneer David Dangerfield discuss the items and appraise their value.

On Saturday at the Home Show’s version of “Antiques Road Show,” some items were worth only a few dollars. But others, such as a Civil War collection, had considerable value.

The Civil War collection of letters, a diary and pictures and sword, could be worth anywhere from $2,000 to $8,000 or $10,000, depending on the contents of the letters and diary, Dangerfield told the owner.

It looks as if it’s going to be an early spring. Loquats began ripening toward the end of January, a good month ahead of normal, and the mulberry trees in our yard are flush with fruit. Blueberries are also ripening earlier than usual. Although that’s one crop we don’t grow ourselves, we do take advantage of nearby farms that welcome U-pickers.

One of our favorite U-pick operations is Lake Catherine Blueberries (5849 Lake Catherine Road, Groveland; 352-429-8221) run by Dustin and Jamie Lowe. According to Jamie Lowe, this year commercial picking should be starting in March, and they expect to open their U-pick operation in early April. That’s a couple weeks ahead of last year, but I’m not complaining. I’ll gladly indulge in an early feast of local produce.

The popularity of locally grown fruits and vegetables seems to be on the rise. Within a five-mile range of my home, I know of three new “farmettes,” backyard gardens turned into businesses to supplement the fruit and vegetable needs of several families. Three other specialty farms — farms that focus on specific crops such as strawberries, blueberries and blackberries — are also nearby, as well as three “egg farms” where small flocks of free-range chickens produce enough eggs to help their owners earn a little extra “scratch.”

• Sherry Boas

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My son’s girlfriend, Malory Foster, is among the new crop of garden enthusiasts eager to share a passion for plants with the public. Shortly after joining forces, Malory converted a sandy patch of weedy lawn into a verdant oasis of organic vegetables. One garden led to two, which led to a third, as well as the installation of a small greenhouse.

My husband and I have watched with nostalgic pleasure as the energetic couple sought out sources of local horse manure and proceeded to tote loads of the nitrogen-rich fertilizer to their property to mix with wood chips, peat and compost. Just as we did when we were starting out, Tim and Malory have managed to transform sadly deficient soil into a healthy composite of produce-supporting nutrients. Malory’s gardens now provide enough surplus vegetables to launch a small community supported agriculture operation in addition to a stand at the Clermont Farmer’s Market on Sundays.

I find myself encouraged by the surging interest in edible landscapes. Even in small spaces such as patios, balconies and postage-stamp-size front yards, people have begun to realize how much sense it makes to grow a few vegetable, herb or fruit plants.

Perhaps the abundance of online information has helped.

Anyone who wants to learn how to grow a particular plant need only do an Internet search for how-to videos. Consider tomatoes. A Google search on “how to grow tomatoes” yields 1.2 million posts by people eager to teach others how to do everything from planting tomato seeds to trellis growing plants, to preserving their harvest.

And then there’s Facebook.

In addition to reconnecting with high-school classmates, Facebook is a great place to find others who share common interests. Both experienced and would-be gardeners can join any of Facebook’s many specialty groups set up by individuals with passion for particular aspects of homegrown goodness. One of the Facebook groups I find particularly inspiring is called Grow Food Not Lawns (website: growtest.org), which strives to spread the word about sustainability, permaculture and edible landscaping.

Fortunately for those who either don’t have the opportunity or interest in growing their own food, small-scale local farmers have stepped up to the plate. Their willingness to dedicate the time, labor and resources needed to provide the public with fresh-grown local foods is a welcome addition to the community.

No matter whether the growing season is running early as it is this year, late or along normal lines, it’s good to know resources are available to make locally grown foods more accessible to anyone with the desire to seek out a more nutritious (and delicious!) way of eating.

Farm resources

Online sources for local farms:

•pickyourown.org

•lakecountyfl.gov/enjoying_lake_county/listings/farm

•localharvest.org

Sherry Boas can be reached at simplyliving@

beautifulbamboo.com. Her columns can be found online at OrlandoSentinel.com/

lake.

The Herald-Sun | Christine T. Nguyen
Jim Worriell (left) and Delores Traeger (right) listen as master gardener Leanna Murphy Dono (center) talks about container gardens on Sunday, February 17, 2013 during a Master Gardeners�
Extension Gardener Series class at Sarah P. Duke Gardens.

The Herald-Sun | Christine T. Nguyen
Mark Kinsey of Durham explores the Charlotte Brody Discovery Garden on Sunday, February 17, 2013 during a class about home vegetable and herb gardening. Kinsey attended the class because he is interested in edible landscaping.

If you’re thinking about growing a vegetable garden this year, time’s a wasting.

It’s not too early start planting lettuce and peas.

“You need to get them in the ground now,” said Leanna Murphy Dono, a master gardener who taught a free two-hour class about growing vegetables and herbs Sunday at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens.

The class was the first of the season, and Dono and other Durham master gardeners will be teaching a series of free vegetable gardening classes beginning March 24 at Duke Gardens.

During the 1980s and ’90s, folks just didn’t seem to be interested in growing their own vegetables, but home vegetable gardening is going through a resurgence and people are eager to learn, Dono said.

“It was not cool to have a vegetable garden,” Dono said.

But growing your own has become cool again, and it can save money, Dono said. People also like to garden because it helps them feel control over their lives, the food is fresh and tastes good and they take pride in growing their own food, Dono said.

During Dono’s class Sunday, she gave a Powerpoint presentation indoors about how to get started raising vegetables. Then, she took the class out to the new Charlotte Brody Discovery Garden at Duke Gardens to show the students the vegetable and herb garden.

Seeds and plants were already sprouting in the garden, which just went through a snow event the day before. The composted and mulched soil that remains around 53 degrees keeps plants growing through the winter and allows such early planting, she said.

“That’s how you can have this much productivity in the winter here,” Dono said, pointing to cabbages, lettuces and other vegetables.

Class members could hardly contain their enthusiasm about starting their first garden or improving the garden they already have.

Ainsworth Sewell brought his daughter, Anita, 14, to the class. He’s never grown a vegetable garden before, but he said he definitely will grow one this year. He liked Dono’s ideas for growing vegetables in containers.

“I want to do a raised bed, and I like the idea of putting them in these little pails, five-gallon pails,” he said.

He thinks they’ll attend more classes in March and April.

“Oh definitely,” he said. “This is only a start for us.”

Delores Traeger hasn’t grown her own vegetables either.

“I’m just getting information and trying to learn as much as I can,” she said. “I want to do container gardening.”

Traeger said she was inspired by the slides Dono showed of the tomato plants she grew on her deck in five-gallon pails.

“I’m going to do container gardening, you bet I am,” Traeger said. “I think it will be fun.”

Traeger was already imagining just how delicious her first tomato would be.

“I especially want to grow tomatoes,” she said. “When she started talking about them, I could taste them already.”

People who missed Sunday’s class are welcome to attend future classes and will receive plenty of information about how to get started, Dono said.

They’re free, and the next one, called “Love that Lettuce,” is scheduled March 24 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

For more information, look for: “In the Garden: the Master Gardeners’ Extension Gardener Series” near the end of:  http://www.hr.duke.edu/dukegardens/pdfs/March-July%2013%20ed%20brochure/Gardening-Horticulture-13a.pdf.

Or call the Durham County Extension Service at 919-560-0525.

NILES

There is a sense that the local economy is improving among exhibitors and visitors at the Mahoning Valley Home and Garden Show in the Eastwood Expo Center at the Eastwood Mall complex this weekend.

The show started Friday and runs through today, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.. Admission and parking are free.

Everybody who comes through the door — and there have been lots of visitors — seems to be a serious buyer, said Dominic Baragona, president of Mid America Events of Niles, which produced the home show.

Baragona said about 4,000 visitors came through the doors Friday, and by 2 p.m. Saturday more than 5,000 had already been counted, and he estimated Saturday’s total would reach 9,000.

In the past few annual shows, most people have walked around looking but not doing a lot of buying. However, his year many more are stopping to talk to one or more of the 150 vendors at the show, Baragona said.

One of the serious buyers Saturday was John Blue of Girard, who was at the show with his nephew, Damian Blue.

Blue said he is planning quite a few family home improvement projects, such as roofing and siding, and he picked up a lot of brochures, got some ideas, and even arranged to receive some bids.

John Perry of Poland and Matt Karlovic of Hubbard, sales consultants for CVS Creative Vinyl Systems, said more people at this year’s show are looking seriously.

They are not planning to move, they are planning to improve where they live and are looking for top quality products for their projects, said Karlovic. CVS has offices in New Castle, Pa., and Salem.

Enchanted Gardens Landscaping of Canfield had one of several impressive landscaping displays at the show.

Read more about the event in Sunday’s Vindicator or on Vindy.com.

View full size

Five shows with blooming gardens are coming up in the next three weeks within day-trip range.
Pennsylvania Garden Expo

 

   It’s nirvana for cabin-fevered plant-lovers
– no fewer than five indoor garden shows coming up in the next three weeks
within day-trip range of Harrisburg.

   The blooming string kicks off Feb. 22-24
with the Pennsylvania Garden Expo in Harrisburg and then hands off to the
Pennsylvania Garden Show of York (March 1-3); the Maryland Home and Garden Show
in Timonium, Md. (March 2-3 and March 8-10), and the Pennsylvania Home Show in
Harrisburg and gargantuan Philadelphia International Flower Show (both March
2-10).

   HGTV’s John Gidding (of Curb Appeal fame) is headlining this year’s Pennsylvania Garden
Expo at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex. Check out all of the details on this show and its 13 display gardens, 35 talks and 150 exhibitors on Pennlive.com. 

   Here’s a rundown on the others:

Pennsylvania
Garden Show of York

   * The
Basics: Takes place in the Toyota Arena of York Expo Center, 334 Carlisle
Ave., York.

View full size

Cross Creek Farm’s display garden at the 2012 York show.
George Weigel

 

   The format is similar to the Pennsylvania
Garden Expo with seminars, display gardens built by local landscapers and marketplace
with more than 100 exhibitors.

   One additional feature: the Garden Club
Federation’s Floral Rhapsody Flower Show, which moves to the center of the show
floor this year. Garden clubbers display some of their best plant specimens and
arrangements.

   * 2013
Highlights: Author Tovah Martin is doing programs March 1 and 2, including
a terrarium workshop March 2(extra fee for that). More than 30 talks in all are
planned (http://pagsy.com/seminars-workshops for the
schedule).

Eleven display gardens are on tap this year, and
a new “Candyland” exhibit has candy growing on trees and Kool Aid flowing over
landscape rocks.

   The 2013 show theme is “Nature’s Symphony.”

   * What
Else to See and Do: Puppet shows for kids; tea events (extra fee); wine and
cheese samples; live music; working artists and a fairy garden workshop (March
3, extra fee).

   * Hours:
March 1 from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; March 2 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; March 3 from 10
a.m. to 5 p.m.

   * Tickets:
At the door, $11 for adults; $9 for ages 62 and up; kids 12 and under free.
Advance tickets $9 ($8 for seniors). See http://pagsy.com/tickets for details.
Free parking.

   * More
Information: www.pagsy.com or 717-848-2596.

Maryland Home
and Garden Show

   * The
Basics: Held at the Maryland State Fairgrounds, 2200 York Road, Timonium,
about a 90-minute drive from Harrisburg.

   As the name suggests, it’s partly
home-focused and partly garden-focused – kind of a hybrid of the Pennsylvania
Garden Expo and a builders show.

   This one runs 5 days over two consecutive
weekends, cutting out the Monday-Thursday between.

   * 2013 Highlights: More than 300
exhibitors (the majority home improvement) will be on hand this year. Sixteen display
gardens are being built by northern Maryland landscapers.

   Discovery Channel’s Dr. Lori will appraise
your flea-market finds March 2 and 3 as part of a lineup of nearly two dozen
talks and programs.

The
2013 theme is “Films in Flowers.”

   * What Else to See and Do: Maryland Orchid
Society show and sale (March 8-10); bonsai show and sale (March 8-10); more
than 125 craftspeople in a section called the Maryland Spring Craft Show; a
“fan cave” built by Dr. Basement.

   * Hours: March 2 from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.;
March 3 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; March 8 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; March 9 from 10
a.m. to 9 p.m., and March 10 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

   * Tickets: $12 for adults; $10 for seniors;
$3 for children ages 6-12; under 6 is free. Free parking.

   * More Information: www.mdhomeandgarden.com/spring or
410-863-1180.

Pennsylvania
Home Show

   * The Basics: Sponsored by
the Homebuilders Association of Metro Harrisburg, this show takes place in the
Exhibition Hall of the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex along Cameron Street,
Harrisburg. People still call it the “Builder’s Show.”

View full size

Crowds milling through the Pa. Home Show.
George Weigel

 

   It’s primarily geared to builder and
home-improvements, albeit with a decent outdoor-living presence and several
display gardens.

   * 2013 Highlights: For gardeners,
there’s no designated “display garden” area this year, but landscapers such as
Blouch’s Landscaping, Dreamscapes Watergardens, Hemlock Landscaping and Outdoor
Expressions are building gardens in several featured areas. Plus several more
will have smaller gardens at their booths.

   There’s also landscaping around the Showcase
Home and Log Home Exhibit.

   In addition, this is a good place to talk
ideas and get estimates on hardscape and other outdoor-living projects from
specialists in sunrooms, paver patios, fencing, pools, outdoor kitchens, lawn
care and landscape edging.

   Seminars will include energy savings, birds
of prey, work-saving tips in the landscape and geothermal heating. The schedule
is at http://pahomeshow.com/Calendar-Of-Events.asp.

   Special events include Senior Day on March 4
($5 admission); “A Night to Wine” wine tasting on March 8 from 4 to 8 p.m.;
Free Parking Day on March 8, and Kids Day on March 9 (clowns, pitching booth
and a hands-on workshop sponsored by Home Depot).

   * What Else to See and Do: Builders Lane
and Remodelers Row is loaded with home contractors of all sorts.

   Canstruction pits four teams of designers
against one another in building structures out of canned goods.

   Five student teams compete to design and
build an outdoor storage unit for less than $2,000 in the Design It-Build It
School Challenge.

   New for 2013 is an Art Walk on March 9 and
10 that displays glasswork, watercolors, oil paintings, photography and other
focal-point art for home interiors.

   * Hours: Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 8
p.m.; Sundays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; March 4-7 (Monday-Thursday) from noon to
6 p.m.; Friday, March 8, from noon to 8 p.m.

   * Tickets: $6 for adults. Kids 12 and under
are free. Parking is $8.

   * More Information: www.pahomeshow.com or 717-232-5595.

Philadelphia
International Flower Show

   * The Basics: This one is the
world’s biggest, oldest indoor flower show (184 years old) and attracts 270,000
visitors from all over the world. It’s held over 10 sprawling acres inside the
Pennsylvania Convention Center, 12^th and Arch streets, Philadelphia.

View full size

The display gardens at the Philadelphia International Flower Show are among the most elaborate anywhere.
George Weigel

 

   The 40 display gardens are as elaborate as
any you’ll find anywhere, especially the handful of lead ones right inside the
main entrance.

   The Marketplace is huge and popular with 180
vendors at the opposite side of the show floor from the gardens. In the middle
is a judged horticulture competition with awesome specimen potted plants grown
by amateurs.

   * 2013 Highlights: The 2013 theme
is “Brilliant!” focused on British gardening. The main entrance will feel like
London with palace gates, English roses, a birch allee and even a sculptural
replica of Big Ben. Other gardens will tip a hat to the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party,
rolling British hillsides, foggy London gardens and a manicured cricket club.

   The show adds an extra day in 2013… now
running two full weekends for a total of 9 days. Also new for 2013 are pre-show
sneak peek packages to see the show being set up and “The Backyard,” a room
devoted to decks, patios, grills, fire pits and garden tools.  

   * What Else to See and Do: Large (and
free) wine-tasting by dozens of wineries, plus an in-show wine and spirits
shop; scores of talks both in seminar rooms and on the show floor; “British
Village” offering goods from British vendors; new plant introductions; “make
and take” workshops to craft your own British fare to take home; cooking
demonstrations; a Kids Zone to give kids a play break; garden teas (extra fee);
TV-style floral-arranging contests, and pressed-flower and miniatures displays.
Philly’s Reading Terminal Market is next door.

* Hours:
March
2 from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.; March 3 from 8 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.; March 4-8 from
10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.; March 9 from 8 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., and March 10 from 8
a.m. to 6 p.m.

   * Tickets: $32 for adults and
$22 for students (ages 17-24) at the door. $28 and $21 in advance on the www.theflowershow.com web site.
Children ages 2-16 are $17 at the door and $16 in advance. Parking can run
$15-$20 in surrounding lots.

Or go
on one of four bus tours led by Pennlive garden writer George Weigel that drop
off at the door and include tickets… see www.georgeweigel.net/georges-talks-and-trips for details.

   * More Information: www.theflowershow.com or call
215-988-8800 or email phs-info@pennhort.org.

SAN ANGELO, Texas —
The first of several rainwater harvesting tanks was installed at the Southside Recreation Center on Feb. 1, by Chuck Hartgrove, owner of Angelo Seamless Gutters. It will be used to capture rainwater for the educational garden being built by The People/Plant Connection, a local nonprofit organization. Funding for the rain tank was provided by a grant from the San Angelo Area Foundation. The tank holds 3,000 gallons of rainwater.

A misconception is we don’t get enough rain to collect rainwater. According to the weather station at Mathis Field, since September 2012, we have received about 9.01 inches of rain. Since September 2012, with the size of the roof, the rain tank would have collected more than 14,000 gallons of rainwater.

Water conservation is one of the main subjects of The People/Plant Connection. Their educational garden will be built to inform people in the Concho Valley about how to garden in drought situations, taking care of the environment and how to raise vegetables for themselves and their families. The garden will be on about three acres of land in front of and around the Southside Recreation Center on Ben Ficklin Road.

This unique garden will have four smaller gardens inside the perimeter. There will be a children’s adventure garden, an accessible garden for people with disabilities, a community garden where gardeners rent a small space for their own garden and a serenity rose garden where people can sit and relax and enjoy the sights and sounds of the garden. The main gardens will be connected with sever smaller pocket gardens for demonstration of how to have beautiful plants that don’t need a lot of water.

The People/Plant Connection has been in operation since July 2009 when they started a horticulture program at the Concho Valley Community Women’s Correctional Facility and the Roy K. Robb Community Men’s Correctional Facility. Since 2010, they have sponsored two monthly gardening seminars. One is a Lunch ‘n’ Learn class taught by Allison Watkins, Texas AM AgriLife Extension horticulturist. They meet at the Edd B. Keys Building, 113 W. Beauregard Ave., on the second floor, in the commissioner’s court. The class is from noon to 1 p.m. and cost $5. Watkins covers different subjects about gardening in West Texas to help homeowners and business owners get the most of their gardening efforts.

The Saturday Gardening Seminars are held at the Water Education Center, 417 S. Oakes St.,from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Speakers are professionals from the community speaking about different aspects of gardening. Rainwater harvesting, gardening with Texas native plants, drip irrigation and more. These classes are $10 each. All proceeds from their classes go toward the programs and building the garden.

Gardening and art classes will also be held in conjunction with the summer camp programs at the Southside Recreation Center and the Carl Ray Johnson Recreation Center beginning in June. These classes are for children registered at the City Recreation Program Summer Camp. Children’s gardening classes will also be offered at the Goodfellow AFB Youth Center. Special student memberships are $15 per month with an additional $5 for each additional child. Parents get discounts from our seven industry sponsors with the student memberships.

If you would like to become a PPC volunteer and be part of this unique project, call 325-656-3104. Volunteers will help start the garden by landscaping the front of the Southside Recreation Center and the side garden around the outdoor classroom. As a PPC volunteer, you will get gardening information, discounts at the monthly gardening seminars, an appreciation dinner at the end of the year to recognize your hours and contribution to The People/Plant Connection.

If you would like to become a member of The People/Plant Connection, call 325-656-3104 to receive an application. The cost is $25 per year and members receive discounts from seven industry sponsors from the community. The industry sponsors are All-Tex Irrigation Supply, Brannan Nursery Landscape, Britton’s Garden Landscape, Concho Natives, Native Ornamentals-Mertzon, Olive’s Nursery and Scherz Landscape Co. Other benefits include a quarterly e-newsletter with information about what is going on with our garden project, class schedules and articles by Watkins and master gardeners about gardening in West Texas.

We also accept donations of cash or gift cards. The People/Plant Connection is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization making your donations tax deductible. Send your donations to: The People/Plant Connection, P.O. Box 62841, San Angelo, TX 76906.

For information about The People/Plant Connection and their programs call Susan Stanfield at 325-656-3104.

Last year I moved — house, garden, husband and about one-tenth of the accumulated possessions of some fifty years of wedded bliss.

Among the more important things we attempted to move were cuttings or divisions of unusual plants, pots of herbs without which I could not cook in the new kitchen, a big leaf magnolia tree which we had carefully transferred to a pot, some plants that were gifts from treasured friends, a cutting from a rose that was a gift from a now deceased brother, and a wisteria vine without which this once southern girl would not feel at home.

We did a little landscaping in front of the “new” house so there would be something green in the spring, but we were not counting on a water main break on Christmas Eve, or on the squirrels. Although we were politely told that our west side squirrel family was not welcome over here, they obviously sent e-mails to their cousins, or maybe they tweeted.

The east side squirrels don’t like the front garden design and have been diligently working to relocate the bulbs and corms we so carefully planted. They also have decided we don’t have enough trees in the front yard so they have been planting oaks, maples and gingkoes. I admire gingko trees, but one in a neighborhood is enough, especially if it is a female.

When the city trucks arrived to repair the water main the squirrels all left. However, they returned a couple of weeks ago.

We have planted 450 spring bulbs: daffodils, tulips, a few grape hyacinths and crocus in the front garden so far. I don’t know why I keep planting crocus bulbs, as I’ve never been able to grow them successfully.

The squirrels on Western Avenue regarded crocus as caviar and nothing — wire mesh, animal repellents, red pepper spray — seem to deter them. When we tried the mesh, the squirrels just waited until the bulbs came up and chewed off the tops. Hopefully, the new neighborhood squirrels don’t have such refined tastes.

For our backyard garden, which already contains a beautiful holly tree and some fiddlehead ferns, I am dreaming of a friendship garden.

As you undoubtedly know, a friendship garden is made up mostly of plants gifted, begged, borrowed or stolen from one’s friends. It’s not a very big backyard so maybe I won’t be reduced to theft and anyway HerbFest is coming up on April 27. The vendors there always have beautiful healthy plants.

I would like to rely on perennials for color through the seasons, but like many gardeners I have always filled in with stalwart annuals such as marigolds and impatiens to perk up the flowerbeds in between the blooming period of most perennials. It takes a little extra planning to develop a sequential perennial garden, and the University of Illinois Extension has a perennial gardening website that can help you plan yours at: http://urbanext.illinois.edu/perennials/.

So we are starting with a holly tree, a fence, a fountain and a pile of mud — garden talk for a rag, a bone and a hank of hair.

Oh, and an entire colony of squirrels, old squirrels too, and they seem absolutely fearless. There is not much traffic in our circle and I swear one of the clan thumbed his nose at me as I slowly backed out of our still unfamiliar driveway.

I expect you are tired of hearing about my (losing) battles with the squirrels, but I have a new house, a new garden and a new lease on life and we will see who wins this time.

All this talk about squirrel problems reminded me that I probably need to revisit the University of Illinois Extension “Living with Wildlife” website to find research-based recommendations on how to reduce their damage. The website can be found at http://web.extension.illinois.edu/wildlife/.

If you have questions about your gardens, call the University of Illinois Extension office in Charleston at 345-7034.

Jackie Record is a University of Illinois Extension master gardener.

Last year I moved — house, garden, husband and about one-tenth of the accumulated possessions of some fifty years of wedded bliss.

Among the more important things we attempted to move were cuttings or divisions of unusual plants, pots of herbs without which I could not cook in the new kitchen, a big leaf magnolia tree which we had carefully transferred to a pot, some plants that were gifts from treasured friends, a cutting from a rose that was a gift from a now deceased brother, and a wisteria vine without which this once southern girl would not feel at home.

We did a little landscaping in front of the “new” house so there would be something green in the spring, but we were not counting on a water main break on Christmas Eve, or on the squirrels. Although we were politely told that our west side squirrel family was not welcome over here, they obviously sent e-mails to their cousins, or maybe they tweeted.

The east side squirrels don’t like the front garden design and have been diligently working to relocate the bulbs and corms we so carefully planted. They also have decided we don’t have enough trees in the front yard so they have been planting oaks, maples and gingkoes. I admire gingko trees, but one in a neighborhood is enough, especially if it is a female.

When the city trucks arrived to repair the water main the squirrels all left. However, they returned a couple of weeks ago.

We have planted 450 spring bulbs: daffodils, tulips, a few grape hyacinths and crocus in the front garden so far. I don’t know why I keep planting crocus bulbs, as I’ve never been able to grow them successfully.

The squirrels on Western Avenue regarded crocus as caviar and nothing — wire mesh, animal repellents, red pepper spray — seem to deter them. When we tried the mesh, the squirrels just waited until the bulbs came up and chewed off the tops. Hopefully, the new neighborhood squirrels don’t have such refined tastes.

For our backyard garden, which already contains a beautiful holly tree and some fiddlehead ferns, I am dreaming of a friendship garden.

As you undoubtedly know, a friendship garden is made up mostly of plants gifted, begged, borrowed or stolen from one’s friends. It’s not a very big backyard so maybe I won’t be reduced to theft and anyway HerbFest is coming up on April 27. The vendors there always have beautiful healthy plants.

I would like to rely on perennials for color through the seasons, but like many gardeners I have always filled in with stalwart annuals such as marigolds and impatiens to perk up the flowerbeds in between the blooming period of most perennials. It takes a little extra planning to develop a sequential perennial garden, and the University of Illinois Extension has a perennial gardening website that can help you plan yours at: http://urbanext.illinois.edu/perennials/.

So we are starting with a holly tree, a fence, a fountain and a pile of mud — garden talk for a rag, a bone and a hank of hair.

Oh, and an entire colony of squirrels, old squirrels too, and they seem absolutely fearless. There is not much traffic in our circle and I swear one of the clan thumbed his nose at me as I slowly backed out of our still unfamiliar driveway.

I expect you are tired of hearing about my (losing) battles with the squirrels, but I have a new house, a new garden and a new lease on life and we will see who wins this time.

All this talk about squirrel problems reminded me that I probably need to revisit the University of Illinois Extension “Living with Wildlife” website to find research-based recommendations on how to reduce their damage. The website can be found at http://web.extension.illinois.edu/wildlife/.

If you have questions about your gardens, call the University of Illinois Extension office in Charleston at 345-7034.

Jackie Record is a University of Illinois Extension master gardener.

February 15, 2013

THE DIRT ON GARDENING; Raised bed gardens can create visual pleasure

Anonymous


THE GOSHEN NEWS
The Goshen News

Fri Feb 15, 2013, 08:00 PM EST

Are you planning a raised-bed garden this year? Well congratulations — not only for your decision to grow your own but also for incorporating the raised bed design that has become so popular.

Raised bed gardens are the rave anymore because of the convenience, ease of harvesting and the neatness they provide to a homeowner — especially city dwellers.

While any garden that is well-maintained creates a visual kind of pleasure, a raised bed that is well placed in a more convenient spot, like outside your back door, will if properly maintained, fit right in to other landscaping and flower gardens.

A bed of this type doesn’t necessarily have to be the ho-hum garden with the standard vegetables one would ordinarily see in a garden for a food source.

Try to make your garden interesting by incorporating some unusual twists that separate it from the neighbors.

Flowers in the vegetable garden — well why not? I always ringed my garden’s outer edges with alyssum (Easter Basket Mix) that gave it a more finished look. I also planted a few marigolds to ward off insects. I filled an end with zinnias one year (the cut-and-come-again variety) just to make the garden a little more eye appealing and cosmos another year.

There are a number of things that you might do to set your garden off from the same ‘ole, same ’ole. Purchase a teepee style trellis for a vining flower or vegetable. There are simple ones and there are elaborate ones available to choose from and it will give your garden a handsome focal point. When doing this, always keep in mind the size of your garden and don’t overwhelm it with a giant behemoth.

Incorporate cement figurines for talking points like frogs, toads, turtles, angels or fairies. Place a gazing globe in a corner spot or plant flowers in an old galvanized sprinkling can and place it in a spot that can easily be seen. In other words, make it a fun place for yourself and one that neighbors and visitors will enjoy and comment on.

One such item, in a previous article of a friend’s garden, was a pair of cupped hands lying flat in the garden that contained a small amount of dirt planted with dragon’s blood sedum — how neat is that? This same cement creation could contain a small amount of bird seed or simply left for water to collect in when you’ve watered the garden. The birds will love you for it.

When laying out a raised bed (or two or three) keep things in perspective and consider surrounding landscaping and beds — in other words don’t just throw one out there. Make it a part of the whole landscape and design.

Keep beds level even if it means using more timbers on one end or cutting it into a slope in the lawn. Try to retain equal measurements between beds and use a level when laying them out and a square to keep corners even.

Raised beds planted on a slope should be cut into the slope to keep them level rather than following the slope of the landscape. It just makes sense for incorporating even watering practices and the prevention of run-off of the soil inside the parameters of the enclosure.

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