« February 2006 | Main | April 2006 »
March 30, 2006
Modern Gardening Equipment
Modern Gardening Equipment
You keep on following the rules that in order for your plants to grow healthy, sufficient water, soil quality, and sunlight must be provided. But little do you know that the types and quality of equipment you use in taking care of your plants also have an effect on your plants’ health or good growing [...]
March 27, 2006
When grandparents fill vital role as caregivers for children
When grandparents fill vital role as caregivers for children
Across the country, grandparents are stepping in to care for children of parents that are drug addicts, in prison, working as a single parent, or simply need help caring for their kids.Operating out of a van, a special program in Hawaii called Tutu and Me Traveling Preschool visits community centers, schools and churches, bringing grandparents, caregivers and kids together for two hours of science, reading, history, Hawaiian traditions and even gardening. ("Tutu" means grandparent in Hawaiian.) Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the program has received high praises as a model solution to a growing problem.
Listen and learn as Carrie Kowolski describes how the Tutu and Me organizers pack a van full of garden supplies to teach the how-to's and importance of gardening, Hawaii style. To listen to this inspirational interview (only 2-minutes long), subscribe to my podcast feed (so you can open the attachment below) or simply download/listen here to the mp3. Who do you know who might benefit from a program like this?
Lindsay Knight, a Valentine, and Lagniappe
On Tuesday, the radio-alarm goes off at 5 AM. The BBC news keeps me company as I slip into my clothes and bumble into the dimly lit kitchen. Today is early morning circuit training at the gym, a short 5-minute drive away. My husband and I usually go together, but he's still in Seattle. I eat part of an orange, grab my water bottle and duffel bag and head to the car, carefully shuffling across the icy driveway.At the gym, or should I say, the Kodiak Athletic Club, I pull my black, fingerless gloves and strap the velcro around ...
What are you doing for the next 4 minutes? Breathing, I hope.
We can live four weeks without food, four days without water, four minutes without air. For sure, air tops the list as the most essential requirement to our physical health. Yet air can be rather unhealthy this time of the year. With doors and windows closed, indoor air pollution levels can rise to dangerous levels. While air fresheners cover up the smell of stale air, this does little to improve the indoor air quality. However, there is an effective solution to this problem, plants.[Special: If you'd like to listen to this article (a 2-minute audion clip) subscribe to my podcast feed (so you can open the attachment below) or simply click here to listen to the mp3 file]. Otherwise, just keep reading...
Why I'm Gonna Watch the Super Bowl
I'm not a football fan. Never was, never will be. This weekend, however, I will be parked on the couch like millions of other people. It's my way of supporting Travis Britt, my nephew who, thanks to the Make a Wish Foundation and others, will be in the stands cheering for the Seahawks.USA Today columnist Jon Saraceno describes Travis' situation beautifully. Grab a tissue and when you're done reading, pass this on to a friend...
If Seahawks need inspiration, they can look to courageous fan
DETROIT--His thick, auburn curls are gone. So is every other hair on Travis Britt's 18-year-old body, the one ravaged first by a sinister disease, later by a potent chemical cocktail his doctors call "the sledgehammer."
March 23, 2006
A Chilling Challenge: Selling Your House In Winter
A Chilling Challenge: Selling Your House In Winter
Would you like a little more cash in your pocket? Of course. But first, you might have to clean up the dog poop... In the current see-saw real estate market, selling your house can be stressful. One way to reduce the stress and increase the odds of a sale is to make sure the landscape is in tip-top condition. Nice thought, but what if you're trying to sell your house during the middle of winter? These chilly months create unique challenges for yard presentation. "You can transform a barren winter landscape into a lasting first impression," says Home and Garden Television s master gardener Paul James. "You can punch things up a bit and enhance the appeal of your property. As a matter of fact, much of what you can do won't take more than a weekend and won't cost you a dime.
Butterfly garden
Robins
March 22, 2006
Gladioli Flowers
Gladioli Flowers
Finally, a summer flowering bulb! Gladioli bulbs have a definite summer style. Like polyanthus plants they come in a gaudy range of bright colours. Like dahlias they are a symbol of the colour-filled suburban flower garden
Get Out: Best Bets
Looking for something to do outdoors this weekend? Here are some suggestions.
There's Life After Christmas: Recycle Your Christmas Tree!
When a Christmas tree is no longer magical with ornaments and lights, it s all too often tossed unceremoniously into the garbage, over a cliff or in a ditch right after the holidays. But there s no reason that holiday greens can t be allowed to serve long after the merry-making is over. (Consider it your responsibility to give the tree another life!) [To listen to the podcast version of this article, subscribe to my podcast feed so you can open the attachment below or simply listen here to the mp3 audio file.] For a splash of instant green outdoors, cut branches off the tree and add them to barren window boxes or containers. Or recycle them into an arrangement for your porch or walkway. To do this...
Christmas from China
Christmas from China
This year, I came by my Christmas presents from various sources: the internet, home kitchens, the Salvation Army, Seattle s Pike Street Market and local retailers. Though I strayed off Kodiak Island to shop, I plunked more than a few dollars into local cash drawers, influenced by the gentle but firm shop locally campaign that began immediately after the Thanksgiving dishes were dried and put away. But as I unwrapped gifts on Christmas morning, a creeping unease washed over me. Christmas in Kodiak was really Christmas from China. It began with the solar-powered yard lights. The box was stamped with the words: Made in China. Kitchen tools, slippers, a wooden, back massager: All made in China.
March 21, 2006
More in the Barrow
Harry Lauder's Walking Stick
General Gardening Chat :: RE: Climber Care - Generally
General Gardening Chat :: RE: Climber Care - Generally
Author: Liza Subject: Thank you!Posted: 19 Mar '06 10:07 pm (GMT 12) Topic Replies: 9 Michael! I did love your advice, and especially your explanation, about WHY we have to cut back certain of the climbers you refer to. But concerning our large, LATE Spring/Summer flowering Clematis,they should be pruned so short during the first two years , which is by the end of Winter, and NOT in the end of their growing season. The others, late Summer/ Autumnal flowering Clematis( smaller flowers) , though --I have to add--- always need such severe pruning(: 50/60cm, f. ex. Madame Julia Correvon, Jackmanii Superba) during the same season (: end of Winter). I think, though, that the VERY early Spring flowering Clematis (Armandii?), do need to be pruned at the end of their growing season, like you say... And you are right! We can all always invent other ways of supporting the climbers we love , even if there is not any "proper" support, walls, fences, etc. For example:_________________"..So,perhaps, it is easiest, through awareness of flowers in particular, of their radiant beauty and purity, their vibrant colour, to come to the excellence of the One and be uplifted beyond thought to our divine selves".Dorothy Maclean
March 16, 2006
March End of Week 1
March End of Week 1
I don't have to go in to work ever again. What will I do if it rains for a week? I am going to join the local garden club, and the local walking club...
I was a what?
Christmas from China
This year, I came by my Christmas presents from various sources: the internet, home kitchens, the Salvation Army, Seattle s Pike Street Market and local retailers. Though I strayed off Kodiak Island to shop, I plunked more than a few dollars into local cash drawers, influenced by the gentle but firm shop locally campaign that began immediately after the Thanksgiving dishes were dried and put away. But as I unwrapped gifts on Christmas morning, a creeping unease washed over me. Christmas in Kodiak was really Christmas from China. It began with the solar-powered yard lights. The box was stamped with the words: Made in China. Kitchen tools, slippers, a wooden, back massager: All made in China.
March 15, 2006
Gear Junkie: Winter retailers market sizzles with new items
Gear Junkie: Winter retailers market sizzles with new items
Hundreds of new products were debuted at this year's Outdoor Retailer trade show, held in late January. Here's some of what caught my eye on the show floor...
Pruning
This garden site is full of flowery froth and bushy bubbles. There are lots of moans and groans about weeding, and trimming, and garden tools - but serious horticultural information is a bit thin on the ground...
March 13, 2006
March End of Week 1
March End of Week 1
I don't have to go in to work ever again. What will I do if it rains for a week? I am going to join the local garden club, and the local walking club...
HAPPY NEW YEARS !!!!
Hike Of The Week: Three waterfalls, even frozen, are spectacular
An easy walk along the west side of the White River with neck-craning views of Skookum Falls on an otherwise woodsy and introspective trail.
Cats and Dogs in the Garden :: RE: Plant a garden bed just for cats?
Author: Bex Subject: Cat-friendly gardensPosted: 14 Mar '06 3:07 am (GMT 12) Topic Replies: 8 Good memory Liza on the cat-friendly garden design. Susan - your description makes me want a cat of my own again! I do miss them, but it would just not be fair in a second floor flat Oh, to the countryside!!_________________Bex Website Manager Mooseys Country Garden
March 12, 2006
I found the first ripe raspberry last night! Mmmm,...
I found the first ripe raspberry last night! Mmmm,...
Garden Tours :: RE: Sad to see the roses gone
Author: Liza Subject: Oh, they can!Posted: 11 Mar '06 10:29 pm (GMT 12) Topic Replies: 1 My love, each one of us-humans uses different approaches in expressing his/her love or taste, don't you see? It all depends on our culture, or the way we are raised, or simply on the fact, that each one of us is unique! It is so hard sometimes, I know...._________________"..So,perhaps, it is easiest, through awareness of flowers in particular, of their radiant beauty and purity, their vibrant colour, to come to the excellence of the One and be uplifted beyond thought to our divine selves".Dorothy Maclean
Purple Leaf Ligularia
As a lover of foliage plants, I grow several varieties of Ligularia - crinkly, spotty, and plain. This elegant brown-purplish leafed Ligularia is my latest acquisition.
General Gardening Chat :: RE: Seeds of Nicotiana sylvestris
Author: Liza Subject: Your seeds.Posted: 11 Mar '06 10:20 pm (GMT 12) Topic Replies: 2 Dear friend, you just go to your nearest good nursery with some of your seeds wrapped in an envelope. Find a professional, experienced gardener there, and show him/her your seeds . You'll have a first hand answer. Good luck!_________________"..So,perhaps, it is easiest, through awareness of flowers in particular, of their radiant beauty and purity, their vibrant colour, to come to the excellence of the One and be uplifted beyond thought to our divine selves".Dorothy Maclean
March 10, 2006
Seed Catalogs
Seed Catalogs
Moosey's Rose Forum :: Jacqueline Du Pres Rose...
Author: LindaB Subject: Jacqueline Du Pres Rose...Posted: 10 Mar '06 9:12 am (GMT 12) Topic Replies: 1 I just saw the picture of this beautiful white shrub rose but did a Google search and wasn't able to find a supplier. I live in Wisconsin, USA. Any suggestions?
March 09, 2006
Get Out: Best Bets
March 06, 2006
Stop the Insanity
March 05, 2006
Healthy hands are the Gardener?s Best Tools
Healthy hands are the Gardener?s Best Tools
The importance of gardening gloves and how to choose the best ones is as important as getting your plants watered on a hot summer day. Here are the major reasons why one should consider getting a pair of trusty gardening gloves: Protection from injury It protects your hands from blisters, thorns, cuts, bruises and rough work. You don’t [...]
First berry picking trip yesterday evening! Yay! ...
Ok, three days later I brave the spiders for the f...
March 02, 2006
I was a what?
Rain gauges
Rain gauges
Gladioli Flowers
Finally, a summer flowering bulb! Gladioli bulbs have a definite summer style. Like polyanthus plants they come in a gaudy range of bright colours. Like dahlias they are a symbol of the colour-filled suburban flower garden
Gear Junkie: Discovering what works well at icy temps
Going to be exercising in some very cold weather? Here's some gear that could serve you well.