How to Handle Little Gardening Problems ©

How to Handle Little Gardening Problems ©

By Arlene Wright-Correll

 I have a lot of clay around our home and in some place some sandy soil.  However, I have found some plants that do well in the sandy soil. I planted drought-tolerant plants and watered them several times a week to get them established. Once they were well-rooted, they tolerated the dry growing conditions associated with sandy soil.

For sunny areas, try some of the following annuals: sunflower, zinnia, blanket flower, cosmos, cockscomb, gazania (treasure flower), portulaca, dusty miller, Dahlberg daisy, verbena and Mexican sunflower. And if you prefer perennials, try these sun-lovers: purple coneflower, black-eyed Susan, gayfeather, thyme, Artemisia, perennial sunflower, yucca, sedum, Russian sage, potentilla and ornamental grasses.

It’s harder to find shade plants that will tolerate dry soil. But you can try perennials like deadnettle (Lamium), variegated archangel (Lamiastrum), lily-of-the-valley and coral bells.

Annuals such as periwinkle and the biennial Chinese forget-me-nots will also grow in dry, partially shaded locations.

Now that it is fall here is my “to do” list and it should be considered yours.  This is one of my favorite times of the years.  Besides the colors of the changing leaves I can look forward to a bountiful fall and a beautiful spring.  This is the time I order spring-flowering bulbs for fall planting and I divide irises and other spring-flowering perennials. 

One can keep planting short-season vegetables like peas, lettuce, radishes and beats for a fall harvest. Of course one gets to harvest and preserve herbs for winter use and on the bird watching side this is the time to look for American goldfinches building nests as thistles produce down, their preferred nesting material and I get to try and watch as teenage birds begin to grow feathers that make them look more like their parents.

Do you have a hard time preventing weeds like I do?  Try the following: mulch is a surface layer spread over the ground to conserve moisture, suppress weeds and maintain a good soil texture. Mulches may be organic, such as manure, compost, bark chips or cocoa shells, or non-organic, for example, stones, gravel or polythene sheeting.

Some people use weed killers and I basically stay away from them because we try to be completely organic at Home Farm Herbery.  However, to save time and hard work weed killers are the answer to many people’s problems.  Just make sure you read the manufacturer’s directions and warnings real well.  Keep the weed killer off the plants you wish to keep.  Dissolve and dilute the weed killer according to the manufacturer’s directions and use a fine rose sprinkler head on a watering can you use only for weed killers.  Don’t apply on a windy day or it will drift or blow onto other plants.  The best time to apply weed killer is when the weeds are leafy and actively growing which would be mid-spring to early summer.  Remember, regardless of whatever the manufacturer touts many weeds do not die right off and need repeated treatments.  Needless to say keep all chemicals away from your children and pets.

Most of us do not realize there are annual weeds and perennial weeds.  An annual is a plant that normally completes its full cycle of growth, flowering and seeding in a single season, and then dies. Some annuals may be sown in autumn to flower the following spring. Annual weeds such as chickweed, groundsel, purple dead nettle, annual nettle, fat hen, opium poppy, hairy bittercress, annual meadow grass, speedwell and yellow oxalis have the same kind of growing cycle.

The aim of annual weeds is to grow and set is to grow and set seed as quickly as possible.  They grow from seed on any recently cultivated soil and sometimes will grow on top of the newly placed mulch you put down to stop the weeds from growing.  A vicious cycle isn’t it?  Seeds can survive for years in the soil, waiting for the perfect conditions to grow and then you wonder, “where the heck that one came from?”  They germinate at lower temperatures than most garden plants, giving them a head start over their rivals!  Once you recognize them at the seedling stage controlling annual weeds is relatively easy.  Then you can keep from eliminating the vegetable or flower seedling that may be growing along side of them.  Most hoe out easily or pull out when they get to be a pick able size. Just remember to eliminate the weed you must eliminate the root!  Only put them on your compost heap if they do not have a seed head. 

A perennial is any plant with an indefinite life span of more than two years. Some may be quite short-lived, whereas trees can easily survive for centuries.  Likewise perennial weeds, such as dandelions, creeping thistle, brambles, dock, ragwort and stinging nettle have the same type of growing cycle.  Yet they are more of a problem because they can live for several years.  They survive winter by storing food in their roots.  These roots make them harder to get rid of then annual weeds.  Some are difficult to dig out and others spread underground so if you leave even the tiniest piece of root in the soil when you dig them out, be prepared to get a whole new plant. 

The best way to control them is to dig out the whole plant as soon as you see them. So long as you do not let them produce leaves, they will use up their stored up food energy and eventually die.  Never, never rotate soils with perennial weed infestation or you will have whole new colonies of weeds growing up in the new place.  Always dig out every little bit as they grow and with twice the effort in order to control them. If you don’t mind using chemicals, treat them with a weed killer containing glyphosate. Last but not least, never put perennial weed roots or seed-heads on to the compost heap.

One can try what is called root-proof barriers, which is a vertical barrier that will often stop rampant roots invading from next door.  Just dig a 1 foot or 30 cm deep trench and bury the barrier. The best material to use is damp-proof course (DPC), available from all builders' supply store.

I keep getting asked a lot of questions about compost.  One year I bought a Mantis Composter and I never did get the hang of it for the two years I played with it.  I finally sold it on eBay and a guy came down Ohio to pick it up.  Now composting is probably easy with one of those, but it was a real mystery for me.  I guess I will stick to the old way of making a compost pile and turning it over every couple of days.  

When one talks about making a garden compost it usually means a garden compost made from waste materials rotted down in a compost heap, but it usually refers to the special soil or peat mixtures used for sowing and potting plants.  There are two main kinds. Soil-less compost is made from peat or a substitute such as bark or coir. Soil-based composts are a mixture of sterilized soil, peat or an alternative, and sand. They all have added fertilizers.

A universal, soil-less compost is suitable for all normal sowing and potting needs, but there are different grades of soil-based compost. You can also buy special composts for rooting cuttings or for growing ericaceous (lime-hating) plants, orchids, and water plants.

Growing roses is really not a big problem and I have grown all kinds from the cheap $1.98 ones to the finer ones that cost a lot more.  One of the lovelies climbing roses I have here in Kentucky is one I bought at a Publix’s market in Vero Beach, FL. I brought it home from a vacation I was on in the winter of 1998 and proceeded to “kill” it off about 3 or 4 times over the next 2 years, but it is still growing strong as I write this in September of 2006 and produces lovely red roses year after year two or three times a season.  I cannot even remember the name of it.

I have a hard time keeping the Rosie O’Donnell rose alive and have managed to have 3 of them over 3 seasons fail to make it through my zone 6 area.  I do not think it is the zone, I think it is the soil even though the last one I planted in 2005 had a whole new area of dirt brought in just for it.  The other one I love and have no luck with is Joseph’s Coat. 

One of the best ones I ever bought was an Albertine rose from The Antique Rose Emporium about 7 years ago for $14.95.  It was a small root and now it looks the a huge stump with pink roses all up the side of our gift shop and across a wide rose arbor and all over half the roof of our Avalon Stained Glass School.  It comes back and delivers the loveliest, most fragrant pink roses each June.  

All the others I bought from them that year have done well.  But the nine I bought in 2005 from them at $17.95 each plus shipping have all died through this past winter which was a mild one here.  I am heartily disappointed with them as they only warrant their roses for 90 days whereas Lowes’ garden center, providing I keep the sales slip, will guarantee them for 12 months.

I try to find disease-resistant roses and in recent years I find in plant breeding they have created a number of roses that are resistant to black spot.  In a bad year they will get it, but only a minor dose, thus the rest of the time they are usually trouble free.  Here are a couple of my favorites.

  This one is Rosa Golden Showers.  It is a yellow climbing rose with dark glossy green leaves.  The height is about 6.5 ft with a spread of 7 feet. Just as there are many shrubby roses so there are many climbing roses, but this is one of the best. It is an upright climber and can be pruned to be a shrub. It produces a profusion of double flowers that are 10cm (4in) across.

Another favorite is Rosa gallica, “Versicolor” or Rosa Mundi as many might know it by its common name.  This red rose with a white stripe is a hardy shrub growing about 2.5 ft with a 3 ft spread with glossy green leaves. It is a lovely old and well-loved rose, neat and bushy. Particularly charming is the semi-double, slightly scented, flat flowers 5cm (2in) in diameter. This rose prefers full sun.

Rosa rugosa is a hedgehog rose that is a hardy shrub bearing Purplish-red and white blossoms with glossy green leaves.  This rose grows to 3 ft to 6.6ft x 3ft to 6.6ft and is a dense, vigorous species rose with attractively wrinkled leaves. It bears a succession of flowers, 9cm (3.5in) in diameter. These are followed in late autumn by large tomato-shapes and colored fruit (hips.)

Rosa “Iceberg” is another favorite shrub rose with a  pure white flower and glossy green leaves.  It is a good compact plant about 2.5 ft by 2.1 ft. This bush rose produces many sprays of graceful double, cupped-shaped flowers up to 7 cm (3in) in diameter that look fantastic against the dark leaves. It also responds well to heavy pruning.

I hope this little article will help you keep abreast of the many challenges that any gardener faces.  In the event I can help you with anything else just send an email to askarlene@scrtc.com   and I will try my best to help you.

“Tread the Earth Lightly” and in the meantime… may your day be filled with….Peace, light and love, 

Arlene Wright-Correll

Home Farm Herbery

https://homefarmherbery.com/

Remember 100% of our profits go to St Jude's Research Hospital.

How to Live Within One's Budget ©

How to Live Within One's Budget ©

By Arlene Wright-Correll

Trying to be frugal or live within one's budget seems to be almost impossible nowadays. Us old folks have a couple of advantages such as those old enough to have been born in the early 30's were probably a part of a family who experienced the "Great Depression", nowadays we don't seem to need as much as we used to and hopefully our meager savings are not being eaten up by medical bills.

What did they do in the old days? I can only remember seeing a doctor once when I was about 9 years old and he made a house call to my grandmother's railroad flat in Brooklyn. We relied on home remedies.

I suppose we had the same illnesses, same fears, but perhaps we were braver or more pragmatic. We either got better or didn't!

One of the things is we were not bombarded with mass media marketing brainwashing us to buy tons of stuff we do not need. I know women that have 20 pocketbooks! How many does one need? The same with shoes.

As gas prices soar, I find myself having to try real hard to live within the confines of our monthly budget. Here are some tactics that work for me.

1. When our pension or social security checks come in (or even in our working days our paychecks) I sat down and allocated all the money needed for the month and never went over those budgets. Everything was itemized and put where it belonged, food, gas, heat, electric, telephone, etc. We had a rainy day account for emergencies which sometimes did not need to be used for months and months, but was there when we needed it. We still do this to this very day. However, things escalate nowadays at a faster pace than most paychecks do and especially pension or social security checks.

2. I find that we now only go to town or the store once a week to get what we need. We make a list and if we have to go to 5 different stores, we set out the route and do it all that one day. We canceled our P.O. box in the village post office to stop having to drive that 12 miles round trip 6 days a week, week in and week out. That saved a lot of gas. We discovered and use the US Postal service on line whenever we can and print and pay for our labels and stamps and put the packages out in our post box at the end of the drive in order to ride into the village to bring packages to the post office.

3. I have found 4 good salvage grocery stores in our area that things move through quite quickly, so I feel confident that the stuff isn't sitting on the shelves too long. We have an especially good one run by the Mennonites in our area. I can find Progresso soups for 25 cents a can, Progresso white clam sauce for 15 cents a can and Progresso red clam sauce for 35 cents a can. I can find all the leading salad dressing of any kind for 10 to 25 cents a bottle! $2.95 cookies for 35 to 50 cents! At one store I found a leading bread machine mix that was dented but not outdated. This was a $3.95 mix for only 65 cents, and I bought all of them.

4. Another thing we do is we only buy the "lose leaders" a store has. Those are the sale items that are used to bring you into the store to spend your money. Only buy things with coupons that you need. Just because you have a coupon doesn't mean it's a bargain. Many times the store brands are cheaper than the name brands who are offering the coupon.

5. We have practically cut meat out of our lives which saves a great deal. We have added 5 to 8 veggies and fruits a day to our meals and that is probably healthier for us. We can get a whole week worth of produce for the price of one roast beef!

6. We like to entertain and we have discovered how to make the simplest meal quite elegant just by the way it is served and our table is laid out.

7. Once in awhile we like to throw a party and we save up for that. We buy things on sale that can be frozen if necessary. We work our way up to it. Say one wants to throw a bash every 10 weeks, then just put aside $10.00 a week and then you have $100.00 to splurge. How about a wine tasting of 6 to 12 couples where everyone brings 1 bottle of white and 1 bottle of red. You add about $15.00 worth of cheese and crackers and a nice desert and you are a very entertaining host and hostess! We throw theme parties that have a sort of ambience to them regardless of the food served.

8. Every 6 months have a yard or garage sale to get rid of the stuff that you have accumulated during that time and take that money to use for something you really have been wanting.

9. Search out yard or garage sales for things you have been wanting or needing. Check the prices. I needed a new shovel, but the yard sale, flea market guys wanted $5 to 7.00 for an old one and I was able to buy a nice new one for $3.98 at Walmart.

10. Learn to say no to yourself and to your kids. They don't need all the things they think they need and most times neither do we. Our kids growing up, got what we thought they needed and had to work to earn money for the things they wanted! We knew they needed good food, good shelter, good education, good work ethics and parents who had no problem saying "No, it's not in our budget.". None of them turn out too bad, they all have good jobs, we like them and love them and apparently the feeling is mutual because they are always coming for visits or calling up to say we miss you and love you.

11. If you live where there are consignment stores, take your children's outgrown clothing there and even the stuff you have outgrown or no longer use. Should you live in an urban area and especially one that is affluent, shop in the consignment stores and you will get real fancy bargains. Remember what Macy's motto was. ... "It's Smart to be Thrifty".

12. It's nice to treat yourself to something grand once in awhile, so do it, but in moderation. An evening out to a modest restaurant is just as entertaining as one that costs 5 times as much.

13. If you have a recycling center near you and the aluminum cans are not returnable in your area, save them up until you have a couple of bags and take them in. That $8 to $12.00 will buy a little gas, a nice lunch for two or whatever. Even do this in an area where your trash pickup recycles. Why should they get the money? Because they do you know!

14. Wash your own car, mow your own lawn, and learn to fix things, use them up, wear them out and make do!

15. Have a small herb garden or kitchen garden to have extra things that you do not have to buy in the summer and perhaps make small window herb pots to keep year round in your home. They need not be large.  If you have an herb garden, dry out your plants for winter cooking use.

16. We recently had a riding mower that we no longer needed. It ran, but needed a little work. We did need 4 new signs (3 big banners and a 16 x 18 sign). We approached the sign making company and did a trade.  They got an extra mower, we got our signs.  Never underestimate the power of barter and trade. 

Hopefully, these will be helpful hints to open your mind towards greater ways to preserve, conserve your cash and resources and live a better life.

“Tread the Earth Lightly” and in the meantime… may your day be filled with….Peace, light and love, 

Arlene Wright-Correll  

Heads & Tails or the Wood Cutting Story©

Heads & Tails or the Wood Cutting Story©

By Arlene Wright-Correll

I love these writing assignments especially when they are as challenging as writing about something called, “Heads & Tails”.

Not only do these assignments take time to do, but it causes me to think about something that might be an interesting read and that at times is a great puzzlement.

I remember when we lived in Northern New York up on the Canadian border where the winters were so long that for 10 months we had snow sledding and 2 months we had rough sledding.

We had just built a new house up on the area’s highest mountain and in order to get the electric put into the house without paying an exorbitant fee we had to tell the utility company we were installing electric heat which we did.  However, at the same time we took that exorbitant fee and invested a small part of it into the purchase of some Jøtul wood stoves and fire places. One of our good friends, the Kings had also built a new home within the same year and another; the LeBeau family had just completely remodeled an older home.  Both had experienced the same utility company problem and both had solved it the same way.

This meant cutting wood every fall.  Fortunately for us Dick King was a Lieutenant in the Conservation department and was able to get wood for 50 cents a full cord provided you cut only the marked trees the Forestry service wanted culled.  So the King’s with their 5 kids, the LeBeau’s with their 3 kids and the Correll’s with their 5 kids would go into the woods each autumn for 4 or 5 weekends and create an efficient assembly wood cutting production line that included cutting, felling, trimming the trees we cut and stacking the trimmings (great small kid jobs), cutting the trees into burnable sizes, hauling to the 3 pickup trucks and then driving home with the wood.  

We burned 32 cords a year since we had the largest home and the Kings would probably burn about 25 cords and the LeBeau family probably did about 20 cords.  That came to $38.50 cents a year to heat 3 homes or $12.85 per home, plus the cost of chain saw gas, truck gas and our time.  Occasionally each of these homes would run the electric heat whenever anyone of us left for a few days during the winter. After about 3 or 4 years Dick came with the bad news that the cost was going up to $1.00 a full cord!

Yet our time was something that was communal, irreplaceable, priceless and memorable as we looked forward to it each autumn as it strengthened our lifetime friendships plus the wood warmed us twice, once when we cut it and hauled it and once when we burned it and I think this is a pretty interesting anecdote.

Yes, I love these writing assignments especially when they are as challenging as writing about something called, “Heads &Tails”.

We Better Want What We Are Getting ©

Itr is time to revisit an article I wrote 8 years ago!

We Better Want What We Are Getting ©

By Arlene Wright-Correll

We better want what we are getting because we are getting it!

Mark Twain once wrote, “Sometimes I wonder if the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it.”

I think it is both.  Things don’t seem to be improving and I think that is because “the Masses” which really should be termed “them Asses” are just standing around letting things get worse.

Sometimes it is just a lot of little things like yesterday when getting a cup of coffee at McDonalds, I had to give them my first name so they could put it in the computer in order to call me and hand me my coffee.  What can be more stupid?  Only the guy who thought of this and me who accepted it and gave them my first name instead of saying Rumpelstiltskin!  I think that would have stumped the order taker.  We better want what we are getting because we are getting it!

The other day my doctor’s bill was $30 more than it usually is and I just go in every 90 days to renew my prescription. The same amount of time is spent with the same doctor doing the same thing, asking the same questions, re-writing the same prescription.  Upon review I saw that every other time it was either $30.00 more or $30.00 less, so I went in and questioned it and the answer was the computer picks out what to charge.  It simply was a great Machiavellian answer or BBB which stands for Bulls__t Baffles Brains.  I am still working on this one because if I don’t then I better want what I am getting because I am getting it!

The other day I was in the grocery store and was purchasing Pistachios (no red dye please) and I had 3 choices of package sizes which was 8 ounces for $2.98 or 16 ounces for $5.98 or 24 ounces for $12.98.  You do the math.  I suppose many people either do not or can not do the math or just don’t care. We better want what we are getting because we are getting it!

Though we do not keep animals, we do live in rural Kentucky where our neighbors do keep animals either for their own consumption or for their livelihood. NAIS or National Animal Identification System was proposed in 2010 for the supposed purpose of improving the traceability of U.S. livestock moving interstate when animal disease events take place and that is a very good thing in the immortal words of Martha! However, it also means that even your pet pony, pet pig or hen will have to be tagged by a vet and then will be globally positioned and watched in order to put us on one more computer screen and just remember that means one less freedom.  We better want what we are getting because we are getting it!

I could not understand why our town’s two lane main road was widened for more lanes for about 1 to 2 miles and then back to two lanes obviously causing an unneeded future bottle neck.  However, the upside of this was that both sides of the road received sidewalks from the center of town to just before the I-65 entrance. That was lovely though we hardly see any strollers or walkers especially those walking to the I-65 entrance! However, both sides of the sidewalks received sod which now has the added expense of mowing 4 places of grass for miles. We better want what we are getting because we are getting it!

Recently our DOT decided to spend the money to remove miles of concrete I-95 barriers and replace them with metal posts and cables. Shades of political kickback perhaps for the friends of the metal post and cable contractors!  Then one day a van loaded with 11 Amish which consisted of 10 adults and 2 babies crashed through the metal posts and cables killing all but the babies. A sad event and it raised a great hullabaloo which resulted in the politicians causing the DOT to remove the newly placed metal post and cables and replace them with concrete barriers. While at this they decided to widen the highway for miles so those of us who did not find 4 lanes satisfactory enough to drive over the speed limit while passing those of us who did not would now have 6 lanes to do it upon.  Oh yes, one more thing happened during all this activity they removed a lovely stretch of old trees in the center that gave us not only clean air, but blocked the oncoming headlights from the other side.  We better want what we are getting because we are getting it!

This year Macy's, Abercrombie and other upscale stores are pushing Push-Up Bras for 7-year old girls as another example of sexualization of young girls.  I realize that the foods we feed our children are so full of chemicals that even boys are now getting breasts, but 7 year olds needing to learn how to be seductive! They may not know how to spell it Mom and Dad, but you can bet your hard earned $24.95 they will know how to be it.  We better want what we are getting because we are getting it!

We are so used to being brainwashed on TV that Target thinks nothing of using an idiotic beatnik  looking actor portraying a music teacher to promote their goods such as backpacks, denim and more in an idiot song that indicates that their kids will need all these to excel in music class. What ever happened to practice, drill and rehearse?  We better want what we are getting because we are getting it!

I think the ones that bug me the most are the factoring companies that yell “It’s My Money and I Need It Now”.  What ever happened to controlling self indulgence and learning to be as debt free as one can be?  We better want what we are getting because we are getting it!

I have been getting emails lately about Chinese cargo ships low in the water bringing in imports and leaving high in the water.  Well how about exporting grain in those ships? China certainly could use grain; our farmers could certainly use the business.  However, we have very few grain farmers nowadays simply because grain is grown by multinational companies who either grow grain or take the government subsidies to not grow grain.  We better want what we are getting because we are getting it!

I could go on and on, but just let me add one more.  Will you be one of the people who will no longer receive their social security check because you have other income such as retirement plans or stock income or whatever?  You may be simply because there is so much fraud in our social security plans with all that needs to be investigated it makes my head swim.  We better want what we are getting because we are getting it!

It’s wake up time folks.

Arlene Wright-Correll

How to Make Zaatar and Pomegranate Roasted Chicken©

How to Make Zaatar and Pomegranate Roasted Chicken©

By Arlene Wright-Correll

For those of you who do not want to make a Thanksgiving or Christmas Turkey.

Ingredients:

3.5 lbs chicken, cut into pieces with skin on

1/4 cup olive oil

4 tbsp Home Farm Herbery Za’atar Seasoning

2 tbsp pomegranate molasses

4 garlic cloves, crushed

salt and pepper to taste

1 lemon

1/4 cup toasted pine nuts

3 tbsp parsley

3 tbsp fresh pomegranate seeds

Directions:
Make the marinade by mixing together olive oil, Home Farm Herbery Za’atar Seasoning, pomegranate molasses, garlic, salt and pepper. Rub the chicken with this marinade
overnight.

Preheat the oven to 395º F. Place the chicken skin side up in a baking tray in the middle rack and roast for about 1 hour or until the chicken has beautifully browned and cooked through. If you prefer the skin to be crispy, place the chicken under the broiler for a few minutes but watch it very carefully to avoid burning.

Sprinkle with lemon juice, pine nuts, and parsley and pomegranate seeds
and serve immediately.

May the Creative Force be with you!

Arlene Wright-Correll

Home Farm Herbery

https://homefarmherbery.com/

Remember 100% of our profits go to St Jude's Research Hospital.

Robin M. of Smithfield, KY is October’s art contest winner

You just won October’s Art Contest!

Robin M. of Smithfield, KY  is October’s art contest winner 

Your prize is on its way.

Congratulations from

Home Farm Herbery LLC