© Kim Willis - no parts of this newsletter may be used without
permission.
Hi Gardeners
Overnight here we had freezing rain, thankfully light, and
then this morning rain on top of the ice which made for some treacherous
footing on the way to the barn. The bird
feeders have icicles; the fence is gilded in silver and the grass crunchy. I
don’t see any big damage to trees and we still have power so that’s good.
The side roads are a sheet of glass with water on
top. I was supposed to pick up my new
car today but I chickened out, I told them I would try later in the day. I just can’t see risking wrecking a new car
on these back roads. The temperature is
now 35, so maybe in an hour or two it will be safe to try.
The car I am getting is two years old but with very low
miles and still has factory warranty. But
it is a little thing, a Chevy Sonic, which is going to be a big change after
driving a Blazer for many years. I like
bigger cars, but my husband liked this one and talked me into it by pointing
out it was rated as very environmentally friendly. I made sure it could still carry a big load
of plants – it’s a hatchback and the rear seat folds down- and my chicken feed.
I am wondering what this weather is doing to the
plants. With no snow cover and the
cycling from warmer to colder weather I’m concerned there may be considerable
winter damage. We are going up into the
50’s later this week the weather report says, but this is January and there is
bound to be another cold snap coming. Still every milder day gets us closer to
spring. (There’s just 61 days to the spring equinox- first day of calendar
spring.)
My poor container plants inside are wishing for more
sun. I have Christmas cacti still in
bloom, fuchsia, kalanchoe, hibiscus, geraniums and pomegranate in bloom. I have noticed that when I water the 100 some
plants in the house the humidity jumps to above 60% for a day or two.
I am already noticing longer times of twilight. Day length has increased by about 25 minutes
from the winter solstice and twilight is longer because the sun has climbed
higher in the sky. But with all the
cloudy, dreary days it’s often hard to believe we are getting more daylight. I’ll be happier when we start getting more
sunshine.
Buying seeds- don’t worry about GMO
Every year as people start ordering seeds for spring
someone asks- “where can I find non-GMO seeds for my garden?” The good news is that you can find non-GMO
seeds everywhere. Home gardeners rarely have to worry about genetically
modified seeds (GMO), because almost every seed offered to gardeners is not genetically
modified. GMO varieties of seed are
almost always crop seeds: seeds of field corn, soybeans and so on. There are just two types of common garden
crops that have GMO varieties, sweet corn and squash, but you will rarely, if
ever, find them in the retail market. And if you did find them they would be
labeled as GMO.
Seed companies that advertise in bold letters- NON GMO
SEEDS!- are just playing on public fears and ignorance. And it’s ridiculous that almost all companies
are now doing this because their competitor’s seeds are not GMO either. Seeing “non-GMO seeds” in a garden catalog
means absolutely nothing. One catalog
that shall remain nameless boasts “ non GMO seeds since 1876” . What a crock.
Don’t choose a catalog to buy from because it say’s non – GMO.
If you want organically grown seeds, that’s a different
matter. Organic seeds are seeds harvested from plants that were not treated
with pesticides. There are many places
that carry some organic varieties of seeds. Personally I believe if you follow organic
garden methods your garden produce will be indistinguishable from those who
used organic seeds even if you start with seeds that aren’t labeled organically
grown. You can check out the catalog
listings on the right side of this blog, there are links that will take you
right to the various companies.
Open
pollinated seeds (OP)- seeds that are not hybrid are also
offered by many seed companies. Open
pollinated seeds are generally older varieties or heirlooms. The only real advantage to open pollinated
seeds is that if you isolated that variety from other varieties of the crop you
can save seeds to grow for next year and you will get a new crop very similar
to the parent plants. If you don’t
isolate your plants such as tomatoes and peppers by variety the seeds you save
from this year’s crop are likely to be hybrids- insects and the wind distribute
pollen between varieties. The resulting plants grown from those seeds will be
all over the scale.
Seeds that are hybrids
are not genetically modified in the accepted definition of the word; it’s
just that two different varieties of a plant were crossed through sexual
reproduction, (getting pollen from one plant to the stigma (female part) of
another plant). The varieties that are
crossed to produce the hybrid are known to reliably produce seeds that will
grow into a certain type of plant. But
if you save seed from hybrid plants and grow them the offspring will have all
sorts of variations, some good, some bad.
Hybrid seed that is deliberately produced is usually
more vigorous and disease resistant than open pollinated seed. You’ll usually see such seed marked as F1 or
with the word hybrid in the name. Hybrid seed can produce vegetables and
flowers every bit as healthy, tasty, and safe as non-hybrid seed. And seed can be both organically grown and
hybrid.
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| Cleome seed pods |
It may surprise people buying seeds to learn that many
seed companies offering seed in small packets are buying from the same seed
growers or wholesalers. A few companies
do grow some or all of the seeds they offer, but a great many companies just
buy bulk seed and simply repackage it. The
seed grower sells seed to wholesale seed companies, they in turn sell seeds to
retail seed sellers who package the seeds in paper or foil packets for the home
gardener.
If you read a seed catalog carefully and pay attention
to the small print you may be told what seed growers the company contracts
with, or what wholesaler they buy from and who they are affiliated with or are
owned by. If you ever thought certain
catalogs looked a lot alike and offered similar things check their mailing
addresses. Some come from the same
company under different names. These
different catalogs from the same company may have different prices for the same
item too.
When buying garden seeds make sure to compare the size
of the packet and the cost of shipping to see where you get the best deal. For lots of information about seeds and
starting seeds click on the page to the right of this blog.
Adding Chickens to the Garden
With the cost of eggs rising and the movement to grow
some of your own food popular, more and more people are getting chickens as
pets with benefits. As a chicken owner
and author of a book, Raising
Chickens for Dummies I am frequently asked if chickens are good for
the garden. My answer is
“sometimes”. I encourage people to get
chickens, they can provide both food and fun, but I also encourage them to be a
bit careful gardening around chickens.
The idea that chickens can just be turned loose into
the garden without any limits or supervision is laughable if you have ever had
chickens. There are times when chickens
in the garden are fine and times when they are not. (Your chickens should never be allowed into
neighbor’s yards and gardens unless they give permission. That’s rude and
irresponsible.) And whenever chickens
are turned loose anywhere their safety also needs to be considered.
Chickens do not belong in food gardens if you are still
going to be harvesting food that year. All
chickens carry several food borne diseases in their feces, including
salmonella, Escherichia coli, and Shigella.
And chickens liberally disperse their feces wherever they are, including
the garden. If fruits or vegetables
aren’t washed properly, illness or even death can result. Food gardens should be fenced and chickens
kept out of them until after the last harvest, then they can be allowed in to
clean up.
Chickens also have no reservations about helping themselves
to your fresh produce and can do considerable damage to crops as they do
so. Every ripe tomato and a few green
ones within their reach will be sampled.
Every strawberry or raspberry they can reach will be gobbled down. They’ll pull up newly emerging corn to eat
the remaining kernel off the sprout.
They will eagerly eat every bit of baby lettuce coming up and then dig a
dust bath in the bed. They will peck
holes in melons to test for ripeness, in fact if you see a chicken pecking a
melon it probably is ripe, they can smell better than us.
I have heard people telling others that chickens will
just eat the weeds and bugs in the garden.
I know that those people have had little experience with chickens. That’s a big fat myth, with one
exception. Chickens can be used in an
orchard, beneath trees to clean up weeds and bugs. The occasional hen may fly up to sample some
ripe apples but that’s rare. Cleaning up
fruit that falls on the ground is a good thing, it helps eliminate pest
insects.
Now if a chicken gets loose and flies over the fence
and is found inside the garden gobbling up goodies don’t panic. Just remove the bird and make sure to wash
produce well. Washing your produce well
before eating is always a good idea, even if you grow organically. Wild birds and other animals carry diseases
too, and they often cannot be kept out of the garden.
In the flower garden chickens can be equally damaging,
especially in early spring. They will
eat new green shoots and scratch up plants looking for bugs. They will dig holes in lawns and flower beds
making dust baths. Sometimes they
develop a habit of eating certain colors of flowers, usually white ones, (in my
garden anyway). They will also remove plant label stakes if you use them. White
and shiny metal ones are the most often taken.
Later in the season when the plants have developed and
filled in, when greens and bugs are abundant I usually don’t care if a few
chickens roam around the yard and garden beds. You might call them live garden
art. At that point they can help you out
by eating grasshoppers and slugs. But
they will also dig up mulch around plants and put dusting bath holes in paths
with wood chips. And crap on your deck
and porch, maybe even the picnic table. So keep those issues in mind.
Protecting
the chickens
Lots of things like chicken for dinner. If you have neighbors who have dogs that run
loose, letting your chickens roam free outside a fenced run can be dangerous
for them. Dogs kill more chickens than
any other animal. Chickens are also
picked off by hawks and eagles, depending on where you live. Chickens should be safely locked in a secure
coop after dark, as raccoons and other animals, even in the city, will
eventually find and kill them.
Other things that can happen to loose “garden” chickens
are humans teasing and harming them, them attacking humans, (don’t laugh, it
happens), and accidents like being run over by mowers, caught in fences,
getting in a truck bed or trailer and being taken for a ride, hit by cars and
stomped by horses. Each garden
environment must be assessed for chicken safety and you will- or should- learn
what’s safe by experience.
One thing gardeners generally don’t have to worry about
is free roaming chickens being poisoned by plants. Chickens usually have a good sense of what
plants are poisonous and which aren’t.
In my 50 + years of having roaming chickens I’ve never seen any poisoned
by plants, either wild plants or in the garden.
I have seen sheep killed by plants, but that’s a different story. If
food is scarce and chickens very hungry it’s possible I suppose, for them to
eat something bad. But I wouldn’t worry
too much about that.
Chickens can be poisoned by things other than plants
though. They will drink anti-freeze for
instance. They might consume pesticides
when they are applied to plants or even eat them if a bag of something is left
lying around. They might be killed by
poison rodent baits. I have seen them
eating granular fertilizers, so far I’ve never seen any harm from this, but
don’t spread them when the chickens are around.
You’ll also want to keep chickens away from fresh cement, oily stains
applied to decks and other things and gasoline.
Chicken eggs won’t become poisonous either by what
chickens eat, unless perhaps they get into a chemical spill. They can sometimes get an off taste if
chickens are consuming lots of certain plants like onions, or maybe after they
ate up the leavings from someone cleaning fish, but that rarely happens. And eggs don’t have any taste from chickens
eating bugs or worms, or even dog poop.
All those things pass through the chickens digestive system before
becoming egg making material.
And
those eggs?
If you really want good egg production, you have to
choose chicken breeds that were developed for egg production. This is especially true if you are limited by
the number of hens you can own. If you just see eggs as an occasional side
benefit any breed will probably do. You
don’t need a rooster for a hen to lay eggs.
Hens lay fewer eggs every year of age, and this can be
a problem with pet chickens. If you
truly want good egg production you’ll want new hens every 2-3 years. It takes about 5 months to raise a hen from
chick to egg layer, if the breed is a production type layer.
For more information on how to raise chickens,
producing eggs, or meat, what to feed chickens and about chicken breeds and
health please read my book. The link is earlier in the article. There is also more information on the chicken
page to the right of the blog.
The safest place for chickens is usually their own
secure fenced area, one that has grass and weeds and trees to sit in the shade
under. You can plant things in their own
private garden if you wish, like berry bushes or sunflowers.
What
about chicken manure?
Chicken manure will burn garden plants if you scoop it
out of the coop and deposit it fresh into the garden. Chicken manure, especially mixed with litter
like woodchips makes excellent fertilizer, but it must be composted for 4-6
months before being put into the garden.
In late fall, after all harvesting is done fresh manure-litter mixtures
can be spread on the garden and by spring will be ready to mix into the soil
and you can proceed with planting.
Composting all your food scraps through some chickens is
an excellent way to make compost/fertilizer efficiently. Chickens will eat almost anything, including
meat craps that shouldn’t go in the compost pile. Egg shells from the hens can also be put into
the compost.
Abutilon- inside and outside
Maybe you noticed some beautiful Abutilons in a
greenhouse. If you didn’t you missed a
chance to see and own some of the most exotic and interesting container plants
you can grow in your garden or home.
They aren’t winter hardy in many areas but will over winter indoors,
continuing to bloom through much of the winter.
Other common names for Abutilons include Chinese Bell Flower, Chinese
Lanterns, and Indian Mallow.
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| Large flowered abutilon |
Abutilons have been around as houseplants for at least
a century, commonly seen as a shrubby house plant known as Flowering
Maple. The abutilons however, are a
genus of about 150 species growing in sub-tropical areas of South America and
Asia. They grow as small trees, shrubs
and vines. Recently plant breeders have
worked with the various species of Abutilon, improving and hybridizing them to
create many exotic, easy to grow varieties you can now find at the greenhouse
near you.
The older tree forms of abutilon still exist but the
newer abutilons produced for gardeners tend to form smaller shrub-like plants
or spreading hanging basket plants. Abutilons are evergreen- like most tropical
plants they keep their leaves all year.
The stems turn woody over time.
Most species are perennial but annual varieties exist. Some hybrids from South American species will
survive temperatures into the teens and growers are working to produce even
hardier plants.
There is a wide variation in leaf size and shape and
even flower shape among the recent introductions of abutilon. In some the large, colorful hibiscus-like
flowers are the show, in others the beautiful foliage, often variegated, is as
showy as the smaller dangling ‘lantern” type flowers. All Abutilon flowers are attractive to
hummingbirds.
The large flowered varieties usually have leaves that
are lobed- sometimes looking like a maple leaf. They can be various shades of green and may
be variegated with yellow or white. Some
large flowered varieties though, have smaller, fuzzy, blade like leaves with
serrated edges. The large flowered types
have 5 tissue paper-like flower petals shaped like a saucer or cupped, ranging
in size from 1½ inches to 5 inches across.
The large flowered abutilons have a prominent pistil
and stamens in the center and resemble hibiscus or mallow flowers. Flowers
usually dangle, facing downward. Flower
colors are usually warm colors such as reds and yellows, but white, pink and
lavender varieties exist. There are some
hard to find double flowered abutilons on the market.
Small flowered abutilons are usually hybrids of Abutilon megapotamicum. The flowers have a large calyx- (a thicker
version of sepals) - on the back of the flower from which the flower petals
protrude beneath, producing the “lantern” look.
The calyx is often a contrasting color from the petals. Usually the colors are reds, yellows and
oranges but some pastels exist. The
lantern type flowers are 1-2 inches long.
Small flowered varieties of Abutilon usually have small
leaves but at least one large maple leaf type variety exists. Many small flowered Abutilon have leaves that
are heavily variegated with gold or white.
The lantern types tend to have wiry, arching stems from which the leaves
and flowers dangle and make beautiful hanging baskets.
Growing
Abutilon
Gardeners will generally start with plants. Abutilons can be started from seeds, although
northern grown plants rarely produce them.
It takes two years for most Abutilons to bloom from seed. Abutilons will also grow from cuttings.
Do not put Abutilons outside until all danger of frost
has passed and bring them inside in the fall before frost. They can be planted directly in the ground
and treated as annuals; however you can bring potted plants inside in the fall
for a blooming houseplant. The larger
flowered varieties hold their blooms better if protected from wind.
Abutilons prefer partial to full sun in the garden and
a sunny window indoors. Use a loose,
light potting soil. For best bloom
Abutilons need regular feeding. Use an
extended release fertilizer for flowers or fertilize with a liquid fertilizer
every two weeks. In the house stop
fertilizing November through January and let the plant rest a bit.
 |
| Lantern type flowers and variegated leaves |
Abutilons need regular watering, particularly the large
plants in hanging baskets. If they get
too dry they may drop their leaves but may recover if watered in time. Do not over water in the winter, soggy soil
will kill them.
Trim off any damaged or spindly growth. Abutilons can be pruned to control size as
some plants will get as large as 6 foot high and wide. If you want the plants to grow larger replant
in a slightly larger pot each spring.
Some
varieties
‘Canary Bird’
is an older, small shrub form with large, canary yellow flowers and large
leaves. ‘Cannington Peter’ is similar but has dark red flowers and yellow
variegated leaves. ‘Violetta’ is a
large - 6 foot - plant with large violet to indigo blue flowers. ‘Voodoo’
has 2 inch blood red flowers. ‘Hawaiian Ma’o’ is a large upright with 1 inch golden yellow
double flowers. ‘Tennant’s White’ has huge white flowers.
‘Souvenir De
Bonn’ is a tree-like Abutilon with large maple leaves variegated with white
and orange lantern type flowers. ‘Paisley’ is a hanging basket type with
small triangular dark green leaves heavily spotted with gold and dangling red
and yellow lantern flowers. ‘Pink Charm’ has green leaves and pastel
pink lantern type flowers. ‘Fools Gold’
has small fuzzy green leaves and 2-3 inch lantern type flowers of gold with
dark orange veins. ‘Savatzii is a dwarf type with almost white leaves, salmon orange
flowers.
DDT and your grandparents- how it affects
you
We are learning more and more about epigenetics- the
process in which the environment and even behavior can make genetic changes to
animals that become apparent only in the third or later generations of their
offspring. Today when we think of
pesticide dangers we usually think of chemicals like glyphosate, neonicotinoids
and other modern pesticides. But
chemicals that our parents and grandparents, maybe even we, used decades ago
can also be harming us.
The chemical compound DDT was actually developed in the
late 1800’s but didn’t find use as a pesticide until the early 40’s. This “modern miracle” pesticide was sprayed
on people to control lice, sprayed aerially to control mosquitoes and sprayed
on agricultural crops to control pests with great zeal. People sprayed DDT in the house to control
flies and mosquitoes and used it on their pets for fleas. It was sprayed on everything from roses to apples. I well remember that DDT was my grandfather’s
go to remedy for just about anything that bothered his garden. He also didn’t believe that it could harm you
if you ate something he had sprayed with it.
The current generation of children will still have some
exposure because DDT persists in the environment to this day, even in countries
where it has been banned for decades.
Hazardous waste collections still get old DDT pesticides dropped off, so
it’s still in cupboards and barns too.
It is also thought that DDT may be one of the chemicals that floats in
the upper atmosphere, traveling from places where it is still used to places
where it isn’t. DDT has been found in
the water from melting glaciers, deposited there decades ago from the
atmosphere and now once again entering the food chain.
What
exposure to DDT does
There is scientific research that implicates exposure
of humans to DDT (a pesticide) with an increase in obesity in their
grandchildren. We have intriguing evidence that our epidemic of obesity may
have some genetic connections to DDT exposure.
Research also linked exposure to DDT in grandparents to a higher risk of
high blood pressure in women.
Researchers have long thought that there must be some
reason for the huge jump in obesity in humans during the last 40-50 years. Our lack of exercise and exposure to junk
food certainly contribute to the problem.
But exposure to DDT and other chemicals by our grandparents and parents
may also be part of the obesity problem as well as other health problems.
The results of research done at Washington State University
by Michael Skinner, WSU professor and founder of its Center for Reproductive
Biology, on the link between DDT and obesity were published in the October 2013
issue of BMC Medicine. Research done at the University of California, Davis,
published online March 12, 2013 in Environmental Health Perspectives, is the
first to link prenatal DDT exposure to hypertension in adults. Later research
implicates Dieldrin, a similar chemical, with links to obesity.
In the past Skinner has found links to other health
problems that occur several generations after exposure from other pesticides
like dioxins and bisphenol-A or BPA (a substance in plastics). However he says that research suggests exposure
to DDT causes 50% of the third generation offspring of those exposed to develop
obesity even though the second and third generation were not being exposed to
DDT, which is quite a significant percentage.
Of course these studies were done on animals, where
second and third generation exposure to DDT can be controlled. In humans, depending on your age, additional
exposure may have occurred to second, third and subsequent generations since
DDT is still present in our environment.
The research on high blood pressure involves human
subjects. DDT is still being used in some countries, so researchers can test
women in those countries. Researchers
also used records from women exposed to DDT in the past and tested their
daughters against the daughters of women born after DDT was banned. That research found that the risk was 3 times
higher for female children to develop high blood pressure if their mothers were
exposed to DDT in the womb (grandmothers
came in contact with it), than if they weren’t.
Research still needs to be done on male children.
Research done in 2015 also found a link between a
mothers exposure to DDT while pregnant to breast cancer in her daughters.
The research concluded
that there was “sizable, statistically significant
association between in utero DDT exposure and risk of breast cancer in young
women and a possible association with more aggressive tumors.” (Link below.)
A study in 2016 also links DDT and similar pesticides
and PCB
exposure to increased risks of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). This was direct exposure to the individual
and not through parents or grandparents.
This could be from residual environmental exposure but the highest risk
increase was to those in the military or working in places where the pesticide
was still used.
Who
was exposed
If you had grandparents that were alive in the 40’s,
perhaps serving in WWII, they were almost certainly exposed to DDT as were most
people in the US prior to the ban of DDT in 1972. Most people in fact have been exposed to DDT
but those of us born before 1972 have had the most exposure. This not only
affects us but our children and grandchildren.
DDT was thought to be safe at one time because people
do not absorb DDT very well through their skin.
And it was popular because it is an extremely effective neurotoxin bug
killer, with pretty immediate results.
Unfortunately we were absorbing DDT through what we ate, because it was
absorbed by animals lower on the food scale such as fish and it was on
vegetables and fruits that we ate. In 1968 a study showed that Americans were
consuming an average of 0.025 milligrams of DDT per day.
By the 1960’s however, it was known that DDT affected
reproductive ability, causing urogenital deformities in many species and thin
shells on bird eggs. It caused other
birth defects and liver cancer in animals.
But research was scarce and ambivalent about the dangers of DDT to
humans, although we now know that genetic damage was silently being done.
Rachel Carson’s book, Silent Spring, published in 1962,
detailed the damage DDT was doing to birds and other animals. It was the beginning of the modern view of
environmental concern by the public.
After President Kennedy read the book he formed a committee to look into
the use of the pesticide but it wasn’t banned in the US until 1972.
DDT
is still being used
You might think that DDT use has pretty much ended
around the world considering what we know about it but that’s not the case.
While the only places that are still using DDT as an agricultural pesticide are
North Korea and possibly India, in 2006 the World Health Organization indorsed
its use for mosquito control to control malaria. Many countries including Mexico and China use
it as a mosquito control.
In these countries DDT is still sprayed with abandon
indoors to control mosquitoes. With the
Zika virus an additional factor today, DDT is probably being used more now than
in the past. People breathe it in, get
it on food and eat off surfaces contaminated with it. The WHO feels the war against malaria and
Zika outweighs the risk of using DDT.
Incidentally a lot of the DDT used in other countries is manufactured
right here in the USA.
There is nothing that we can do to change the fact that
our grandparents, parents and our exposure to toxic chemicals may have affected
our genes. But each generation of people
in countries where DDT is banned completely will have less exposure. If we could ban all use everywhere we would
lower the exposure even more.
We can also properly dispose of old, banned chemicals
that are still present by taking them to a hazardous waste disposal
facility. Call your local health
department or the agency responsible for waste disposal in your community to
find where hazardous waste can be taken.
We must be very cautious about what newer chemical pesticides we use on
our food and in our home. It is now
known that pesticides and other chemicals can alter our genes, and will affect
future generations. Think of your
children and grandchildren when you use pesticides.
Reference Links
Crock Pot Chicken Soup with Rice
Crockpots make slow cooking soups really easy and the
long cooking time makes the flavors blend together just right. Chicken soup not only tastes good on a cold
winters day but research has shown that chicken soup really does help ease the
symptoms of a bad cold.
This recipe is for a 6 quart slow cooker.
Ingredients
1½ pounds of boneless, skinless chicken, cut into small
pieces. (I like to use thighs that I slip the bone out of because they are
cheap, but many people like breast meat.
6 cups of chicken broth
2 large carrots, peeled and minced finely
2 celery stalks, minced finely
1 small onion, peeled and minced finely
2 garlic cloves peeled and minced or crushed
2 tablespoons of butter
¾ cup of brown rice or brown rice and wild rice blend
Seasonings to taste
I suggest a bay leaf, some sage, rosemary, thyme, salt
and pepper. Go easy on the salt until
you taste the soup because broth is often salty. Pre-mixed chicken seasonings can also be
used. Spices intensify under slow
cooking, start with about a teaspoon of each spice, taste half way through
cooking and adjust to your liking.
Directions
Put everything in the crock pot, turn it on. It needs about 4 hours of cooking on high or
6-8 on low. Serve hot.
In January
it's so nice,
While
slipping on the sliding ice,
To sip hot
chicken soup with rice.
Sipping
once, sipping twice,
Sipping
chicken soup with rice.
In January
By Maurice
Sendak
Kim Willis
“He who has a garden and
a library wants for nothing” ― Cicero
And
So On….
Do you have plants or seeds you would like to swap or share? Post them here by emailing me. You can also
ask me to post garden related events. Kimwillis151@gmail.com
Find
Michigan garden events/classes here:
An
interesting Plant Id page you can join on Facebook
Here’s a
seed/plant sharing group you can join on Facebook
Newsletter/blog information
If you would like to pass along a notice about an
educational event or a volunteer opportunity please send me an email before
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mine but I do reserve the right to publish what I want.
I write this because I love to share with other gardeners
some of the things I come across in my research each week. It keeps me engaged
with people and horticulture. It’s a hobby, basically. I hope you enjoy it. If
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