page links

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

January 17, 2017, Kim’s Weekly Garden Newsletter

 © 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.
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.

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 wassizable, 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 Tuesday of each week and I will print it. Also if you have a comment or opinion you’d like to share, send it to me or you can comment directly on the blog. Please state that you want to have the item published in my weekly note if you email me. You must give your full name and what you say must be polite and not attack any individual. I am very open to ideas and opinions that don’t match 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 you are on my mailing list and at any time you don’t wish to receive these emails just let me know. If you know anyone who would like to receive a notification by email when a new blog is published have them send their email address to me.  KimWillis151@gmail.com


No comments:

Post a Comment