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What’s Happening at GAIA’S! |
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C Gaia’s Garden’n Gallery |
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Gaia's Garden'n Gallery |
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Garden Greetings, I’m proud to announce that I have officially received my Master’s Degree in Environmental Science … in 17 months and almost with Honors, but an A is good! Having achieved that I am off on other ventures to offer our community the much needed support it deserves. The Audubon Society has been dear to me since I can remember so I am actively participating in our local chapter. If you are interested in joining us please check out their website at: http://www.choctawhatcheeaudubon.org/ . There are many very wonderful organizations to volunteer your time so get involved in one today! I just received my Shelter House summer newsletter in the mail. They provide shelter to victims of domestic violence, check out their website at: www.shelterhousenwfl.org. There are plenty of local charities that needs our support. Our German foreign exchange student, Nina, will be heading back home in a couple of weeks. It is really a great way to help foreigners experience our culture as well as learn theirs. If you are interested in becoming a host family, check out the program we used at: http://www.ayusa.org/ . The relationships made with Nina and her family will be with us for a lifetime. We plan on visiting Nina and meeting her family in Germany next summer!
Don’t forget Father’s Day is June 20th, we have gifts and cards for Dad, especially if he’s a gardener. Gaia’s offers a number of gift ideas as well as very unique plant selections that will definitely show Dad how much he means to you!
News of the Food Co-op: We have had our first planning meeting under our belt and we are all very excited to get started … if you would like to join us our next meeting is June 8 at 6:30 PM here at Gaia’s in Building 2. See you then. Our website is STILL going through a revamp so stop in and check it out sometime at www.gaiasgarden-n-gallery.com .
THINK GLOBALLY AND SHOP LOCALLY
JUNE EVENTS Gaia's Garden'n Gallery 28 Eglin Parkway SE Fort Walton Beach FL 32548 850 863 4040 Hours: Tues - Sat 10am – 6pm
Saturday, June 5 (10:30-11:30am) - Think it’s impossible to have a vegetable garden with our sandy soils, think again! Come to our Organic Vegetable Gardening workshop to learn about the importance of building up your soils, companion planting, natural pesticides and organic fertilizers that will help keep your garden veggies on the plant for you, not the bugs! We offer James Stephens’ book, Vegetable Gardening in Florida from University of Florida Press, for sale. Space is limited please call shop to register; cost for class is $7.00.
Thursday, June 10 (10:30 – 11:30 am) – Edible Landscaping: Many of us have smaller areas that we call our yards, having an edible landscape is the solution to that! You can mix flowers and vegetable plants together for the added benefit of pollinator insects being drawing in by the flowering plants and they’ll go ahead and pollinate your veggie plant flowers while they visit. Not to mention companion planting. Join us as we discuss edible landscaping. Please call the shop to register; cost for the class is $7.00.
Saturday, June 12 (10:30 – 11:30 am) – Gaia’s will be offering a Butterfly Gardening Workshop – we will discuss the difference between “host/larval” plants and “nectar” plants; what plants attract what butterflies (and hummingbirds too!); the lifecycle of the butterfly; and answer any questions you may have. Cost for the class is $7.00; please call the shop to register.
Thursday, June 16 (10:30-11:30 am) – Landscaping with the Natives workshop offers the ecological gardener solutions to landscaping problems. While fixing these problems we can reduce water usage, cut fertilization and pesticide costs as well as reducing runoff into our water ways. Cost for class is $7.00; please call the shop to register
Saturday, June 19 (10:30 – 11:30 am) – Organic Gardening Series: Composting. How important it is to make “good soil” and how we can make our own by composting our kitchen waste, leaf and lawn litter, etc. Please call the shop to register, class fee $7.00.
Thursday, June 24 (10:30 – 11:30 am) – Organic Gardening Series: Natural Pesticides. We will talk about natural pesticides. You’d be amazed at some of the home-made concoctions you can make yourself at home. We will also talk about the natural pesticides that are sold in the market and how they are different from synthetic pesticides. All natural pesticides will be 10% off the day of the workshop. Please call to register; cost for class is $7.00
Saturday, June 26 (10:30-11:30 am) – Southern Herb Gardening will be the topic of discussion at this workshop. We’ll talk about growing conditions, soil amendment, and herbs that do well in our southern climate. The question of growing herbs in the ground or in containers will also be discussed. We’ll also touch on medicinal herbs, culinary herbs, and “weeds” that we have growing in our landscapes that really aren’t weeds at all! All herb plants will be 10% off the day of the class. Cost for the class is $7.00, please call the shop prior to the workshop to register.
Thursday, May 27(10:30 – 11:30 am) – Edible Landscaping: Many of us have smaller areas that we call our yards, having an edible landscape is the solution to that! You can mix flowers and vegetable plants together for the added benefit of pollinator insects being drawing in by the flowering plants and they’ll go ahead and pollinate your veggie plant flowers while they visit. Not to mention companion planting. Join us as we discuss edible landscaping. Please call the shop to register; cost for the class is $7.00.
Saturday, May 29 (10:30 – 11:30 am) – Organic Gardening Series: Beneficial Insects. We will talk about beneficial insects. How to attract them into your garden to take care of problems the natural way! We can special order beneficials for you - Ladybugs, praying mantis, beneficial nematodes, etc. We also have a number of birdhouses, birdfeeders, and bathouses at Gaia’s. Please call the shop to register, class fee $7.00.
June Gardening Tips*: Click here for monthly planting guide! PERENNIALS: Bake Out the Nematodes. Use summer heat to bake root knot nematodes out of the ground. If you can heat the soil to the 140° range long enough, you will greatly reduce the population. The technique is called soil solarization, which uses the sun’s heat during the summer months. It is also a good way to eliminate a few diseases that affect vegetables. The process takes at least six weeks, so start the treatment as soon as possible. Prepare the soil as if getting ready to plant. Add needed organic matter and wet the ground. Cover the soil with a sheet of clear plastic and anchor it along the edges. An optional covering with a second sheet of plastic can also be added. Lay plastic pipe between the layers to create dead air space. Allow the soil to remain covered for 6 – 8 weeks or more. The longer, the better, to bake out the pests. When you are ready to plant, remove the covers and add the crops without significantly disturbing the soil. ROSES: Roses for Florida Landscapes – Where else in the country can you have roses in bloom nearly year round? Most Florida residents have a rose garden, which may just be one or two plants added to the landscape, or roses grown in containers. There is not better feeling than taking a walk through the garden to cut bouquets. You usually come back with enough blooms to make an arrangement and some to share as well. Roses do take a little time. Even major growers suggest allotting time for their care. The rose is our national flower and should be planted in every landscape. Whether dealing with one plant or a rose garden you are bound to have a great time. Below find some roses that thrive in our Florida gardens:
Climbing Rose: Don Juan, Altissimo, America, Cherokee, New Dawn, Pinata, Pink, Perpetue, Sea Foam, Sombreuil, and Lady Banks. Floribunda Rose: Angel Face, Europeana, First Edition, French Lace, Gene Boerner, Hannah Gordon, Iceberg, Ivory Fashion, Nana Mouskouri, Playgirl, Raspberry Ruffles, Showbiz, Sunflare, and Sun. Grandiflora Rose: Aquarius, Camelot, Gold Medal, Lagerfeld, Love, Magic Lantern, Montezuma, Pink Parfait, Prominent, Queen Elizabeth, Shreveport, Sonia, Tournament of Roses, and White Lightning. Hybrid Tea Rose: Cary Grant, Chrysler Imperial, Color Magic, Dainty Bess, Double Delight, First Prize, Fragrant Cloud, Granada, Keepsake, Midas Touch, Mister Lincoln, Olympiad, Paradise, Peace, Perfume Delight, Pristine, St. Patrick, Swarthmore, Tropicana and Uncle Joe. Minature Rose:Debut, Herbie, Green Ice, Jean Keanneally, Kathy, Magic Carrousel, Minnie Pearl, Olympic Gold, Over the Rainbow’s End, Rosemarin, Pacesetter, Party Girl, Perrine, Red Beauty, Starina, Starglo, and White Angel. Old Garden Rose: Archduke Charles, Baronne Prevost, Blush Noisette, Cecile Brunner, Champney’s Pink Cluster, Chestnut, Duchesse de Brabant, Louis Philippe, Old Blush, Paul Neyron, Pierre Notting, Pompon de Paris, Prosperity, Rose De Rescht, Souvenir De La Malmaison, Stanwell Perpetual and The Fairy. English Rose: Abraham Darby, Gertrude Jekyll, Graham Thomas, Heritage, L.D. Braithwaite, Mary Rose, and The Prince. Polyantha Rose: China Doll, Marie Pavie, Mothersday, Perle d’Or, and Pink Pet. Shrub/Ground Cover Rose: Belinda’s Dream, Bonica, Carefree Beauty, Carefree Wonder, Red Meidiland, and Scalet Meidiland. And the old standby that I love is the Knockout Roses! HERBS/VEGETABLES: Planting in a sack! This is a fun project for kids young & old! Get a large bag of good potting soil and some organic seeds or transplants (we sell them here at Gaia’s). Place the sack of soil in a sunny location, following these steps: Lay the sack flat on the ground. Make two 1 to 2-inch horizontal cuts in the sack near the ground line on each side for drainage. Decide where you want to plant the herbs or vegetables in the top of the bag. Make an x-shaped slit in the bag, 4 to 6 inches long, at each planting site. Plants seeds/transplants through the slit and water. Keep soil moist and feed weekly through openings. Your sack garden will grow just as well as the crops planted in the ground! When the harvest is over, add the soil to your in-ground gardens and start over with another sackful! WATER GARDENS & BOG PLANTS: Plan to enjoy you water garden by making sure that it can be viewed easily. Either construct the garden near a walkway, or create one where you can stop and rest a spell, so don’t forget to add a bench or two! In an established water garden some serious trimming may be needed as summer nears. Old Canna heads and spent lily blooms should be cut off. Seedpods should also be removed from many of the bog plants. Monthly feedings are needed by lilies and lotus to continue good green leaf color and flowering. The shallow-water plants and bog plantings may also need to be fed. Caterpillars and leaf hoppers may be the worst pests. They can either be washed off or handpicked from the plants. Some bog plants will get root rot if soil doesn’t drain properly. Check to make sure adequate drainage is present. Grasshopper may chew on some plants by the damage is usually tolerable. VINES, GROUNDCOVERS & ORNAMENTAL GRASSES: Growing in Salty Places. Just because a plant does not have major tolerance to salt doesn’t mean it cannot be used in seaside plantings. But you do have to make sure it doesn’t receive salt spray and will be watered only with low-salt water. If well water is salty, mix it with half city water as needed to obtain a suitable and economical water source when irrigating sensitive plants. Use salt-sensitive plants in protected areas of the landscape shielded from seaside winds. Plant salt-sensitive plants in containers to move as needed to protected spots. Feed sensitive plants with fertilizers low in salts, including manure and sludge. CITRUS: Pollination of Hybrids. Sometimes it pays to plant trees of different varieties. The tangelos, some tangerines, and related hybrids often need a different citrus variety as a pollinator in order to produce a good crop. These are called self-incompatible varieties. Examples include: Orlando, Sunburst, Page, Nova, Osceola, Robinson, and Minneola varieties. Planting tow of these different types can usually provide all the cross-pollination that is needed. Some other good pollen-supplying trees include the Lee, Fall glo, and Temple varieties. A tree of one of these varieties in a neighbor’s yard is generally close enough to pollinate your tree. Convince your neighbor to plant the different variety, and then share the fruits of the two trees.
Enjoy - have fun - get your hands dirty!
June Green Ideas*: COMPUTERS: Computers are great inventions, but modern-day dependence on them is fast becoming an environmental scourge: globally the IT industry account for around 2% of CO2 emissions – about the same as aviation. CHOOSE A MODEL THAT CAN EASILY BE UPGRADED and so is less likely to become obsolete in the blink of an eye. MAKE YOUR NEXT COMPUTER A LAPTOP – it will consume up to 90% less energy than a desktop computer. IF YOU NEED A DESKTOP … choose one that has a flat LCD (liquid crystal display) screen – they use about 30% less energy than cathoderay monitors. SECOND LIFE. When they’re really no longer useful, give your computer and peripherals to one to the many organizations that now recondition IT equipment for reuse by non profit bodies such as charities or schools. POWER SAVE. Only about 15% of the $250 billion-worth of power used by computers worldwide each year is actually spent computing – the rest is wasted while the computer is in idle mode. Use your computer smartly to minimize its electrical consumption: Set your computer to enter power-saving mode after 10 minutes of inactivity – that could cut energy used by 60-70%. Shut your computer down if you’re not going to by using it for more than an hour or two – it’s a myth that computers use a lot of power to start up. Don’t leave it on overnight or you’ll waste enough energy to laser print around 800 pages. Unplug your computer at the end of the day – it uses a small amount of electricity (around 8 watts) even when fully shut down. DID YOU KNOW? · It is estimated that an average PC is in use for 4 hours each work day and idle for 5-6 hours. · It your upgrade your existing computer instead of buying a new one, you could save around 500 lb of fossil fuel. · Besides saving energy, giving your computer a well-earned rest at the end of each day may help it have a longer life. · Over 31 million PCs are thrown away each year worldwide. · Screensavers can end up using more energy than not having one – they are designed to prevent programs from burning onto the screen if in the program all day. So switch your screensaver setting to “none” or “blank screen” to save energy. · In US offices, 30-40% of PCs are left running overnight and on weekends – using as much energy as 2.5 million cars. · The average PC takes around 2 tons of chemicals, fossil fuels, and water to produce, generates around 220 lb of CO2 per year, and is junked after 3 years. The plastic alone in a PC system requires nearly 2 gallons of crude oil to make. Yarrow, J. (2008) How To Reduce Your Carbon Footprint. Duncan Baird Publishers: London.
Happy Gardening! Gaia's Garden'n Gallery
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