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Spring is here, so get growing

Spring flowering bulbs and perennials are filling our landscapes with color. As your gardens come alive this spring, start making notes on needed improvements and provide some early-season color and nectar for the pollinators. This will keep your landscape looking its best all season and for years to come.

Start a garden journal or photographic record of your garden. Make notes or take pictures of what’s working in your landscape, plants that need to be removed, or areas where more color or new plants are needed. These notes will help as you create a landscape filled with year-round beauty.

  • Make sure your plants receive sufficient moisture. It’s easy to overlook watering during the cool and often wet spring months. A rain gauge can help you monitor the rainfall in your yard. Plants benefit from thorough watering that encourages deep drought and pest-resistant roots. Check the soil moisture and water when the top four to six inches are crumbly and starting to dry. Established drought-tolerant plants tolerate drier soil.
  • Start pulling weeds as they appear. Removing them when small makes removal easier and prevents them from flowering and producing seeds. That means fewer weeds to pull next year.
  • Disease and pest-free leaves, evergreen needles, and other organic mulch covering the soil surface help suppress weeds, conserve moisture, and improve the soil as they break down. Leaves also provide homes for insects, frogs, and toads. You’ll achieve lots of benefits from this one task.
  • Leave perennials stand until daytime temperatures are consistently 50 degrees. This allows overwintering eggs to hatch and insects to exit their winter homes. If waiting isn’t an option, cut most stems back to the ground and stack them out of the way. This allows the insects to exit when the time is right. Leave some stems standing 8 to 12 inches above ground so insects can form new homes. Chop up the removed plant material in mid-summer or fall to use as mulch in the garden or the compost pile.
  • Watch for animal damage and protect your plantings as needed. Fresh new growth in the spring garden makes a tasty treat for rabbits, deer, and other wildlife. Many gardeners enlist the help of repellents to protect their landscape plants. Always check the label for details on use. Research has proven that odor-based repellents like rain and snow-resistant Plantskydd(com) are more effective than other types of repellents. Plus, this will cause wildlife to avoid plants rather than taking a bite before they discover they don’t like the taste. Treat pathways used to access your landscape, as well as key plants, before the animals begin feeding. It is easier to keep them away before they find all the delicious plants growing in your garden.

Continue taking pictures of your landscape throughout the year. Make note of any challenges and needed adjustments in care. Include any failures–all gardeners have them. These are just another step toward growing a healthier and more beautiful garden. Then take time to enjoy the beauty. Find a comfortable spot to sit, relax, listen to the birds, and take in all the wonders spring has to offer.

Melinda Myers (www.melindamyers.com), who wrote this article, is the author of 20 gardening books and host of the “How to Grow Anything” DVD series and the

Korean Spice viburnum adds beauty and fragrance to the landscape.
(MelindaMyers.com)

“Melinda’s Garden Moment” TV and radio program

srmedia by — April 11, 2022 in Lifestyles
Pet peeve: Dogs and other critters coddled beyond belief

When I was a kid, animals worked for a living.

Our dog Laddy lived outside and was a true watchdog. He patrolled the grounds at night and kept raccoons out of the chicken house. He slept on the back porch. We loved him, of course, and gave him treats, but he knew his place.

Cats and kittens lived in the barn – they were Mouse Patrol. With occasional moles and shrews thrown in. One cat even brought in a rabbit, just to prove what a good worker she was.

Cows gave milk, chickens laid eggs and provided the occasional Sunday dinner. Our bull only worked part-time, but he was dependable about it.

Our animals had their rights – the food was good and the hours weren’t that bad.

Today’s animals are welfare queens. Coddled beyond belief. Dogs live indoors. Cats not only live indoors, they sleep in their owners’ beds and refuse all but the fanciest of cat food.

The other day at a store, something fuzzy brushed my arm. It was a small dog, wrapped in a blanket and tucked in his owner’s arm.  This was not an outdoor market where we’ve come to expect dogs wearing sweaters and raincoats. It was indoors, and apparently room temperature was too harsh for it.

He wasn’t the only dog I’ve witnessed being carried. I see dogs plunked into baby carriages, being wheeled by their owners who appear honored to chauffer. I’m surprised the animals can still walk, although maybe they can’t.

My friend Linda lives on a lake and every night after sundown she feeds the neighborhood raccoons on her deck. Dog food and marshmallows. They line up for their nightly treats–mother and babies, waiting patiently until the door opens. Linda tosses the treats to each one in turn, and they know the routine. They queue up. They don’t fight. They are, by now, third-generation freeloaders.

Pets have become accessories and designer items. Facebook shows photos of cats sleeping decoratively on fireplace mantels and window sills. Tiny dogs wear rhinestone necklaces with ribbons in their hair. Bigger dogs wear Halloween costumes, or St. Patrick’s Day or Seahawks attire or reindeer horns.

I’m glad Laddy didn’t live to see any of this. He would have looked at a dog in a raincoat and snickered. And probably offered to help him escape. Our cats would have been appalled: You have to stay inside? You don’t get to hunt? You can’t go out in the moonlight?

It’s a sad day for animal rights. They need to unionize.

 

The writer is glad her childhood dog, “a true watchdog” who “knew his place,” isn’t alive to see sights like this.
srmedia by — March 16, 2022 in Lifestyles
Lots of talk but little action about hearing

With hearing loss ranking as one of the most common chronic health conditions that U.S. adults experience, affecting an estimated 48 million people nationwide, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) has polling results that reveal an overwhelming disconnect between the high value that Americans say they place on their hearing and their low willingness to be treated for any hearing loss.

The poll of a nationally representative sample of nearly 2,500 U.S. adults ages 18 and older was commissioned by ASHA and conducted by YouGov in mid-March 2021. Key results, according to ASHA:

  • 80 percent of Americans say their hearing is extremely important or very important to their quality of life. Yet, only 20 percent have had a hearing test in the past five years, compared with 61 percent who have had their vision tested.
  • 51 percent of all adults reported having hearing problems, but only 11 percent of them have sought treatment.
  • 78 percent of those with hearing problems have had them for at least one year—and 35 percent have had trouble for five or more years.
  • 42 percent understand that mild hearing loss can impact a person’s life or daily functioning. Yet, 56 percent of those with untreated hearing problems say they would be unlikely to treat the problm unless it was severe.

“These results are extremely concerning,” said A. Lynn Williams, ASHA’s president. “We know and are consistently learning more about how untreated hearing loss can not only impact a person’s quality of life and mental health, but that it can also be associated with cognitive decline, dementia, and preventable hospitalizations. This inaction on hearing health is especially unfortunate because there are effective treatment options that can enable adults with hearing loss to live fuller and more satisfying lives.”

The polling was conducted during a time of psrticular focus on hearing. Last year, the World Health Organization projected that 1 in 4 people worldwide will experience hearing loss by 2050.

Information about hearing loss and locating an audiologist is available at ActNowOnHearing.com, an ASHA website.

srmedia by — March 7, 2022 in Lifestyles
Seattle is a national-caliber mecca for book lovers

Seattle is the second-best city in the U.S. for book lovers, according to a study that ranked cities on access to public libraries, bookstores, Little Free Libraries, book clubs, and book-related events.

Seattle has an abundance of book swaps and book sellers, and also leads all cities in literary events per capita. It also doesn’t hurt that Seattle is a UNESCO-designated City of Literature with its very own civic poet. Topping the 10-best list is Pasadena, Calif. Rounding it out after Seattle are Jersey City, N.J., Eugene, Ore., New York City, Portland, Ore., Alexandria, Va., Garden Grove, Calif., Oakland, Calif., and Denver, Colo.

The study of 200 cities and what they offer bookworms was commissioned by Lawn Love, a lawncare and landscaping company whose locations nationally include Seattle and Tacoma. The connection between the lawn business and books isn’t clear, except people who hire a lawn service perhaps have more time for reading.

Access to its public library is one of the reasons Seattle is rated as the second-best city in the United States for book lovers.
srmedia by — February 16, 2022 in Lifestyles