2024 Getting Ready for the Garden Season

 

Row covers, arbors, bean/plant teepees, and more.

Yes, this is a repeat from 2023 but the information is so-o good. And at the bottom is information about our May 18 Annual Master Gardener Sale.

Check out the Master Gardener class Small Space Gardening - Sat, Mar 16 10- Noon
 https://extension.psu.edu/small-space-gardening

Get Ready for the Gardening Season

The planning is over and now is the time to head outdoors and prepare your garden for summer's beautiful blooms and tasty harvests. Here are a few things to put on your to-do list for the next week or so.

Do a final clean out of the gardens, removing the last of the fall leaves and any of the spring weeds like hairy bittercress, henbit, and purple deadnettle along with speedwell. Get the roots now and avoid herbicide use later. Look for weather or animal damage to your plants and gardens. Don’t forget to clear your paths. Now is also a good time to look for animal burrows or nests.

You still have time to replace, repair, or build wood structures in the landscape while the gardens are still dormant. If you build raised beds for next month’s transplants remember that 4 feet is a good measurement for a comfortable reach. Now is a good time to set up any row covers or plant supports you need. You should have a few dry days to touch-up any painted areas that need it.

Proper soil fertility is the foundation for plant health. Different types of plants have specific nutritional requirements. Soil pH and nutrient levels vary greatly from site to site, so guessing about nutritional needs often misses the mark. A Penn State soil test measures the levels of several essential plant nutrients and recommends proper amounts of lime and fertilizer. The test will measure soil pH, the levels of phosphorus, potassium, calcium, and magnesium and will also make a nitrogen recommendation. Soil test kits with easy- to- follow instructions are available at your local Penn State Extension Office for $10. Franklin County will have them available at their May 18 Plant Sale. More information is available at https://extension.psu.edu/dont-guess-soil-test.

Take time to check your tools for repairs or replacements. Tighten loose nuts and screws, sand rough spots on wooden handles, clean, sharpen and oil, where needed. Don’t forget to sharpen lawnmower blades and check your wheelbarrow tires. Make sure you have a clean, dry space to store your tools.

Start now to loosen up your body for seasonal gardening. Everyone is different so be sure to check with your doctor even though stretching is a low impact exercise. As you putter around getting all these chores done, take time to stretch. You might do some shoulder shrugs, a few arm windmills, let your wrists go limp, rotate a little each way, and shake them out. When gardening, it is best not to bend over to plant or weed. To avoid lower back problems, get closer to the ground by getting on your knees or sitting. Other reminders –use sunscreen and pace yourself.

With all those chores checked off, take a break in the shade with a cool non- caffeinated drink. All that cleaned and prepared garden space just begs for great transplants.

2024 MASTER GARDENER ANNUAL PLANT SALE

The Master Gardener May 18, 2024, plant sale will have lots of vegetables, herbs, annual flowers and perennial plants and much, much more. Look for more information and activities on our Facebook page. Lines begin to form at 7:30 am for the 9 am start. Come early and get the best choices available. Oh, and bring a big box or wagon.

In 2024 we will have children's activities at the 4-H booth, Beekeepers, and Audubon Society displays. We will have one or more drop in, free talks on gardening topics. The demonstration gardens will be open, as always (dawn to dusk) to visit.

CKagan, Master Gardener

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I Write - The Excitement of Speed

 At our monthly Writing is Fun meetings we decide a prompt for writing for the next meeting. Length is set at 2 pages so we can read them at the meeting. There is quite a diversity of writing. Some are real life recollections, some fictional vignettes, and sometimes there's a poem.

The prompt for July 2022 was Speed. Here's what I wrote. A little true, a little not.

The Excitement of Speed– Carol Kagan

July, 2022

It was a dark and stormy night. The Friday regulars from the University made it to Testani’s Restaurant before the deluge. Steph and Donna, freed from the antiseptic smell and bright lights of the lab, loved that they were invited by the Air Force students to join them. Dim lights, aromas of pasta and garlic, the low murmur of voices and clinking of bar glasses greeted them. They filled the table in the back near the kitchen.

Mario came over. Drinks first. Doc James had his usual Tanqueray gin on the rocks with an olive. The Air Force guys went with various brands of beer. Steph and Donna ordered a glass of house red. But Jon, the prissy rich-kid riding out the summer working in the lab, had just turned 21.

“It’s my birthday,” he called out, glancing at Steph. “I’d like to have ‘Sex on the Beach’.” One of the current popular drinks.

Laughter ensued. He would loudly tell Mario that several more times and each time he looked over at Steph

When dinner was over, the tables were cleared, and another round of drinks ordered. Steph knew her limit and switched to soda. The Air Force students and Donna would be walking over to the Reed Hall dorms and ordered more drinks. Doc James was finishing his second gin.

And Jon said longingly,  “I want to have ‘Sex on the Beach’.”

Ann Testani swung open the kitchen door carrying a full tray of pasta dishes and a piece of tiramisu with a candle.

“So we keep hearing. No beach here, but there’s free dessert, birthday boy.”

After the song was sung, he dramatically made a silent wish, blew out the candle, and turned his head to Steph. Doc James threw two twenties on the table and left to drive home. Everyone else wanted to wait out the rain.

After dinner talk got started when the movie Top Gun was mentioned. “I have the need … the need for speed,” was called out. This got the fighter jet stories rolling from the Air Force guys - Capt. Jim Ryan, known as “Skip,” and the other pilots, Jason “Rico” Shay and Ray “Bans” King.

“When I am speeding up high and wide,” Jason growled, swirling his arms around, “I hate to decelerate to take the tight turns. Losing speed.”

“For me, the speed is exhilarating, exciting,” said Ryan, “but there’s that bone-crushing price to pay when you hit the deck, grab the wires, and slam forward for the stop.”

The stories continued until someone came in and announced the rain had stopped. The Air Force guys and Donna headed out leaving Jon and Steph. Jon had too much ‘Sex on the Beach’ and couldn’t drive home.

“I’d ask you to take me home, but the Jaguar is manual, a stick shift.”

Steph sighed, noticing he had to mention he had a Jaguar. “I can drive a stick shift.”

When they opened the door to leave, it was pouring rain again. The car was, of course, protectively parked far away from everything else. They ran through the flooded lot and wasted time as Jon fumbled for the key.

“I’m driving. I’ll open the doors,” she said, grabbing the keys. He stood there. 

"Wheels on the other side." She ran around, opened the door and slid in.

They were in the car. Both soaked all the way through, water dripping onto the leather seats. They sat there, cold, and slightly out of breath.

As she started the car she told Jon. “I’ve got this. Just sit back and relax. I know where you live.” Then she began talking to herself.

"Wheel's over here. Focus. Thank goodness this is the original gearshift knob; five gears AND with a diagram. Let’s see if I can get the feel for this clutch.”

Deep breath. Pushing in the clutch. Pulling the shift left and back. Slow release on the clutch, a slight press of the gas. A few hops, then okay. By the time they got to the street she had the hang of it. At the beltway entrance, accelerating to merge was oh, so fast; zero to sixty in seconds. Faster than she had ever driven. The lights turned rain into shining diamonds.

For Steph, this was exciting. All that talk about speed and she was speeding around the beltway. There wasn’t much traffic on the beltway. Shifting gears, the engine revving as she watched the RPM’s rise and dip and rise again  Just a little faster. Shifting again and smooth on the clutch. Jon was slumped in his seat. She was sitting straight up, following the headlights as they lit up the lines on the road. Feeling so excited, so light, like rising in a jet.

“Christ! How fast are you going?” Jon bolted up and shouted,   “One hundred and twenty!! Get off the gas! We’re hydroplaning!. Ease off! Don’t brake. Hold tight to the wheel!”

Steph saw that the front end of the car had lifted from the road. Only the back wheels touched. She eased off, held the wheel tight and steady but the exit was just ahead. As the front end floated down, she made a wide turn, using the full width of the exit and a little more. They eased out onto Northern Avenue and crept along at the speed limit. Steph’s adrenaline still pulsing.

Pulling into the driveway, Jon reached over and pressed a button, raising the garage door. She slowly moved the car inside.

“I am soaked through to the skin,” she said. “I’ve got to get this stuff off and dry. Let’s get inside.”

They headed into the house and began to peel off their clothes. Jon thought to himself “Maybe my birthday wish will come true tonight.”

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                HERB SAMPLER Second Edition

Buy one for yourself and consider getting a few more. They make great hostess gifts, housewarming, and anytime gifts.

The Second Edition Herb Sampler (2019) is available through Amazon. 

Just click this link to find it. 

I Write - The Bottle

At our monthly Writing is Fun meetings we usually have a Fast Write where an object, word, or other prompt is decided upon and each of us write something for five to ten minutes. There is quite a diversity of mini-writes. Some are real life recollections, some fictional vignettes, and sometimes there's a poem.

The prompt was this bottle. Here's what I wrote. The line break is where my time was up. Some in the group wanted it "finished." I did that at home and here's the "rest of the story."

The Bottle – Carol Kagan

September 2023

The bottle sat on Dr. Foster’s shelf. It was round, and short, and had a glass stopper pushed down into the neck. The afternoon sun streamed through the one crooked slat on the blinds and struck the glass.  Sparkles were scattered across the gray walls of the room.

Five-year-old Amelia was sitting near the doctor’s wide oak desk in a room with a doctor’s office antiseptic smell. Her mother and the doctor were talking but she wasn’t listening. She was fascinated not by the bottle but by what was floating in the yellow fluid inside. The thing had not floated to the top. It was unmoving and just hung in the center of the liquid. It wasn’t round or square or long but it definitely looked like food. Why would Dr. Foster keep a small piece of food in a bottle?

Although she had been told to stay still and sit on the chair, Amelia slowly bent forward from the waist to get a closer look at the bottle. Squinting her eyes, she stared then pushed the toes of her shoes on the carpet and slowly lifted up just a bit, inching forward on the seat. There were thin pieces of hair or sewing thread sticking out of it, but they were so tiny, so far away, she couldn’t tell if they were moving.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the room became quiet and still as Dr. Foster and her mother had stopped talking. She sat back on the chair and looked at Dr. Foster but she couldn’t help taking another quick look at the bottle. He turned his head to see what had captured her attention.

Pushing back his desk chair, he stood and reached up for the bottle. He knelt in front of Amelia and slowly turned the bottle around. 

   =   =   =   =   =

The front of the bottle had clear liquid in it! She could see it was a bug with a small red head and little, tiny legs and feelers in front.  He turned the bottle around and it was yellow again. She could see a bright yellow spot on the tail of the bug.

“This,” Dr. Foster said quietly, “ is a firefly or lightning bug that fell into this bottle of white corn syrup just as it was flashing its bright yellow light.”

Amelia leaned forward to get a better look. She had never seen one up close. On warm, late summer evenings she had captured some but always let them go without really looking at them.

Amelia’s eyebrows wrinkled up as she asked him, “Why do you have this?”

“There are some things that are just very unusual. That the lightning bug fell into this bottle with such a skinny opening is unusual and that it was flashing at the same time was unusual. But I don’t know why the corn syrup where the light was shining turned yellow. And I never found anyone who knows why.”

“I would like to have something unusual to keep,” Amelia said, looking at her mother who smiled at her.

“Something unusual will be happening in your family," Dr. Foster smiled. "Sometimes mothers have two babies at the same time. That’s twins. You will soon have twin brothers join your family.” 

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                HERB SAMPLER Second Edition

Buy one for yourself and consider getting a few more. They make great hostess gifts, housewarming, and anytime gifts.

The Second Edition Herb Sampler (2019) is available through Amazon. 

Just click this link to find it. 

I Write - Secrets

At our monthly Writing is Fun meeting, we choose a prompt, or topic, for the following month's writing. Limited to 2 pages so we can read them at the meeting, there is quite a diversity of interpretation on any given topic. Some write a fictional vignette, a real life recollection, and sometimes there's a poem.

The prompt for July 2023 was a Secrets. Here's what I wrote.

Secrets – Carol Kagan

Take a brief moment now and think of a secret that you’re keeping from others.

You have secrets. I have secrets and so does everyone else. It’s something we humans do - hide stuff from other people. On average, according to behavioral scientist Dr. Michael Slepian, we keep as many as thirteen secrets at any given time. According to him, after research involving more than 50,000 people worldwide, the most common ones are lies we’ve told, ambitions, mental health and financial struggles, and hidden relationships.

What is a secret? Merriam-Webster lists it as “something kept hidden or unexplained.” Slepian said, "I define secrecy as the intention to hold back some piece of information from one or more people. The information itself is the secret.” And it’s only a secret until you tell someone.

The hardest secret to keep is the one you think about most often. The weight of a secret comes from hiding it and carrying it alone. This burden can cause depression, anxiety, or shame. There can be feelings of isolation or phoniness. Yet if you are looking for support, the fear of the response may hold you back. You fear that once you tell, you have not opened a door but have removed it from its hinges and thrown it up in the attic where the secret used to hide. There would be no more hiding.

Disclosing a secret electronically is cracking the door. The secret can be seen by whoever can look in. texts, emails, social media posts like Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and comments on electronic blogs can be found and searched. Not good places to unburden yourself.

Writing it in a diary or journal leaves that door open and a secret can be found. Sometimes it is discovered without you knowing. A casual remark or quiet question can reveal that it is no longer a secret.

Is there a way to unburden yourself from carrying the weight of a secret without telling someone? without revealing yourself in the telling? without worrying about judgment or fear of the repercussions?

The answer is “yes.”

You can reveal your secret, anonymously, to PostSecret. This is an ongoing community mail art project, created by Frank Warren in 2005, in which people mail their secrets anonymously on a homemade postcard. Selected secrets are then posted on the PostSecret website or used for PostSecret's books or museum exhibits. Reminder: They are anonymous as long as you don’t disclose information about yourself.

It is easy to tell your secret this way. Take a postcard (more if you want to tell more secrets). Tell your secret anonymously. Stamp and mail the postcard. Tips: Be brief, write legibly in big bold letters, be creative. The postcard is your canvas. Mail to

Post Secret,  28241 Crown Valley Pkwy.#F224, Laguna Niguel, CA 92677

This month I will create and mail a postcard with a secret. I will send my secret to Post Secret and next month I will tell you if I feel better.

Post Secret  https://postsecret.com/

I felt better and hardly think about it any more.

Here's a sample of postcards they receive.

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                    HERB SAMPLER Second Edition

Are you interested in growing, cooking or crafting with herbs? Here's your book.

Buy one for yourself and consider getting a few more. They make great hostess gifts, housewarming, and anytime gifts.

The Second Edition Herb Sampler (2019) is available through Amazon. 

Just click this link to find it. 

I Write

Well, posting on Sundays did not work. So I will post whenever. I plan to share on Sundays at Noon (and maybe just whenever I have time or the mood strikes me), various writings. 

Some of the stories are a mix of truth and fiction, other just fiction or just reporting facts or observations. 

If you click around on the blog you will find lots of articles about gardening. If you see my name at the bottom with a "MG" after it, it will be an article for the Master Gardener program. I just put them here as we don't have a blog or anywhere to put them on the internet to share.

Feel free to visit the eBlog 

https://gardenandlifenotes.blogspot.com/

You can search in the upper right box for 

I Write

Leave comments if so inclined but no punctuation comments as I am not a fan of the Oxford comma. And, after all, it is MY writing.

You can also read my published book Herb Sampler. If you know me, I can sell you a copy in person for less than Amazon charges. But I still get royalties from Amazon if you buy there but not enough to bump me up tax brackets. 

                HERB SAMPLER Second Edition

Buy one for yourself and consider getting a few more. They make great hostess gifts, housewarming, and anytime gifts.

The Second Edition Herb Sampler (2019) is available through Amazon. 

Just click this link to find it. 

I Write: Adventures in Walmart

At our monthly Writing is Fun meetings we decide a prompt for writing for the next meeting. Length is set at 2 pages so we can read them at the meeting. There is quite a diversity of writing. Some are real life recollections, some fictional vignettes, and sometimes there's a poem.

The prompt was Adventures at Walmart.

Adventures in Walmart – Carol Kagan

November 3, 2022
 

Ruth Ann just started the night shift after years of having a regular work week. On Thursdays, after her shift was over at 4 she headed to Walmart for the weekly grocery shopping. Now it was midnight as she made her way through the quiet halls, past dark rooms and the occasional whirring of a floor waxer coming from nearby.

She found a parking space near the door, and made sure she had her list, coupons in her purse and cloth shopping bags. Into the bright lights and through the door. Ruth Ann was hit by the intense odor of floor cleaner, stopped quickly, and looked around. Several feet in front of her was the ubiquitous yellow plastic tent sign – Caution wet floor - Cuidado Suelo Mojado – with the little stick figure slipping silently.

No one was there to greet her with a pleasant “Hello” and hand her a cart. As she pulled a cart from the nested stack, she grabbed a sanitizer sheet and wiped down the handle. Into the store she went. The cart drove fine but it did have a rattle and squeak from one of the wheels. As she headed to the dairy section, she glanced down the aisles.

There were hardly any customers but there were workers, wrapped in white, bobbing up and down from cartons to shelves, stocking items. There was a familiar beeping of a forklift in reverse coming from the far back area as she turned and headed past too many choices of yogurt and variations of orange juice.

A young guy was pulling milk jugs from the shelf and putting them on the floor. He grabbed other ones from the pallet on the forklift and shoved them to the back of the shelf then replaced the others in the front of them. The forklift left and he continued down the shelves, shuffling items from front to back.

Ruth Ann checked her list and put the store brand butter, cream cheese, and Sargento shredded Mexican blend in her cart. At the milk section she pulled a few cold and damp jugs aside and grabbed one from the back. She twisted it around to be sure it had a later “Best by” date stamped on it and, of course, it did.

In the canned goods section, she wheeled around a small roadblock of a worker placing bright red jars of tomato sauce on the top shelf. Ruth Ann chose a box of angel hair pasta and checked out the sauces. The top shelf held the more expensive, special recipes. The store brand was within easy reach but there were so many choices. She laughed to herself as she thought about when she was a little girl and  sent to the local grocery for spaghetti sauce. She didn’t even have to think about what to get as there was only one brand.

Ruth Ann wheeled the rattling, squeaking cart around the stockers and  through the aisles, picking items and putting them in her cart. As she approached the meat section she could smell the fish at the seafood counter even though there were few of them in the case. Only one person was minding the deli counter but was much more pleasant than any of the team there during the day.

The odor of wet cardboard wafted through the produce section from cartons of damp lettuce and cabbage. But over in the fruit section the green and red apples smelled sweet. 

Ruth Ann was trying to decide which apples to get for pie when the clerk stacking bananas surprised her and said “Hi, how are you.”

“Fine. Just looking for a good combination of apples for pie.”

“Where are you now?”

“Maybe Granny Smith for tart and Fuji for sweet.”

“Hold on for a minute,” the clerk said.

Ruth Ann looked up at him staring at her, holding a cell phone in his hand.

“Oh, I’m sorry,”  he said. “I was talking to my girlfriend on the phone. Can I help you with anything?”

They both smiled and she said “No.”

In addition to quite a few self-serve checkouts, there was one cashier at the register, looking bored with no one waiting. She headed to the register.

            “So, slow night, Jolene,” she asked after checking out the      cashier’s name tag.

“Always is. Did you find everything you wanted?” she replied as she started to slide items past the scanner.

“I did.”

And so ended Ruth Ann’s nighttime adventure at Walmart.

~     ~     ~     ~

HERB SAMPLER Second Edition

Buy one for yourself and consider getting a few more. They make great hostess gifts, housewarming, and anytime gifts.

The Second Edition Herb Sampler (2019) is available through Amazon. 

Just click this link to find it.