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Gifts from a visitor
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| For me, the best part of starting the garden program
has been the many wonderful people I've had the opportunity to meet.
Terry Burst is one of those people. I met Terry this summer when
I was busy watering the gardens. She said she was taking a
photography class and wondered if it would be okay to take photos of the
gardens. I kiddingly told her she could take as many as she wanted
as long as she gave me copies. She stopped by a while ago with some
samples. She's obviously a talented lady. |
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| At the end of a garden day four-year-old Julia gets
a ride in the leaf tarp with the help of her mom, Trish, and Nancy Garfinkel |
| The week before Thanksgiving was our last scheduled
time in the gardens for a while. These young gardeners are carrying
buckets of leaves from our pile on the hill to the perennial gardens in
front of the schools. |
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Garden Wish List
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| Many of the things on our garden wish list are what people normally
throw away. Things like old pantyhose, baby food jars, broken
plastic venetian blinds, picture frames without the glass and scissors
that are sturdy but not worth sharpening are very useful in the garden
program. Where appropriate, you can send them to school with your
son or daughter. Or, drop it off at the primary or elementary school. E-mail
me so I will expect it. |
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Steroids or compost?
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| "People who use chemicals don't garden. They kill everything
that flies, walks, crawls, or slithers into their path and force their
plants to grow by shoving the horticultural equivalent of anabolic steroids
down their roots." Mike McGrath in the Best of Organic Gardening Magazine. |
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We are Gardeners
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| Whenever someone suggests we use weed killers on weeds instead of digging
them out or suggest this or that wonder fertilizer for our plants, we always
us the excuse that we're not allowed to use chemicals in the gardens because
of the children and possible allergies. The truth is we are gardeners
who are striving to create a healthy environment for our plants to grow
and our kids to learn. |
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| People who know me, know I do not do well with the
dark days of Cincinnati winters. This year I've taken great pains to surround
myself with light and things that are alive Toward this end, I have
invited birds to come to a spot outside the window next to where I work
at my computer. This cardinal has become a frequent visitor to the
feast of sunflower heads I served up on the bush outside my window.
I hope he will be a frequent visitor and will tell his friends all about
the new kind of bird feeder that just opened in the neighborhood. |
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History of the Japanese Beetle
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| The Japanese beetle is believed to have arrived in the form of grubs
on the roots of imported Japanese shrubs in late 1915. This information
came from a book I've been reading called "A Brief History of Gardening"
by Neil Fairbairn. This book will be available from the library at
the primary school. |
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