Dig This!

"Weathermen are never wrong....it's the weather that's wrong!" "The son of a weather forecaster told his teacher, "Two & two are four....probably." "Science can predict an eclipse of the sun many years in advance but cannot accurately predict the weather over the weekend." "Weather forecasting is still a few  hours behind arthritis." Much has been on the news this past week about the coming ice storm last weekend that fortunately did not materialize as expected in our area. Rain, dropping temperatures, possibly sleet, ice with periods of additional rain, and likely ending with snow were all part of the forecast.  Winter in Kansas can have its unpredictable surprises under the best attempts at weather forecasting. But, what qualifies as an ice storm and what are it's impacts on our environment? A nuisance ice accumulation is defined as a quarter inch or less. Your windshield will be coated with ice. Y...

This past year I have been reading more, and listening to more conversations about Sharing a Row. The United Nations estimates one in eight people, worldwide suffer from hunger and malnutrition.  This is not a problem from which the United States is exempt, but one that is unfortunately increasing in our Country. The concept to help solve this problem is so simple!  When you are planning your garden this year, plan to plant an extra row. The Association of Garden Communicators http://www.gardenwriters.org/ began a program in 1995 (22 years ago!) called Plant a Row for the Hungry.   This project started in, of all places, Alaska, not a State we think about for gardening.  Since then, estimates have been more than 20 million pounds of produce, providing more than 80 million meals.   All this donated by American urban, suburban and rural gardeners like you and me. Without any government subsidies or red tape. Charities receivin...

Meet a Master Gardener Named Miriam Iwashige  “Verbena bonariensis, ” she pronounced without hesitation. Then, when I asked, she spelled it for me like a by-gone Latin teacher or spelling bee champion. Growing up, imagine having your mother refer to the plants in your garden by their botanical name! Later, you’d learn the plants had other, more common names. “As long as I can remember I have loved anything to do with our garden or farm,” said Miriam. She learned from her mother and grandmother, who both had a great deal of knowledge of plants and the environment and were tremendous gardeners. As an adult there were other teachers for Miriam, authors who shared their knowledge about growing plants that would survive in rough environments with harsh winters, hot summers and sudden hail storms ( The Undaunted Garden: Planting for Weather Resilient Beauty   (2011) by Lauren Springer Ogden,   and   Passionate Gardening: Good Advice for Challenging Climates...