Category: Newsletters and Member Articles

The county provides good compost for our community beds and Soil3 is great option for in-ground and raised beds and containers but I often don’t feel that’s enough fertilizer for my growing vegetables. I get fussy about what I use. I don’t want the El-Cheapo 10-10-10 from the big box stores. I want a quality, granular, all-around fertilizer that has trace elements in the mix to use on a regular basis. Espoma and Dr. Earth are my first go-to choices, but there are several other good options to choose from and liquids also. I don’t use the three and six month pellets as I would rather fertilize somewhat systematically as I watch how my veggies are growing. Timing is just as important. Unless it gets on my calendar when I do fertilize with a reminder set in 3 weeks later, too much time passes, and my vegetables don’t get enough…

Yes, you can see the seed pods of Catchweed Bedstraw (Galium aparine), but do you see the bacteria? First, a story. I started teaching at a brand-new high school when I moved to Georgia. Of course, we had a football team, but something strange started happening. Before the season started, while in practice, many of the boys got skin infections where the helmet abraded their necks. One even got an infection in his nose! Simultaneously, I was teaching biology and had my students start “hay infusions” by putting grass clippings into empty jars with distilled water to see what microorganisms grew. This is a common lab; I have done it before for fifteen years in other schools. When I checked the jars for organisms, I expected amoebas and paramecium; but I saw endospore bacillus! There are many, but they are typically BAD. Perhaps tetanus, botulism, or some other terrible bacterium….

It’s that time of year when there’s yellow all around in Georgia — daffodils are blooming like crazy.  You can spot the old home sites where daffodils are blooming – Oakland Cemetery is abound with daffodils and I’m sure Gibbs Garden in Canton is a wonder to behold. I remember when we had Mr. Daffodil Man speak to us at a GCMGA meeting years back – but the old fashioned daffodils continue to tug at my heart.  Mainly because these come from bulbs first grown from my Mom in Milledgeville – the Von Sion or Telemonius Plenus – occasionally known as Bread and Butter.  And they never bloom with consistent form each year as they’re truly weather dependent.  I always describe them as daffodils that look like chrysanthemums – and often they do – they can be gnarled and flop-headed and mop-headed and can have a touch of green in…