The Chicks from the Spring Do Their Thing in August

August 30, 2010
 | by growgreenkids
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Lucky for me, gardening in August took a back seat with the major tasks of just keeping shrubs, flowers and whatever was still growing in the garden alive by watering. We had over ninety days of 90 plus degree heat with heat indexes often over 100. Everything was suffering. It has been so hot that even though it is time to plant the fall garden we have delayed it because of the heat.

Our chickens have also suffered from the heat but seemed to have adjusted. For those that are interested this blog is about how the little chicks my brother sent me in the spring have survived, all 24 of them, and developed, particularly in August. My brother ordered 12 Rhode Island Red hens and 2 roosters. The company sends extras because they expect a certain percentage of the chicks to die soon after birth. Well for the people (us) who thought fourteen was a large number, all 24 survived, plus the one chicken we already had, making 25 total. Were we ever in for a learning experience!

Up until this …

July’s Meltdown

July 29, 2010
 | by growgreenkids
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July has really been a hot month in the Southeast, USA. In some parts of the South, the heat index has remained 100 + for a number of days in a row. We are having the usual afternoon thunderstorm that sometimes cools things off a bit, but also adds humidity in the air to deal with. So on we go, pretty much normal for July in the ole South.

The Extension System checklist is fairly simple this month. The main goal is to keep plants and outside animals healthy. The primary thing to do is to offer plenty of water if it doesn’t rain enough to keep plants alive and well.

Another common suggestion is to watch for diseases and invading insects in flowering plants as well as lawns and garden plants. As for the fruit trees the tasks is to keep birds and squirrels from eating the fruit that is near ripening and harvest time.

As far as the vegetable garden goes, I am still harvesting some from plants that haven’t died from meltdown or overheating. Our garden is just too big …

The Heart of Summer

June 28, 2010
 | by growgreenkids
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Even though summer officially starts in June, to me June and July is the heart of summer time activities. By the end of July, the planting and harvesting of fruits and veggies are just about over for the year. Our fall garden is not usually as big and busy as our summer one.

According to the “Alabama Gardener’s Calendar,” published by the Extension System, June is the time to finish planting seeds and plants in the vegetable garden. If you have fruit trees, it is time to thin the fruit if the fruit is too thick on the trees. For shrubs and lawns, it’s fertilizer time. As far as our early blooming bulbs, we can now remove the foliage that is yellowing and becoming dry. For annuals and perennials, keep the old flower heads pinched off so they will continue blooming. Lastly, watch out for bugs and insects that will eat away at you vegetables and beautiful flowers. Also keep an eye out for plant diseases. If caught early, you may can save the plant or keep it from spreading to …

Gulf Oil Disaster: The Worst Environmental Disaster Ever

May 31, 2010
 | by growgreenkids
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I haven’t heard anyone chant, “Drill Baby Drill,” lately, have you? In the South at least and around the Gulf Coast, that would be political suicide. The fears, anger, and plain disgust is raging here and grows worse each day.

As the spill continues gushing thousands to millions (according to whose figures you look at, BP’s or other experts/scientists) of barrels of oil each day, an overwhelming feeling of powerlessness also builds. Questions are asked that go unanswered because no one really knows the answers. How long will it keep gushing out into the Gulf, poisoning every living creature in its path? So far the quick fixes have not worked. The BP explosion happened on April 17, 2010. The leak was not discovered until April 24, 2010 – a week later. Then it took them to May 7, 2010 to put the first containment dome in place. After that failed, it took until May 14 to try another approach. When that did not work on May 26, 2010 they tried the next quick fix which also did not work. BP …

May Flowers and Laying by the Garden

May 15, 2010
 | by growgreenkids
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May has been a good and busy month so far. My flower gardens have had beautiful red azaleas, roses, lilies, Sweet Williams and more. The snow ball bush was covered with big, bright, white flowers. There were some other flowers that were given to me that I don’t know the name, but were beautiful just as well. The yard was very colorful.

We completed our soil erosion project in the back yard. We planted cedars and holly as well as rose bushes and some annual flowering plants like daisies and petunias and planted wild flower seed behind it all. So we are hoping that all these roots plus the cross ties will save our back yard, especially if we continue to have the rain we have been blessed with the last six months.

I finally finished my inside spring cleaning and can really tell the difference by the improvement in my sinus allergies. As far as outside, the calendar is full. Although pollen is still about and almost everyone is complaining there is too much to do to stay inside. The Alabama …

Spring and Springing into Action

April 19, 2010
 | by growgreenkids
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Spring is just a busy time of the year. For me it seems busier than the fall holidays. There is just so much to do. A lot of it is just plain hard work as well.

The Extension Service in Alabama furnishes a calendar for gardener’s which is a great asset for those like me who need help with keeping all the spring chores in mind and organized. It starts with January and has a ‘to do’ list for the garden for every month, even the cold months in the dead of winter. Granted, the warmer months have longer lists. But if I faithfully followed this calendar, I’d be very busy every month.

I’m behind in April already. It is time to spray the fruit trees, plant shrubs, plant seed or grass for the lawn, plant the vegetable garden, plant flower bulbs and annuals and perennials. Then there are the regular chores like weeding flower beds and watering plants. Grass cutting kicks in as well. April is definitely one of the busier months.

On top of the Extension’s list, I have several …

Health Care Bill – The Big Question

March 27, 2010
 | by growgreenkids
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There are all sorts of doubts and questions buzzing around the internet and in communities around the country about the good verses the bad of the newly voted in Health Care Bill.

It’s really according to who you are listening to that leads to how you feel about it. If you are listening to a Democrat, then it’s the greatest bill ever passed, even classified very historic.

If you are talking to a Republican, then this thing is going to lead our country into dire poverty and totally mess up what medical care we already have. And it’s turning our democracy into socialism.

If you talk to someone who is sick or in the hospital without insurance of any kind, then you go away feeling like, yes, the new Health Care Bill will certainly help people like that, with no insurance.

If you are talking to someone who has Blue Cross/Blue Shield and has been fortunate to have it all their life, and are adjusted to the premiums and co-pays, etc., then they are happy with their insurance and health care and don’t want

…

Living Green in the Spring, My Favorite Time of the Year!

March 13, 2010
 | by growgreenkids
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One of my first post on this blog pointed out that the Canadian Geese were on the move and fall was on the way. Well, today I saw the Geese flying again, this time northbound. They picked a beautiful 70 degree sunny day to fly over and they were just beautiful.

I think everyone in the USA is looking forward to spring this year after all the snow, ice and storms of one kind or another. We are certainly ready for our normal warm spring weather in Central Alabama. It is near. I’ve been seeing robins and red-winged blackbirds already.

We are ready in other ways as well. Our gardens are tilled and we’re waiting for the last frost to come and go in order to set out the plants and plant the seeds. We have one garden just for corn and the other for all our other favorite vegetables. Last year the birds really helped out by enjoying the bugs and other insects on the plants. It seemed the change was welcomed from the winter’s seeds at the bird …

Great Backyard Bird Count of 2010 – At My House

February 19, 2010
 | by growgreenkids
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Red-Bellied Woodpecker

Red-Bellied Woodpecker

We had a great weekend for the annual backyard bird count from February 12th – 15th. The GBBC is a project that regular citizens participate by counting the birds at the feeders for four days. The report includes where the birds were counted, when, for how long, the specifics about the weather and of course the largest number of every species that were counted at any one time.

On February 12, 2010 it was snowing in Central Alabama. That ended up being a good thing because there was enough snow on the ground that the birds were very visible and easier to count. Also, the cold weather brought more birds out to get an easy meal at the feeders. The number of birds on that snowy day was probably twice what I usually see each day. Too tempting for a Sharp-shinned Hawk who decided to drop into the ‘feeder’ tree and stay for awhile, no doubt waiting on his easy meal. Luckily all the little birds quickly …

Chemicals, Humans and Daily Living

February 14, 2010
 | by growgreenkids
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The last blog post examined some ways that chemicals and particularly those in plastics harm animal life, both on land and in the sea. This post will examine how certain chemicals harm humans. During my reading on this subject in the last week or so, one thing became very clear to me. Human and animal health is directly linked to the health of the environment. That seems like such an obvious statement, but oftentimes humans would like to think of environmental problems as just nature or animal problems. But when chemicals are involved, what affects animals also many times directly or indirectly affects the health of humans as well.

I read several articles on the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” which went into more detail about how the effects of tons of garbage in the Pacific Ocean is poisoning or killing the wildlife. The really sad thing is that there seems to be no quick feasible way to clean it up because it involves several countries, is very far from land and just gets complicated. This will take a lot of …

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