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 Roses are pretty easy to grow if you learn about them and follow some simple guidelines.
Watering, fertilizing and pruning are essential rose care tasks.
Roses should be watered deeply, especially in this hot summer weather. They should get at least an inch of water every week.
As long as you have planted your roses in humus-rich, balanced soil, you shouldn’t need to give them more than one inch of water per week.
Always water your roses in the morning so their leaves will have time to dry before dark. Otherwise your roses can get Blackspot, Powdery Mildew or other diseases. Watering systems that only water the soil and not the leaves, such as drip irrigation hoses, are even better.
Roses need to be pruned regularly. You should use a good, sharp pair of pruning shears to nip faded flowers, and trim away dead or damaged branches, as well as any brown leaves.
Do not compost any diseased trimmings, because the pile may not get hot enough to destroy the disease organisms.
Fertilizing Roses
Roses are voracious eaters. They consume large amounts of soil nutrients, so you must feed them lightly but often each time. Stop feeding about two months before the first expected fall frost. In Michigan, that means finish feeding around the end of July.
The American Rose Society alfalfa tea recipe for roses has been around for quite a few years. Be aware: it smells! It is generally applied in fall. It stimulates the roses to release a special growth hormone that will help them build a strong root system.
To make this tea, take a 32-gallon plastic trash can and add 10 cups of alfalfa pellets, then enough water to cover them. Alfalfa pellets come from a feed store where you buy bags of food for horses or other grazing animals. Get the pellets that are just plain alfalfa, with no molasses or other additives.
Then you steep this tea for about five days, stirring it daily. After about three days, the smell will be apparent, so keep the lid on.
You can add nutrients by adding 2 cups of Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate). Some growers add trace elements or their other “secret” ingredients to this brew.
This recipe makes a concentrated fertilizer tea. Dilute the mixture by adding water to fill the trash can at least half way before you water your plants.
Large rose bushes should receive about a gallon of this tea, and mini roses should get about 1/3 of a gallon. After you use all of the water, you can add more water to the pellets in the bottom to make a second batch. After the second batch, discard the pellets.
Some growers prefer just to sprinkle the pellets around their roses, and water them in. This treatment, repeated three times during the summer, will also benefit your roses if you don’t wish to make the tea.
With proper food and water, you can look forward to lovely and fragrant roses. The healthier your rose bushes, the more resistant to disease they will be and the more flowers they will produce.
With some basic care, your roses can be healthy and beautiful all season long, and for many seasons to come. You can continually enjoy and even show off your rose-growing talents!
Summertime is a great time to start, or rekindle, your interest in home preserving.
I’ve made jam and canned a variety of foods. It is not difficult, but like many other things, it will work best with the right tools and some understanding of why certain steps are necessary to the process.
If you want to teach yourself home preserving (generically called canning, though you most likely will be using glass jars, not metal cans), making strawberry or pineapple jam is a great place to start. These are popular fruits. If you have another favorite, of course, certainly that would be good for you.
I recommend using fresh fruit. Jam is basically fruit, sugar and pectin. Why use processed products to make your jam, if your mission is to leave out all the unnecessary additives?
Use good quality fruit, proper tools, and you can have a row of beautiful jam jars to eat at your house, or to give as gifts.
Basic Tools to Start Home Preserving
- The big enameled pot called a “canner” is large enough to do quart jars as well. For the water bath method, you need room around the jars for the boiling water to circulate.
- The rack that goes in the canner is designed to keep the jars from jostling each other in the boiling water. Also, it is very efficient to lift the jars in and out of the water. The handles move further apart, and they have an “elbow” designed to allow you rest the rack on the rim of the pot. Remember that this will be a load of hot glass jars, so you will want to be efficient.
- The jar lifter is a large tongs, with a curved section in the middle to fit around the neck of the jar. It has heat-resistant handles and rubberized grip designed to give you a firm hold on a jar.
- The lid lifter has a magnet on a wand, used to grab a hot, sterilized lid out of hot water, so that you can put it on your jar of jam or other food.
- The wide mouth funnel is very handy, too, because you want to be efficient in filling your jars, and you want to keep food off the rim. The jars won’t seal properly unless the edges of the rims are clean when the lids are applied.
- A supply of canning jars, bands and lids are needed to store your product. Canning jars are often sold in boxes of a dozen, and some of them come with one set of bands and lids, but be sure to check. There are jar sizes starting at a half pint, all the way up to a gallon. Pints and quarts are very popular, but the small sizes are great for jam and jelly.
- Beautiful labels are available, so that you can get to decoratively label your jars for home use or for gifts.
Jam can be your starting point to preserving many foods at home. The list of fruit-based preserves alone includes jelly, marmalades and chutneys. Then there are tomatoes (plain, and all the variety of sauces), pickles (a huge variety), vegetables and many others.
It is very satisfying, on a cold winter’s evening, to pull a beautiful jar of home canned produce from your cupboard, and enjoy some of summer’s bounty for dinner.
Thursday, Earth Day, was a gorgeous spring day, so I spent part of it outdoors doing some yard work. In the front, a bush died over the winter, and needed to be removed. I started with hand pruners, but quickly realized I needed something with more bite.
Loppers made short work of it, and it wasn’t long before the bush was bagged ready for the city pick-up. My axe will come out later, to grub out the stump.
Lawn work can have a certain meditative quality about it, so I don’t mind doing it. Since it happened to be Earth Day, it got me remembering.
In 1970, I was in school and our National Honor Society chapter did a “teach-in” where we did presentations for younger students. Mine was on water quality and waste water processing. Tertiary septic systems. Now that was a hot topic!
Remember going to the library and using the Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature for your research 40 years ago? A long row of books, library bound in green, where you would record the information and ask for the magazine to be pulled from the stacks in back. Or perhaps view it on microfilm.
Some people in the country made compost. We used to burn our leaves on the edge of the street. Cans, bottles, paper, all that went into the regular trash. In my area, we recycle those things, and many more items.
Grass clippings and leaves go to community composting. If you want the results, there are designated places where the finished product is offered for free – first come, first served – to people improving their soil or working on their landscaping.
Perhaps in the future, someone will benefit from mining those old landfills. Meanwhile, 40 years after the first Earth Day, it seems perfectly natural to recycle the grass clippings, leaves and the dead bush, just like in nature.
Slow cookers are just as popular today as ever. Everything from a hot breakfast to a hot toddy can be made in a slow cooker. You can almost set it and forget it, as that wonderful aroma of home cooking drifts through your house. Then get the bowls ready to serve.
Use the latest slow cooker models to make savory stews, soups and casseroles. Chili, baked beans and cabbage rolls. These are the foods that make Crock Pots and other slow cookers perennially popular. Many classic comfort foods are also slow cooker classics, easy to make and easy to serve.
Continue reading Practical Slow Cookers: Make Dinner While You Work
Having trouble keeping your feet warm, but just cannot give up your favorite Crocs in the winter? Never fear, most Crocs are roomy enough to allow for your foot and a pair of warm socks.
I live in my Crocs all year round. They are easy to slip on and off, and have plenty of holes to help my feet breathe. And I like to be comfortable whether I’m working around the house, out shopping or running errands.
Choosing the right combination of Crocs and socks helps keep my feet happy through any or all of these tasks!
The first winter I had my Crocs Caymans, I discovered socks with Crocs. Wearing socks with crocks works for me in all but the wettest, coldest weather, even in Michigan.
I like socks that are either made of wool or a wool blend, because they will keep your feet warm even if the socks get damp. Wool is wears well and many of the modern blends can go in the washing machine.
When I’m choosing socks to wear with my Caymans:
- I look for something on the thin side, so I still have lots of room inside the shoes
- And I like some color that will look good with my navy Caymans
- I also like wool or a wool blend for winter or summer
Like lots of busy people, my feet can take a beating. My Crocs shoes help them keep up with the work and stay comfy, warm, and mostly dry. Crocs paired with the right pair of socks, can give you lots of practical comfort and style choices.
In college in the 1970s I had a popcorn popper very similar to this Presto PopLite. IMO, hot air popcorn is better than other types because it is fluffier, has no extra oil and because I control the flavorings if any.
It did not take me long to get used to plain hot air popcorn. Get a good brand of popcorn that’s fresh (buy it in a store where there is product turnover, or online). The oil within the popcorn kernels can go rancid. For this reason, I also keep my popcorn in the refrigerator.
Of course, from time to time, it’s fun to make caramel corn or experiment with flavorings. One step up from plain is popcorn salt. It’s more finely ground than ordinary table salt. This comes in plain and butter flavors, too. But the easiest hot snack is a big bowl of hot air popped popcorn.
The biggest hazard is the resulting need for dental floss, but the snack is so worth it.
Tupperware works great to store any leftover popped popcorn, and you can keep nibbling on a single batch of popcorn for a day or so, until it’s gone. It’s also easy to put into bags for packed lunches or snacks for travel.
No matter how you eat your popcorn, here are some more tips to popping success:
- Be sure to have an extra large serving bowl ready to catch the popcorn
- Preheat the popper for a few minutes to help popcorn pop more completely
- Watch out for the hood and cup after use, because they will get hot
- Empty out any kernels that remain in the bottom, so your popper will be ready to use the next time (or maybe in the next 5 minutes for another batch!)
If I want butter, I melt it separately from the little cup that’s provided for this purpose and for measuring the popcorn. It’s part of the hood. Or use one of those olive oil sprayers to make the salt stick better. Just another bit of versatility. Must be why these machines are still popular after about 40 years in the marketplace.
And…the smell of popcorn popping. Always a crowd pleaser!
Scientists have been looking into SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder, for more than 20 years. One of the treatments is to use lighting that produces a spectrum of wave lengths, similar to what the sun produces naturally. These lights are also called light therapy lights.
Sunlight therapy lamps to alleviate SAD have their fans among people who have felt depressed, moody or listless in the winter months, sometimes for years. Special lights like the NatureBright SunTouch Plus Light and Therapy Lamp are among the products developed to give people a convenient source of simulated sunlight at home.
Many people report that their mood improves, and their cravings for high-carbohydrate foods dissipate, by using these lights for about 30 minutes a day during the season when they would otherwise get limited exposure to natural sunlight
Natural spectrum lights simulate daylight. Strong lights at 10,000 lux create brilliant lighting.
What is SAD?
Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD, is a mood condition that is related to shorter days and less sunlight that we get in winter. Suffers report lethargy, insomnia, depression and other mood changes.
SAD is related to the hormone melatonin, which helps the body regulate sleep and moods. It is produced during dark hours, so the body makes more of it when we get less sunlight. December, January and February are the months when SAD is most prevalent. Women are four times more likely to feel this condition.
My friends and relatives in the UK really feel it. While Michigan is at 41 to 48 degrees north latitude, Britain is at 51 degrees and higher, comparable to Newfoundland in Canada. The sun goes down around 4 pm in the afternoon near the winter solstice and in London they get less than 8 hours of daylight on Dec. 21.
We get lots of clouds around the Great Lakes, so gloomy winter weather is nothing new. But these much shorter days and longer nights are far more pronounced.
Some people are using the natural light from these SAD lights help get their biorhythms back into balance, to help relieve insomnia, fatigue, loss of energy and carb cravings.
These lamps come in many variations. I have extra lights in my office, and they help me work more efficiently on long winter nights. There are bulbs available that you can put into your existing lamps, including compact fluorescent versions.
Several years ago, I bought my first snow blower, a Toro 1800 electric snow thrower.
It’s been working with me to clear snow ever since.
I got it via Amazon, which some of my friends thought was strange. Usually you buy such things from a brick-and-mortar hardware store.
But I’d done my research online, and I got shipping included with the price of the snow blower (as we know, it’s never really free).
It was delivered the day after Thanksgiving, and I finished minor assembly. It was easy. I’ve been very happy with my Toro ever since.
Before purchase, I had researched different snow throwers, because I had never used one or owned one, and we did not have them at home when I was a kid. We had shovels, which the kids were allowed to use. The lawn tractor with snow blade was Dad’s exclusive territory.
I matched the snow thrower to my needs.
- A single stage machine was right for me. I have a cement driveway, about 150 feet long and generally one car wide. If it was gravel, I would have considered two-stage snow throwers. Single-stage means there is one spinning rotor that both collects the snow and throws it out through the chute. These machines are less powerful than two-stage snow throwers that have an auger to collect the snow, and an impeller to throw it.
- Weight was also important. My Toro is light enough that I can lift it, and hang it on the wall for storage.
- Power was also important. I chose an electric snow thrower because I have grounded outlets in the garage and house that are right next to the driveway, and because I wouldn’t have to deal with gasoline in the cold. When I turn on my Toro, it starts, as long as it’s plugged in.
My Toro 1800 can handle the type of snow I get most often. Not matching your needs to a product is just a recipe, IMO, to end up unhappy with the item.
My biggest challenges throwing snow was learning how to deal with the prevailing wind. It blows across my driveway, and if I throw with the wind, I fill up the neighbor’s driveway. So I need to be able to throw down the driveway most of the time, while avoiding a bath in snow, covering the neighbor’s driveway, and filling up my own driveway after I just cleared a section.
It has been worth it to learn now to use my Toro 1800 snow thrower. It is a lot faster than using a shovel, and a lot less work.
 Toro snow thrower on a work break RTUWJNCFUAT6
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