Today a New Day
Related Photos
'Tis the season — to plan your garden
'Tis the season... to plan your garden. A number of years ago, I clipped a newspaper cartoon that depicted a man running into his house with his hands full of mail. The word balloon above his head contained his comments: “They’re here! They’re here! The seed catalogs are here!”
He had the biggest grin on his face and I totally related to his enthusiasm. The only thing about mid-winter I liked was the fact that I could depend on the garden catalogs arriving.
I would take a month or so to devour them, make my lists and plan my planting arrangements. Then, I placed my orders, got my seed starting lights, flats, and pots prepared and waited impatiently for the mailman to bring my seed orders.
In those catalogs I discovered heirloom tomatoes like Cherokee Purple and unusual ones like Pink Ponderosa. I tried spaghetti and button squash and bush zucchini and cucumbers. I grew many different kinds of vegetables and flowers. I even started gloxinia and African violets from seed.
I loved playing in the dirt, and I still do, although it is much harder to get down on my knees to dig in the earth these days and even harder to get back up again.
I still love to browse seed catalogs and with all the garden sections at lumber yards, discount stores and even at grocery and hardware stores it is so easy to find favorite and popular veggies and flowers to plant. Plus, the hardest part of getting the seeds started is already done. We just need to plan our garden space, get the soil ready and put the plants into the ground.
Of course, if one wants heirloom or unusual plants, we still have to rely on mail order. I’ve only seen Cherokee Purple tomato plants at one area garden section.
Now, if I could just get a hydraulic system for my knees so I could kneel and stand with ease I’d have it made.
n Cyndi Pratt is the circulation bookkeeper at the Washington Times Herald and is looking forward to spring and has been since October. She is starting to plan her garden spaces and will be visiting local and area garden centers as soon as the soil warms.
- Today a New Day
-
-
Some things can't get done unless you have football players
The dog days of summer are here. I think they’re a little early, but they’re here nonetheless. It’s hot. Not just hot, but really, really hot. You’d think those thunderstorms every night would do more than just knock branches down. You’d think they would cool things off. Not.
-
Support 4-H; it broadens horizons, provides skills
Ah, it’s 4-H fair time again! I was a 10-year 4-H member and have many fond memories of my 4-H years.
-
In requiem for a 'Chance'
All great tales are told as trilogies. “The Lord of the Rings”, “The Godfather” and “Police Academy” have stretched their compelling tales across the Cineplexes at least three times, allowing producers to wring every once of character development and plot twist out of your $9 ticket stub.
-
4th of July perfect time to celebrate 1st Amendment
Wow! Fourth of July weekend is here, and we couldn’t have asked our Creator for a more beautiful week of weather to begin the celebration.
-
Sometimes opportunity opens other doors
“You get a strange feeling when you’re about to leave a place, like you’ll not only miss the people you love but you’ll miss the person you are now at the time and place, because you’ll never be this way again.” — Azar Nafisi, in the book “Reading Lolita in Tehran”
-
Father's Day reminds us of the strokes of their influence
I’d like to think that Father’s Day is the one day of the year, when many of us fathers get to act like laying on the couch and watching golf or racing is a brand new experience. We often look at that 24-hour period of time as a harmonic convergence, when dogs don’t bark, grass stops growing and children come with a mute button.
-
Hey weather, don't rain on their parade
As I’m writing this, the weather report calls for rain Friday and Saturday. The very days that hundreds of people from all parts of the county gathered at Hatchet Hollow for Relay For Life. I can only hope that once again the weather man was wrong.
-
Remembering the good 'ol days
A friend and I were talking a month or so ago and I mentioned that I heard David Cassidy was 60 that day. When I first heard that, I thought, “Impossible, I thought I was old enough to be his mother instead of his contemporary.” She promptly went online and checked it out. Yep, he was 60. His brother, Shaun, is 52. Now, I really feel old.
-
Graduation weekend important for daughter, dad
This is an important weekend for a lot of parents across the country. It is graduation time from high school. Young adults will line up to receive their diplomas and move on to another chapter in their life. I will count myself among those parents who will stand proud and watch their child walk across that stage.
-
My advice to graduates: Don't
Note: This is the second year that I have offered my wisdom and insight to graduates. I’m not going to whine about not being asked to speak like Cal Thomas, but let me offer my take.
- More Today a New Day Headlines
-
Some things can't get done unless you have football players
