Our company hasn’t been to the beach in well, a long time. N.Lo has never been. It *might* be true that our office is located mere minutes from said beach… Never mind! The important part of this story is that we went, and it was great.

K.Lo on arrival. And she had been so excited!

N.Lo has no clue what we’re up to.

Okay, so we’re in The World’s Largest Sandbox… now what?

He took a closer look with the CEO, and said, “Ocean!” but decided against any actual water contact.

K.Lo, getting her toes wet.

Not to sure about this…

But maybe we’ll give it another try.

Yeah! Now let’s all go! Come on!

So much fun!

And I JUMPED in the WAVES! And I RAN! And I found SEASHELLS!

N.Lo: still not sure what to think. For now.

But K.Lo has definitely made up her mind.

The following is by Linn County Master Gardener, Claire Smith:

  I’m having my first experience today as a scribe for the Master Gardener, answering questions for our Horticulture Hotline.  We received a plethora of questions, for example, “Can I still spray for weeds now?”  and “Explain what my soil test results mean and “How do I get grass to grow under my Linden tree?”  What an intriguing and educational two hours it was!  From 10:00 to Noon Monday through Friday (winter hours/hours extended to morning and afternoon in the summer) you can speak personally with a Master Gardener at the Extension Office or call the Hort. Line at 319-447-0647, visit about any gardening question and hear a research based answer. 

Now that we‘ve had a good hard frost, we’re going back to Central Standard Time and the lawn mower is stashed away, what are you going to do?  Well, I just bought my 2009 planner and my first notation is jotting down the date of the Master Gardeners’ Winter Gardening Fair scheduled for Saturday, February 7, 2009 at the beautiful new Kirkwood Center for Continuing Education.  You and your friends and family can spend the day at gardening classes of your choosing plus listen to an outstanding keynote address by landscape designer and author Janet Macunovich presenting Continuous Color in the Landscape.  Your registration fee includes your session classes, Janet’s energetic and practical presentation AND lunch!  More information will be available in December with the registration deadline in January.  Plan to attend!

The Iowa State University Extension 2009 Garden Calendar is available.  This large calendar provides eight timely gardening hints each month in addition to wonderful pictures.   It’s available for a nominal fee at the Linn County Extension Office at 3279 7^th Ave. in Marion.  

A Master Gardener offered up a great organizational hint today and one my grandkids could be involved in:  she’s putting up a peg board in her garage and hanging up all of the tools. (This is where the kids come in), she (or the kids) will draw around each tool with paint so she will know where each tool should be and which ones weren’t put away properly.  Can you imagine how Catie and Charlie could be all over Daddy about keeping the garage neat and orderly? 

SFG mini-series reader Ryan reports that over at the Home Depot in Lake Mary, square foot garden enthusiasts can buy 4 cu feet bags of vermiculite from the Home Depot  for $12.99.

When setting up my kitchen garden I was unable to find it near me in large quantity so I ordered from Home Harvest instead.

There is still time to throw a bed together and get some fast growers in before the summer heat wave kicks in an all veggie gardeners take a break before the fall season ramps up in late august/early sept.

Not that there is a lack of things do to for the organic veggie gardener in summer…

Over at the Orange County Extension Office, there’s a compost and rain barrel workshop in May. Details are

Date/Time: May 17, 2008 (Saturday) 9:00am-110:00am

Location: Magnolia Room at the

Orange County – UF/IFAS
Extension Education Center
6021 South Conway Road
Orlando, FL 32812-3604
Office: (407) 254-9200

Description: Learn how to turn your plant waste material into compost by conventional methods for homeowners and vermicomposting for apartment, condo, or trailer residents. Conserve water in your yard with the use of rain barrels. One Rain Barrel will be provided to each Orange County family, courtesy of Orange County Environmental Protection Division and Orange County Utilities.

Then in June you can learn about “Summer Landscape Pests” and July covers “Irrigation Auditing — Water Conservation in the Landscape.” Check them out!