The Inner City Tennis, 5th annual benefit for KIDSPEED

HLG decorated the entrance and stage for The Inner City Tennis 5th annual KIDSPEED event on Oct 24th. It was a sold out event. They hoped to sell 30 tables of 10 and they exceeded their expectations. Congratulations!
To learn more about ICT and KIDSPEED click on this link: http://www.innercitytennis.org/

Bulbs!

Now is the time to get your favorite spring flowering bulbs planted before the ground freezes. Check out your local garden center for numerous varieties of daffodils, tulips, alliums, and minor bulbs such as muscari and hyacinth.

Winter Preparation

What should you be doing in the gardens to prepare for our winter's arrival? Many things, from tending to your plants and putting away your garden tools. We've been busy this past week cleaning gardens, pulling out annuals, and cutting down perennials.

• Which perennials do we choose, those that bear no winter interest or are more prone to get fungal diseases, such as peony, irs, monarda, roses and phlox. Perennials that are typically left up for winter interest include, astible, rudbeckia, echinacea, sedums, and various grasses.
• Another important item to take care of before the deep freeze sets in, is storing away your breakable pots. Often when the soil is left in the pots and kept outside over the winter, moisture accumulates in the soil and then goes through the freeze/thaw cycle often times causing your ceramic pots to crack. The best way to protect your breakable pots is to empty out the soil and store them inside a garage or shed.
• Hoses are another important garden tool. Once you've decided it's time to shut off the outside water, it is also a good time to prepare your hoses. They should be drained of standing water and properly stored out of the elements.

Cool Nights and Your Vegetables

Most vegetables need warm days and a lot like warm nights, especially peppers and tomatoes. This year due to our cooler nights in the uppper midwest, peppers and tomatoes are taking longer to ripen. Did you know that all peppers start out green. If you bought a colored pepper such as purple, red or yellow they take another 20 or so days to turn the color that was on the tag when you bought it. Also when you pick a pepper it's "warm", to cool the pepper and to help them keep better in the refridgerator run cool water over the pepper after you pick it to take the field heat out of it.

All this information comes from News from the Farm. Check out their website http://www.atthefarmwaconia.com/

Which common weed is a healthy addition to any salad?

Purslane. Many of us think of purslane as an annoying weed often found in the cracks of our drive or walkways, maybe in the sandy open section of your garden but purslane is actually a very nutrious succulent herb. This new and upcoming addition to the edible landscape is a source for one of the highly sought after Omega-3 fatty acids, alpha linolenic acid as well as protein, vitamin E and vitamin C. No need to pay for fish oil when most of us can get it (purslane) for free. Purslane is a delicious addition to many recipes, add it raw to salads, stir fry it up, or put it in soups and sauces. Check out this link for recipes.
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/plantanswers/98promotions/april/recipes.html

Is Playing in the Soil Beneficial?

As gardeners playing in the soil is a common activity. We all know that gardening is hard work and a very active passtime or career. We get many physical benefits from gardening but did you know that the soil itself contains a bacteria that turns on a group of neurons in our brain that promotes the hormone serotonin, also known as the "happiness hormone". Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that plays a role in regulating mood, metabolism, anger, aggression, sleep and appetite. So maybe we should all spend more time playing in the dirt. http://news.softpedia.com/news/Eat-Mud-to-Get-Happy-51563.shtml

KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN

The Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) is an invasive insect native to Asia. This insect infects and kills North American ash species to include, green, white, black and blue ash trees. Since its discovery on the North American continent in 2002 originally in Michigan, it has now been seen in 12 states and two Canadian provinces. In May of 2009 the EAB has been discovered in the Twin Cities Metro Area, in particular, St. Paul. The adult beetle will eat the leaves of an ash tree causing little damage. It is the larvae (immature stage or the borer stage) that tunnels into the outside bark (what we see) of ash trees feeding on the inner bark. This inner bark transports nutrients and water between the leaves and the roots of the tree allowing it to live. Once the tree has been infected with the borer, the EAB disrupts the trees ability to transport water and nutrients from the canopy and the root system and vice versa.
What to look for:

• D-shaped exit holes (made by the adult) on the outer bark of branches and trunks
• The adult insect has metallic green wing covers and a coppery red or purple abdomen. They are about 3/8 to 5/8” long. Present from late May to early September but most common in June and July.

• A declining leaf canopy beginning in the top 1/3rd progressing until the tree bare
• Epicormic shoots-sprouts growing from roots or base of trunk and leaves larger than normal
• Increased woodpecker activity

What you should do if discovered:

Call the Minnesota Arrest-the-Pest Hotline (1-888-545-6684)