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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1984-06-27, Page 34r "- Page' (crossroad+ .Aloe 27, 191i4 Backyard Gardener By Patrick Denton It often happens that in the midst of the spring planting rush, and the weeding, thin- ning and tending all our `out- door plants, our houseplants end up begging for attention. And even though we like to move most of our indoor plants outside to the garden, patio balcony for a bit of summer vacation, all _ too often as ,early summer ap- proaches it still hasn't been done. That's not all bad. Like tomatoes, most of the house- plants we grow need warm nights that don't delve much below the 50 -degree mark. It's safest to wait until sum- mer has thoroughly settled in before moving our tender houseplants outdoors. Houseplants set outside now and brought back in- doors in September will, with a little care, have put on lots of lush growth and be in top shape, well set up for an- other winter's endurance test indoors. If your outdoor garden is on a balcony, your house- plants will help dress up this outdoor living area while benefiting from the warm, fresh air and good light. Even a move to a window that is often open during the summer is helpful in apart- ments without balconies. Be careful about where you place your potted indoor friends for the summer. Like a human body covered up from the sun for most of the year, our plants will sunburn if thrust suddenly into sum- mer sunlight. In fact, most of our houseplants are tropi- cals, and need a somewhat - shady, sheltered site for the summer. Areas in filtered light, as under high tree branches, are ideal. Any plants that need re- potting should be taken care of before or soon. after they are set outdoors. The, new pot should be just slightly larger than the plant's present one, so that the new root growth during the summer will�com- fortablyfill it. During their sojourn out- doors • this summer,. your houseplants will need some routine care. In the height of the warm season, they will need watering daily, just like hanging basket fuchsias, Plunging the. pots into gar- den soilor into a sawdust or bark mulch helps to keep them from drying out. In balcony gardens, house- plants can. be sunk in their pots into larger potsror con- tainers;.singly or in groups, in dampened peat, During the summer the peat must be kept damp, or it will act like blotting paper to suck mois- ture from your plants. Because the necessary fre- • quent watering will leach out needed nutrients from the houseplant potting soil, and because the plants will be very actively growing during this time, you will have to give them some fertilizer during the su er Foliage plants eed an evenly balanced ertilizer such as 20-20-20, with equal amounts of nitrogen, phos- phorus and potash. Flower- . ing plants need a touch more phosphorus for bloom de- velopment. An example of a suitable ferilizer for -.them is 15-30-15. This comes in, several brand -names. I pre- fer the types that also con- tain various trace elements, listed as such or as "Second- ary Plant Foods" on the label. Little and often is a good rue for watering house- plants outdoors in summer. I fertilize weekly, at one- fourth the .strength of the recommended dosage, which is usually geared to a month- ly feeding. Fd; example, if a -monthly feeding of one table- spoon to each gallon of water is recommended, then I would feed weekly with a dilution of 'a teaspoon to each gallon. Some plants, like the poin- settia, will need a bit of pinching during the summer for a rounded, bushy shape. And you'll need to maintain a pest Watch during your watering sessions, and spray the plants with water to knock off any insects, or use Safer's Insecticidal Soap if the problem persists. Make a note on your gar- den calendar to begin the move back indoors in late summer or early fall —. in any case, well before frost. • • Whatoddnq.i'vsi What a stw yf ha a letter! Shirley Whittington What cheers you up? A cheque in the mail, or a male in checks? A winsome lass or a nice full glass? Loud music or total silence? Lunch with an old friend or dinner with a new one? Around here, good letters are the best gloom lifters. A fat envelope addressed in familiar handwriting quick- ens the pulse and leavens flat days. People don't seem to write letters to each other much any more. Phoning is faster. You find out right away if they can come for the week- end, or if you really ctid leave your shoes in the back seat of Uncle Bob's car. As a child I was ntinual- °ly exhorted to write letters; to my distant grandmother; to my cousins in Wisconsin; to exotic pen -pals gleaned from the columns of a Sun- day School publication; to the little girl nextdoor who moved to Regina. My mother proofread everything before it went into the envelope. Letters were copied over and over until they passed muster. Then, blot -free and perfecly spelled (and about as spontaneous as a demon- stration outside an overseas U.S. embassy), they were mailed. We get wads of stuff every day from our mailman, but most of it is expendable. We sift through tons of dross to mine one real letter penned by a human hand. Notes from family, friends and friends of the column are read to shreds. Many of the column letters are so nimbly written that they must be shared. One" lady visits often by letter and invariably closes with "no reply needed. I know you're busy." How that brightens my guilt -edged life! Wonderful super -literate Lou Cramton knows what it takes to keep a wordaholic happy. Not only does he write frequent, witty, ob- servant letters, he crams the envelopes with fascinating newspaper clippings from all over. It takes several days to do justice to a Cramton com- munique and we fight over his letters. When I wrote recently about the decline of the church choir, Mary Alma Rea wrote a lively letter about Singers Over Sixty, a go-ahead group of choristers from Toronto with a full and exciting performance schedule that includes the Royal York Hotel and the Gra ite C . "We have won the tirSt prize Kiwanis Award until no other choir would compete with us and we retired from that azctivi- ty,'.ays Mary. I'll take that letter to choir practice with me; where I hope it will strike a happy note. Writer Marie Ecclestone liked hearing positive things about young people in the Family Unity column, Cay Thomson liked that one too, and says it inspired her to or- ganize a family picnic. Carry on, Cay. We had a family blast last month, and every- body's still talking about — especially the. neighbors! A. M. Hayes who heads a distribution company, took lively exception to my com- ments on the organizedjell- ing of Soap which he says is "one of the largest corner- stones of the free enterprise system. Only by keepingthat spirit alive in the minds of our people can we hope to re- store Canada to its former/ glory." Finally here's a beautiful letter from Joan Reid,' trans- portation convener for a Cancer Society Unit. Her letter demonstrates the extra dimension 9f -warmth and brightnees,,that makes volunteers special. Joan tells about a patient who was being driven home from a city hospital after treatment. She shyly told the others in the car that her doctor ("that nice youpg man") had told her to consider her- self cured. He further sug- gested she have a glass of. wine with her dinner, to cele- brate. She added quietly that of course, she didn't keep wine in the house. The volunteer driver made a quick decision, and de- toured into 'a town to buy a little something that w lied. Joan's letter dA_ °' tie what happened next. en they got the patient horn ey sat on the patio in the sunshine — three Patients, the driver, the patient's husband in work clothes, and the dog. And they -drank wine out of juice glasses to celebrate her fu- ture." What good news! What a story! What a letter! See how -good a letter can make you feel? Somebody you know would love to get one. SSpeeial bunion shops "`Double -last" shoe y} made especially for bunion Sufferers, can be bough' at some stores. They're sized wider through the toe than the heel, such as a C -width toe and an A -width heel. 890 Wallace Ave. N. Listowel Car City. 291-1730 Wayne Gregory welcomes Dave Glanville to the. Marten's team of professionals. Dave looks forward to serving aII his friends and past customers at'Marten's with brand name quality furniture for your home! �a�hs SPECIAL 3 ROOM PACKAGE: 2 PC. SOFA & CHAIR 3 PC. COFFEE & END TABLES 5 PC. DINETTE SUITE � 0` 5 PC. 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