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For this months edition of the Garden Center, I will refer back to our April 1996 issue of the Community Services
guide. This was a guide to local services offered, serving the Smyrna / Clayton area, and was Denise Henry's brainstorm,
and a really interesting and informative publication, I might add.
This year in April we have a couple of important dates
to remember; the first is Easter Sunday on April 12, and then there is Earth Day on April 22. There are several ways to honor
Earth Day and make a difference by being Earth friendly. One thing we can do is to recycle. Since I like to garden I compost.
Kitchen scraps such as egg shells, orange peels, old lettuce, banana peels, anything that is not meat or plastic or aluminum
and that will decompose is good for the compost pile. On top of that you can add grass clippings, any kind of yard waste except
for weed seeds, a little bit of manure, a dash of Lime, and then start the layer over again. Give it a turn every few weeks,
give it some water if there is no rain in the forecast, and by the next planting season you will be able to use this mixture
in your garden. Speaking of gardens, that's another way to keep our Earth green and healthy. Plant the veggies you and
your family like to eat, plant a flower garden for all to enjoy, including the butterflies, bees, and all the other little
critters. One last suggestion is to eliminate the use of pesticides. I made that decision back in 1996, and now it's called
organic gardening. This has not only saved me money but also helps to protect the atmosphere and environment. Pesticides have
been suspected of causing long term health problems. I also noticed that these chemicals, along with lawn fertilizers, were
killing insects such as the praying mantis, that were beneficial to the gardens.
With spring's arrival comes the
time to start putting in your vegetable garden. For those who like to plant early, some hardy vegetables such as beets, carrots,
chard, mustard, parsnip, radish, cabbage, lettuce, peas, spinach, turnips, broccoli and onions can be planted 2 to 4 weeks
before the frost free date. Some that can be planted on the frost free date are beans, okra, soybeans, squash, sweet corn,
tomatoes and peppers. If you're not sure how to begin, you might try drawing a layout of the garden you want. Then when
you have your garden planted, weed it and reap, as the saying goes. For now, good gardening and God Bless!
written by Cindy Collins-Draper
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