Panhandle Plantings-A new column by Master Gardener Val Ford
While lecturing to a crowded classroom at Harvard, philosopher George Santayana spotted a forsythia in a patch of snow outside the window. Walking to the door he said, “I shall not be able to finish that sentence. I just have discovered that I have an appointment with April.” Which of us hasn’t experienced the same?
April is a month of renewal. Prior to 1562 and the introduction of the “new” Christian calendar, April 1 was the beginning of a new calendar year. Those people who were unaware of, or ignored, the decreed change and continued celebrating New Years’ on April 1 came to be known as April Fools.
We’ve survived the over-zealous enthusiasm of the March gardening itch (another April Fool qualification?). Our senses have recovered and we’re ready to breathe a sigh of relief -- the last frost/freeze dates are behind us and the heat and humidity of summer are still 30 days away.
There are thousands of gardening topics to touch on this time of year. But instead, I believe that I’ll give you some clues to places to go for your own gardening do-it-yourself resources. Let’s start with a Web site. The University of Florida EDIS (Electronic Data Information Source) is located at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu. These are the same pamphlets available through your local Extension Office – so you can do your homework and then walk into the Extension Office with a somewhat less confused look on your face and a list of questions prepared and ready to fire!
If you’re like me, sometimes it’s simply more comfortable to thumb through a book, start with the University Press of Florida Your Florida Garden by John V. Watkins and Herbert S. Wolfe. This book was first published in 1954 and remains an excellent primer of Florida gardening, month-by-month and by area (north, central, south).
Bulb gardeners may want to take a look at Garden Bulbs for the South by Scott Ogden. For my money, it doesn’t get any better than this. Vegetable gardeners, we haven’t forgotten you all. Another University Press of Florida book, Vegetable Gardening in Florida by James M. Stephens is a good “basics” text. The charts of warm and cool season vegetables in the back of the book are a great reference.
Can’t leave out the nature lovers in the group! I searched a long time to find this book – Gulf’s Fieldguide Series: A Field Guide to Snakes of Florida, by Alan Tennant. GREAT color pictures and maps of habitat areas. There are a bunch of other color pamphlets and such available through the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Web site at http://www.wildflorida.org/critters/snakes.asp.
For those of you not completely enamoured of snakes, there’s the U of F publication number WEC-26 – Snakes: Removing from Dwellings. And finally, if you’re in search of that ubiquitous snake repellent that you hear about every once-in-a-while, keep searching. There ain’t no such thing. The best you can do is to create an unwelcoming environment is by removing the things that attract them.
GARDEN WISDOM: In honor of Earth Day 2003, we have this quote from Henry David Thoreau: “What is the use of a house if you don’t have a decent planet to put it on?”
Val Ford is a Holmes County Master Gardener. She is a three-time recipient of the Florida MG Award for Written Mass Communications for the weekly DeFuniak Springs Herald "Gardeners’ Dirt" column. If you have gardening questions or problems, contact your local County Extension Office, or Val at Flsnowflake7592@aol.com.
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