Gardening Updates

Well it is that time of year when the weeds have pretty much taken over much of the garden.  BUT there are many delectable items yet to harvest.  My fall lettuces are luscious.  There are still tomatoes and a few peppers, a row of leeks, many beets, swiss chard, Jerusalem artichoke,  kale, collards and the melt-in-your-mouth Russian fingerling potatoes.  Plus more squash, cucumbers and pumpkins from Vermont.  Food is so precious and it appears that prices will be going up on many things this year. Many books at the library can help you get ideas for starting or improving your garden. Now is a good time to plan for next year.  With grant money we purchased The Beginner's Guide to Growing Heirloom Vegetables: the 100 Easiest-to-grow-, Tastiest Vegetables for Your Garden by Marie Iannotti and Michelle Obama's book American Grown: the Story of the White House Kitchen Garden and Gardens Across America.    Eating more healthy fresh food is a worthy goal and remember, starting small is fine.

13 Entries for the Sunflower Contest

If you planted your seeds and they came up, wonderful!  There are even some plants blooming at the library.
IF you entered our contest, even better!
Our best entry was 12 ft 10.25 in. tall and the head (without petals) was 13 in. in diameter.  Congratulations to our winner and thank you to all participants.  This was fun.
The picture of the sunflowers is compliments of the Encyclopedia Britannica available 24/7  and provided by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.

Friends of the Library Booksale Continues

Today, the library meeting room is filled with books, CDs and  DVDs for all ages and interests.  It's a recycling extravaganza. Buy some great materials at extremely reasonable prices, enjoy them, and bring them back when you are done for the next booksale.  After today, the booksale will continue Monday-Thursday, September 17-20, 2012 during the library's open hours of 10-8. The Friends of the Library booksales generate revenue that fund library programs, museum passes and capital improvements that benefit all of our patrons.  We really thank our dedicated and hard-working Friends.

Remember next time you clean your shelves, to bring your used books to the library.  We use some donations to augment the library collection and the rest go to the sale.  The environment and library staff thank you!

Stop the Asian Long-horned Beetle

Don't miss this Go Green event, Wednesday September 26 from 7-8PM.  Eric Seaborn of Mass DCR will tell us ways to save our trees.  For more information go to Gardening, Landscape and Horticulture Collection and type in Asian Long-Horned Beetle.

Another Green Grant Program

We are planning a special program to finish up the grant year: Mount Washington: Home of the World's Worst Weather to take place Sept. 25 at 7 PM. Eric Pinder, who worked as a weather observer at the Observatory for seven years, describes the joys and terrors of living in the clouds and explains Mount Washington's geology and weather. The Observatory crew find much to enjoy in their icy home - even when it means dealing with 100 mph winds, wandering moose, and odd questions from visitors (Can you see New Hampshire from here?"). Of course, they are also treated to spectacular sunsets, spine-tingling thunderstorms, and breathtaking toboggan runs. For Boston Globe articles go to The Boston Globe (Proquest) and key in "Eric Pinder." You can also visit Eric's homepage to learn more about him: www.ericpinder.com 

Gardening Successes and Failures

Every year the garden yields many surprises.  My tomatoes, beets and peppers were superior to last year.  Also, I have been so pleased with the fingerling potatoes! Last night I put them on the grill and they were perfect.

But I confess that I had to water so much, the squash bugs got ahead of me. I've had a crop failure. (Luckily, I planted squash in Vermont also.)   I guess mild winters, hot summers, extra mulch and my lack of fast action all contributed to this horrific infestation.  For more information about squash bugs and how to deal with them go to Gardening, Landscape and Horticulture Collection and search for squash bugs.

Keeping plastic straws out of organic waste

This is a reminder to all our Hamilton and Wenham friends, that plastic straws should not be included in organic waste.  Milo Cress at age 9 urged many restaurants in Vermont to not give straws out automatically with drinks.  Though not a ban on straws entirely, this practice encourages a huge reduction of plastic straws landing needlessly in the landfill.  Read more about Milo at Be Straw Free or this article from The Christian Science Monitor.