HYACINTHS IN WINTER

These Hyacinths are called Pink Pearl, one of my favorites.

These are called Blue Star, three growing in a small bowl.

Here are a collection of different hyacinths, so pretty.

HYACINTHS (growing in water)

Hyacinths are so fun to grow in the winter time. They give us a sneak peak of spring and they have the sweetest fragrance. When growing bulbs inside during winter and early spring it is called ‘forcing’. It is a process of making the bulbs bloom ahead of schedule.

Here are a few ideas of how to care for Hyacinths growing in water.
1. Rinse with clear water every week, carefully rub the roots to clean them and if necessary clean the bottom of the bulb.
2. You may want to clean, replace, or add more pennies to the bottom of the vase, (the pennies help the water stay fresh).
3. Putting the Hyacinth in the fridge will help it last longer or slow down the growing process. However, be careful not to freeze the flower.
4. After the bloom is finished, trim the blossom stem and continue to water the bulb. This encourages the leaves to grow and the leaves give much needed energy back to the bulb. Hyacinth bulbs can then be planted in the garden in the spring, (with the leaves intact). It may take a year or two for it to recover enough to bloom again.

Please feel free to call me with questions.

‘ON THE SUNNYSIDE’
Pam Olsen
3210 E. Sunnyside Rd.
Idaho Falls, ID 83406

208-406-1243
pamolsen@prophoto.bz
www.pamolsen.net

Quick Tip #4

Expecting a light frost on your garden?

Turn on a sprinkler before you go to bed that night, ( I use a rain bird, it covers a large area).  If the temperature doesn’t drop below freezing very far, the frozen ice actually protects the plant from the frost, (REALLY).  I usually wait until noon to turn the sprinkler off, make sure the sun has warmed up the plants thoroughly.

If the temperature is around 20 degrees this will not help, but if the temperature is 28-32 degrees this should help.  I use this trick in the spring also, it works on fruit trees too.

NOTE:  If you plan on turning on the hose, leave it running a little so the hose isn’t frozen when you want to turn it on at night, (I put it on a fruit tree, it need the moisture this time of year).

Quick tip #1

When dead-heading petunias, remove the blossom and the small container that holds the blossom, (it is called the receptacle). This receptacle will become a seed pod and will continue to use energy to create seeds.

Dead-heading in this way ensures the flower spends all of the energy to creating blossoms, not seeds.

Note:  it is best to use scissors to to dead-head to create a clean cut, which prevents torn stems and discourages diseases.

THOUGHTS TO THINK ABOUT, RALPH WALDO EMERSON

Riding a horse is not a gentle hobby, to be picked up and laid down like a game of solitaire. It is a grand passion. It seizes a person whole and once it has done so, he will have to accept that his life will be radically changed.
–Ralph Waldo Emerson

I love spring anywhere, but if I could chose, I would always greet it in a garden.
–Ruth Stout

If a man does his best, what else is there?
–General George S. Patton  1885-1945

You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality.
–Ayn Rand  1905-1982

THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK

We can choose to throw stones,
to stumble on them,
to climb over them,
Or to build with them.
–William Arthur Ward

It is not a guestion of will I make a difference–but what diffence will I make.

SNOW SAFETY

I know we all have been reminded of most of these driving tips, but here they are again.
Please read them and tell a friend about them.

1. Keep extra food, (snacks, candybars) in your car.
2. Keep extra blankets and extra coats in your car.
3. Keep extra gloves, hats and scarves in your car.
4. Keep a snow shovel in your car.
5. Keep rock salt in a plastic milk container in your car.
6. Keep a flashlight with new batteries in your car.
7. Keep some kind of flare or orange cones in your car.

THESE ARE FROM BROADWAY FORD (IDAHO FALLS FORD DEALER)
1. Clear off ALL snow and ice from the windshield, back window, side mirrors and windows.
2. Clear off snow and ice from the windshield fluid sprayers, so you can clean your windshield if necessary.
3. Use washer fluid that has an antifreeze, then your windshield will stay clear.
4. Reduce your speed, because it takes longer to stop, and the faster you go the less control you have.
5. Leave enough room between you and others.
6. Be aware of black ice.
7. Steer your car into the skid.
8. Invest in good snow tires with plenty of tread.
8.

DID YOU KNOW?
1. Never use cruise control on slick or snowy roads.
2. Remember to clean headlights often when driving on slushy or salty roads.
3. More crashes happen in winter than any other time, so please SLOW DOWN.

Please comment if you have others.

CELL PHONE BATTERIES

Okay, I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know that much about batteries.

I know it is best to take the old battery in the store to buy a replacement because writing down the number that is etched in the battery may not be enough. Sometimes a 389 and a 390 may work the same.

I know that a small 1.5 volt and a 12 volt battery looks about the same.

I know that when I replaced the battery in a small clock a common watch battery worked fine.

I know that it is best to have spare batteries on hand so you can change batteries without delay.

But here is what I didn’t know.

1. It is best to charge a cell phone battery for only four hours rather than overnight. A good idea is to charge it when coming home from work and unplugging it when going to bed. (I know charging it overnight is more convenient, but it is not good for the life of the battery.)

2. Using a car charger to charge a cell phone is not good for the battery either. It uses a quick charge and charges a phone much faster than the home charger, but faster isn’t always better.

3. Only charge a battery when it is very low, try to charge it once a day for several hours rather than several times a day an hour at a time.  Always try to charge it completely.

4. A battery as it adds more charges, becomes less able to hold the charge and will need to be replaced.

5. A typical cell phone battery only has about 1000 charges, use them carefully.

6. Usually this information isn’t given out when buying a phone. So when the battery loses life and you go in to buy a replacement, usually buying a new phone is cheaper. But not only is a new phone purchased, but so is a new two year contract.

7. As a cell phone battery goes bad, it becomes fat not flat, that is one more way to tell if the life of the battery is decreasing.

Thanks to Batteries Plus + for the battery tips.

Batteries Plus + have great batteries, great prices and great advice.

If you have other tips and tricks to add please let me know.