Information Central

Jane Goodall Still Helps Chimpanzees

Stephanie Suesan Smith — Sun, 13 May 2012 12:50:36 +0000

Growing up, I eagerly followed Jane Goodall in the National Geographic stories about chimpanzees. I even asked for, and received, the very expensive book she wrote about her observations of her chimpanzees, The Chimpanzees of Gombe. She had a remarkable career but has paid for it in health difficulties that keep her out of the [...]

Texas Two Step and Fire Ants

Stephanie Suesan Smith — Wed, 09 May 2012 11:12:05 +0000

What, you may be asking yourself, does the Texas two step have with fire ants? It actually is a two step method of killing the nasty little creatures. For those of you who don’t know what a fire ant is, consider yourself lucky. It is a little red and black ant that is originally from [...]

Monarch Butterfly on Aster

Stephanie Suesan Smith — Mon, 07 May 2012 16:06:18 +0000

I am seeing more monarch butterflies this year than I saw all summer last year. The only one I saw last year was this one trying to weather a wind storm on an aster. Monarch Butterfly on Aster is a post from: Information Central: Vegetable Gardening Questions Answered. Copyright 2010-2012 Stephanie Suesan Smith, Ph.

Comments Problem

Stephanie Suesan Smith — Sun, 06 May 2012 12:55:50 +0000

For some reason, the comments have been turned off on my garden blog. I have tried reloading the theme, disabling the plugins, reloading wordpress, and nothing helped. I have this error message: Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /home/lambda1/public_html/wp-content/themes/thesis_184/lib/classes/options_design.php on line 1433 Can anyone tell me how to fix this? If so, please email [...]

Squash Blossom

Stephanie Suesan Smith — Sat, 05 May 2012 11:58:22 +0000

Did you know squash blossoms are edible? In fact, Southerners take them and batter them, then fry them and eat them like fried okra. Since only the female squash blossoms bear fruit, you can eat the male blossoms without taking away from the productivity of your vines, provided you let the bees and other bugs [...]

How to Move From Blogger to WordPress Without Losing Your Posts

Stephanie Suesan Smith — Fri, 04 May 2012 12:42:57 +0000

This is a reprint of an article I wrote last year at the height of the Bl0gger Outage. I thought it might help some people again this year who decide to make the jump to WordPress. I know the Blogger outage has made some people decide to move to WordPress. First, WordPress.com is a free [...]

Flowering Quince

Stephanie Suesan Smith — Thu, 03 May 2012 11:48:49 +0000

Flowering quince, also called Japonica, is one of the earliest plants to bloom in the garden. The bright flowers may be red, white, pink, or salmon and appear on the branches before the leaves for a bit of color in a still dreary landscape. In late summer, oblong to round yellowish fruit appear on the [...]

3 Money Saving Recipes from Your Garden

Stephanie Suesan Smith — Wed, 02 May 2012 12:14:17 +0000

One of the best things about growing vegetables is getting to eat them fresh from the garden. Since I am recipe challenged, I asked Michelle Rocha to contribute a guest post on the subject: Summer is just around the corner, so everyone is preparing his or her garden. You need to prepare for the future as [...]

Rose Rosette Disease

Stephanie Suesan Smith — Tue, 01 May 2012 15:53:58 +0000

Rose Rosette Disease is thought to be caused by a virus that came over to the United States in the 1800s with Asian wild roses. Many of these roses were planted by settlers all over the United States and have become naturalized. Rose Rosette Disease is now infecting cultivated roses throughout the United States, but [...]

2012 Blogathon Kick Off Day

Stephanie Suesan Smith — Tue, 01 May 2012 12:44:52 +0000

I will be participating in the 2012 Wordcount Blogathon during the month of May. That means that there will be a post every day for May, some of which may have more to do with blogging than my usual garden posts. I appreciate your patience as we go through this month and look forward to [...]

Growing Italian Oregano

Stephanie Suesan Smith — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 12:15:07 +0000

Oregano is an important spice in Italian cooking. It can be used fresh or dried for year round use. A hardy perennial, it has purple flowers the second season it is planted. Here is a snapshot of the information you need to grow Italian Oregano, which is a little sweeter and milder than Greek Oregano [...]

Growing Garlic Chives

Stephanie Suesan Smith — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 14:07:30 +0000

Garlic chives are used like regular chives but have more of a garlic flavor instead of an onion flavor. They are good in omelets and other egg dishes. They also work in salads, as fresh vegetables, or any savory dish. The flowers are edible, too, although they can have a pretty strong flavor. Garlic chives [...]

Pretty perfumed oleanders are perfect for your patio

Stephanie Suesan Smith — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 12:06:42 +0000

If you’re looking for a pretty perfumed shrub to fill a gap in a sunny spot in your garden, then look no further than oleander plants. These attractive evergreen plants provide plenty of interest to your garden all year round. Oleander bushes are great for filling gaps because you can enjoy their long, narrow leaves [...]

Spring Plant Sale at Ft. Worth Botanical Gardens

Stephanie Suesan Smith — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 14:20:23 +0000

Did you lose a bunch of plants to the drought? Want to install hardy, drought tolerant plants in their place? The Fort Worth Botanical Gardens is having their annual spring plant sale on April 21st from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Come early, as the best plants are sold out quickly. Not sure what plants [...]

Termites

Stephanie Suesan Smith — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 12:11:49 +0000

What You Should Know About Termites $5 billion—that’s how much termites are estimated to cause in property damage each year in the United States. Is your home or business a victim of this wood-destroying insect? Get the facts on termites, and protect yourself from these demolishing pests. Did you know there are three major [...]

Rascal Flatts Fly Away Contest

Stephanie Suesan Smith — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 10:44:12 +0000

Rascal Flatts is one of my favorite country acts. They are having a contest right now giving away two seats to one of their concerts. Here is the information: About the Flyaway Contest One lucky winner and their guest will be treated to two tickets and meet-and-greet passes to see Rascal Flatts on their summer [...]

March Garden Update

Stephanie Suesan Smith — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 15:33:39 +0000

My garden is all planted. Some of the things I planted in late February (I got started three weeks late) are growing quite a bit. Others are just beginning, such as the watermelon and canteloupe. I planted all heirloom varieties in my garden this year. I planted: Rainbow Radishes Easter Egg II Gourmet Beets Golden [...]

Dallas Water Wise Landscaping Contest

Stephanie Suesan Smith — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 11:24:44 +0000

If you live in the Dallas area, you can win some fantastic prizes for low water landscaping. Call for Entries for 18th Annual Water-Wise Landscape Tour Entry Deadline: April 13, 2012 The annual Water-Wise Landscape Tour, to be held Saturday, June 2, 2012, is open to all landscapes within Dallas city limits and the city [...]

Growing Vegetables in North Central Texas

Stephanie Suesan Smith — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 14:36:19 +0000

Want to grow vegetables but not sure what type to plant or how to grow them? Vegetable Gardening in North Central Texas, my new book, tells you exactly how to plant and grow the most common vegetables. Further, it tells you which cultivar(s) of each vegetable grows best in North Central Texas. Even if you [...]

Cherry Blossoms at the Dallas Arboretum

Stephanie Suesan Smith — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 14:17:56 +0000

The Dallas Arboretum reports that their cherry blossom trees are in full bloom for this weekend. One hundred years ago, Japan gave the United States the cherry trees that line the capital streets. The Dallas Arboretum has cherry trees that are in bloom and is celebrating this anniversary by featuring them this weekend. If cherry [...]

Growing Tomatoes

Stephanie Suesan Smith — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 13:27:34 +0000

Tomatoes are the most popular vegetable to grow in the United States. They are not difficult to grow from transplants, and can even be grown from seed with a little extra effort. Buying transplants from your local nursery, or just about anywhere garden products are sold, is easy and gives you well started plants to [...]

Teaching entomology to children

Stephanie Suesan Smith — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 13:25:21 +0000

I recently had the opportunity to give a talk to a group of children on entomology. The talk was on good bugs and bad bugs and was aimed at teaching the kids that 1)most bugs are beneficial, 2)they won’t harm the children if the children don’t harm them, and 3)don’t squash the bugs — they [...]

Paypal Censors Authors — Make Them Stop Doing So

Stephanie Suesan Smith — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 14:12:49 +0000

Today I received an email from Smashwords, who distributes one of my books, Preparing a Vegetable Garden from the Ground Up. Paypal, who is the vendor who processes credit card payments for Smashwords, has given them an ultimatum: remove all books containing any scenes of rape, bestiality, or incest from their shelves or lose their [...]

Books and Bugs

Stephanie Suesan Smith — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 14:09:49 +0000

Connecting children with nature is important. So is teaching them to love reading. Do both by taking your child to the “Books and Bugs” event at Texas Discovery Gardens on March 8th. Children will listen to the book “Waiting for Wings” by Lois Ehlert, play games, do crafts, and meet butterflies up close. The event [...]

Making a Raised Bed Garden

Stephanie Suesan Smith — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 15:48:56 +0000

Raised beds are nice because you put the soil in them you want and they drain well. They are an alternative to the labor consuming process of digging out or poisoning out the grass to establish a new garden. Raised beds do not have to be hard to do. Three 1X12X8 boards will make a [...]