Cummings and Goings in Agriculture
Deer Management Program Set For October 13
By Steve Cummings
Hunting season is right around the corner and for all of you hunters, especially deer hunters, there are a couple of programs next week that you will want to attend.
On October 13th at 6:30 pm, Dr. Steve Demarais, MSU Deer Specialist, will present a program on managing White-Tailed Deer. Then on October 15th, the Wildlife Plantings Field Day will be at the Jamie L. Whitten Plant Materials Center on Highway 330 west of Coffeeville. This field day will not only cover food plot plantings for deer, but for turkey, ducks, dove, and quail as well.
Both of these programs are free and open to the public, and a meal will be provided on October 15th. Please call our office at 675-2730 for further details.
Much has been said about the Swine Flu this year. On October 15th from noon until 1:00 pm, there will be a Quick Bites program at the Yalobusha County Multipurpose Building entitled “You and the Flu”. It will include discussions regarding how to take care of someone with the flu, H1N1, what to have at home to be prepared, etc. You will want to be present so you can be informed on what to do if you or anyone you know gets the Swine Flu! So, bring your lunch and join us for this Quick Bites to learn how to stay healthy.
Fall Landscaping Tips, Techniques, and Ideas:
• Take stock of the garden. Take a pad and pencil and stroll around the landscape and make notes of what worked, what didn’t. Note areas that need improvement, cleaning up, areas that may need hiding and areas that need a focal point for the fall. Make your wish list and THEN—
• Go shopping. Do your bit for the economic recovery by patronizing your local garden centers and nurseries. They are restocking for the fall with loads of new plants and bulbs.
• Apply a fresh layer of mulch—nothing makes the garden look neat and tended to better than new mulch!
• Seed the cool season annuals and wildflowers in the areas that will not be mulched. Don’t mulch those areas of the garden where you rely on reseeding to repopulate your beds.
• Dig up and divide the spring and summer flowering perennial plants now. Be sure and water the divided clumps well to aid in good root growth.
• Clean-up any dead or spent plants, in particular, summer annuals that look horrible—replace with colorful fall annuals, seed cool season flowers, or just cover the area with mulch. Don’t forget to leave some seedheads for the wildlife.
• Fall is the time to plant trees and shrubs. For deciduous plants the cool weather of fall encourages root growth, allowing these plants to develop a good root system before the growing season; thereby, increasing chances of survival.
• When planting tulip bulbs in a container, plant with the flat side facing the rim of the pot. This will position the larger outer leaves to drape nicely over the container with the bloom stalk toward the center of the pot.
• For color and movement in your garden during winter, don’t forget to provide food, shelter and water for the birds and other wildlife. Hulled sunflower seed attracts many types of birds.
• Sow colored leaf lettuces, radishes, mustards, kale, rape, and other fall greens in containers for a colorful, quick effect and you can eat them too!
• Sow fescue or ryegrass directly into containers for a quick, cheap effect. In particular, for those pots that contained summer annuals. These probably look pretty ratty by now and need to be yanked out and thrown on the compost pile. These grass seed can also be used to quickly fill in around those containers of mums, pansies and other fall annuals you have.
• Compost leaves, twigs, and other plant debris from the garden. This is the gardener’s gold. Don’t stress, just pile it up and watch it rot. You can speed the process by turning the pile and incorporating green material like grass clippings.
