July 15-31, 2010
(July 15, 2010) July 15: It is a new tradition among garden bloggers to photograph the garden in bloom on the 15th of every month and post the photographs online. In honor of Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day, try this trick: Stand on a ladder and look down on the garden to take your photograph.
You will soon regret that you didn’t plant more lilies last fall. Also: dahlias.
July 16:The Catcher in the Rye was published on this date in 1951. If you haven’t read it, now’s the time. If you read it but didn’t experience it, now’s the time for that, too.
Speaking of 1951, Esquire’s Handbook for Hosts offers the following menu advice for bachelor hosts: “Snipe are served whole as these tiny birds make but a single helping.”
Believe it or not, July is the month to plant Brussels sprouts. Give them lots of compost and speak to them sternly regarding your expectations for Thanksgiving. And if you’ve never soaked a pickled Brussels sprout in a Martini — well.
July 19: Make no sudden moves.
Some people believe that root crops should be planted only during the dark phase of the moon. It is not necessary to plant them in the dark, only when the moon is dark.
July 20: You absolutely must whack back your flowering plants. Be stern about it; they respond to a firm hand. Fill the house with vases of flowers in bloom or half-bloom, and toss the spent flowers and assorted other overgrowth on the compost pile. Do it now and you’ll see them bounce back and bloom again in fall. A good long drink of water after you cut them back will help; a dose of kelp meal and fish emulsion is even better.
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Today
Lanphere Dunes Restoration
STAFF PICK / outdoors / 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Meet at Pacific Union School. Help remove non-native invasives at the Lanphere Dunes Unit of the Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Tools and gloves provided, wear work clothes and bring water. Carpool to the protected site. 444-1397.
44th Annual Kinetic Grand Championship Race
STAFF PICK / events, art, outdoors, sports, for kids, free / 9 a.m.-6 p.m. A 3-day, 42-mile kinetic sculpture race over land, sand, mud and water! LeMans start at the Noon Whistle on the Arcata Plaza. Follow the race through Manila, Eureka and into Ferndale on Memorial Day for the Glorious Finish. kineticgrandchampionship.com. 889-3024.
Pancake Breakfast
food / 7:30-11:30 a.m. Humboldt Grange #501, 5845 Humboldt Hill Road. Monthly breakfast.
Open Gardens
outdoors / 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Humboldt Botanical Gardens, College of the Redwoods, Eureka. Roam the 44-acre fully fenced property. $5. www.hbgf.org. 442-5139.
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ONE Comments
Comment / By Harry Freiberg / July 27, 1:11 p.m.
Re: Barbara Kingsolver’s “Prodigal Summer”
A beautiful story beautifully told and beautifully written. One of her best, IMHO. Highly recommended.
hapinoregon