County Extension offers free gardening advice, equipment

Hillsborough County gardeners are flocking to the Hillsborough County Extension Office's triple workshops on Compost Happens, Waterwise Gardening and Rainbarrels. And no wonder. The three classes are each an hour long and free to county residents. Others can come but the cost is $26 for each class.

That is still a bargain because each person will go home with a free compost bin and thermometer, a micro irrigation kit, and a rain barrel equipped with a faucet, not to mention a whole new perspective on planet-friendly gardening that will lead them to less work and worry and more success in their growing. It will also make them a part of the solution to conservation of our limited resources instead of being part of the problem.

The classes tend to fill quickly. The next series will be Feb. 13 and will be repeated once a month through November. You can call (813) 744-5519 Ext. 146 or email watsonb@ hillsboroughcounty.org after Sunday to register.

I have been composting for more than half a century, but I still learn something new from Barbara Watson, the Compost Happens program coordinator. She agrees that you can't make compost wrong, just faster or slower and either way is good.

"I tell people, don't make it harder than it has to be. Make it fit your lifestyle or you won't do it," she says. Hot and fast will kill more weed seeds, disease spores, and insect eggs, but it requires precision layering and frequent turning.

"If you choose the slower way, as I do, it is important to put in no weeds that have gone to seed or vines that will grow anywhere or any diseased plants," she says. Either way, the process will go faster with smaller particles and with layers of green stuff and dry stuff.

And while you can buy a fancy bin, the ones that turn sometimes turn hard, and you can make your own easily from wood and/or compost blocks, but don't use pressure treated wood.

You don't even have to make your compost in a pile. You can spread the material right under a bush or around a tree and make it on the spot. If it looks too straggly for you, cover it with leaves or grass clippings and let nature work with you for a better garden and a better planet.

Today's Pick

Nasturtiums are one of my favorite flowers/herbs. You can plant them now from seeds and they will start blooming in January or February and continue until late May. Then they will self seed and come up every fall. All parts are edible and they also have antibacterial and antiviral properties.

Now's the time to...

Visit the Discovery Garden at the Extension Office on County Road 579 in Seffner. There are some gardens in back that you can see anytime, but the newest one within the courtyard is only open during working hours. This is a nice place to take visitors from the North. So is Eureka Springs Garden.