Lifestyle

Readers often ask me when vegetables are ready for harvest. Some veggies have a long harvest window, but others may be tasty one day and bitter the next. Of course, if a freeze is expected, many of our vegetables end up being harvested early. I’ve ripened many a green tomato on the windowsill.

Mary, a reader from Gardnerville said, “I have a terrible time with earwigs, my most dreaded pest; and the sight of them makes me cringe.” Yes, earwigs do look alarming with pincers at their hind end. They even bother seasoned gardeners who normally have an attitude of “live-and-let-live.”

Last week I wrote about root weevils eating leaves. This week’s pests are the elm leaf beetles. While elms are hardy drought tolerant trees for arid Nevada, they are plagued by elm leaf beetles every year. By this time of year, the trees look half-dead with white to brown ragged leaves.

Ask Steve Sanchez what inspired him to undertake the arduous road to receiving his tier two sommelier certification, and he immediately says, “because I’m a masochist.”

Carson City Cooperative Extension is hosting a Desert Tortoise Adoption and Care workshop, Saturday, August 29, from 10-noon at their office: 2621 Northgate Lane, Room 12. Many pet tortoises are looking for homes. For more information visit tortoisegroup.org and get started today by completing an adoption form. Call Janina at 702-372-3967 for more information.

“Something is eating the leaves on my lilacs,” cried the caller. She wondered why the leaves looked like someone had nipped the edges with pinking shears or craft scissors. I knew immediately when she described the angular cuts on the leaves that her plants were being eaten by root weevils.


The public will have a chance to learn about sustainable landscaping in Lake Tahoe at the 8th Annual Conservation Landscape Tour on August 19. The tour will begin at the Lake Tahoe Community College Demonstration Garden and continue down Pioneer Trail towards Meyers Station.

There are many definitions of the word “pest,” and personal perceptions of pests can often be very different. A pest might be annoying (ants), damaging to plants (rabbits), a health concern (ticks) or a cause for fear (black widow spiders). However, relatively few pests cause significant injury to plants, so pesticides are rarely needed.

I’m often asked, “Are there lawn grasses that are more drought-tolerant than fescue or Kentucky bluegrass?” The answer is yes, according to one reader.

Tina of Carson City wrote me this past week:

A reader recently asked me if a solution of vinegar, Epsom salts and a small amount of liquid dish soap, mixed and sprayed on weeds was as effective as using glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup and similar products) and safer. The reader went on to ask, “If this solution is as effective as Roundup and much cheaper, is there anything in the mixture that would/could be dangerous to humans?”

Their first lives might have ended in a mining camp or city dump or with an unceremonious drop into the depths of an outhouse, but a century or more later, they tell a history of their own.

Kimi Cole of Gardnerville described her typical day. “I get up in the morning, shower, eat breakfast and go to work,” she said. “I do my laundry, clean my house, go to the grocery store. That’s what being transgender means to me.”

Just when we thought the pest season might be slowing down a bit, along come the yellowjackets. They aren’t the normal-sized wasps we usually see; they are Jurassic Park candidates this year. These aggressive nest defenders aren’t frightened one bit by humans.

Recently, I saw a woman in a bucket on a crane attached to a truck spraying her elm trees. She wore no protective gear while spraying. A man, also without protective gear, stood just below her. Since he was looking up as she sprayed insecticide over his head, drift rained down onto his face and into his eyes.

Assistant Librarian Aubrey White sorts through several thousand Magic The Gathering cards at the Carson City Library in Carson City, Nev. DK's Sierra Mountain Comics donated the trading card game to the library teen group called The Game Corner.

Lake Tahoe Resort Hotel has a way for parents to get their kids to look up from their screens and take in the real world at Lake Tahoe. The all-suite hotel has long been a family favorite in South Lake Tahoe and this summer’s offer is sure to please the parents. Kids, 17 and under, who turn in their digital device for a minimum of six hours a day will receive a crisp $5 bill. This offer is valid for guests who book their stay through the hotel’s website.

Without irrigation, Nevada gardeners could not have gardens or landscapes. These life-giving watering systems need regular maintenance to operate efficiently so that plants can thrive. A well-maintained system is water efficient, which is critical this year with the drought.

A panel discussion about transgender awareness, featuring experts who will present the facts and answer questions, will be held Thursday, July 16 at the Brewery Arts Center in Carson City.

Presenters include transgender persons and healthcare professionals with specialized experience treating and supporting them. A question and answer session will follow the discussion. The event is free and the public is invited to attend.

A friend introduced me to a new way of growing herbs, in a canning jar. She said she had grown basil successfully in a jar. She took a quart jar and put pea gravel in it with potting mix on top. Then, she added water to where the gravel met the potting mix and planted seeds.

She placed the jar in a south window and within two weeks had basil coming up. She claimed the evaporative power of the water up through the soil kept the soil moist enough for germination and growth of the seed.

DAYTON — The Ghost Soldiers Motorcycle Club invites people to enter its 2nd Annual Motorcycle Show & Shine scheduled in conjunction with the Dayton Valley Days festival Sept. 19 and 20, 2015 in the heart of historic Old Town Dayton.

An event at the Carson City Airport had my blood running faster than usual Sunday! An old Ford Tri-Motor plane came by to visit. This plane has an interesting history with a personal touch for my family. My son-in-law Glenn Ware, grew up in Kansas where this plane was first based, and he took a ride in it when he was 15 years old. He has pictures of it in his scrapbook.

I visited a friend this past week who is an outstanding plant person. Peg’s landscape is filled with plant species or varieties that I have not used before. They are perennials with interesting foliage, flowers, form and often scent. They are also water-efficient and hardy for our area. I wandered around her little horticulture heaven being inspired to broaden my plant choices.

Competitors from all around the country compete in western wear with single action revolvers for the title “The Fastest Gun Alive.”at the Churchill County Fairgrounds: 325 Sheckler Road Fallon, NV.

There will be Civil War Re-enactments, Cowboy Mounted Shooting, Nevada Gunslingers gun fight re-enactment, and over 40 food, clothing and craft vendors with live music on Saturday and Sunday.

Friday and Saturday 9 a.m. – 3 p.m., Sunday 11:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Admission is $5, $4 for seniors and military, $3 kids ages 13-17. Under 13 are admitted free.

The Lake Tahoe Concours d’Elegance is America’s most prestigious and spectacular wooden boat show. Experience the woodies prestigious history in Tahoe and be amazed by the elegantly crafted wooden power boards designed by Gar Wood, Hacker Craft, Riva, Chris Craft, and other classic brands. The 43rd annual Concours d’Elegance takes place at Obexer’s Boat Company August 7-8, beginning Friday at 10 a.m. and Saturday at 9 a.m.

Are you a Nevada expert? Put your Silver State savviness to the test in TravelNevada’s “Test Your Nevada Clout” online promotion, and you could get a Garmin Geko 201 and other goodies in a Nevada swag bag.

Here are some photos of the Comstock Arabian Association’s Spring Fiesta Arabian Horse Show held Friday through Sunday at Fuji Park in Carson City.
Go here for more information about this weekend and other shows.

The “Gardening Smarter as We Age” classes finished this past week. I learned a lot about how to use my body more efficiently to reduce the pain I feel after doing my landscape chores. Think of all the things we gardeners do with our bodies: bend, dig, haul, kneel, mix, plant, prune, pull, rake, lift, twist and rake, just to name a few. And, we think gardening is a leisure activity!

Low maintenance, drought tolerant lavender provides Nevada's small farms with many options for producing value-added products and year-round sales.

Western Nevada College Specialty Crop Institute offers a daylong workshop “Lavender, Producing Value-added Commercial Products” on Friday, June 19, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m., at the Jeanne Dini Center, 120 N. California St., in Yerington. Cost is $30 for those registering by June 12, $40 afterward. Lunch is included, and seating is limited. Online registration is available at www.wnc.edu/ce/sci/.

Nevada Cooperative Extension's JoAnne Skelly is retiring as of June 1 as Associate Professor, Extension Educator for Carson City and Storey County with University of Nevada Cooperative Extension. The staff wishes her the very best. She has been with Cooperative Extension for 23 years. JoAnne tells us she will continue to write her weekly columns.
Congratulations, JoAnne!

Ants seem extremely prolific this season. They are everywhere — tiny ones coming up through the seams of the patio, big red ants swarming under the trees and in flowerbeds and even huge black carpenter ants looking for wood to eat.