Category: Outdoors

Creating a better environment for us and our animal friends

There is much gloom and doom spread in the news and on social media. Many people believe that our ecosystem is irreparable — climate change is bringing death and destruction to many of the animals that we share the Earth with. But some gardeners believe that although the climate is changing, they can still plant many species of plants that will sustain our birds, butterflies, bees, moths and all the little animals that we share our space with. I am one of those optimistic ones.

If you want to help save our ecosystem, here are some suggestions:

Start by reducing the size of your lawn. Yes, keep space for badminton and a grill, if you like. But think of the lawn as an area rug, not wall-to-wall carpeting. Most Americans inherited a large lawn when they bought their house. I’ve read that American lawns cover an area as large as New England. We can all do with less. Perhaps you can develop a five-year plan to reduce the lawn and add trees, shrubs and perennials.

This is not a quick fix, nor an inexpensive one. But you need not plant large trees. In fact, small trees are less shocked at transplant time, and take off and grow like crazy while bigger trees often stall and sulk.

Choose your trees wisely: Plant trees and shrubs that are native to New England, not Japan or China. Why? Native trees co-evolved with our pollinators. Bees, butterflies and moths look for plants that they instinctively recognize. Plants that will benefit them. We all know that monarchs rely on milkweed, but most pollinators have similar habits — they eat what their ancestors ate.

According to Ph.D. entomologist Doug Tallamy, author of Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard, oaks are the best trees to plant to support pollinators and birds. They are followed by other keystone trees: willows, birches, poplar and elm. Most maples, ash and beech are good, too.

You may wonder why native trees are so important. Dr. Tallamy explains in his book that all baby birds are fed caterpillars — even young hummingbirds. Using a game camera, he determined that a nest of chickadees needs between 6,000 and 9,000 caterpillars between hatching and fledging. Amazing! We don’t often see those caterpillars or the feeding they do on our trees, but they are there if we have native plants.

Birds need food, water, safe places for nesting and places to stay out of the wind in winter. A well thought-out garden can address all those needs. Yes, it is nice to offer seeds in feeders in winter, but birds need insects or seeds to eat all year. Native trees and shrubs can help significantly, particularly if all your neighbors plant well, too.

Plant trees in clumps — three, five or seven in a small grove. This way their roots will mingle, and if a storm with ferocious rain and high winds comes along they will be much less likely to get blown over.

Instead of surrounding your new trees with lawn, think about planting native perennials, wildflowers or ground covers under them. When a caterpillar is ready to pupate and transform itself into a moth or butterfly, it will drop off the tree it has been feeding on. On a lawn compacted by heavy riding mowers, it will probably not survive. They need leaves to hide under, or soft earth they can burrow into. Autumn leaves make a great mulch, either chopped or whole.

As part of your planting efforts, remove all invasives. All New England states have laws naming the invasives to that state. These include, but are not limited to, burning bush, barberry, Norway maple, oriental bittersweet, autumn olive, buckthorn, privet, honeysuckle and multiflora rose. Go online and educate yourself as to what these plants look like. Some can be dug out, but older specimens can be difficult to remove.

Apparently 82 percent of Americans live in cities or large towns. But city dwellers can make a difference, too. In Tallamy’s book he writes about a woman in Chicago with just a tenth of an acre of yard — right next to O’Hare airport. Over time she planted 60 species of native plants in her yard — and over time she identified 103 species of birds that visited her yard. Having water available, especially if it bubbles, is good. It also attracts migrating birds. Native plants provide food for migrating birds, too — insects and seeds that they need for their long flight.

Instead of just lawn, build rooms using native trees and shrubs where you and your family can relax — and observe nature. No, you will not see cougars in your garden, but seeing monarchs and bluebirds can give great joy. Build natural areas using 90 percent natives and start learning the names of the creatures that come.

Teach your grandchildren to watch nature with you, start them young to love the outdoors — and gardening. My grandfather started me gardening when I was just a little tyke, and now, some 75 years later, I get great joy from my garden every day of the year.

Henry lives and gardens in Cornish, N.H. Send questions to him at PO Box 364, Cornish Flat, NH 03746 or by e-mail at [email protected].

Carnival rides, a skillet toss and music

By Zachary Lewis
[email protected]

The Hillsboro Summer Festival has been trucking along for over 35 years and is exactly what you want from a summer festival filled with events and activities you might never have imagined.

Admission is free but parking is $10 per carload. The event is hosted with the Lions Club and the Fire Association in Hillsboro and has raised tens of thousands of dollars for various nonprofits.

The festival starts on the evening of Thursday, July 11, at 6 p.m.

“It’s just smack-dab in the middle of the summer; it’s something unique in New Hampshire … we’re incredibly affordable,” said Katherine Charrette, the Creative Director and Co-Chair of the Hillsboro Summer Festival.

For Thursday, “it’s more like a local intro,” Charrette said. That’s the first of three wristband days, which means for only $25 participants can purchase a wristband that allows for unlimited rides like the classic Zipper, Merry-Go-Round, Tilt-a-Whirl and more.

If you are unfamiliar with the Zipper, “it looks like a zipper. Imagine all of the pieces turn into a little roller coaster that spins … that’s the ride kids will go on eight times in a row,” Charette said.

A special Thursday-only bonus is extended to active military families, who will receive half-price admission with ID at the administration table.

The beer tent opens at 6 p.m. Thursday. Beers on tap include Bud, Bud Light, Founders IPA, Arnold Palmer’s Tea/Lemonade, Bud Light Seltzer and Downeast Craft Cider, according to the website, and all drinks will be $5 each.

Besides carnival rides and beer, there will be trivia from 7 to 10 p.m. on the main stage.

On Friday, July 12, the festival starts at 5 p.m. and goes until 11 p.m.; Friday is another wristband day. At 6 p.m., Hillsboro Police will have their K-9 Unit show, which involves an agility course, and at 6:30 p.m. there will be an obstacle course at Entertainment Field where the Hillsboro Police Department, firefighters and EMS will be competing. Also 6:30 p.m. brings the start of the Angus Lea Golf Course 5K Road Race (pre-registration is $20 and day-of registration is $25). Music will blast from Nick’s Other Band as attendees marinate in the fun from 7 to 10:30 p.m.

Then on Saturday, July 13, the festival opens at noon but attendees will need to wait until 4 p.m. for the beer tent to open. Wristbands for unlimited rides are not available Saturday, but there will be plenty of entertainment. The famed Women’s Skillet Toss will take place from 5 to 6:30 p.m, which is exactly as it sounds.

“It’s women only, a real old-time tradition but we do it for women’s heart health and we raise quite a bit of money for that,” Charrette said. “You take a skillet and you have to heave it underhand, you can try overhand if you want to, and you have to throw it as far as you can.”

Music on Saturday night will be performed by Lonesome Train and at 10 p.m. a huge fireworks display will paint the night sky after a performance of the national anthem by Faith Daley. “People come from all over for that … we put a lot of effort into it,” Charrette said.

For the last day, the Festival opens on Sunday, July 14, at noon and will feature a parade that starts at the school and ends at Grimes Field. The theme this year for the parade is Mythical Creatures.

“People go all out for the floats. It really has grown into quite a competitive parade. Very eclectic, colorful, Sunday is a really fun day,” Charrette said. On Sunday participants can acquire an unlimited ride wristband and the beer tent opens at 1 p.m. Also at 1 p.m. is the kids’ cupcake eating contest for little ones under the age of 10; it’s parsed into different age groups, “as young as 1 year old all the way to 10 years old, and they take it very seriously,” Charrette said. “It’s probably 60 kids just looking and waiting to eat more cupcakes than the other ones. You can’t see that anywhere else. It’s very entertaining.”

This event will be followed by a pie eating contest for the grown-ups at 1:30 p.m. The Festival closes at 5 p.m.

“It is a lot of fun packed into a full weekend,” Charrette said. “The atmosphere is just a really fun time, it’s a good-sized crowd but not overcrowded and … it’s just a lot to do that’s eclectic and affordable for families.”

Hillsboro Summer Festival
Where: 29 Preston St., Hillsboro
When: Thursday, July 11, from 6 to 10 p.m.; Friday, July 12, from 5 to 11 p.m.;
Saturday, July 13, from noon to 11 p.m., with fireworks at 10 p.m.; Sunday, July 14, from noon to 5 p.m.
Admission: free
Parking: $10 per carload
Wristbands: $25 for unlimited rides on Thursday, Friday and Sunday
More: hillsborosummerfest.com, 464-0377
No smoking. No outside alcohol. No animals allowed except for working service dogs. Free fountain water provided by The Hillsborough Solid Waste Advisory Board.

For roses, a weekly soak beats a daily sprinkle

June is, traditionally, the month for weddings. It is also the time when old-fashioned roses bloom, along with peonies, iris and many other great garden flowers. Is that coincidence? Perhaps. But maybe the two are linked. Let’s look at some great June flowers you can grow, and how to succeed with them.

My mom was an organic gardener who loved her roses. And although she is no longer with us to deny it, I think she may have cheated when it came to her roses. Back in the 1950s and ’60s roses were much fussier than they are now. They suffered from all kinds of fungal diseases and were eaten by ferocious Japanese beetles that made mincemeat of leaves and blooms. I think she used chemicals to kill the beetles and subdue the fungi.

Now we no longer have to resort to chemicals to have nice roses. Breeders have worked hard to develop roses that stay healthy and avoid predation from hungry beetles. The beetles were easy: they bred roses without scent to attract them. I don’t know how they developed roses resistant to diseases, but they have. I never see rose diseases, and I never spray.

My favorite roses are part of the “Knockout” series of roses, though I know others who really like the “Easy Elegance” series. They do not grow blossoms on long stems, but have multiple blossoms per stem. My “Knockouts” start blooming in June and bloom all summer and up until hard frost, or even later.

Roses love full sun but will grow in part shade. But the more sun they get, the better they do. Six hours of sunshine is considered full sun by most authorities. Afternoon sun is more potent than morning sun, so the west side of the house is better than the east.

Roses need good, rich soil. If you have sandy soil or a heavy clay, you will need to improve it in order to succeed. What does that mean? Mix in lots of compost when you plant, and add some organic fertilizer. Dig a hole that is at least three times as wide as the pot it was in when you purchased it. Mix the soil for the hole 50-50 with good compost, either your own or a good bagged compost. I like Moo Doo or Coast of Maine brands.

Roses need more water than most other things, but do not want to sit in soggy soil. They should get an inch of water per week from rain, or a good dousing from your watering can applied slowly so it can soak in. A deep watering once a week is better than a little sprinkle every day.

Soil pH is important, too. The pH is a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of your soil. You can buy an inexpensive kit to test it, or send a sample out to be tested for pH and soil quality at your state Extension Service. Roses do best in slightly acidic soil, in the range of 6.0 to 6.8. If your soil has a lower number, you should add limestone and mix it in. But don’t add too much. A test should tell you how much to add.

Many roses are grafted onto rootstock. The bud union — a scar — should be buried in the soil. The scar is obvious on bare-root roses but is probably buried if you buy a rose in a pot. The colder the climate, the deeper that graft line or bud union should be. For Zone 4, it should be about 4 inches below the final soil line. Zone 5? 3 inches. Zone 6? 2 inches.

Want more blossoms? Roses do better if they get some fertilizer a few times during the course of the summer. An organic, slow-release bagged fertilizer called Rose Tone is designed just for roses, but I use Pro-Gro, my go-to organic fertilizer, and sometimes use liquid fish and seaweed fertilizers made by Neptune’s Harvest. I add half a cup of Pro-Gro to the hole when I plant.

Other June flowers suitable for a wedding are peonies and iris. Peonies live forever if planted right — deep rich soil amended with plenty of organic matter. I have one from my grandmother, and she died in 1953. If you planted one that never blooms, you have probably planted it too deep. The “nibs” or growing points under the soil surface for next year’s growth should be no deeper than three quarters of an inch. You can feel them by poking around in the soil with your fingers. Pull away some soil if they are too deep, and it should bloom next year.

Siberian iris only bloom for a few days but are magnificent. They come in a variety of blues and purples. Old patches tend to develop a dead spot in the middle because the plants have used up all the soil nutrients. Divide in the fall and re-plant, or add some organic fertilizer now.

There are too many gorgeous flowers to mention them all. But if you are planning a wedding, be advised that flowers do not bloom on an absolute calendar. Your favorite peony may bloom on June 15 this year — and June 21 or June 3 next year. Your best bet is to have a good florist as a backup.