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Greetings!
Now that Daylight Savings Time has expired for another year, I guess it's time for the holiday season! At Papershell, we're celebrating the local, the homegrown and the handmade. All our artists have been working to bring new material to the gallery and I'm sure you'll be able to find a thoughtful, unique gift for the special people in your lives. Yes, of course we have gift cards, and we'll be happy to put one in the mail for you if you give us a call, but we also have one-of-a-kind works of art and works of nature that make memorable gifts. Stop by sometime and see!
We're also busy finalizing next year's calendar of events and classes. Got a suggestion for a class? Know an instructor? We'd love to hear from you. Email us or give us a call. We're always interested in new class ideas.
 | | What the screen looks like |
Finally, there's some wild talk going around about how Facebook is hiding the posts of business pages from the fans who've signed up to see them, or "liked" the page. Apparently if you add these business pages to an Interests List, you'll still see the posts. So if you aren't seeing the Papershell pictures you're used to seeing, try adding us to an Interests list. You may have to make up a new one, perhaps Gardening or Local Favorites or something like that. Head over to our page to do this (see the picture for a snapshot of what your screen will look like. And if you're not a Facebook friend of ours, why not? In the winter we post detailed information about the weather, including frosts and freezes, what we're covering, what we're bringing in, etc. It's worth it just for the weather hints!
Thanks for signing up for our email newsletter! Come see us soon! |
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Onion Sets
We should have onion sets this week, just in time for fall planting. Onion sets are dormant plants, dug up from their home fields, and then replanted in your garden. They are economical and easy to grow and more reliable than starting from seed.
 | | White Bermuda |
Because we're so far south, the best onions for our area are "short-day" onions. We'll have these four varieties available:
- Texas Supersweet - This is the 1015 yellow onion, big, sweet and globe-shaped. 115 days to harvest, and when properly stored, will last for 2-3 months once harvested.
- Hybrid Southern Belle Red - beautiful 4" globe-shaped red sweet onion, the best short-day red onion around. 110 days to harvest, keeps 2 months.
- White Bermuda - a white, flat, sharply sweet onion that can also be picked young for green onions. This is an heirloom variety brought from the Canary Islands and takes 95 days to harvest. Keeps 2 months in storage.
- Yellow Granex - this is a big, yellow cooking onion, a cross between a 1015Y and White Bermuda. This is a very sweet onion which takes 100 days to harvest and will keep for one month.
Onions grow best in a sunny, well-drained location. Some gardeners work in a pre-emergent herbicide like corn gluten meal to reduce competition from weeds. For best growth, plant with a fertilizer and plant shallowly - only 1" deep. If you are growing the onions to full size, plant the sets 4" apart. You can plant closer if you're going to harvest them as spring onions.
 | | Southern Belle |
Water thoroughly at planting and regularly thereafter. Onions spend the first part of the season putting their energy into growing the green tops. After March, the onions begin to form bulbs. The limiting factor in onion size is how big the tops have gotten - so don't let them dry out and don't let them go hungry. Fertilize with a fairly high nitrogen fertilizer from now until March. Keep weeds to a minimum: onions don't like competition. Harvest when the tops of the onions turn brown or yellow and fall over. We'll have more information on harvesting them later in the season!
PS: Look for leek sets in January...
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Garden FlimFlam
I admit it - I spend more time than I should on Pinterest. Probably Facebook too! And while there are lots of great gardening pictures in the social media world, sometimes the gardening advice leaves a lot to be desired.
 | | NaCl |
It drives me nuts when people recommend "home remedies" as an alternative to "chemicals" without really understanding what they're saying. For example, you sometimes see people advising gardeners to use salt as a weed-killer. Well, yes, that would work. Salt is very toxic to plants of all sorts. In fact, "salting the earth" is an ancient punishment visited on the defeated by conquering warriors. Weeds won't grow there, but neither will crops. Salt, whose chemical name is NaCl, is hardly the environmentally friendly solution to weeds.
 | | Save it for the salad! |
I also see vinegar recommended as a weed-killer. The vinegar in the grocery store, usually white vinegar, is a form of acetic acid. Household vinegar is a 5% solution in water. This vinegar will sometimes burn some plants down a little bit, but is never strong enough to completely kill any but the youngest plants. It has no effect at all on the roots.
To kill the entire plant top and perhaps some of the roots, you need to use what is sometimes called "horticultural vinegar," which is a 20% solution. This is a much stronger acid and is caustic enough to cause serious skin burns and blindness if it gets in the eyes. I don't carry 20% vinegar because I think it's too dangerous a chemical to use for something as easy to pull out as a weed. Here's a vinegar label for you to review. Notice the signal word DANGER, because of the extreme caustic nature of the acid, and the re-entry interval of 48 hours. Doesn't sound like an environmentally friendly product to me!
 | | Great resource! |
If you're interested in which garden home remedies work, and which not only do not work but can be downright dangerous, I highly recommend the book The Truth About Garden Remedies, by Jeff Gillman. Happily, some of those pantry remedies do work, like the beer traps for slugs. And some do not, so be a little bit skeptical about what you read on Pinterest or Facebook.
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Terrarium Tips
Even if the weather isn't quite cooperating yet, mentally I'm preparing for winter and that mean I'm paying more attention to my indoor plants. A terrarium or dish garden is the perfect way to bring a tiny garden indoors or onto the patio. We've got a great selection of 2" plants that are perfect for small containers.
 | | Succulent Garden |
If you're building a terrarium (usually a container with a lid) , start with a base layer of charcoal, which facilitates drainage and filters out any odors. Use a very well-draining potting mix for containers without drainage. I like to use cactus soil for terrariums and cactus gardens. The worst thing is a terrarium that stays too wet.
When selecting plants, try to focus on the scale of container and any ornaments or accessories you will add. The smallest polka-dot plant will look like a big leafy tropical next to a doll-size chair. You may find when you're planting that you have to trim the roots a bit to fit your plant into the container. That's okay. You really don't want a lot of vigorous growth in a terrarium anyway!
 | | Mini-Cute! |
Enhance the atmosphere of your terrarium with driftwood, rocks, twigs and other natural items. Be careful about overdoing the accessories -- a little goes a long way. Mist or water your plants well and make sure the soil is packed down around the roots. I like to use a decorative soil cover in my gardens. Look in the aquarium department of the pet store for wonderful gravel and sand in many different colors! Then place the lid on your creation and situate so it gets bright light but not direct, hot sun.
A cactus dish garden is created in much the same way, except that you do not use a lid. Cacti & succulents don't like the humid, hothouse environment of a terrarium. You can use use succulent cuttings directly in the dish garden. Most of the time, there is enough water stored in the fleshy leaves to sustain the plant until it roots in the new container. For cactus & succulent dish gardens, it's even more important that you pay particular attention to drainage. If you're unsure, find a container with a drainage hole. Water rarely, and with a teaspoon. You can tell when the garden needs water; the leaves begin to curl inward.
 | | Decorate Your Dish! |
Need some ideas? Here is a site with wonderful terrarium ideas. You can order the accessories directly from her. For cactus & succulent dish gardens, check out our December 2 class on Succulent Centerpieces. I'm going to demonstrate at least 3 ideas for the holiday table.
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Herb Spotlight
Lemon Balm
Lemon balm was the herb of the year in 2007 but we still love it for its deep lemony fragrance. This little member of the mint family is much favored for aromatherapy and herbal teas. Like many of our favorite herbs, lemon balm is native to the Mediterranean region and has been cultivated for over 2,000 years. It was brought to what is now England by the ancient Romans and from there made its way to the New World, where colonists favored it for its medicinal and culinary uses.
 | | Lemon Balm |
Plant Lemon Balm in a sunny area where you can afford to let it roam a bit. If it's happy where it is, it can really spread out. Harvest the leaves often, and pick the flowers before they set seed. The young tops and tender green leaves have the best lemony flavor. Try them blended with mint leaves for a refreshing, relaxing tisane!
Dill
Dill is one of my very favorite herbs and it thrives in our cooler seasons. We use dill leaves (or "weed") and seeds as culinary flavorings, most notably in dill pickles. But here's the frustrating thing about dill. Cucumbers are ripe with the weather is good and hot, far too warm for dill. By the time you are picking cucumbers in the garden, your poor dill has already gone to seed. So be sure to set some aside for later in the year if you plan on making your own pickles.
 | | Dill |
Plant dill where it gets at least a half-day of sun. Unlike many cool-season herbs, dill can actually tolerate a little shade. Make sure your soil is well drained and water when you see signs of wilt. Harvest the tops before the flowers appear for best flavor. You can also harvest the light, ferny foliage for "weed" anytime. Allow the flowers to form to harvest seed heads later. I love to mix stalks of dill in with my cut-flower bouquets - the fragrance reminds me of my mother's garden when I was a girl.
Interested in using dill in the kitchen? Here's a link to a blog that features five new recipes for you to try. Let me know which one you like the best. I have my eye on the Lemon-Dill Green Beans.
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Please stop by and visit! Have a glass of world-famous lemonade (or a beer!) -- we'd love to meet you!
Sincerely,
Elizabeth Barrow
Papershell: A Garden Gallery
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Prepare for Winter!
Sunday, November 18
2:00-3:30pm
Get ready for our brief winter! Find out how to properly care for plants during frost & freeze events, how to adjust your watering schedule, what plants will survive the cold, when to plant winter/spring vegetables, lawn care and more. This class is $10 and participants receive a coupon valid for 15% off their garden center purchases. Call (281) 232-4485 or email us for more information or to hold your spot.
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Thanksgiving Day
Thursday, November 22
All Day
Papershell is closed in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. Please join us on Thanksgiving weekend for "Green Friday," a relaxing change of pace from the shopping madness.
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Succulent Centerpieces
Sunday, December 2
2:00-3:30pm
Bring the beauty of the outdoors inside for the holiday table! We'll demonstrate 3 easy centerpieces you can recreate at home. Supplies will be available on-hand if you want to give it a try in our potting area (we'll be right there to assist you if you need help). The class is indoors and space is limited, so please give us a call at (281) 232-4485 or email us with questions or to register.
The demonstration portion of the class is $10 and includes a coupon valid for 15% off your garden center purchases.
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