Ever wanted your own veggie garden but just didn’t know where to begin? Bring the whole family and get right in the dirt! Help The Ridges fill their little community garden and come back later to nurture and then harvest it! You can even plant your own seeds to grow at home—no prior experience needed. Please meet outside the Nature Center. Donations are greatly appreciated.

Also, don’t forget to join The Ridges for the rest of the Vegetable Garden series.

• Veggie Planting: June 9 at 4-5pm
• Nurturing the Garden: TBA
• Harvest Picnic: TBA

The Ridges Sanctuary, a non-profit nature preserve, is located just north of Baileys Harbor on County Highway Q. Trails are open to the public year round for a small fee (members may hike at no charge). The Nature Store, featuring a variety of nature-related books, puppets, T-shirts and gift items, is open for the season. Naturalist-led hikes in the Sanctuary are scheduled Mondays-Saturdays at 1:30pm for the summer. For further information on any Ridges Sanctuary programs, call (920)839-2802, or visit the Ridges’ website, www.RidgesSanctuary.org.

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From Bangkok to Chicago, Madison to Warsaw, there is a second dynamic duo, this one from  from Mayflower Greenhouse in Green Bay who will review their travels and share new gardening ideas gathered from near and far. “The Jan and Glenn Show – the best of 2009,” presented by Jan Wos and Glenn Spevacek, will include container and gardening ideas, new plant discoveries and of course, lots of fun!

Jan Wos

Jan Wos purchased Mayflower Greenhouses in Oneida 10 years ago and has transformed it into a destination garden store with regional appeal. Under Jan’s ownership, Mayflower has established itself locally and statewide as a leader in his niche of annuals – tender plants for seasonal display in garden beds and especially containers. While most annuals have become commodity items, easily sold at discount stores, Jan has placed focus on hard to find varieties as well as the standards.

Jan’s ability to harness the creativity of his staff and friends leads to a retail experience like no other. There are benches upon benches of the usual petunias, marigolds and unique annuals.

 

Mayflower Greenhouses, 726 Airport Dr., Hobart WI - 920.869.2045

However, there are also suitcases, antique butter churns, an occasional department store mannequin and even an old 1948 Packard planted with an exuberance of color and texture.

Jan‘s motto is. “If it doesn’t move, plant it: if it moves, plant it quickly!”

Glenn Spevacek owns NEW Gardens, a consulting and marketing firm with an emphasis on garden-related businesses. Prior to beginning NEW Gardens, Glenn was the Executive Director of the Green Bay Botanical Garden.

Each gardening season Glenn and Jan make a variety of gardening presentations throughout Wisconsin. Last year each of them spoke to over 2,000 people and have received high accolades from all.

The program is free and open to the public.

So far this month, we have experienced snow showers, gentle drizzle and driving rain. During the storms, as you watched water cascade off your roof and carve gullies through the yard, didn’t you wish that someone would invent a technology to reduce the run-off and save the water until you needed it?

You don’t need to wait for a new technology. Our pioneer ancestors invented the solution years ago: We call it the Rain Barrel Solution. Crossroads and Sustain Door are collaborating to sell rain barrels, simple sustainable devises which save money, water and energy as they reduce storm water runoff.

Admittedly, this is a fundraiser, with the $55 cost being split between Crossroads and Sustain Door, but the primary motivation for selling rain barrels is to prevent rain from becoming stormwater runoff, which is the greatest remaining threat to clean water in the United States. And we knows this because some of the research was conducted at Crossroads during the past five summers.

Microbiology students from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh have confirmed that “rain events” wash microbes and fertilizers into the bays of Sturgeon Bay and Green Bay and into Lake Michigan. Anything that slows and/or decreases the rush of water into our storm sewers increases the quality of our water.

Members of Sustain Door are creating the rain barrels from recycled 55 gallon food- grade plastic drums. The barrels are adapted to capture water directly or to be attached to a downspout. Every time it rains, the barrels will fill with rain which can be used at a later date to water a lawn, garden, or young trees (which by the way, also decrease the volume of water entering storm sewers.)

The barrels are stored at Crossroads and are available for purchase during business hours (2-5 pm daily) or before and after programs. Crossroads will supply instructions for the installation and care of either the flexible elbow barrel or the free-standing barrel.

The Rain Barrel Solution is one of many projects supported by our volunteer organization, the Friends of Crossroads. This group meets the first Monday of each month to plan activities. The meeting begins at 6:30 but members and potential members are invited to arrive early (5:45 PM) for a nature hike to Big Creek. Following the meeting, the Friends are invited to join students from Algoma High School as they enjoy an environmental film in our lecture hall.

On Tuesday, May 5, at 7:00 PM the Door Peninsula Astronomical Society will hold its May General Meeting at the Stonecipher Astronomy Center (use Utah Street Entrance to Crossroads) Professor Ray Stonecipher will present the program on “The Sun.” Visitors are welcome and refreshments will be served.

Our Family Gardening classes, the Project WET Educator Workshop, and Blacksmith Training scheduled for this week are filled, but there is still room in UW-GB Class: “Teaching The Geology of the Southern Door Peninsula.” which will be offered May 15 and 16. A non-credit option with a tuition of $170 is available to the general public. A scholarship stipend and funds for substitutes are available to Wisconsin teachers who wish to take the class for graduate credit. Call 746-5895 for information.

Crossroads is a donor-supported preserve, welcoming learners of all ages to programs focused on science, history and the environment. The Collins Learning Center, Wisconsin Wildlife and Great Lakes Ecosystem Exhibit, located at 2041 Michigan Street (County Highway TT), are open 2:00-5:00 daily. The Astronomy campus can be reached by entering the Crossroads property from Utah Street at the Cove Road stop sign.

Monday, May 4
5:45 PM Hike to Big Creek
Join the naturalist for a short hike to Big Creek. While we can’t guarantee a sucker run or marsh marigolds in bloom, the odds are good for both. Meet at the Collins Learning Center. About 45 minutes.

6:30 PM Friends of Crossroads
Members and interested guests are invited to attend the monthly meeting of the volunteer organization that supports the programs of Crossroads. Following the business meeting, participants are invited to stay and view an environmental film.

Tuesday, May 5
7:00 Meeting of the Door Peninsula Astronomical Society
Visitor are encouraged to attend the meetings of the DPAS. The program, “The Sun,” will be presented by Dr. Ray Stonecipher. The meeting is held in the Stonecipher Astronomy Center. Please use the Utah Street Entrance to Crossroads.

The two bills, Assembly Bill 3 and Senate Bill 5 have been introduced in Madison. Both of Door County’s elected officials, Rep. Gary Bies and Sen. Alan Lasee are cosponsors of both bills.

Peter Sigmann, coordinator of the partnership, is pleased to add, “Phosphorus is not a necessary nutrient for beautiful, green lawns. By themselves, these bills won’t completely solve the nutrient overload in our waters that feeds our cladophora problem, but they are an important step to a final solution.”

Excessive phosphorous in surface waters is blamed as a major cause of the over-abundance of cladophora: the green, stinky, slimy algae that washes up on Door County’s beaches every summer.

“The other important thing to remember,” says Sigmann, “is that there is usually plenty of phosphorus in Wisconsin soils for healthy lawn growth and maintenance. The great majority of lawns will be just fine without additional phosphorus in their fertilizers.”

Both bills provide exceptions for some limited phosphorus use. Farm use will be unaffected. A homeowner’s soil that tests deficient for phosphorus and some new lawn installations could also be exempt, as might milorganite, a by-product of sewage treatment plants.

Other environmental groups have also responded positively. Wisconsin Environment, said in a recent press release: “A growing body of research indicates that restricting the use of phosphorus in lawn fertilizers can be an effective way to reduce the amount of phosphorus that is washed into our lakes from residential areas.”

Dane County and several villages and towns in Wisconsin already have laws that restrict the use of phosphorus in lawn fertilizers.

The Partnership for Phosphate Reduction is sponsored chiefly by Door Property Owners, Inc. It includes Bayshore Property Owners, Door County Environmental Council, Door Property Owners, Friends of Toft Point, Glidden Drive Association, Lake Forest Park Association, League of Women Voters of Door County, Little Sturgeon Area Property Owners Association, Sustain Door, The Ridges Sanctuary, 1000 Friends of Wisconsin and Whitefish Bay Association.

For more information on the partnership or to receive a copy of their brochure, contact Peter Sigmann at 920.824.5193, or visit the Web site at www.DCPhosphateFree.org.