Garden Greetings,
August is Gaia’s Garden’n Gallery’s anniversary month! We are celebrating FIVE years of serving our customers by offering beautiful, environmentally-conscious gifts for you and your loved ones, native and other unique live plants for your landscape, organic gardening products for your home and garden, classes to inspire your artistic side as well as helping newbies to garden by providing lessons to take the fear out of gardening and enabling them to go out and take part in a worth-while pastime. I don’t think anyone has gotten hurt from getting their hands in the dirt … for me it soothes my soul. We have also created many original, beautiful landscapes with our consult, design and installation services that we offer.
This last year has been somewhat of a challenge for me personally as well as career-wise. I have completed many goals this year … I received my Master’s degree in Environmental Science, we have been able to keep the doors open through all the disasters presented to us the past few years, we have been able to expand to make room for many of the fabulous works of art by local people you have come to love and we intend to provide you with many more years of service.
Gaia’s Natural Foods (GNF) Update: GNF provides the health-conscious consumer safe, beneficial, and healthy foods grown locally. We have a few farmers on board … local organic produce, cage-free eggs, farm visits arranged to a couple of grass-fed livestock farms. We have access to organic, natural bulk goods, natural household cleaners and personal care items as well. Membership is $50.00 per year to enjoy wholesale pricing on GNF’s offerings. We continue to have weekly meetings on Tuesdays at 6:30 pm so if you’d like to find out more plan to attend. We’ll keep you posted on our progress.
We still have a couple of rooms available for rent at Gaia’s Oasis. If you are interested or know of someone who might be please stop by and check them out.
We want to thank you all for your continued support of Gaia’s over the last 5 years by offering you the following coupon for the month of August, without you we would not be here!
Anniversary Sale 50% OFF STOREWIDE (On regularly marked items. Excludes consignment items.) 28 Eglin Pkwy SE FWB FL 32548 Limit one coupon per customer per visit per month. May not be used with any other offer. Excludes art consignment. Offer expires 8/31/10 |
THINK GLOBALLY AND SHOP LOCALLY
AUGUST EVENTS
Gaia's Garden'n Gallery
28 Eglin Parkway SE
Fort Walton Beach FL 32548
850 863 4040
Hours: Tues - Sat 10am – 6pm
Thursday, August 19 (10:30-11:30 am) – Landscaping with the Natives workshop offers the ecological gardener solutions to landscaping problems. While fixing these problems we can reduce water usage, cut fertilization and pesticide costs as well as reducing runoff into our water ways. The cost for the class is $7.00; please call the shop to register.
Saturday, August 21 (ALL DAY) –
Gaia’s Garden’n Gallery
ANNIVERSARY OPEN HOUSE!
Door prizes, food, SALE, fun!
LIVE Music
Local Artist Mart/Farmers Market
GNF Customer Information & Membership
Saturday, August 21 (10:30 – 11:30 am) – Think you can only plant vegetables in the SpringOR that’s its impossible to have a vegetable garden with our sandy soils, think again! Our mild winters here in the Panhandle allow us to have vegetables pretty much all year long. Come to our Fall Vegetable Gardening workshop and find out how you can have vegetables up until frost! We offer heirloom, non-GMO seeds and James Stephens’ book, Vegetable Gardening in Florida from University of Florida Press for sale here at Gaia’s. It is chock full of help to make our Florida veggies grow! Please call us prior to the workshop to register; cost for class is $7.00.
Thursday, August 26 (10:30-11:30 am) – Organic Gardening Series: Beneficial Insects. We will talk about beneficial insects. How to attract them into your garden to take care of problems the natural way! We can special order beneficials for you - Ladybugs, praying mantis, beneficial nematodes, etc. We also have a number of birdhouses, birdfeeders, and bathouses at Gaia’s. Please call the shop to register, class fee $7.00.
Saturday, August 28 (10:30 – 11:30 am) – Organic Gardening Series: Seed Saving. We save seeds for different reasons, to maintain genetic and cultural heirlooms and to save money. The benefits go beyond these and the experience is very rewarding. Please join us to learn how to save seeds from your favorite plants to enjoy year after year. Call the shop to register, class fee $7.00.
August Gardening Tips*:
PERENNIALS: Saving Seeds for Sowing. Read more…
For a more in depth look at seed saving, sign up for our class on 8/28/10 (see Events above).
HERBS/VEGETABLES: Shading Transplants: The hot summer sun can bake even the sturdiest transplants before they get established. Read more …
WATER GARDENS & BOG PLANTS: Care for your water garden: Check on the water garden daily. Read more …
BULBS: Starting bulbs from cuttings. A few bulbs can be rooted from cuttings to form new plants. Read more …
Enjoy - have fun - get your hands dirty!
August Green Ideas*:
WATER USE: Lucky for us here on the Gulf Coast, that our drinking water delivery system is derived from underground aquifers instead of surface water sources like a lake or river. Because many communities deal with many types of pollution, like pesticide runoff and chemicals, in their surface source drinking water supply. It is so very important we use our water wisely by conserving it to maintain an adequate amount of safe drinking water. We’re using more water per person every year, and processing it and delivering it to homes requires huge amounts of energy, generating significant carbon emissions.
HARVEST THE RAIN: Capture some of the rain that falls on your roof by connecting a water barrel to a downspout. This water can then be used in the garden. To take things further, consider installing a rainwater harvesting system, which collects and filters rain water for use in your toilet and washing machine.
USE WATER TWICE with a gray-water system, which recycles water from bathtubs, showers, and washing machines. Or siphon bathwater into the garden for watering plants.
WASH YOUR CAR WITH RAINWATER: If you can’t use rainwater, hand wash your car using a bucket of soapy water and sponge/rag. If you really need to use a hose, fit it with a nozzle so it can be turned off between rinses. This can save up to 200 gallons of water each time.
IRRIGATION INFORMATION. The type of plants that we put into our gardens and the way we look after them can have a major bearing on the amount of water we use. Follow these water-saving irrigation tips and your garden will thrive in all types of weather:
· Plant drought tolerant species – Mediterranean plants such a rosemary, lavender, and sage is very tolerant of long, dry periods.
· Water in the early morning or evening to minimize evaporation. If watering in the evening be sure to give the plants enough time to dry before it gets dark to minimize fungal growth.
· Use a watering can rather than a sprinkler and aim the water at the base of the plants – most plants need watering at the root and prefer their leaves not get wet often.
· Keep grass long, at least 1 ½” to shade the soil and stop it from drying out.
· Mulch around your plants to help stop water from evaporating from the soil surface, inhibit weed growth, and add nutrients as the mulch decomposes.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Around 75% of the water used inside the home is consumed in the bathroom.
- Every toilet flush uses up to 5 gallons of water.
- More than 30% of household water is consumed in outdoor activities, such as watering lawns.
- A faucet when run for 5 minutes takes as much energy as running a 60-watt light bulb for 14 hours.
- We can save up to 8 gallons of water a day by turning off the faucet while brushing our teeth; this saves about 200 gallons of water every month!
- A faucet that leaks 1 drip per second results in wasting 3,000 gallons of water a year.
- Leaking toilets are likely to waste 200 gallons of water a day which is equivalent to flushing the toilet 50 times for no reason.
- Old toilets consume more water, up to 60% more water per flush, compared to newer high-efficiency models.
- When left unattended, a running hose is likely to waste 6 gallons of water per minute.
Yarrow, J. (2008) How To Reduce Your Carbon Footprint. Duncan Baird Publishers: London.
Happy Gardening!
Gaia's Garden'n Gallery
28 Eglin Pky SE * Fort Walton Beach FL 32548
850.863.4040 PH & FAX
www.gaiasgarden-n-gallery.com * info@gaiasgarden-n-gallery.com
28 Eglin Pky SE * Fort Walton Beach FL 32548
850.863.4040 PH & FAX
www.gaiasgarden-n-gallery.com * info@gaiasgarden-n-gallery.com
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