Saving and Sharing Seeds

It's that time of year.  Maybe you're gathering seeds from your own plants or maybe you've already begun ordering seeds?  But you want to share with others (and encourage others to share with you!) 

Dianne recently shared some seeds from her garden with me and gave them to me in cute little envelopes that she said she bought at Michael's some years ago.  Where are those little envelopes now?  Boo hoo.

Not to fear, the trusty Internet is here!  I found a couple of YouTube videos showing how to make envelopes, one with orgami paper:




And one with PostIt Notes!



There are myriad (I love that word) pdf templates available - just use the search term "origami seed packets" in your search engine.

Did you make it to the Germantown Festival?  If not, you were one of about ten people who didn't!  What gorgeous weather we had!  Lots of folks dropped by our booth to learn about the Master Gardener program and all the things we do.  We were so sorry to have to tell everyone that the 2013 class has already filled up!  We advised them to mark their calendars for July 2013 and check our website for the 2014 applications. 

You shoulda been there!

One darling young girl spent about half an hour with us.  She was only seventeen, but was an avid gardener.  We have a Junior Master Gardener program, but she's too old.  The regular Master Gardener program is geared toward older folks (you wouldn't believe how many people said, "I'm looking forward to doing this when I retire...")  Wouldn't it be great to have a program geared toward the 18-30 crowd?

Moles, Voles, or ???

My yard - can you see the holes?

Help.  I have something ruining my lawn, just in one place!  My first thought was moles, so I did some research.  Seems moles and voles are very close, but with significant differences.  Moles are carnivorous, while voles are vegetarian (moles=meat, voles=veggies.)  They both leave well-defined runways just under the surface of the ground where they burrow.  But moles can also go deeper and when they do, they leave a mound of earth that they've excavated from the ground.

Therein lies the problem.  There are numerous little holes in my yard, but no mounds and no runways.  So what am I dealing with?

Here's a photo of an actual hole in the adjacent flower bed:

And here's the mulch that apparently floated out during last night's storm:

Any ideas about what my pest is and what I can do about it?

Be sure to visit the Master Gardener booth at the Germantown Festival this weekend!