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W ednesdsay M arch 29, 2000 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER C7 Homes & Gardens Try grow vegetables this year The cooler weather is keeping the snowdrops in bloom, but the tulips are showing through, and the Japanese splurge is greening up. The raccoons seem to have come through the winter in fine form. Our garbage collection is now at 7 a.m., so I put it out the night before with a heavy rock on top. I found it all on the ground 'in the morning and had to rush out and clean up the mess before the garbage truck arrived. That night when I let the cat in, a big barrel-sized raccoon came from under the sun room, looked up the steps at me, smirked and I thought he said `Gotcha!' A warning not to forget to shut the back door of the garage at night and put the garbage out in the morning. The `Success in Gardening' show is over, the combination with the Home Show completely filled the four halls. It seemed a little snug. If a couple stopped to look at a display in the smaller booth section, it was hard to get by them with people coming up the other side of the aisle. Wider aisles would allow space to move about more freely. The last two `Success with Gardening' exhibits were noted for their airy feeling. The flower show design section had many entries. Jo Mentis, from Port Credit Horticultural Society won several awards. A unique new watering device called `Noodle H ead' was exhibited by by those who buy from the farmer's mar kets. A few vegetables in the garden will show the children where the food comes from and if some is donated to the food bank how they may help others. As there is no storage for fresh vegetables at the food bank, those that last a week or In Your Garden local two without refrigeration are best. Carrots, potatoes, beans, peas, turnips, Aquaform Garden Systems. It makes it water melons, peppers, cabbage are easier to water long, narrow or irregular some that have a suitable shelf life. areas without impinging on other sec Vegetable gardening is easy if small tions. A two-inch round head sufficiently crops of small-sized vegetables are flexible to allow them to be manually acceptable, but more care is required for bent in any direction and from straight up bumper crops. to nearly horizontal. In the tip of each The `Vegetable Gardener's Bible' -- tube is an insert with three small holes. If a new book by Edward Smith, features the tubes are arranged in a circle and the W.O.R.D. system suitable for all evenly bent, the round spray will cover a North American vegetable gardens. 40-foot diametre circle, with reasonable The W. stands for wide rows. These water pressure. They may be arranged in are easier to tend and provide a larger a rectangle to water the space between yield per square foot, providing four the side walk and the house. This will times as much produce as the single row enable the foundation planting to be system. watered without wetting the sidewalk in The O. is for organic methods. This front of the bed. Another water saving applies to soil preparation, insect and dis feature would be to water the moisture ease control and water usage. Organic loving plants avoiding the cactus and methods are better for us, the garden, and other dry area growth. the world. Vegetable Gardening in the R. is for raised beds. Raised beds let Natural Way the area dry and warm up earlier than the Growing vegetables is not as popular earth around. This enables Earlier planti as growing flowers. Garden space is ng and faster growth. restricted and the taste of vegetables D. is for deep soil. Vegetable roots go fresh from the garden is forgotten except deeper into a reservoir of nutrients and moisture. With deep double digging and loosening of the subsoil, a depth of about 1:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m. 18-in. may be obtained with about six The lecturer is Elizabeth Syrett, who inches of soil above ground. Larger, caught the gardening bug in England deeper roots means larger plants and and brought it with her to Canada. crops. The 310-page, full sized soft cover Slides will show gardening techniques along with `before' and `after' slides of book is published by Storey Books and lists at $36.95 Cdn. Their net site is her garden designs. Cost is $25 per couple or $15 for www. storey books .com Stokes Seeds list a fair number of the individual attendees. recommended varieties in their year cat For further information, call alogue. Phone 1-800-396-9238 to order Elizabeth Syrett at 844-7192. e-mail stokes@stokesseeds.com. JOHN SIMKINS One of the easiest ways to give your kitchen a pretty stylish look is with hand-painted knobs. Vibrant fruits and veg gies add a fresh touch to cabinets and drawers. f H and-painted door knobs brings colour into any room Hand-painted drawer knobs and pulls can really spice up your kitchen or add splash to your bath, says Lesley Carlson, Home Depot design expert. Hand-painted knobs and pulls are easy and fun to make. Rosanne Green, a professional crafter from Florahome, Florida Materials for Hand-Painted Ceramic Knobs · Plain Ceramic Knobs or Drawer Pulls (any shape or size, available at The Home Depot). · Surface Cleaner and Conditioner (Delta® PermEnamel, for example, available at arts and crafts stores). · Glass, Tile and Ceramic Paint (Delta PermEnamel, for example). · Small "Artist" Paint Brush for painting; Larger paint brush for putting on the sealer. · Satin Glaze or High-Lustre Gloss (Delta PermEnamel satin glaze or clear gloss, for example). · Egg Cartons. Instructions Step 1: "Prime" Time · Make sure knobs/pulls are clean and dry. · To hold the knobs/pulls steady, insert them into upside-down egg car tons; apply conditioner, following manu facturer's instructions on bottle. · Allow to dry for 30 minutes. Step 2: Get Creative Because the surface you will be painting on is so small, a simple pattern with one or two colours is the best choice. To get inspiration review book or magazine photos to determine what styles, designs and colours you like, sil verware or "p" for pots and pans). · With the knobs/pulls in the egg car ton, brush on one coat of paint in the pat tern of your choice. You can either stick with the same design and colour for each knob, or mix and match complementary colours and patterns. · Allow to dry for approximately one hour. Sunday slide show & garden lecture We've just had our first official spring weekend this year and no doubt many gardeners have made their first foray to see what's been going on over the winter. To give you more confidence and some ideas this year, you might check out an illustrated lecture being put on by Garden Styles Ltd., on Sun. April 2nd at the Oakville Central Library, 120 Navy Street. The session runs from National H om e Show begins April 7th The National Home Show is gearing up for its appearance at The National Trade Centre, Exhibition Place. It runs from April 7th-16th. The gardening craze continues into the new millennium and Gardening Life editor in chief, Marjorie Harris, will take her audiences through a maze of annuals, perennials, shrubs and soil. Later in the week, chef Bonnie Stem will be preparing healthy recipes for spring from her new cookbook and HGTV's Nik Manojlovich of Savoir Faire, will demonstrate easy recipe ideas for informal dinner parties. Throughout the show, Brian Santos, author of Ortho Books' best-selling Painting and Wallpapering will offer stylish, practical and unusual wallpa pering and painting solutions. And noted home interior designer, Lynette Jennings, will appear during the April 7th-8th opening weekend. And Richard Kam, who played A1 Borland on Home Improvement, will be making an appearance on April 15th only. The show is presented by Star Choice. Hours are: weekdays: noon9:30 p.m.; Saturdays: 10 a.m.-9:30 p.m. and Sundays: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Adult admission is $11 on weekends and $10 on weekdays. Seniors and juniors (13-17) are $6.50. Children 12 and under are admitted free. You can check out the show on the web at w w w .dm gw erldm edia.com /nationalhomeshow. (^Merrill Lynch O N T A R March 31 to April 2,2000 Royal Botanical Gardens Centre 680 Plains Rd. 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