8 • April 2016 • UPBEAT TIMES, INC.


Upbeat Times 17th


Annual Spring Guide 2016 The Perfect Garden Brew ate the perfect


SANTA ROSA, CA. ~ I do believe spring, in all her stun- ning glory, has arrived at last as our spongy gardens continue to absorb the nourishing rain. March has been a northern California monsoon and we anticipate weather conditions in April not to be quite as wet but we shall see. I predict sun- shine and more sunshine, fill- ing our busy April days. . .defi- nitely floriferous. A scoop of this, a pinch of


that, a shake of bat guano and a cup of crushed oyster shells sounds like a witches brew! Actually creating and fortify- ing garden soil is very much the same; combining the right amounts of ingredients to cre-


by Kimberly Childers • kimberlychilders@att.net ‘brew’ for


your ever-changing garden. First, I highly rec- ommend


purchasing a soil test kit. Hooray for you if you al- ready have one! Te kits range in price from $17. to $61. You de- cide! Some soil test kits you can do yourself in your garden at home or you can collect and bring in 4 cups of soil in a plastic bag to places like Harmony Farms that will send it to a lab for testing. Te price tag is $30. or more de-


pending on the tests you order. In about 2 weeks you’ll get the


viation for Potentiometric hy- drogen ion concentration. Te PH scale ranges from 0 to 14, 7 being neutral. Gardening, al- though a heal- ing, passionate addiction is also an exacting science. You’ll learn the acid- ity or alkalinity levels in your soil and how to deal with correcting the levels for what you’re growing. It’s empowering


results and nurseries can assist you in purchasing the recom- mended additions and treat- ments to your soil correcting the PH levels. PH is the abbre-


knowledge for the gardener. In the meantime you’ll want to sprinkle iron phosphate where necessary, commonly known as ... continued on page 20


Lumber • Hardware • Tools • Decking & Railings Electrical • Plumbing • Paint • Garden • Siding...


Weird Facts & Fun Trivia - 3 The majority of marine life is


Deep Ocean Facts:


found in the sunlit or eupho- tic zone - the upper 200m - but there are ten times more species in the deeper zones.


The biggest animal that has ever lived on the planet, the blue whale, is 30 meters long and weighs more than 200 tonnes. Its tongue weighs as much as an elephant, its heart is the size of a car and it can cruise at 20 knots.


Because food is sparsely distributed, many creatures of the deep such as the umbrellamouth gulper eel, have extendable mouths and stomachs so that they can swallow prey bigger than themselves.


The Punitentiary #2 Economic experts report


that while cactus sales have spiked, aquarium sales have tanked.


A man walked into a chimney store and asked ‘How much for this one?’. The salesman replied ‘It’s on the house.’


The riot at Macy’s was called a shopping maul.


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“Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is.” ~ Albert Camus


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