Weekend Gardening: Tips For July
July 7, 2012
Here are gardening tips for the month of July from the Santa Rosa Extension Service:
Flowers
- Annuals to plant include celosia, coleus, crossandra, impatiens, kalanchoe, nicotiana, ornamental pepper, portulaca, salvia, and vinca.
- Lightly re-fertilize flowering annual and perennial beds in order to retain their vigor and keep them colorful.
- Remove old flowers (deadhead).
- Keep leggy growth pinched back.
Trees and Shrubs
- Remove spent flower heads from crape myrtles so that they will continue to bloom.
- Watch for, and control pests if necessary. Spider mites on shrubs and flowers. Lacebugs on azaleas and pyracantha. Flower thrips on roses, gardenias and other blooming plants. Oleander caterpillars on oleanders
- Do any necessary pruning of hydrangeas as soon as flowering is finished. They must have sufficient time to re-grow before the dormant season.
- Do not heavily prune any of the spring flowering shrubs such as azaleas, camellias or spiraea.
Fruits and Nuts
- Prune blueberry bushes, if needed, as soon as possible after harvest is completed.
Vegetable Garden
- Vegetables that can be planted outdoors include eggplant, lima beans, okra, southern peas, peppers and watermelon.
- Set out new tomato plants by late July in order to have a fall crop. Purchase tomato transplants or root disease free suckers from the spring crop. If possible, obtain one of the “hot set” varieties.
- Watch for and control tomato hornworm and fruitworms
- Remove old tomato plants from the garden once harvesting is complete. Diseased plants should be burned or removed from your property. Do not place known diseased plant parts in the compost pile.
- Establish a compost pile. The high temperatures and frequent showers of summer help to speed up the breakdown process.
Lawns
- Watch for, and control pests if necessary. Sod webworm in lawns, chinch bugs in St. Augustine lawns and spittlebug in centipede
- Keep lawn mower blades sharp. This reduces some disease problems and gives the lawn a neater look when it is cut.
- Phyllanthus (common name chamberbitter or gripeweed), often described as that little “mimosa looking weed”, began germinating in May. Check the lawn and landscape for its presence. Contact your local Extension service if you need help with recommended control measures.
- Time for mole cricket control. Use the soap flush technique to determine if sufficient crickets are present to warrant treatment.
- Lawns will begin experiencing more stress as temperatures rise this summer. Raise the mowing height one-half inch as hot weather approaches. This helps relieve some stress and enables the grass better tolerate summer conditions.
NWE Beats Brewton In 16U All Star Softball
July 7, 2012
The Northwest Escambia 16U All Star girls beat Brewton 11-6 Friday night in Brewton.
NWE will take on Atmore on Saturday as the state playoff series continues, and championship games will be played on Sunday.
Submitted photo by Michelle Thomas for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Man Shot By Deputy Dies
July 7, 2012
A man shot by at least one Escambia County Sheriff’s Office deputy Friday afternoon has died.
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office responded to an armed disturbance on Ladybird Lane, just northeast of the I-10 and Airport Boulevard interchange. At the home, a man threatening suicide inside reportedly pointed a gun at the deputies.
The man was shot and transported by ambulance to a local hospital in critical condition where he passed away a short time later.
Two deputies involved in the shooting have been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation, which is standard procedure in officer involved shootings. The primary investigation will be conducted by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Pictured: The scene of a fatal deputy involved shooting Friday afternoon just off Airport Boulevard. Photos courtesy WEAR 3 for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Blue Wahoos Win Sixth Straight Series 5-3 Over Barons
July 7, 2012
The Blue Wahoos capitalized on five Barons errors, with center fielder Ryan LaMarre and Didi Gregorius each scoring twice, while Birmingham center fielder Jared Mitchell launched two homers as Pensacola won their sixth straight series with a 5-3 victory in front of another sellout crowd of 5,038 on Friday night at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium.
The Fish improved to 10-6 in the second half and remain in a tie for first in the Southern League’s South Division with Montgomery due to a Biscuits victory over Mobile. The Barons fell to 9-7 since the league’s All-Star Break. The capacity crowd was the 29th the club has hosted this season in 42 home openings in their inaugural season.
The two teams combined for three runs in the first, with Mitchell mashing his seventh home run of the year to right to give Birmingham a 1-0 lead in the top of the opening frame. The Blue Wahoos would answer with two tallies of their own in the bottom of the inning, when LaMarre led off with a single, advanced to second on a balk and third when Gregorius reached first before the team executed a double steal. Gregorius took off from first on the pitch, with LaMarre swiping home after Birmingham C Luis Sierra’s throw arrived to second late. Gregorius would eventually score on a wild pitch in the frame to put the Wahoos ahead.
Pensacola then extended their advantage to 3-1 in the fourth thanks to a pair of Barons fielding miscues. LF Bryson Smith reached on an error to begin the frame, stole second and got to third on a sacrifice bunt before coming home on another fielding mistake. Mitchell however, tied the game in the fifth with his second homer of the night, a two-run blast, to make it 3-3.
The Blue Wahoos subsequently grasped the lead for good in the seventh. LaMarre was hit by a pitch to start the inning and then swiped second before he was sent in on Gregorius’ RBI triple down the right field line. Gregorius would then come plateward on a sacrifice fly to center off the bat of 2B Brodie Greene to end the scoring at 5-3.
Fish reliever Curtis Partch (2.0 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 2 SO) earned the win after firing two shutout innings in support of starter Tim Crabbe (4.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 5 BB, 5 SO), while RHP Justin Freeman (1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 SO) notched his seventh save of the year by finishing the job in the ninth. Partch has now fired 21.1 consecutive scoreless innings over 14 appearances for Pensacola dating back to May 29.
Birmingham relief pitcher Leroy Hunt (3.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO) suffered the loss to fall to 0-3 after yielding two earned run on two hits in his three frames, while starter Cameron Bayne (5.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO) did not factor in the decision after allowing three runs, all unearned on three hits in his five innings of work.
Barons CF Jose Martinez (3-4, 1 2B) led all hitters with three hits in the contest, while Mitchell (2-3, 2 R, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 2 BB, 1 IBB) also collected a multi-hit game with his two roundtrippers and reached base a total of five times. No Blue Wahoos batters recorded two or more hits, though Gregorius’ triple in the seventh extended his hit streak to sevens straight games.
The Blue Wahoos will now host the Mobile BayBears for a three-game series in Pensacola as part of the Bay-to-Bay Series, with first pitch scheduled for 6:35 pm at the bayfront stadium. LHP Tony Cingrani is slated to take the mound for the Fish, while RHP Chase Anderson is expected to toe the rubber for the BayBears.
By Andrew Green
Photo by Chris Nelson for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Market Offers Produce, Other Items Including Canjos
July 7, 2012
The Market at St. Monica’s will be open Saturday in Cantonment with lots of fresh produce and more.
Visitors to the market on the first and third Saturdays of each month have come to expect a wide variety of produce — there’s almost always tomatoes, many kinds of peppers, sweet corn, squash and more. But the market also offers baked goods, free range eggs, arts and crafts and items like soap, shampoo, and shampoo bars from goat’s milk.
There’s also Walnut Hill-made benches, tables and more from sycamore, oak, walnut and cedar.
And canjos. Canjos started as banjos made from tin cans, but now they have evolved into beautifully hand-crafted instruments made from oak, poplar and walnut.
Concessions are also available, including all-beef hotdogs, sno-cones, popcorn, cold sodas and bottled water.
The Market at Saint Monica’s will be held from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the church, located at 699 South Highway 95A in Cantonment.
Pictured: A handcrafted “canjo” available at the Market at St. Monica’s in Cantonment. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Scott Continues Against Optional Parts Of Health Care Law
July 7, 2012
Gov. Rick Scott continued on Friday to argue against setting up exchanges to help people find health insurance, saying they won’t make health coverage cheaper and may not give people coverage they want.
In response to a question after a speech to newspaper editors, Scott continued to criticize the exchanges, part of the federal health care law, and repeated his position that the state won’t start one.
In the larger scheme that may not matter: the law says the federal government will operate health exchanges in states that don’t design their own.
Florida would have a chance to have some influence on the design of the exchange if it were to do its own, but Scott said Florida would forgo that chance because the whole idea is flawed.
“We’re not going to implement the health care exchanges because it’s not going to drive down the cost of health care, it’s going to raise the cost,” Scott said, while speaking at the Southeastern Press Convention, a meeting near Destin of newspaper editors and publishers from several southeastern states.
A health exchange is envisioned as something like a “store” for buying health coverage, choosing from multiple insurance companies. Health policies that would be available would be pre-chosen by the exchange, which would also seek to standardize what the plans offer to make comparisons on price easier. The exchanges are aimed mainly at people who don’t have coverage through their employer, and are a key part of the effort to reduce the number of uninsured.
In a similar way to how people who are employed typically don’t have a lot of choices about their insurance, people in the exchanges would also have a similar set-up; someone working to link them up with a health plan, with different tiers of coverage based on what they can pay. Insurance bought through exchanges would also be portable, so people wouldn’t lose their coverage based on changing jobs.
While not addressing the lack of choice most people covered by their employer have, Scott said the choice issue is one of the main reasons he’s opposed to exchanges.
“The government will dictate the rules,” Scott said at Friday’s convention appearance. “The problem with the exchanges is the government is going to dictate the type of policies. The policies that will be on there are the kind of policies you might not want to buy.”
Scott’s resistance to the idea comes as lawmakers have started to think about what role, if any, they have in deciding how Florida moves forward in the implementation of the new federal health law, which was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court last week and mostly goes into effect in 2014.
Several Republican legislators said last week that they believed lawmakers would have a role – though Scott has been vocal over the last several days in his insistence that Florida’s mind is already made up on rejecting optional parts of the health care law.
Florida also will be able to opt out of an expansion of Medicaid that is contemplated by the new law as helping get people covered, and Scott has said Florida will do so, and repeated that assertion on Friday.
“We already have a Medicaid program that covers the most vulnerable people in our state,” Scott said. “I don’t know if we have another $500 million, $700 million. I don’t know where it’s going to come from.”
But the Palm Beach Post reported Friday that leaders in the state Senate have been “working on a plan” to implement the exchanges, and also are still considering whether to expand Medicaid.
One of the key questions that has emerged is what power the governor has, versus the power of lawmakers on the issue.
The Legislature determines the state’s Medicaid budget, but the governor has line item veto power. The functional implementation of any Medicaid expansion would be done by the Agency for Health Care Administration, which answers to the governor. Major Medicaid changes are also approved by the federal government.
And, as noted earlier, if Florida doesn’t implement a health care exchange, the federal government has said it would do so for the state. In some other Republican-run states, officials have said now that the health care law has been found constitutional, they want some say over design.
And two elections will play a role in the ultimate outcome in Florida. Republicans are hoping that if they can elect Mitt Romney president this year and elect a GOP majority in both chambers of Congress, they can repeal the Affordable Health Care Act. And with the act scheduled to mostly take effect in 2014, the executive branch part of its implementation in Florida will be up to whoever is elected governor that year, when Scott seeks re-election for the first time.
By The News Service of Florida
Century Awards Final Contract For Housing Rehab From $750K Grant
July 7, 2012
The Town of Century has awarded the final three contracts under a Community Development Block Grant to rehabilitate private homes in the town.
The town was awarded a $650,000 grant last year to rehabilitate or replace homes that are currently occupied by persons of low or moderate income. The town also received $100,000 in Residential Construction Mitigation Program Funds for hurricane retrofits.
The latest projects awarded were:
- 300 Front Street, owned by Charles H. and Wanda Therrell, $59,000 to Mike Motes Builders.
- 571 Church Street, owned by Maryland P. Bridges, $47,600 to Bill Walther Construction.
- 301 East Hecker, owned by Richard and Eva Carter, $15,000 to Mike Motes Builders.
Additional grant work was recently awarded at the 301 East Hecker home with $5,698 in rehabilitation costs and $7,000 in hurricane retrofits.
350 Remain Without Power, Down From Over 12,000
July 6, 2012
About 350 Gulf Power customers remained without power as of 10 p.m. Friday, down from over 12,000 that lost power during storms Friday morning.
The number without power had dropped to 3,500 by 4 p.m., with most of those customers in south and central Escambia County.
The 350 customers in the dark late Friday night were scattered across the county.
Crews from Mississippi Power were brought in to Escambia County to help in the restoration process.
Lightning Sparks Fire That Destroys Large Shed
July 6, 2012
Fire complete destroyed a large storage shed in Cantonment Friday morning. Neighbors said the shed on in the 3000 block of Woodbury Circle may have been struck by lightning. Submitted photo by Kevin Winingar for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Molino Man Enters Plea On Multiple Drug Charges
July 6, 2012
A Molino man has entered a plea in Escambia County Circuit Court on multiple drug charges.
Joseph Daniel Flowers pleaded no contest to charges of possession of methamphetamines with intent to sell, possession of drug paraphernalia, and possession of listed chemicals with intent to manufacture a controlled substance.
Flowers will be sentenced in about two weeks before Judge Michael Allen.
Escambia County Sheriff’s Office deputies located an active methamphetamine lab inside a residence at 1115 Muscogee Road during the early morning hours of February 7, 2011. They reported finding Flowers inside the residence with the meth lab. He was transported to a Pensacola hospital for an untreated burn on his hand and warrants were issued for his arrest.