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Weekend Gardening: February Tips

Here are gardening tips for the month of February from the Santa Rosa Extension Service:

Flowers

• Re-fertilize cool season flowerbeds, using a liquid or granular form of fertilizer. Be careful not to apply excessive amounts and keep granules away from the base of stems.
• Prepare flowerbeds for spring planting by adding and incorporating soil amendments like mushroom compost, manure or homemade compost. Till or spade the bed to incorporate the amendments with the existing soil to a depth of 6 to 8 inches. Allow the prepared bed to lie undisturbed for 3 to 4 weeks before planting. This provides time for some important biological activity to take place, and new plants are less likely to suffer from stem and root rots as a result. Have a soil test done. Sometimes lime is needed. However, a lime application should be made only if the need is revealed by the test.
• Replenish mulch in flowerbeds.
• Prune rose bushes.

Trees and Shrubs

• February is possible the best month for rejuvenation of old, overgrown shrubs. When pruned now, plants have an entire growing season to recover.
• Prune summer flowering deciduous shrubs such as Althea and Hibiscus. Since they flower on current season’s growth, flowering can actually be enhanced by proper pruning
• Do NOT prune the spring flowering shrubs yet. Azaleas, Spiraeas and Forsythia flower during early spring because buds were formed last summer and fall. Pruning in February would therefore remove most of the flower buds.
• Cold damaged trees and shrubs should NOT be pruned until new growth appears. You want to preserve as much healthy plant material as possible.
• Replenish mulch in shrub beds
• Finish planting ornamental and fruit trees.

Fruits and Nuts

• Fertilize established pecan trees. Use a “special pecan fertilizer” that contains zinc. Use 2 lbs. for every year of age of the tree up to a maximum of 55 lbs. Broadcast the fertilizer evenly beneath the tree.
• Fertilize established peach, plum, pear, persimmon, apple and fig. Apply about 1 ½ lbs of a 10-10-10 (or similar) fertilizer for each year of age of the tree until a maximum of 10 to 15 lbs. per tree is reached.
• Blueberries are very sensitive to nitrogen and can be killed easily, particularly when they are young. Fertilize only if your goal is to increase yield or berry size. An annual application of 2 ounces of a special “azalea/camellia” or “special blueberry” type fertilizer per plant in February is ample fertilizer on 2-year-old plants.
• Prune muscadine grapes between mid-February to mid-March. A standard method is to allow 2 to 4 node spurs spaced every 6 inches of cordon. You may notice that pruning cuts bleed, but there is no evidence that this is injurious to the vine.
• Grapes (bunch and muscadine) should be fertilized at the rate of 1 ½ lbs of 10-10-10 for each year of age with a maximum of 5 lbs per plant applied in late February.
• Last call for planting fruit trees! Most fruit trees such as pecans, plums, persimmons, figs, peaches and nectarines are shipped bare roots and should be planted during the dormant season.
• Apply a spray containing horticultural oils emulsion to dormant fruit trees and ornamental shrubs. Follow label directions carefully.

Vegetable Garden

• Several winter vegetables can still be successfully grown by starting them this month. Plant beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, Chinese cabbage, collards, endive/escarole, kale, kohlrabi, leek, lettuce, mustard, parsley, English peas, radish and turnips.
• Plant Irish potatoes. Purchase certified seed potatoes rather than using the grocery store kinds. Use 2-ounce seed pieces with eyes and plant them 3 to 4 inches deep.
• Prepare spring vegetable and herb beds for planting by adding and incorporating soil amendments like mushroom compost, manure or homemade compost. Wait 3 to 4 weeks before planting.

Lawns

• Hold off on fertilizing the lawn. It is still too early for an application of nitrogen containing product. Cold temperatures and lack of plant response would likely result in wasted fertilizer. However, your winter weeds would benefit greatly.

Eat Out Tuesday Night, Help The NHS Band

Mark your calendar to eat out Tuesday night and help the Northview High School Tribal Beat Band.

Whataburger in Century will donate 20 percent of their sales from 5-8 p.m. Tuesday to the band. There will also be games and a drawing for a free Whataburger each week for an entire year.

Plus, some Northview High School band members have been invited to help serve food.

(Due to the winter storm, this event was postponed from last Thursday.)

Northview Chiefs Win Washington Preseason Tourney

The Northview Chiefs won the Washington High School Preseason Tournament this weekend.

The Lady Chief beat Washington Friday night 16-8 to earn a spot in the championship game.  The Chiefs then went on to beat the Pensacola High School Tigers 9-3 for the tourney title.

Saturday, Penny Banda had an in the park home run for the Lady Chiefs. Mallory Ryan earned the win for the Lady Chiefs allowing eight hits, striking out eight and walking two.

Submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.

Dense Fog Advisory, Good Rain Chance Tonight

There is a dense fog advisory in effect for tonight. Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:

• Tonight: A chance of showers, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after midnight. Areas of fog before midnight. Otherwise, cloudy, with a steady temperature around 65. South wind around 10 mph becoming southwest after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 70%.
• Monday: A 30 percent chance of showers before noon. Cloudy, with a high near 64. West wind 5 to 10 mph becoming north in the afternoon.
• Monday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 53. Northeast wind around 5 mph.
• Tuesday: A 40 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 71. South wind 5 to 15 mph.
• Tuesday Night: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 55. South wind around 10 mph becoming west after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
• Wednesday: A 20 percent chance of showers before noon. Partly sunny, with a high near 63. Northwest wind 10 to 15 mph.
• Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 35. North wind around 10 mph.
• Thursday: A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly sunny, with a high near 54. North wind 5 to 10 mph.
• Thursday Night: A 30 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 40. North wind 5 to 10 mph.
• Friday: A 40 percent chance of showers. Cloudy, with a high near 59.
• Friday Night: A 50 percent chance of showers. Cloudy, with a low around 46.
• Saturday: A 40 percent chance of showers. Cloudy, with a high near 67.
• Saturday Night: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 45.
• Sunday: A 20 percent chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 62.

Gloves Come Off In Governor’s Race

Republican Gov. Rick Scott and Democrats Charlie Crist and Nan Rich came out swinging on Wednesday at the first event where all three gubernatorial candidates appeared in advance of the November election.

Scott used the release of his election-year budget proposal to take aim at his predecessor without calling out Crist by name, accusing his opponent of “raiding” state reserves while hiking taxes during Crist’s four years as Republican governor.

“Over the last three years, we have cut taxes 24 times and now we are going to give another $500 million back to Florida families,” Scott told editors and reporters at The Associated Press’s annual legislative planning session. “Our tax record in these four budgets represents a sharp contrast to the four budgets before we took office. We have cut taxes dozens of times. But the previous four budgets raised taxes by over $2 billion.”

Crist, who became a Democrat in late 2012, questioned Scott’s ethics and slammed Scott for slashing education spending in his first two years on the job.

“Now he’s trying to fool the people of Florida with an election-year transformation. I don’t believe Florida’s going to get fooled a second time,” Crist said.

Rich, a former Senate minority leader, lumped both governors together and said that Scott’s “bad” policies were rooted in those of his GOP predecessors Crist and Jeb Bush.

“While you will hear a lot of new promises…nothing tells you what a politician will do quite like what he or she has done. Rick Scott and Charlie Crist have had their chance to lead. I believe they have failed,” Rich said.

But Crist largely ignored Rich and instead slammed the incumbent, beginning with Scott’s tenure as CEO of hospital giant Columbia/HCA. After Scott left the firm, it paid a record $1.7 billion in fines, fees and damages in a settlement for Medicare and Medicaid fraud. The fraud occurred while Scott was CEO but he left the firm days after the feds raided company offices.

“Floridians need to be reminded who I’m running against. This is a guy who headed a company that ended up having to pay the largest fine for fraud in the history of the United States of America at the time. To me that is stunning…and unconscionable,” Crist said. “I’m going to talk about it every day.”

Crist said he would focus his campaign on “ethics, education, the environment and the economy,” the same platform as his first bid for office when he ran for the state Senate in 1992.

Scott, meanwhile, contrasted his budget with repeated digs about what took place before he took office in 2011.

“Florida shed more than 800,000 jobs in the four years before I took office. Taxes increased, debt increased and the unemployment rate rose to 11.4 percent, all while hundreds of thousands of jobs were lost. Florida was in a hole and for four years, there was just more digging,” he said.

When Scott took office in 2011, economic development experts told him that “not only was Florida not competitive for big jobs projects, but we were often not even considered,” he said. “Today — that has all changed.”

But Crist countered that he wants to “create good jobs” for Floridians.

“You do that by thinking big, not thinking small,” he said.

Crist also appealed to his audience, editors and reporters often frustrated by Scott’s unavailability or the governor’s habit of staying on message when answering questions from the media.

“Four years ago you had a governor that liked to talk to you and liked to answer your questions. … I’ll go to all your editorial boards. Now there’s a difference,” he said, referring to Scott’s snubbing of editorial boards when he campaigned for governor in 2010.

Scott also boasted that his budget pays back money into state reserves Crist “raided,” something Crist and the GOP-dominated Legislature used to plug billion-dollar gaps in the state budget during Florida’s economic downturn.

“He raided the taxpayers. His company … had to pay a $1.7 billion fine for fraud. That’s a raid,” Crist told reporters before leaving the Capitol.

Rich portrayed herself as the lone candidate with a history of supporting abortion rights, gay marriage, gay adoption, an increase in the minimum wage and stronger gun regulations.

“It’s pretty clear that Rick Scott doesn’t share these values and frankly there aren’t any other candidates that have the track record that I have … and yes, I’m referring to Charlie Crist,” she said. “I stand on my record. I think he has rewritten his.”

Crist shrugged off criticism from Rich for refusing to debate her, saying he is concentrating on defeating Scott.

“I don’t know. I have all the respect in the world for Sen. Rich. She’s a wonderful person. She’s a great Democrat. And she’s a dear friend. I am focused on defeating Rick Scott. I’ve got to spend the energy doing what I need to do. It’s a Herculean task. It’s like David and Goliath financially, to tell you the truth. So I’m working every day to defeat Rick Scott because I want Floridians to be back in that mansion because if I win, they win. And if he wins, I think they lose,” he said.

by The News Service of Florida

Lee H. Archer

Lee H. Archer, 89, was born in Century on November 11, 1924, and died on January 27, 2014, in Pensacola. He retired from St. Regis Paper Company. He worked at Hess Marine and Pensacola Imports. He served in the U.S. Navy during WWII. He married the love of his life, Aphrodite Betty Kagias, in New York City on May 20, 1945.

He is preceded in death by his brothers, Edgar A. Archer and E.G. Archer; his sisters, Pringle Fitzgerald, Madrie Ree Robinson and Alvis Reeves.

He is survived by his loving wife, Betty K. Archer; brother, Simmie A. Archer; daughters, Barbara A. Rhodes and Cathy A. Pieler; son-in-law, Bill Pieler; son, Mickey Archer; daughter-in-law, Linda B. Archer; granddaughters, Carrie E. Wallace and her husband, Philip, Shannon Kennedy and her fiancé, Cesar Fernandez and Lindsay Fowler and her husband, Chris; great-grandchildren, Audrey Wallace and Scotty Wallace.

Funeral service were held at Saturday, February 1, 2014 at Faith Chapel Funeral Home South.

Interment was at Bayview Memorial Park Cemetery.

Pallbearers will be Newman Gersin, Dana Dennison, Lewis Hamilton, Mike Little, Bobby Pittman and Dale White.

Honorary pallbearers will be Abe Welch, Bob Stoner, Michael Johnson, Melvin Penton and Eddie White.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to The Wounded Warriors Project.

Faith Chapel Funeral Home South is in charge of arrangements.

Dense Fog Advisory Tonight

Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:

• Tonight: Areas of dense fog after 9pm. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a low around 50. Southeast wind around 5 mph.
• Sunday: A chance of showers, with thunderstorms also possible after noon. Areas of dense fog before 9am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a high near 72. Southeast wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%.
• Sunday Night: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm. Cloudy, with a low around 53. Southeast wind around 10 mph becoming southwest after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 70%.
• Monday: A 20 percent chance of showers before noon. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 63. West wind 5 to 10 mph becoming north in the afternoon.
• Monday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 51. North wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.
• Tuesday: A 30 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 71. South wind 5 to 15 mph.
• Tuesday Night: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 56. South wind around 10 mph becoming west after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
• Wednesday: A 30 percent chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 63. Northwest wind around 10 mph.
• Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 36. North wind around 10 mph.
• Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 55.
• Thursday Night: A 20 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 38.
• Friday: A 40 percent chance of showers. Cloudy, with a high near 63.
• Friday Night: A 40 percent chance of showers. Cloudy, with a low around 46.
• Saturday: A 40 percent chance of showers. Cloudy, with a high near 68.

Habitual Traffic Offender That Hit Deputy’s Cruiser Is Sentenced

A convicted habitual traffic offender has been sentenced to 12 months probation after hitting an Escambia County deputy’s cruiser during an April traffic stop near Bratt.

The deputy stopped 31-year old Willie Wade Steverson of Atmore  for speeding on West Highway 4 at Canoe Creek, about 2.5 miles east of Northview High School, about 8:20 a.m. on April 18.  Steverson stopped his Mitsubishi Galant on a moderate incline, several feet in front of the deputy, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.  At some point, Steverson removed his foot from his brake, and his vehicle rolled backwards into the deputy’s cruiser.

Steverson was arrested for driving with a suspended license as a habitual traffic offender, a felony charge. After a no contest plea, Judge Joel W. Boles withheld adjudication in sentencing  Steverson to 12 months probation and ordering him to pay $568 in costs and fees.

A short time after being sentenced to probation, Steverson was arrested again on third degree  petit theft charges. Now he’s facing a violation of probation hearing next month in the traffic accident case in addition to the theft charge.

There were no injuries in the accident. Damage to the deputy’s cruiser was unnoticeable, while Steverson’s vehicle suffered only very minor damage.

Pictured: A convicted habitual traffic offender was jailed in April after his vehicle rolled backwards into an Escambia County deputy’s cruiser on West Highway 4 at Canoe Creek. NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.

Emergency Rooms See Numerous Ice-Related Injuries

Our winter ice storm sent a lot of people to the emergency room for falls.

Over a two-day period, Sacred Heart’s ER treated nearly 70 people for slip and fall related injures. They ranged in age from children to senior citizens. Many of the injuries occurred as the patients walked in their own yards.

Sacred Heart also said they had expected to see numerous car accident victims. But those numbers were down, probably because most people heeded the warnings and stayed off the roads.

NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.

Scott Proposes Hurricane Holiday; Tops $500 Million In Tax, Fee Cuts

Gov. Rick Scott reached his proposed $500 million in election-year tax and fee cuts  as he rolled out his support for a 15-day hurricane sales-tax holiday projected to save taxpayers $20 million.

If approved, it would be the first sales-tax holiday on hurricane supplies since 2007.

“This tax holiday will allow families to better protect and safeguard their homes during a storm,” Scott said in a prepared statement.

The recommended discount pushes Scott’s tax- and fee-cut proposals to an estimated $514 million for the upcoming legislative session.

The bulk of the savings would come through a $401 million proposal to cut a controversial 2009 hike in vehicle registration fees. That hike was approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature and signed by Scott’s potential November gubernatorial challenger Charlie Crist, who is running this year as a Democrat.

Scott will also ask lawmakers — as they craft the fiscal plan for the next year — to extend a popular three-day back-to-school sales tax holiday on clothes, supplies and electronics to 10 days, and to shave about $33 million in state revenue by cutting approximately 50 different corporate filing fees.

The school sales tax has been estimated as being a $60 million hit to state and local revenue.

The hurricane season holiday was enacted from 2005 through 2007, following the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons in which seven named storms made landfall in Florida. But as the housing market went bust, and state coffers were no longer flush, the idea of the storm season tax break was set adrift.

The governor’s hurricane-tax holiday proposal tops a 12-day tax break period included in a measure (SB 362) filed by Sen. Rob Bradley, R-Fleming Island.

In November, state economists, sitting as the Revenue Estimating Conference, projected that Bradley’s proposal would save taxpayers about $3.8 million.

At the time, economists said the calculation was difficult as many Floridians already have the storm-preparation items around the house as standard parts of hurricane kits.

Items that would be free of the sales tax during the period would include flash lights and other self-powered lights selling for $20 or less; portable self-powered radios, two-way radios, or weather band radios that sell for $50 or less; tarps or other flexible waterproof sheeting that sells for less than $50; first-aid kits that cost under $30; packets of AA, C, D, 6-volt, and 9-volt batteries that sell for under $30; and portable generators worth less than $750.

Bradley’s proposal has its first legislative hearing Feb. 3 before the Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee.

The House companion bill (HB 567) by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, has yet to be scheduled for a committee appearance.

A big factor in how much of the tax and fee cuts make it into the next budget depends on projections that economists will update as the legislative session gets underway. The current projection is the state will enter the budget process with a roughly $1 billion surplus.

Scott challenged lawmakers in September to reduce taxes and fees by $500 million. Meanwhile, he also has proposed spending increases in areas such as education, tourism promotion and protection and improvements for the state’s natural springs and the Everglades.

by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida

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