Featured Recipe: Alfredo Sauce Spinach Pizza
August 29, 2010
This weekend’s featured recipe from Janet Tharpe is an Alfredo Sauce Spinach Pizza that the whole family with love. It’s a homemade version of a restaurant favorite with a special blend of spinach, Alfredo sauce and cheese.
To print today’s “Just a Pinch” recipe column, you can click the image below to load a printable pdf with a recipe card.
Roses: A Knock Out Performer
August 28, 2010
Knock Out roses are the hottest plants to hit the market in years. Gardeners love these colorful shrub roses because they bloom profusely with minimal care.
These shrub roses usually bloom like gangbusters for the first two to three years. Then, you may notice a decrease in their bloom set. But don’t despair; they may just need some attention.
Remember that roses need three things to perform their best: sun, water and fertilizer.
All roses prefer full sun. They perform and bloom best with eight hours of direct sun daily. While Knock Out roses can survive with less, some people will push the limit and place them in shady areas of the landscape. Less sun will result in leggier plants with fewer blooms.
Roses need a lot of water during the warmer months, but they don’t like “wet feet”. When watering, try to keep the water off the foliage. Reducing the shrub’s exposure to overhead watering prevents leaf spot and disease.
Even though these roses are good, easy-to-grow plants, they still need properly prepared beds when planting. If your area does not drain well, consider improving drainage by making raised beds.
The soil pH requirement for all roses is around 6.5. This indicates a slightly acid soil. Always follow recommendations of a soil test when modifying soil pH.
Mulch your roses with pine straw or a similar organic material in spring and add new mulch in late summer or early fall. Two to three inches of mulch are great for roses.
Because Knock Out roses bloom so profusely, you may want to fertilize them regularly to keep them looking their best. Fertilize them with commercial rose food according to the product instructions. Water the soil thoroughly before you feed the roses to keep from burning the roots. Stop fertilizing late in the season so the plants can prepare to slow down or go dormant during the winter.
Sometimes low potassium (the third number on the fertilizer bag) can contribute to blooming problems. Differences in soil consistency may account for differences in plant responses to equal fertilization. Take soil samples to make sure your nutrient levels are appropriate in all flower beds.
Prune in mid-February by removing two-thirds of the plant’s height. Also, prune again late August to early September by removing about one-third of the shrub’s height. It is important to eliminate some older interior wood when pruning two to three year-old and older plants.
Knock Out roses don’t have to be deadheaded. While not needing to deadhead roses is a good quality, it can also slow down the ability of the rose to bloom again quickly. If you want to keep your Knock Out roses blooming as often as possible, snip off the old blooms. Even though they will eventually drop their dead blossoms, you can get ahead of the game by helping them out.
Knock Out roses, as well as many other shrub-type roses, have five to seven bloom cycles between April and November. So take care of your plants properly, and you can enjoy blooms for the vast majority of the year.
Theresa Friday is the Residential Horticulture Extension Agent for Santa Rosa County.
Century Correctional Institution Donates School Supplies To Byrneville Elementary
August 27, 2010
The Century Correctional Institution donated a large amount of school supplies to Byrneville Elementary School, just in time for the first week of school. Century CI holds the school supply drive each year, with employees generously donating to the children of the community. Pictured above: Carrie Bryan, Officer Lyons, Grace Gray, Officer Sheffield, Warden Halley and Officer White. Pictured below: Byrneville Elementary School Principal Dee Wolfe Sullivan, Carrie Byan and Michele Edwards. Submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Photo Gallery: Back To School
August 24, 2010
Monday was the first day of school in Escambia County. We invited readers to submit their back to school photos.
To see the photo gallery, click here.
Pictured top: The Northview High School cheerleaders prepare for a back to school routine Monday morning. Pictured left: Cole Crichton prepares for his first day at Jim Allen Elementary in Cantonment. Submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Produce Stand Operates On Honor System
August 23, 2010
There’s a little produce stand tucked away on a dirt lane near Walnut Hill with no cash register, no cashier. All summer, customers would stop by, pick out the perfect tomato or a great watermelon, leaving their money behind in a simple drop box.
The produce stand, located just over the railroad tracks between Walnut Hill and Enon, has operated for years purely on the honor system.
“My dad liked to trust people; a man’s word meant something,” said Sherry Black. She has operated the simple wooden stand since her father, J.B. Kent, passed away several years ago.
The Ten Commandments played a lot into Kent’s business model. To this day, an oversize copy of the Commandments occupies one corner of the stand, just behind the money box and weight scales, perhaps as a reminder to anyone that might be tempted when there’s no one watching.
“But if they need it worse that I do, Lord bless them,” Black said.
Regular customers don’t need cash at Black’s produce stand. There’s a spiral bound notebook and pencil for them to jot down what produce they took and how much they owe. They will “settle up” later in the box, or see Black around the neighborhood and pay.
For several years, Black grew most of the produce in the stand herself. Now she picks, buys or barters with area farmers and backyard gardeners for the freshest items. She said she’s been known to be on the phone late at night, cutting a deal with local farmers for the best price.
And sometimes there’s a special treat for visitors to the produce stand, which is located on Deer Run Road off South Highway 99, about seven miles south of Highway 97. Peacocks from a nearby flock of peacocks will visit with produce stand customers.
The produce season for this year has mostly ended — Sunday afternoon the stand was sold out and empty.
NorthEscambia.com file photos, click to enlarge.
Photo Gallery: The Thunder Rolls
August 23, 2010
Residents in northern portion of Escambia County were treated to some unusual cloud formations Sunday afternoon as storms pounded the area from Molino south. The photos on this page and in our gallery were taken from South Highway 99, about six miles south of Walnut Hill.
The storms caused scattered power outages across the area, downed a few small trees and at least home on Blanc Lane in Molino was reported to be struck by lightning. There was no major damage reported in that incident.
Pictured top and inset: Our cameras caught two distant lightning strikes as storm clouds moved across the Molino area Sunday afternoon. Pictured below: The cloud formations associated with the thunderstorms. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
New Memorial Honors Veterans
August 23, 2010
A new monument in Atmore honors veterans from across the area.
The memorial, a two-year joint project of the Atmore Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Atmore American Legion Post 90, was created by Weaver Monument Company in Flomaton. It was erected this week in front of the Atmore City Hall.
The monument honors deceased veterans from a different branch of service on each of its four sides.
For a photo gallery showing each side of the monument, click here.
NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Teachers Get Ready For First Day
August 22, 2010
School bells ring Monday in Escambia County. Teachers returned to class last week to make sure everything was ready for the big first day. Pictured: Ernest Ward science and math teacher Michelle Thomas (top), Ernest Ward family and consumer science teacher Kathleen Ellis and Byrneville Elementary School first grade teacher Candi Thorton worked hard Friday afternoon to complete preparations for the start of school. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Hendrix, Williams To Wed
August 22, 2010
Mr. and Mr. Russell L. Hendrix, Molino, are pleased to announce the engagement of their daughter, Leslee Faye, to Mr. Jordan Williams of Pensacola.
The bride-elect is a graduate of Tate High School and Florida State University where she earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Secondary English Education. Leslee is a teacher at Tate High School.
The prospective groom is a graduate of Pine Forest High School and Pensacola Junior College where he earned his Associate of Applied Science Degree in Nursing. Jordan is a Registered Nurse at Baptist Hospital. He also serves as a Corporal in the United States Marine Corps Reserves and recently returned from a deployment to Afghanistan.
They will be married November 6, 2010, at Flamingo Road Church in Pensacola.
Featured Recipe: Chicken Fried Steak
August 22, 2010
This weekend’s featured recipe from Janet Tharpe is Chicken Fried Steak that the whole family with love. Serve with mashed potatoes or cornbread, and you have a real down-home meal your whole family with love.
To print today’s “Just a Pinch” recipe column, you can click the image below to load a printable pdf with a recipe card.
