22'Year-Old Produces Products For The Planet LOU ANN GOOD Food And Family Features Editor COCHRANVILLE (Chester Co.) John Yoder is only 22 years old but he has developed a thriving produce market along Route 10. Remarkable not only for his age but also because he grew up in town. His growing business captured the attention of Secretary Samuel Hayes Jr. and the Simply Deli cious program, which promotes Pennsylvania grown produce. Yoder’s farm market was se lected for the site of the unveiling of a new program from which produce farmers will benefit. Hayes said that Yoder repre sents 1,000 farmer markets across the state. More than one million dollars have been desig nated to promote Pennsylvania homegrown fruits and vegetables. More than 400 billboards and 2,000 television spots tout home grown goodness to encourage Luba Somits, director of Chester County Department of Aging, and Secretary of Agriculture Samuel Hayes Jr. agree that the $3.5 million devoted to the senior citizen farmers’ marketing program will help ensure that older people receive nutritious produce. consumers to frequent roadside stands. These monies and the resulting promotion did not exist a few years ago, said Hayes, who has been a strong force in promoting Pennsylvania’s agriculture. More than 150,000 women and children have benefitted from the WIC Women’s, Infants, and Children’s program, which pro vides dollars to families to buy produce from farm markets. “The population who are in their older years also need good nutrition but don’t always have the resources to provide it,” Hayes said. Last year, a pilot project targeted $lB,OOO for growers to provide produce to senior citizens in Chester County. The program was a tremen dous success,” Hayes said. “I’m happy to report that it is no long er a pilot project, but a program that citizens in all 67 counties can participate. $3.5 million has been (Turn to Page B 14) John Yoder and his sister Anne are commended for providing top quality produce on Highland Ridge Farm by Sec. of Agriculture Sam Hayes Jr. and William Troxell, left, ex ecutive secretary for Pennsylvania Vegetable Marketing and Research Program. New Life For Sweltering ftnwctt tßartteas LOU ANN GOOD Food And Family Features Editor MANHEIM (Lancaster Co.) Springtime blooms burst forth with color and hopes for a flower ing garden until fall frost, but sweltering temperatures and rainless weeks have quenched even the hardiest hopes and flow ers in southeastern Pennsylvania. Take Marion Bowlan’s profuse gardening efforts in Manheim. She’s a proverbial green thumb who has profited from numerous landscaping classes offered at Longwood Gardens. She plots • a well-defined di agram of her ever evolving gar dens. She immerses herself in studying gardening books like some people read novels. She knows that planting masses of flowers are more eye-catching than symmetrical designs. She knows the importance of select- Sunflowers continue to add cheery splashes of colors to gardens wilting from the dry, sweltering weather that dominates July. ing and placing the right plant in the right spot for its sun or shade loving attachments. Two years ago she designed and planted an area where the soil was typically moist. But both last year and this, the soil is a dusty dry. Last year she was able to water the plants and bushes to establish them, but this year the plants are struggling valiantly on their own. That’s because Bowlan’s well is showing signs of dryness. “It’s more important that we use the water for our cattle than for flowers,” Bowlan said. But she, like many other gar deners, are shuddering to think of the lasting damage the plants may suffer as the result of dry, hot weather. Although drought restrictions limit watering, plants can be wa tered with gray water (recycled dish water, etc.) and by bucket or hose within certain time limits (see your local jurisdiction). Wa tering will make a dramatic dif ference although nature’s rain is much more effective. However, if you, like Bowlan, cannot water your plants, there is little that can be done to produce beautiful blooms this season. Despite the weather condi tions, this is the time to take a critical look at your garden. Deadhead flowers. Cut back per ennials. Some will rebloom if cut back after the first bloom. During the blooming season. Bowlan will tag flowers, such as delphiniums and poppies, that produce colors that she especially likes so that when they turn to seed heads she knows which ones to collect. She scatters the seed on, the ground wherever she wants them to bloom the follow ing year. The seed does not need to be covered or watered. “I believe in doing the least amount of work, and I never had a problem with the flowers com ing up in the spring,” Bowlan said of scattering seed. However, she always saves some seed just in case. Bowlan also plants some in pots to transplant in specific places in September. This is the time to plant flow ering kale, cabbage, mums, and other fall flowers. Now is the time to determine what will be divided and trans planted. Do you need more color and height in select areas? It is easier to determine needed changes when plants are in place than when the garden is barren. “Fall is the time to plant, not spring,” Bowlan said. “I believe in planting perennials so that I don’t have to work planting an nuals every year.” She starts in early September to divide and transplant needed perennials. In her garden, Bowlan has a circular area that she accented with a circle of grass, but decided that a double row of peonies (Turn to Page B 14)
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