June is accordion awareness month, as well as candy, dairy and papaya month.
 
Remove tops of spring-flowering bulbs after they have yellowed and withered. 

In early times, crabapples were grown for the fruit to be used for jellies. 

Cashews are rich in copper (key for immunity) and magnesium (healthy blood pressure and blood sugar levels) 

If squirrels are a problem at the bird feeder, try using food they don’t like. While squirrels love birdseed, nuts, sunflower seeds, fruit and corn, they dislike safflower seed nyjer seed and white proso millet. 

A necktie used to be one of the ultimate gifts for Father’s Day. But did you know that neckties could date as far back as 221 B.C.? When Chin Shi Huang, China’s first emperor, and his “terracotta army” were discovered, each replica was wearing a necktie.  

99% of Libya is desert. 

In Catholic countries of Europe, Father’s Day has been celebrated on March 19 as Saint Joseph's Day since the Middle Ages. In the United States, Father's Day was founded by Sonora Smart Dodd and celebrated on the third Sunday of June for the first time in 1910.Continue planting carrots, beans, and sweet corn for successive harvest.
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Frederick Law Olmsted is regarded as the father of landscape architecture. He showed the country the importance of public parks, laying the groundwork for America's National Park system.

On April 15, 1912 the Titanic, believed to be unsinkable, hit an iceberg and sank 2 hours and 40 minutes later. Unfortunately, there we too few lifeboats to save everyone and only about 700 of the 2,224 passengers were rescued.

Plant seeds of cool-season crops directly in the garden as soon as the soil dries enough to be worked. When squeezed, soil should crumble instead of forming a ball. Cool-season crops that can be direct-seeded include peas, lettuce, spinach, carrots, beets, turnips, parsnips and Swiss chard.

Nylon stockings can be used to tie up tomato plants. The give in the nylon will allow the plant to grow without strangulation.

Grass stains on your fabric shoes can be cleaned with baking soda. Dip a wet toothbrush into some baking soda and brush vigorously. Rinse well and dry out of the sun. No baking soda? Use white, non-gel toothpaste instead.

Plant indoors seeds of warm-season plants, including tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, marigolds, zinnias and petunias for planting outdoors later.

Hummingbirds do not have a sense of smell. They locate their food by eyesight.

In your garden select plants you like to eat otherwise it’s a waste of space, time and food. Also make sure the crops you select will do well in your growing area.

Try attaching a slinky to the top of your bird feeder pole to keep squirrels from scaling it.
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Arbor Day sprouted from the mind of a zealous tree lover named Julius Sterling Morton, who had a passion for planting all kinds of trees.  The first Arbor Day occurred on April 10, 1872, in Nebraska City, Nebraska. It’s estimated that nearly one million trees were planted on this day.

Instead of roaring like other big cats, Cheetahs purr.

Each year March and June end on the same day of the week.

Baby birds learn to sing during the spring. Although they are born with the ability to sing they must learn the specific songs of their species. They often learn their songs within two months of being born.

Potatoes were illegal in France for 24 years. In 1748 the French Parliament forbade the cultivation of the potato on the grounds that it was thought to cause leprosy. This law remained in effect until 1772.

Stanford researchers found that beer bubbles create a gravity-defying loop. Bubbles head up in the center where frictional drag from the glass is less and down on the outside as the top gets crowded.

Plant seedlings of cool season vegetables and flowers as soon as the soil is dry enough to work. These include broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, peas, spinach, lettuces, radishes and beets.

The idea behind “Gardening by the Moon” is that the cycles of the Moon affect plant growth. Just as the Moon’s gravitational pull causes tides to rise and fall, it also affects moisture in the soil. It’s said that seeds will absorb more water during the full Moon and the new Moon, when more moisture is pulled to the soil surface. This causes seeds to swell, resulting in greater germination and better-established plants.

Houseflies don’t like sweet clover. Fill a few cheesecloth-mesh bags with the herb and hang them around the room.

Native Indiana plants are born survivors, hiding 2/3 of their growth underground. Roots and root hairs beneath a square yard of tall grass are said to stretch 20 miles end to end.

The first successful goldfish farm in the United States was opened in Martinsville, Indiana in 1899.

Botanically speaking, a fig isn’t one fruit, but hundreds. Each seed inside—and the flesh around it—is a tiny fruit.

February is named for the Latin word februum which means purification.

Start onions from seed now. They’ll be ready for setting out in April. Also, it’s a good time to start parsley indoors.

Prune fruit trees, berry plants and grapevines.

The use of garlic is mentioned in early Sanskrit 5,000 years ago. Garlic was buried along side King Tut and was eaten by Roman athletes and Egyptian pyramid builders.

When organic material used for mulch has been composted improperly, it may sour, becoming toxic to bedding plants and newly planted shrubs.

Dentist William Morrison and confectioner John C. Wharton invented machine-spun cotton candy in 1897. It was first introduced at the 1904 World's Fair as "Fairy Floss." 

One inch of rain on an acre of ground, amounts to 27.154 gallons of water.

Move houseplants to brighter windows but don’t place in drafty places or against cold windowpanes.

One of the earliest known vacuum cleaners was so large that it had to be hauled from house to house via a horse-drawn carriage.

When Baron de Coubertin designed the Olympic flag in the early 1900s, he was very intentional with his creation. At least one of the colors on the Olympic flag appears on the flags of every nation that competed in the games at the time. 

On January 4, 2022, Earth reaches perihelion, which is the point in the planet’s orbit where it is closest to the Sun at 91,406,842 miles.

Hypothermia is a condition when the body temperature falls below normal. If we’re too cold the body starts shivering. When shivering, our muscles are trying to generate heat to keep the body at the normal 98.6 degrees.

The albedo, or reflective property, of fresh snow is typically around 87 percent which can cause snow blindness. Wear your sunglasses even on a snowy day!

January is the best time to start planning your garden for the upcoming season. Send for seed and nursery catalogs and start sketching your garden on paper including what to grow, spacing, arrangement and number of plants needed. Order early for best selection.

Cardamom is a member of the ginger family with a warm, spicy-sweet flavor. It is great in desserts, baked goods and gingerbread, but also curries and pickled foods. Cardamom contains limonene, an antioxidant that’s believed to slow tumor progression and detoxify cancer promoting agents.

When it’s especially cold out, your door locks might stick. Hand sanitizer is always a good thing to keep on-hand to prevent the spread of germs, but it’s also super useful for heating up frozen locks. The alcohol in the gel acts as a natural de-icer.

Plantains and bananas are two separate species, but they belong to the same genus, Musa. Combined, the two are the world’s largest fruit crop.

To avoid a stray dog, walk away from it slowly and quietly. Never run away. Do not stare into the dog’s eyes. If attacked by a dog don’t run and scream. Stand still with your arms at your side. Don’t make eye contact or talk to the dog. If you are knocked over, curl into a ball and put your hands over your ears.

Spray your dustpan with furniture wax. As you dump the contents of the dustpan, the dust will slide right off.
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Patents for the first fax machine dates back to 1843; thirty years before the telephone was invented.

On December 21st, 45 minutes after sunset the two largest planets, Jupiter and Saturn, will be so close to one another in the sky that they will appear to be fused into a single point of light. This “Star of Bethlehem” was last seen 800 years ago in 1226. 

Look to the southwestern sky. Jupiter will look like a bright star and will be easily visible. Saturn will be slightly fainter and will appear slightly above and to the left of Jupiter until December 21, when Jupiter will overtake it and they will reverse positions in the sky.
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This miraculous phenomenon will not be repeated again until March 15, 2080 and then it will not happen again until after 2,400.

Protect shrubs, such as junipers and arborvitae, from extensive snow loads by tying their stems together with twine. Carefully remove heavy snow with a broom to prevent limb breakage.

When shopping for a Christmas tree, check for green, flexible, firmly held needles and a sticky trunk base. Lift the tree then hit it against the ground. If the outside needles don’t fall off in clumps, the tree should be fresh.

The fastest gust of wind ever recorded on Earth was 253 miles per hour.

One of the first decorated trees appeared in 1832 in Boston adorned with gilded and colored eggshell cups, paper cones filled with nuts, crystallized fruit and candy, moss, seven dozen wax candles and “dolls and whimsies”.

As a result of the pandemic, Americans are both cooking (54%) and baking (46%) more.

Mincemeat pie is filled with rich and exotic spices representing the treasures the Three Wise Men brought to Christ.

An ancient legend states that forest animals can speak in human language on Christmas Eve!

The first Winter Olympics were held in Chamonix, France, in 1924.

As a means of communicating and storing ideas, knowledge, art, and culture, paper is one of the most important and consequential artifacts of human civilization.
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In the 10th century, men in Europe wore high heels to make it easier to ride their horses. Adding heels to their boots made it easier to stay in their stirrups.