Weekend Gardening: Expert Tips For The Month Of June
June 9, 2012
Here are gardening tips for the month of June from the Santa Rosa County Extension Service:
Flowers
- Annuals to plant include celosia, coleus, crossandra, hollyhock, impatiens (pictured above), kalanchoe, nicotiana, ornamental pepper, portulaca, salvia, torenia, vinca and zinnia.
- Sow seeds of sunflowers. They are easy to grow if you have a sunny spot. Look for some of the new, dwarf varieties that can also be used as cut flowers.
- Remove old blooms (deadheading) to make flowers bloom longer.
- Allow the foliage on spring bulbs to grow. Do not cut it off until it turns yellow and falls over.
Trees and Shrubs
- Mature palms should receive an application of granular fertilizer. Use a special palm fertilizer that has an 8-2-12 +4Mg (magnesium) with micronutrients formulation. Apply one pound of fertilizer per 100 sq ft of canopy area or landscape area.
- Do any necessary pruning of junipers this month.
- Finish pruning the spring flowering shrubs such as azaleas, camellias, spiraeas, wisteria and forsythia by early June.
- This is the month to reproduce plants by budding.
- Check mulch around ornamental plants to be sure it’s two inches thick. Add mulch as needed to help keep weeds down and conserve water. Keep mulch one to two inches away from trunk or stem.
- Inspect maple trees, especially silver maple for infestations of maple soft scale. Look for a white substance with some black on one end. Individual maple scales are about 1/4 inch in diameter and resemble bird droppings. They occur mostly on leaves and can cause defoliation unless controlled.
- Inspect the undersides of azalea leaves for spider mites and lace bugs. If dry weather conditions exist, these insects can do some serious damage if not controlled.
- Check conifers for signs of bagworms. Call your local Extension Service for control measures.
Fruits and Nuts
- Harvest peaches, nectarines and plums as soon as they mature, before the squirrels and birds get to them
Vegetable Garden
- Side dress vegetable gardens with fertilizer containing nitrogen and potassium. A fertilizer such as a 15-0-15 can be used. Use approximately 2-3 cupfuls (1 to 1 ½ pounds) per 100 feet of row.
- Increase watering frequency and amount as tomatoes load up with fruit.
- Vegetables that can be planted outdoors include eggplant, lima beans, okra, southern peas, peppers and sweet potatoes.
- Sweet potatoes are started from plants or “draws”. Be sure to purchase only certified weevil free sweet potato plants.
- Check for the following pests and control them if necessary: tomato fruitworm, stinkbugs on vegetables and aphids on all new growth
Lawns
- Check for the lawn pests and control them if necessary: Spittlebugs in centipedegrass. They are more attracted to especially lush areas of the yard such as along septic drain fields and in areas where excessive nitrogen fertilizer has been used. Chinch bugs in St. Augustinegrass Sod webworm in all turf
- Start monitoring for mole cricket infestations and prepare for treatment.
Unopposed: Bill Slayton Wins District 5 Seat
June 9, 2012
District 5 Escambia County School Board member Bill Slayton won a second term in office Friday. No other candidate qualified to run for the seat by the Friday noon deadline for the 2012 General Election.
I’ve had 50 years in the Escambia County School District, from a student to an employee to a board member,” Slayton said Friday afternoon. “I’m very pleased with the inroads and successes we are seeing, especially in District 5.”
Recent FCAT and state End of Course exam results often showed a District 5 school from North Escambia at or near the top of the county’s schools in a variety of subjects.
“We have to raise the rest of the county to the level of District 5,” he said.
Slayton is a retired educator, with 36 years experience as an employee in the Escambia School District at Tate High School as a teacher, administrator, assistant principal and principal. He holds a bachelor’s degree and a Masters of Education Degree from the University of Southern Mississippi and an administrative certification from the University of West Florida.
He was a political newcomer four years ago when he was first elected to the school board, defeating Tom Harrell by about five percentage points.
Another school board member, District 4’s Patty Hightower is also returning to the board unopposed after no one qualified to run against her by Friday,
Rep. Superintendent Malcolm Thomas does have a challenger. Dem. Claudia Brown-Curry has qualified to run against him.
“We have the potential that the same board and superintendent will be in place for eight years,” Slayton said. “That’s super important. We agree and disagree in the right spirit and get things done.”
Cantonment Cowboy Football Registration Open
June 9, 2012
Registration is now open for the fall football season for the Cantonment Cowboys.
Players can register each Saturday from 9 a.m. until noon through August 4 at the Cantonment Cowboys Football Field at 681 Well Line Road.
For more information, visit www.cantonmentcowboys.org or www.facebook.com/CantonmentCowboys.
Wahoos Blank Barons 3-0
June 9, 2012
Tony Cingrani (1-0) set the stage for the Blue Wahoos on Friday night by fanning nine batters over six shutout innings, but the bats provided what proved to be more than enough support in the Wahoos 3-0 win over the Birmingham Barons at Regions Park.
Pensacola scored first when Ryan LaMarre came home on a sacrifice fly by Josh Fellhauer in the top of the first. Brodie Greene was the story offensively for the Blue Wahoos on the night. He made it 2-0 with his second home run of the season, a solo shot in the third. He finished the game 3-for-4 with a walk and two runs scored. He scored his second run on a ground ball to the shortstop in the fifth inning off the bat of Yordanys Perez to cap the Wahoos scoring.
Following Cingrani’s gem, Justin Freeman and Drew Hayes (S, 1) combined to work three scoreless innings in relief to nail down the win. Freeman struck out four batters over two innings, while Hayes retired three of four batters he faced in the ninth including a pair of strikeouts to earn his first save of the season.
All three Blue Wahoos runs were charged to Birmingham starter Cameron Bayne (5-5). He worked eight innings in the losing effort and allowed nine hits while issuing three walks. He struck out just one.
The Fish look to make it three in a row on Saturday night when they send right-hander Kyle Lotzkar (2-1, 3.03) to the mound against Barons righty Nestor Molina (4-4, 4.74). First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. from Regions Park.
By Tommy Thrall
Pictured top: Tony Cingrani struck out nine over six shutout innings for the Blue Wahoos. Photo by Chris Nelson for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Ransom’s Pittman Named Top School Social Studies Educator
June 9, 2012
The Escambia Area Council for Social Studies has named Annabelle Pittman of Ransom Middle School as their 2011-2012 Social Studies Educator of the Year for middle schools. She was presented her award at Ransom Middle School and will attend the State Social Studies Conference in the fall.
Scott: Families Can’t Afford Tuition Hikes
June 9, 2012
Gov. Rick Scott on Friday reiterated his stance against tuition hikes, as a number of state universities are planning.
Scott has called on universities to do more to prepare the workforce, but to do it with less.
“They have got to do the exact same thing … Florida households have had to do,” Scott said Friday morning on 97.3 The Sky radio in Gainesville. “We cannot continue to raise tuition constantly on the backs of our families,” Scott continued. “They cannot afford it…. I’m against raising tuition.”
The University of Florida Board of Trustees on Thursday moved to increase tuition by the full 15 percent allowed by law, though some trustees expressed some concern about the rising cost of a college education in the state.
By The News Service of Florida
Arrest In Murder of Domino’s Pizza Driver
June 9, 2012
A suspect is in custody in the murder of a 19-year old pizza delivery driver outside an Escambia County Domino’s Pizza.
Gary Demeatric Harrison, age 44 of Pensacola, is accused of attacking Tyler John Hinkle, a 2010 West Florida High School graduate, outside the Domino’s Pizza at 27 North Navy Boulevard on September 24, 2011. Hinkle was able to walk into the restaurant to seek help from co-workers before he collapsed and died a short time later at Baptist Hospital.
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office attempted to serve an arrest warrant on Harrison at his home Friday morning. While investigators were attempting to cuff Harrison, he was able to push away from them and flee on foot.
The manhunt lasted about an hour before Harrison was apprehended by K-9 Argo in a wooded area near 519 Paula Avenue. Harrison was transported to a local hospital where he was treated for minor injuries.
Harrison is being held without bond in the Escambia County Jail on the homicide warrant and an additional charge of resiting arrest.
Lawsuit Challenges Florida’s Voter Purge
June 9, 2012
Two naturalized citizens and a Hispanic advocacy group filed suit in federal court Friday to block elections officials from purging the state voting rolls of individuals suspected of being non-citizens.
Backed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida and the Lawyer’s Committee on Civil Rights Under Law, voters Murat Limage and Pamela Gomez and the Mi Familia Vota Education Fund said the purge violates the federal Voting Rights Act.
The state didn’t get the green light for the project from the U.S. Justice Department, which must preclear changes to voting laws and rules in five counties under the VRA because of a history of racial or language-based discrimination.
State officials have argued that approval is unnecessary; the Justice Department has already begun looking into the initiative.
“This is precisely why Congress has re-enacted, and why we continue to need, the Voting Rights Act — to prevent state officials from interfering with the constitutional rights of minorities,” ACLU Executive Director Howard Simon said in a statement announcing the suit. “We now look to the courts to stop the Scott administration from assaulting democracy by denying American citizens the right to vote.”
Gov. Rick Scott and Secretary of State Ken Detzner have defended the purge, which relies on a state database of driver’s license information to find likely non-citizens. Those names are then sent to the supervisors of elections, some of whom have contended the scrub is illegal, or at least faulty, and some of them have refused to carry it out.
Detzner’s office said it would review the lawsuit.
Supervisors of both parties have said some of those named on the list are actually U.S. citizens. State officials have countered that supervisors haven’t remove those people, so the check is working as intended.
“We are not aware of any eligible voters who have been removed from the voter rolls as a result of our efforts to ensure the integrity of Florida elections,” state Division of Elections spokesman Chris Cate said in an email.
But in continuing to push for the purge, the plaintiffs say, the state is making it more likely someone will be wrongly removed.
“Defendant is proceeding to implement the new voter purge procedures notwithstanding: 1) widely-reported information showing that the targeting procedure is highly inaccurate; 2) strong opposition from numerous Florida county Supervisors of Elections; and 3) formal notice by the United States Department of Justice that Defendant’s implementation of the procedures appear to violate Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act,” the lawsuit says.
While Gomez hasn’t actually received a letter notifying her that she could be removed from the rolls, she says she is concerned that the purge could target her because she got a driver’s license before becoming a citizen. Limage did receive a letter.
“When I received the letter saying that they had information that I may not be a citizen, I was concerned that someone was taking away my citizenship,” he said in the ACLU news release. “I’m an American which means I can vote and that’s all I want to do.”
By The News Service of Florida
Video: Watch BP Burglary
June 8, 2012
Surveillance video from burglary at Davisville BP about 9:20 p.m. on June 7, 2012.
Caught On Video: Davisville BP Burglarized
June 8, 2012
A burglary Thursday night at a Davisville convenience store is under investigation.
When the clerk at the Korner Kwik Stop (BP) on Highway 97 in Davisville reported for work about 4:30 Friday morning, she found that someone had broken out a window of the store. The store’s surveillance video shows a white male busting out the window about 9:20 p.m. Thursday, just after the store closed at 9 p.m.
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For a photo gallery showing the burglary and the investigation, click here.
The man arrives in a white extended cab pickup truck with an emblem or phrase over the front windshield. He parks in front of the store and spends several minutes in the truck. He exits and takes hammer to break out the window. He also tried unsuccessfully to break out the door glass. He then jumps through the broken window, rummages around behind the counter and tosses cigarettes and rolls of coins outside. He also tries unsuccessfully to push buttons in order to open the cash register.
While inside the store, he is seen using what appears to be towel in his hand in attempt not to leave fingerprints, but he can be seen on the video touching several items without the towel.
He was wearing a light colored t-shirt, long shorts that may have been swim shorts, flip-flops and has a striped towel over his head. At one point, the towel slips off his head showing most of this face on the video.
He appeared to flee the scene in the white pickup southbound on Highway 97.
The burglary is under investigation by the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office. A crime scene technician processing the scene was observed taking blood samples from the broken glass and apparently removing multiple fingerprints from the scene Friday morning.
Anyone with information about the burglary is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (850) 433-STOP (7867) or the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office at (850) 436-9620.
NorthEscambia.com will post the surveillance video later today showing the burglar in action.
NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
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