University of Illinois Extension is once again presenting the Four Seasons Gardening program. Three seminars for each of the four seasons are offered.

The first session of the winter series is titled Healthy Soil Equals Healthy Plants and focuses on improving garden soil and how plants respond. The program is being offered twice, on Tuesday, Jan. 29 at 1 pm and again on Thursday, Jan. 31 at 7 pm. Both sessions will be held at both the Elizabeth and Mt. Carroll Extension offices.

Tony Bratsch, U of I Extension educator, will present the program via teleconference. The seminar features a color slide presentation accompanied by the voice of the instructor as people from all over the state participate.

Other topics in the winter series include Carnivorous Plants, set for Tuesday, Feb. 12, at 1 pm and again on Thursday, Feb. 14 at 7 pm. The winter series concludes with Climbers and Twiners: Vines for the Home Garden scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 26 at 1 pm and again

Thursday, Feb. 28 at 7 pm. Cost per session is $5. or attend the entire 3-part winter series for $12.

Advance registration is needed. Phone or email your county extension office for details. In Jo Daviess County call 815-858-2273 and in Carroll County call 815-244-9444. The email address for both offices is:

http://web.extension.uiuc.edu/jdc

When using a fresh pineapple, don't throw away the leafy top portion of the fruit. The leafy top can be rooted and turned into a unique houseplant.

Select a fresh pineapple with attractive, green foliage. At home, cut off the top about 1/2 inch below the cluster of leaves. Trim away the outer portion of the pineapple top leaving the tough, stringy core attached to the leaves. Also, remove a few of the lowest leaves. It should then be allowed to dry for several days.

The drying period allows the moist core tissue to dry and discourages rotting. After drying, insert the pineapple top into perlite, vermiculite, or coarse sand up to the base of its leaves. Water the rooting medium, keeping it moist, but not wet, during the rooting period. Finally, place the pineapple top in bright, indirect light. Rooting should occur in 6 to 8 weeks.

When the pineapple has developed a good root system carefully remove it from the rooting medium. Plant the rooted pineapple in a light, well-drained potting mix. Water well and then place it in bright, indirect light for 2 to 3 weeks.

After the 2 to 3 week period, place in a sunny window keeping the potting mix moist with regular watering. Using a soluble houseplant fertilizer, fertilize the plant once or twice a month in spring and summer, but only once a month in fall and winter.

The plant can go outside in late May, but must come back indoors before the first fall frost.

Pineapples are slow growing plants, most will mature in 2 to 3 years. At maturity, pineapples are capable of blooming. To encourage flowering, place the mature plant and an apple in a plastic bag for 3 or 4 days. The apple gives off ethylene gas, which stimulates the flowering. Flowering (hopefully) should occur within 2 to 3 months of the treatment.

- Iowa State University

Four of the more popular Illinois Master Gardener Winter Workshops in our area are currently being planned:

Carroll County MGs will lead off with their "Know and Grow" scheduled for mid-February.

Both Stephenson County's "Joy of Gardening" and Rock Island County's "Nursery School" are scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 23. By the way, you will be able to register for "Nursery School" on line although the full schedule is not ready as of this writing.

Jo Daviess County's "Growing of the Green" is scheduled for Saturday, March 15.

Full details will be available in the Jan/Feb edition of Good Growing.

These workshops are excellent opportunities to learn more about gardening in all its forms and are presented in the spirit of Master Gardeners: Helping others learn to grow.

Over the years I have given many programs about garden design. The classrooms are filled with a combination of frustrated and hopeful gardeners. They are either so frustrated the cement is on order, or they are novices and don't know enough to be frustrated yet.

I have come up with a few tips that will hopefully make gardening more fun and rewarding.

First of all, learn to love your yard--even those quirky shady areas, wet spots and areas where the tree roots stick out. Certainly some changes can be made short of a bulldozer, but resolve now to quit fighting what is there. Work with what you have. Remember in this ball game, Mother Nature bats last.

I often hear the lamenting of the sunless. They have all shade in their garden and yet the sun loving plants call to them like the Sirens beckoning Odysseus into the rocks. Well, about the time August around I wish I had more shade in my garden. It's nice to be able to work outside without the sun beating down on my head. Plus, there are hundreds of plants that grow well in the shade including some delightful new cultivars of Coralbells, Lungwort and Hosta. Get to know them.

I also hear the groaning of the clay people. Clay soils are a challenge. They tend to stay wet longer than loamy soils and when they do dry, they are difficult to wet. Clay is also more subject to compaction from traffic. Clay soils are easily abused, with a yard of bricks as the outcome.

Clay does not mean you can't have a beautiful garden. There are many places in the U.S. where clay is all they have, and they still have wonderful gardens. Plant selection is very important as well as paying attention to the land topography. If you are a clay person, get to know every form of organic matter possible to add to your garden. Remember gardens evolve. They will not look exactly like you planned. As you plant you will make changes. Each year it will look different, whether you want it to or not. Some things will do well and others will languish. If you expect your garden to be a constant like your living room with each item carefully placed and selected for color and size, then your garden will constantly frustrate you. Just imagine the couch getting bigger every year as it overtakes the end tables.

Maintenance can make or break a garden. Be realistic about the time you have for maintenance. You may have a beautiful design with great plant selection, but it will quickly fall apart if it isn't maintained. Actually another word for maintenance is therapy, but no one wants to be in the doctor's office all day.

Mulch, mulch, mulch. It reduces weeding, watering, moderates soil temperatures and then decomposes.

- Sandra Mason, Unit Educator, Horticulture and Environment Champaign County

Will banana peels in the planting hole help your roses? Does planting on Good Friday ensure a bountiful harvest? Garden folklore represents the collective wisdom of all gardeners who came before us. Although much of it has no real basis in scientific fact, it's nevertheless interesting and in some cases may even be useful and practical. Master gardener Paul James takes a look at what's true and what's not.

a Placing several banana peels in the planting hole was popular among rose growers in the 18^th century, but they had no idea why the peels seemed to yield healthier roses. Today, we know that banana peels contain many useful nutrients, including calcium, magnesium, sulfur, phosphates and sodium. The peels rot quickly, which means these nutrients are readily available to the plant.

a Gardeners and farmers thought that Good Friday was the best day of planting because it was the only day of the year when the devil was though to be powerless. Parsley is notoriously slow to germinate, and very often gardeners would make three sowings–two for the devil and one for the gardener–before getting a crop to come up. They even poured boiling water over the soil before planting to deter the devil and that technique may have actually helped, since parsley germinates faster in warmer soils.

a Before the advent of commercial fertilizers, gardeners used all sorts of things to boost the nutrient value of their soils–from animal carcasses and manures to beer and even milk. Beer was especially popular in old England, where gardeners routinely doused their cabbages with their favorite fermented hops. Today, fertilizers made of blood meal and bone meal as well as barnyard manure remain popular; however, today's beer, which contains chemicals not found in Britain's early brews, may actually harm plants. Diluted milk is still used by some gardeners, especially those who grow prized pumpkins, which seem to benefit from the proteins found in the milk. And some gardeners favor milk's fungicidal qualities.

a Synthetic rooting hormone is used to stimulate root growth in cuttings of all kinds. A long time ago gardeners didn't know what a hormone was, but they did know that tea made from willow stems would enable cuttings to root a lot faster. These prophetic propagators would put several pieces of cut willow stems in a container and add enough warm water to cover the stems by about an inch. After a couple of days, they removed the stems and dipped their cuttings in the tea before planting. The willow water contains a growth hormone called indolebutyric acid, which is an active ingredient in the synthetic rooting compounds sold today. Many gardeners still prefer to use willow tea over commercial products, which are fairly expensive.

a In more recent times, James' maternal grandfather, used nails as a means of boosting the iron content in soil. He would toss a handful of nails into the planting hole for a tree; as the nails rusted, they released their iron. "While there's some degree of scientific merit to the practice, it isn't something I'd encourage anyone to do," says James. "There are plenty of iron supplements on the market today, the last thing we need to be doing is littering our soil with rusty nails."

Savvy gardeners know that one of the best indicators of when to plant certain seeds is soil temperature, which is easily measured with a soil thermometer. But the modern thermometer wasn't invented until 1714. The association between soil temperature and seed germination rates wasn't established for at least another 150 years or so after that.

So how did gardeners of the area know when it was safe to plant? They had a saying that is one of James' folklore favorites: "If you can sit on the ground with your trousers down, it's safe to sow your seeds.

You may have noticed that Mr. James in the article above is referred to as a Master gardener. The title Master Gardener is a trademarked name referring to someone who has taken horticulture training through a State Extension Service and has completed the required hours of volunteer service each year.

- HGTV Website

Give your foliage houseplants a bath. Dust can reduce light penetration. Let them sit under a shower for a few seconds to remove the dust.