On April 22, the 3rd Huntsville Brownies invited the Fairvern residents to join them for an Earth Day celebration in the Fairvern gardens.

The Earth Day celebration had many benefits to it, said Brownie pack leader Tracy Badger. “The Brownies are working on their Grow a Garden badge as well as the challenges in the Key to the Living World. As well, the Fairvern residents had indicated a desire to plant both flowers and vegetables in the gardens this year.”

The evening was sunny and comparatively warm in the gazebo, where master gardener Linda Dronseika was on hand to explain the plant-growing process, then helped the residents and Brownies to plant seeds and seedlings of marigolds, canna lilies, sweet peas and hanging petunias.

“It’s best to harvest seeds (from plants) when they are ripe and store them in paper,” said Dronseika, explaining, “Paper, as opposed to plastic, will keep the seeds dry, while plastic might retain moisture and rot the seeds.”

Seeds can take anywhere from weeks to months to sprout and grow to the point they can be planted or transplanted. “Petunias take a long time, marigolds are quicker.

 “Plants need three things to grow: light, water and a growing medium,” Dronseika said. “Plants take water and turn it into oxygen and hydrogen and use the hydrogen, combined with carbon dioxide, to make food.”

When planting, it’s helpful to add a soil conditioner and additive such as vermiculite, Dronseika added. “Plants don’t like it when the soil is too solid. They can’t get at all the oxygen and water that is trapped in the air spaces in the soil.”

 In keeping with the ‘green’ theme, Dronseika offered environmentally friendly options to the budding gardeners.

“Damping-off fungi affects plants at ground level and makes them die. One natural way to stop it is to sprinkle cinnamon,” she said.

As for plant propagation, there is no need to use a chemical rooting hormone, said Dronseika. “One can use willow cut into one inch pieces  and stuck into the potting soil. Willow contains is own natural rooting hormone.”

Handing the participants packages of jobe stix-type fertilizer to place in their finished containers, Dronseika said this method of plant feeding was economical and easy. “There is one type for green plants and another for flowers, and they are good for three months.”

The Earth Day initiative was in line with another event held last year at Fairvern, said Badger. “Then we had four staff members, two residents and a family member who planted 300 bulbs in the garden. These  are now beginning to bloom,” said Badger.

Greening up at Fairvern is not just limited to the grounds, however. “One of our 2008 goals and objectives is to look into green recycling for the home and to investigate how Fairvern – including staff, visitors and residents – can reduce fragrances,” said Badger.

This past week has been Administrative Professionals Week and Fairvern put its own stamp on the international theme Moving Forward, which focuses on career development. 

“Our twist was on moving forward and reducing our environmental footprint,” said Badger.

“We did not hand out anything except scrap pads made up of scrap paper. We challenged the staff to participate and give us their suggestions on how Fairvern can be greener and more environmentally responsible. We have made a contest out of it and will award staff for any suggestions implemented.”

A display board showing some of the examples put forward to date is set up for everyone’s perusal in the main lounge.