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Saturday, June 6, 2015An Advertising Feature of
The Topeka Capital-Journal
REALTOR
hom
es.c
jonl
ine.
com
Jamie Hancock Garden Column 2Kitchen of the future in the
present 5
Grow your best tomato yet 7Color trends roadshow Steve
Shorthouse 8
TCJ Pin of the Week 10Shelter Living house gets laundry room
update 13
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2 | Saturday, June 6, 2015 | The Topeka Capital-Journal | At
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What ails your tomato plants?
This article is for tomato growers ev-erywhere! Well, at least
those in Kansas.
Tomatoes are one of the easiest and most popular plants to grow
and can also, at times, be very frustrating. If you have ever had a
tomato that rotted on the vine, a tomato leaf with spots, or a
tomato plant that wilted and died the articles this week and next
are for you. (That should be just about every tomato grower in
Kansas.)
Here is some information about physi-ological disorders, fungi,
and bacteria in-fections of tomatoes, how to avoid them, and how to
control them.
Physiological disordersThese are not caused by fungus or
bac-
teria but rather by cultural or environ-mental issues.
Blossom End Rot is due to lack of calcium
and happens during hot, dry weather. It appears as a sunken
water-soaked lesion near the blossom end of the fruit. The le-sion
turns black and creates a flat end on the tomato. This rot occurs
when there is rapid plant growth and quick fluctuations in soil
moisture. Calcium, even though it may be ample in the soil, is not
able to be absorbed by the plant. Provide even and adequate soil
moisture, especially dur-ing fruit set. Mulching can help maintain
moisture. Throw away the first tomatoes that have this problem. The
next tomatoes should be fine.
Blossom Drop can occur below 60 de-grees or above 90
degrees.
Cracking on fruit happens with sudden summer rains or watering
after a drought. The fruit is expanding more rapidly than its skin.
Pick fruits in the pink stage and allow them to ripen indoors.
(Tomatoes do not ripen better on the vine.)
Weed spray damage occurs when phe-noxy herbicides like 2,4-D are
sprayed too close to the tomato plant. Leaves can twist and become
distorted. The plant can survive a light exposure and produce new,
normal leaves in a few weeks. Heavier doses of 2,4-D may not kill
the plant but, can stunt its growth and cause it not to
produce much fruit.Fungal diseasesSeptoria Leaf Spot and Early
Blight are
the most common fungal diseases. Both occur anytime in the
growing season and make leaf spots typically on older leaves first
nearest to the ground. Leaves fall off and fruit can become
sunscalded.
Septoria Leaf Spots are SMALL water-soaked spots with centers of
spots turning tan or gray with the margins remaining dark. Heavily
infected plants may scorch and wilt giving the appearance of a wilt
disease.
Early Blight leaf spots are up to inch in diameter. They are
brown, irregular in shape, and have dark concentric rings in-side
the brown area.
Anthracnose is a frequent problem in the latter part of the
growing season on rip-ening tomatoes. Small circular, slightly
sunken lesions appear on the surface of the ripening fruit. The
spots quickly en-large, become bruise-like depressions, and develop
a water-soaked appearance.
Fungal controlHere are several fungicides that have
been shown to help control these fungal
HANCOCK continues on 4A
[email protected]
Jamie Hancock
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diseases. Fertilome Broad Spectrum Fun-gicide, Ortho Garden
Disease Control, Garden Tech Daconil Fungicide Concen-trate and
Hi-Yield Maneb Garden Fun-gicide. These are usually applied when
symptoms appear. Read the label and fol-low directions.
Bacterial diseasesBacterial Speck and Spot are not com-
mon, but they can cause serious damage during wet growing
seasons. Both dis-eases form spots on fruits and leaves. A heavy
infection can cause leaf drop, but the main effect is reduction of
fruit qual-ity. Both diseases cause 1/8 to inch black
spots usually with yellow halos to form on the leaves. Bacterial
Spot on the fruit ap-pears in spots up to inch in diameter and
become very rough and cracked. Bac-terial Speck lesions are much
smaller (1/16 inch) and do not crack or become scaly. Bacterial
Speck happens in cool (65-75 de-grees), in wet conditions while
Bacterial Spot likes warmer temperatures (75-85 degrees), heavy
rainfall, and high relative humidity.
Bacterial disease controlChemical control of bacterial disease
is
inconsistent. Bacteria reproduce extreme-ly fast making it
difficult to manage an epi-demic. Therefore, there is not a lot of
help with bacterial diseases.
Control measuresSanitation, sanitation, sanitation! To-
mato diseases can overwinter in all kinds of plant debris
including weeds. Clean out the garden and do not compost any
dis-eased plants.
Avoid planting tomatoes in the same area of the garden year
after year.
Buy healthy, clean seed and transplants in the spring.
Avoid overhead watering. This will help reduce humidity and leaf
wetness.
Stake or cage plants to improve airflow which will reduce fungal
activity.
Avoid rain splash transfer of diseases by mulching.
Use fungicides when symptoms appear.
Next week I will talk about soil borne tomato wilt diseases, the
resistant variet-ies you should be buying, and insects that attack
tomatoes.
Note: Shade Gardening is the topic at the Topeka/Shawnee County
Public Library Master Gardener seminar, June 11 at 7:00 PM.
Note: Drip Irrigation will be presented at the Topeka/Shawnee
County Public Library on June 25th at 7:00 PM.
Jamie Hancock is a horticulturist with Kansas State University
Research and Extension in Shawnee County.
Continued from 2A
Hancock: Keeping your tomatoes producing
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By Todd EppSpecial to The Topeka Capital-Journal
Remember in the old Star Trek episodes where Scotty would order
from the food processor and the grub would magically show up?
Science fiction, meet reality.The Urban Cultivator may not go
quite
that far and make you scrambled eggs and bacon. Still, it can
give you a in-home source of fresh greens and herbs.
Brand new to the Topeka market, the easiest way to describe an
Urban Cultiva-tor is that it looks like a dish washing ma-chine or
a wine cooler.
Owners can also use the Canadian in-vention to start seeds for
replanting. Introduced in 2012, the unit provides a controlled
growing environment. The cultivators are plumbed for watering and
draining and can go under a counter. There are also stand-alone
units.
Lynda Fisher, co-owner of the Counter-top Shoppe in Topeka, just
got a display unit in the last month after seeing one at a trade
show in Las Vegas. She says her farming results have been better
than expected. The cultivators are new to the
Topeka market.We are on our second round of crops
and are amazed at how fast we are able to harvest, Fisher said.
In less than five
GREENS continues on 6A
At Home | The Topeka Capital-Journal | Saturday, June 6, 2015 |
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Kitchens of the future in the present
PhoTo PRovidEd By ThE CouNTERToP ShoPPE
The Urban Cultivator in a modern kitchen - growing herbs and
greens without pesticides and chemicals.
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days, we have fresh microgreens to share in healthy smoothies or
herbs for our showroom visitors to experience.
Microgreens isnt a botanical term but a marketing term,
according to the SteamyKitchen.com. Think of micro-greens as baby
plants that have just emerged from the ground and arent yet an
adult plant. In other words, they have just developed their first
set of true leaves but they are not a mature plant. And, you can
usually eat the whole plant.
For gourmands, the unit provides the flexibility to grow fresh,
hard to find herbs. For those who fancy Japanese cooking, that
means fresh komatsuna, which isnt easy to find in the area.
Fishers crop included broccoli sprouts, which she says tasted
just like full-sized broccoli heads. Shes also grown peas,
wheatgrass and cilantro. She says you can also grow mushrooms or
edible
flowers used for decorative purposes.The foods and herbs shes
growing in
her Urban Cultivator are part of what Fisher says is the zero
mile food move-ment. In other words, these are foods that are grown
in or close to home and dont need shipping and storage.
Some greens lose up to half their nu-tritional value within days
of harvesting, Fisher said. The cultivator allows har-vesting
moments before eating. She also adds that the units do not need
pesticides or chemicals.
Thats the good newsfresh foods, more nutrition and
convenience.
The bad news is the price.A four-tray residential unit costs
$2,499
and a 16-tray commercial unit costs $8,799, according to Fisher.
Still, Fisher hopes the Urban Cultivators will come down in price
much like other technologies have.
Already, Urban Cultivators are popular in Canada, especially in
Vancouver. There, Fisher says top chefs are using the devices
in their commercial kitchens.As to dcor, according to the Urban
Cul-
tivator website, the units come in various butcher block and
door options. The com-pany says custom door logos are available for
businesses that use the residential model.
To learn more about the Urban Cultiva-tor, browse
UrbanCultivator.net. To learn more about the zero mile diet, go to
An Overview of the Zero Mile Diet at ecolife.com. To learn more
about microgreens, go to Grow: Difference Between Micro-greens,
Sprouts and Baby Greens. To learn more about the Countertop Shoppe,
browse mycountertopshoppe.com or visit their showroom at 5501 SW
29th Street in Topeka.
Continued from 5A
Greens: Have fresh herbs and greens always on hand
IvAn WupI/uRBAn CuLATIvATOR
Modern bright kitchen interior 3d render
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By Melinda MyersAuthor and columnist
Nothing beats the flavor of fresh-from-the-garden tomatoes. Make
this your big-gest and tastiest tomato harvest yet with proper
planting and care.
Reduce pest problems and increase the harvest by growing your
tomatoes in a sunny location with well-drained soil or in a quality
potting mix for container gar-dens. Improve your garden soil by
adding several inches of organic matter to the top eight to twelve
inches of soil prior to plant-ing. Compost, aged manure, and other
organic materials help improve drainage in heavy clay soil and
increase the water holding ability of sandy soil.
Add a slow release organic nitrogen fer-
tilizer like Milorganite (milorganite.com) according to label
directions at planting. Slow release fertilizers provide a constant
diet that is better for your plants and less work for you. Save
yourself more time by mixing the fertilizer into the soil when
in-corporating the organic matter. Then give your plants a
midseason boost as needed.
Once the soil is prepared, wait for the air and soil to warm to
plant your toma-toes. Planting too early when the soil is still
cool and the nights are chilly can stress the plant and delay your
harvest.
Plant your tomatoes slightly deeper or in a trench for better
rooting. Trench to-matoes by digging a shallow trench about 3 to 4
inches deep. Remove the lower leaves and lay the plant on its side
in the hole. Roots will eventually form along the
stem. Carefully bend the stem, so the up-per leaves will be
above the soil. Fill the trench with soil and water.
Stake or tower your tomatoes to reduce insect and disease
problems and make harvesting easier. The type of tomato and your
schedule will help determine the training system that works best
for you.
Determinate tomatoes (look for the D on the tag) grow a certain
height and stop. They work well in towers, containers or even
hanging baskets. Indeterminate to-matoes, labeled with an I, keep
growing taller, producing more flowers and fruit until the end of
the growing season. These do best when grown on tall sturdy stakes
or extra tall strong towers.
Towering tomatoes is easy. Simply place the tower over the
tomatoes at planting.
Tomatoes grown in towers produce a larg-er, but later harvest
than staked tomato plants.
Allow a bit more time if you decide to stake your plants. Place
the stake in the ground at planting. Be careful not to injure the
roots. As the plants begin to grow prune off all side branches,
suckers, that develop between the main stem and leaves. Loosely tie
the remaining one or two stems to the stake. Cloth strips, twine or
other soft ties work well. Keep tying up the plants as they
continue to grow. Staked tomatoes produce the earliest and smallest
harvest.
Check new plantings every few days and water often enough to
keep the develop-ing root system moist. Reduce frequency
TOMATO continues on 9A
Grow your best tomato yet
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By Linda A. DitchSpecial to The Capital-Journal
Thinking of adding a touch of color to your home? Maybe you want
to spruce-up a room with a new color scheme? Perhaps you found a
throw pillow with colors you adore and now you want to add those
col-ors to the walls?
Interior Designer Steve Shorthouse can help. He is returning to
ColorWorks Paint and Supply on Wednesday, June 10 for this years
Color Trends presentation by PPG Pittsburgh Paints. He said, I will
pres-ent the four color trends for 2015 and give tips on how to
choose a color for your home. After the presentation, people can
show me a specific item, such as pil-lows, pictures or other
pieces, and I can help them pick a color for their room.
Shorthouse was the color-marketing manager at PPG Pittsburgh
Paints, which is the primary paint line at ColorWorks. He has been
in the design business for almost nine years, and three years ago
started his own company, DesignFive. He spends most of his time
traveling around North America giving color trend
presen-tations.
To determine each years trends, PPG Pittsburgh Paints compairs
information gathered by meeting with more than 20 color experts
from around the globe. These trends typically last in the
market-place between five and seven years, and in the home about
that same length of time.
Shorthouse noted color trends have
moved towards cooler, crisper, tones. Gray is defiantly the new
beige, he said. When people do colors, the colors are very pure,
with white as the trim.
Why do people have trouble picking colors for their home?
Shorthouse said, They are afraid to make a mistake. Then they are
too tentative and just choose something as a default. White is a
cop-out, unless its chosen on purpose. Then its genius!
Shorthouse also pointed out some addi-tional mistakes people
make when picking home colors:n Choosing a color based entirely
on
the tiny color sample chip. ColorWorks has eight-inch color
squares for customers
to use instead.n Getting a paint sample and then paint-
ing it right on top of the old color. Short-house explained,
Your eye has trouble seeing the new color and not being influ-enced
by the old color. Paint on a piece of wood instead and compare it
to the items that will be in the room.n Matching the color in an
item that is
too intense for the wall. This is especially true of yellow. It
needs to be softened. Lighter. It is not a good wall color. Find
something in the right color family in-stead, he said.
To explore color even more, Short-house recommended going to PPG
The Voice of Color website (www.ppgvoiceofcolor.com). There
visitors will find the latest color trends and tips, plus they can
upload a room photo to experiment with different
color combinations. Also, ColorWorks has an in-store digital
display that allows cus-tomers to see what their color choice will
look like on the wall in a room similar to the one at home.
Guests at the Color Trends event will enjoy refreshments and
receive a gift bag of items not typically available to consum-ers.
For those not able to attend, Short-house pointed out, The people
at ColorWorks are really good at helping customers pick colors.
They have a lot of experience in it and they know what the trends
are in Topeka.
Color trends roadshow Steve Shorthouse
PHOTO PROVIDED BY PPG PITTSBURGH
Steve Shorthouse will two color presenta-tions at Colorworks
Paint and Supply.
2015 Color TrendsColorworks Paint and Supply
4410 SW 21st Street 272-8818
Wednesday, June 101:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.
Must RSVP for seat
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as plants become established. Water es-tablished plants
thoroughly whenever the top few inches of soil are slightly moist.
Mulch the soil with evergreen needles, shredded leaves or other
organic mulch to keep the soil consistently moist and suppress
weeds. Consistent soil moisture encourages more flowering and
fruiting, while reducing the risk of blossom end rot, cracking and
misshapen fruit.
Harvest your tomatoes when fully col-ored. Leave them on the
plant an extra 5 or 6 days for even better flavor. Unfortu-nately,
the animals often move in and feast on the ripening fruit. In this
case, you may
need to finish ripening tomatoes indoors.And once you taste that
first red ripe
tomato, youll be looking for more sunny spots for containers or
to expand your gar-den.
Gardening expert, TV/radio host, author & columnist Melinda
Myers has more than 30 years of horticulture experience and has
written over 20 gardening books, including Cant Miss Small Space
Gardening and the Midwest Gardeners Handbook. She hosts The Great
Courses How to Grow Anything: Food Gardening For Everyone DVD
series and the nationally syndicated Melindas Garden Moment
segments. Myers is also a columnist and contributing editor for
Birds & Blooms magazine. Myers web site, www.melindamyers.com,
offers gardening videos and tips.
Continued from 7A
Tomato: Mulch will keep weeds at bay
photo provided by MelindA Myers, llC.
Plant tomatoes slightly deeper or in a trench for better
rooting.
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10 | Saturday, June 6, 2015 | The Topeka Capital-Journal | At
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Yard sale lamps, meet Funky FabricStep 1. Find Instructions for
a basic circle skirt over at MADE
(www.danamadeit.com/2010/09/the-circle-skirt-tutorial.html). Use
the circum-ference of your lamp as if it were the waist
Step 2. Make your pattern.
Step 3. Lay out super funky fabric.
Step 4. Cut out super funky cool fabric.
Step 5. Slice out some strips on the bias, sew them together to
make on long facing strip and zig-zag one long end and then sew it,
right sides together to the skirt. (Then, if youre a meticulous
mathematician, your skirt will fit the circumference of your lamp
shade perfectly.) But Bias Cut fabric is notorious and will stretch
on even the most brilliant seamstresses
Step 6. Just fold it over and tack it down.
From this...
To this...
And thats it! Fun and easy, easy and fun.
The Topeka Capital-Journal Pin of the Week
How to make a Circle Skirt Lamp Shade
Follow all of The Capital-Journal Pinterest boards
www.pinterest.com/tcjmedia
To get more information on this project and others, visit The
Topeka Capital-Journals At Home Living DIY: At Home Pinterest
board
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Service Directory
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By Shanna SloyerSpecial to The Capital-Journal
For more than 40 years, Sheltered Liv-ing has been serving
residents of Topeka and the surrounding areas. Their mis-sion is to
support the efforts of individu-als with intellectual disabilities
to achieve independence and actively participate in the community.
Some of the skills that residents of Sheltered Living learn include
lawn care, cleaning, and vehicle detailing, among other work tasks
that can be put to practical use.
When Topeka Hospital and KNI closed, Sheltered Living stepped up
to provide those services, said JoAnn Long, current Vice President
of Development.
We work with individuals who have no place to go.
According to Long, Sheltered Living currently owns 19 homes
throughout To-peka. Maintaining that many properties is
time-consuming and expensive. The or-ganization depends on
partnerships with businesses and groups in the community to keep
their programs running.
Sheltered Living recently partnered with Topeka Home Builders
Association (THBA) to undertake a remodel project in one of its
homes. Ivan Weichert, presi-dent of THBA, met Long at the home show
in March. They struck up a conversation about a need that Sheltered
Living had for additional storage space in a laundry area in the
house used for its Community
Integration Program, which provides day services for adult
clients.
The laundry room had a washer and dryer, but no storage, said
Weichert.
Long was requesting shelves and cabi-nets to store supplies and
laundry. Being able to organize the laundry room would benefit the
clients in the Supported Em-ployment Program, as they learned to
lo-cate and return supplies to their proper locations, as well as
the clients who used the house for day services.COMMUNITY continues
on 14A
Shelter Living home gets laundry room update
IVAN WEICHERT/TOPEKA HOME BUILDERS ASSOCIATION
JoAnn Long, Sheltered Living Vice Presi-dent of Development and
Jake Brown, owner Winston Brown Construction in the finished
laundry room.
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IVAN WEICHERT/TOPEKA HOME BUILDERS ASSOCIATION
The cabinets being installed in the laundry room in the
Sheltered Living home.
After presenting the idea to the Topeka Professional Remodelers
Council, which is a group of association members that in-cludes
plumbers, electricians, and build-ers, they decided as a group to
provide and install the cabinets needed. This isnt the first time
that THBA has reacted to a need in the community. The group has
partnered with other organizations and individuals over the
years.
Its a great bunch of guys in the coun-cil, said Weichert. I
think its great that
they take time out of their busy schedules to help.
Long points out that projects like this not only benefit the
clients of Sheltered Living, but the community as a whole.
Sheltered Living clients also give back to the community by
volunteering more than 800 hours per month.
They (THBA) indicated that we should keep in contact with them,
said Long. Topeka Home Builders Association has the expertise and
is willing to volunteer their advice. The partnership will
build.
Continued from 13A
Community: Taking time to help
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