FOR RELEASE THE WEEK OF FEB. 11, 2001:
I prefer to eat heavier meals in cold weather than in warm weather, despite my better half’s advice to the contrary. Besides the obvious risks of indigestion and weight gain, I would think it would be natural and healthy for us to eat more in the winter. Am I wrong?
Alas, ‘tis never the season for overconsumption, says Martha Raidl, University of Idaho extension nutrition specialist. A study conducted with 1,986 recent heart-attack sufferers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston found that their risk of another heart attack roughly quadrupled for two hours after an unusually heavy meal. The risk was even higher–10 times–during the first hour following this meal, but the extra risk was almost gone after three hours.
"It’s important to keep in mind that the individuals in the study had a history of heart disease and were not healthy individuals," says Raidl. Nevertheless, the threat posed by "heart-attack-on-a-plate" meals is food for thought.
My 4- and 6-year-old kids resist bedtime almost every night. Should we wait until they’re good and tired or try to get them settled in at the same time every day?
Harriet Shaklee, University of Idaho extension family development specialist, votes for making a regular bedtime habit-forming. "Good habits help us at all stages of life," she says. "As parents, if we can get children’s habits working for us, it takes some of the stress out of parenting."
Bedtime struggles come at a particularly bad time of the day, when most parents are already fatigued and not showing the best side of their parenting. "These struggles can lead to unnecessary family friction at a time of day when peace is what you want and time for yourselves is what you deserve," she says.
Accustom your children to falling asleep and waking up at the same times every day. A bedtime routine–"one that is calming and gets everybody slowed down"–is essential. This might include a warm bath, followed by story-time once the children are snuggled in. The story could be an incentive in itself–or, you might devise a different one, such as adding stars to a wall chart every night that the children go promptly to bed. If they earn enough stars by the end of the week, let them do something special, like choosing a video the family will rent. Drop the incentive once the new routine is established.
"The function of an incentive is to get cooperation long enough to develop the new habit," Shaklee says. "New habits are hard to develop, but they’re worth it."
We just moved to Idaho from the Midwest and are wondering which perennials are best suited to our alkaline soils. We’d like to avoid a lot of trial-and-error gardening. What are our best bets?
Fortunately, you’ve got some excellent plants to choose from, says Wayne Jones, University of Idaho extension educator. Not only will they perform very nicely, but they’ll fill your landscape with terrific colors.
For your full-sun areas, try yarrow (Achillea), snow-in-summer (Cerastium), tickseed (Coreopsis), larkspur (Delphinium) and rose mallow (Hibiscus).
In partial shade, plant hollyhock (Alcea), columbine (Aquilegia), bellflower (Campanula), coneflower (Echinacea), blanket flower (Gaillardia), cranesbill geranium, baby’s breath (Gypsophila) and coral bells (Heuchera).
For more spring planting ideas, consult the Cooperative Extension educator or Master Gardener program in your county, or visit a local nursery that’s experienced in growing and selling plants in your area. Both are good sources of information on plants that do well under our more difficult growing conditions.
We had a mild case of Cooley’s spruce gall adelgid in our spruce trees last year. I understand that the only time you can effectively control them is in the spring. What should we do to prevent a recurrence? If we do nothing, how much damage can this pest do?
Repeated attacks of Cooley’s spruce gall adelgid can stunt and stress all of the trees it affects, which include Colorado blue spruce, Engelmann spruce, Sitka spruce, white spruce and the insect’s alternate host, Douglas fir.
Last year’s green, pink and/or purple cone-shaped galls–which house the adelgids–will now be brown, brittle and open. Yvonne Carree Barkley, University of Idaho extension forestry associate, recommends that you treat the infested spruces as new growth is unfurling. If new galls have already developed, you can snip them off and effectively eliminate this year’s population on that tree.
Also this spring, check any Douglas firs on your property for signs of yellow mottling in needles, an indicator of adelgids. If you find mottling, then examine the Douglas firs for crawlers. Hold a white sheet of paper under the foliage and tap the branch. If the tree is infested, you’ll see moving specks on the paper. Then you’ll know you need to treat your Douglas firs this spring along with any infested spruces. Barkley says galls never form in Douglas firs; instead, as the season progresses in an untreated tree, you’ll find white, aphid-like insects covered with what looks like a waxy wool.
Contact your local Cooperative Extension educator or Master Gardener clinic for the most current chemical recommendations and application rates for control of Cooley’s spruce gall adelgids.
Carree suggests that homeowners check all of their trees each spring to spot and stop insect or disease problems before they get out of hand.
[READERS: Do you have a question about your home, yard or garden? Send it to HomeWise, University of Idaho Ag Communications, Moscow, ID 83844-2332 or e-mail it to homewise@uidaho.edu. Mention of proprietary products or firms does not constitute endorsement by the University of Idaho Cooperative Extension System or imply approval to the exclusion of other suitable products or firms.]