Soil

Q: A local store is selling strawberry pots already filled with strawberry plants, and I was wondering how to take care of them and if this is a good way to grow plants. How long will I get strawberries? A: Strawberry pots can be a great way to grow strawberries, herbs and small annual flowering plants. A strawberry pot is a flower pot, usually less than 2 feet tall, that has a series of holes around the sides where additional plants are planted. They can be made from clay or ceramic pottery, plastic and even wood.

Environmental testing is continuing at the site of Hagerstown's proposed downtown multiuse sports and events center, and a full report is expected by the beginning of 2013, according to city Engineer Rodney Tissue. Workers were drilling in The Herald-Mail parking lot Tuesday as part of the Phase 2 tests to determine if the ground is safe for construction and to check for any potential hazards in the ground, Tissue said. “They retrieve the soil and send it to a lab for testing,” he said in an email.

charlestown@herald-mail.com CHARLES TOWN, W.VA. - Developers of the 3,200-home Huntfield development south of Charles Town say they will begin removing soil at old chemical mixing sites next week as part of an ongoing effort to remove pesticides from soil in the development. The work of removing soil has been under way for three years because of arsenic at the site, according to a press release from Delta Strategies, a Leesburg, Va., firm assisting the developers with the project.

MARTINSBURG, W.VA. ? Along with some "goodies," Lance and Pam Swartwood of Martinsburg have sent a small tin of dirt from their backyard to three GIs with Berkeley County ties who have done tours of duty in Iraq. "My husband just thinks of things like that," Swartwood said after the couple were thanked Thursday morning by their most recent "adopted" soldier, U.S. Marine Corps Master Sgt. Philip Gardner, who is the son-in-law of Berkeley County Commissioner Ronald K. Collins. Introduced by Collins at the commission's regular meeting, Gardner presented the Swartwoods with an American flag in a wood and glass display case.

WASHINGTON COUNTY tarar@herald-mail.com It might look like dirt, but the Hagerstown Regional Airport calls it soil. Whatever the correct term, truckloads of it have been making up a large part of the airport's runway extension project for more than a year. C. William Hetzer Inc. has been hauling the material daily from the 40 West Landfill to Hagerstown Regional Airport since spring of 2004. "They don't call it soil," Commissioner Doris J. Nipps said of airport officials.

WAYNESBORO, Pa. - Arsenic in soil at the site of a proposed development on Old Forge Road in Washington Township, Pa., tested on average 5 to 8 1/2 times higher than the amount deemed allowable by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, an engineer said Wednesday. However, a remediation crew will scrape off an average of 6 inches of contaminated soil to ensure the level is reduced to the allowed 12 milligrams per kilogram, said Gary R. Brown of RT Environmental Services Inc. of King of Prussia, Pa. The soil, contaminated by pesticides used on the apple orchard, tested in certain areas at 165 mg/kg, he said.

Construction of the new Washington County Free Library in downtown Hagerstown is scheduled to be finished around the first week of May, with the library probably opening in June, said Joseph Kroboth III, the county's public works director. Those dates could change depending on construction progress, he said. The project has already experienced some delays. The latest cost estimate is $17.2 million, including approximately $1.2 million in approved change orders that account for slightly more than half of the project's contingency budget, Kroboth said Wednesday.

Kayla Jones, 12, of Hagerstown packs soil around freshly planted marigolds outside her home Sunday.

The Maryland Department of the Environment will hold a public meeting April 6 at 7 p.m. at South Hagerstown High School's auditorium on the expansion of Clean Rock Industries Inc.'s permit for storage of oil-contaminated soil at its recycling plant. Clean Rock president Vincent Iuliano said the permit for oily soil storage at the facility at 1469 Oak Ridge Place was increasing from 80,000 tons of oily soil storage to 100,000 tons. Clean Rock opened with a permit for 12,000 tons of storage capacity, he said.

Q: I am considering competing lawn care programs. My lawn looks OK, but I don't know if I have enough topsoil. One program seems to be more interested in the soil, and the other one has a series of products to buy. What advice do you have? A: There are several ways a healthy plant can be grown. They can be grown in good soil without much effort; they can be grown in bad soil if they are fed enough nutrients to meet their needs and are monitored for inevitable problems; and some plants can be grown without soil via a hydroponic system.

Jennifer Bratthauar, Penn State Extension educator for agronomy and nutrient management for Franklin County, warns about the impact of planting in compacted soils. It is that time of year again when homeowners and farmers are getting ready to plant their gardens or numerous acres of cropland. Even though planting is still a couple of weeks away, it is important to keep in mind that what you do to the soil now could affect your entire growing season. This is why it is important to maintain your soil's fertility and its structure, to maintain its health and quality.

The Washington County Master Gardeners will hold a workshop on starter vegetable gardens Saturday, April 20, from 9:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. at Washington County Agricultural Education Center, 7303 Sharpsburg Pike in Boonsboro.   Participants will learn how to grow vegetables in small spaces including containers, raised beds, lasagna gardens and bags of soil. The workshop will cover soil testing, site evaluation and timing for best results.   The cost for the hands-on class is $10, which includes take-home seeds and a plant.  To request a registration form, call Diane at 301-791-1304 or send an email to dwoodrin@umd.edu .

The Washington County Soil Conservation District is conducting its 25th annual tree sale from now until March 20. The district has distributed more than 313,000 trees over the past 24 years.  Trees will be available for pickup during early April in time for spring planting season.   Anyone ordering trees will be contacted by mail with the specific days, times and location of where to pick up the trees. The tree seedling  will be available for pick-up in April. The district will offer a variety of evergreens, hardwoods, fruit trees, nestboxes and bat houses.

Environmental testing is continuing at the site of Hagerstown's proposed downtown multiuse sports and events center, and a full report is expected by the beginning of 2013, according to city Engineer Rodney Tissue. Workers were drilling in The Herald-Mail parking lot Tuesday as part of the Phase 2 tests to determine if the ground is safe for construction and to check for any potential hazards in the ground, Tissue said. “They retrieve the soil and send it to a lab for testing,” he said in an email.

Construction of the new Washington County Free Library in downtown Hagerstown is scheduled to be finished around the first week of May, with the library probably opening in June, said Joseph Kroboth III, the county's public works director. Those dates could change depending on construction progress, he said. The project has already experienced some delays. The latest cost estimate is $17.2 million, including approximately $1.2 million in approved change orders that account for slightly more than half of the project's contingency budget, Kroboth said Wednesday.

My last couple of gardens have been such epic fails that this year, I didn't even try. The decision to take a gardening sabbatical was not an easy on. My youngest children enjoy turning the soil, sowing the seeds, monitoring the growth and - most of all - reaping the harvest. But we were away quite a bit the last couple of summers. We didn't arrange for a friend to tend to watering and most of the crops were burned dry by the sun. Funny how the good dies off, but the weeds live on. What little harvest there was was practically overcome by undesirable growth.

Robert E. Lee knew the moment was opportune. “I propose to enter Pennsylvania.” Lee's proposition to President Jefferson Davis was dramatic. This had not been attempted, nor seriously considered. Could an invasion into the North achieve southern independence? Lee was aware, through his daily reading of northern newspapers, of the precarious situation of the Lincoln administration. He knew about the chaos in the Union army. He knew the Republicans were under assault for incompetence and mismanagement of the war. He sensed Lincoln's party was nearing political implosion.

Spring has sprung and many in the community are hard at spring chores. This is the time of year that many a pound of fertilizer is applied to hill and dale. Before you open the fertilizer or dust off your spreader, ask yourself this question, “Have I taken a soil sample?” If the answer is “no,” then the next question is, “Why am I going to spread fertilizer?” Much has been made of the need to improve the health of the bay and how we all have a responsibility to help.  Nutrient management is now a fact of life for every farmer in Maryland.

The Washington County Soil Conservation District is conducting its 24th annual tree sale through March 21. Tree descriptions and pictures, as well as information about all the products being offered are available at the district website at www.conservationplace.com .  Trees will be available for pickup during early April, in time for spring planting season. Anyone ordering trees will be contacted by mail with the specific days, times and location of where to pick up their trees.

The problem: “Someone should research the reason behind the horrific smell around Antietam Battlefield,” Kendra Harmon wrote in an email. “The smell on most days in Sharpsburg and behind the battlefield on Old Keedysville road is unbearable!” Harmon said she heard the smell was coming from rotting vegetables and wondered why they were left to rot instead of being harvested. Who could fix it: National Park Service What they say: The smell is coming from white radishes that were planted as a winter cover crop for soil- conservation purposes, said Ed Wenschhof, chief ranger at Antietam National Battlefield.