Environment

Here's the next edition our our weekly gardening series, "From the Garden Gate." Murray resident Roy Helton divides his time between teaching in the English Department at Murray State University and indulging his passion for gardening.

Who among the clan of devout gardeners doesn’t yearn for perennials that are easy to plant, require little or no care, serve multiple purposes, and are virtually indestructible—having almost no pests or diseases?  I can just hear my neighbor’s answer to that question:  “Oh, yeah, I know; you’re talking about weeds.”

Federal officials have set aside more than $1 million for Tennessee landowners who help conserve wildlife. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency said owners of agricultural and forest land can apply by June 10 for funding under the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program. Grants are available to help eligible landowners and operators develop or enhance planned upland, wetland, riparian and aquatic habitat areas on their property.

A magazine says Kentucky is number one when it comes to whitetail deer hunting. The latest issue of Outdoor Life ranks the Bluegrass State as the top whitetail trophy state in the country. The publication says western Kentucky was especially noteworthy for producing a relatively high number of trophy bucks. In tallying the scores, Kentucky ranked second in the number of record-book bucks.

Johnson County has joined other counties in southern Illinois supporting a moratorium on horizontal hydraulic fracturing.

Vice Chairman Phil Stewart was the one Johnson County Commissioner who did not support the one-year moratorium. He says the area needs the jobs.

“Johnson County is, you know, a poor county, needs some revenue,” Stewart says. “And I think it would help.”

But, Stewart says most of the jobs would be temporary.

Kentuckians don't have to worry about an onslaught of noisy cicadas this year, though experts say they're about to emerge in the Northeast. The cicadas, which take 17 years to come out of the ground, are expected to number in the billions along the East Coast from North Carolina to Connecticut. But a chart from the website Magic Cicada dot org indicates Kentucky shouldn't see a cicada emergence until 2021, with others following in 2025 and 2028.