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Volume:11 Issue:7 Web site address: www.squamishgardeners.com Date: July 2008 |
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Letter from the Editor: "Down the Garden Path" by Ellen Grant“Summertime and the livin’ is easy” from the Gershwin musical “Porgy and Bess”
July is a great time to prune back all those shrubs and vines that have brightened our spring. If you cut the spent roses back now and feed them well you will usually get another big bloom in late summer. The wisteria can be hacked back too and will usually have a late summer show of bloom. Many perennials will also respond to deadheading and a feeding now. Even if you don’t get a large second bloom you will have plumped up the plants for next year’s display. You can cut grapes back to the first cluster of fruit. In our coastal climate this helps to produce sweeter fruit in the autumn. Evergreens should be pruned now so that they have time to recover before the fall. I have been telling everyone that I now weed with a chain saw. I am only partly joking. I really need to chop great branches off trees and shrubs just so we can find our way down the garden paths.
You can plant second, or first, crops as the case may be. Peas, beans, and leaf crops have time to produce before the days get too short. If you just cut the heads of broccoli and cauliflower you can usually get two or three smaller heads on the same plant. The tomatoes will soon need harvesting. Watch for blight. I usually lose tomatoes just as they begin to ripen. Never water tomatoes from above and try to protect them from rain. Our cool nights help to promote lots of fungi growth when we have a high dew rating. This also causes powdery mildew. Sometimes spraying with a mixture of baking powder (1 teaspoon to a gallon of water with a few drops of dish soap) helps to control some such growths but remember to do it so that the foliage dries before nightfall. Do some shopping for seeds to sow for winter greens. See how far you can stretch your growing season! |
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Well it may be a season of idleness on the Mississippi River in some romantic dream but the reality of summer, both there and here, may be a different story. Although most of the garden is planted and growing remarkably robustly, there is still a lot to do to keep the jungle at bay. The warm weather, after such an unusual spring, has caused certain plants to just burst forth. It has been a “slow to come but fast to go” scenario. The hostas are canopying their beds, the delphiniums are stretching skyward and the roses have all decided to bloom in one great mass. And I am sure you are all aware of the weed armies advancing on your bedding plants. After thinking that this summer might be a complete wash out I am really not complaining. It is so great to see plants that didn’t have a sign of flowers a week or so ago suddenly be bursting with promised colour. The lilies, from water lilies to oriental from tiger to plantain, from daylily to cannas and callas, this looks like the summer of lilies. As usual, the
slugs and bugs are having a field day and I am doing an evening patrol to let the dahlias get up to blooming stage.
Watering is also a chore these warm summer days. Baskets and containers dry out quickly especially if there is a warm afternoon wind. Make sure that you soak the full plant, lifting baskets to be sure the water does not just run right through. I am tending a neighbour’s garden as well as my own for a week so I am kept busy hauling watering cans and lugging hoses like a chokerman on the logging shows. Gardening can be good for the bones!
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Page 2 Newsletter |
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Speaking of a neat attention getter, this year I have discovered the great family of alliums as cut flowers. I know that Dot Diotte has used Egyptian garlic to add interest to Japanese flower arrangements but this year I have found that chives, Sicilllian garlic, and the large globe-like alliums are all long lasting cut flowers that literally spice up an arrangement. I wouldn’t recommend them as a bouquet for the guest room but in the kitchen or even on the dining table they sure get rave revues. I have also been using the lowly gout weed flowers and the lady’s mantel as fillers for cut flower arrangements. They are plentiful in the garden and are durable substitutes for baby’s breath. Don and I were up in Pemberton last week picking strawberries. I dropped into their garden center and was so surprised. The last visit must have been 10 years ago. It was just a little place with a limited selection. But today they have a greater supply than any place in Squamish. There are both vegetables, and flowering plants. Fruit and ornamental trees and a wide selection of tropical plants are also available. I was very impressed and inquired where they got their wonderful products. It seems that there are greenhouses ten miles up the valley towards Birken. These folks grow all their own bedding plants and over-winter the tropicals and perennials. They supply landscapers as well as retail. They also operate a store at Function Junction in Whistler. It is well worth the trip up to find new items as well as some of the old stand ups that the local suppliers no longer seem to carry. I wonder if they might be persuaded to give Squamish Gardeners a discount like our local garden outlets do!
During the next two months members should remember to continue to weed at the library. Since the weeds don’t grow so fast in the dry weather just one weeding per member should keep the place looking neat and tidy. Also before our next meeting in September there will be the Brackendale Fall Fair. We have traditionally had strong links with this group and have manned a booth each year. If you are willing to help with this please contact Carol. It is fun to share our club activities with the general public and to be part of this community event. There will not be a newsletter next month but one will resume in September. It there are any important announcements you will receive an e-mail or you can continue to monitor our web site. Enjoy your garden with family and friends and have many wonderful journeys down your garden paths. |
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Page 3 Newsletter |
Minutes: General Meeting June 16th
Carol Robson opened the meeting by thanking those who had arrived early to weed. She asked members to make a commitment to weed over the Summer months, and to contact her when they plan to do it. She will then send out an e-mail to the membership to see if anyone else can join the weeders. It was questioned whether it was worth it to weed for a free meeting room, particularly as in future proceeds from the Garden Tour raffle will not have to be handed over to a charity/ Friends of the Library. The room costs $20 per hour to rent. Another suggestion was that we hire a landscaper once during the Summer to weed. Alternatively we could all weed and have pot-luck afterwards. We are not at the library in April, May and during the Summer. It was thought that weeding is a pretty effortless way to free up our money for other things.
It was brought to the meeting’s attention that it had been agreed at an earlier meeting to seek approval for both the Treasurer’s report and the Minutes of the previous meeting. A motion was presented to approve the Treasurer’s Report – motion carried. There were no May Minutes as we had the speaker that month, and a motion was moved to approve the April Minutes – motion carried. Newsletter: Ellen Grant reported that the newsletter will be shorter this month.
Other Business: Kimberley Armour, for whom the Garden Club had written a letter of support, did not receive funding for her project. The July Social and Garden Tour de-brief will be held at the BAG on July 21st at 7 pm. A sign-up sheet for volunteers for the Brackendale Fall Fair is available. Informal garden visits could be a possibility this Summer. Carol may invite members to a “salad in the garden” day. Nairn Stewart had suggested this previously. Diddi Price mentioned that Japanese knot-weed, a very invasive species, is growing in several Brackendale locations, including a park. It was suggested that Meg Fellowes be contacted, as she has information on this plant and would know whom to contact. Also the Garden Club could contact the Municipality offering to help as they don’t have the manpower (personpower?) to do much. On the Van Dusen trip the drivers were given $5 by each passenger. It was suggested that in future this amount should be increased. The Field Trip Committee will discuss this. We could have a show-and-tell for those members who did not attend the Hypertufa workshop.
Please note: All pictures in this month's newsletter are taken by Lise Hamilton |
Take a look on the website for the tour pictures taken by Anna and Lisa Hamilton. Both have captured some lovely vignettes from these unique gardens. I was speaking to a lady from Whistler who had won the best garden award for several years in that community. She was lamenting that no one wanted to enter the contest. When I explained to her how much fun we have had since we eliminated the competition from our tour and concentrated instead on sharing our love of the activity, she seemed intrigued and wanted more details. I don’t think it is possible to judge such different garden as we had this year. And we seem to do it every year. I know that one year with the club’s previous format, I was asked to be a judge. There were fewer gardens but we had such a hard time agreeing on the criteria and the weighing of points that the final winner was almost a flip of the coin. It is so much more relaxing, enjoyable and informative to just do it the way we do. Everyone seems to find inspiration and encouragement and it is a fine fund raiser. Obviously seeing the gardens through the lens finder adds an additional wow factor to tour. How great to relive the experience on our web site. Thanks, Anna, Lisa and Dave.
Our final meeting of the season will be at the Brackendale Art Gallery Monday July 21 at 7pm. We will get the final tally for the garden tour and discuss ways to improve the fund raiser for next year. How do you improve on perfection? Everyone should get a pat on the back for their wonderful work in production yet another successful event. Please bring along some finger food to share as this is our wind-up party.
Treasurer’s Report: Dorte Froslev reported that income from speakers was $641, whereas they had cost $950. For Carolyn Herriot’s talk travel expenses were heavy, and we had also paid for room rental, so that it was unlikely that we had made any profit on this. We now have around $3,000 in the bank. Dave Colwell sends out the Treasurer’s report as an attachment to the Newsletter. Dorte prints a few copies for those who do not have e-mail, if they ask for it.
Garden Tour: All necessary organisational details for the day were discussed.. Carla then thanked Carol for all her organisation.