President Guy R. Vitale, Babette Bishop, Charlie & Carol Reitz-Butler
Guy’s Greetings
“April showers bring May flowers”, so the saying goes.
If this is true, don’t be blue: The showers will subside,
The flowers will arrive, and May will take away your blues….By Guy R. Vitale
I‘d like to thank Richard & Babette Bishop, Charlie & Carol Reitz-Butler, Paula Murphy, and Mark Jeffers for their participation in building and marching with our float last Sunday in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade. It was truly the first beautiful spring day this season. Thanks to Kelleen Guyer and June Petruccelli for cheering us on from the side lines.
I hope to see everyone at our spring garden clean up. Remember, the more the merrier and we’ll get done that much faster.
Mark the Date
Tuesday, April 28, 2009, 7:00 PM, general meeting at Hagerman Fire Department, on the corner of Dunton Avenue and Oakdale. Our speaker will be LeeAnn Seeley. She will talk about organic gardening and products.
Saturday, April 25, 2009, opening of the Terry Street garden; rain date Sunday, April 26. Both days begin at 9:00 AM. Bring gloves, tools, and plenty of energy. The club will provide bagels, tea, and coffee to keep you going.
Saturday, May 16, 2009, 9 AM-4 PM, Annual Plant & Yard Sale. Clean out your attic and garage, pot up extra plants, and bring them to the garden with prices attached (Carol has stickers) at 8:00 AM. Workers needed; please contact Carol Tvelia. Rain date is Sunday, May 17, same time, same place.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009, 10:00 AM, Sayville Garden Club Luncheon and Raffle Boutique. Lands End, 80 Browns River Road, Sayville. Reserve by May 5, $40, payable to the Sayville Garden Club. Send to Pat Osarchuk, 144 Handsome Avenue, Sayville, NY 11782. Speaker: Floral designer Joan Smith.
March Meeting in a Flash
Joy Kaminski, self-proclaimed tree-hugger and proud of it, gave a very interesting and informative talk and slide presentation about the Bayard Cutting Arboretum. The club plans to apply for National Wildlife Habitat Certification from the NWF (nwf.org) for the Community Garden. Sandra Franco talked about HOG, the Hamlet Organic Garden, a Community Supported Agriculture farm located in Brookhaven Hamlet on Beaverdam Road. There are still shares available at the farm for pickup on Monday or Friday and in Bayshore. Visit http://hamletorganicgarden.org/ for details. Members Kathy McMahon, Ellen and Mike Scammon, and Arlene Lamberti all won tickets to the Patchogue Theatre that the club received through its membership in the Chamber of Commerce.
Thanks to all the club members who have signed on to care for the Community Garden this season: Fred & Bonnie Bossert, Peg & Frank Densing, Margaret Atkinson, June & Angelo Petruccelli, Babette Bishop, Carol & Charlie Butler, Carla Steward, Bert Voland, Lynn Kane, Sandra Franco, Carol Tvelia, Guy Vitale, Carolyn Savastano, Arlene Lamberti, Jo Miller, Karen Ferb, and John & Georgia Dulmovits.
Danger to Dogs of Cocoa Bean Mulch
If you’ve heard "Don't give your dog, chocolate it will kill him", you're probably wondering if it’s true. Yes, chocolate contains theobromine, toxic to dogs in sufficient quantities. Cocoa bean mulch is pretty and smells great, but may have toxic concentrations of theobromine. Home Depot only sells a "cleaned" version of cocoa mulch (look for "pet safe" on any brand you buy; 2 are Mirana and Cocoa Mulch). If you suspect your pet has ingested chocolate contact your Vet immediately! They can help you determine the proper treatment for your pet. (Thanks, Guy)
Where’s the Beet?
Is there anyone out there who hasn’t heard the brou-ha-ha over the beet-free White House Garden? First it was Bush and broccoli, now Obama and beets. Our own Sandra Franco disliked beets until she had fresh ones prepared properly from Hamlet Organic Garden last year. Could Sandra be our emissary to the White House to show the prez the tasty nutritional powerhouse he’s missing?
Serious Dirt from Richard Waldman
Pinching Pennies?
Have you turned over the sofa cushions to look for loose change? As gardeners we know how to stretch a dollar by dividing perennials, but now the Wall Street Journal’s 'Cheapskate' column (April 16, 2009) agrees that growing a vegetable garden could help stretch the family food budget. A study sponsored by Scotts Miracle-Gro found that an average family could spend $70 yearly on seeds and supplies and reap about $600 worth of vegetables. Now that is an impressive return on investment! Of course, missing from the $70 tab is the initial outlay of any fencing, irrigation, soil amendments, etc., and nowhere is there any accounting for labor - how well we know about that! Weeding, insect control, and staying off the lounge chair with a cool drink in the hot summer sun until the garden is tended to are things we know all too well. But once we taste the difference in the vegetables grown in our own back yard compared to some of the wax coated supermarket replicas, we know that growing a garden is more than just a way to save money.
Anne Frank Saplings May be Planted in 10 US Cities
NEW YORK — Saplings from the tree Anne Frank used to measure the seasons while hiding from the Nazis could be planted in 10 cities around the United States. The Anne Frank Center USA wants to plant the trees in 10 U.S. cities to symbolize the growth of tolerance. The saplings would come from an ailing horse chestnut tree in Amsterdam. (New York Times, April 17, 2009)
Amsterdam had to cut down the 170-year-old chestnut tree that Anne Frank mentioned in her diary while she was in hiding during the Nazi occupation of Holland because it was attacked by an aggressive fungus and a leaf miner.
Amsterdam had to cut down the 170-year-old chestnut tree that Anne Frank mentioned in her diary while she was in hiding during the Nazi occupation of Holland because it was attacked by an aggressive fungus and a leaf miner.
In “The Diary of Anne Frank”, the teenager looks at the tree through an attic window of the apartment, concealed in her father's factory, where she and her family hid from the Germans for more than two years. The factory and apartment where they hid, on the Prinsengracht canal, is preserved as a tribute to Anne Frank and to her book, which has been read by 25 million people worldwide.
"Nearly every morning I go to the attic to blow the stuffy air out of my lungs," Anne wrote on Feb. 23, 1944. "From my favourite spot on the floor I look up at the blue sky and the bare chestnut tree, on whose branches little raindrops shine, appearing like silver, and at the seagulls and other birds as they glide on the wind..."As long as this exists, I thought, and I may live to see it, this sunshine, the cloudless skies, while this lasts I cannot be unhappy."
The tree was in an inner courtyard and one of the few green living things visible at a time when windows had to be blacked out to prevent neighbours seeing people moving through the apartment.
Anne died of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, spring, 1945.
Members Pages
Members Pages
Submit your pictures, stories, recipes, or other items of interest. Swap or sell. Whatever.
Peanut Butter Pie from the kitchen of June Petruccelli
15 minutes prep time, serves 8
4 oz. cream cheese (softened)
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 package whipped topping mix
½ cup milk (skim or 2%)
1 graham cracker crust (9”)
¼ cup chopped nuts (optional)
Whip cream cheese until light and fluffy, beat in sugar and peanut butter. Prepare whipped topping with milk according to package instructions. Fold topping into peanut butter mixture, taking care not to break down topping. Pour into pie shell, top with chopped nuts. Chill until firm.
(Ed. note: If you are a diehard peanut butter cup fan—okay, I confess—decorate the top of this with chocolate sauce or chocolate curls. You could even chop up peanut butter cups and sprinkle on the top.)
thanks for sending the PGC site......if there is a spot for "old member news", I can report that I have joined the local Saturday New Baltimore Farmers' Market (www.newbaltimorefarmersmarket.com) & the Thursday Selkirk / New Bethlehem Farmers' Market & happily grow & sell herbicide- & pesticide-free veggies, berries, & fresh herbs up here near Albany from spring to fall...was always looking to have a road-side stand, even in Patchogue, but didn't have enough property to grow for sale.....here, all I have to do is remove all the rocks on these mineral-rich 3 acres, incorporate with truck-loads of compost & manure, mulch with hay/straw & I can plant what I want....picked my 1st 105 Red Haven & Belle of Georgia peaches last year & expect more this year, along with assorted plums & pears....specialty varieties are my aim so as to minimize competition at the markets....I miss my friends in Patchogue, but I now have exactly what I have been looking for....Love to all, Lynn G.
See the astonishing work of Frances Pelzman Liscio at http://www.punksandroses.com/. Originally a photographer of punk and country musicians, she has turned her lens towards no less romantic (but much prettier) subjects, photographing carefully-arranged and brilliantly-colored botanical collages. “I photographed the punks as if they were rare botanicals, and I photograph my botanicals as if they were vulnerable icons. What I attempt to underscore in both treatments is the fragile beauty that transcends our mortality—and the mortality that makes such beauty even more precious.” (Thanks to Carol Reitz-Butler)
Timely Tips for May
Plant dahlias, glads, cannas, and daylilies through the end of the month.
All annual flowers can be safely planted outdoors after mid-May.
Fertilize roses every 2-3 weeks and spray weekly with an all-purpose spray.
Stake perennial plants that may be damaged by wind before they’re too tall.
Prune spring-flowering shrubs immediately after blooming.
Apply summer mulches to perennial borders and beds.
Plant tuberous begonias and caladiums out in a shady protected area.
Sow beans, corn, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, cukes, and squash outdoors.
My Mother's Garden
By Alice E. Allen
(Thanks to June Petruccelli)
Her heart is like her garden,
old-fashioned, quaint and sweet,
with here a wreath of blossoms,
and there a still retreat.
Forget-Me-Nots there linger,
to full perfection brought,
and there bloom purple Pansies,
in many a tender thought.
And in the quiet garden-
the garden of her heart-
song birds are always singing
their songs of cheer apart.
And from it floats forever,
o'ercoming sin and strife,
sweet as the breath of roses blown,
the fragrance of her life.
Peanut Butter Pie from the kitchen of June Petruccelli
15 minutes prep time, serves 8
4 oz. cream cheese (softened)
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 package whipped topping mix
½ cup milk (skim or 2%)
1 graham cracker crust (9”)
¼ cup chopped nuts (optional)
Whip cream cheese until light and fluffy, beat in sugar and peanut butter. Prepare whipped topping with milk according to package instructions. Fold topping into peanut butter mixture, taking care not to break down topping. Pour into pie shell, top with chopped nuts. Chill until firm.
(Ed. note: If you are a diehard peanut butter cup fan—okay, I confess—decorate the top of this with chocolate sauce or chocolate curls. You could even chop up peanut butter cups and sprinkle on the top.)
thanks for sending the PGC site......if there is a spot for "old member news", I can report that I have joined the local Saturday New Baltimore Farmers' Market (www.newbaltimorefarmersmarket.com) & the Thursday Selkirk / New Bethlehem Farmers' Market & happily grow & sell herbicide- & pesticide-free veggies, berries, & fresh herbs up here near Albany from spring to fall...was always looking to have a road-side stand, even in Patchogue, but didn't have enough property to grow for sale.....here, all I have to do is remove all the rocks on these mineral-rich 3 acres, incorporate with truck-loads of compost & manure, mulch with hay/straw & I can plant what I want....picked my 1st 105 Red Haven & Belle of Georgia peaches last year & expect more this year, along with assorted plums & pears....specialty varieties are my aim so as to minimize competition at the markets....I miss my friends in Patchogue, but I now have exactly what I have been looking for....Love to all, Lynn G.
See the astonishing work of Frances Pelzman Liscio at http://www.punksandroses.com/. Originally a photographer of punk and country musicians, she has turned her lens towards no less romantic (but much prettier) subjects, photographing carefully-arranged and brilliantly-colored botanical collages. “I photographed the punks as if they were rare botanicals, and I photograph my botanicals as if they were vulnerable icons. What I attempt to underscore in both treatments is the fragile beauty that transcends our mortality—and the mortality that makes such beauty even more precious.” (Thanks to Carol Reitz-Butler)
Timely Tips for May
Plant dahlias, glads, cannas, and daylilies through the end of the month.
All annual flowers can be safely planted outdoors after mid-May.
Fertilize roses every 2-3 weeks and spray weekly with an all-purpose spray.
Stake perennial plants that may be damaged by wind before they’re too tall.
Prune spring-flowering shrubs immediately after blooming.
Apply summer mulches to perennial borders and beds.
Plant tuberous begonias and caladiums out in a shady protected area.
Sow beans, corn, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, cukes, and squash outdoors.
My Mother's Garden
By Alice E. Allen
(Thanks to June Petruccelli)
Her heart is like her garden,
old-fashioned, quaint and sweet,
with here a wreath of blossoms,
and there a still retreat.
Forget-Me-Nots there linger,
to full perfection brought,
and there bloom purple Pansies,
in many a tender thought.
And in the quiet garden-
the garden of her heart-
song birds are always singing
their songs of cheer apart.
And from it floats forever,
o'ercoming sin and strife,
sweet as the breath of roses blown,
the fragrance of her life.
