Guy’s Greetings
As we dry out from the recent deluge, we are reminded how quickly things grow after a rain, especially fungus, mold and diseases. For those of you with a vegetable garden, I hope these will not be an issue this year. I did not have issues with tomato blight last year, perhaps because my garden is a mass of raised beds. Four simple boards arranged in a square and filled with good draining soil--never mind it is 20 x 20, it still is raised. Now that we are past May 15th, traditionally the last frost date on Long Island, we can plant our gardens. I hope your corn is sweet, your beans are crisp, and your tomatoes are plump. Guy
Mark the Date
Tuesday, May 25, 2010, 6:30 PM, general meeting at Fantastic Gardens, 67 Avery Avenue, Patchogue NY, (631) 475-7118. Avery Avenue is east of Rte. 112 and north of Montauk Highway. Take a tour of Dave and Joan Tifford’s nursery with 10 greenhouses on 3 acres. Come prepared to marvel at the private cactus collection in bloom and the amazing unique succulent garden. Special Notes: No hostesses required and no chairs available. You can purchase plants after the meeting and get a 15% discount.
Saturday, June 12, 2010, 9:00 AM, Annual Breakfast in the Garden at South Ocean Avenue and Terry Street. Bring a dish to share and your favorite beverage. The club provides bagels, coffee, tea, and fixin’s.
Monday, June 21, 2010, group carpooling to Old Westbury Gardens (tours on the hour and ½ hour), leaving from Terry Street at 9:45 AM. If you don’t have a ride, call Jo Miller, and she will try to arrange it for you. There is an outdoor café that doesn’t operate in inclement weather and a picnic area for brown baggers. Large bags and backpacks are not permitted. Admission is $10, $8 seniors, and $5 children 7-12. Directions: Take the LIE (I-495) to Exit 39. Turn left onto Glen Cove Road (Garden City) at the end of the exit ramp, cross over the expressway and immediately turn left onto the service road. Follow the service road east for approximately 1.1 miles, turn right onto Old Westbury Road and continue 0.4 miles. The Gardens' gate is on the left. For more information, please visit http://www.oldwestburygardens.org/.
Saturday, July 10, 2010, Patchogue Garden Club’s 10th annual garden tour featuring art in the gardens. Pre-purchase tickets at $13 ($15 on the day of the tour). Gardens open at 10 AM and close at 3:00 PM. For more information, call Paula at 289-0234. The post-tour dinner will be at 6:00 PM the following day, Sunday, July 11, at the home of Paula Murphy, 6:00 PM, 125 Smith Street, Patchogue, NY.
April Meeting in a Flash
We started the evening with a delightfully entertaining speaker, Mr. Ray Lackey “Master Bee Keeper”. He spoke very knowledgeably for about 1 ½ hours and gladly answered all our questions. He brought different kinds of his excellent honey to sell. If you missed the meeting or if you want to buy more honey or other products, there is a self-serve sales stand on the porch at 1260 Walnut Avenue, Bohemia NY.
Thank you to Carol Tvelia and her crew for a great job putting on the Annual Plant and Yard Sale. The proceeds benefit our scholarship fund for a Patchogue-Medford High School senior planning to study horticulture, botany, or a related subject.
Road Trip: The New York Botanical Garden
Emily Dickinson’s Garden: The Poetry of Flowers
Co-presented with The Poetry Society of America
Friday, April 30–Sunday, June 13, 2010
Discover the gardener who became the poet.
Experience the life and works of one of America’s most treasured poets as never before.
•Her Garden: Tour her Victorian Homestead re-created in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory with tulips, lilacs, lilies, and more.
•Her Poetry: Stroll along garden paths and read some of Dickinson’s most famous works near the flowers that inspired them.
•Her Life: Be immersed in an interactive perspective through photographs, watercolors and books in a Gallery exhibition.
Special Celebrations
Enjoy poetry readings, live theater, gardening demonstrations, and more.
For more information, visit http://www.nybg.org/.
Did you know?...
Excerpted from “The Poet as Gardener and Tiger Lily”
By HOLLAND COTTER
Emily Dickinson once called herself a “a Lunatic on Bulbs,” referring to her passion for daffodils, hyacinth and other spring perennials, which she raised indoors in winter in her family home in Amherst, Mass. And a lunatic she probably seemed to neighbors who spied her gardening by moonlight on summer evenings in the flower beds behind the house.
We now suspect that one reason Dickinson preferred night gardening was because of vision problems: for several years in her early middle age, sunlight stung her eyes. But no such explanations are needed to justify the indoor-outdoor format of “Emily Dickinson’s Garden: The Poetry of Flowers,” an ambitious, multipart show, opening Friday at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, that considers Dickinson equally as a horticulturalist and a poet, and forges links between the two….
…Dickinson the recluse might have found its public location disconcertingly exposed, but the lunatic in her would have liked it just fine.
Serious Dirt from Richard Waldman
“As We Ache and Age”
April 29, 2010 by JESSICA DAMIANO / jessica.damiano@newsday.com
Anyone can plant a vegetable garden, lay out a perennial border and harvest herbs from the bed by the kitchen door,right? Not exactly. Enthusiasm, dedication and spare time notwithstanding, there are many among us who yearn to garden but simply can't. Or simply can't like we used to.
It starts with a sore back after hours of weeding, which can afflict even the most fit among us. But when arthritis, endurance and strength issues - common among our more experienced gardeners - devolve to the point where the once-enjoyable pastime becomes an insurmountable chore, many simply hang up their hoes for good. Before resorting to such drastic measures, it would serve you well to consider your options: There are plenty of specialized gardening methods, ergonomic tools and creative approaches that can help keep your inner gardener working.
Paint tool handles a bright color to make them easy to find if dropped among plants. Be sure to wear well-fitting clothing, comfortable shoes and a straw hat, and avoid gardening between noon and 4 p.m., when the sun is at its strongest. Wear sunscreen and gloves. Keep a water bottle with you and drink more frequently than you think necessary, avoiding alcoholic beverages.
Before doing any gardening, it's prudent to take a few minutes to stretch. Gardening is exercise, after all, and even minimal digging and lifting can strain muscles. Always keep your feet shoulder width apart to maximize balance, and check with your doctor before trying any new stretches or exercises.
The Arthritis Foundation recommends standing with your arms extended in front of you and reaching as far forward as you are able. Then, if you can, grab your right wrist with your left hand. Holding the position, slowly elevate your arms over your head and then gently pull your right arm over your head with your left hand. Hold for a few seconds. Repeat on the other side, stretching your left arm.
Depend on your strongest assets. For instance, instead of carrying a filled container in your hands, wrap your arms around it and hold it close to your body. Lift objects with the palms of your hands instead of your fingers, and keep your back straight whenever possible, always taking care to bend at the knees, not at the waist.
Planting and harvesting herbs and vegetables needn't require any bending if you use containers. Set window boxes or planters between waist and knee height, either on sawhorses, tables or makeshift stands. Be sure to drill drainage holes in the bottom of containers and set them into place while they're empty and lightweight. Then fill with potting mix and any amendments necessary for what you'll be growing. If you have room for such a setup outside your kitchen door, all the better. And if you have difficulty lifting a filled watering can, use a garden hose or, if logistics permit, a hose that attaches to your kitchen faucet. If neither is easily accessible, keep a filled water bucket nearby and use it to fill smaller containers that you can use to water plants. A chair or bench placed in a shady spot will be welcomed both as a timeout while working and as a place from which to admire your handiwork at the end of the day.
Herbs like basil, parsley and chives lend themselves very nicely to shallow, 8-inch deep containers, as do lettuces, spinach and chards. If you want to plant broccoli, tomatoes, carrots, peppers or eggplants, go with a container that's 12-14 inches deep. Beans, cucumbers, squashes and potatoes require a depth of about 18 inches. You can even plant cherry tomatoes in window boxes. Annuals and perennials can be grown in raised beds, too. But remember: Container-grown plants will need more frequent watering and fertilizing than their in-ground counterparts, so plan accordingly.
If you're going to plant in garden beds and borders, consider investing in perennials instead of annuals. They cost a bit more at the outset, but once they're in the ground, you won't have to replace them annually; they just keep coming back. Be sure to mulch all garden areas to retain soil moisture, which cuts down on watering, and to choke out weeds.
Above all, keep the pace leisurely; home wasn't built in a day.
Special Request for the 10th Anniversary of the Annual Garden Tour
The committee plans to hang lattice on the chain link construction fence in the Community Garden to display art work. Members, friends, relatives, and complete strangers are invited to submit work.
Call to Artists
The Patchogue Garden Club
10th Annual Garden Tour
“Art in the Gardens”
10 July 2010
We invite you to submit works of art to be displayed
In the Community Garden at South Ocean Avenue
And Terry Street, Patchogue Village
Submit any medium that can be hung, subjects
to include flowers, trees, gardens, nature, etc.
Work must be framed and wired ready to hang on lattice.
Drop off at Community Garden: 8:30 AM
Pick up at Community Garden: 2:00 PM
Yes, there will be security for the day
Yes, you can drop off early:
Yes, we will have provisions to protect from rain
No, there is no fee to submit work
No, we will not sell your work
No, there is no commission to us if you do
We will provide a list of work available for sale
to patrons of the tour. To be included on the list,
please provide us with your name and contact information
and the title, medium, and price of the work by July 1, 2010
Other concerns, questions? Please RSVP your participation to
Karen 758-2671 or Mary Ann 289-8122
GOD AND ST. FRANCIS DISCUSSING LAWNS [Thanks, Mary Ann!]
GOD: Francis, you know all about gardens and nature. What in the world is going on down there? What
happened to the dandelions, violets, thistle and stuff I started eons ago? I had a perfect, no-maintenance
garden plan. Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand drought and multiply with abandon. The nectar
from the long lasting blossoms attracts butterflies, honey bees and flocks of songbirds. I expected to see a
vast garden of colors by now. But all I see are these green rectangles.
ST. FRANCIS: It's the tribes that settled there, Lord. The Suburbanites. They started calling your flowers
"weeds" and went to great lengths to kill them and replace them with grass.
GOD: Grass? But it's so boring. It's not colorful. It doesn't attract butterflies, birds and bees, only grubs
and sod worms. It's temperamental with temperatures. Do these Suburbanites really want all that
grass growing there?
ST. FRANCIS: Apparently so, Lord. They go to great pains to grow it and keep it green. They begin
each spring by fertilizing grass and poisoning any other plant that crops up in the lawn.
GOD: The spring rains and warm weather probably make grass grow really fast. That must make the
Suburbanites happy.
ST. FRANCIS: Apparently not, Lord. As soon as it grows a little, they cut it-sometimes twice a week.
GOD: They cut it? Do they then bale it like hay?
ST. FRANCIS: Not exactly, Lord. Most of them rake it up and put it in bags.
GOD: They bag it? Why? Is it a cash crop? Do they sell it?
ST. FRANCIS: No Sir. Just the opposite. They pay to throw it away.
GOD: Now let me get this straight. They fertilize grass so it will grow. And when it does grow, they cut
it off and pay to throw it away?
ST. FRANCIS: Yes, Sir.
GOD: These Suburbanites must be relieved in the summer when we cut back on the rain and turn up
the heat. That surely slows the growth and saves them a lot of work.
ST. FRANCIS: You aren't going to believe this Lord. When the grass stops growing so fast, they drag
out hoses and pay more money to water it so they can continue to mow it and pay to get rid of it.
GOD: What nonsense. At least they kept some of the trees. That was a sheer stroke of genius, if I do
say so myself. The trees grow leaves in the spring to provide beauty and shade in the summer. In the
autumn they fall to the ground and form a natural blanket to keep moisture in the soil and protect
the trees and bushes. Plus, as they rot, the leaves form compost to enhance the soil. It's a natural circle
of life.
ST. FRANCIS: You better sit down, Lord. The Suburbanites have drawn a new circle. As soon as the
leaves fall, they rake them into great piles and pay to have them hauled away.
GOD: No. What do they do to protect the shrub and tree roots in the winter and to keep the soil moist
and loose?
ST. FRANCIS: After throwing away the leaves, they go out and buy something which they call mulch.
They haul it home and spread it around in place of the leaves.
GOD: And where do they get this mulch?
ST. FRANCIS: They cut down trees and grind them up to make the mulch.
GOD: Enough. I don't want to think about this anymore. St. Catherine, you're in charge of the arts.
What movie have they scheduled for us tonight?"
ST. CATHERINE: "Dumb and Dumber", Lord. It's a really stupid movie about.....
GOD: Never mind, I think I just heard the whole story from St. Francis.
Timely Tips for June
Remove old flowers, but not foliage from spring-flowering bulbs.
Prune shrubs that have just finished flowering, including weigela, philadelphus, and deutzia.
Propagate many shrubs from softwood cutting taken mid-June through early July.
Last chance to fertilize trees and shrubs.
If tomato blossom-end rot was a problem last year, try watering on a regular schedule to avoid wet-dry fluctuations.
Bring houseplants and most greenhouse plants outdoors and set in a shady area.
Many gardeners will agree that hand-weeding is not the terrible drudgery that it is often made out to be. Some people find in it a kind of soothing monotony. It leaves their minds free to develop the plot for their next novel or to perfect the brilliant repartee with which they should have encountered a relative's latest example of unreasonableness. ~Christopher Lloyd, The Well-Tempered Garden, 1973
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
April
Guy’s Greetings
The calendar says spring, but my garden says summer. What happened, and where did it go, did I miss “April Showers”? I don’t know about you, but I feel one morning I could see the daffodils poking out of the ground and the next day they were in full bloom. I hope your flowers are giving you there best show this spring; mine surely are...Guy
Mark the Date
Tuesday, April 27, 2010, 7:00 PM, general meeting at the Hagerman Fire Department, off Montauk Highway on the corner of Dunton Avenue and Oakdale. We’ve rescheduled our speaker, Master Beekeeper Raymond J. Lackey of Sweet Pines Apiary. He will have honey for sale for $10 per pound. For more information about him and beekeeping on Long Island, please visit the Web site at http://www.tianca.com/tianca2.html. We have invited the Bellport and Bayport Blue Point Garden Clubs to be our guests for the evening.
Friday, April 30, 2010, 11:00 AM, Tree dedication ceremony for our Hometown Hero honorees on Baker Street and South Ocean Avenue sponsored by the Greater Patchogue Foundation Beautification Committee.
"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." ~Anne Frank
Tuesday, May 11th, 2010, 7:00 PM, Bellport Garden Club Public Meeting at the South Country Library. Joan Smith is the guest speaker demonstrating "Artistic Floral Designs"; we will raffle 6-7 of her arrangements. Please do come! Praise from the president of the BGC: “First let me congratulate you all on a really wonderful luncheon. It was beautifully organized and great fun.”
Saturday, May 15, 2010, 9:00 AM—4 PM, Annual Plant and Yard Sale in the community garden at South Ocean Avenue and Terry Street. Bring all your (as well as your friends' and relatives' great, fantastic junk and potted labeled plants to sell to benefit our scholarship fund. We need workers too, so please sign up at your earliest convenience.
Sunday, May 16, 9:00 AM—4 PM, 2010, Rain date for Annual Plant and Yard Sale.
Monday, May 17, 2010, 10:00 AM, Sayville Garden Club Luncheon at Lands End Restaurant, 80 Browns River Road, Sayvillle. The speaker is Irene Virag. $40.00 check payable to the Sayville Garden Club should be mailed to 144 Handsome Avenue, Sayville NY, 11782, by May 3. Additional info: Kay Porter, 567-3567; Pat Osarchuk, 567-2203.
Did You Know?
Butterflies need trace minerals which they can't get from flower nectar, so they gather in areas where there are puddles of water with dissolved minerals and drink the water. This is called "puddling". At the muddy or sandy puddle (often located near animal dung), the butterfly sips water rich in mineral salts and other essential nutrients (mostly sodium chloride and nitrogen-rich solutions) that have leached from the surrounding soil and rocks. Male butterflies do more puddling than females. The dissolved salts and minerals may be used to make pheromones (that the male uses to attract females) and sperm.
If you’re thinking about growing a butterfly garden or just want to know more about butterflies, check out http://www.thebutterflysite.com/. Explore 12 butterfly topics with over 125 pages packed full of butterfly information at this family-friendly site. The butterfly pages contain articles written by entomologist Randi Jones, MSc, as well as butterfly links to sites all over the web for even more information on butterflies. All information is updated frequently.
http://www.njaudubon.org/SectionBackyardHabitat/CreateaGarden.aspx has a wealth of information to get you started if the idea of attracting butterflies, moths, and hummingbirds to your garden sounds even more appealing. [Ed.: One of my favorite visitors is the hummingbird moth, below. First time I saw it, it took my breath away.]
Serious Dirt from Richard Waldman
A woman gardening wearing only a yellow thong and pink gloves has brought neighborhood complaints and new rules. Boulder Housing Partners plans to amend its rules so that tenants cover up when they're outside. Several passers-by told Boulder police earlier this week that 52-year-old Catharine Pierce was topless while tending to her yard. Last year, she was threatened with eviction for gardening wearing only pasties and a thong. Police responding to Wednesday's reports decided Pierce wasn't breaking any laws. What do YOU think, innocent or guilty? Cast your vote to karenferb@hotmail.com. Read the full AP story at
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35960364/ns/us_news-life/.
Spring Gardening Gadgets: When Technology Kills Instinct by Eyder Peralta
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125126277&sc=emaf
Spring Gardening Gadgets: When Technology Kills Instinct by Eyder Peralta
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125126277&sc=emaf
I didn't quite get into gardening until I moved to Washington, D.C. The house we bought came with a luscious garden that felt too precious to ignore. So, I pruned and fed and watered. I also asked around to see if anyone could figure out what that plant was with the delicate white flowers that smelled like spring. The more I got into it, the more little tools I bought. Last spring, I bought a soil tester that told me my Gardenias were yellowing because my soil wasn't acidic enough. Then, as I started planning for this spring, the techie in me got rolling. I looked into the EasyBloom Plant Sensor and the Fertile Earth WaterStiK and the Hydrofarm Germination Station. One of them you stick in the ground, let sit for 24 hours, then plug it into your computer and it brings up plants that will love that space. The Germination Station comes with a heated mat so your seedlings will grow up in the most hospitable of environments. And WaterStik? There's no more looking at the leaves to find out if your plant is parched. No, you just press a button and a light tells you whether to water. At some point, I had every intent to buy all these things. Then I thought: At what point is reliance on technology cheating? You know like saying you baked a carrot cake, when you really made it from a box.
Here's the thing: In world that's increasingly virtual, gardening is one of those few things in life whose basics still remain. Sun. Soil. Water. It's one of the few things that gives you tangible fruits from manual labor. It's also one of those things that's driven by experience, because no matter how much you read up on the net, the conditions in your backyard will inevitably be different. So the more I thought about those gardening gadgets, the more I was reminded of the lady I buy my flowers from. She's tall with long, white hair and always wears a straw gardening hat. She has to be in her '70s and knows with a certainty I've rarely encountered which plant is best suited for each person and each garden. Last year, just at the beginning of winter, I saw her at the monastery near my house. She was wearing a sun hat and no jacket. I saw her deadheading roses, twisting the top of thorny, dead flowers with her bare hands.
I use gloves; I use garden shears; I was impressed. But more than anything, it was that scene that made me walk away from those gardening gadgets. Sometimes, I thought, technology complicates. Sometimes technology takes instinct out of the equation. Sometimes, it's just better to dig in and get dirty.
An unusual technique: http://strawbalegardens.com/ [Thanks, Paula! Ed.]
For the ultimate in quick and easy productive gardening, growing plants in straw bales would have to be the outright winner. No soil. No garden edging. No digging. Just a bale of hay. When we think of growing plants, we tend to assume that soil is the only medium that we can plant into. It's just not the case. Most organic materials provide a great growing medium for plants. So, how do you do it? Here's a 10 day preparation schedule from North Carolina gardener Kent Rogers:
• Days 1–3 Water the bales thoroughly and keep them wet.
• Days 4–6 Sprinkle the bales with 1/2 cup of ammonium nitrate (32-0-0) per bale per day, and water it well into the bales. I didn’t have any trouble finding ammonium nitrate from my local ag-supply store. They sold it in 40-pound bags. I have heard, however, that some people have had difficulty finding it in more urban settings. Ask around.
• Days 7–9 Cut back to 1/4 cup of ammonium nitrate per bale per day and continue to water it in well.
• Day 10 No more ammonium nitrate, but do add 1 cup of 10-10-10 fertilizer per bale and water it in well.
• Day 11 Transplant your plants into the bales. I used a spatula to make a crack in the bale for each plant. Place the plant down to its first leaf and close the crack back together as best you can.
If you go buying ammonium nitrate in bulk you're probably going to raise some security alarm bells, especially if you live in the US, UK or Australia. Plus, ammonium nitrate is expensive and hard to find. There are some alternatives however, with urea being the next best option (46-0-0), and an organic substitute is poultry manure. If you want to use the chicken manure then you will need to prepare it in a bucket by just covering it with water and leaving for 2-3 days to rot. This will remain as a liquid that can be poured over the straw bales at the same rate as the ammonium nitrate.
Once your plants are in the straw bale it's just a matter of maintaining them as you would in the soil. The only proviso to this is that because a straw bale has a greater surface area (the top plus 4 sides) it will have more chance of drying out. I would advise that you grow two bales together with their long sides butting up against each other and then continuing a row with more straw bales end to end. This will significantly reduce the surface area and evaporation won't occur so readily.
This method of growing plants is mainly successful with vegetable crops and predominantly those that grow above the surface. The only vegetables that won't grow well in straw bales are your umbellifera (potatoes, swedes, carrots etc) and your alliums (garlic, leeks, onions etc). You will need to continue adding your chosen fertilizer, ammonium nitrate, urea or poultry manure every 3-4 weeks. Plus, you might want to use a liquid fertilizer as well.
More at www.nicholsgardennursery.com/strawbales.htm, www.county.ces.uga.edu/chatham/hay_bales.htm,
www.co.clay.mn.us/Depts/Extensio/ExAPHydr.htm
RIP Ralph Snodsmith
With the tragically premature loss of gardening guru Ralph Snodsmith last week, where can people turn now to have the garden dilemmas solved? One possibility would be The English Lady Landscape & Home, Organically Improving Our Lives One Project At A Time.
Maureen Haseley-Jones, aka Mo, The English Lady, and her son Ian J. Sveilich are members of a family of renowned horticultural artisans whose landscaping heritage dates back to the seventeenth century.
She is the founder of the well-known and established company The English Lady Landscape and Home that works throughout the Northeast. Today Maureen is a much credited and sought after designer and expert in all matters green and garden. Her “cheeky, self-effacing style as the “garden guru” on WRCH Lite100.5 FM radio has earned her a wide fan base.
Maureen lectures throughout Connecticut on a broad range of landscape design and environmentally holistic topics. She also writes timely articles for various newspapers and magazines throughout the state, in addition to having her own weekly gardening columns in “The Shoreline News” and “The Valley Press” and begins a three part series about vegetable gardens, in the spring of 2009 in “Nutmeg Magazine”.
Beginning in 1648 their family were tenants at Powys Castle in Wales and worked the landscape for the Herbert family who were in residence. In 1680 they refined their craft under the auspice of renowned architect William Winde who designed the terrace gardens in the style of Renaissance Italy’s landscapes. Powys Castle is still considered by many landscape experts to be the best example of seventeenth century gardens in Britain today.
Maureen learned her creative design skills and horticultural acumen from her mother and grandmother and was “speaking garden” from the time she could talk. She honed her construction skills while working in the family business in the U.K. Her formal horticultural training was at the world-renowned Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in Surrey.
The New York Sunday Times said of Maureen that “one of life’s unexpected experiences was discussing manure with an English Baroness,” and Connecticut magazine found Maureen “anything but tweedy.”
Baroness Maureen Haseley-Jones, who also has an honors degree from the London Guildhall School of Music and Drama, once understudied on the English stage the famed actress Angela Lansbury of “Murder She Wrote.” She also qualified to race on a Formula One team in Europe, raced a Lotus in the Monte Carlo rally as well as Mini-Coopers in road rallies in Northwest England.
Visit at http://theenglishlady.com/blog/. Or
WHC-TV Channel 5 West Hartford Cable Television Maureen is the featured guest on "Life and Style with Sara". You can watch it online: http://www.whctv.org/.
WRCH Lite100.5FM Maureen is the ‘all things garden and green guru’ on "In Your Garden With The English Lady". Call in with questions every third Thursday of the month from 8:00-9:00 AM or you can listen online: http://player.play.it/player/player.html?v=4.4.35&id=159&onestat=wrch
Timely Tips for May
Apply summer mulch to perennial beds and borders.
Fertilize roses every 2-3 weeks and spray weekly.
All annual flowers can be safely planted out after mid-May.
Prune spring-flowering shrubs immediately after flowering.
Prune halfway back new growth on needle evergreens if desired.
Plant dahlias, cannas, and daylilies ‘til the end of the month. Plant glads now through late June. Plant tuberous begonias and caladiums out in shady protected areas.
Fertilize annuals and vegetables and stake tall perennials that could be damaged by wind or rain.
"Sweet April showers / Do spring May flowers."
Thomas Tusser, A Hundred Good Points of Husbandry, 1557
The calendar says spring, but my garden says summer. What happened, and where did it go, did I miss “April Showers”? I don’t know about you, but I feel one morning I could see the daffodils poking out of the ground and the next day they were in full bloom. I hope your flowers are giving you there best show this spring; mine surely are...Guy
Mark the Date
Tuesday, April 27, 2010, 7:00 PM, general meeting at the Hagerman Fire Department, off Montauk Highway on the corner of Dunton Avenue and Oakdale. We’ve rescheduled our speaker, Master Beekeeper Raymond J. Lackey of Sweet Pines Apiary. He will have honey for sale for $10 per pound. For more information about him and beekeeping on Long Island, please visit the Web site at http://www.tianca.com/tianca2.html. We have invited the Bellport and Bayport Blue Point Garden Clubs to be our guests for the evening.
Friday, April 30, 2010, 11:00 AM, Tree dedication ceremony for our Hometown Hero honorees on Baker Street and South Ocean Avenue sponsored by the Greater Patchogue Foundation Beautification Committee.
"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." ~Anne Frank
Tuesday, May 11th, 2010, 7:00 PM, Bellport Garden Club Public Meeting at the South Country Library. Joan Smith is the guest speaker demonstrating "Artistic Floral Designs"; we will raffle 6-7 of her arrangements. Please do come! Praise from the president of the BGC: “First let me congratulate you all on a really wonderful luncheon. It was beautifully organized and great fun.”
Saturday, May 15, 2010, 9:00 AM—4 PM, Annual Plant and Yard Sale in the community garden at South Ocean Avenue and Terry Street. Bring all your (as well as your friends' and relatives' great, fantastic junk and potted labeled plants to sell to benefit our scholarship fund. We need workers too, so please sign up at your earliest convenience.
Sunday, May 16, 9:00 AM—4 PM, 2010, Rain date for Annual Plant and Yard Sale.
Monday, May 17, 2010, 10:00 AM, Sayville Garden Club Luncheon at Lands End Restaurant, 80 Browns River Road, Sayvillle. The speaker is Irene Virag. $40.00 check payable to the Sayville Garden Club should be mailed to 144 Handsome Avenue, Sayville NY, 11782, by May 3. Additional info: Kay Porter, 567-3567; Pat Osarchuk, 567-2203.
Did You Know?
Butterflies need trace minerals which they can't get from flower nectar, so they gather in areas where there are puddles of water with dissolved minerals and drink the water. This is called "puddling". At the muddy or sandy puddle (often located near animal dung), the butterfly sips water rich in mineral salts and other essential nutrients (mostly sodium chloride and nitrogen-rich solutions) that have leached from the surrounding soil and rocks. Male butterflies do more puddling than females. The dissolved salts and minerals may be used to make pheromones (that the male uses to attract females) and sperm.
If you’re thinking about growing a butterfly garden or just want to know more about butterflies, check out http://www.thebutterflysite.com/. Explore 12 butterfly topics with over 125 pages packed full of butterfly information at this family-friendly site. The butterfly pages contain articles written by entomologist Randi Jones, MSc, as well as butterfly links to sites all over the web for even more information on butterflies. All information is updated frequently.
http://www.njaudubon.org/SectionBackyardHabitat/CreateaGarden.aspx has a wealth of information to get you started if the idea of attracting butterflies, moths, and hummingbirds to your garden sounds even more appealing. [Ed.: One of my favorite visitors is the hummingbird moth, below. First time I saw it, it took my breath away.]
Serious Dirt from Richard Waldman
A woman gardening wearing only a yellow thong and pink gloves has brought neighborhood complaints and new rules. Boulder Housing Partners plans to amend its rules so that tenants cover up when they're outside. Several passers-by told Boulder police earlier this week that 52-year-old Catharine Pierce was topless while tending to her yard. Last year, she was threatened with eviction for gardening wearing only pasties and a thong. Police responding to Wednesday's reports decided Pierce wasn't breaking any laws. What do YOU think, innocent or guilty? Cast your vote to karenferb@hotmail.com. Read the full AP story at
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35960364/ns/us_news-life/.
Spring Gardening Gadgets: When Technology Kills Instinct by Eyder Peralta
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125126277&sc=emaf
Spring Gardening Gadgets: When Technology Kills Instinct by Eyder Peralta
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125126277&sc=emaf
I didn't quite get into gardening until I moved to Washington, D.C. The house we bought came with a luscious garden that felt too precious to ignore. So, I pruned and fed and watered. I also asked around to see if anyone could figure out what that plant was with the delicate white flowers that smelled like spring. The more I got into it, the more little tools I bought. Last spring, I bought a soil tester that told me my Gardenias were yellowing because my soil wasn't acidic enough. Then, as I started planning for this spring, the techie in me got rolling. I looked into the EasyBloom Plant Sensor and the Fertile Earth WaterStiK and the Hydrofarm Germination Station. One of them you stick in the ground, let sit for 24 hours, then plug it into your computer and it brings up plants that will love that space. The Germination Station comes with a heated mat so your seedlings will grow up in the most hospitable of environments. And WaterStik? There's no more looking at the leaves to find out if your plant is parched. No, you just press a button and a light tells you whether to water. At some point, I had every intent to buy all these things. Then I thought: At what point is reliance on technology cheating? You know like saying you baked a carrot cake, when you really made it from a box.
Here's the thing: In world that's increasingly virtual, gardening is one of those few things in life whose basics still remain. Sun. Soil. Water. It's one of the few things that gives you tangible fruits from manual labor. It's also one of those things that's driven by experience, because no matter how much you read up on the net, the conditions in your backyard will inevitably be different. So the more I thought about those gardening gadgets, the more I was reminded of the lady I buy my flowers from. She's tall with long, white hair and always wears a straw gardening hat. She has to be in her '70s and knows with a certainty I've rarely encountered which plant is best suited for each person and each garden. Last year, just at the beginning of winter, I saw her at the monastery near my house. She was wearing a sun hat and no jacket. I saw her deadheading roses, twisting the top of thorny, dead flowers with her bare hands.
I use gloves; I use garden shears; I was impressed. But more than anything, it was that scene that made me walk away from those gardening gadgets. Sometimes, I thought, technology complicates. Sometimes technology takes instinct out of the equation. Sometimes, it's just better to dig in and get dirty.
An unusual technique: http://strawbalegardens.com/ [Thanks, Paula! Ed.]
For the ultimate in quick and easy productive gardening, growing plants in straw bales would have to be the outright winner. No soil. No garden edging. No digging. Just a bale of hay. When we think of growing plants, we tend to assume that soil is the only medium that we can plant into. It's just not the case. Most organic materials provide a great growing medium for plants. So, how do you do it? Here's a 10 day preparation schedule from North Carolina gardener Kent Rogers:
• Days 1–3 Water the bales thoroughly and keep them wet.
• Days 4–6 Sprinkle the bales with 1/2 cup of ammonium nitrate (32-0-0) per bale per day, and water it well into the bales. I didn’t have any trouble finding ammonium nitrate from my local ag-supply store. They sold it in 40-pound bags. I have heard, however, that some people have had difficulty finding it in more urban settings. Ask around.
• Days 7–9 Cut back to 1/4 cup of ammonium nitrate per bale per day and continue to water it in well.
• Day 10 No more ammonium nitrate, but do add 1 cup of 10-10-10 fertilizer per bale and water it in well.
• Day 11 Transplant your plants into the bales. I used a spatula to make a crack in the bale for each plant. Place the plant down to its first leaf and close the crack back together as best you can.
If you go buying ammonium nitrate in bulk you're probably going to raise some security alarm bells, especially if you live in the US, UK or Australia. Plus, ammonium nitrate is expensive and hard to find. There are some alternatives however, with urea being the next best option (46-0-0), and an organic substitute is poultry manure. If you want to use the chicken manure then you will need to prepare it in a bucket by just covering it with water and leaving for 2-3 days to rot. This will remain as a liquid that can be poured over the straw bales at the same rate as the ammonium nitrate.
Once your plants are in the straw bale it's just a matter of maintaining them as you would in the soil. The only proviso to this is that because a straw bale has a greater surface area (the top plus 4 sides) it will have more chance of drying out. I would advise that you grow two bales together with their long sides butting up against each other and then continuing a row with more straw bales end to end. This will significantly reduce the surface area and evaporation won't occur so readily.
This method of growing plants is mainly successful with vegetable crops and predominantly those that grow above the surface. The only vegetables that won't grow well in straw bales are your umbellifera (potatoes, swedes, carrots etc) and your alliums (garlic, leeks, onions etc). You will need to continue adding your chosen fertilizer, ammonium nitrate, urea or poultry manure every 3-4 weeks. Plus, you might want to use a liquid fertilizer as well.
More at www.nicholsgardennursery.com/strawbales.htm, www.county.ces.uga.edu/chatham/hay_bales.htm,
www.co.clay.mn.us/Depts/Extensio/ExAPHydr.htm
RIP Ralph Snodsmith
With the tragically premature loss of gardening guru Ralph Snodsmith last week, where can people turn now to have the garden dilemmas solved? One possibility would be The English Lady Landscape & Home, Organically Improving Our Lives One Project At A Time.
Maureen Haseley-Jones, aka Mo, The English Lady, and her son Ian J. Sveilich are members of a family of renowned horticultural artisans whose landscaping heritage dates back to the seventeenth century.
She is the founder of the well-known and established company The English Lady Landscape and Home that works throughout the Northeast. Today Maureen is a much credited and sought after designer and expert in all matters green and garden. Her “cheeky, self-effacing style as the “garden guru” on WRCH Lite100.5 FM radio has earned her a wide fan base.
Maureen lectures throughout Connecticut on a broad range of landscape design and environmentally holistic topics. She also writes timely articles for various newspapers and magazines throughout the state, in addition to having her own weekly gardening columns in “The Shoreline News” and “The Valley Press” and begins a three part series about vegetable gardens, in the spring of 2009 in “Nutmeg Magazine”.
Beginning in 1648 their family were tenants at Powys Castle in Wales and worked the landscape for the Herbert family who were in residence. In 1680 they refined their craft under the auspice of renowned architect William Winde who designed the terrace gardens in the style of Renaissance Italy’s landscapes. Powys Castle is still considered by many landscape experts to be the best example of seventeenth century gardens in Britain today.
Maureen learned her creative design skills and horticultural acumen from her mother and grandmother and was “speaking garden” from the time she could talk. She honed her construction skills while working in the family business in the U.K. Her formal horticultural training was at the world-renowned Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in Surrey.
The New York Sunday Times said of Maureen that “one of life’s unexpected experiences was discussing manure with an English Baroness,” and Connecticut magazine found Maureen “anything but tweedy.”
Baroness Maureen Haseley-Jones, who also has an honors degree from the London Guildhall School of Music and Drama, once understudied on the English stage the famed actress Angela Lansbury of “Murder She Wrote.” She also qualified to race on a Formula One team in Europe, raced a Lotus in the Monte Carlo rally as well as Mini-Coopers in road rallies in Northwest England.
Visit at http://theenglishlady.com/blog/. Or
WHC-TV Channel 5 West Hartford Cable Television Maureen is the featured guest on "Life and Style with Sara". You can watch it online: http://www.whctv.org/.
WRCH Lite100.5FM Maureen is the ‘all things garden and green guru’ on "In Your Garden With The English Lady". Call in with questions every third Thursday of the month from 8:00-9:00 AM or you can listen online: http://player.play.it/player/player.html?v=4.4.35&id=159&onestat=wrch
Timely Tips for May
Apply summer mulch to perennial beds and borders.
Fertilize roses every 2-3 weeks and spray weekly.
All annual flowers can be safely planted out after mid-May.
Prune spring-flowering shrubs immediately after flowering.
Prune halfway back new growth on needle evergreens if desired.
Plant dahlias, cannas, and daylilies ‘til the end of the month. Plant glads now through late June. Plant tuberous begonias and caladiums out in shady protected areas.
Fertilize annuals and vegetables and stake tall perennials that could be damaged by wind or rain.
"Sweet April showers / Do spring May flowers."
Thomas Tusser, A Hundred Good Points of Husbandry, 1557
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