It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas....

In spite of 20 degree weather, members of the Tweed and District Horticultural Society were definitely in the Christmas spirit as they listened to Conrad Grol ‘s talk about creating winter planters at the November meeting. Conrad, former owner of Brighton Greenhouse gave many tips about making planters to decorate our homes for the holiday season.

Rural areas like Tweed offer a wealth of greenery…Conrad cautioned about asking property owners permission before cutting branches from trees and bushes.

This year Conrad used silver pails as the base for his planters. Place sand on the bottom, add a piece of dry foam (wet foam will disintegrate) and top with more sand and fill to the top of the pail. If the planter is going to be stationary, the dry foam can be omitted.

Greenery used….spruce, cedar, red pine, Austrian pine, scotch pine and jack pine…or whatever you can find! Look for foliage with no brown spots. Birch “logs” can be used as a focal point in a planter.

Different coloured dogwood, thistles, ferns, cat tails, sedum, sumac seed pods, milk weed pods and pine cones can all be used to add texture and interest to the planter. If these accent pieces are too short, simply attach them to a skewer with florist tape and insert into the foam or sand. This will also provide a variety of heights within the planter.

If you prefer more “bling” in the planter, Conrad suggested spray painting the dogwood, thistles etc. Pine cones can be wired together in groups of 2-3 to form a cluster and wired onto the greenery. Bows can also be wired on to the greenery or the handle to add more colour.

The greenery in planters will last during the holiday season; however if you are making a small planter for indoors, Conrad suggested spraying with “Wilt Proof” to prevent the foliage from drying out. This product is also recommended for garlands and wreathes.

According to Conrad, these beautiful planters will certainly welcome family and friends to your home during the Christmas season!

COMING UP….

November 15…Volunteer hours for December, 2014-November, 2015 are to be submitted to Jean Clark. Email hours to info@tweedhort.ca or  leave hours at the Library.

November 28…Children’s Program at Tweed Library…!0:30-12:30….making Christmas decorations. Please register at the Library.

December 1 @ 6 pm…Christmas Potluck….bring your favourite pot luck dish to share. Don’t forget your plates, utensils and wine glass!!!

Bring quarters to play “Quarter Frenzy”!

December 11 @12 noon….Christmas Luncheon at Club 213, Loyalist College.

Both Beautiful and Delicious!

Trevor Telford, from Black River Retreat (north of Tweed) shared his passion for cooking at the October meeting of the Tweed and District Horticultural Society. Trevor’s culinary knowledge and skill set certainly held the members attention as he transformed a simple acorn squash into an elegant and eye catching dish. When cooking, Trevor’s goal is to create “beautiful and delicious food”

To start, Trevor cut an acorn squash sideways into slices and removed the seeds which gave an interesting shape to start. To prepare the sauce, the following recipe was used….

·        2 tbsp butter

·        1 tbsp brown sugar

·        1 tbsp honey

·        1 tsp chili peppers

·        1 tsp cinnamon

·        1 tsp nutmeg

Melt above ingredients in microwave. Place squash slices in tinfoil lined baking dish. Brush with sauce. Cover with tinfoil. Cook 20 min @ 375 degrees. Turn slices, brush with sauce, cover and cook another 20 minutes.

When cooked, place on dish and decorate with broccoli florets, asparagus sprigs, sliced red pepper and caramelized onions. Add smoked cheese cubes.

After tasting samples of the squash, members agreed with Trevor….”beautiful and delicious”!!!

COMING UP….

October 17…Fall clean-up of flower beds. Meet at 9:00 at Moira Garden.

November 3…Conrad Grol will demonstrate how to create winter planters using fresh evergreens. The AGM will be held at this meeting. Financial Report for the past year will be presented.

November 15…Volunteer hours for December, 2014-November, 2015 are to be submitted to Jean Clark. Email hours to info@tweedhort.ca

Hort Folks Weave Baskets

Basket making class with Naneen Tyner...a great day with Naneen making baskets at her home on Lime Lake Road....everyone was so proud of their finished basket....even though it took over 5 hours to complete the baskets with LOTS of help from Naneen!! Naneen recently spoke and demonstrated at a Tweed Hort meeting, generating interest from some of the members for a class.

A Fix for Tiny Spaces

Only have a small space to grow a veggie garden…no problem according to Square Foot Gardening Instructor, Carolyn Klickermann.  Carolyn, one of 4 Square Foot gardening instructors in Ontario was the guest speaker at the September meeting of the Tweed and District Horticultural Society. Carolyn’s enthusiasm for this type of gardening had members eager to start planning their 2016 vegetable gardens. Perhaps it was the idea of no weeding, no digging and no tilling that appealed to the members.

Using a power point presentation based on the work of the founder of this concept, Mel Bartholomew, Carolyn walked the members through the stages of this unique type of gardening.

Several key points….

-area for the garden needs to receive 6-9 hours of sunlight daily

-construct boxes to measure 4 feet by 4 feet and a depth of 6 inches; staple landscape cloth to the bottom and use Venetian blind slats for the grids, do not use pressure treated wood

-allow for walking aisles between the boxes

-soil…use a mixture of 1/3 compost (made from a variety of different ingredients…shrimp, leaf, kitchen, mushroom…at least 4-5 different types of compos), 1/3 peat moss and 1/3 coarse vermiculite…DO NOT USE EXISTING SOIL FROM YOUR GARDEN

-plant seeds in each square foot…2-3 seeds in each hole

-use rainwater to irrigate

-when you have finished harvesting a square, add compost to replenish the nutrients and replant

Carolyn suggested adding flowers to the boxes for some colour. She also suggested vertical planting for beans, squash, peas and yes even pumpkins! Keep the trellis on the north side of the box to maximize sunshine on the plants.

Due to the rising cost of seeds, she keeps left over seeds in their package in a mason jar with a bit of rice in the bottom. Store the jar in the fridge or cold cellar.

For more information on this topic, check squarefoot.com

COMING UP….

September 8…Fall clean-up of flower beds. Meet at 5:30 at Moira Garden.

September 12…Basket making course with Naneen Tyner.

September 19…Children’s Program….nature walk with Jim Pederson. Meet at Erin Palmateer pool parking lot @ 10:00.

October 6…Cooking with Trevor Telford, renowned chef at Black River Retreat. Trevor will share his culinary skills as he cooks dishes using fresh fall ingredients.

A Little Food, A Little Hosta

Kevin Elchuk of Giboshihill Hostas talks hosta with members
of the Tweed and Area Horticultural Society.

The Thomasburg Community Hall was filled with tantalizing smells and lots of chatter on August 4^th as the Tweed and District Horticultural Society held their annual summer pot luck dinner. Hot dishes, salads, veggies and breads filled the “main course” table. Everyone still had room for one of the many desserts…homemade pies, carrot cake, coffee cake, date squares and cheese cake. Icy cold punches were enjoyed by the members on a hot summer evening.

Kevin and Olga Elchuk of Giboshilhill in Cobourg were the evening’s guest speakers. Their slide presentation and commentary was enjoyed by members as they relaxed after their dinner!

Kevin and Olga’s garden contains over 1400 varieties of hosts-a hosta lover’s paradise….and their garden is open to the public to visit! For dates and times…email k.o.giboshihill@gmail.com

Kevin pointed out that hostas are native to Japan, China and Korea. As all gardeners know, hostas are very adaptable and the top selling perennial in North America.

KEVIN’S HOSTA TIPS…..

·        All hostas needs some sunlight…white edged hostas should be placed in late afternoon sun to prevent the white on the leaves from burning

·        Some hostas can have a different appearance depending on the amount of sunlight they receive

·        To get the maximum size for your hostas, plan your garden to minimize the necessity of digging up a hosta when it gets too big

·        Hostas have a variety of leaf shapes, colours, textures and edges

·        To divide…try to dig up whole plant, wash dirt off, break where there are “natural breaks”, use a fork that has been washed in a mixture of bleach and water to prevent the spreading of disease; soak plant overnight in a pail of water; plant using Root Booster to stimulate root growth

·        Feed hostas with Miracle Grow (one for tomatoes)

·        Hostas are great in pots, window boxes, planters, wheel barrows, baskets etc…..rather than purchasing annuals that will be discarded in the fall, Kevin suggests using hostas

·        To overwinter hostas in pots, place pots in garage; once a month water using snow (melts slowly); place pots outside in April to start to acclimatize plants for the next seasons

·        “minis” should be planted in the ground before Thanksgiving…not left on pots over winter

At the conclusion of the slide presentation, members shopped for hostas for their gardens from the selection that Kevin and Olga had brought to the meeting.

COMING UP….

August 16….Clean-up of flower beds in town.

September 1…Speaker Carolyn Klickermann will talk about “Square Foot Gardening”….saves time, space, seeds and virtually weed free! A great way to add a veggie garden to a small space.

Horticulture at the Fair

Pictures of a couple of samples of the creations submitted by Tweed residents in the the horticulture competition sponsored by Tweed Hort at the Tweed Fair on July 10 to 12.

A Country of Gardens

Members of the Tweed and District Horticultural Society traveled across Canada at their July meeting. The navigator of the excursion was Penny Stewart, District 3 Director for the Ontario Horticultural Society. Penny’s power point presentation took members through many of the outstanding gardens in Canada.

First stop on the trip was Vancouver Island with visits to the world famous Butchand Gardens and Royal Road Hately Estate Gardens with its large collection of rhododendrons and azaleas.

VanDusen Garden in Vancouver is located on property originally owned by BC Rail. The property was purchased by a group of citizens to prevent the building of a housing development. This is a teaching botanical garden with many ponds incorporated into the property.

Travelling across the prairies to Ontario, the next stop is the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington. It is the largest botanical garden in Canada and the Queen’s blessing makes it “royal”! This garden houses a large number of native plants and a spectacular dahlia collection.

Next members stopped in Montreal to visit the Montreal Botanical Gardens. This garden boasts the largest Bonsai display in Canada. Also in Quebec, Bleu Lavanda which is one of the largest lavender farms in North America.

Redford Garden (Garden de Metis) is located in the Gaspe Bay region of Quebec. Once a quarry, the site is home to a woodland garden and a large peony display garden.

Last stop is in Nova Scotia at the historical garden, Annapolis Royal. This cottage garden has a typical building and vegetables that the settlers would have brought over and planted many years ago.

After all the travelling, members sat back and enjoyed cake and berries with ice cream and strawberry punch!

COMING UP….

August 4…Pot Luck Dinner at Thomasburg Community Hall. Remember to bring your favourite pot luck dish to share and your own utensils.  START TIME...6 pm.

Kevin Elchuk of Giboshihill Hosta in Cobourg will have a slide show on hostas. He grows over 1300 different varieties and sells 250-350 different varieities. He will have some hostas for sale.

August 16….Clean-up of flower beds in town.