May meeting

Dawn Tack of Gardens Plus will be the guest speaker. She will discuss low maintenance perennials including hostas and daylilies. Meetings are held at the Tweed Public Library, Metcalf St.
Don't forget the Annual Plant Sale  Saturday May 21 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Tweed Memorial Park. Event takes place rain or shine.

Cam Mather on All You Can Eat Gardening

Cam Mather of Tamworth was the guest speaker at the Tweed and District Horticultural Meeting on March 2, 2011. Mather, author of The All You Can Eat Gardening Handbook and Thriving during Challenging Times: The Energy, Food and Financial Independence Handbook and publisher of The Renewable Energy Handbook for Homeowners lives off the grid and shared his expertise on growing vegetables organically.

Mather’s PowerPoint presentation opened with some background information regarding fossil fuels which likely will cause higher food costs in the future. His talk highlighted the need for proper soil preparation (compost, compost and compost!), weeding, watering, dealing with garden pests and storing the harvest. Mather included photos of different kinds of root cellars that exist and can be built to keep the produce that is grown. The right temperature and humidity in the root cellar is crucial to store the food properly.

Members were invited to ask questions following the presentation and many members purchased Mather’s books which were for sale. “A fantastic informative evening” was the comment heard after the presentation.

NEXT MEETING: Tuesday April 5th… Hazel Cook from Blossom Hill Nursery will be speaking about growing and caring for peonies.

Upcoming Events…Canada Bloom Bus Trip….Fri. Mar. 18, 2011

Forest Sustainability



Elizabeth and George chat with Jim Pederson (right)
 from Stewardship Ontario.
Jim was our guest speaker this month.



Jim Pedersen was the guest speaker at the Tweed and District Horticultural meeting on February 1, 2011. Jim is a forest technician who works for the Ministry of Natural Resources. According to Jim, “Hastings County is a mosaic of rich biodiversity from Lake Ontario to Algonquin Park. As one travels through the county it is evident these different landforms promote different vegetation.” Although 45% of the county is forests, people have been “hard” on the forests during the years. What we need to do, says Jim is to work and maintain what we have in our forests. Many members at the meeting were surprised to learn that having a woodlot on their property could result in a sustainable break on their property taxes!

Jim mentioned “Harvest Hastings” which was developed to raise the profile of local farmers and to “buy local”. He said to mark April 30th on our calendars as that is the Community Tree Event in Tweed. On that day, residents are invited to pick up a free tree from a designated location and plant it on their property.



MARCH MEETING: Cam Mather will discuss growing vegetables organically.



CANADA BLOOMS BUS TRIP: Friday March 18, 2011. Cost is 48.00 before February 28 or $55.00 after Feb. 28.

Trees and the Environment

Join the Tweed and District Horticultural Group on Tuesday, February 1 at 7:30 pm for a presentation by Jim Pedersen. Jim, who works with Stewardship Ontario, will be speaking about the benefits of trees in our community. Jim will also discuss how climate affects trees.


Annual membership fee can also be paid.

The meeting will take place at the Municipality of Tweed Public Library on Metcalf Street.

Christmas Potluck

Members of the Tweed Horticultural Society showcased their culinary talents at the Christmas potluck dinner. Gold ribbons among boughs of fresh evergreen gave the tables a festive flavour. Poinsettias were used to add colour to the table settings and several members were lucky as they won the poinsettias.
Roast turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy gave members an early Christmas dinner. Of course there were many other hot dishes and salads to accompany the turkey. A table laden with dessert satisfied everyone's sweet tooth.
A great time was had by all. Merry Christmas and a reminder that the next meeting is Feb. 7....hopefully at the new library!

Getting Ready for Christmas

Members of the Tweed and District were as busy as Santa’s elves at the November meeting. Club members Ray, Jean and Linda assisted those attending to design and create Christmas arrangements. Greenery, oasis and small decorative ornaments were supplied for members to use in their arrangements. Everyone’s creativity was evident as no two arrangements were the same. As Ray commented,” the creative energy if just flowing tonight”. Everyone went home with a beautiful Christmas arrangement and many said that they were going to make more!

December’s meeting is the Christmas Potluck at 6:00 complete with turkey and stuffing! Members are to bring their favourite potluck dish. Remember to bring your dishes and cutlery for the dinner!

Soup's On!

Drew Ferguson, a chef and instructor from Loyalist College chopped, mixed and stirred while giving Horticultural members many cooking tips at their October meeting. Drew cooked batches of squash soup and potato-leek soup using locally grown ingredients. When asked about the recipe for the soups, Drew admitted that he rarely uses one. According to Drew, anyone can make soup but it is the presentation and the correct combination of seasonings that “make” the soup one to remember. Members sampled the soups agreeing with Drew about the seasoning and the presentation….squash soup with sour cream and caramelized pecans!!


Drew also explained that he grew 5000 garlic bulbs on his farm this year and they are sold out! Next year he plans to plant 7000...so get your orders in early.

Drew started a new venture with his students at Loyalist last year. As part of his program to encourage the concept to “grow locally”, students came to his farm in the spring to plant vegetables and returned in Sept to harvest the produce to be use in the cooking classes at Loyalist. Drew also developed a “partnership” with Richters Garden Centre on Highway #62. Richters donated some land for vegetable planting and the students planted in the spring and returned to harvest in the Fall. It was such a successful venture that Richters is planning to utilize more land for the veggie garden in 2011.



As members were sipping the delicious soup, Drew concluded his presentation by stressing the importance of buying locally and knowing what we are eating!