SACANDAGA GARDEN CLUB - September 2010

Our Club reconvenes this month on September 9 for a picnic in the town park next to the Bradt Building. We will discuss our program for the year and talk about the upcoming projects our members can support.

Do make a note of our October meeting which will be Thursday, October 7 at 1:00 p.m. We invite you to come and join us in the upstairs meeting room of the Northville Library for a presentation on the life history and ecology of the Eastern Bluebird and other birds that nest in bluebird boxes. John Rogers is a recognized expert on the subject of bluebirds and his program on the natural history and nest box management of bluebirds will thrill you. He’s helped fledge over 11,000 bluebirds from over 250 nest boxes ranging over 50 miles of territory and as you will see he is passionate about his subject.



As we come into Fall this is a good time to plant many trees and shrubs. Prepare a good size hole and plant the new plant at the same depth it was growing in the nursery. Water the hole before you plant. You don’t need to amend the soil because you want the plant to stretch out its roots into the existing soil. If you make a nice rich soil mixture in the planting hole those roots are going to want to stay where they are. Make sure to tamp the soil down firmly so the plant doesn’t settle to a lower depth. Water the plant in and then go back tomorrow and water it again. Some plants such as Filipendula, penstemon, dianthus and gallardia really hate to have their crowns wet and can rot over the winter so raise those plants up a little and mix in some sand or gravel to ensure very good drainage. Wait until October when the soil has cooled and then lay down a mulch of leaves or hay for winter protection. The idea of the mulch is to keep the soil cool and prevent the heaving and thawing that happens as the soil warms up and then cools down again.

When the outside temperatures hover around 40 degrees F dig up your dahlias, gladioli, cannas and calla lilies. Cut off the foliage, let them dry for a day or so and pack them in peat moss or perlite in a cool place for the winter.



If you have had houseplants spending their summers outside, now is the time to bring them in. Take them to the shower and rinse them thoroughly to get rid of any insects that might have been using your plants as their summer camp and put your plants in bright windowsills. You will probably get some leaf drop as plants adjust to the lower light levels inside the house and also the lower humidity. If you fertilize now, change to a half strength fertilizer and stop feeding all together by October as most plants need the rest period as the days get shorter and our heating systems come on.

In the veggie garden, thin out your plantings of radish, carrots and lettuce. Watch for aphids and caterpillars on your broccoli and cauliflower, these you can treat with BT. Cover your frost sensitive plants if cold weather threatens; we often get two or three weeks of nice weather after the first frost. You can ripen green tomatoes by wrapping them in newspaper and leaving them in a dark place. Harvest your winter squash when the skins are hard and they have a deep overall color. Cut them so you have an inch or so of stem showing. If you take the stem off completely it leaves a soft opening for bacteria to come in and spoil all your growing efforts. As you get bare spots in your veggie garden from harvesting or clean up, put down a two inch mulch of leaves, grass clippings or any other organic matter. The worms and bacteria will work on it through the Fall and come spring it won’t be fully decomposed but you can plant right through it.

And lastly – bulbs. Still time to plant. Just think that a little effort now will repay you with gorgeous spring color. Buy some hyacinths and put them in a cool place for three months or so and then plant them up for indoor bloom. I do this every year and come January and February it is so nice to have those hyacinth in bloom and filling my house with that glorious fragrance.

August 2010

As I write this in mid July, the heat wave is just breaking and I have been able to go out into the garden without feeling as though I am smothered in a wet blanket. I’ve had to water my container plants every day and I’m keeping up with fertilizer for them. Now, though I see my first Japanese beetles and these adults are present until mid August. Then they will mate and the females will lay the eggs in the grass and they hatch into grubs later in the month. The grubs will feed on plant roots until the cold weather gradually drives them deeper into the soil for the winter. What this means to us is that from late August through the end of September is a very good time to put down grub control.

Controlling the grubs in your yard doesn’t mean you won’t have any next year. Japanese beetles are good fliers and can travel ten miles or more from where they emerge but if you have had problems with great numbers of beetles then putting down grub control will help, especially if you can persuade your neighbors to do the same. Milky spore is a bacterial control but it prefers soil that is moist with soil temperatures in the 70s for an extended time to work most effectively so in our area it is helpful but perhaps not as effective as some other grub controls on the market.

There are sprays that will kill the beetles such as carbaryl (Sevin) but most of these sprays are toxic to good and bag bugs alike and picking them off by hand is just as effective. It’s best to do this early in the morning when the beetles are sluggish and you can drop them into a can of water as you wander around your garden in the morning with your coffee.

Grackels, cardinals and meadowlarks feed on the beetles so if you plant trees, shrubs and flowers to attract birds to your garden they will help you. Some insects also attack the beetles so protect these natural enemies by avoiding pesticides.

Be careful if you use the beetle traps because they attract beetles from several miles away to your garden. If you do use them place them downwind at the edge of your property.

Some other things to think about this month: take cuttings from plants such as impatiens, coleus, geraniums and wax begonias so you can overwinter them indoors as potted plants. Root the cuttings in perlite or potting soil.

 Mid August though late September is an excellent time to seed a new lawn or treat bare spots on established lawns. Remember to water, the ground should be kept moist both before and after the seedlings emerge. The seedlings will appreciate the cooler weather going into Fall. Don’t do any fertilizing in your garden now, we don’t want to encourage new growth. We want the plants to start their shut down process for the winter. If you see the tent caterpillars starting their tents, prune out the infected branches and destroy them. Often the tents are high up in the trees but fortunately they don’t defoliate enough of the trees to cause permanent damage.

In your veggie garden, direct seed carrots, beets and later in the month plant more lettuce, spinach and green onions. Harvest potatoes and onions after the tops yellow and die and leave them out to cure before storage.

Bulbs – as you know by now, I love spring bulbs. I have my catalogs and I will be adding more daffodils all around my yard. I use the full size daffies in my front yard and the smaller, multi stemmed ones in the garden beds where they look tidier than the big ones. I’ll be planting the smaller daffodils in our planting at the Blue Star marker Chionodoxa is a minor bulb looking somewhat like a small hyacinth, I will add more of these bulbs to the planting I started last year. More crocus, much more crocus! Plant them in your lawn, the leaves will mature just about the time you do your first mowing in the spring. Naturalize bulbs everywhere, in the early spring the insects need the pollen they provide when there is not much else in bloom.

The Garden Club will reconvene on September 9 with a picnic in the town park next to the Bradt Building. If you would like to join us just drop me a line at POBox 675 Northville NY 12134.
http://www.visitsacandaga.com/sacandaga_garden_club.htm

July 2010

In June we took a trip to the Shades of Green Nursery in Charlton. This is a private home whose owner has such a love of gardening that as she refurbished the shady woods where the house is located, she opened it up to the public and now sells many shade plants. It is truly a delightful place and one I would recommend to you all. It was a lovely way to finish our 2009/2010 year and now we take a couple of months off to enjoy the summer.

Still there are a few tasks that need to be done in the garden. We need to make sure our veggie gardens get an inch of water a week and keep them weeded. A two inch layer of mulch is an excellent idea now. You can use compost, leaves or grass clippings. You can also leave the grass clippings on the lawn – if you do this it provides nutrients to the soil and cuts down on the need for fertilizers. It does not promote thatch to leave the clippings. Though if you have very tall grass – such as cutting down a previously unmowed field, you would probably want to rake up the clippings. They would be too heavy and can smother the grass after it is cut. Try to maintain an even cut length of three inches during the year. This helps shade out weeds and encourages the plants to grow longer roots.

Continue to dead head annuals to encourage blooming. Deadhead perennials too, in some plants you will get new blooms and for those that don’t rebloom you will stop the plant wasting energy going into seed the slight bulge at the base of the flower and when all the flowers are gone from a particular stalk (called a scape) cut the scape down.

You should give your last pinch to chrysanthemums and asters by mid July, let them continue to branch and you will have a great show later on. Iris can be divided towards the end of the month or just cut the fans down to about six inches to neaten them up.



Did you scour your bird feeders after winter? A mix of one part bleach to nine parts water will sanitize them. Leave them out in the air for an hour to let the chlorine dissipate.

Your bird baths should be cleaned on a regular basis during the summer. If you have a bath set aside for the butterflies and other insects these can be left alone. They thrive on a mixture of wet manure and rotted fruit. I use a shallow basin in which I put several large flat stones. Then I dissolve part of a mineral block in water to give the insects the salts they need and add in any old pieces of fruit I find.

As the fruit rots down, the insects just love it. Japanese beetles are back. At this time of year the best control is to hand pick them and put them in a bucket of water. I’ll talk more about this pest next month.

Now is the time to start thinking about your fall veggies. Start cole crops such as broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage that you can plant out around the first week of August so that they will mature just as we get the first frosts. All these plants do well in the cooler weather and actually taste better after a frost. You can get another harvest of green beans if you plant a row in July and continue to seed lettuce and radish for
later harvests.



If you lucky enough to have rich healthy soil you won’t need to fertilize, however, if not, you can give your tomato plants a dose of 5-10-5 to help them throughout the season. Remember that it is the middle number that encourages good fruit production.



So far we have seen no signs of late blight in New York State though it has been seen in northern Pennsylvania. Cornell University is watching this situation closely and will issue advisories if/when they recommend using a fungicide preventatively. I have seen some early blight so do keep a close eye on these plants. Home grown tomatoes are fantastic but sometimes they can be difficult plants to raise!



Call the Master Gardener hotline to keep abreast of the latest alerts from Cornell U.

The Garden Club will meet again in September.



If you would like to join us or have a question, please drop us a line at PO Box 675, Northville, NY 12134.
http://www.visitsacandaga.com/sacandaga_garden_club.htm

June 2010

Our meeting in May featured a presentation by Master Gardener Phyllis Minich. She taught us all about selecting containers, how to prepare the soil and the design elements that go into a successful container. It was a very informative presentation and lots of fun as well.



The garden club had our annual plant sale during the village wide garage sale. It was a great success and we also raffled off two baskets that our members had created. The winners were Margaret Furco and Lorrie Intrabartola. Congratulations to them both.



We will have houseplants for sale during the Northville Public Library book sale on July 3 and 4th so be sure to stop by and buy some books and a plant as well.

National Garden Week happens June 6 – 12 and to celebrate, the club is having a non juried flower show at the Library. It is called Flower Arrangements by the books and will feature four arrangements each describing a different book: Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, Thankful Blossoms by Brete Hart, Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane, Around the Word in 80 days by Jules Verne and The Joy of Cooking by Irma Bombauer.

All the arrangements will be in place June 9, 10 and 11. Michele Acquaro and Doris Guyon are coordinating. Please stop by and see what our members have created and leave your comments in our guest register.



One of the goals of our garden club is to study the art of cultivating fruits, vegetables, flowers and plants in the garden and another, related goal is the study of floral design. We strive to grow beautiful plant material and we learn how to present that material. Each meeting our hostesses create a design according to a theme for the month and we discuss them and learn how they were created so we can follow the design parameters for arrangements we create in our own home. Many garden clubs put on a full scale garden show where the entries are judged by State or National judges.

The Kingsboro Garden Club hosts such a flower show at the Fonda Fair each year. Our show at the Library is a non juried show in that the entries are not judged and no ribbons are awarded. Our members do it for our enjoyment and yours so please let us know what you think.

The Fulton and Montgomery County Master Gardeners are sponsoring a giant pumpkin and sunflower contest for youths in our area aged 8 to 18. Seed packets are available at the Co-op Extension offices at 55 East Main Street. Pumpkins will be weighed and sunflowers measured just before the opening of the Fonda Fair so join in the fun and grow some giant pumpkins and sunflowers.

We salute Amber King who won a third place award citation for her entry in the Smokey Bear-Woodsy Owl Poster contest sponsored by the Federated Garden Clubs of New York State, Inc. Congratulations Amber. We will be displaying her poster during the flower show at the library in July.

Look for our float in the Fourth of July parade. Terry Moeller is coordinating and we look forward to having lots of plants and garden items decorating it and of course some of our members will be riding on the float and are happy to answer any gardening questions you might have.



We were saddened to lose one of our long time members recently. Phyllis Smith will be remembered for her unfailing good nature and willingness to help the club in any way she could. She was our treasurer for many years and we lost a good friend when she died. We will be planting a lilac bush by the Blue Star marker in her memory.



Our meeting in June will be a visit to the Shades of Green nursery in Charlton. We will have lunch in the picnic area and install our officers for the coming year;



President –Barbara Henry

1st Vice President – Anna Johnson,

2nd vice President – Fran Varcoe,

Treasurer – Ginger Conover

Secretary – Bonnie Desfosse

Club Advisor – Doris Guyon.



If anyone wants to know more about our club; be a guest at one of meetings or to join us, please drop us a line at PO Box 675, Northville, NY 12134

Sacandaga Garden Club At Visit Sacandaga.com

April 2010

Our April meeting featured Jo Jones and Steven Brown who demonstrated the mechanics needed to build flower arrangements. Jo is a Flower Show judge for District 5 of the Federated Garden Clubs and Steven is the President of District 5 and is an accomplished flower arranger having many blue ribbons to his credit. Steven and Joe built several arrangements coaching us both on the principles of design and the techniques to make it happen. Many of our members will be putting the lessons learned to
good use in our flower show at the Northville Public Library in June.

Our thanks to our hostesses, Ann Veltry, Ginger Driscoll and Linda Kessler who provided refreshments and delightful table arrangements for us to enjoy. Towards the middle and end of the month we can look forward to moving our transplants outside into their permanent homes. They do need to be hardened off otherwise the shock of the outside can kill them.

Allow yourself ten days to two weeks before you plan to plant your seedlings outdoors. The first day move them outside to a sheltered spot, away from direct sun for about two hours and then bring them back
inside. At this stage the plant leaves are very tender and just like our skin when we get the first sun of the summer, they burn easily.

Do this for a couple of days and then increase it to a half a day for two days and you can give them some direct sun. If you see any white spots on the leaves that is a sign of sun or wind burn and you should move them to a more sheltered spot to recover.

Continue to water the seedlings though you want to keep them a little
bit more on the dry side. Every couple of days increase the amount of time they spend outside and in the sun but do bring them back inside at night. Our night time temperatures are still too cold and we can get frosts all the way through the end of the month.

After about ten days of this gradual exposure to the sun and wind they should be strong enough to be planted outside. If you are growing plants for containers you can plant them out earlier because if bad weather threatens you can always rush the container inside.

Our last frost date is around the last week of May but wait until your soil temperatures have warmed up before you plant your tomatoes. Don’t worry if you don’t plant them until the first week of June, they will catch up very quickly. Peppers and impatiens hate cold soil and will sulk if planted out too soon.
My raised beds warm up quicker than the other garden beds and to warm them some more I take a black garbage bag and open it up and spread it across the bed. I do this about the same time as I start hardening off my seedlings and if you do this you will be surprised just how warm that soil is when you dig down.

Now that the frost is thawing out from most of my garden beds I am continuing clean up. I have areas of ground cover that are covered with pine needles and leaves blown in over the winter. I take either a hand cultivator or a small rake and gently fluff up these plants. Not too hard because I don’t want to disturb the roots from continuing to spread. Just enough to get all the debris off them and give them good air circulation.

My Bee Balm is coming up and is spreading as Bee Balm will. Now is a great time to move it into other places in the garden, it will take light shade to full sun. I have also potted up some for our plant sale in May. I haven’t touched my buddleia or sage yet. I prefer to leave these woody perennials until I see some sign of new growth. They are not really hardy in our area unless we have very good snow cover so when I see new growth then I can judge better where to prune them.

After you’ve enjoyed your spring bulbs cut off the flower stalk but leave the foliage. The plant needs the foliage to produce food for the bulb for next year. You can also sprinkle fertilizer over the bulbs beds to help them. If you forced any bulbs go ahead and plant hyacinths and daffodils outside, they may not bloom next year but I have success with them in subsequent years and you may too. Tulips do not do well after being forced and are better being put in the compost pile.
Look for our plant sale opposite Stewarts on Main Street during the village wide garage sale on Saturday, May 1. We’ll have houseplants, perennials and a variety of garden items for sale.

Also on May 15, the Master Gardeners of Fulton and Montgomery Counties are holding their annual plant sale in the parking lot of the old Johnstown Hotel, where the Cooperative Extension offices are located. They will have annuals, perennials and herbs so be sure to check it out.

Our next meeting is on Thursday, May 6 when Phyllis Minich will teach us how to select containers, prepare the soil and discuss plant combinations we can use for our outdoor containers. Joan Genovese, Janice Winney and Doris Fordyce will be our hostesses.