June Tours and Upcoming Events

Hi everyone!!

A huge thank you to everyone who brought the great weather with them today for the garden tours - it was most appreciated!!!!  What a great turn-out - it was wonderful to see everyone!!

Be sure to check out the Upcoming Events calendar for the coming weeks as new events have been added and we have received an invite to the PRCC Anniversary Bash and an invite to John and Donna's for a garden tour if you couldn't make it today!

Come Tour Our Gardens!

PROSPECT AREA GARDEN CLUB

GARDEN TOURS 2011

June 12, July 17, August 14

12pm - 4pm

(FREE Admission - Accepting donations to the food bank on site)

Click here to see locations and descriptions!

(Still being updated)

Saturday, May 28, 9am - 12pmBeautify Lover's Cove Park

Come plant a memory!

The Brookside Community Homeowner's Association cordially invites you to help beautify a local park!

On Saturday, May 28th at 9am, the BCHA is encouraging community members to plant a memory at Lover's Cove Park on Cathy Road in Brookside.

You can participate in any number of ways:

• bring a trowel or shovel and help with planting
• bring a piece of a plant you have divided from your yard
• bring a shovel and help build the new garden bed
• bring seeds or plants naturalize along the path to the lake
• bring your knowledge and enthusiasm and help organize
• bring a memory to fill this park with joy

This is a family event and everyone is welcome!

Please invite your family, friends and neighbors!

If it's pouring rain on the 28th, this event will be held on
Sunday, May 29th at 9am.

Hope to see you there!
Val :)

Thank You Everyone!

What a fantastic social!!  Thank you again to everyone who contributed to a wonderful evening!!

There were a couple of things found during clean up - they have been added to the Lost and Found List at the left.

I will be updating our calendar with our three garden tour dates we selected for this summer and will soon be sending out a poster that you can forward, print or share!  All details to be posted here on our site.

This has been a busy winter planning for our even busier summer!  Here's wishing you all great gardening weather!!

Kind regards,
Val :)
PS: Hope to see you on Saturday, May 28th at 9am at the park on Cathy Road!  Click here for more details!

Wed. May 25thGarden Club Social at PRCC

Our social is just around the corner!!!  Joan Jandron is going to be our contact for coordinating the event (thanks so much, Joan!)

We would like to encourage everyone to save the environment by bringing your travel mug for tea/coffee, please (don't panic if you don't have one! :)

Here is a list indicating what we'll need for the social.  Please click here to email Joan a little note indicating what you are planning on bringing for the social so she can arrange to fill in any of the gaps.

• napkins - Gisele
• softdrinks - John and Freeman
• coffee
• tea - 2 people bringing tea
• milk - Joan
• blend
• sugar - Gisele
• sugar twin - Valerie
• stir sticks - Valerie
• paper plates - Valerie
• sandwiches - Nadia
• finger food
• sweets
• punch - Valerie
• coffee urn
• kettle for tea - Nadia

As always, we will have a box for donations to our local community food bank at St. Timothy's.

Hope to see you there!  Feel free to bring a friend!

Plant Sale: Saturday, May 7

The Atlantic Rhododendron and Horticultural Society Plant sale is from 1-3:30 at he the LeMarchant-St Thomas School gym, 6141 Watt St, Halifax on Saturday, May 7

Wed. Apr. 27thSoil pH, Liming andPlant Nutrition

The April meeting will be your last chance to place your perennial orders; please bring your forms and your cheques.

Phil Warman is going to talk to us about testing and amending our soil to achieve the best growth results for our plants. As part of his talk, Phil will bring his pH meter so that any club member can have a free soil pH test and lime requirement analysis.  See the details below on how to collect a soil sample from your yard for testing during his presentation.

Phil has a BSc degree in Agronomy and MSc and PhD degrees in Soil Biochemistry from the University of Guelph. His interests include soil biochemistry, soil-plant relations, heavy metal bioavailability, composting of agricultural and industrial wastes (with emphasis on compost quality parameters) and the analysis and application of alternative fertilizers to soils and crops.

Photo by elvisripley on Flickr

If you have soil questions, Phil can also offer insight in the following areas:

• Soil Fertility, Plant Nutrition and Human Health
• Composts and Composting
• Organic Amendments for Soils and Plants

How to collect your soil sample for testing:

• Take a trowel or shovel and dig down at least 6 inches (15 cm) in a few places in your garden and add the samples to a clean pail.
• Mix the entire sample, remove stones and plant debris
• Take a representative sample of about half a cup. 
• Bring the sample inside and spread it out to air dry for at least 2 days on a piece of paper. 
• Make note of what you would like to grow in the area where the sample was taken.
• Bring your dry sample to the Garden Club in a small plastic bag.

As always, we will have a box for donations to our local community food bank at St. Timothy's.

Hope to see you there!

Saturday, April 16 - 8am-5pm

Village Nursery
RR#1 Pleasantville
NS B0R 1G0
Ph: 902-543-5649
Fax:902-543-6554
Visit www.villagenursery.net

Saturday, April 9, 2011District Meeting Information

Hello All,

Thank you for your enthusiasm and participation in making tonight's winter sowing workshop a big success!  Look for links to the handouts our blog's sidebar menus.

Thank you to Tara Moore for sharing the information about the upcoming District Meeting this spring!  Sounds interesting!

Nova Scotia Association of Garden Clubs
District Meeting

Host: Halifax Westmoor Garden Club

Date:  April 9, 2011

Location: 
Bethany United Church Hall
2669 Joseph Howe Drive
Halifax

Times:

8:30 - 9:00am Registration
                     
9:00  Reports from the club presidents

9:30- 10:15- First presenter: Carol Matthews - Creating a Bird Habitat in Your Garden
         
10:15 - 10:45 - Coffee break
         
10:45 - 11:30 - Roslyn Duffus - Rock Gardens

11:30 - 12:00 - Jennifer Modigliani - Garden Tour of England Agenda

12:00 - 1:00 - LUNCH

1:00 - 1:45 - Wayne & Wayne - Daylilies  (also: if the daylily roots are developed enough a presentation on how to trim roots so your daylily produces more blooms, how to divide plant into fans to create more plants)

2:00  Draws for door prizes

2:15 Last chance to shop at vendors & closing                       

Entrance Fees:  Members - $8, Guests - $10

Presidents are asked to keep their presentations to less than 5 minutes.
Each club is asked to bring two door prizes for the draw.

Contact Person:  Joy McCallum, 443-8646
E-mail: joymccallum1@hotmailcom

"Lug A Mug" for coffee or tea to protect the environment

Carolyn Downie will chair the March meeting for Halifax-Westmoor Club March 15/11.  She will be asking the members to volunteer to help support hosting the District Meeting.  Most things are already in place.  A group will make sandwiches but we will need members to provide muffins, cookies or squares.  We will need volunteers for registration, kitchen help and other activities. To make this event a success, we all need to participate.  Think about how you would like to help and please be ready to volunteer at the next meeting.

Wed. Mar. 23rdCollect Perennial Orders & Bringing Birds To The Garden

Hi everyone!

Have you been out in your yards looking for signs of spring?  What did you find?  Anyone seen a robin yet?  Wendy saw a caterpillar!

If you haven't already downloaded your copy of the perennial order form, it's in the sidebar here on this page.  Feel free to share it with friends and family.  Every plant sold helps raise funds to cover our costs, so spread the word! :)  We will be collecting the order forms at this meeting on Wednesday, March 23.

Redpole by Clarity on Flickr

Our guest speaker is going to be Clarence Stevens.  He will be talking about attracting birds to your yard and some of the benefits that can have for your plants.  I can't wait to hear his tips and tricks!  Love having all of the little finches and such in the yard!

As always, we will have a box for donations to our local community food bank at St. Timothy's.

Hope to see you there!

NS Association of Garden Clubs

The Scotia Gardener 

March greetings!

A link to the Nova Scotia Association of Garden Clubs (NSAGC) has been added to the sidebar under Sites of Interest.

The NSAGC publishes The Scotia Gardener quarterly.  You may view back issues on their site under What's New or check out the current issue in our sidebar.

The NSAGC web site has a wealth of information regarding local workshops, contests, news, district events, discounts and the NSAGC Convention as well as links to local clubs and societies.

Wed. Feb. 23rdHands-On Workshop: Winter Sowing

Recycle into mini-greenhouses!

Hi everyone!

We're hoping the weather will hold out so that we can have a full house at our next meeting.  Instead of just a guest speaker, we're going to dig in some dirt for a while as Wendy and Valerie guide us through some winter sowing.

Winter sowing at work!

We will be making our own mini greenhouses planted with some seeds to set outside now.

Once Spring hits, they'll grow where they sit and then we can plant them directly into the ground without hardening them off!

Exciting results!

This approach is a nice way to fill in your gardens quickly as these plants have a great head start and grow into gorgeous clumps.

What To Bring

Please bring a few supplies for this workshop:

• One or two of the following containers to convert to mini-greenhouses:
• 2L pop bottle
• 1L plastic ice cream container with plastic lid
• 1L plastic yogurt container with plastic lid
• 2L or 4L plastic translucent milk or water container
• Strong scissors (like kitchen scissors)
• An exacto knife or carpet knife or cheap old paring knife
• A Lee Valley garden marker (if you have one)
• Seeds you wish to plant (or share)
• click here for suggestions
• Halifax Seed has seed packages year 'round

We will be providing soil and water; mother nature will be providing the weather!

As always, we will have a box for donations to our local community food bank at St. Timothy's.

Reminder:
The Meeting Schedule Page contains meeting dates and time details. There is a permanent link to the Meeting Schedule Page in the right-hand menu under Club Pages.