Webpage Address: - Sechelt Garden Club



Sechelt Garden Club Newsletter

1 secheltgardenclub.

2 Summer 2010

|President: |June Meyer | |

|Vice President: |Charmaine Harris | |

|Secretary: |Chris Blackman | |

|Treasurer: |Lorraine Blakeman | |

|Newsletter: |Sandra Friedman | |

|Membership: |Mary Rowles | |

|Other Directors: |Judy Marusiak, Larry Musser, Moira Leishman |

|Members at Large: |Nattanya Wardel |

Welcome to our new members Diane and Rob Standen, Katherine Langfield and Liz and Ron Campbell.

This is the Summer Edition of the Sechelt Garden Club Newsletter and the focus is mainly on the Strawberry Tea and the Bowen Island Garden Club visit. The regular newsletter will resume in September.

One of the most common mistakes you can make as a gardener is to think you are in charge.

Janet Gillespie, The Natural Gardener, November 09 Newsletter

WANTED: People to show their gardens in September. People with perfect gardens need not apply! The gardens can be works in progress, established gardens, different uses of space, things that you are proud of and things that didn’t work, etc. The August Garden Tour was cancelled because only one person volunteered. Let’s make the September Harvest Tour a great success. Call Moira Leishman.

[pic] Tomato Talk

Have you talked to your tomatoes recently? According to new research by the Royal Horticultural Society in Britain, the way to a green thumb is through a silver tongue - especially when it belongs to a woman.

In a month-long experiment, the RHS found that tomato plants grew up to two inches taller when subjected to the sound of a female voice, rather than a male's.

As part of its ongoing "Grow Your Own" campaign, designed to inspire Britons to start their own fruit and vegetable gardens, the RHS held open auditions for people to have their voices recorded.

Five men and five women were selected and asked to read from Darwin's On the Origin of the Species, Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, or The Day of the Triffids, a science-fiction novel by British writer John Wyndham, in which carnivorous plants attempt to take over the world.

The recordings were looped and uploaded onto MP3 players and headphones were attached to the pots of 10 tomato plants, each plant listening to a constant stream of a different voice. Two plants were left without any sound as a control group.

The RHS found that the tomato plants that listened to the female voices grew an average of an inch more than the ones listening to the male voices. Some of the men's tomatoes did so poorly that they grew more slowly than the soundless group. Fittingly, the fastest-growing plant belonged to Sarah Darwin, a great-great-granddaughter of Charles Darwin, who read a passage from his famous treatise.

It’s great to talk to your tomatoes. The problem may arise when they begin to talk back!

A Woman’s Voice by Carla Wintersgill, Globe and Mail, May 20, 2010

The Strawberry Tea

|[pic] |Last year... |[pic] |

| |⎜ | |

| |This year... | |

| |⎝ | |

| |Nothing can daunt our garden | |

| |club members! | |

|[pic] |Nattanya’s |[pic] |

| |Teacups | |

| |⎜ | |

| |Great company! | |

| |⎝ | |

|[pic] |Great Food |[pic] |

| |⎜ | |

| |The Organizers. | |

| |Great job! | |

| |⎝ | |

|[pic] |A great time was had by all! |[pic] |

Thanks to Charmaine Harris and Lorraine Blakeman for organizing the Strawberry Tea once again, to Lorraine Gallant for donating her house and to Dan Fivehouse, Lester Harris and Pauline Smith for setting up the tents and to Elaine Seepish and Margy Kurys for their fabulous fancy sandwiches and to everyone else who helped out.

Bowen Island Visit

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Thanks to all of the people who made the Bowen Island visit such as great success. June Meyer coordinated the trip with the Bowen Island people. Kay Ogawa provided flowers, foliage and a tablecloth and she, Gesa Reid and Sharon Shorter worked in the kitchen, Nattanya Wardel, Sandy Friedman, Linda Maxwell, Frances Ostergaard, Lorraine Blakeman and Ali Thompson baked. Judy Marusiak picked up the colourful jugs for the centerpieces and gathered wild foxgloves. She and Myron and their volunteers set up the Seaside Centre. Bobbi Kelly and her assistants made the beautiful bouquets. June Meyer, Shirley Lawson and Lorraine Blakeman provided the tablecloths. Sandy Friedman, Myron Marusiak and Jeff Hoile cleaned up the main room. Nattany Wardel, Ali Thompson, Lorraine Blakeman, Bill Blakeman, Moira Leishman and Mary Rowles were the drivers. If I have mistakenly left anyone out, please know that your contribution was still greatly appreciated.

JULY ‘TO DO’ List

• Remove faded flowers from perennials and annuals after they finish blooming.

• Check plants regularly for insect problems. Hand pick or use suitable control measures.

• Water flowerbeds and vegetable gardens deeply. This encourages a deep root system.

• Consider drip irrigation and/or soaker hoses for watering.

• Fertilize container plants every two weeks with an organic water-soluble fertilizer solution.

• Cut back delphiniums to the ground when they finish flowering. This encourages a second blooming.

• Harvest vegetables and continue sowing lettuce, peas, kale, swiss chard, leeks, beans, carrots.

• Pinch back mums and asters to promote bushiness.

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