sweetwater oaks garden club, inc. · seedlings with a very weak mixture of a good liquid fertilizer...
TRANSCRIPT
Executive Board
President Ann Todd [email protected]
1st Vice President/Programs Joan Lasek [email protected] Joyce Anderson [email protected] 2nd Vice President/Membership Cyndi Nelson [email protected] Marge Lynch [email protected] 3rd Vice President/Hospitality Judith Shaw [email protected] Joy Stricker [email protected] Rhonda Hable [email protected] Recording Secretary Joyce Anderson [email protected]
Corresponding Secretary Rosalene Feller [email protected] Treasurer Gayle Lashley [email protected] Parliamentarian Betty Smith [email protected]
Sweetwater Oaks Garden Club, Inc.
Inside this issue:
Calendar 2
Program Schedule 2
Bob’s Corner 3
President’s Message 6
Committee Reports 4-8
Photo Gallery 9
March 2015 Editor
Gay Momberger
M e m b e r o f T h e N a t i o n a l G a r d e n C l u b s , I n c , D e e p S o u t h R e g i o n ,
F l o r i d a F e d e r a t i o n o f G a r d e n C l u b s , I n c . — D i s t r i c t V I I
90 MEMBERS !!
MARCH PROGRAM
PRUNING — GROUND & UP
Presented by our own Bob Hotaling
As a follow-on to the February Horticultural Group
meeting, in March we will start at ground level
and cover pruning techniques for everything from grass, to annuals, to bushes and right up to large
trees! I will also sharpen some of your small tools as we did last year. If you bring tools for
sharpening, PLEASE be sure to mark them in some manner so we know it is yours.
Quite a change from our
first group picture in
2006.
See how many members
in this 2006 group you
can name.
Answers on Page 6.
2
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 9
Board Meeting
BD Barb Hunt
3 4 5
Hospice
6 7
8
GARDEN FAIR
Daylight Savings
Begins
16
General Meeting
10
Jr. Gardeners
11 12
Hospice
13
BD
Marjorie Abbas
14
15 17 18 19
Hospice
20
BD Angela Holtz
21
22 23
BD
Karen Forrest
24 25
BD
Terrie Vidman
26
Hospice
27 28
29 30 31
BD Jill Ogden
March 20 1 5
Leaf Printing by Pat James
Installation of Officers—Heathrow Country Club
April 13
May 11
Hospitality Floral Kirsten Collins Bernie Delafield Pam Ernst Meredith McWaters
PROGRAM SCHEDULE FOR GENERAL MEEINGS
March GARDEN PAL
Marian Culbertson
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Sweetwater Oaks Garden Club, Inc. March 2015
1. Have a plan: Will you be transplanting your tomato seedlings into containers or into a garden? Does the space where your tomato plants will grow to adulthood have enough sun? Have you thought about how many tomato plants you need depending on what your goal is: for home use, for canning or freezing, for sharing? Look at the information about your tomato varieties and see how much you will get from one plant to determine how many plants you may need. Always plant about 10% over what you need to account for occasional plant loss.
2. Plant in time: Tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants need to be started indoors about 6-8 weeks before your last frost date. I start mine right after the first of the year.. Make sure that you give your trans-plants plenty of time to grow strong before planting outdoors so they have a better chance to thrive. For us, that’s March 1 through March 15.
3. Start with great seeds: Not all seeds are created equal. Seed germination rates decline with age and poor storage conditions, and seed quality can di-rectly affect plant vigor. If you want to grow great to-mato plants, start with great seeds. Remember, seeds saved from a hybrid variety may not produce the same plant.
4. Turn up the heat: Tomato, pepper and eggplant seedlings are heat-loving plants, and they thrive in warm soil and full sun. Your seeds will also germi-nate better when the soil temperature is warmer 85°F is optimal.
5. Source of light: As soon as your tomato seeds ger-minate, your tender little seedlings will require light - about 16 hours of "daylight" and 8 hours of dark-ness. Many, if not most, garden centers carry light-ing arrangements. You can choose "grow lights", which can be more expensive, or you can set up your own arrangement. Use standard shop lights and 2 fluorescent bulbs (one cool, one warm) to create the environment you need. Insufficient light will cause weak, "leggy" seedlings.
6. Consistent watering and feeding when your tomato seeds are germinating, keep the soil lightly moist
(not sopping wet). You can achieve this by misting the soil with a bottle sprayer. When your tomato seedlings emerge, water as needed to keep the plant healthy. The top of the soil will dry out more quickly than the soil below so test with a finger to see when water is needed. If the soil below the surface is drying out, it's time to water your plants. I like to water my seedlings with a very weak mixture of a good liquid fertilizer at least every third watering.
7. First transplanting: If you start your seeds in seed-ling trays or in 2-inch pots, your tomato plants will need to be re-potted once before being planted in the garden outside. I start my seeds in a mixture of 1 part peat to 1 part vermiculite. When potting-on, I use a commercial potting soil with fertilizer.
8. Hardening your plants: This is an important step that a lot of gardeners miss. About a week or two before you plan to transplant outside, take your seedling trays or pots outside to a sunny, semi-wind protected area, and let them get used to being out-doors. The lighting is different, the air flow is differ-ent, the temperatures are different. This step helps reduce transplant shock and maintains steadier plant growth.
9. Prepare your outdoor planting space: When you are sufficiently certain that you have had your last hard frost for the winter, you can plant your 6-8 week old seedlings outside. About 2 weeks before you trans-plant outside prepare the space for your plants. The soil should be warm, 75-80 degrees, when you set your plants out.
10. Transplanting day: Your precious seedlings have strong, stout stems and are probably 10 inches or taller. The best way to transplant is to not disturb the roots, plant into warm soil, and water them in well. If you can, choose a slightly cloudy day with low wind for transplanting. This helps reduce shock to your plants and gets them acclimated a bit more quickly due to lower plant stress.
BOB’S CORNER
I hope you find this helpful as the method can be used for many different plants including vegetables and flowers. This article is a modified version of that provided by tomatogrowers.com
Tips for Growing Great Tomatoes from Seed .. Or just get them from Me!
seed
s
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Help Us Get the Word Out:
The next week will be an important time to get the word out about our event. Here are ways you can
help now:
Facebook: Go to our Facebook Page and “like” the Garden Fair Event & respond that you will at-
tend
SHARE our event updates and ask your Facebook friends to share also
Event Flyer & Posters: Post our posters and flyers at venues you attend in area. Ellen has more posters and flyers.
HOA Websites or Other Clubs/Organizations: Forward flyer to these groups
Invite friends and family: Don’t forget to invite your friends and family to the event. Word of mouth is still one of
the best forms of marketing!
Donation to Membership Page:
Last year club members donated more than $500 of individual donations for our Event Supporter Page. I can still take
member donations for this support page if you contact me ASAP. We appreciate any level of donation!
Yard Signs:
Signs should be on display for the week before the event in our yards. They should be moved to a well-travelled area on the morning of the event and picked up on the way home after the event is over.
Youth Volunteers
Judith Shaw has been working hard to secure youth volunteers to assist attendees with bringing plants back to their cars and other event tasks. We are still short youth volunteers! Do you have family members, neighbors, church acquaint-
ances or other friends who may be willing to volunteer? Please contact Judy Shaw ASAP to coordinate.
Supplies the Day of Event
If you have not done so already, please let Joyce Anderson know if you have any of the following needed supplies for the event: 10 x 10 Tents Folding tables
Garbage cans Folding Tents Garden Wagons
GARDEN FAIR
SUNDAY TIME LINE
Remember to wear your Green Apron and SWOGC shirt. Sun screen and a hat may be necessary. Remember it is Day light Saving Time; move your watches ahead one hour.
6:45 AM General Morning Set-Up – Chairperson, Joan Lasek
6:45 arrival Zone Captains -Assist Vendors
10:00 am Opening by Jim Payne, WESH2 Anchorman
10:00 am– 4:00 pm Floral Design Exhibit
Music by Abdel Hassan Central Audio Inc.
10:00 am – 3:00 pm Purchase Raffle Tickets
10:30 a.m.- 11:15 a.m. Nathan Graboff: “Nate the Garden Guru” Fox 35 Container Gardening
11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Tom MacCubbin, “Better Lawns and Gardens” radio show.
Topic: Spring Gardening
1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Noreen Engstrom and Don Philpott, co-authors,
“Florida Native and Edible Plants”.
2:15 p.m.- 3:15 p.m. Taryn Evans, Creative Garden Structures.
Topic: Bringing the Buzz Back, creating a backyard habitat.
3:00 pm Raffle Drawing
4:00 p.m. Break down and Clean Up
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Sweetwater Oaks Garden Club, Inc. March 2015
GARDEN FAIR INFORMATION AND VOLUNTEER UPDATE
Volunteer schedule Everyone should know their assigned time and the area that they will be working. No changes at the last minute please; if you must make a change try to find someone to cover for you. Any problems
please call Joyce Anderson: home: 407-358-8686 or cell: 407-257-9104.
Saturday morning from 9 a.m. to 12.00 noon Please bring your, tables, garbage bins and other supplies to suite
108 at Sweetwater Square .
Floral Design Exhibit will set-up in the SWO Community Center at 5:00 p.m. Margaret Kirkpatrick will give all the in-structions.
Sunday Morning
Set-up begins at 7a.m. Vendors will check in and receive a card with their Zone A, B, C or E and their booth space.
They will receive a vendor bag. Zone Captains will check the card and show them to the booth space. Vendors will have received a notice of the procedures for checking in and parking.
Parking: Fox Valley Drive will be closed to public traffic from 9:30 A.M. until 4:30 P.M. Handicapped parking only
will be available on the West side of the Morse building. The parking across the street from the tennis courts will be re-served for speakers, and performers (If it is free of building equipment). Garden Club Members should park at Sable
Point Elementary School or make arrangements for drop off at the Fox Valley Rd. entrance.
Front Information Table “A” Joyce Anderson will give instructions to the volunteers who will be responsible for
passing out programs and answering questions.
Back information table “B” will only be required to pass out programs
Raffle – Cyndi Nelson will give instructions to the Raffle Volunteers. Members must check in at front information table
and they will be assigned an area. Complete instructions will be e-mailed to the raffle volunteers before the event.
Café – Arlene Polachek will supervise the café. The café tables will not be set up until the vendors are in place. If any
of our members must bring food from home. Please don’t consume it in the café area. We don’t want to encourage our visitors to do this, and most fairs do not allow outside food in the café. Volunteers please plan to have your lunch
before or after your assignment.
Wekiva Camp Table – will be set up and monitored by Lois Silverberg.
Children’s Activities –Rosalene Feller will be monitoring this area. Joan Lasek will organize the Children’s Garden
Activity Table, Janet Tombros has arranged to have an artist conduct the sidewalk chalking, the Zoo will be present from12 – 2 pm. In addition we will have: Birds of Prey from Apopka Aviary Reconditioning • Home Depot Builders
Workshop • Face Painting and a clown.
Plant Taxis – We are asking members to offer their wagons. Please let Joyce Anderson know asap if you can donate a wagon.
CLEAN UP:
Everyone is responsible for clean up in their area and their belongings and for seeing that all the tables, chairs, project
materials, signs, banners are returned to the designated area.
Vendors are responsible for their trash and most are very careful about this.
Signs and Banners Removal — Please take care to see that those you have displayed are removed on Sunday evening after the fair is closed. If you don’t pick them up, we may lose them
Most importantly, THANK YOU! Our dedicated members make the fair a big success. We are also grateful for the spouses, family members and friends who volunteer their time. Enjoy the day and remember you are an ambassador
for our club! Use your best hostess skills to make visitors and vendors feel welcome.
See you at the fair SUNDAY, March 8th!
Ellen O'Connor
Garden Fair Chairperson
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A Word from our President, Ann Todd
Before our club members left for the February field, trip we met at the
church and had our group picture taken. We carpooled to the 200-acre University of Florida Research and Education center in Apopka. Diane
Mealo and her team welcomed us with a delicious and beautiful table of fruit, cookies, fruit bread and beverages. Diane introduced our scholarship
recipients, Peter Gianelli, Wendy Poag, Shawn Schutte, Richard Smith and Eric Tindall. Each student gave a short talk about their studies and their
future plans on how to implement them. See their picture with Pat James on Page 9. Then Diane gave us a tour of the center. Everyone was really interested in
the new croton colors. We are so fortunate to have a place like this that is interested in improving our environment.
Ellen is busily getting the March 8 Garden Fair ready. Everyone has their assignment
and things are falling into place. It is wonderful how well our club members work to-gether to get things done.
Margaret and Louise did a great job with Floral Design classes 1-6. Everyone learned
so much. We will display our floral talents at the Garden Fair. Margaret plans to have classes 7-9 in the fall.
Marjorie Abbas plans to have a plant sale in April. She suggested that, if you have
plants for sale, please start to condition them now.
Inspiration: Make someone smile today and reap benefits in the future.
Ann
2006 GROUP PHOTO MEMBERS
Back Row: Gail Anderson, Marge Lynch, Louise Gould, Meredith McWaters, Margo
Gilroy, Freida Stratton Tom MacCubbin, ???, Marjorie Abbas, Margaret Kirkpatrick
Middle Row: Areva Barns, Gretchen Smith, Betty Rippitoe, Milly Szabo, Sheila
Brown, Mary Latham, Charlotte Steiner
Front Row: Sharon Lane-Crouch, Ann Todd, Cheri Blackmon, ??? Christine Knight,
Lois Silverman, Tracey Mulvaney, Irene Horne, Lisa McIntosh, Joan Arrigall
Maybe one of you can tell us who the two ??? ladies are.
7
The February Junior Gardener's program was presented by Louise Gould
on insects. She collected butterflies lifecycles to show the students. Louise made a net-covered
cage to transport the butterflies. She had but-terfly eggs, lava, pupa and an active adult but-
terfly. After that display, it was time for the students to learn about good and bad bugs.
They learned about compound eyes and simple eyes and how the bugs benefit from their different eyes.
Miss Sue, the Student’s teacher, asked Louise to identify a cocoon which the students had in their classroom. Louise
knew it was a praying mantis about ready to hatch and suggested they let it go out-doors. Louise brought insect sound books. The students really had a good time iden-
tifying the insects' sounds. This was a very educational and fun program.
February Volunteer was Louise Gould. We meet the second Tuesday each month at 9:30am at Starchild Academy. We al-
ways need help. Chairman, Ann Todd
JUNIOR GARDENERS
HORTICULTURE @BOB’S
WOW, you should see those cabbages.
Tomato plants to share. Thank you Bob!
Tips on pruning roses.
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Sweetwater Oaks Garden Club, Inc. March 2015
Once again we have an opportunity to exhibit and present to our com-munity an example of what our club members can achieve. This chair
has already reached out to some of our talented floral designers but may have missed a few. We also need to have examples of some of the fan-
tastic horticulture that we all grow. Please contact this chairman if there is anyone who has a special plant that is at it peak or would like to ex-
hibit a floral design. We would love to have your exhibit in our show. WE NEED TO BE PROUD OF WHAT WE DO AND SHOW IT!
Garden Fair Floral Design Exhibit Information for our “Designing Women” and our “Green Thumb members”
The community center will be open from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm on Saturday March 7th or you may bring your exhibit on Sunday between 7:00 –9:00 am. If you are unable to
make one of these times please contact someone to bring your exhibit for you.
For horticulture exhibits, make sure you plants are clean and the pots are free from de-
bris. For floral designs, make sure your plant material has been well conditioned and
will hold up for the duration of the show. Your floral exhibits will be placed either on a pedestal 18” in Diameter or on a table 34” wide by 28” deep with a 48” high back
ground. Please make sure that your design fits within one of these spaces. Please call this chairman if you would like to exhibit either horticulture or a floral design.
April 2, 2015 from 9:30 am to 11:00 am we are planning to have a floral design work-shop. We will be creating a fun easy floral design for your home. The cost will be
$5.00. Please contact this chairman if you would like to attend.
Margaret Kirkpatrick, Floral Design Chairman
407 399 8230 [email protected]
FLORAL DESIGN
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Sweetwater Oaks Garden Club, Inc. March 2015
February
Meeting
Photos
10
March 2015
BOARD MEETINGS
First Monday of the Month September-May at 10:00 AM
810 Fox Valley Drive, Longwood, Florida
GENERAL MEETINGS
Second Monday of the Month, September-May at 9:30 AM
First Baptist Sweetwater Church
3800 Wekiva Springs Road. Longwood. Florida
HORTICULTURE GROUP MEETINGS
Fourth Monday of October, February and April at 9:30 AM
See the Calendar of Events for Location
JUNIOR GARDENERS
Second Tuesday of the Month at 9:00 AM
FLORAL DESIGN
Every Thursday at Hospice of the Comforter 12:30-3:00 PM
Sweetwater Oaks Garden Club, Inc. Meeting Schedule
Club Flower—Rose
Club Bird—Cardinal
We’re on the web!
www.swogc.org
Member of National Garden Clubs, Inc.
Deep South Region
Florida Federation of Garden Clubs, Inc.
District VII
Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole & Sumter Counties
Organized—January 9, 1974
Federated—January 27, 1975
Incorporated—September 14, 1992
Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 915233
Longwood, Florida 32791
Sweetwater Oaks Garden Club, Inc.
The purpose of Sweetwater Oaks Garden Club is the education of its mem-
bers and the community in their relationship to horticulture, conservation
and environmental needs, as well as the art of floral design.
If you know of a member who could use an extra kind
thought, please contact me. I prefer receiving the informa-
tion by email, but please call if you don't have email ac-
cess. Rosalene Feller
[email protected] or 407.718.0612