On a lovely October evening, club members met at the church and were treated to a very informative presentation on garden soil.
Blooming in member gardens currently is Monkshood, Tall Ageratum, Montauk Daisy, Everblooming White Iris and Mums.
A program coordinator is still needed for next year. PLEASE consider taking on this important role for our club. Master Gardeners are available again for presentations, and scheduling is being coordinated by 1 person, which we will need to do, even if our own master gardeners will be giving the presentation.
Our annual picnic will be held on the 4th Tuesday in June, with Nancy and Marlow Madeoy as our hosts. We will also be touring neighbor gardens of club members Peggy, Helen and Terry, so will be getting lots of inspiration for our own gardens.
$15 member dues were collected at the meeting. If you did not make the meeting, and wish to be a member next year, please get your dues to Linda Brown.
Our Holiday luncheon will be at Bravo’s this year, on November 20, from 12:30 – 3:30. If you weren’t at the meeting to sign up, and plan on attending, please email Denny Brown (dbblsb@gmail.com) by November 15 at the latest, since he needs to provide Bravo’s with the final headcount /menu selections by then. Also, please send a check for $22 (made out to the
LAGC) to Denny Brown (413 Hunter Dr, Pittsburgh, PA 15237) to prepay for the luncheon, as 1 check will be issued from the club account.
Mary Anne reminded everyone to take note of perennials that need dividing while you are doing your fall cleanup. You can either try potting them up now and overwintering them, dividing and replanting now for potting up in the spring, or simply dividing and potting up in the spring. As the plant sale is our only fundraiser, it is very important that we have healthy plants for the sale, and we want to make it as easy on ourselves as possible.
Treasurer’s report
Beginning checking balance $5,470.05
Less 1,200 for contributions to the Sewickley Garden Club re: Wilpen Tour ($100), Shaler Garden Club re: Reilly Garden Tour ($100) and NHCO Bioshelter fund ($1,000)
Ending checking Balance $4,270.05
Petty cash $44.61
Total Cash $4,314.66
Winner of the arrangement was Dianne Machesney and of the garden cart, our presenter John’s wife.
“Good Soil, Good Garden” by John Powell, a master gardener.
When you have good soil, the capacity of the soil to function as an on-going vital ecosystem, allows production from year to year of great plants, without the addition of chemicals.
Plant and animal detritus at various stages of decomposition is great for soil, remember, at one point, it was alive.
Organic material brings structure to soil particles and returns nutrients to soil. It allows water infiltration, especially on slopes and provides food to soil critters.
John stressed the importance of getting a soil test done, approximately once every three years.
A soil probe is great to use to gather samples for your soil test. You should take about 12 samples from the area you are testing and mix them together.
Penn State AASC allows you to print a form, bag your soil for the test and send it in, all for $9.
Now is the time to be spreading organic material in our gardens, to give it time to decompose over the winter months. Also recommended is to leave your fall cleanup until spring, when there should be very little to cleanup as everything will have broken down and decomposed, which is great for soil as well as insects.
There are 5 components to soil – minerals, water, air, living organisms and organic material.
Water in clay is unavailable to plants and animals, which is why you need other things in our soil like sand, silt and organic material
Soil problems are low organic matter, compaction, poor water retention, low fertility and poor or no plant growth.
John top dresses his garden beds every year with a mix of 3 yards leaf compost + 1 yard compost, no more than 2” deep.
If making your own compost, the best is an equal mix of brown and green material.
You should never work wet soil, don’t overfertilize and allow your perennials to decompose in place.
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