August's Weed and Wine

Marie in vintage Highlands Garden Club gear.

After some hard work in the community garden, we retired into the community hall for some much hard-earned wine and gardening talk. 

Dandelions as big as carrots!

 

 

 

Margaret demonstrated good technique for "slug scooping" and gave us each our own super doper slug scooper spoon (patent pending).  Perfect for all the slugs we've been seeing with our raining weather. 


Unfortunately, another pest has been attacking our gardens: the scarlet lily beetle.  Lori is following up with the Lily society for more information and help. Stay tuned!

Weeds and Wine - May's Meeting

"Patches is going to think she's gone to heaven!"

Club members set to work on the community garden at this month's meeting and produced garbage bags full of dandelions: Patches (Marie's bunny rabbit), enjoy!  There are more where those came from!  

It was a mild night, perfect for spending outside.

We delighted in the ladybugs.  We weeded and discussed the potentials for making dandelion wine and urban honey mead...  

After a little over an hour, the garden was looking much improved and we went into the community centre to have our meeting.

One small point of scare: What of the wine?! 

No problem: There was no formal supply run, but members had individually brought snacks.  We had a feast of cheese, crackers, and three bottles of Shiraz!

One hour wasn't enough to consider all club business, what club members have been up to, and to talk gardening... so we stayed for another half.

We have some exciting things coming down the line and information to share.  Stay tuned! 

Give Bad Bugs the Boot

or How I Learned to love my Fairy Ring! 


Lorraine Taylor, Horticulturalist and Conservation Coordinator with the County of La Ste.Anne, talked to us about smart approaches to dealing with pests -- how to avoid, how to combat, and how to manage expectations. The latter being: While there are many pests, they can be insufferable or tolerable. 

As she clicked through a slide presentation of photos that showed pests and pest damage, she spoke of "smart ways to figuring out the problem".  The primary problem.  Her example was moss growing in the grass.  Before piling on chemicals to try and get rid of the moss, she suggested going deeper, considering is it too shady, the wrong pH, or the soil too compact for grass to happily grow?  To "step back and look at the big picture" and to ask questions. Finally then deciding if the damage warrants control. 



She gave a special thanks to Doug Macaulay, answered our questions and shared some stories.  She reminded us the richness and perils of internet searches (the most exotic may show up in searches, your bug is likely something more common). 

As for Edmonton next year, she predicts we'll likely see more: 
- Forest Tent Caterpillars
- Aphids 
- Apple Maggots

Unfortunately, we ran out of time to see all the specimens she brought for us.  But she did leave us with some principles of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and a list of resources. 

Thank you, Lorraine Taylor! 

Weeding and Wine - July's Meeting

Lori, Janice, Audrey, Debbie, Erica, Lana, Laurel, Gisele, and Johanne weeded away in the community hall garden yesterday, as the sky threatened rain.  

  

Our massive clean out of bags and buckets of weeds filled Debbie's truck!

The bees seemed indifferent to all our hardwork.  But we basked in after-weeding glow, knowing our  garden had a bit more order and some room to breathe. 

The meeting continued at the gazebo with treats and wine.  We shared some gardening tips and continued to plan for our late summer event.  Stay tuned!