SACANDAGA GARDEN CLUB - by Barbara Henry | Courtesy of the Edinburg Newsletter

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The Sacandaga Garden Club of Northville, NY was organized in 1972 and became part of the Federated Garden Clubs in 1997. We meet on the first Thursday of the month usually at the Bradt Building, 412 South Main Street, Northville, NY 12134 at 1:00 p.m. unless otherwise specified. Meetings are not held in January, February, July or August.

Currently we have 32 members and always welcome new faces.

The goals of the Club are the study of horticulture and floral design, civic participation and beautification.

Horticulture is defined by the American Collegiate Dictionary as

1) the science or art of cultivating fruits, vegetables, flowers and plants and

2) the cultivation of a garden.

Our address is:
P.O. Box 675
Northville, NY 12134

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Officers for the year

Co-Presidents
Mary Hogan and
Barbara Henry

1st Vice President
Fran Varcoe

2nd Vice President
Anna Johnson

Secretary
Bonnie Defosse

Treasurer
Ginger Conover

Club Advisor
Doris Guyon

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March 2010
Spring Planting
Soil Testing

February 2010
Starters
Soil Activity

January 2010
Winter Pests
Seeds

October 2009
Worms
fall issues

September 2009
Fall gardening

August 2009
Dragonflies and Wildflowers

July 2009
Dragonflies and Wildflowers

June 2009
Dragonflies and Wildflowers

April 2009
transplanting seedlings

March 2009
Starting Seeds

February 2009
spring pruning

January 2009
Who we are
and what we do

December 2008
Armchair Gardening month

October 2008
forcing bulbs

September 2008
planting bulbs

 

March is full of frustration. The days are getting warmer and warm, sunny days must be right round the corner but every now and then winter sends us a blast of cold air and (shudder) even some snow flakes to remind us she hasn’t left yet. Still this is the time when we try to get a head start on the season by starting seeds indoors. However, do remember that even at the end of March we are still 12 weeks away from being able to transplant out our warm season crops such as tomatoes and peppers. Our last frost date is around the last week of May and the soil needs to warm up – particularly for peppers which dislike a cold soil and will sulk if planted out too early. Impatiens are another plant that hate the cold, in fact if you plant these out in the cold soil and cold early spring air temperatures, they may never grow much beyond transplant stage. Much better to take a deep breath and wait until June to plant these babies out.

tomatoe seeding

Using a tomato plant as an example, what we’re looking for when we transplant them is a plant about 6-8” tall, with a nice stocky stem, deep green leaves and a well developed root ball. The problem with starting these seeds too early is when you don’t have the right conditions you end up with a leggy specimen with limp, pale green leaves and not much root growth because the plant is always stretching to the light and not concentrating on root growth. When you plant this in the ground it takes quite a while for the plant to respond by putting out feeder roots which can provide the plant with the nutrients necessary to grow into a good tomato plant.

So if you are like me and cannot wait to get started, think of these dates: tomatoes, eggplant and peppers take about six to eight weeks before transplanting; cucumbers, melons and squash about three weeks. As I mentioned last month, you can start broccoli, cauliflower and lettuce now because after they have been hardened off they can be transplanted out a couple of weeks before the last frost date.

Damping off

You probably have most of what you need for seed starting in your kitchen without having to go out and buy anything special. I use yogurt containers, and cottage cheese containers. Cutting milk containers in half lengthwise give you a nice large starting bed. Just remember to poke a few holes in the bottom of the container for drainage. I always recommend using a sterilized seed starting mix. Damping off disease is the enemy of seed starters. It is a fungal disease that lives naturally in most soils. One day your seedlings will be growing happily and the next day they are collapsed and dead. Using sterilized soil is the best way to combat this problem. You want the medium to be fine textured, loose and well drained. Think of those tiny seedlings and how small the roots are. Potting soil is good for transplants when the roots are more developed and garden soil should not be used because it is too dense and has the damping off fungus.

Pansies and Parsley

Now’s a good time to spend a little time to plan your garden. Do try and plant crops in a different place this year even if all you can do is to move one crop to the other side of the garden. I have five raised beds so I can rotate my tomatoes, cucumbers and beans between them every year. It’s not only that you can prevent disease build up this way but different plants use different amounts of nutrients and rotating the crops helps keep the soil balanced. Beans and peas for example are great for fixing nitrogen in the soil so an early crop of peas followed by corn which is a heavy user of nitrogen is a great way to go. Also remember that plants need to be pollinated so always make room for flowers in the garden. My zinnias attract the butterflies, the parsley from last year flowers and attracts all kinds of insects and the swallow tail butterfly for which it is a host. There is a variety of marigold called Tagetes, which exudes a substance that protects tomatoes from nematode infestation and the bees and insects love to visit the flowers. I also grow sweet peas on my cucumber trellis, it is a great cut flower and the scent is superb.

Sweet Peas

March is a good time to get your soil tested if you haven’t done it in a while. Take a trowel and dig down to about six inches and put the soil in a bucket. Do this in five or six areas of your vegetable garden. Mix the soil thoroughly then take about a half a cup and put it in plastic bag and take it for testing. The Master Gardeners in Johnstown will do a PH test for you for a nominal fee and if you want a more extensive test, they will send your soil off to Cornell University for analysis.

Come join us for our next meeting on March 4 at 1:00 p.m. in the Bradt Buidling when Crystal Stewart from the Co-op Extension offices will be teaching us all about pruning.

As Doug Larson said

"Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush."