Club tour- The Ground Up

Garden members car pooled on a cold and windy Saturday morning to see The Ground Up composting operations.  They have three operational sites and the club choose the Richmond location at the invitation of Assistant Manager, Paul Wilkinson.

Luis, operations manager, gave us an excellent educational discussion about their process and highlighted differences between Ground Up and competitors.  He will be our speaker in September.

The Ground Up is led by a dynamic, organic-minded team dedicated to teaching communities how to build more healthy, beautiful, sustainable lawns, gardens & landscapes.  They strictly follow the procedures of the Soil Foodweb to create the highest quality and best performing mulch, soils & vegan compost in today’s market.

 

This methodology, pioneered by world-renowned soil scientist, Dr. Elaine Ingham, focuses on creating soils which are organic, biologically rich & highly effective.    

 

They have strict procedures for landscapers who are delivering wood to be composed.  We watched as huge compost piles were redistributed.  It was easy to see the heat rising of fresh compost.  The air was filled with a sweet tobacco smell.

 

The tour lasted just over an hour.

 

 

February Club Meeting

President, Beverly Allen, called the meeting to order at 7 p.m. at the Cypress Creek Lakes Community Center.

Yard of the Month was awarded to the Tere Rodriguez family of 26110 Castlemoor St.

Those in attendance included: Sandra Gilbert, Billie Fontana, Beverly Allen, Larry Allen, Marcia Mausolf, Dave Mausolf, Ann Wiseman, Jennifer Buchert, Debbie Haluch, Patti Foucha, Kathie Corbett, Mike Owens, Norma Chiaramonte and Cathy Oland.

A motion was made and seconded to dispense of the reading of the minutes.

Business: Bev discussed various garden club initiatives including the need for a new Butterfly Garden volunteer to help manage and plan seasonal planting of the garden. Larry has volunteered to organize planting of the Butterfly Garden. Norma will head up the Junior Gardener event scheduled for May 2. A planning meeting will be arranged to discuss this year’s project and logistics. A gift card will be donated by CCLGC for the District IV silent auction.

Kyle Franklin from IMS Landscaping presented tips for smart watering and planting. He brought several examples of water-wise plants and provided this month’s door prizes.

Thank you to Debbie Haluch for being hostess this month!

The next meeting will be March 9, 2015 at the Cypress Creek Lakes community center.

Meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m.

January Meeting

President, Beverly Allen, called the meeting to order at 7 p.m. at the Cypress Creek Lakes Community Center.

It was announced that Yard of the Month will resume in February.

Those in attendance included: Sandra Gilbert, Beverly Allen, Larry Allen, Marcia Mausolf, Dave Mausolf, Ann Wiseman, Jennifer Buchert, Debbie Haluch, Patti Foucha, Kathie Corbett, Lauren Bergeron, Mike Owens and Norma Chiaramonte.

A motion was made and seconded to dispense of the reading of the minutes.

Business: Bev discussed various garden club initiatives including the need for a new Butterfly Garden volunteer to help manage and plan seasonal planting of the garden. Helen left notes and diagrams of the garden as well as plant suggestions. Norma will head up the Junior Gardener event on May 2nd. We will plan outings in the spring – perhaps a tour of The Ground Up composting facilities.  

Brittney and Paul from The Ground Up presented a unique program highlighting the company’s organic products including soils, fertilizers and compost.

 

 

 

Thank you to Norma and Marcia for being hostesses this month!

 

Gardening tip of the month: “Plant trees unless it is really cold. The third Friday in January is often used as regional Arbor Day. It is okay to plant trees that are containerized in the winter months along the Gulf Coast.” Randy Lemmon, 1001 Garden Line Questions with Randy Lemmon.

 

The next meeting will be February 9, 2015 at the Cypress Creek Lakes community center.

Garden Club Christmas Party

President Bev and Larry Allen hosted a fabulous evening Christmas Party in their beautifully holiday decorated home and yard.

Garden Club members and family enjoyed a wonderful potluck dinner with lively conversation and drinks.







The entertainment was wrapped Christmas ornaments "Santa steals allowed 2 times" exchange.

Garden club members gave Helen an embroidered pillow and 3D metal butterfly for her new home in LA.








Everyone agreed it was a great way to be filled with the holiday spirit!
 
 The evening concluded with Mike Owens reading several of his award winning poems.

Autumn- Trees and Vines

Newsletter

Vines on Trees - a No-No!

It’s time again to get the ivy and other vines off of and out of the trees. Vines should simply not be allowed to grow on trees. In the tops of trees, the vines reach out beyond the foliage and block the sunlight. With sunlight cut down, photosynthesis is reduced and tree health suffers. Plus it just looks messy.

English ivy and other clinging vines and groundcovers are also a problem on trunks of trees. First of all the foliage blocks light and air, limiting the breathing that bark is designed to do. The vines collect organic material in the form of loose bark, dead leaves, dust and other debris. This mixture creates soil that collects in crotches, but worse, it builds up on the root flares of trees. Long term this creates a condition similar to trees being planted too deep in the ground. Girdling, rot and even death can result. At the very least, tree health and growth are reduced. Some people say it’s okay to leave these plants on the trunks of trees. Their advice is very bad. I used to make the same mistake.

This is an important fall/winter maintenance procedure for everyone with trees. Remove all vines and ground covers from trees completely. Also remove the plants from at least 12" around the base to expose the trunk/ root flare. If soil and/or mulch are covering the flare, they should be removed as well.

You will be fascinated how much this procedure improves the health and growth of your volunteer trees. If you have any questions on this newsletter or any other topic, tune in Sunday 8 am -11 am (CST) to the Dirt Doctor Radio Show. Listen on the internet or find a station in your area. The phone number for the show is 1-866-444-3478. Please share this newsletter with everyone in your address book and all of your friends on Facebook and Twitter to help me spread the word on organics.

Naturally yours,

Howard Garrett

November Meeting

President, Beverly Allen, called the meeting to order at 7 p.m. at the Cypress Creek Lakes Community Center.

Emil and Analiza Del Valle of Andrew Arbor Ct. were announced as November’s Yard of the Month winners.

Those in attendance included: Sandra Gilbert, Beverly Allen, Larry Allen, Marcia Mausolf, David Mausolf, Billie Fontana, Ann Wiseman, Jennifer Buchert, Ellen Jones, Helen Lombardo, Debbie Haluch.

A motion was made and seconded to dispense of the reading of the minutes.

Business: Bev discussed various garden club initiatives including additional signs for new sections of Cypress Creek Lakes. Four new signs were placed in the new section. Concerns were expressed from aging Yard of the Month sign. Bev also reminded members that she and Larry will host the annual Christmas party at their home on December 12 at 7 p.m. Assignments for food items will be arranged alphabetically by last name. A-M will bring appetizers/side dishes. N-Z will brings desserts.

The Federation Garden Club meeting will be November 14. The program includes a flower show. Ann and Bev will attend.

The butterfly garden has been planted. Helen announced that she will be moving back to Louisiana with her family and asked if anyone would be interested in taking over her duties as butterfly garden “manager” and Jr. Gardener event organizer.

Upcoming tours and demos were discussed.
Master Gardener, Margaret Lloyd Bingham gave a lovely and informative presentation on butterflies and butterfly gardens. A donation will be made to the Harris County Master Gardeners Association in the amount of $40.

Thank you to Billie for being hostess this month!


Gardening tip of the month: “Thanksgiving is considered the best time to start planting daffodils and narcissus. Consider dead-heading garden mums. They will push out new blooms if you eliminate the expired ones.” Randy Lemmon, 1001 Garden Line Questions with Randy Lemmon.

The next meeting will be in January at the Cypress Creek Lakes community center.

Meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m.

Energetic Butterfly Fall Planting

Garden club members met Saturday morning to replant neighborhood Butterfly Garden.





Plenty of work to be done so everyone started putting in plants according our garden designer Helen's instructions.

The sun got brighter, shadows got longer and the wind picked up a bit.  It was better to keep moving quickly.







In less than 2 hours, we planted 398 plants and mulched too.

The members who could stay rested on the rock and shared quick conversation with donuts.