Our next club meeting will be on Thursday, August 18th at 7:00pm at the Mahomet Community Building. This will be our annual Tomato Cafe’ potluck!. So if possible, please bring a dish to share. Any guests and families are welcome to attend. Your dish need not be made with tomatoes, anything made with local produce would be great! Bring some of those green beans you canned or some of that freezer corn for us to sample, or maybe even a berry pie. You don’t even have to bring a dish, just come, eat and visit. If you know the names of the varieties that you have grown, please write the names down so we will get some ideas about what to plant for next season. We will have a informal discussion about favorite garden varieties. Copies of any recipes would be nice too.  Everything was SO Delicious last year!  Yum.  I can’t wait!

The Mahomet Civic Garden Club is currently locating gardens to showcase on the 2012 Mahomet Garden Walk. If you are interested
in sharing your garden or if you know of a friend, relative or neighbor who you
would like to nominate please email the Garden Club at mahometcivicgardenclub@gmail.com.

The Garden Club will be meeting at the Mahomet Community Building on Main Street for a fun make-and-take garden craft project.  We will be making spoon plant tags!  You do not need to bring anything with you and guests are always welcome.

As spring approaches, many gardeners are starting seeds for the perfect vegetable garden, delicious herbs, or beautiful flowers.  An indoor plant growing stand like June Volkening’s pictured above can be just the thing to kick start your garden before the snow has cleared.  After the initial investment, seed starting is by far the most economical way to add lots of plants to your garden for very little cost.  The Mahomet Civic Garden Club March program will be all about seed starting and plant propagation.  This program will be helpful to new and long-time gardeners. Come join us on Thursday March 17th, at 7:00 at the Mahomet Community Building.  There is no fee and visitors are always welcome!

Our first Garden Club meeting of the year will happen on Thursday, February 17th at 7:00pm at the Mahomet Community Building.  For this meeting we will have a discussion on “favorite garden tips”.  Do you have a favorite tool you would like to show, a favorite magazine or catalog you order from, or a tip you have picked up which might be helpful to other gardeners? Come join the discussion and visit with fellow plant enthusiasts and landscape lovers.  Bring a guest!  Refreshments will be provided.

This is an excellent time of year to build a new cold frame.  These mini-greenhouses can be as simple as four bales of straw with an old window pane on top or an elaborate custom-built cedar and glass beauty like the one pictured above.  Cold frames are  great for extending your growing season in the Fall and giving you a nice head start in the Spring.  You can use them to start new seeds and to harden-off tender seedlings. 

 Fine Gardening magazine recently printed plans for an attractive and easy-to-build model.  http://www.finegardening.com/item/16656/slideshow-cold-frame-construction-details  One nice feature of this cold frame is the automatic vent opener.  This wax-filled device requires no electricity.  Instead, as the temperatures rise inside the frame the wax expands and opens the vent to allow cool air to enter. No more worrying about your plants getting too hot on those sunny Spring days.  You can order one of these handy openers at Charley’s Greenhouse Supply for around $60, or I found a new one on ebay for only $30 (with free shipping!).

Will the dry summer and fall season mean that perennials may have a hard time successfully wintering over when the chilly snows and ice cover their beds? Possibly so!! I have been mulling this over as I prepare the beds another winter’s nap. In checking with John Odum for his thoughts on the subject, he agrees that perennials don’t do well if they are too dry going into winter months. So – hose and sprinkler in hand, Charlie and I have watered down all of our perennials so they will withstand whatever ‘Mother Nature’ hands out this winter and return in robust spring condition. There is still time to check perennials (and shrubs) for adequate moisture content below ground before winter arrives. by Carolyn Haines (Questions? Call me at 590-2694)

Some of us gardeners are busy preparing our flowers beds for a winter of rest, others are just resting themselves.  Like many garden chores, there are mixed opinions about what is really necessary.  So tell us..

Our next club meeting will take place at the Mahomet Community Building located at 510 East Main Street on Thursday, October 21st at 7:00pm.

We will have Sandy Mason, from the U of I County Extension office as a guest speaker.  She will present a lecture title “Beauty and the Beast”.  This should be an interesting talk about the good, the bad, and the beautiful of garden plants.  Bring a friend along; Sandy is one of the best garden speakers in our area!

We will also have our annual Fall Seed Swap at our October meeting.  Begin gathering your annual and perennial seeds now.  Placed them in labeled envelopes and bring them to the meeting to share.  This will be our last meeting of the year!  I hope to see you all!