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Connecticut Horticultural Society2433 Main StreetRocky Hill, CT 06067
FIRST CLASSUS POSTAGE
PAIDHARTFORD, CTPERMIT #2346
Spring Lawn Wake Up for a Healthy, Earth
Friendly LawnBy Barry Avery, M.G.
Build Your Soil – Build Your Gardenby Randel A. Agrella
(continued on page 6) (continued on page 7)
Volume 57, Number 8 Serving Horticulturists Since 1887 May 2015
CHS Calendar at a GlanceFri., May 1 – Plant Sale & AuctionWed., May 6 – Deadline for June
NewsletterThu., May 7 – CHS Board Meeting, 7
p.m., Rocky Hill officeWed., May 20 – Education
Committee Meeting, 7 p.m., Rocky Hill office
Thu., May 21 – Meeting Speaker: Jan Johnsen “Serenity by Design: Creating a Relaxing Outdoor Space”
Thu., June 18 – Save the Date! Last Program Meeting and 6:30 p.m. Ice Cream Social
The snow is finally gone but I started thinking about my lawn when there was three feet of
snow. I wondered if I did a good enough job last fall to prevent snow mold on my lawn this spring and wondered whether my spring lawn would be as healthy as it was in November. Snow mold is a Fusarium mold that occurs under the snow cover if you did not cut your lawn short enough (2" or less) the last time you mowed it, if you have an unhealthy lawn of Bent or Bluegrass, or if you have poor drainage. If you had large patches of dead grass when the snow melts it is a good bet it was caused by snow mold, but with proper care the lawn may recover.
If your lawn looked healthy and green when spring arrived you can count your blessings. If not, then be patient. It takes sun and warm weather to warm the soil and awaken your lawn from its winter dormancy. A heavy snow cover is a good thing for a healthy lawn because it insulates your lawn and prevents freezing and thaw-ing which can damage the root system. As the snow slowly melts it allows the water to seep into the soil instead of running off the lawn.
The first thing you should do once the lawn is dry enough to walk on is to per-form an inspection looking for problem areas, such as bare spots, weeds, or any damage from insects or disease. Minimize foot traffic on the lawn if it is still wet, soft and yielding when you walk on it. Foot traffic on a lawn that is too wet and soft can cause compaction of the soil and induce future problems. The second thing
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In any tablespoon of healthy garden soil, there will be millions of microscopic life-forms – primarily bacteria and fungi. These unseen heroes of the garden are capable of taking up nutrients that are insoluble and therefore unavailable to higher plants. These nutrients are then subjected to innumerable organic pro-cesses, broken down and recombined through a nearly infinite series of rela-tionships. In the process, the formerly unavailable nutrients are changed so that they can be taken up by your plants. The process does take some time – even rich sources of plant nutrition such as fish emulsion require several weeks before be-coming entirely accessible to your plants.
That time lag is what makes early spring the perfect time to get in a round of soil improvement. The soil is too wet to plant in anyway, yet soft enough to turn, however sloppily, allowing incorporation
UConn Scholars Dinner
Chs President Nancy Brennick and Award and Scholar-ship Chair Elaine Widmer
attended UConn’s College of Agri-culture, Health & Natural Resources 2014-2015 Scholars’ Night March 26. At this event 308 students, who received a total of 419 scholarships valued at $560,000, were recognized. The scholarship donors were also recognized at this event for their contributions.
CHS scholarship recipients in-cluded Katherine Brand of Water-bury, Austin Vitelli, Branford, and Nathan Wojtyna, Willington.
Nathan had the distinct honor of giving the Student Address at the event. Besides thanking the donors for their generosity, he said that, from his perspective, scholarships provide the students the freedom to study
Once the frost is out of the ground and the soil can be worked, it’s the perfect time
to apply soil amendments and organic fertilizers. Unless your soil is very well drained, there is a several week window in early spring where the soil is too moist to be worked up properly for planting – it will be soft, but too wet and soggy to be worked into the fine, crumbly texture that many garden plants and nearly all seeds require. This is an ideal time to add some organic soil amendments, enriching your soil for the seasons just ahead.
Another compelling reason to apply amendments well ahead of spring plant-ing: Most organic amendments are not immediately soluble. That is, the nutrients are there, but not in a form that can be taken up by your plants. Most organic amendments will first need to be rendered soluble. This all-important interim step involves the soil’s microorganisms.
Crocus in the Garden by Thesupermat
Spots Still Available! Private Orchid
Collection & Garden Tour
Saturday, May 30, 2015Nutmeg State Orchid Society President Sandy Myhalik and her husband, Steve Calderon, will open their Farmington gar-den and orchid collection to CHS Saturday, May 30, from 3 p.m.-6 p.m. for an Educa-tion Committee fundraiser. Sandy will give a talk, sharing her tips and enthusiasm for orchids. Our private tour is of her indoor collection and the outside grounds followed by wine and cheese on the couple’s deck.
Early sign-up is encouraged. Mem-bers $40, non-members $50. Proceeds to benefit the CHS educational mission. Please sign up through the CHS Office at: (860)529-8713 or email [email protected].
and pursue their passions, rather than having to work multiple jobs to pay for their education. His belief is that scholarship dollars enable students to achieve their dreams!
The Connecticut Horticultural Society has provided scholarships to UConn students for over 50 years. Only five other organizations/busi-nesses are in that select category. We should all be proud of the contribu-tions that CHS has made to students over the years. As you know, it’s the proceeds from our Spring and Fall Plant Auctions that fund these scholarships, so please plan on at-tending, and bidding at our May 1 Plant Auction!
Page 2 May 2015 CHS Newsletter May 2015 CHS Newsletter Page 9
ConnecticutHorticultural Society
2433 Main StreetRocky Hill, CT 06067
(860) 529-8713
email: [email protected]: www.cthort.org
Office & Library HoursTuesday & Thursday
11 a.m.- 4 p.m.
Heather M. LockwoodCHS Director of Communications
All announcements, advertising news and articles for publication should be
sent to: [email protected].
Send Membership Information & Direct General Questions To:
Bonnie PendersOffice Administrator
2433 Main Street, Rocky Hill, CT 06067
Membership Dues:Individual ..................................... $45Individual Senior (65+) ................ $40Family .......................................... $6530 under 30 ................................. $30Senior Family (65+) ...................... $60Sustaining ...........................$125-500Business........................................ $70Student (full time with valid ID) .......................................free
Contributions are tax-exempt to the extent permitted under Section 170 of the Internal Revenue Service Code. Reproduction of the CHS Newsletter in whole or part without prior permis-sion is prohibited.
© Copyright 2015
CHS Board Member Keri Milne represented the Connecticut Master Gardener Association
(CMGA) Symposium March 21 at Man-chester Community College in Man-chester. Keri manned a table and spoke to many attendees about the benefits of joining CHS.
“It was fun to go, especially being at our membership table,” said Keri. “People were really interested. One couple stood and listened to my whole sales pitch and then told me they were from New Jersey!”
Keri came back with six new members that day and more applications came in later after she handed out every member-ship packet she brought.
“This was my first time going and it was a very good experience,” said Keri. “It is so nice to be around people who re-ally take gardening seriously. The lectures were educational and the vendors were well chosen for Master Gardeners. It was all very well organized.”
CHS President Nancy Brennick is pleased with Keri’s results from the CMGA symposium.
CHS Represented at CMGA Symposium – Gains New Members
“Keri happens to be a good match up personality wise for this role, enthusiastic and willing to engage others. Plus our membership committee has done an ex-cellent job of bolstering benefits to make membership irresistible,” said Nancy. “We must continue to take advantage of good event match-ups (like the CMGA event) with membership opportunities.”
A minimum of four more Member-ship Committee helpers to staff these types of promotions of CHS is needed. Duos who like to go to events together would be ideal, said Nancy.
“It makes sense for us to get our name out and do a better job of brand-ing CHS,” she said. “Not enough people know we exist – much less know whether or not we are the right gardening learning organization for them. There is an op-portunity to go to broader based events just to get our mission out there.”
Anyone interested in attending events to promote CHS membership may contact Bonnie Penders at the CHS office at (860)529-8713 or email her at [email protected].
CHS Opening: Director of Communications Effective immediately, CHS is accepting resumes for a candidate to fill the key position of Director of Communications: Web and Newsletter. This is a part-time 1099 position of 30-40 hours per month. It is desirable that the candidate have editing, reporting and web experience, have an interest in horticulture and knowledge of the Connecticut Horticultural Society. Deadline for submission of resumes to Bonnie Penders, Office Administrator in the Rocky Hill office, is May 28, 2015, 12 p.m. For more detail please go to our website.
Hartford Blooms – Garden Tour of West Hartford Thursday, June 11, 2015
Once again, CHS and Friendship Tours is going on a guided tour through the West End of Hart-
ford. The planned itinerary* includes:• The Peck Estate on Scarborough
Street – featuring beautiful gardens & sculptures
• Jonathan Clarke Home – featuring a unique bamboo garden
• A delicious sit down luncheon at Car-
bone’s in HartfordMenu: Garden salad plus a choice of Chicken Marsala, Veal Parmesan or Broiled Salmon, all served with vegetable, potato, and dessert. (Entrée choice in advance, please.)
And more….including a visit Eliza-beth Park to stop and smell the Roses...
*Since these are private homes, itinerary is subject to change.
Cost: $86 p.p. CHS members and $89 p.p. non-members. Includes deluxe motorcoach. Payment due at time of reservation. No refunds on daytrips. Please provide a sub-stitute. Departs 9 a.m. Emanuel Synagogue, 160 Mohegan Dr. West Hartford and returns 6:15 p.m. Or depart from Commuter Lot, 500 Main St, East Hartford leaving at 9:30 a.m., returning at 5:30 p.m. To reserve: please call Friendship Tours at (860) 243-1630 or go to www.friendshiptours.net.
14th Annual Nursery Crawl Thursday, May 14, 2015
The weather has warmed and Mother Nature is coming alive… It’s May and the planting season
has arrived! What better way to get our gardens off to a great start than to at-tend the 14th Annual Nursery Crawl. This year we have two Rhode Island gems, Blue Moon Farm Perennials & the Farmer’s Daughter. Don’t miss a day of fun, food, new plant discoveries and great shopping with friends. We are going to fill our motorcoach with our horticultural bounty!
Are you looking for unusual or un-derused plants to accent your collection? Fulfill your plant “wish list” at Blue
Moon Farm Perennials in Wakefield, RI. Find reliable stock plants for tough sites that won’t require a lot of fuss after planting, as well as quality container-grown perennials, grasses, ferns, shrubs and native plants.
Lunch (included) at Cap’n Jack’s, known for its lobster and pastries.
Back by popular demand! The Farm-er’s Daughter in South Kingstown, RI, offers an extensive array of unusual plants and shrubs. In May, their specialty greenhouses burst forth with luscious colors! Known for their friendly, expert staff, and unique, professionally designed
landscapes, you’re sure to find enough plants to fill our motorcoach!
Cost: $79 p.p. CHS members and $89 p.p. non-members. Payment due at time of reservation. No refunds on daytrips. Please provide a substitute. Departs 7:30 a.m. Emanuel Synagogue, 160 Mohegan Dr., West Hartford and returns 8 p.m. Depar-ture from Commuter Lot, 500 Main St, East Hartford leaves at 8 a.m., returning at 7:30 p.m. Departure from Mystic (North end of Olde Mistick Village) leaves at 9:15 a.m. and returns 6 p.m. To reserve, please call Friendship Tours at (860)243-1630 or go to www.friendshiptours.net.
Tower Hill Private Talk & Tour Wednesday, May 20, 2015 Lecture “Beautiful, Underused Garden Plants for the Discerning Gardener”
Art Exhibit “Art of the Heirloom” and Guided Gardens Tour
Join the CHS Education Committee Wednesday, May 20, as we travel to Boylston, Mass. to Tower Hill
Botanic Garden, home of the Worcester Horticultural Society. Enjoy a special presentation by Joann Vieira, Horticul-ture Director at Tower Hill, on “Beauti-ful, Underused Garden Plants for the Discerning Gardener.”
“In this program I share images, cultural requirements and sources for great garden plants that deserve wider use in the New England garden,” said Vieira. “Some are unusual plants, others are plants that have fallen from fashion but deserve a resurgence in use. I also tend to focus on plants that provide
much needed beauty in the off season, especially winter.”
The day will also include a guided tour of the Botanic Garden, as well as time on your own to explore some of the garden’s features such as The Cottage Garden, The Entry Garden, The Lawn Garden, The Limonaia, The Moss Steps, The Orangerie, The Secret Garden, The Systematic Garden, The Wildlife Refuge Pond, and more!
Tower Hill will also be featuring an exhibit of original art commissioned by the Hudson Valley Seed Library for unique seed packs that will be in its cata-log. Works include watercolor, collage, oil, embroidery and more.
Take a break for lunch on your own in the Twig’s Café or pre-order a boxed lunch.Cost: $99 p.p. CHS members with boxed lunch, $82 without lunch, $109 p.p. non-members with boxed lunch, $92 without lunch. Includes deluxe motorcoach, admis-sion to Tower Hill, presentation, guided tour, tour director, all gratuities, and $10 donation to CHS Education Committee. Payment due at time of reservation. No refunds on day-trips. Please provide a substitute. Departs 8 a.m. Emanuel Synagogue, 160 Mohegan Dr. West Hartford and returns 6 p.m. Or depart from Commuter Lot, 500 Main St, East Hartford leaving at 8:30 a.m., return-ing at 5:30 p.m. To reserve, please call Friendship Tours at (860)243-1630 or go to www.friendshiptours.net.
May 2015 CHS Newsletter Page 3Page 8 May 2015 CHS Newsletter
CHS Program MeetingOur meetings are open to members and non-members alike, with a $10 donation requested from non-mem-bers. We look forward to seeing you!Date: Thursday, May 21, 2015Time: 7:30 p.m. (6:45 p.m. for so-cializing, browsing CHS library books, raffle items and travel fliers, and asking plant questions)Location: Emanuel Synagogue, 160 Mohegan Dr., West Hartford, Conn.
Jan Johnsen is the principal of Johnsen Landscapes & Pools in Westchester County, N.Y. with over four decades
of experience creating inspiring land-scapes for residential clients. She has been an advocate of the transformative power of nature upon our wellbeing and has recently published Heaven is a Garden – Designing Serene Outdoor Spaces for Inspiration and Reflection.
Jan is a contributing editor at Garden Design magazine and has taught landscape design at Columbia University and the New York Botanical Garden, where she won 2003 “Instructor of the Year.” She studied landscape architecture at the University of Hawaii and worked under a Versailles-trained French gardener at Mohonk Mountain House. A speaker for varied audiences, she loves to share her insights on the beneficial effects of garden design with others. Her landscapes have appeared in This Old House, Landscape Architecture, NY Cottages & Gardens, Wallpaper, Women’s Day, Westchester Home, and East Coast Home and Design, among others. She offers tips and ideas on her gar-den blog, Serenity in the Garden. Her 1998 book, Ortho’s All About Trees, has been a favorite with homeowners for years.
An avid writer and speaker, Jan loves to share her experience and insights with other garden lovers to show them how to make their backyard “sing.” She encourages her audience to see all the opportunities that their plot of ground holds, no matter the size, and emphasizes the vital connection between the green world and our wellbeing.
In an interview in 2013, Jan said when she designs a landscape the site itself has its own persona that needs to be considered in the plan.
“There is an innate personality to each site – something I call, ‘the power of place.’ It refers to the overall appearance and feeling of a place,” she said. “My ap-proach is to marry the site to the design so it makes sense on a visceral level… I strive to create the feeling of calm.”
Why do some gardens make us feel
so wonderful, relaxed and refreshed? Us-ing ideas based on ancient and modern practices, Jan’s book shows how you can uplift yourself and others in a serene setting designed for “unplugging” and relaxing. Whether you are intending to create a lovely garden or just thinking about a future outdoor haven, Heaven is a Garden will help you see your backyard in a whole new light and reawaken an awareness of the wonders of nature.
In a recent interview published on the www.naturesacred.org blog, Open Voices, Jan described how being an architecture student in Japan in the 1970’s influenced her career as well as her new book. Back then, Jan would relieve stress by visiting legendary Japanese gardens.
“Just breathing in the cedar-scented air and walking on those quiet mossy paths that are so familiar in Japanese gardens made me aware of a deeper place of being,” said Jan. “I could just feel the stress just drop off of me and the longer I stayed in that environment the happier I was, the calmer I was. As I went on to study landscape architecture, no one ever talked about that; everybody talked about all the various functional things that you have to consider, but nobody ever talked about how gardens make you feel. It was then I just realized I wanted to create serenity in the garden and that’s how I came upon it.”
Thursday, May 21 Speaker Jan Johnsen Presents: Serenity by Design: Creating a Relaxing Outdoor Space
Jan said that is the focus of her new book, Heaven is a Garden.
“My hope is to open people’s eyes to the deeper understanding of power of place and nature,” said Jan. “I want people to understand how being con-nected to the earth and connected to nature can transform their lives. And they may not even realize it in the beginning, but my talent is to use garden design to transform people’s relationship with the outdoors.”
Nancy DeBrule of Natureworks said she has been following Jan’s blog for many years.
“I fell in love with her posts,” said Nancy. When she heard that Jan had published a new book, Nancy read it cover to cover immediately and was in-spired by it. In fact, when Nancy recently spoke on the healing power of plants, a lot of what she discussed was directly inspired by Jan, she said.
“Her book is all about designing serene outdoor spaces for inspiration and reflection,” said Nancy. “I have to admit at times I was moved to tears by her words. She expressed so well what I have known deep inside all along: that gardens have the ability to center us and help us to dwell in the present moment. This is more than a design book; Heaven is a Garden is a true inspiration.”
Jan’s firm’s website is www.johnsenland-scapes.com.
Jan Johnsen
Summer Gardens of Long Island Mon.-Wed., July 27-29, 2015
garden rooms hedged in by hornbeam, boxwood, and willow. The house and gardens are encircled by fourteen acres of fields with mowed paths for viewing native plants and wildlife. Then we are off to the Private Garden of Arnold and Karen Blair. This self-designed, three acre Peconic Bay front property overlooks a seventeen acre beach and wetland native preserve. Flows from an 80 foot elevation to sea level via numerous paths with various landings and overlooks. Off to explore Greenport Village for lunch on own and some shopping. Next stop, Pin-dar Winery for winetasting. After our day of exploring the gardens, we’ll have time to freshen up at the hotel before heading to Riverhead to the North Quarter Bison Farm. Ed Tuccio will meet us to take a look at his 500 acre bison farm and give its history. Then off to historic Tweeds Restaurant & Buffalo Bar. Day 3: We begin our day with a hot continental breakfast before we depart. Today we explore the South Fork – beginning with the Private Garden of Marcia Previti in East Hampton. This outdoor environment was developed over the last twenty years as a series of “exterior rooms.” There is a sun garden with stone terraces & fountain. Casual lawn and plantings with a tree house featuring dragon and hawks heads make up the east lawn and so much more… Our second Private Garden visit is to the home of Arlene Bujese. Small but incred-ible! Situated on a sloping half-acre, the landscape comprises four rooms. A flower garden bordered by evergreens surrounds a goldfish pond in the rear of the house.
It’s summer and we’re off on a fabu-lous 3-day getaway to enjoy a special tour of the Glorious Gardens of
Long Island! Here is a brief overview of this wonderful opportunity, which will include Old Westbury, Coe Hall, private gardens including “Madoo” (Robert Dash’s private home garden), a Bison Farm visit, and Pindar Winery. (To learn about this tour in greater detail please go to www.friendshiptours.net.)Day 1: Our first garden experience awaits us at Old Westbury Gardens, set on 160 pastoral acres and considered one of the most beautiful English style country estates in North America. Time on your own for lunch at the Café in the Woods and enjoy the gift shop & plant shed. Next stop will be a docent-led tour of Planting Fields-Coe Hall, former home of insurance magnate William Robert Coe & Mai Rogers Coe, a Standard Oil heiress. One of the few remaining Gold Coast Estates. Over 400 acres of green-houses, gardens and woodland plants have been landscaped by the Olmstead Brothers of Brookline, MA. We continue east toward The Hamptons to spend 2 nights at The Hyatt Place East End Hotel in Riverhead, in the heart of the North & South Forks. Welcome dinner at Jerry & The Mermaids. Day 2: Today we explore the North Shore. First stop is the Private Garden of Dennis Schrader & Bill Smith. Set in the heart of the North Fork wine region, this two-plus-acre garden surrounds a restored 1840’s farmhouse. There are many perennial and mixed shrub bor-ders throughout the garden. There are
Brick walks weave throughout. The front property is terraced into three levels, each with evergreen backdrops to create a green environment in the winter. Off to the quaint village of East Hampton, selected by National Geographic as one of “America’s Most Beautiful Villages” – majestic old elms, green expanses, wind-mills, and the famous Town Pond with its 300 year old cemetery. Enjoy free time to explore, have lunch, lots of fun shops here. Our final stop will be “Madoo,” the enchanting 2 acre organic Sagaponack garden and home of artist, writer and gardener Robert Dash. Over the last forty years, Robert Dash established a green, organic encyclopedia of garden-ing on two acres of land in Sagaponack, featuring Tudor, High Renaissance, early Greek, as well as Oriental garden influ-ences. The “Madoo” property includes several historic structures scattered around and incorporated into the overall landscape including the oldest structure, a circa 1740 barn, Dash’s summer studio. Cost: CHS Member: $699 p.p. twin - CHS Member: $939 p.p. single. Non-member add $50. Includes: Deluxe Motorcoach, 2 night hotel–Hyatt Place East End, hotel tax, baggage, 2 dinners, 2 hot continental breakfasts, sightseeing per itinerary, driver gratuity, $30 p.p. donation to CHS, escorted by Brett Isaacson. Deposit: $100 p.p. due ASAP with reservation to secure your space. Final Payment: by June 1, 2015 Cancellation Policy: If a passenger can-cels after deposit and before June 1, 2015 fee of $75 pp; no refunds if cancelled after June 1, 2015 unless a substitute is provided. Contact Friendship Tours at (860)243-1630 or www.friendshiptours.net.
It seems like a far way off but calendars get filled up quickly! Don’t miss out – save the date on your schedule now.
Save The Date Glorious Gardens of New Jersey September 17-19, 2015
• Grounds for Sculpture • Newark Art Museum • Accommodations at the Hilton Short Hills• Greenwood Gardens • Reed Reeves Arboretum • Leonard Buck Garden• Private Garden of Andrea Filoppone & lunch in her garden • And more!
More details to come. Please call Barbara at Friendship Tours (860)243-1630 or email [email protected] to be put on the list for the flyer when it is ready.
May 2015 CHS Newsletter Page 7Page 4 May 2015 CHS Newsletter
The author of this article, dated approxi-mately 1987, is unknown. If anyone can identify, add to or amend this passage please contact the newsletter editor at [email protected].
One hundred years ago this month a small announcement in the Hartford newspapers
invited interested parties to meet and discuss the formation of the Horticul-tural Society. It was by no means a novel idea; the Pennsylvania Horticultural So-ciety had been established in 1827, the Massachusetts in 1829. An Agricultural Society already existed in Connecticut.
The time was ripe and the notion quickly gained favor, especially among the gardeners of the city who felt a real need for such an organization. The gardener’s trade had come into its own in the late nine-teenth century. National census records
show an increase of 275% in the number of men employed as seedsmen, nurserymen and gardeners between 1870 and 1930.
This period coincides with Hartford’s great industrial development. The city’s magnets built large estates, many with greenhouses, and hired private gardeners to tend them. The years also witnessed a tremendous growth in the amount of park-land owned by the city – over 1,200 acres by the end of 1895. The variety of plant material available had also mushroomed, both locally and through mail order.
The first year’s membership was a respectable 78, and although it consisted largely of professionals, there were also some patrons of horticulture and enthu-siastic amateurs. It is interesting to note that women were invited to join from the beginning, though few seem to have accepted the offer.
Early meetings placed great emphasis on mutual improvement, with members reading papers on their specialty and bringing in plants for discussion. But the main focus until the turn of the century was the sponsoring of exhibitions where friendly rivalry and cash awards spurred horticultural excellence as well as public interest. (See tickets above.) These were elaborate affairs, sometimes even having a small orchestra providing background entertainment.
The frequent shows, however, proved to be a great drain on both the energy and the finances of the Society. Attendance began to fall short of expectations. Con-sequently, early in the twentieth century emphasis shifted to where it has remained ever since, the sponsoring of professional lecturers on themes relating mainly to ornamental gardening.
A sample of Flower Show tickets saved in the archives of CHS.
not let the seed dry out, and when the grass has sprouted make sure it stays well watered until it is well established.
Spring is also a great time to spray on a dose of compost tea. Compost tea adds millions of beneficial microbes to your soil. It is easy to make your own compost teas. Take an old pillow case and put about 1-2 gallons of compost in it. Tie off the pillow case and hang it from a stick that is long enough to span a five gallon bucket. Put it in the bucket and
Spring Lawn, from page 6
Build Your Soil, from page 1
add water to fill the bucket almost full. Add ¼ cup or so of molasses, occasion-ally agitate and let it sit for several days. Magic! You now have compost tea which you can spray on your lawn. If you hap-pen to have an old aquarium bubbler you can put it in the bucket and it will make the process come along faster and bet-ter. Use a pump sprayer, not a hose-end sprayer, and spray it liberally on the lawn.
Your grass would like to have about 1" of water per week, so if it doesn’t rain
you should water. Shady sections of your lawn will require less water than the sunny areas. Mow regularly remembering to never remove more than 1/3 of the length of grass, and leaving it as high as you can while keeping the mower blade sharp. Once these spring maintenance tasks are completed it should be late spring or early summer.
Now, sit back, have a cool drink and admire an earth friendly, healthy lawn.
of the often bulky organic amendments you’ll be applying. At the beginning of the period the soil may be cold, which allows only slow proliferation of the ben-eficial organisms, but as spring gets into high gear, the soil temperature is rising, with a corresponding microbial bloom. It is into this rising plane of soil fertility that you will sow your seeds or set your transplants, and for most, it constitutes an optimal environment.
Enough with the theory. What amendments should you be applying in late winter or early spring? Only a soil test reveals what is actually needed in your soil, but here is a good selection of basic materials you will probably be using:
• Lime: Plants are sensitive to the acid-ity or alkalinity of the soil solution (the reservoir of moisture surrounding every solid particle comprising the soil). The bal-ance between these two factors is called the pH. Most commonly cultivated plants do their best at a near-neutral pH, somewhere in the range of pH 6.0 to 7.0. However, New England soils tend naturaly toward the acid side. If your soil test indicates that your soil is too acidic (with a pH much below 6) then the remedy is to add lime. Lime is simply crushed limestone, which if used must be applied several weeks ahead of planting. As the acids in the soil solution work to dissolve the limestone, the pH naturally rises – that is, acidity is decreased and alkalinity is increased. Your soil test, and the instructions printed on the packaging when you purchase lime, will tell you how much to add. Lime be-comes exhausted eventually, so testing at
least every second or third year is recom-mended, reapplying as indicated.
• Bone meal: This product is a great source of phosphorus, which is one of the three “macronutrients” or major nutrients plants need to thrive. Like lime, it dissolves slowly over a period of months or years, and so for background fertility annual application is not usually required. (Some plants, such as flowering bulbs, like more phosphorus, and addi-tionl bone meal is often included when planting these types.)
• Greensand: This mineral was origi-nally deposited on former sea beds, now exposed on dry land. Greensand is high in potassium, the second of the three macronutrients, and, like bone meal, dissolves only slowly, so a single applica-tion may be enough for several seasons.
• Nitrogen Sources: Nitrogen is the third of the three macronutrients, the one that is usually needed in the greatest quantity, and the most biologically active, which means it’s quickly exhausted in the soil. Therefore, it is sources of nitrogen that will need to be applied in the largest amounts, and the most frequently – an-nual applications are usually necessary. Typical and frequently-used nitrogen sources include: Animal manures, blood meal, cottonseed meal, alfalfa meal, soybean meal and fish emulsion. Special care should be taken with these nitrogen sources to ensure good incorporation into the soil. Minimize the amount that is left on the soil surface. The reason is that one of the steps in the breakdown of these organic nitrogen sources involves the
creation of ammonia, which is an organic form of nitrogen. What should happen is that the ammonia should stay within the soil, maximizing the opportunity for soil microbes to absorb it and draw it in to the micro-ecosystem within the soil. How-ever, exposed materials will dissipate their ammonia directly to the air, thus denying it to the soil and therefore wasting it.
When incorporating any of these or-ganic amendments, the greatest efficiency can be achieved by distributing the mate-rials as evenly as possible throughout the soil. Along with breaking the materials into as fine units as may be, this creates the maximal areas of contact between the amendments and the soil. This allows the beneficial organisms the greatest access, speeding the process of making them available to your plants.
So do take advantage of the spring window for improving your soil. It will get you out into the garden weeks ahead of planting time. Who doesn’t need that after a particularly bitter New England winter? And it will rev up the fertility of your garden soil. Your plants will love you for it.
Randel A. Agrella has overseen rare seed pro-duction at Baker Creek Seed Company since 2005. He writes and lectures extensively, and owns and operates AbundantAcres.net, which has grown and shipped strictly heirloom, chemical-free veggie starts and plants since 2004. He has recently relocated to Maine, and you can follow the development of his organic micro-farm, Parsnippity Farm, on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Parsnippity-Farm/635243446571449
Connecticut Horticultural Society HistoryThis is the first in a continuing series featuring historical interviews, articles, clippings and artifacts.
Page 6 May 2015 CHS Newsletter May 2015 CHS Newsletter Page 5
Horticultural Happenings & AnnouncementsHappenings are listed on a space-available basis. To see a more extensive Happenings listing for May, please go to the CHS website: www.cthort.org and click on Programs & Events. To submit events, email the listing to [email protected]. Deadline for the June issue is May 6.
West Hartford Garden Club: “Rediscovering Beatrix Farrand, One of America’s Most Celebrated Landscape Architects”Thursday, May 7, 2015 from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 2080 Boulevard, West Hartford. Presented by Colleen Plimpton, garden-er, award winning author and educator. Guest donation $10 (light lunch at 12 p.m.) Reservations required (860)561-0724. For more information go to www.westhartfordgarden.org.
Suffield Parks & Rec. Gardening Classes: “Gardening with Julie”Wednesday, May 13, 2015 from 7 p.m.-8 p.m. at Suffield High School’s Agri-science Large Animal facility hosted by the Suffield Agriscience Center. Taught by Julie Harrison, a horticultural expert with over ten years of experience in landscape design and gardening. Tips and tricks to garden and decorate like
Julie 12 months a year. This is an in-teractive and educational talk. Adults and high school students interested in gardening are welcome. Registration closes on Monday, May 4 and/or earlier if enrollment reaches maximum capac-ity. Fee: $10. Register on line at www.SuffieldRec.com. For more information call (860)668-3862.
The Connecticut Daylily Society: Annual Daylily and Plant SaleSaturday, May 16 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on the Avon Senior Center grounds at the Sycamore Hills Recreation Center, 635 West Avon Road, Avon. Hundreds of member-grown hardy daylilies will be available in all colors, sizes and forms, including doubles and spiders and early and late blooming varieties, at 50 percent or more off retail. Prices starting at just $5 per double fan (two plants) division. The sale also features companion peren-nials, starting at $5 a pot, all Connecticut
grown and hardy. All proceeds from the sale are used to fund the organization’s free educational programs, all of which are open to the public. Further informa-tion and detailed directions can be found on the Society’s website, http://ctday-lilysociety.wordpress.com or on www.ctdaylily.com/CDS.html. You may also call (860)243-3422 or (860)673-8445. Day of sale please call (860)305-4933.
The Herb Society: “Star Spangled Herb – An Herbal Parade of Red, White & Blue Flowering Herbs”Wednesday, May 27, 2015, 9:30 a.m.-2 p.m. at the Pond House Café, Elizabeth Park, 1555 Asylum Ave., West Hartford. Features informative presentations, herb-themed luncheon, and exciting gifts and raffle baskets for sale! Members are $30, non-members $40, and patrons $50 (list-ing in program). For more information, email [email protected], or phone (860)567-9656.
Ben Ackell, BrookfieldDorothy Bergmann, Vernon
Bruce & Sue Burchsted, MeridenLynne Butcher, S. Glastonbury
Nancy Campbell, HamdenKen & Donna Carpenter, Wethersfield
Nancy Cebik, WaterburyKerry Comisky, E. Hampton
Gail & Caroline Coolidge, SimsburyMarie Desjarlais, W. Suffield
Teri Dickey-Gaignat, S. WindsorGinni Donovan, Cheshire
Neil Barbara Duncan, LedyardMarsha Earnest, Wethersfield
James Failla, NewingtonSusan Fisher, Glastonbury
Rich & Carol Flathers, AnsoniaJessica Forrest & Chad Grover, Columbia
Rita Giannetti, CheshirePaula Haeberly Russo, Durham
Wendy Halloran, WethersfieldIrene Hendrickson, Wethersfield
Linda Houde, W. HartfordJanet Irving, Essex
Gayle Kellas, MiddletownCarrie Kocher, Storrs
Richard Kremer, WethersfieldHeather Lockwood, N. GranbyThomas Macgregor, DanburyJan Manchester, Weatogue
Nancy Matter, EnfieldDeb Mullikin, Manchester
Robert & Kathleen Musson, VernonBarbara Novak, E. Windsor
Elizabeth & Ed O’Brien, ManchesterBruce Perry, ManchesterJennifer Pfeifer, Windsor
Josephine Pisarsky, SouthingtonMargaret Pohorilak, Southington
Mary Ann Preston, E. Granby
Linda Rukstela, EastfordLinda Salamacha, Torrington
Carol Salka, SouthingtonDeborah Shindell, Trumbull
Kitsey Snow, RidgefieldLynn Stanwood, Durham
Janine Sullivan-Wiley, MiddleburyAndrew Summers, Hamden
Matthew Thurz, Broad BrookAlene Toedt, ColumbiaJohn Tycz, Thompson
Paul & Lynn Vasseur, ManchesterDeirdra Wallin, Brookfield
Betty Wardrop, VernonGisella Weissback-Licht, Branford
Evan Williams, W. HartfordEllen Woods, MiddletownNancy Yanosy, Stratford
Ellen Zeman, W. Hartford• • • •
you should do is take a soil sample and send it out to be evaluated. You should have a soil nutrient analysis completed at least every three years ([email protected]). While you are waiting for your soil test result, and once the lawn is dry enough to take foot traffic, you should clean up any debris from the previous year. Use a spring rake, preferably of bamboo or plastic, gently rake the lawn taking ex-treme care to not pull on the grass with the rake. Metal spring rakes have sharp edges that can damage the young grass blades and roots. Pulling on the grass will damage the root system and delay the top growth of the grass until the roots have recovered from the damage. Just sort of skim the rake across the grass without applying any downward pressure, raking slowly and carefully. If you have dead areas in the lawn you should evaluate them to figure out what caused them and make plans to correct the problem. If you have serious problems and can’t figure out why, you may want to call a lawn care professional to help you evaluate problems.
DO NOT FERTILIZE your lawn yet, and disregard what the TV com-mercials tell you to do. Your grass should never receive its first application of any fertilizer until it has been mowed at least twice, and preferably three or four times. The first several mowings should be light, never removing any more than one third of the blade length. That is also a good rule to follow all year. Your lawn should be mowed at the highest setting on your mower, leaving the grass as high you can aesthetically accept. It should never be shorter than two inches, and remember, the higher your grass is the more food it will provide, and it will shade the soil bet-ter and therefore require less watering. You need to check out your mower before its first use and sharpen the blade. Mowing with a dull blade can seriously damage your lawn. Keep the blade sharp all year. Leave the cuttings on the lawn, raking in any that might have clumped together. Leaving the clippings on the lawn will reduce your fertilizer requirements by at least 30%. Now you can fertilize your grass using the results of your soil test to guide
soil means healthy plants. A thick, healthy lawn will be able to suppress the weeds and make it more difficult for new weeds to invade your lawn. If you have a very serious weed problem the first step should be some kind of weed eradication. Earth-friendly methods are mechanical removal and spot spraying using an organic weed killer. Just remember that if you choose to use a chemical weed killer you are killing just as many beneficial life forms in your lawn as the bad ones you target. There is good news if you have the “right” kind of weeds. Dandelion and plantain are both edible, especially good when they are young. Native violets have beautiful flowers and just sort of disappear after flowering. Clover, because it is a member of the bean family, adds nitrogen to your soil. Clover was a common seed in lawn seed mixes until the middle part of the last century when the chemical lawn care industry decided it was a “weed” so they could sell chemicals to kill it. Clover in your grass is a big benefit.
Spring is also a good time to add an organic humus product to your soil. Weed-free compost is the top choice if you have access to it. It takes 1 ½ cubic yards of compost to top dress 1,000 square feet of lawn ½ inch deep. That’s about 14 three-cubic foot bags. My money-free (but not labor-free) alterna-tive is to top dress in the autumn by using my mulching mower and grinding up the leaves on my lawn and then raking them into the grass. Any organic matter you add will improve your lawn. You could use composted manure, bagged manure, peat moss, or anything you can find. The key is to add humus to your soil.
Spring is a good time to reseed patch-es of your lawn if you have bare spots, but if you have large areas that need to be reseeded it is best to wait until late sum-mer or early autumn. Just rake away the dead grass from the area to be reseeded, add a layer of compost, sprinkle on the seed, cover the seed with a thin layer of compost, tamp it down lightly with the back of a garden rake or your feet, water it and keep it moist until it sprouts. Do
you through the process.If you are unsure of what kind of
fertilizer to buy you are better off going to a local nursery or garden center. The local folks are more knowledgeable and can help you select the best product for your area. Take your soil test results with you and know what the total area of your lawn is. You can also look for the OMRI (Organic Materials Review Institute) cer-tification on the fertilizer bag. If you plan on using a pre-emergent (weed preven-tion) product you will need to figure in the nutrient value of that along with the fertilizer. The only commonly available organic pre-emergent is corn gluten, and its efficacy is still being debated after 20 years of use. It MUST be applied at the correct time for it to have any effect. It is also rather expensive when you need to apply 20 pounds for every 1,000 square feet of grass. The correct time to apply it in this area of the country is just when the Forsythias start to bloom. Any sooner or later and it will not be as effective. The good news is corn gluten’s nitrogen number is 9, so it will give your lawn an early season, long-lasting nitrogen boost.
The best weed control will always be a thick, healthy lawn that will out-compete weeds, especially ones that have just sprouted. A guaranteed sign that your grass is not healthy is if you have a serious weed problem. Growing grass is no differ-ent than growing anything else. Healthy
Spring Lawn, from page 1
(continued on page 7)
Page 6 May 2015 CHS Newsletter May 2015 CHS Newsletter Page 5
Horticultural Happenings & AnnouncementsHappenings are listed on a space-available basis. To see a more extensive Happenings listing for May, please go to the CHS website: www.cthort.org and click on Programs & Events. To submit events, email the listing to [email protected]. Deadline for the June issue is May 6.
West Hartford Garden Club: “Rediscovering Beatrix Farrand, One of America’s Most Celebrated Landscape Architects”Thursday, May 7, 2015 from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 2080 Boulevard, West Hartford. Presented by Colleen Plimpton, garden-er, award winning author and educator. Guest donation $10 (light lunch at 12 p.m.) Reservations required (860)561-0724. For more information go to www.westhartfordgarden.org.
Suffield Parks & Rec. Gardening Classes: “Gardening with Julie”Wednesday, May 13, 2015 from 7 p.m.-8 p.m. at Suffield High School’s Agri-science Large Animal facility hosted by the Suffield Agriscience Center. Taught by Julie Harrison, a horticultural expert with over ten years of experience in landscape design and gardening. Tips and tricks to garden and decorate like
Julie 12 months a year. This is an in-teractive and educational talk. Adults and high school students interested in gardening are welcome. Registration closes on Monday, May 4 and/or earlier if enrollment reaches maximum capac-ity. Fee: $10. Register on line at www.SuffieldRec.com. For more information call (860)668-3862.
The Connecticut Daylily Society: Annual Daylily and Plant SaleSaturday, May 16 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on the Avon Senior Center grounds at the Sycamore Hills Recreation Center, 635 West Avon Road, Avon. Hundreds of member-grown hardy daylilies will be available in all colors, sizes and forms, including doubles and spiders and early and late blooming varieties, at 50 percent or more off retail. Prices starting at just $5 per double fan (two plants) division. The sale also features companion peren-nials, starting at $5 a pot, all Connecticut
grown and hardy. All proceeds from the sale are used to fund the organization’s free educational programs, all of which are open to the public. Further informa-tion and detailed directions can be found on the Society’s website, http://ctday-lilysociety.wordpress.com or on www.ctdaylily.com/CDS.html. You may also call (860)243-3422 or (860)673-8445. Day of sale please call (860)305-4933.
The Herb Society: “Star Spangled Herb – An Herbal Parade of Red, White & Blue Flowering Herbs”Wednesday, May 27, 2015, 9:30 a.m.-2 p.m. at the Pond House Café, Elizabeth Park, 1555 Asylum Ave., West Hartford. Features informative presentations, herb-themed luncheon, and exciting gifts and raffle baskets for sale! Members are $30, non-members $40, and patrons $50 (list-ing in program). For more information, email [email protected], or phone (860)567-9656.
Ben Ackell, BrookfieldDorothy Bergmann, Vernon
Bruce & Sue Burchsted, MeridenLynne Butcher, S. Glastonbury
Nancy Campbell, HamdenKen & Donna Carpenter, Wethersfield
Nancy Cebik, WaterburyKerry Comisky, E. Hampton
Gail & Caroline Coolidge, SimsburyMarie Desjarlais, W. Suffield
Teri Dickey-Gaignat, S. WindsorGinni Donovan, Cheshire
Neil Barbara Duncan, LedyardMarsha Earnest, Wethersfield
James Failla, NewingtonSusan Fisher, Glastonbury
Rich & Carol Flathers, AnsoniaJessica Forrest & Chad Grover, Columbia
Rita Giannetti, CheshirePaula Haeberly Russo, Durham
Wendy Halloran, WethersfieldIrene Hendrickson, Wethersfield
Linda Houde, W. HartfordJanet Irving, Essex
Gayle Kellas, MiddletownCarrie Kocher, Storrs
Richard Kremer, WethersfieldHeather Lockwood, N. GranbyThomas Macgregor, DanburyJan Manchester, Weatogue
Nancy Matter, EnfieldDeb Mullikin, Manchester
Robert & Kathleen Musson, VernonBarbara Novak, E. Windsor
Elizabeth & Ed O’Brien, ManchesterBruce Perry, ManchesterJennifer Pfeifer, Windsor
Josephine Pisarsky, SouthingtonMargaret Pohorilak, Southington
Mary Ann Preston, E. Granby
Linda Rukstela, EastfordLinda Salamacha, Torrington
Carol Salka, SouthingtonDeborah Shindell, Trumbull
Kitsey Snow, RidgefieldLynn Stanwood, Durham
Janine Sullivan-Wiley, MiddleburyAndrew Summers, Hamden
Matthew Thurz, Broad BrookAlene Toedt, ColumbiaJohn Tycz, Thompson
Paul & Lynn Vasseur, ManchesterDeirdra Wallin, Brookfield
Betty Wardrop, VernonGisella Weissback-Licht, Branford
Evan Williams, W. HartfordEllen Woods, MiddletownNancy Yanosy, Stratford
Ellen Zeman, W. Hartford• • • •
you should do is take a soil sample and send it out to be evaluated. You should have a soil nutrient analysis completed at least every three years ([email protected]). While you are waiting for your soil test result, and once the lawn is dry enough to take foot traffic, you should clean up any debris from the previous year. Use a spring rake, preferably of bamboo or plastic, gently rake the lawn taking ex-treme care to not pull on the grass with the rake. Metal spring rakes have sharp edges that can damage the young grass blades and roots. Pulling on the grass will damage the root system and delay the top growth of the grass until the roots have recovered from the damage. Just sort of skim the rake across the grass without applying any downward pressure, raking slowly and carefully. If you have dead areas in the lawn you should evaluate them to figure out what caused them and make plans to correct the problem. If you have serious problems and can’t figure out why, you may want to call a lawn care professional to help you evaluate problems.
DO NOT FERTILIZE your lawn yet, and disregard what the TV com-mercials tell you to do. Your grass should never receive its first application of any fertilizer until it has been mowed at least twice, and preferably three or four times. The first several mowings should be light, never removing any more than one third of the blade length. That is also a good rule to follow all year. Your lawn should be mowed at the highest setting on your mower, leaving the grass as high you can aesthetically accept. It should never be shorter than two inches, and remember, the higher your grass is the more food it will provide, and it will shade the soil bet-ter and therefore require less watering. You need to check out your mower before its first use and sharpen the blade. Mowing with a dull blade can seriously damage your lawn. Keep the blade sharp all year. Leave the cuttings on the lawn, raking in any that might have clumped together. Leaving the clippings on the lawn will reduce your fertilizer requirements by at least 30%. Now you can fertilize your grass using the results of your soil test to guide
soil means healthy plants. A thick, healthy lawn will be able to suppress the weeds and make it more difficult for new weeds to invade your lawn. If you have a very serious weed problem the first step should be some kind of weed eradication. Earth-friendly methods are mechanical removal and spot spraying using an organic weed killer. Just remember that if you choose to use a chemical weed killer you are killing just as many beneficial life forms in your lawn as the bad ones you target. There is good news if you have the “right” kind of weeds. Dandelion and plantain are both edible, especially good when they are young. Native violets have beautiful flowers and just sort of disappear after flowering. Clover, because it is a member of the bean family, adds nitrogen to your soil. Clover was a common seed in lawn seed mixes until the middle part of the last century when the chemical lawn care industry decided it was a “weed” so they could sell chemicals to kill it. Clover in your grass is a big benefit.
Spring is also a good time to add an organic humus product to your soil. Weed-free compost is the top choice if you have access to it. It takes 1 ½ cubic yards of compost to top dress 1,000 square feet of lawn ½ inch deep. That’s about 14 three-cubic foot bags. My money-free (but not labor-free) alterna-tive is to top dress in the autumn by using my mulching mower and grinding up the leaves on my lawn and then raking them into the grass. Any organic matter you add will improve your lawn. You could use composted manure, bagged manure, peat moss, or anything you can find. The key is to add humus to your soil.
Spring is a good time to reseed patch-es of your lawn if you have bare spots, but if you have large areas that need to be reseeded it is best to wait until late sum-mer or early autumn. Just rake away the dead grass from the area to be reseeded, add a layer of compost, sprinkle on the seed, cover the seed with a thin layer of compost, tamp it down lightly with the back of a garden rake or your feet, water it and keep it moist until it sprouts. Do
you through the process.If you are unsure of what kind of
fertilizer to buy you are better off going to a local nursery or garden center. The local folks are more knowledgeable and can help you select the best product for your area. Take your soil test results with you and know what the total area of your lawn is. You can also look for the OMRI (Organic Materials Review Institute) cer-tification on the fertilizer bag. If you plan on using a pre-emergent (weed preven-tion) product you will need to figure in the nutrient value of that along with the fertilizer. The only commonly available organic pre-emergent is corn gluten, and its efficacy is still being debated after 20 years of use. It MUST be applied at the correct time for it to have any effect. It is also rather expensive when you need to apply 20 pounds for every 1,000 square feet of grass. The correct time to apply it in this area of the country is just when the Forsythias start to bloom. Any sooner or later and it will not be as effective. The good news is corn gluten’s nitrogen number is 9, so it will give your lawn an early season, long-lasting nitrogen boost.
The best weed control will always be a thick, healthy lawn that will out-compete weeds, especially ones that have just sprouted. A guaranteed sign that your grass is not healthy is if you have a serious weed problem. Growing grass is no differ-ent than growing anything else. Healthy
Spring Lawn, from page 1
(continued on page 7)
May 2015 CHS Newsletter Page 7Page 4 May 2015 CHS Newsletter
The author of this article, dated approxi-mately 1987, is unknown.
One hundred years ago this month a small announcement in the Hartford newspapers
invited interested parties to meet and discuss the formation of the Horticul-tural Society. It was by no means a novel idea; the Pennsylvania Horticultural So-ciety had been established in 1827, the Massachusetts in 1829. An Agricultural Society already existed in Connecticut.
The time was ripe and the notion quickly gained favor, especially among the gardeners of the city who felt a real need for such an organization. The gardener’s trade had come into its own in the late nine-teenth century. National census records show an increase of 275% in the number of men employed as seedsmen, nurserymen
and gardeners between 1870 and 1930.This period coincides with Hartford’s
great industrial development. The city’s magnets built large estates, many with greenhouses, and hired private gardeners to tend them. The years also witnessed a tremendous growth in the amount of park-land owned by the city – over 1,200 acres by the end of 1895. The variety of plant material available had also mushroomed, both locally and through mail order.
The first year’s membership was a respectable 78, and although it consisted largely of professionals, there were also some patrons of horticulture and enthu-siastic amateurs. It is interesting to note that women were invited to join from the beginning, though few seem to have accepted the offer.
Early meetings placed great emphasis
on mutual improvement, with members reading papers on their specialty and bringing in plants for discussion. But the main focus until the turn of the century was the sponsoring of exhibitions where friendly rivalry and cash awards spurred horticultural excellence as well as public interest. (See tickets above.) These were elaborate affairs, sometimes even having a small orchestra providing background entertainment.
The frequent shows, however, proved to be a great drain on both the energy and the finances of the Society. Attendance began to fall short of expectations. Con-sequently, early in the twentieth century emphasis shifted to where it has remained ever since, the sponsoring of professional lecturers on themes relating mainly to ornamental gardening.
A sample of Flower Show tickets saved in the archives of CHS.
not let the seed dry out, and when the grass has sprouted make sure it stays well watered until it is well established.
Spring is also a great time to spray on a dose of compost tea. Compost tea adds millions of beneficial microbes to your soil. It is easy to make your own compost teas. Take an old pillow case and put about 1-2 gallons of compost in it. Tie off the pillow case and hang it from a stick that is long enough to span a five gallon bucket. Put it in the bucket and
Spring Lawn, from page 6
Build Your Soil, from page 1
add water to fill the bucket almost full. Add ¼ cup or so of molasses, occasion-ally agitate and let it sit for several days. Magic! You now have compost tea which you can spray on your lawn. If you hap-pen to have an old aquarium bubbler you can put it in the bucket and it will make the process come along faster and bet-ter. Use a pump sprayer, not a hose-end sprayer, and spray it liberally on the lawn.
Your grass would like to have about 1" of water per week, so if it doesn’t rain
you should water. Shady sections of your lawn will require less water than the sunny areas. Mow regularly remembering to never remove more than 1/3 of the length of grass, and leaving it as high as you can while keeping the mower blade sharp. Once these spring maintenance tasks are completed it should be late spring or early summer.
Now, sit back, have a cool drink and admire an earth friendly, healthy lawn.
of the often bulky organic amendments you’ll be applying. At the beginning of the period the soil may be cold, which allows only slow proliferation of the ben-eficial organisms, but as spring gets into high gear, the soil temperature is rising, with a corresponding microbial bloom. It is into this rising plane of soil fertility that you will sow your seeds or set your transplants, and for most, it constitutes an optimal environment.
Enough with the theory. What amendments should you be applying in late winter or early spring? Only a soil test reveals what is actually needed in your soil, but here is a good selection of basic materials you will probably be using:
• Lime: Plants are sensitive to the acid-ity or alkalinity of the soil solution (the reservoir of moisture surrounding every solid particle comprising the soil). The bal-ance between these two factors is called the pH. Most commonly cultivated plants do their best at a near-neutral pH, somewhere in the range of pH 6.0 to 7.0. However, New England soils tend naturaly toward the acid side. If your soil test indicates that your soil is too acidic (with a pH much below 6) then the remedy is to add lime. Lime is simply crushed limestone, which if used must be applied several weeks ahead of planting. As the acids in the soil solution work to dissolve the limestone, the pH naturally rises – that is, acidity is decreased and alkalinity is increased. Your soil test, and the instructions printed on the packaging when you purchase lime, will tell you how much to add. Lime be-comes exhausted eventually, so testing at
least every second or third year is recom-mended, reapplying as indicated.
• Bone meal: This product is a great source of phosphorus, which is one of the three “macronutrients” or major nutrients plants need to thrive. Like lime, it dissolves slowly over a period of months or years, and so for background fertility annual application is not usually required. (Some plants, such as flowering bulbs, like more phosphorus, and addi-tionl bone meal is often included when planting these types.)
• Greensand: This mineral was origi-nally deposited on former sea beds, now exposed on dry land. Greensand is high in potassium, the second of the three macronutrients, and, like bone meal, dissolves only slowly, so a single applica-tion may be enough for several seasons.
• Nitrogen Sources: Nitrogen is the third of the three macronutrients, the one that is usually needed in the greatest quantity, and the most biologically active, which means it’s quickly exhausted in the soil. Therefore, it is sources of nitrogen that will need to be applied in the largest amounts, and the most frequently – an-nual applications are usually necessary. Typical and frequently-used nitrogen sources include: Animal manures, blood meal, cottonseed meal, alfalfa meal, soybean meal and fish emulsion. Special care should be taken with these nitrogen sources to ensure good incorporation into the soil. Minimize the amount that is left on the soil surface. The reason is that one of the steps in the breakdown of these organic nitrogen sources involves the
creation of ammonia, which is an organic form of nitrogen. What should happen is that the ammonia should stay within the soil, maximizing the opportunity for soil microbes to absorb it and draw it in to the micro-ecosystem within the soil. How-ever, exposed materials will dissipate their ammonia directly to the air, thus denying it to the soil and therefore wasting it.
When incorporating any of these or-ganic amendments, the greatest efficiency can be achieved by distributing the mate-rials as evenly as possible throughout the soil. Along with breaking the materials into as fine units as may be, this creates the maximal areas of contact between the amendments and the soil. This allows the beneficial organisms the greatest access, speeding the process of making them available to your plants.
So do take advantage of the spring window for improving your soil. It will get you out into the garden weeks ahead of planting time. Who doesn’t need that after a particularly bitter New England winter? And it will rev up the fertility of your garden soil. Your plants will love you for it.
Randel A. Agrella has overseen rare seed pro-duction at Baker Creek Seed Company since 2005. He writes and lectures extensively, and owns and operates AbundantAcres.net, which has grown and shipped strictly heirloom, chemical-free veggie starts and plants since 2004. He has recently relocated to Maine, and you can follow the development of his organic micro-farm, Parsnippity Farm, on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Parsnippity-Farm/635243446571449
Connecticut Horticultural Society HistoryThis is the first in a continuing series featuring historical interviews, articles, clippings and artifacts.
May 2015 CHS Newsletter Page 3Page 8 May 2015 CHS Newsletter
CHS Program MeetingOur meetings are open to members and non-members alike, with a $10 donation requested from non-mem-bers. We look forward to seeing you!Date: Thursday, May 21, 2015Time: 7:30 p.m. (6:45 p.m. for so-cializing, browsing CHS library books, raffle items and travel fliers, and asking plant questions)Location: Emanuel Synagogue, 160 Mohegan Dr., West Hartford, Conn.
Jan Johnsen is the principal of Johnsen Landscapes & Pools in Westchester County, N.Y. with over four decades
of experience creating inspiring land-scapes for residential clients. She has been an advocate of the transformative power of nature upon our wellbeing and has recently published Heaven is a Garden – Designing Serene Outdoor Spaces for Inspiration and Reflection.
Jan is a contributing editor at Garden Design magazine and has taught landscape design at Columbia University and the New York Botanical Garden, where she won 2003 “Instructor of the Year.” She studied landscape architecture at the University of Hawaii and worked under a Versailles-trained French gardener at Mohonk Mountain House. A speaker for varied audiences, she loves to share her insights on the beneficial effects of garden design with others. Her landscapes have appeared in This Old House, Landscape Architecture, NY Cottages & Gardens, Wallpaper, Women’s Day, Westchester Home, and East Coast Home and Design, among others. She offers tips and ideas on her gar-den blog, Serenity in the Garden. Her 1998 book, Ortho’s All About Trees, has been a favorite with homeowners for years.
An avid writer and speaker, Jan loves to share her experience and insights with other garden lovers to show them how to make their backyard “sing.” She encourages her audience to see all the opportunities that their plot of ground holds, no matter the size, and emphasizes the vital connection between the green world and our wellbeing.
In an interview in 2013, Jan said when she designs a landscape the site itself has its own persona that needs to be considered in the plan.
“There is an innate personality to each site – something I call, ‘the power of place.’ It refers to the overall appearance and feeling of a place,” she said. “My ap-proach is to marry the site to the design so it makes sense on a visceral level… I strive to create the feeling of calm.”
Why do some gardens make us feel
so wonderful, relaxed and refreshed? Us-ing ideas based on ancient and modern practices, Jan’s book shows how you can uplift yourself and others in a serene setting designed for “unplugging” and relaxing. Whether you are intending to create a lovely garden or just thinking about a future outdoor haven, Heaven is a Garden will help you see your backyard in a whole new light and reawaken an awareness of the wonders of nature.
In a recent interview published on the www.naturesacred.org blog, Open Voices, Jan described how being an architecture student in Japan in the 1970’s influenced her career as well as her new book. Back then, Jan would relieve stress by visiting legendary Japanese gardens.
“Just breathing in the cedar-scented air and walking on those quiet mossy paths that are so familiar in Japanese gardens made me aware of a deeper place of being,” said Jan. “I could just feel the stress just drop off of me and the longer I stayed in that environment the happier I was, the calmer I was. As I went on to study landscape architecture, no one ever talked about that; everybody talked about all the various functional things that you have to consider, but nobody ever talked about how gardens make you feel. It was then I just realized I wanted to create serenity in the garden and that’s how I came upon it.”
Thursday, May 21 Speaker Jan Johnsen Presents: Serenity by Design: Creating a Relaxing Outdoor Space
Jan said that is the focus of her new book, Heaven is a Garden.
“My hope is to open people’s eyes to the deeper understanding of power of place and nature,” said Jan. “I want people to understand how being con-nected to the earth and connected to nature can transform their lives. And they may not even realize it in the beginning, but my talent is to use garden design to transform people’s relationship with the outdoors.”
Nancy DeBrule of Natureworks said she has been following Jan’s blog for many years.
“I fell in love with her posts,” said Nancy. When she heard that Jan had published a new book, Nancy read it cover to cover immediately and was in-spired by it. In fact, when Nancy recently spoke on the healing power of plants, a lot of what she discussed was directly inspired by Jan, she said.
“Her book is all about designing serene outdoor spaces for inspiration and reflection,” said Nancy. “I have to admit at times I was moved to tears by her words. She expressed so well what I have known deep inside all along: that gardens have the ability to center us and help us to dwell in the present moment. This is more than a design book; Heaven is a Garden is a true inspiration.”
Jan’s firm’s website is www.johnsenland-scapes.com.
Jan Johnsen
Summer Gardens of Long Island Mon.-Wed., July 27-29, 2015
garden rooms hedged in by hornbeam, boxwood, and willow. The house and gardens are encircled by fourteen acres of fields with mowed paths for viewing native plants and wildlife. Then we are off to the Private Garden of Arnold and Karen Blair. This self-designed, three acre Peconic Bay front property overlooks a seventeen acre beach and wetland native preserve. Flows from an 80 foot elevation to sea level via numerous paths with various landings and overlooks. Off to explore Greenport Village for lunch on own and some shopping. Next stop, Pin-dar Winery for winetasting. After our day of exploring the gardens, we’ll have time to freshen up at the hotel before heading to Riverhead to the North Quarter Bison Farm. Ed Tuccio will meet us to take a look at his 500 acre bison farm and give its history. Then off to historic Tweeds Restaurant & Buffalo Bar. Day 3: We begin our day with a hot continental breakfast before we depart. Today we explore the South Fork – beginning with the Private Garden of Marcia Previti in East Hampton. This outdoor environment was developed over the last twenty years as a series of “exterior rooms.” There is a sun garden with stone terraces & fountain. Casual lawn and plantings with a tree house featuring dragon and hawks heads make up the east lawn and so much more… Our second Private Garden visit is to the home of Arlene Bujese. Small but incred-ible! Situated on a sloping half-acre, the landscape comprises four rooms. A flower garden bordered by evergreens surrounds a goldfish pond in the rear of the house.
It’s summer and we’re off on a fabu-lous 3-day getaway to enjoy a special tour of the Glorious Gardens of
Long Island! Here is a brief overview of this wonderful opportunity, which will include Old Westbury, Coe Hall, private gardens including “Madoo” (Robert Dash’s private home garden), a Bison Farm visit, and Pindar Winery. (To learn about this tour in greater detail please go to www.friendshiptours.net.)Day 1: Our first garden experience awaits us at Old Westbury Gardens, set on 160 pastoral acres and considered one of the most beautiful English style country estates in North America. Time on your own for lunch at the Café in the Woods and enjoy the gift shop & plant shed. Next stop will be a docent-led tour of Planting Fields-Coe Hall, former home of insurance magnate William Robert Coe & Mai Rogers Coe, a Standard Oil heiress. One of the few remaining Gold Coast Estates. Over 400 acres of green-houses, gardens and woodland plants have been landscaped by the Olmstead Brothers of Brookline, MA. We continue east toward The Hamptons to spend 2 nights at The Hyatt Place East End Hotel in Riverhead, in the heart of the North & South Forks. Welcome dinner at Jerry & The Mermaids. Day 2: Today we explore the North Shore. First stop is the Private Garden of Dennis Schrader & Bill Smith. Set in the heart of the North Fork wine region, this two-plus-acre garden surrounds a restored 1840’s farmhouse. There are many perennial and mixed shrub bor-ders throughout the garden. There are
Brick walks weave throughout. The front property is terraced into three levels, each with evergreen backdrops to create a green environment in the winter. Off to the quaint village of East Hampton, selected by National Geographic as one of “America’s Most Beautiful Villages” – majestic old elms, green expanses, wind-mills, and the famous Town Pond with its 300 year old cemetery. Enjoy free time to explore, have lunch, lots of fun shops here. Our final stop will be “Madoo,” the enchanting 2 acre organic Sagaponack garden and home of artist, writer and gardener Robert Dash. Over the last forty years, Robert Dash established a green, organic encyclopedia of garden-ing on two acres of land in Sagaponack, featuring Tudor, High Renaissance, early Greek, as well as Oriental garden influ-ences. The “Madoo” property includes several historic structures scattered around and incorporated into the overall landscape including the oldest structure, a circa 1740 barn, Dash’s summer studio. Cost: CHS Member: $699 p.p. twin - CHS Member: $939 p.p. single. Non-member add $50. Includes: Deluxe Motorcoach, 2 night hotel–Hyatt Place East End, hotel tax, baggage, 2 dinners, 2 hot continental breakfasts, sightseeing per itinerary, driver gratuity, $30 p.p. donation to CHS, escorted by Brett Isaacson. Deposit: $100 p.p. due ASAP with reservation to secure your space. Final Payment: by June 1, 2015 Cancellation Policy: If a passenger can-cels after deposit and before June 1, 2015 fee of $75 pp; no refunds if cancelled after June 1, 2015 unless a substitute is provided. Contact Friendship Tours at (860)243-1630 or www.friendshiptours.net.
It seems like a far way off but calendars get filled up quickly! Don’t miss out – save the date on your schedule now.
Save The Date Glorious Gardens of New Jersey September 17-19, 2015
• Grounds for Sculpture • Newark Art Museum • Accommodations at the Hilton Short Hills• Greenwood Gardens • Reed Reeves Arboretum • Leonard Buck Garden• Private Garden of Andrea Filoppone & lunch in her garden • And more!
More details to come. Please call Barbara at Friendship Tours (860)243-1630 or email [email protected] to be put on the list for the flyer when it is ready.
Page 2 May 2015 CHS Newsletter May 2015 CHS Newsletter Page 9
ConnecticutHorticultural Society
2433 Main StreetRocky Hill, CT 06067
(860) 529-8713
email: [email protected]: www.cthort.org
Office & Library HoursTuesday & Thursday
11 a.m.- 4 p.m.
Heather M. LockwoodCHS Director of Communications
All announcements, advertising news and articles for publication should be
sent to: [email protected].
Send Membership Information & Direct General Questions To:
Bonnie PendersOffice Administrator
2433 Main Street, Rocky Hill, CT 06067
Membership Dues:Individual ..................................... $45Individual Senior (65+) ................ $40Family .......................................... $6530 under 30 ................................. $30Senior Family (65+) ...................... $60Sustaining ...........................$125-500Business........................................ $70Student (full time with valid ID) .......................................free
Contributions are tax-exempt to the extent permitted under Section 170 of the Internal Revenue Service Code. Reproduction of the CHS Newsletter in whole or part without prior permis-sion is prohibited.
© Copyright 2015
CHS Board Member Keri Milne represented the Connecticut Master Gardener Association
(CMGA) Symposium March 21 at Man-chester Community College in Man-chester. Keri manned a table and spoke to many attendees about the benefits of joining CHS.
“It was fun to go, especially being at our membership table,” said Keri. “People were really interested. One couple stood and listened to my whole sales pitch and then told me they were from New Jersey!”
Keri came back with six new members that day and more applications came in later after she handed out every member-ship packet she brought.
“This was my first time going and it was a very good experience,” said Keri. “It is so nice to be around people who re-ally take gardening seriously. The lectures were educational and the vendors were well chosen for Master Gardeners. It was all very well organized.”
CHS President Nancy Brennick is pleased with Keri’s results from the CMGA symposium.
CHS Represented at CMGA Symposium – Gains New Members
“Keri happens to be a good match up personality wise for this role, enthusiastic and willing to engage others. Plus our membership committee has done an ex-cellent job of bolstering benefits to make membership irresistible,” said Nancy. “We must continue to take advantage of good event match-ups (like the CMGA event) with membership opportunities.”
A minimum of four more Member-ship Committee helpers to staff these types of promotions of CHS is needed. Duos who like to go to events together would be ideal, said Nancy.
“It makes sense for us to get our name out and do a better job of brand-ing CHS,” she said. “Not enough people know we exist – much less know whether or not we are the right gardening learning organization for them. There is an op-portunity to go to broader based events just to get our mission out there.”
Anyone interested in attending events to promote CHS membership may contact Bonnie Penders at the CHS office at (860)529-8713 or email her at [email protected].
CHS Opening: Director of Communications Effective immediately, CHS is accepting resumes for a candidate to fill the key position of Director of Communications: Web and Newsletter. This is a part-time 1099 position of 30-40 hours per month. It is desirable that the candidate have editing, reporting and web experience, have an interest in horticulture and knowledge of the Connecticut Horticultural Society. Deadline for submission of resumes to Bonnie Penders, Office Administrator in the Rocky Hill office, is May 28, 2015, 12 p.m. For more detail please go to our website.
Hartford Blooms – Garden Tour of West Hartford Thursday, June 11, 2015
Once again, CHS and Friendship Tours is going on a guided tour through the West End of Hart-
ford. The planned itinerary* includes:• The Peck Estate on Scarborough
Street – featuring beautiful gardens & sculptures
• Jonathan Clarke Home – featuring a unique bamboo garden
• A delicious sit down luncheon at Car-
bone’s in HartfordMenu: Garden salad plus a choice of Chicken Marsala, Veal Parmesan or Broiled Salmon, all served with vegetable, potato, and dessert. (Entrée choice in advance, please.)
And more….including a visit Eliza-beth Park to stop and smell the Roses...
*Since these are private homes, itinerary is subject to change.
Cost: $86 p.p. CHS members and $89 p.p. non-members. Includes deluxe motorcoach. Payment due at time of reservation. No refunds on daytrips. Please provide a sub-stitute. Departs 9 a.m. Emanuel Synagogue, 160 Mohegan Dr. West Hartford and returns 6:15 p.m. Or depart from Commuter Lot, 500 Main St, East Hartford leaving at 9:30 a.m., returning at 5:30 p.m. To reserve: please call Friendship Tours at (860) 243-1630 or go to www.friendshiptours.net.
14th Annual Nursery Crawl Thursday, May 14, 2015
The weather has warmed and Mother Nature is coming alive… It’s May and the planting season
has arrived! What better way to get our gardens off to a great start than to at-tend the 14th Annual Nursery Crawl. This year we have two Rhode Island gems, Blue Moon Farm Perennials & the Farmer’s Daughter. Don’t miss a day of fun, food, new plant discoveries and great shopping with friends. We are going to fill our motorcoach with our horticultural bounty!
Are you looking for unusual or un-derused plants to accent your collection? Fulfill your plant “wish list” at Blue
Moon Farm Perennials in Wakefield, RI. Find reliable stock plants for tough sites that won’t require a lot of fuss after planting, as well as quality container-grown perennials, grasses, ferns, shrubs and native plants.
Lunch (included) at Cap’n Jack’s, known for its lobster and pastries.
Back by popular demand! The Farm-er’s Daughter in South Kingstown, RI, offers an extensive array of unusual plants and shrubs. In May, their specialty greenhouses burst forth with luscious colors! Known for their friendly, expert staff, and unique, professionally designed
landscapes, you’re sure to find enough plants to fill our motorcoach!
Cost: $79 p.p. CHS members and $89 p.p. non-members. Payment due at time of reservation. No refunds on daytrips. Please provide a substitute. Departs 7:30 a.m. Emanuel Synagogue, 160 Mohegan Dr., West Hartford and returns 8 p.m. Depar-ture from Commuter Lot, 500 Main St, East Hartford leaves at 8 a.m., returning at 7:30 p.m. Departure from Mystic (North end of Olde Mistick Village) leaves at 9:15 a.m. and returns 6 p.m. To reserve, please call Friendship Tours at (860)243-1630 or go to www.friendshiptours.net.
Tower Hill Private Talk & Tour Wednesday, May 20, 2015 Lecture “Beautiful, Underused Garden Plants for the Discerning Gardener”
Art Exhibit “Art of the Heirloom” and Guided Gardens Tour
Join the CHS Education Committee Wednesday, May 20, as we travel to Boylston, Mass. to Tower Hill
Botanic Garden, home of the Worcester Horticultural Society. Enjoy a special presentation by Joann Vieira, Horticul-ture Director at Tower Hill, on “Beauti-ful, Underused Garden Plants for the Discerning Gardener.”
“In this program I share images, cultural requirements and sources for great garden plants that deserve wider use in the New England garden,” said Vieira. “Some are unusual plants, others are plants that have fallen from fashion but deserve a resurgence in use. I also tend to focus on plants that provide
much needed beauty in the off season, especially winter.”
The day will also include a guided tour of the Botanic Garden, as well as time on your own to explore some of the garden’s features such as The Cottage Garden, The Entry Garden, The Lawn Garden, The Limonaia, The Moss Steps, The Orangerie, The Secret Garden, The Systematic Garden, The Wildlife Refuge Pond, and more!
Tower Hill will also be featuring an exhibit of original art commissioned by the Hudson Valley Seed Library for unique seed packs that will be in its cata-log. Works include watercolor, collage, oil, embroidery and more.
Take a break for lunch on your own in the Twig’s Café or pre-order a boxed lunch.Cost: $99 p.p. CHS members with boxed lunch, $82 without lunch, $109 p.p. non-members with boxed lunch, $92 without lunch. Includes deluxe motorcoach, admis-sion to Tower Hill, presentation, guided tour, tour director, all gratuities, and $10 donation to CHS Education Committee. Payment due at time of reservation. No refunds on day-trips. Please provide a substitute. Departs 8 a.m. Emanuel Synagogue, 160 Mohegan Dr. West Hartford and returns 6 p.m. Or depart from Commuter Lot, 500 Main St, East Hartford leaving at 8:30 a.m., return-ing at 5:30 p.m. To reserve, please call Friendship Tours at (860)243-1630 or go to www.friendshiptours.net.
Connecticut Horticultural Society2433 Main StreetRocky Hill, CT 06067
FIRST CLASSUS POSTAGE
PAIDHARTFORD, CTPERMIT #2346
Spring Lawn Wake Up for a Healthy, Earth
Friendly LawnBy Barry Avery, M.G.
Build Your Soil – Build Your Gardenby Randel A. Agrella
(continued on page 6) (continued on page 7)
Volume 57, Number 8 Serving Horticulturists Since 1887 May 2015
CHS Calendar at a GlanceFri., May 1 – Plant Sale & AuctionWed., May 6 – Deadline for June
NewsletterThu., May 7 – CHS Board Meeting, 7
p.m., Rocky Hill officeWed., May 20 – Education
Committee Meeting, 7 p.m., Rocky Hill office
Thu., May 21 – Meeting Speaker: Jan Johnsen “Serenity by Design: Creating a Relaxing Outdoor Space”
Thu., June 18 – Save the Date! Last Program Meeting and 6:30 p.m. Ice Cream Social
The snow is finally gone but I started thinking about my lawn when there was three feet of
snow. I wondered if I did a good enough job last fall to prevent snow mold on my lawn this spring and wondered weather my spring lawn would be as healthy as it was in November. Snow mold is a Fusarium mold that occurs under the snow cover if you did not cut your lawn short enough (2" or less) the last time you mowed it, if you have an unhealthy lawn of Bent or Bluegrass, or if you have poor drainage. If you had large patches of dead grass when the snow melts it is a good bet it was caused by snow mold, but with proper care the lawn may recover.
If your lawn looked healthy and green when spring arrived you can count your blessings. If not, then be patient. It takes sun and warm weather to warm the soil and awaken your lawn from its winter dormancy. A heavy snow cover is a good thing for a healthy lawn because it insulates your lawn and prevents freezing and thaw-ing which can damage the root system. As the snow slowly melts it allows the water to seep into the soil instead of running off the lawn.
The first thing you should do once the lawn is dry enough to walk on is to per-form an inspection looking for problem areas, such as bare spots, weeds, or any damage from insects or disease. Minimize foot traffic on the lawn if it is still wet, soft and yielding when you walk on it. Foot traffic on a lawn that is too wet and soft can cause compaction of the soil and induce future problems. The second thing
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In any tablespoon of healthy garden soil, there will be millions of microscopic life-forms – primarily bacteria and fungi. These unseen heroes of the garden are capable of taking up nutrients that are insoluble and therefore unavailable to higher plants. These nutrients are then subjected to innumerable organic pro-cesses, broken down and recombined through a nearly infinite series of rela-tionships. In the process, the formerly unavailable nutrients are changed so that they can be taken up by your plants. The process does take some time – even rich sources of plant nutrition such as fish emulsion require several weeks before be-coming entirely accessible to your plants.
That time lag is what makes early spring the perfect time to get in a round of soil improvement. The soil is too wet to plant in anyway, yet soft enough to turn, however sloppily, allowing incorporation
UConn Scholars Dinner
Chs President Nancy Brennick and Award and Scholar-ship Chair Elaine Widmer
attended UConn’s College of Agri-culture, Health & Natural Resources 2014-2015 Scholars’ Night March 26. At this event 308 students, who received a total of 419 scholarships valued at $560,000, were recognized. The scholarship donors were also recognized at this event for their contributions.
CHS scholarship recipients in-cluded Katherine Brand of Water-bury, Austin Vitelli, Branford, and Nathan Wojtyna, Willington.
Nathan had the distinct honor of giving the Student Address at the event. Besides thanking the donors for their generosity, he said that, from his perspective, scholarships provide the students the freedom to study
Once the frost is out of the ground and the soil can be worked, it’s the perfect time
to apply soil amendments and organic fertilizers. Unless your soil is very well drained, there is a several week window in early spring where the soil is too moist to be worked up properly for planting – it will be soft, but too wet and soggy to be worked into the fine, crumbly texture that many garden plants and nearly all seeds require. This is an ideal time to add some organic soil amendments, enriching your soil for the seasons just ahead.
Another compelling reason to apply amendments well ahead of spring plant-ing: Most organic amendments are not immediately soluble. That is, the nutrients are there, but not in a form that can be taken up by your plants. Most organic amendments will first need to be rendered soluble. This all-important interim step involves the soil’s microorganisms.
Crocus in the Garden by Thesupermat
Spots Still Available! Private Orchid
Collection & Garden Tour
Saturday, May 30, 2015Nutmeg State Orchid Society President Sandy Myhalik and her husband, Steve Calderon, will open their Farmington gar-den and orchid collection to CHS Saturday, May 30, from 3 p.m.-6 p.m. for an Educa-tion Committee fundraiser. Sandy will give a talk, sharing her tips and enthusiasm for orchids. Our private tour is of her indoor collection and the outside grounds followed by wine and cheese on the couple’s deck.
Early sign-up is encouraged. Mem-bers $40, non-members $50. Proceeds to benefit the CHS educational mission. Please sign up through the CHS Office at: (860)529-8713 or email [email protected].
and pursue their passions, rather than having to work multiple jobs to pay for their education. His belief is that scholarship dollars enable students to achieve their dreams!
The Connecticut Horticultural Society has provided scholarships to UConn students for over 50 years. Only five other organizations/busi-nesses are in that select category. We should all be proud of the contribu-tions that CHS has made to students over the years. As you know, it’s the proceeds from our Spring and Fall Plant Auctions that fund these scholarships, so please plan on at-tending, and bidding at our May 1 Plant Auction!
