The Yorkton and District Horticultural Society are excited to invite you to our next meeting on Wednesday, May 16, 7:00 p.m. at SIGN on North Street; something new will be happening! The Yorkton and District Horticultural Society will be holding a first-time ever event, “Iron Gardeners”! What’s it all about? Let’s just say it will be fun, entertaining, educational, and something that will get us all in the mood for planting! Join us; remember, you don’t have to be a member to attend the meetings!
There will be an informational meeting on Thursday, May 10 at 7:00 p.m. at the Yorkton Alliance Church about establishing a community garden. Any interested gardeners are welcome to attend. Gardeners will not have to pay a fee for a garden plot. Call Warren at (306) 782-3249 for more information.
I wanted to tell you about great information that is available to gardeners through the University of Saskatchewan. Log on to gardening.usask.ca for a vast array of information about a variety of topics from general growing and how-to guides to annuals, perennials, houseplants, and trees and shrubs. There is also a tab labelled “Public Workshops and Events” that tells us about wonderful sessions that are being presented; so if you are planning a trip to Saskatoon, be sure to check this schedule ahead of time! And if you love to take photos of your garden, you can even submit them to be shown on this site. There is a lot to browse through on this site, so be sure to take some time and check it out!
After dreaming about being out in our gardens, the time has come! Our first task is spring clean-up. Things have been drying so nicely that our first session out there might prove to be a dusty one! The first order of business is to rake up any leaves, branches and debris that have accumulated. When I did my first tour of the yard after the snow melted, I couldn’t believe how much stuff there was to clean, even though we did a cleaning in the fall. But we did have some wild winds, didn’t we!
Be careful when you are raking among perennials, you don’t want to damage any new shoots that may be starting to emerge. Since all this debris is quite dusty and dirty, dispose of it; don’t add it to your compost.
In your perennial patch, trim any dried stems from last year. If you left them in the fall for winter beauty, seeds for the birds, or to catch the snow, they have done their job and now can be cut back.
Do an assessment of your planters; some may need cleaning, some may need to be replaced. Taking stock of what you have will help you begin a planting plan in your mind. So hard to do, isn’t it, as we get caught up in the excitement of seeing the new plants arriving! Everything looks so wonderful and we want to plant everything!
This is also a good time to check your gardening tools: if you didn’t do so in the fall, they may have to be cleaned. What would you say are the most important gardening tools? I would say my top four are a bamboo rake; a small garden hoe that was Mom’s; a digging fork; and seceters. Last fall, my seceters fell apart after many years of all-purpose service in our garden, so I hope that the new set is as durable! They are truly a garden tool I couldn’t be without.
The hort society is planning a road trip to Dauphin on Saturday, June 9 to see some yards and greenhouses. Would you like to join us? Call Liz at 782-2830 for full details!
Visit us at www.yorktonhort.ca and have a great week! Be sure to wear a hat!
