Newark Ohio Garden Club

Date:             Feb. 8,2013    12 noon

Location:    Central Christian Church 587 Mt. Vernon Rd.

Program:    Picture Plaque Workshop

Roll Call:     Name a floral design you would like to learn to make

Share the joy of this beautiful season by providing edible decorations and treats for the birds. Cardinals,chickadees, woodpeckers,tufted titmice, bluejays,nuthatches, pine siskins (winter finches) ,Carolina
wrens and juncos are among the birds who stay with us through the cold,dark,and snowy Ohio winter.
In addition to keeping your feeders supplied with quality seed, hang pine cones smeared with peanut butter and rolled in birdseed. The birds especially appreciate birdseed rich in high calorie nutritious sunflower seed. Thistle is a must for pine siskins.

Suet cakes whether store bought or economically made in your kitchen are a special treat for woodpeckers and others.

Dawes Arboretum published a recipe for energy-packed Bird Cupcakes in its November 2011-January 2012 Programs and Events.
The recipe is provided here:
Melt 1 C.shortening and 2 C. chunky peanut butter over low heat. Then mix in 5 C. cornmeal.
Fill cupcake tins and top with your choice of seed or dried berries.
Cool in the refrigerator.
When cool. cupcakes can be placed in the crook of a tree or hung from a branch in a mesh-lined onion bag.
*Cupcake liners can be used to help make this project less messy.

Please try to provide a source of water for your birds this winter. Water is essential for their survival.

Submitted by Joan Cullen

Lasagna gardening gets its name from layering, layering, layering! It is a no-dig, no-till garden that results in rich soil with very little work.

You can start your garden at any time of the year. However fall is the best time because the layers will break down over the winter. In the spring you will have good rich soil in which to plant your flowers or vegetables.
Materials that can be used in lasagna gardens are: leaves, dried grass clippings, fruit and vegetable scraps, aged manure, compost, peat, pine needles, spent blooms and trimmings from the garden, newspaper (no glossy sheets or magazines) and cardboard (remove packing tape). DO NOT use any protein materials such as meat or dairy products.

Starting your Lasagna Garden:
1. Put down newspaper – use about eight sheets and overlap them a couple of inches. Wet the newspaper thoroughly.
2. Put down a layer of brown materials: fall leaves, peat, pine needles or shredded newspaper.
3. Put down a layer of green materials: fruit and vegetable scraps, garden trimmings or dried grass clippings.
4. Repeat layers #2 and #3 until your lasagna garden is about 2’ deep. The height will shrink as the layers decompose.
5. As a general rule your brown layers should be twice as deep as your green layers.
6. The final layer should be either aged manure or compost.
7. The top may be lightly sprinkled with bone meal and wood ash for added phosphorus and potassium.
8. When you are done layering wet the garden so that it is moist through all of the layers.

Chop your brown and green materials as small as possible so that they will break down quicker.

Benefits of lasagna gardening include fewer weeds, better water retention, less need for fertilizer and soil that is very easy to work.

By Sherry LeMaster

A fellow gardener in Newark reported that she has had late migrating hummingbirds in her garden everyday this third week of October. The birds have been hungrily feeding at the hummingbird feeder she rehung as well as agastache, salvia ,and other flowers remaining in her garden. Watch for hummingbirds and put your feeder back out if you spot them.

September is a good time to divide or split many perennials. Dividing perennials helps to

• renew plant vigor
• promote better blooming
• control spreading

A good rule of thumb is to divide perennials which bloom in spring or early/mid-summer in early fall.

A few examples are: astilbe, coreopsis, dianthus, hostas and salvia.

You’ll find the best plants in town at our annual garden club sale. 

Sat. May 15th 8 AM-3 PM at 1411 Sherwood Downs Rd. W. in Newark, Ohio.

Come early for the best selection.