White City Garden Club Plant Sale

Thursday, May 30 to Saturday, June 1

Click here for details

 

 

Annual Plant Sale Success

Our annual plant sale was held at the Golden Mile Shopping Centre on Saturday, May 25. We all had a busy time but it is always fun to talk plants with other gardeners!

We would like to thank our volunteers for all the hard work and everyone who came out and purchased plants at this RHS fundraiser. Your support is always appreciated!

Take a look at a few snapshots from this event in our photo gallery and don't forget our next event coming up this week.

We hope to see you there.

U of S Hort Week: July 6 - 12, 2013

Hort Week is an in class gardening and horticulture workshop series held every Summer on the University of Saskatchewan campus, in Saskatoon. Classes are open to everyone: general public and master gardeners.

• Hort Week provides informative workshops, classes, tours and lectures.
• Workshops are suitable for beginning to master gardeners.
• Hort Week workshops are available for everyone and can be used to supplement your University of Saskatchewan Master Gardener Certificate.
• Weekend, evening & daytime classes start at 9:00 am, 1:00pm and 7:00 pm.
• Topics vary from year to year but are often centred around gardening, insects, landscaping and more.

Stay up-to-date with Hort Week by clicking here.

SHA Bus Tour: July 20-21, 2013

Our member, Denise Mlazgar, has been working very hard with the Saskatchewan Horticultural Association and has organized a wonderful bus tour for the weekend of July 20. The tour is focused on the beautiful Qu'Appelle Valley and there are day and overnight options. This is an SHA fundraising event.

There are visits scheduled to Fort Qu’Appelle Fish Culture Station, Rocky Acres Orchard, Over the Hill Orchard and lunch at the Historic Bell Barn. Meet members of the White City Garden Club, the Indian Head Horticulture Society and RHS. A BBQ and bonfire are planned and there will be tours of market gardens and private gardens - including our own, Denise and Alan Mlazgar's amazing garden!

If this sounds like fun to you, please contact denisemlazgar@hotmail.com for more information.

Putting It Up! - Freezing

When I first decided to be a stay at home farm wife, this year, the obvious thought for me was “I need to have a big vegetable garden and try to put some veggies away for winter”. Well, a large garden I had!  After the initial “Wow! That radish was amazing!” and the “These peas are so succulent and delicious” came the “Oh my God… what am I going to do with all this?”

So we ate them fresh; which really is the best way to enjoy and relish the terrific flavor of home grown vegetables. Then, when the produce started coming in by the laundry baskets full (over 50 lbs of green and yellow beans picked one morning) I decided it was time to “put it up”. That was when I started to freeze. Now, not having done frozen vegetables for a number of years I refreshed my memory by going to a wonderful website, which was my bible this summer, called www.pickyourown.org.

I found out that it is necessary to blanch; immerse them in boiling water for a certain amount of time prior to an ice bath.  This is done in order to kill bacteria and stop the enzymes that deteriorate your veggies while in the freezer.

So I started freezing. And it kept on, and on, and on… as each new product ripened and came through the door. Eventually I gave some away to family, then friends, then complete strangers! But on the bright side, my freezer is full and I have enough frozen to last our family for the year. So it was all worth it!

Then I moved into pickling, fermenting, canning and lastly cold storage. But that is the topic of another article!

Blanching times for common vegetables:

• Beans (yellow and green), 3 minutes
• Carrots (sliced), 2 min
• Peas (shelled or edible podded), 2 minutes
• Summer Squash, 3 min
• Cauliflower, 3 min  
• Broccoli, 2 minutes
• Corn, 4-6 minutes  
• Peppers (bell or hot), no blanching necessary
• Beets, pressure can 10 to 15 min 

Originally published in The Planterbox October 2012 issue.

Compost Project

Just finished this project. Serious gardeners may appreciate this one. Lengthy but worth the time and the a few extra $'s for the cedar fence boards. This six foot compost bin has been a hit with the neighbours. (six feet was the length of the fence boards) and the width 36 inches (that was half the length of the fence board).
I used some 4 X 4 timbers (scraps) as a base and 2 X 4's for corners. I used deck brackets and stainless steel screws to mount the back and end boards "angled in" for proper ventilation. The top has two lids made from some 1 X 6 fence boards ripped down to 3". The covers are hinged with stainless steel hinges. The removable fronts were made  with the remaining cedar (you can probably figure out their dimensions).

As I said the neighbours like it, certainly a lot more efficient and  attractive than my chicken wire cage they said was filled with garbage. Now they are bringing their vegetable scraps and leaves etc., knowing that if they put some in they can take some out (compost). Well that's the concept, but I know who will be turning it and keeping it working. Does the story of the "little red hen" come to mind? A worthwhile project that only a gardener can appreciate. *(please note: there are no drawings available)

Originally published in The Planterbox, October 2012 issue. Article contribution by member Ken MacDonald.

Fall Planting: Garlic

roses love garlic

Fresh garlic is a staple in many kitchens, and good cooks know that a hint of garlic can enhance many dishes. The pungent bulbs are incredibly easy to grow and homegrown garlic will be far better and keep longer than what is sold in the
supermarket.

Fall is the best time to plant garlic. Garlic cloves may be planted in well-drained soil from about the time of the first frost up until November. It is harvested in the summer after the bottom half of the leaves have begun to turn brown.

To plant garlic, break apart the bulbs into individual cloves. To grow larger garlic bulbs, plant only the largest cloves. Plant the cloves about two inches deep and four to six inches apart in rich soil. The roots will start to grow over winter, but you won't see any top growth until spring. Give your garlic a blanket of mulch to protect the bulbs from heaving out of the soil over winter and to help keep down weeds.

Young garlic can be mistaken for grass when it begins to sprout, but a quick pinch of the leaves will release their aroma and eliminate any mistakes when weeding the patch.

There are many varieties of garlic available to choose from, but two main types; soft neck and hard neck. The soft neck varieties have a soft stem that makes them easy to braid. Soft neck garlic bulbs have larger cloves on their outside layer with smaller cloves towards the center of the bulb. Soft neck garlic generally stores well, up to nine months.

Hard neck garlic has a stiff central stalk with fewer but larger cloves. It tends to be more winter hardy than soft neck varieties but doesn't store as well, typically only five to six months. Hard neck garlic is a bit easier to peel than the soft neck varieties.

If you enjoy garlic, try planting some this fall. You'll be glad you did!