Now that Mother’s Day is over, it’s time to plant semi-tender vegetables such as squash, corn, and beans along the Wasatch Front. Many eager gardeners have already put their tomatoes in as well, although with the truly tender plants, such as tomatoes, peppers, and basil, it doesn’t hurt to wait a little longer. Not just frost, but even cool temperatures in the 30′s and 40′s will stunt their growth.
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The next meeting of the Alternative Garden Club will be this Wednesday, May 1 at 7:30 PM at our regular location in the Sugar House Park Garden Center. Esther Henrichsen will treat us to a presentation on Historic Gardens, an interesting and timely topic as we look forward to the Spring City Historic Homes Tour. We hope to see you all there!
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Myrtle spurge (Euphorbia myrsinites), also known as burro tail, is now starting to bloom along the Wasatch Front. With its bright yellow flowers, this drought-tolerant plant used to be sold as an ornamental. Unfortunately, it is very invasive and spreads in our foothills to form almost monocultural colonies that displace native plants and wildlife.
You can help control this invader by digging it up wherever you see it. Or if it seems like too much work to take a shovel with you on a hike, take a pair of pruners or hedge clippers and cut off the flowering heads. This action will at least keep the plant from going to seed and reproducing this year. Be careful! The milky, latex sap is toxic and can cause blindness if it gets in the eyes. Sensitive people can also develop a poison-ivy like rash from skin contact.
If you have myrtle spurge in your yard, do the environment a favor and remove it! A good replacement plant is our native rabbitbrush, which is just as drought-tolerant and has beautiful yellow flowers in the fall. If you’re looking for spring color, plant daffodils or tulips, which are non-invasive and do not need to be watered in our climate, because they complete their growth cycle before the heat of summer.
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The next meeting of the Alternative Garden Club will be Wednesday, April 3 at 7:30 PM in the Sugar House Park Garden Center. We will begin with a brief business meeting, followed by a fun and delicious dinner provided by you, our members. Bring your favorite dish (entree, salad, side dish, or dessert) to share.
P.S. Garden tip for April: This month you can plant semi-hardy vegetables such as beets, lettuce, carrots, and potatoes. Finish pruning roses and fruit trees ASAP, but don’t prune spring-flowering shrubs yet, such as forsythia, lilacs, and bridal wreath, or you’ll cut off all the flower buds and won’t get any flowers this year!
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Now is the time to prune your fruit trees, grapevines, and rosebushes. Also, hardy vegetables such as peas, spinach, onions, cabbage, and turnips can be planted as soon as the soil is dry enough to work (and it’s not covered with snow!).
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| Jul ’12 |
| 8 |
| 2:00 pm |
It’s time once again for The Alternative Garden Club’s Members Garden Tour. With an early spring and summer, and July heat coming early as well, gardens are weeks ahead. It would be nearly impossible to tell the time of year by looking outside, assuming you could see anything through all the smoke!
Keeping with tradition, light refreshments will be served at most venues. We look forward to seeing everyone for this spectacular summer event as we celebrate the gardens of our peers.
Date:Sunday, July 8th
Time: 2:00pm – 6:45pm
Where: We will meet at 3149 South 4180 West at 2:00pm to start the tour. Directions, notes and a map can be found below.
View 2012 AGC Members Garden Tour in a larger map
Due to the Independence Day Holiday, the July meeting of the AGC will not be held on Wednesday, July 4th. The July meeting has not been rescheduled and so our next monthly meeting will be on August 1st at 7:30pm. We hope to see everyone at the Annual AGC Members Garden Tour on Sunday, July 8th! More information on the tour coming soon! Happy Fourth of July everyone, be safe out there and enjoy the great weather!
| Jun ’12 |
| 30 |
| 10:00 am |
June. First day of summer, Pride, a farewell to any semblance of chilly weather (almost), vacations, and the Wasatch Community Garden’s Tour de Coops. Please join us on Saturday, June 30th for the tour starting at 10:00am. This has become a much anticipated and well celebrated annual event for the AGC, and we look forward to another stellar tour.
The tour sells out completely as tickets are limited, so please purchase tickets as soon as possible (see below). Tickets are $10/person or (and here’s the best deal), $20 for groups up to six.
Date: Saturday, June 30th
Time: No offocial meeting time/place. This is a self-guided tour, but the hours are from 10:00am – 2:00pm
Where: The Urban Garden Company is located at 365 West 800 North, Salt Lake City (see map below)
Cost: Depends on participation ($10.00/individual, $20/2-6 people). We recommend pooling together in groups
Tickets: Get your tickets early as they sell out quickly. Tickets can be purchased online Here.
From the WCG Website:
If you have never been to a Wasatch Community Gardens Tour de Coops, make 2012 your first year. We know it won’t be your last. The Tour de Coops is a fun affordable community event, that can be family-friendly or a great way to spend the afternoon with friends.
Tour de Coops is a self-guided tour of some of the coolest urban chicken coops throughout Salt Lake City. Coop owners around town will open up their yards, gardens and coops to tour participants. It will be an excellent opportunity to check out unique coop designs and talk to folks about how they are raising their chickens, the breeds they raise and other backyard animals they have (bees, ducks, turkeys, etc…). It is also a great chance to see some very cool vegetable gardens, xeriscape/native gardens, permaculture practices, and some serious urban homesteading. This is an event that no budding permaculturalist, urban gardener or aspiring eggriculturalist should miss!
More information:
http://wasatchgardens.org/events/chicken-week-2012
Purchase tickets here:
https://wasatchgardens.org/civicrm/event/register?id=343&reset=1
The AGC’s March meeting notes (The Keeping of Chickens):
http://alternativegardenclub.com/2012/notes-from-the-march-meeting-the-keeping-of-chickens/
| Jun ’12 |
| 6 |
| 4:30 pm |
As always Thom and Millcreek Gardens went above and beyond in supplying our June meeting with dozens of gorgeous plants that were given away at meeting’s end. Thanks also to Thom for the excellent and informative lecture. We owe both Thom and Millcreek a huge thank you from the garden club for their continued interest in and generosity towards our organization.
| Jun ’12 |
| 6 |
| 7:30 pm |
As many of you know, Thom and Millcreek Gardens have been exceptionally supportive of the AGC, and we really can’t thank Thom enough. Join us then for June’s lecture, presented by Thom Sawyer, buyer for Millcreek Gardens, and a guest grower/expert, covering the newest plant additions to hit nurseries this year, the more unique introductions from the recent past (that we might not have heard of but should know), and what we can expect in the future.
Few things usher in the changing season like the arrival of the seed and plant catalogues in mid-winter. And with each catalogue comes a crop of new plants, usually introduced for wide distribution for the first time. Like fashion, plants come and go, falling into and out of favor with a select few becoming classics while many others are fated to fade into obscurity. Enjoy an evening discovering the latest trends in plant offerings and what to expect in the future. Of course there will be plenty of examples.
Date: Wednesday, June 6th
Time: 7:30pm
Where: Sugar House Park Garden Center, 1602 East 2100 South
