Bees Anyone?

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FERTILIZER OFFER FOR GGC MEMBERS

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Our February speaker will be Brad Jalbert of Select Roses​, and he has offered to bring bags of his specially-formulated fertilizer for sale to members.

We will have a sign-up sheet at this Thursday's meeting (January 12th) for anyone who is interested.

Brad advises that "a 10 kg bag is ample fertilizer for a well-planted city lot garden." It is "natural-based" but not fully organic because of the trace elements in the mix. 

Christine
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Here is his description:

Select Rose Food (VRS Special Blend) (21-9-15) 10kg - $30.00​

( New improved blend)

·         A premium, natural-based fertilizer. 

·         Custom formulated to promote abundant blossoms and enrich the soil.

·         Naturally slow-releasing with added supplements.

·         Contains all the trace elements your roses need.

The days of feeding high "middle" number fertilizers are long gone. Studies and experience have proven that in areas of high rainfall what roses and many other plants need each spring is Nitrogen. After testing our soil again this year and seeing results of many other soil tests, it's become apparent that the vast majority of our garden soils are very high in Phosphorous (middle number on the bag) and low in N. I have tested this new blend over many seasons and am pleased with the results. The roses fed the high N had better foliage, stronger canes, more basal breaks and more flowers. Rich green healthy foliage is what makes pretty rose flowers, not excess amounts of P or an imbalance in soil fertility. Feeding the proper amount of N to your roses, higher than we have in the past, will help the roses flourish. It will NOT encourage blind shoots or any other old tale for that matter. If in doubt, test your soil. This custom blend for Select Roses and the VRS is  developed especially for us by the local company Terralink Horticulture. They are experts at custom blending fertilizer for the agriculture industry and have improved this latest blend once again. Use about one handful per plant, 2-3 times a season. I use this fertilizer on ALL my shrubs, perennials, and even the lawn!

Meeting: Thursday, January 12th!

For Our January Meeting... Hello, Grandview Gardeners, For our first meeting of the new year, next Thursday (January 12th), we are delighted to welcome our presenter Janis Matson, professional landscape designer, instructor at VanDusen, in Horticulture programs at Kwantlen and in the Hardscape program with Burnaby Community Education. She is going to tell us about her TWENTY-FIVE FAVOURITE SHRUBS. There will be a hand-out, too, so you won't have to write down all the names. As usual, we will meet in the "LRC" — the Britannia Learning Resources Centre, which is under the VPL branch library. As you're walking toward the library, veer left, and as you walk alongside it, you'll come to a ramp entry to the LRC on your right. We start at 7:00 and end before 9:00. Bring your gardening questions and concerns ... and your ideas for topics or speakers for upcoming meetings. We always have tea and goodies and a few door prizes. PLANTS AND SEEDS SWAP! If you have plants or seeds that need new homes, bring your extras to the meeting to share or trade with other folks in the gardening community. Bring what you have and take what you can use. It's all free, of course. A COUPLE OF OTHER IMPORTANT THINGS: NOW'S THE TIME TO RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP FOR 2017! If you haven't already renewed for 2017, please bring $20 to the meeting! If you don't renew, but want to come to a meeting, it's a $4 drop-in for each meeting. But by joining, you help us to stay solvent and to pay generous honoraria to our guest speakers. Plus, with a membership, you get discounts at most garden shops including GardenWorks, Figaro's, and Magnet Hardware (for garden-related purchases but not counting "sea soil"). Show your membership card at any garden store; many others give discounts to members of any garden club.   WHAT'S BEAUTIFUL IN YOUR GARDEN THIS MONTH? Bring a sample of something from your garden that looks just fantastic on the day of our meeting.

No December Meeting!

Hello Grandview Gardeners,

We won't be having a meeting in December. But we're thinking that for next December we might want to organize a potluck supper for our regular holiday-season meeting night. (Seed-to-Sky does this and they also have a wreath- and garland-making workshop as a part of it.) It's too late to do this for this year, but let's keep it in mind for next year. Anyone want to take on the organizing tasks?

Our next regular meeting will be on Thursday, January 12th. The speaker is Janis Matson, horticulturist and landscaper, who will talk about the 25 top shrubs for Vancouver gardens.

I'll post another reminder in the week or so before the meeting date.

In the meantime, have a delightful holiday season.

Cheers,
Penny

November Meeting

For our November meeting — Thursday, Nov 10th — our speaker will be Brent Burtenshaw, speaking about "Watering Systems for the Home Gardener", certainly a topic of interest to many of us.

Brent is the Service / Operational manager at Harris Irrigation.

He has been in the Irrigation Industry for 30 years, and his entire career has been with Harris Irrigation. He is familiar with all aspects of residential and commercial irrigation with a specialty in troubleshooting.

He will give us a basic run-down on landscape irrigation, along with answering any questions we may have that pertains to irrigation installation, maintenance, and specialized applications.

Materials used in his demonstration are being supplied by Vancouver Irrigation and Lighting Supply located at 1440 Venables.

Please do join us. We'll have door prizes and tea and goodies, and we always have a few master gardeners on hand to answer any miscellaneous gardening questions you might have.

Bone meal?

Q. Should I use bone meal when I am planting new purchases? ( Bulbs included)

A. No.

Bone meal is primarily made up of calcium and phosphorus, and quantities of both minerals are usually adequate in non-agricultural urban soils.

While both minerals are needed for plant growth, excessive amounts of these nutrients, particularly phosphorus, can interfere with plant growth.

Low levels of phosphorus in the soil stimulate plant root tips to secrete organic acids, which then attract mycorrhizal fungi. These fungi penetrate the roots and help the plant take up water and nutrients. Mycorrhizal fungi also help the plant to take up phosphorus from the soil.

Excess phosphorus inhibits the growth of these fungi. This, in turn, forces the plant to create an extensive root system to extract the nutrients and water it would have otherwise received via its association with mycorrhizal fungi.

While a more extensive root system sounds like a good thing, the plant is directing energy into roots that it could be directing toward other sorts of growth and production.

October 13th meeting

I have been sending out e-mail notices to people on our mailing list, but I dropped the ball about posting an announcement of our September meeting here on our website! I apologize, especially to Dana Crombie, our fine presenter, although there was a very good turnout for his talk on bulbs last week.

To make up for this lapse, here is an early description of our upcoming  October meeting. It sounds a bit out of the ordinary for our group, but should be interesting. Thanks to Ann Daskal for suggesting  and introducing Donna MacCrea.

YOGA AND THE PASSIONATE GARDENER

Donna MacCrea, Master Gardener and Occupational Therapist, will talk about how to prevent common gardening injuries and how yoga has allowed her to continue to pursue her gardening passion despite injuries.

She will also show the evolution and

maintenance of her large garden to demonstrate how the practice of yoga and gardening are more closely linked than one realizes.