The West Chicago Garden Club

Gardening …….GAME ON !!!

We are “in the game” for the season and loving it!  It’s true that we get a late start at the Kruse House Garden since we are preoccupied with Plant Sale preparations most of April, but we jumped in and attacked those weeds full force in May!   Wednesday mornings at 9am we always start out with a quick assessment of the place, deciding on a game plan, then off we go.  Angie, Billie, Tom and Kerry have gleefully greeted additional volunteers Linda Fischer, Sandy Nicholson and Keith Letsche.  The additional help makes a huge difference!  Not everyone can make it every time but there is always more work than volunteers, so seriously think about joining us when you can.  Maybe you only want to work twice a month or once a month.  We welcome you whenever you can come.  Pack a few tools and show up at the garden, 527 Main Street, West Chicago, at 9am on Wednesdays whenever you can.  Together we will create a beautiful garden!

We are getting company!  The Winfield GC is having their June 7 meeting in the Kruse Garden.  We love to share the Garden so this is a good thing!  We also want it to “show well” so we are working with purpose toward that deadline.  It seems like more mulch is always a “go to” when prepping a garden for special occasions.  Marion Martin gave us a $100 gift certificate to Homer Industries, and we ordered some nice mulch.  Bagged mulch is much easier to transport to tortuous locations but it never goes far, so we are doing it the hard way with pitchfork and wheelbarrow. Sure does look good when it’s spread!

Preparation for the Winfield GC visit on June 7 is really just practice for the bigger event on June 23. That is when we will be holding our monthly meeting at the garden. You are going to love the evening we have planned! First of all John Wills owner of John’s Sharpening Service will be set up at the garden to sharpen gardening tools. The GC will pay for the sharpening of one tool per member. In addition to all the excitement of tool sharpening we will have a second spectacular activity. Tracy Atkinson, floral designer will demonstrate how to use material from the garden to create beautiful arrangements. All of the design material will come from the Kruse Garden! How exciting is that?! Yes, you are encouraged to bring guests to this meeting. We love having company!

So, we will continue to beautify the Kruse Garden and we will be enjoying every minute of this labor of love. No time on the bench for us!

February Recap

U of I Extension speaker Peggy Doty used quotes from Aldo Leopold’s book, A Sand County Almanac, to describe how we can garden responsibly. She pointed out that we control what happens on our land. We can provide the plants that are essential to the food chain, or not. Peggy used many personal examples dappled with humor to convey her message. I dare say we all took home a truth or two that will affect how we garden.

“Whoever owns land has thus assumed, whether he knows it or not, the divine functions of creating and destroying plants.” Aldo Leopold (January 11, 1887 – April 21, 1948) was an American author, scientist, ecologist, forester, conservationist, and environmentalist.

Thank you for completing program evaluation results. 23 surveys were returned.

• 17 “very satisfied” with numerous positive comments
• 6 “somewhat satisfied”

March program

• Note date of program is Thursday, March 31st. That’s the 5th Thursday instead of our usual 4th Thursday.
• GC member Ed Max will present a program on organic vegetable gardening
• Ed is an avid organic gardener and heirloom tomato nut. He will tell us about the best heirloom varieties and teach us how to collect, save and grow the seeds of heirloom tomatoes.
• Ed is a landscape designer, certified naturalist and arborist. His firm, Max’s Greener Places, does landscape renovations and new design.
• Ed always helps out with our annual plant sale by donating heirloom tomato plants and he can answer just about any question a customer can come up with. He’s also great at identifying mystery plants!

Ed’s friendly, informal presentation style will invite your participation and capture your interest in this fun program on growing organic vegetables! Come and learn about growing your own food.

Did you know

Of the 75 million households that garden, 44% will grow things they can eat! This trend has spawned the popular phrases “garden to table” or “locally grown”. Growing food at home is becoming part of an everyday lifestyle.

As always, contact me with program ideas, concerns, or questions.
Billie Childress, 630-862-1213, billiedc@sbcglobal.net