New year, new growing season

Garden club member Bobbie Colbert points out the purple Hub section during the garden walk last year.

Lori Hammelman
Posted 1/1/18

A gardener’s mind is seldom idle. While the area is blanketed in snow, the cold weather months can be an ideal time to prepare for the 2018 growing season.

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New year, new growing season

Garden club member Bobbie Colbert points out the purple Hub section during the garden walk last year.

Posted

ROCHELLE — A gardener’s mind is seldom idle. While the area is blanketed in snow, the cold weather months can be an ideal time to prepare for the 2018 growing season.

Carolyn Cryer is using this time to plan a trip with the Rochelle Garden Club to visit an orchid show in February at the Nicholas Conservatory in Rockford.

“The conservatory is gorgeous…delightful in the middle of winter. It is full of greens and they place the orchids in the neatest places,” said Cryer, member of the garden club for over 40 years.

The Rochelle resident knows the anticipation gardeners face each year, anxious to be in the yard after the winter season. Some start getting seed catalogs shortly after the first of the year. Although she used to start her garden from seed, her son now gives her seedlings ready to plant.

“I used to save seeds…found that was messy. I’ll still buy them, but I’ll watch for sales.” Cryer said. “I always enjoy visiting greenhouses. It depends on the weather, but I’ll take a trip to Merlin’s in Oregon to see the plants growing. When the plants start coming into the stores, that’s when I get antsy. I’ll usually buy a few in the spring even though I have plenty already.”

The garden club usually takes several trips throughout the year to visit gardens and conservatories and meets from March through October once a month.

Cryer said in its early years, the Rochelle Garden Club had strictly men. The club would hold a greenhouse sale downtown — that’s where Cryer bought her tomato seedlings from when she first moved to Rochelle about 50 years ago.

Now the Rochelle Garden Club has more women than men. The club hosts a sale every year at Rochelle Township High School’s greenhouse, all from club members’ gardens or others who donate. The sales are used to fund scholarships given to horticulture students graduating from RTHS.

“We try to have a learning session at each meeting,” said Ann Andersen, also a garden club member. “We will have speakers come in to talk about things beneficial or interesting to gardeners…anything that touches on gardeners.”

Andersen said speakers have talked about the proper posture and mechanics of bending and lifting, techniques of sharpening tools, and the types and varieties of perennials and prairie plants.

“We are very thankful to have two Master Gardeners in our club. They know all about the natural prairies and perennials that grow well here. We do try to have something at each meeting where we learn…we’ve had speakers come in and give us different talks.”

“It isn’t a very demanding club…you can be as busy as you want,” said Cryer. “A lot of people come for the social life, and some like the trips.”

Recently a memorial bench was placed to honor past garden club members. The bench is located on the west end of the newest section of the bike path near Beebe Drive in the Highland Estates Subdivision.

The Rochelle Garden Club meets the third Thursday starting in March at the Hub City Senior Center.

Ready, set, plant!

Whether it’s an entirely new garden layout, adding more vegetables, or even no change at all, a little organization and preparation go a long way.

Begin by reflecting on the last growing season — consider the varieties that produced the most or largest produce. What flowers did well? Ponder the placement of those shade-loving impatiens, and do they need to be put in a different area or perhaps add more for a burst of color?

Many gardeners prefer to grow from seed, and some use the downtime to organize. Depending on how they are stored, some seeds last more than a few years. They are best kept in a cool, dry place in a glass jar or a Ziploc bag, but expect a lower germination rate if not used the current year.

Shortly before the gardening season, gardeners are getting their preparations in full swing between purchasing new tools, checking out greenhouse sales, or maybe adding more décor to the yard.

The Rochelle Garden Club typically begins their garden plot sales on the Saturday before Good Friday, which will fall on March 30 in 2018. About 90 plots are available for rent.

Seasoned gardeners know some years are better than others. They also stick to what they know, but also make necessary adjustments or refine their technique.

Sometimes it all has to do with Mother Nature and the amount of precipitation and temperatures.