SUMMER FLOWER SHOW!!

News from the Bethlehem Garden Club -

Bethlehem Garden Club

SUMMER FLOWER SHOW!!

“Sailing Through Summer”

July 20-21 2012, Friday 3-8 p.m and Saturday10-3.

Grand Ballroom of the Historic Hotel Bethlehem, 437 Main St.

---within walking distance of the Club's

three award winning gardens!!

Come to our exciting show,

tour the historic district,

shop and dine for a fabulous summer experience.

Community Gardens

As the vegetable gardening season starts to wind down, I stopped by a local community garden. I am interested in what goes right and wrong with in community gardens - the personal stories. Right now I have more questions than answers. I would like to share the answers with officials and other gardeners.

Here are a few of the questions:

· Was there adequate communication among gardeners?

· Were the rules understood and followed by all the gardeners?

· Did you have enough time to spend in the garden?

· Were you physically able to do the work required?

· Was water accessible? Mulch? Compost?

· Were tools available?

· What made your experience with community gardening a success or failure?

· Did you use a Master Gardener to educate gardeners on subjects such as: planting, plant choices, propagation, weed identification, fertilization, soils, compost, mulch, etc.?

If you have any experience with or opinion about community gardens or can answer any of the questions, please leave a comment. I will be very grateful for any information.

More information on Community Gardens from ACGA http://communitygarden.org/learn/ and SUN*LV http://sunlv.org/

Urban Gardens

“Community Gardens in an Urban Setting” was the topic at the Master Gardeners Spring Garden Series last Saturday . Community Gardens provide an opportunity to grow vegetables in the city. A lot of dedicated people work to organize and provide supplies to the gardens.

I know the benefits of raising fresh vegetables in taste, nutrition and cost saving.

But, I wasn’t prepared for the overwhelming testament of a simple peripheral benefit. Pride and satisfaction comes from working with other members of the community – learning from one another, laughing, complaining, sharing stories and garden tips, tools and bug spray.

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Many stories are heartwarming - A neighborhood kid who knocked on doors to report an trespasser walking on the gardens – A grandmother with her own garden who plants a community garden plot for the interaction with other gardeners and donates the produce to local food banks and soup kitchens.

The rewards of Urban Community Gardens are greater the weight of the produce.



Find local gardens and contacts by zip code at American Community Garden Association Local Harvest or call your local county extension office.

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Burnside Plantation

A family emergency will keep me away from gardening and blogging for a while. I’ll keep reading my favorite blogs and answering comments. I hope to get back to the garden and blog world soon.

But I want to mention Burnside Plantation 25th Annual Blueberry Festival July 17 and 18. The annual affair features tours, demonstrations, music, crafts and kids fun. The pie eating contest ends with kid’s blueberry covered faces and delighted smiles. For a complete list of activities click here.
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I visited the Burnside Plantation in Bethlehem in May. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places the plantation is a look into the past. James Burnside bought 500 acres 1748. The grounds and buildings are lovingly restored. An entertaining overview of the farm for school age children (and the rest of us) is located here.

17th and 18th century house and vegetable garden. The garden is cared for by a league of volunteers organized through the Historic Bethlehem Partnership.

The walking trail below the gardens and next to the Monocacy Creek leads to downtown Bethlehem


Bethlehem Police Department horses are kept in the large barn near the house and gardens.

Lehigh and Northampton County Master Gardeners have set up a pollinator demonstration garden. There is lot to explore in this small garden including the turtle shape, a crisscross path, a kid’s tunnel and simple bee hives. Signs help teach the story of pollination.

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The blueberry festival is an enjoyable way to spend a summer day, soak up local history – and taste some delicious blueberry pie.

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Miller’s House Garden Celebrates 20 Years

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I’ve talked about Miller’s House garden before here. Started in 1983, the garden was dedicated in 1989. It has been a labor of love for Bethlehem Garden Club members for 20 years.

Wednesday evening Bethlehem Garden Club members, friends and families came together to celebrate those 20 years.

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Located in the Historic Bethlehem Industrial Quarter, the garden was created on an empty, sloping hillside.

Pictures of the early years were on display throughout the garden. The pictures illustrate the evolution from hillside, to walled flat surface, to building raised garden beds, to adding a rose arbor, to planting. An abundance of well-marked plants fill the gardens.

Amid the blooming lavender, larkspur, statice and salvia members of the original committee were honored for their foresight and dedication.

As the evening came to a close, the garden shone in the setting sun as a peaceful and educational oasis of late Victorian cottage garden history.

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(Miller’s House Garden, 459 Old York Road, Bethlehem, PA 18018)

Garden 2007

Winners

The soil tests were easy to do. (see September 29, 2007 post) The results for the lilac/shade garden bed) were the most interesting. Calcium and Magnesium are way above optimum. Soil pH, Phosphate and Potash are below optimum. Recommended fertilization: “Apply 3.5 lbs. per 100 square feet of 5-10-10 and 0.5 lbs. per 100 square feet of 0-46-0.” I will continue to add compost and mulch to this bed and fertilize in spring. Hopefully, this will make a difference since this garden is starting to look a little sad. Now I know where to start.

The “Circle Garden”, put in to enhance the shape of the steps from the deck, is beginning to fill in. I like the plan this year – outside edge line Elijah blue fescue; next line grey Dusty Miller; then euonymus and an inside row of sweet alyssum. (see April 15, 2007 post). In another few years it should be perfect. Photos below compare the garden from August 2006 to July 2007. Gardening surely takes patience.

I shared some plants this year with community gardens, herb society, and with friends. It is very satisfying to find a use for surplus plants.

Old reliable winners

I have heard some gardeners say they get tired of their old plants. I will never tire of these old, reliable inhabitants in my garden.

Crocus - energizing a new season --- Azalea – riot of color

Columbine – simple and prolific --- Roses - fragrance and bloom

Coleus – a bright spot wherever they are

Community Gardens

Bethlehem’s community gardens

The Garden of Serenity maintained by the Bethlehem Garden Club was a 2006 recipient of the Suburban Greening Award by the Philadelphia Horticultural Society. (see April 21, 2007 post) It is a peaceful oasis in the city with a place to sit and enjoy the garden.

Miller House Garden is also maintained by the Bethlehem Garden Club. (see April 21, 2007 post) Full of 18th century plants, this garden offers a view of what might have grown in a colonial garden. The plants, from roses to lavender to tomatoes and thyme, fill a walk through this little plot with delightful nostalgia.

Musikfest’s Blumenplatz, is planned, planted and cared for by members of the Blumenplatz committee. Starting in May until the middle of August, the garden illustrates the dazzling fun of Musikfest. This colorful garden was also a 2006 recipient of the Suburban Greening Award by the Philadelphia Horticultural Society.

As you stroll around Musikfest (August 3-12, 2007) stop to look at the community gardens in Bethlehem. Blumenplatz and The Garden of Serenity are located near Americaplatz in Bethlehem’s City Center near the Public Library. The Miller House Garden is located behind Volksplatz in the Colonial Industrial Quarter.