Yorkton and District Horticultural Society

Don’t Miss It!  The 8^th Annual Seedy Saturday is on Saturday, February 24  at the Victory Church, 38 Bradbrooke Drive in Yorkton, from 12:30 till 4:00 PM.

Guests can visit  seed vendors and various booths, and there will be lots of interesting gardeners to chat with about this year’s garden.

Admission is a non-perishable food item.  Everyone is welcome!

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The 1st horticultural meeting of 2018 is Wednesday February 21  at 7:00 pm in the Sunshine Room at SIGN on North Street.

Guest Speaker – Maira Waechli (Florissima)– Creating a spring flower arrangement

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The 2018 Calendar of events in the above menu at the top of the page of click on the link Calendar of Events 2018.

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Summer’s done, and now comes the task of putting our gardens to bed for the winter!  It’s a feeling of satisfaction for a season well-spent, and a chance to evaluate this year’s garden. But first, some basics to get ready for winter.

• Clean up any dried up plants from your garden. If they were healthy, add them to your compost pile, if you have one. But if the plants were diseased in any way, dispose of them in the garbage. Be sure to rake up any diseased leaves and throw them in the garbage as well so they aren’t causing problems in your garden next year.
• If you like to trim back your perennials in the fall, now is the time.  But leave perennials that have seed heads: these provide winter interest in the garden, and also give the birds a winter treat.
• Pull out the spent plants from your containers, and stack the containers in an orderly fashion. Whether you empty them of soil or not depends on if you have a place to put the soil, or whether you prefer to have them with soil in place when spring comes.
• Be sure to put clay or ceramic pots in a garage or shed to avoid breakage.
• Clean your garden tools before putting them away for the season. The implements will last longer if they are cleaned and not given a chance to get rusty.
• Label your perennials, especially new plants that you added this year.  It’s so easy to lose track of where they are, and you don’t want to disturb them by mistake in the spring!
• Do not cover or wrap perennials or cedars until the weather turns cold. If you wrap them too early they could still form tender new growth which will be damaged when the real cold comes. Wait until the weather changes, for real, before your wrap any plants.
• Do not wrap plants in plastic; it has no insulation value. Use cardboard, burlap, or wrap meant specifically for winter protection.
• If you have any perennials in containers, plant them in the garden before winter. They will not survive above ground. I know there are exceptions, and I’m sure we all rejoice when we hear of a plant surviving the winter in this fashion, but most do not. Avoid the risk and give them a better chance to be here next spring.
• While it is nice to see a well-cleaned yard in the fall, try not to be overly enthusiastic! Remember that the beneficial bugs like ladybugs need a place to call home over the winter.  If you don’t leave any fallen leaves in your yard, the little garden friends will go to another yard, and in the spring you will wish they were there! So  leave the leaves under your shrubs or in your perennial borders. They will be good mulch for your plants, and winter homes for beneficial insects.

And one final note, be sure to keep a garden journal of what was a success and what was a failure in this year’s garden. Next spring, it will help you when it is time to plant!

Keep up with your daily garden tours good for the body, good for the soul!

   Debbie Hayward

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The October meeting of 2017 is Wednesday October 16  at 7:00 pm in the Sunshine Room at SIGN on North Street.

Guest Speaker: Sonja Pawliw  ” Creating and maintaining a Terrarium”

Member Participation:

Membership renewal and AGM tickets available

Bring Recipes to hand into Liz for booklet

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Thank you to everyone who helped in any way with the Yorkton and District Horticultural Society’s Fall Plant Sale last week; to everyone who brought plants, worked at the plant tables,  answered gardening questions, and of course, to everyone who came and bought new garden treasures!  This is still a fine time to plant new additions to our gardens; in fact, it might be easier on the plants because they can settle in without the high temperatures of just a few weeks ago.

When you are planting your new additions, be sure to plant them at the same soil level they were growing previously.  Take care not to plant them too deep or too shallow, so that the roots are not exposed.  Water them in well, this helps to eliminate air pockets around the roots and move the soil in comfortably securely around the roots.  Do not cut them back yet, let the leaves continue working to produce food for the plant.  And if your plant is more delicate in nature, you may want to give it some winter protection for this first winter until it is well established.  This can be achieved by mulch or leaves banked around the base of the plant, or even wrapping the plant in burlap and surrounding it with a cardboard box.

Happy planting!

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Friday, Sept. 22:  Fall Plant & Bulb Sale

Parkland Mall , Yorkton

9:30 AM to 5:00 PM

One day sale only!

Great selection of plants at great prices!

Gardeners on hand to answer your questions.

This is a good time to add plants to your garden!

Everyone is welcome!

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The September meeting of 2017 is Wednesday September 20  at 7:00 pm in the Sunshine Room at SIGN on North Street.

Guest Speaker: John Tropin  ” Beginning garden ponds including fish”

Check out the Page in the menu above to see the presentation information.

or click on the link : Beginning Garden Ponds

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Some photos from this year’s Show.

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Nasturtiums are one of those great garden plants that are completely user-friendly!  Not only do they do well in full sun and poor soil, they can also tolerate dry conditions.  And guess what else?  You can eat the flowers and leaves

Stuffed Nasturtium Leaves

My Mom was a wonderful cook, as fearless in the kitchen as she was in the garden, as eager to try new recipes as she was to try new garden plants!  Let’s adopt that wonderful attitude with our cooking today!  I was always so happy to enjoy her company in the kitchen, and when she’d be cooking I’d ask “how muuch of this or that do we add?”.  Like most wonderful chefs, she seasoned by instinct, and it was always delicious!

Mom had a dressing recipe that  can be used for bean salad, for pasta salad, with rice, you name it!  I think she’d enjoy using it this way!

Today, let’s use it with orzo to make  stuffed nasturtium leaves.  If you don’t have orzo, use rice.

Cook half a package of orzo till done.  Drain, and cool.

Mix up Mom’s dressing recipe as follows:

¾ cup sugar

2/3 cup vinegar

1/3 cup salad oil

one teaspoon each of salt and pepper or to taste

Combine dressing with cooled orzo, but do it gradually to attain the right texture.  You want the orzo to be moist and stick together, but not too wet.

Now comes the fun part: add whatever you like for flavors:  very finely chopped onion, grated lemon zest, sunflower seeds, chopped parsely or dill (or any other herb), or finely shredded cheese.  Just remember that the leaves are small, so your don’t want to add anything too chunky.  Add a bit more dressing if needed to get the proper consistency.

Wash and dry your nasturtium leaves, removing the stem.  Place a scant spoonful of filling on each leaf. spread it out, and roll up the leaf to look like a cigar,

securing with a toothpick.

A cool summer canapé!

Stuffed Nasturtium Flowers

 After reading various recipes for this, I began to see that the recipes for stuffed nasturtium flowers are much like the recipes for stuffed mushroom caps.  They all begin with the same basic ingredients, and vary with the flavorings.

So, let’s make up our own right now!

Take one 8 ounce block of cream cheese.  Soften, and mix till creamy.

That wasn’t difficult!

Now, add in the flavors of your choice, keeping in mind that the nasturtium blooms are very delicate, so you don’t want a very over-powering flavor.

Some possibilities are:  lemon zest and a squirt of lemon juice

chopped thyme or parsley

finely chopped nasturtium flowers

very finely chopped walnuts

Wash and dry your nasturtium flowers, then gently spoon in one teaspoon of the filling (or slightly more, depending on the size of the flower) into each flower.

they’ll look amazing, and they’ll be your own creation for taste!

Debbie Hayward

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