Mary Jane Wilson
The new SaddleBrooke Gardening Club (SBGC) started scheduling member-only garden tours with the arrival of our cooler temperatures. Seeing someone’s garden and hearing them talk about how and why they did things, along with the opportunity to ask questions and share personal experiences, is what most of our members have been asking for.
Veggie/Herb subgroup meetings have covered plans for fall/winter gardens, how to protect them during freezing nights, ideas for growing seeds inside for spring/summer gardens, and a speaker who talked about the value of worm castings and tea for all plants and trees. Their most recent member-only tour featured a member’s newly redesigned container garden. Containers of all sizes to grow specific veggie/herbs were carefully situated in relation to the sun’s path and the ability to do more stand-up gardening. The member also shared his special soil mix (posted on www.sbgardeningclub.weebly.com). This mix would be for any container, whether a stock tank, a five-gallon bucket, a muck bucket, or a larger raised bed. Veggie/Herb gardeners continue to have great fun talking about their garden passion on garden tours.
Flower/Rose subgroup members have toured a Wildlife Habitat and Pollinator Garden, certified as a Monarch Waystation, where they saw an incredible variety of blooming plants, complete with visits from beautiful hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees. Additionally, one of the newest members opened her yard to us for a garden tour of her potted and raised bed flowering plants, which also included beautiful succulents. Yes, flowers are blooming in December in SaddleBrooke!
The Citrus/Fruit Tree subgroup had a December field trip in a SaddleBrooke garden with nine citrus trees, all around 20 years old: tangelo, navel, and Valencia oranges; Mandarin tangerine; kumquat; Meyer and Lisbon lemons; and two Texas pink grapefruits. The gardener shared good ideas for care and fertilization and showed a sample of his foliar feeding and tips for pruning. This was a valuable resource for local growing conditions and years of experience.
Subgroup meeting frequency will vary by subgroup and season. Member-only subgroup meetings will offer tours of members’ gardens, trips to offsite locations, and/or discussions of timely topics such as fertilization strategies and upcoming projects related to the change of seasons. There is a schedule of future meeting dates/times on the Upcoming Events section of the website at www.sbgardeningclub.weebly.com, in addition to all the great gardening information available there.
Membership applications and information about the club and subgroups can be found at www.sbgardeningclub.weebly.com. To have your name added to the email roster of the new SaddleBrooke Gardening Club, send an email to [email protected]. Once you are on the active roster, you will automatically receive all the club news and invitations to club events. Dues for a basic membership are $10 a year. This new club will reinvigorate your enthusiasm for gardening and make you a much more successful Arizona gardener.