The Tollgate Farm News

Transcription

1 The Tollgate Farm News Volume 19 Issue 4 April 2013 MSU Tollgate Gardens Volunteer General Meeting in the Conference Center Thursday, April 18, 7:00 PM Spring Shrub Maintenance On Thursday, April 18, Gail Morrell will return to Tollgate to share her passion for gardening. This time she will talk about spring shrub maintenance with a focus on evergreens. Gail will cover some activities that gardeners can do now including pruning and watching for insect or disease damage. In 1991, Gail became a Master Gardener and established a garden maintenance company. As a professional gardener for twenty-two years, Gail has worked as the head gardener at several estates and is currently the landscape manager for a gated community in Bloomfield Hills. She was an instructor and Practical Gardening Trainer at the Michigan School of Gardening. Gail is past president and treasurer of the Association of Professional Gardeners, and past president and treasurer of the Troy Garden Club, Rasper, The Buzzard, Looms Over the Children s Garden Laura Steiner, metal artist extraordinaire, has created another wonderful sculpture for the Tollgate Gardens. Rasper, The Buzzard, looms over the Children s Garden. It is a truly unique piece and a great addition to our Laura Steiner Collection in the gardens. Thank You, Laura! Tollgate Garden Volunteer Important Dates and Events Apr Meetings May Activities 18 TGV General Meeting 7:00 PM 4 Rose, Rock Ledge, Heritage Gardens 9:00 AM 20 Volunteer Orientation 9:00 AM 11 Children s/xeriscape Gardens 9:00 AM Apr Activities 13 Par Prep and Nursery/Division 9:00 AM 18 Plant Sale Prep/Division Par Planting and Demo Garden 9:00 AM 20 Spring Clean-Up (Pancake Breakfast at Noon) 9:00 AM 31 Plant Sale Set-Up 9:00 AM 27 Spring Clean-Up and Hosta Garden 9:00 AM June Meetings May Meetings 4 TGAC Meeting 7:00 PM 7 TGAC Meeting 7:00 PM 11 Fall Fair Meeting 7:00 PM 14 Fall Fair Meeting 7:00 PM 20 TGV General Meeting 7:00 PM 16 TGV General Meeting 7:00 PM Page

2 GREETINGS Greetings All, from the Tollgate Farm Manager Roy Prentice attend our activity days. Without your help, Tollgate would be just another farm. With your help, we can become something truly awesome. Mulching and Spring Clean-up in the Office Gardens on Saturday, April 6th Maple Syrup Making Wow! What a great year we had in the sugar shack! We had a super group of volunteers and we made lots and lots of syrup. The season was long and regular, just like you would want it. What a contrast to the short season of It seems like just yesterday we were out in the woods tapping trees. Now the snow is gone and the spring flowers are finally pushing through. It is too soon to tell whether this year will be our best ever. We are shooting for the record of 125 gallons of syrup. Final bottling will be done soon and the final tally will be made at that time. It will be close! Soon, we will be noshing on pancakes and lots of yummy Tollgate maple syrup. Please plan to join us for lunch on Saturday, April 20 th for our annual pancake and maple syrup extravaganza. There will be syrup to be eaten, given away and available for sale for all of our volunteers. Syrup will also be for sale at our next general meeting on April 18 th. Evening in the Gardens The 2013 Evening in the Gardens class series is put together and ready for viewing. You can view a schedule for this year s classes online at: brochures/2013_eitg_brochure.pdf Brochures are also available in the Volunteer Communication Center and at future TGV General Meetings. There are lots of great class offerings again this year. Space in the classes is limited and they often fill up quickly. Check them out. Volunteers Needed We have lots of plans to make Tollgate a better place to garden and visit this year. Please help us make Tollgate reach its full potential. We still need several area garden leaders to look after small portions of the Demonstration Garden and we can use help in other gardens too. Please plan to Photos by Darretta Ferasin Page 2

3 Notes from the President When it is warm, green, and heavenly in spring, there is no lovelier time in a landscape ROBIN LANE FOX What a difference a year makes. The soil is slow to warm and the rains a little more sparse than last spring but never the less the gardening season begins. Pruning has been started, grasses cut back and mulching for weed prevention initiated. Mother Nature will guide our time table for the planting and growing season. Our April activities will be in full force for week end scheduled work days and preparation for our plant sale. See the posted activities in this issue. Your ongoing participation is important to our success and I look forward to another garden season as we enjoy the friendships with our fellow members and the beautiful surroundings of Tollgate. New volunteer orientation and the ever popular pancake brunch will be the highlights of April. Please consider helping on our spring cleanup dates and participating in the brunch as our thank-you for your ongoing participation. Spring Plant Sale Plan Now to Donate! As you divide your plants this spring consider donating to the Tollgate Nursery for our plant sale in June. Your contribution of non-invasive plants for the Plant Sale this spring will help us with this major fund raiser. Pots, in one and two gallon Dave Komraus Working Around the Pond on a sizes are needed. Please no other sizes at this time Not-So-Warm-or-Bright Spring Clean-Up Day since smaller ones are quickly overgrown and larger ones, hanging basket pots, clay and decorative pots are NOT appropriate for our intended use. (Consider recycling!) Our early season efforts will be for division, potting of donated plants for a successful sale. We will not be taking hosta donations this season. Join a Garden Team?! Do you have a particular area of interest? Would you like to work with more experienced gardeners? There are still many gardens in need of small dedicated groups for organization of maintenance activities in specific gardens. Ask me or any TGAC member for ways you can contribute. Summer Open House Art in the Gardens As announced at our last membership meeting, we will be transitioning to a music and art theme at our Summer Open House event. This free to the public event will feature musicians, artists in various mediums as well as vendors, garden tours and presentations. See upcoming Farm news articles as details become available. That s all for now. Happy Spring! Thank you for being a Tollgate Garden Volunteer. Renee Cottrell, President Photos by Darretta Ferasin Page 3

4 Photos Wanted for the Tollgate 2014 Calendar Wanted: Your photos of Tollgate. To submit photos - please be sure they are in landscape format, on a CD. They can be turned in at Roy's office or at a Tollgate Volunteer meeting directly to me, Nancy Roggers, by June 17th. Nancy Roggers Amazing Star The 2013 Tollgate Quilt Fall Fair Submitted by Dennis Roggers Susan Bremer, Charlotte Jones and Judy Poole Pick-up the Quilt from the Quilter The Tollgate Quilting Bee folks are putting the binding on the beautiful 2013 quilt. They are bringing the quilt to the next TGV General Meeting with raffle tickets to sell. Roy also has tickets. Raffle tickets can be purchased up until the drawing during the Summer Open House, Art in the Gardens, on July 20th. The pattern is Amazing Star. The quilt measures 77 x 78. Raffle Tickets will be $2.00 each or 3 tickets for $5.00 I sure do wish the weather felt more like spring because it s real hard to think Fall Fair when it s still winter. The new Fall Fair committee is working at continuing the great success of the past and looking at adding a few new twists. Do you have any ideas that you might think will work? Jot them down in an (fallfair@sup -mac.com) or come on by the next meeting (Tuesday, May 14th) and let s see if we can add them to the Fair. Thanks to those who donated to the can drive all winter long. We have a head start of almost 65 dollars. Keep up the good work as the money will go to a great cause. We still can use paper tubes for the new children s craft, you can leave these in the Volunteer Communication Center. Hopefully, the chickens will be out of there soon. Hope to see you on May 14th at 7:00 PM at the next meeting. Think Spring! Dennis WANTED I need your newspapers (no shiny ads) for the PAR garden. They can be dropped off in Volunteer Communication Center through the end of May. Any extra newspaper will be recycled. John Woodrich Page 4

5 A Special Thanks! To all of you who made a donation to help the Tollgate Gardeners make Tollgate a more beautiful place. Your donation is greatly appreciated! The support that you have provided will continue to help our program prosper and grow. Thanks again and Happy Gardening! Marie Collins Mary Killeen Comstock Helen Kaiser Kay Pratt Carol Price David Thompson THE HOSTA VIRUS X Tool Disinfecting Station Installed DIA INSIDE OUT Novi Reproduction on Display The Tool Disinfecting Station has been installed in the tool shed attached to the barn. Supplies and instructions are ready for use. We will be working in the hosta garden during Spring Clean-Up work day on April 27th. The Lily Pond The Tollgate DIA painting reproduction, The Lily Pond by Harry Charles Eaton, has been erected at the Tollgate parking lot entrance. The DIA INSIDE OUT program brings DIA treasures out to local communities. This is one of six reproductions located in the city of Novi. See the brochure attached to the exhibit or visit for downloadable maps and a complete list of locations. MEMBERSHIP May 1st will be here before you know it! Be sure to get your membership form in before May 1st to continue receiving your Farm News newsletter and also workday info. NOTE: If you have any changes in your contact information, phone #, address, address, or emergency contact person, you can contact me directly at tollgatemembership@gmail.com Nancy Roggers Some Daffodil Blooms Coming Soon in the Demo Garden Page 5

6 Nursery Path Mulching Saturday, March 23rd Photos by Darretta Ferasin Page 6 BAKERS NEEDED FOR 2013 Feel like baking or did you see some delicious bake goods in the store? Please feel free to bring some treats to our monthly Thursday evening meetings. No need to sign up. Need ideas? Let me know. Yvonne mainwoods@gmail.com

7 Tollgate Volunteer Information Activity Days Activity day hours are 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM unless otherwise noted on the Tollgate Garden Volunteer Important Dates and Events listed on the first page of the Tollgate Farm News or by the Area Garden Leader (AGL). Lunch will be provided - veggie alternatives are available upon request. If you aren t getting The Tollgate Farm News , Check your SPAM folder This schedule does not exclude you from working independently on the site. However, on non-scheduled days, your efforts will need to be selfdirected with guidance from the garden area clipboards located in the Volunteer Communication Center. Volunteer Activity Day and Meetings Information ext. 400 Garden Tools Available for Use at Tollgate List of Suggested Gardening Implements to Bring from Home as Needed Spades Garden Rakes Brooms Wheel Barrels Weed Buckets Leaf Rakes Garden Hoe Long Handled Garden Forks Trowel Hand Pruners Loppers Garden Scissors Your Favorite Weeding Implement Hand Saw Plant Division Forks Shrub Rake Sun Screen Gloves Knee Pads Insect Repellant Tollgate Garden Advisory Council Farm Manager Roy Prentice ext prentic1@msu.edu President... Renee Cottrell Vice President... Peg Palmer Secretary... Dave Komraus Treasurer... Sue Janczarek Membership... Nancy Roggers PR... Yvonne DeMattos Fall Fair... Dennis Roggers Programs... Jackie Stengel Hospitality... Yvonne DeMattos Farm News Editor... Darretta Ferasin For membership questions or to update your current membership information send to: tollgatemembership@gmail.com MSU Tollgate Gardens Volunteers For general information and questions Contact Roy Prentice The Tollgate Gardens Advisory Council next meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 7, 2013 at 7:00 PM in the Tollgate Office Building. All Tollgate Gardens Volunteer members are welcome to attend. Listings to contact individual Council Members and Area Garden Leaders are available at all general meetings and in the Volunteer Communication Center. Tollgate Volunteer Membership is renewed annually. The 2012 Tollgate Garden Volunteers membership is from December 1, 2012 to November 30, THE TOLLGATE FARM NEWS Tollgate Gardens Volunteer Office Meadowbrook Novi, MI, Page 7