Alamos Garden Club Resource Lists

Garden Club Meeting Notes

November 11, 2011

Today the club had a glorious field trip to the gardens of Teri and Pat Shannon. It's where Teri grows the veggies for the bistro. Wow! We were treated to goodies from the bakery and much invaluable information for ourselves and our gardeners. Thank you Teri and Pat and Cecy for your time and hospitality. Devra took notes and will post photos and a planting schedule, among other things on the website.

Garden Club Meeting Notes

October 28, 2011, 2:00 PM

Elaine Miller’s House on Loma Guadalupe

Topic:  Soil:  It’s Composition and Maintenance

 Present:  April Pruitt, Bengta Wolsing,  Gail Morden, Diane Carpenter, Elaine Miller, Rod Pruitt, Eleanor Creighton, Tom Allen, Deborah Wayne,

 We introduced ourselves and shared guidelines for the meeting.  It was noted that Annette will not be attending the meetings regularly any more but will participate as a resource on Facebook and will attend meetings when able.  Devorah Pearson will miss the next two meetings due to family concerns out of the country but remains very interested and will read summaries of the meetings.

 Soil:  It’s Composition and Maintenance

 Diane presented information she gained from researching this topic.  She included this in a glossary of terms which has been given to Gail for the Resource List.  She also noted after amending your soil you should allow it to rest for a couple of weeks if possible before planting.  Soil test kits are available on-line for testing soil ph as well as needed nutrients.  Luster Leaf 1601 Rapid Test Soil Kit at $13.68.  It is also possible to send a baggie to any US extension service and they will do extensive testing for you for a small price.

Deborah Wayne took a “Soils” course in college and said that we need to feel the soil to know what its condition is.  If it’s sandy, when you squeeze it will then fall apart. If it’s silt or clay it will form a hard wad or be muddy.  If it is loam, which is what we want, it will form a tootsie roll shape when squeezed and hold together but when tapped it will fall apart.

April added that sandy soil does not hold water and the water and nutrients wash through.  Clay or silt soil does not drain well.  To improve sandy soil, add vermiculite or peat moss.  Vermiculite is expanded mica and peat moss will increase the acidity of the soil but both will increase the ability to hold water and nutrients.  For silt or clay, add sand and/or peat moss and vermiculite.  To make soil from scratch, like for pots or raised beds, use 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 vermiculite and 1/3 compost.  Tillage, compost, cover crops and crop rotation are the way to maintain your soil.  All this information was gained from the book, Mini Farming:  Self Sufficiency on 1.4 Acre, by Bret L. Markham, which was recommended to her by Devorah Pearson. 

Tom said that soil and manure is what the gardeners up on the mountains use and they get tall lush growth.  They’re the experts and he gave Gail resources for the soil and manure.

Both Devorah and April suggested that perhaps we could order a bunch of the books and have them delivered quickly by the package service.  Then we could discuss a chapter a week.  There wasn’t any discussion so April suggested we check out the book on Google Books and have an opinion by the next meeting.

There was quite a bit of discussion about horse and cow manure and the need to compost it.  Composting develops nutrients for our plants.  It must be composted for a year to kill pathogens and parasites.  Even plant material needs the heat of composting to kill seeds and pests as well as to release nutrients.  Compost temperature should be 140 degrees Fahrenheit.

Regarding to our pest information about the June bug grubs that eat tree and plant roots, Deborah Wayne said that she buys similar blue granules from Vasquez in Navojoa and that it is very toxic.  A discussion followed about the pyrethrum sold by Stephanie Meyer and whether it is the same thing and how toxic is it.  We agreed that even organic materials can be toxic so care should be taken.

Elaine said that her gardener uses newspaper, straw, dirt and fertilizer in her raised beds.

Rod brought a baggie of compost that he has made and passed it around.  It was dark, rich dirt.  He said that it contains kitchen vegetable scraps, dirt and composted cow manure.  Unfortunately he is unable to make enough of it fast enough for our needs.  He also brought some oja santa starts to share.

OUR PROJECTS

Resource Lists:  Gail Morden showed us a draft of the home page of the web page she is setting up for our lists.  It’s pretty impressive and will have a link attached to the Facebook page.

Facebook:  Tom continues to monitor our Facebook account.  He requests photos of our plants and gardens for the gallery(s) on the FB page.

Computer Resource:  Gail Morden is our computer resource and will put together step by step instructions for setting up a Facebook account and for using it.

Spanish Speaking Gardeners:  Beverly Krucek.

Trees Available through the Municipio:  Annette has given Gail a list of trees available and Gail has put it on the web list.

Suggested Projects:  (Volunteers Still Needed)

Planting Schedule
Plant List (plants that grow well here)

The next meeting will be Friday, November 4, 3:00 PM (note new time) at Gail Morden’s  house in the Casa Maria Felix. Use the gate by the pool.   Call April 428-0168 for directions or return this email.  On the agenda will be Raised Beds and Crop Rotation.  Please research these subjects and bring photos of your beds if you have them.

Garden Club Meeting Summary                 

October 21, 2011, 2:00 PM
Devorah Pearson’s House La Puerta Roja

 Present:  April Pruitt, Bengta Wolsing, Devorah Pearson, Gail Morden, Joan Enders, Annette Hiniman, Diane Carpenter, Bev Krucek, Lynda Barondes, Edith Loeliger, Elaine Miller and Robert Harrill

 We introduced ourselves and shared concerns and questions about our gardens.

 What is the Alamos Garden Club:  A group of Alamos residents interested in gardening of both edible and ornamental plants and trees as well as indigenous plants and trees, medicinal plants, the politics of food, environmental concerns and pretty much anything that the meetings lead us to.  The immediate focus seems to be on vegetables.  Our goal is to provide resources to local gardeners by volunteering to participate in group projects.  We will continue to refine this.

 Some Guidelines for Meetings:  Everyone is welcome.  The meetings will be orderly.  We will show respect for the person speaking and not enter into side conversations.  We will have an agenda.  We will keep our focus on the agenda item.  There will be a time for gardening input from all. 

 OUR PROJECTS

 Resource Lists:  Gail Morden volunteered to make Resource Lists.  She will include on these lists resources we have identified.  The lists and other items too lengthy for Facebook will be posted on a web page she is setting up.  Some of the lists are:  possible field trips, soil, pest and plant resources, books, local experts.   For now, all resource items that arise in the meetings will be put on the lists rather than in the summary.

 Facebook:  Tom continues to monitor our Facebook account.  It is seeing some action from both people who have shown an interest in becoming members of the club and others.  All interested people will be accepted as “friends” on our Facebook page.  Some of the best resources may come from people not even living in Alamos.  If there is a person who is “nutty” in a negative way, as opposed to those of us who are “nutty” in a neutral or positive way, they can always be blocked if necessary.

 Computer Resource:  Gail Morden volunteered to be our computer resource and will put together step by step instructions for setting up a Facebook account and for using it.

 Spanish Speaking Gardeners:  It was proposed that gardeners be included in meetings.  Bev Krucek volunteered to set this up when appropriate.

 Trees Available through the Municipio:  Annette volunteered to make a list of trees that are available at this time.

 Suggested Projects:  (Volunteers Still Needed)

• Planting Schedule

• Plant List (plants that grow well here)

 The next meeting will be Friday, October 28, 2:00 PM at Elaine Miller’s house on Loma Guadalupe.  Call April 428-0168 or Elaine 428-1529 for directions or email me.  You may park in the Casa Cultural lot or on the street.

Facebook Page

Garden Club Meeting Summary                   

October 14, 2011, 2:00 PM

Diane Carpenter’s House

 Present: April Pruitt, Bengta Wolsing, Devorah Pearson, Gail Morden, Joan Enders, Curtis Parhams, Annette Hiniman, Deborah Wayne, Diane Carpenter, Bev Krucek, Tom Allen.

We introduced ourselves and said what our interest was in attending a garden club meeting and what we’d like to learn or have covered.

Tom: ˝ hectare of forest and would like to be able to identify his plants.

Joan: Her maid has a ranch and can identify medicinal plants and their uses. Would like to learn about composting and control of white grubs.

Bev: Would like her gardener to learn about composting and pruning.

Devorah would like to identify resources for buying soil and large fruit trees. She’d like to find a planting schedule for Alamos area and has already planted a large amount of vegetables in raised beds at the Puerta Roja.

Bengta: Would like to buy clean soil. Has a roof garden. It requires shading from the sun.

April: Has gardened in Alaska and Washington but knows nearly nothing about gardening in sub-tropics although has a year of experimenting with ornamentals and vegetables. Would like to learn. Identification of medicinal plants and their botanical names as well as the Spanish names.

Diane: Identifies herself as a “gardening dummy”. Wants to learn it all especially scented flowers and dwarf fruit trees.

Deborah Wayne: A resource for bonsai. Is interested in seed and cutting exchange and suggested that to start we can just bring any extra seeds and cuttings to share at a regular meeting.

Annette: Wants to learn more about non-toxic insecticides. Has a large organic gardening library to share.

Curtis: Is interested in ornamentals, fruit trees and an herb garden and wants to know about doing this here in Alamos. Will be leaving but back around Thanksgiving. Will be in and out for a while and then year-round. Owns a house in La Colorada.

Gail: Wants to plant in macetas (pots) and wants a resource for potting soil.

 Miscellaneous Comments:

Devorah has an organic gardening book that she got in spanish from amazon it is called: Huerta Organica by Maria Gabriela Escriva, she also has some other books in spanish too...one people might be interested in Huerta Organica en Macetas! Devorah invites us to make a field trip to her ranch on the reserve.

Vivero Municipal will give free fruit trees and other plants. Place orders in the palacio.

Sinaloa Vivero in Guasave, Sinaloa would be a good field trip.

Could we plant extinct trees and learn more about the diseases that are killing the palms. Perhaps Stephanie can enlighten us about this.

Maria in Uvalama has a vivero with many plants and much knowledge.

Moringa trees are high in protein and other nutrients and have medicinal value. They are being introduced in areas suffering from malnutrition and starvation.

Passion Fruit grows well in Alamos. It is a vine called Mar-ri-qu-ya (sp.).

Lynda Barondes asked that the group be invited to view the raised beds she built at the Maria Felix. Gail will be there to show us. They are located in the back near the pool. She stressed that if we build raised beds to make sure there is drainage not only in the bottom of the bed but all along the depth.

Fruit tree branches can be spliced onto a single trunk enabling varied fruits in a small space.

A questionnaire will go out to identify resources and interests of the members.

Annette has a community garden space at her ranch and a list of books from her gardening library that will be posted on the facebook page.

Jorge of the Las Palmas vivero can order plants for us if they are not already in the nursery including large trees.

April passed around articles given her by Stephanie Meyer about the white grubs from June Bugs and the insecticide pyrethrum that controls them and is plant derived and organic. Pyrethrum is available in Navajoa but Stephanie has a lot of it and will sell it in 3 kilo lots at her home. Carlitos is there mornings. Bev would like the articles translated into Spanish for her gardener

It was suggested to Joan to mix cal into her soil to control white grubs and wanted our opinions. See above about articles from Stephanie on this subject. It was commented that to add cal (lime) to an already alkaline soil might not be such a good idea. It might kill the grubs but would affect negatively the soil ph.

Diatomaceous earth looks like a white powder and is composed of the skeletons of very tiny organisms. It works by cutting open soft bodied insects and worms as they crawl over it. It isn’t necessarily to be used instead of the pyrethrum for grubs but might help also.
A note from Michelee said that water here is heavily mineralized and can cause some soil to get out of balance in a few months.   This happened to them and it was recommended that they change the soil.

Medicinal Plants could be taught by Chacho Valdez or Trini Rangel Lyida & Cessi (Devorah Pearson) know about flowers and vegetables....her ranch hand knows a lot about

the medicinal plants and their common names. This could be a field trip. A collection could be taken up to pay Chacho or Trini or whoever we select to teach us.

Birds

Cacti

Pruning

Read a book and report back to group to increase our knowledge without needing to read all the books ourselves.

 Suggested Projects: (Volunteers Needed)

• Planting Schedule
• Facebook Page. Tom volunteered to set one up. We can all contribute and meeting summaries can be posted as well as other information. Until then, April will make a mailing list of those interested.
• A Resource List

 The next meeting will be Friday, October 21, 2:00 PM