Galston District Garden Club

The Galston District Garden Club welcomes visitors and new members for the second time since resuming meetings after a long layoff time due to Covid Restrictions. Our meetings are held on the 2nd Wednesday of the month, in the Galston Community Centre, 37 Arcadia Rd, Galston. Time 7.30pm. Visitors and new members are most welcome.

The speaker last month was Ken Turnidge, a long-time nurseryman and member of our garden club. Since retiring Ken has made it a hobby to grow his own coffee, ginger and turmeric. SÕč ÕŗĭĆ²õčÕÑ ļñÕ ĭİĔËÕĴĴ êİĔČ ĭõËăõčëʞ ÑİŘõčë ²čÑ ţč²ĆĆŘ roasting the beans. Now I can appreciate why buying coffee beans is so expensive.

Ginger, on the other hand, didn’t seem quite a process to grow and harvest. The knobby ginger root is found in grocery stores. Ken’s hint was to choose a healthy plump looking ginger about 10-13 cm long. The advice is to buy organic as sometimes, like potatoes, they are sprayed with an inhibitor which stops them sprouting in the shops. Ginger takes about eight months to grow. Ken explained the process of how to crystallise the ginger as well. He uses the crystalised ginger and dates in lemonade scones. Yummy.

Turmeric is another rhizome that takes about ten months to mature. Then it can be boiled, sliced, and thoroughly dried in a ñŁČõÑõţÕİ ÊÕêĔİÕ ëİõčÑõčëʣ The powder keeps for many years according to Ken.

The speaker for the June meeting is Peter Hey, The Topic: Symbiotic Relations - Plants and fungi. Looking ²ļ ļñÕ ÊİĔ²Ñ ²čÑ ÊÕčÕţËõ²Ć interactions between most ĭĆ²čļĴ ²čÑ ČõËİĔŤĔݲʣ

The Garden Club will be organising the Open Garden Weekend for the weekend of 15th17th October, 2021. The success of the weekend depends upon the generosity of garden owners to allow the public to ramble through ļñÕõİ ĴĆõËÕ Ĕê ĭ²İ²ÑõĴÕʣ ‹ñÕ ÊÕčÕţËõ²İõÕĴ Ĕê ļñõĴ ŖÕÕăÕčÑ ²İÕ ļñÕ many charities chosen by the garden owners as all the money raised goes to these charities. Planning for this Charity Event will begin very soon.

While reading the Our Gardens Magazine printed by Garden Clubs Australia, there was a comment by Judy Horton, the Editor, regarding “Plant-Killing mulch”. I had never given it a thought before I read this comment. Apparently, the problem can occur when the mulch or compost is made from ingredients such as hay or straw that have been sprayed with selective herbicides. The herbicide can stay active in the plant material for an extended period. If you are buying mulch, manure or compost, the solution õĴ ļĔ ËñĔĔĴÕ ËÕİļõţÕÑ ʼĔİë²čõËʽʣ ‹ñÕ ²İļõËĆÕ Ĵ²õÑʞ ʼ čŘļñõčë ËÕİļõţÕÑ organic is checked all along the line. But it does need to be ²ĭĭİĔĭİõ²ļÕĆŘ ËÕİļõţÕÑ ÊŘ ĔčÕ Ĕê ļñÕ İÕËĔëčõĴÕÑ Ĕİë²čõĴ²ļõĔčĴʣ product that says organic may simply mean it’s been made from natural sources.

The members are looking forward to meeting you at our meeting on the 9th June 2021 at 7.30. For further information regarding the club, visit: www.galstongardenclub.com.au or email: galstongardenclub@gmail.com