DALTON GARDEN CLUB: Teabags and other tips for garden vegetables

Submitted by

DAVIDA HAMSHER

Club secretary

DALTON  The Dalton Garden Club met at the home of Davida Hamsher on beautiful warm and sunny, January 14.

A new member, Diane Fischnich, was welcomed by 12 other ladies. The Roll Call and Program theme was garden vegetables with each member researching a previously assigned vegetable, its history, planting needs, and nutritional value. A recipe for each vegetable was given during roll call.

Beets are full of nutrition while corn has little, but who can resist corn-on-the cob smothered with butter? Summer squash grows as a bushy plant, and winter squash has vines. Toss egg shells into the garden to add calcium to the soil. Remove suckers from tomato plants to encourage more and larger fruit. Cucumbers are considered a fruit and can be sliced, dipped in egg and flour and fried. Peas are to be planted early with a small yield from several plants. Plant seed potatoes with two eyes up. Beans, whether bush or pole, are easy to grow and a staple in every garden. Cabbage has several varieties, green, red, and white. Banana peppers are delicious stuffed. Lettuce can be grown indoors with an Urban Cultivator and no soil. Eggplant needs to be started indoors around March. Many of the plants can be started indoors or buy young plants at your local garden center.

Linda Bartel presented 10 tips on reusing teabags.

1. Plant the teabags as they decompose naturally.
2. Add nutrients to the soil.
3. Reduce garbage.
4. Keep pests at bay as insects detest the odor.
5. Seeds can be germinated indoors in the tea leaves.
6. Tea helps decomposition in compost.
7. Worms eat the leaves.
8. Help with water retention when planting the teabags near the plant’s roots.
9. Repel weeds.
10. Sprinkle tea leaves or tea bags around plants to repel cats.

During the December luncheon, it was decided by the club members to donate funds toward a young woman in Uniontown who was involved in an automobile accident and now suffers from traumatic brain injury (TBI). She received a puppy this Christmas from a breeder in Texas who donates dogs for service.

The training for the service dogs is expensive, but the benefit is great. The donation will go toward the cost of the training. Again, thank you to our community for your support so that our organization can pay it forward.

Aromatherapy will be the program for February’s meeting. Member Donna Tomak, who has had training in the method and is an avid practitioner, will conduct the session. For more details call Marie Septer, 330-828-2170 or email Davida Hamsher, davilary@zoominternet.net.