a gardening club forms

In the last couple of years, as Blair and I have done more and more gardening. There hasn't been a master plan, and we keep going back and revisiting what we're doing. Grass here. No, that should be flowers. No, let's move those and add flagstones as a walkway. Let's move the flagstones. Put buggleweed there. No buggleweed...put in astilbe. No astilbe...put in hostas.

We've thought that it would be good if there were neighborhood gardening club, but didn't really expect it to happen. As far as we can tell, we're kind of oddballs for doing so much of our own yardwork. Most people seem to have all or most of their gardening done by professionals. But apparently we're not the only ones, because there is now a Jamaica Estates Association (JEA) Gardening Club. It's still embryonic -- there has only been one meeting thus far, and only seven people (including Blair and me) were there. But it's a start.

As I understand, one of the local residents -- a biology professor at Medgar Evers College -- has a keen interest in gardening, and had contacted one of the members of the JEA board. Some group emails resulted in the meeting. In the yard of the professor.

I'm not sure exactly what I had hoped for going in. Maybe to hear suggestions and tips about gardening. Actually, one positive thing that came out of the first meeting involves tomatoes. Blair and I have been trying to figure out the best way to grow tomatoes, but each year we run into logistical issues. We get a usable crop, but we always feel that we can do better...next year. Well, the guy who started the ball rolling is growing his tomatoes in those big (five gallon?) Home Depot buckets. That's what we're going to try next year. Each bucket with one plant and one cage.

Anyway, the meeting was mostly polite conversation about what we envision for the club, and the next step. Somehow I am now the keeper of the email list, and I'll be setting up the next meeting. A notice in the JEA Bulletin may also draw some more interest. Maybe we'll be able to get speakers. It was suggested that maybe some of the local nurseries would send speakers. Maybe members (assuming we grow to a larger size) will talk about their plans for their yards or their experiences. I'm always up for useful suggestions. Heck, maybe I'll be able to get someone from LIDS to talk about hybridizing daylilies.

For now, the gardening club is limited to JEA members -- which makes sense, since the club is being formed within the JEA. I also don't think that will cost us potential members, since people who don't want to join the JEA would be unlikely to want to join a JEA Gardening Club.