Friday, November 18, 2011

Upcoming Activities


We hope you were able to join us on Nov. 16 to hear Ron Zick of Wild Birds Unlimited talk about attracting birds to your backyard. Ron showed off the best products available for our flying friends and answered questions many questions about keeping the unwanted critters from bird feeding areas.

Our next meeting will be January 18 at 7 p.m. in the Downers Grove Public Library meeting room. The speaker will be Don Guzan who will talk about pruning basics.

The last Lyman Woods weeding day for 2011 is this Saturday, November 19, 8:00 a.m. until 10:30 a.m.

The Plant Sale Committee will meet December 14 at 7 p.m. at Caribou Coffee, 5100 Main Street, Downers Grove, IL. All are welcome to attend.

Monday, November 14, 2011

November Meeting

The DGOG meets this Wednesday, Nov. 16 at 7 p.m. in the meeting room at the Downers Grove Public Library, 1050 Curtiss St. The speaker will be Ron Zick of Wild Birds Unlimited talking about "Attracting Birds to Your Backyard." Lovely refreshments and lots of information will, as always, be available.

You are welcome to come at 6:30 p.m. and attend the DGOG board meeting.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Tasty Tomatoes and Good Advice



Downers Grove Organic Gardeners shared their best tomatoes, tastiest dishes and stories of the season at our Harvest Festival on Sept. 21. Sun Gold was voted the best-tasting tomato, with a Heirloom Yellow Brandywine coming in second.

Gina Pacheco discussed food dehydrating and proved that dried fruit and veggies make an awesome snack. We voted on the biggest and ugliest veggies and the best wildlife and plant photos.

Here is a link to the Mar-Duke Farms article the Mary Anne Badke mentioned.

And here is a link to the GMO sweet corn petition that Ron Nowicki mentioned.

Thanks to our members for keeping us updated and informed!

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Harvest Festival!

Every year we celebrate the end of gardening season at Harvest Festival. This year's event is at 7 PM Wednesday, September 21 at the Downers Grove Public Library.

You are invited to bring a dish to share as well as photos of your flowers, vegetables and wildlife. In addition, we will be hosting two contests. Bring a vegetable to compete for Best, Biggest, Ugliest or Most Unusual, or bring your favorite tomatoes for a taste test. We'll share our thoughts about the season as well as any information we've learned in our gardens this year. For those of you interested in preserving more of your harvest, there will also be a display of canning equipment.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

A Night at the Nowickis

DGOG President Emeritus Vicki Nowicki will host us in her yard on Wednesday August 31 from 6:30- 8:30pm. She will give us a tour of her gorgeous gardens and then lead us in a discussion on Autumn Gardening! Bring your gardening questions!

Vicki has gardened organically for many years and is a much sought-after speaker. She and her husband Ron have a landscaping business, and Vicki is the creator of Liberty Gardens.

Vicki lives at 907 Summit, Downers Grove, near Maple and Main Streets.

Please RSVP to Cathy Hlohowskyj by Monday August 29th at ihorcathy@sbcglobal.net. Guests are welcome!

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Rain Barrel Question

We were asked a question about rain barrels, and Jim Kleinwachter with the Conservation Foundation provided an answer.

Question: During a heavy rain a rain barrel's diverter can't handle the excess water and it overflows. Can you recommend a model or refer me to someone who is satisfied with what they have purchased?

Answer: Our rain barrels are repurposed olive/pickle barrels. They are easily adapted for larger overflow, and we have an upgraded model that comes with a large overflow (size of sump pump hose). We also carry an Aquascape model that is larger (75 gallon) and has a large overflow pipe built in the center. We also carry a special downspout diverter that will send water down the downspout when the barrel is full.

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Plant a Row for the Hungry

A note from Gina Pacheco:

A reminder about Plant a Row for the Hungry service project. Please donate any extra produce to any local food pantry (locations listed below). I'm hoping we can donate 100 lbs again this year. Weigh your produce and let me know me know the amount by calling, e-mail or telling me at our next meeting.

THE PEOPLE’S RESOURCE CENTER
649 BLACKHAWK (OFF PLAZA)
WESTMONT, IL 60559
630-682-5402
WEDNESDAY & SATURDAY 8:30 TO 11:15
THURSDAY 5:30PM TO 7:30PM

DOWNERS GROVE TOWNSHIP FISH
4340 PRINCE STREET
DOWNERS GROVE, IL. 60515
630-964-7776
MONDAYS & FRIDAYS 9 TO 11:30

WEST SUBURBAN COMMUNITY PANTRY
6809 HOBSON VALLEY DRIVE, UNIT118
WOODRIDGE, IL. 60517
630-512-9921
MONDAY THRU SATURDAY 9 TO 2

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Will County Master Gardeners Walk

This walk will feature nine private Master Gardener gardens plus four public gardens throughout Will County. Seven of these gardens will feature special “teachable moments” (educational vignettes) offering tips and techniques that you can use in your own gardens.

For tickets or more information, call the Will County Extension Office, 815-727-9296, or go to this link: Will County Master Gardeners Garden Walk.

Friday, July 15, 2011

Heritage Prairie Farm Visit Cancelled

We had hoped to go on an outing to Heritage Prairie Farm for Wednesday Pizza Night on July 20th. However, I just got an e-mail that they have suspended Pizza Night until further notice, due to rebuilding of the patio area. So, unfortunately we will have to cancel for next week!

Wishing you happy and healthy gardening,

Cathy Hlohowskyj

Monday, July 11, 2011

DG Library Weeding Service Project

Let's pull together against bindweed!

As part of our service projects, members of the Downers Grove Organic Gardeners have agreed to weed around the Downers Grove Public Library. We'll meet at the south entrance of the library at 5 p.m. and work until 7 p.m. on Wednesday, July 13. Please bring your own clean tools -- we don't want to spread disease from one location to another. Hand sanitizer for your tools and digits, leaf bags and water will be provided.

FYI to our clumsy members: Should you be injured while volunteering for the library, you will not be covered by library insurance, but rather by your own health insurance. Gardeners must be 18 years or older.

If it rains, weeding will be cancelled.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Get Tickets for Hope Among the Flowers

Bridge Communities' annual benefit, Hope Among the Flowers, is Saturday, July 9 from 9:30 AM to 3:30 PM. All proceeds benefit the Downers Grove First United Methodist Church Bridge Board in providing transitional housing and mentoring for homeless families. Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 on July 9. Buy tickets at Dream Interiors, 5122 Main Street (630.810.1389); Phillip's Flowers & Gifts, 1512 Ogden Avenue (630.969.9300); Community Bank of Downers Grove, 1111 Warren Avenue (630.968.4700); First United Methodist Church, 1032 Maple Avenue (630.968.7120) or online.

See Mike Nowak at The Growing Place

Mike Nowak, radio garden show personality, will discuss some easy ways to make your garden more sustainable and attractive to beneficial wildlife at 1 PM Saturday, June 25 at The Growing Place in Naperville.

Monday, June 13, 2011

June Meeting

Join us for a seminar on Edible Landscaping at our June 15 meeting. Speakers are Jeanne Pinsof Nolan, project manager for Chicago’s Green City Market and designer of The Edible Gardens, a 5,000 square foot vegetable garden for children at Lincoln Park Zoo, and Jacqueline Kotz, landscape architect. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the Downers Grove Public Library, 1050 Curtiss Street.

The flower of the month is swamp milk weed. There will also be information about staying safe in the garden. As always, please continue to bring your favorite recipes, garden tips and quotes to the meetings.

The DGOG board meets at 6:30 p.m. and anyone is welcome to come early to attend the board meeting. DGOG membership is $20 for individuals and $30 for families.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Summer Garden Gate

The Summer 2011 edition of the Garden Gate newsletter is here!

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Library Weeding on June 8

As part of our service projects, members of the Downers Grove Organic Gardeners have agreed to weed around the Downers Grove Public Library. We'll meet at the south entrance of the library at 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. on Wednesday, June 8. Please bring your own clean tools -- we don't want to spread disease from one location to another. Hand sanitizer for your tools and digits, leaf bags and water will be provided.

FYI, to our clumsy members: Should you be injured while volunteering for the library, you will not be covered by library insurance, but rather by your own health insurance. Gardeners must be 18 years or older.

If it rains, weeding will be cancelled.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Eye on the Good Guys

Julie Moore gets ready to talk about good and bad bugs at our May meeting, held at the Lyman Woods Interpretive Center. Our June meeting will feature Jeanne Pinsof Nolan and Jacqueline Kotz talking about Edible Landscaping. Also, watch for information about our July field trip.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Join us on Facebook

We have an updated Facebook group page, so if you are a Facebook user, you can join us there. We post the same information there as on the blog, so you are not missing anything if you just read our news here.

Monday, May 16, 2011

May Meeting

Our May 18 meeting will be a joint event with Downers Grove Park District at Lyman Woods. Julie Moore of the U of I Extension Service will talk about "Good Guys, Bad Guys: Learn to Recognize Good Bugs from Bad Bugs."

Meet at 7 PM at the Lyman Woods Interpretive Center, 901 31st Street, Downers Grove. Feel free to bring guests.

Enjoy a Few Plant Sale Photos!





Monday, May 9, 2011

A Message From Nancy Carlson, Plant Sale Organizer

I sincerely thank you to all who signed up to help, and thank you to all of the people who responded when we asked for additional volunteers. Thanks to all of you, we were able to have the tables set up and ready to go well before 9 am and the checkout line was kept to a minimum all day.

The entire sale went very smoothly. Every one's help was greatly appreciated. It's nice to know that the community supports what we are doing, and that we can offer them such a nice array of organic plants and good service. My only disappointment was that we ran out of plants! I hope that everyone was able to get all of the plants they wanted, and I hope that everyone had fun!!!

Nancy

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Plant Sale on Saturday, May 7

Join us this Saturday, May 7, from 9 AM to 3 PM at Hummer Park, 4833 Fairview Avenue in Downers Grove, for our annual plant sale. We'll have annuals, perennials, vegetables and herbs.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Native Plants seminar

Join Jim Kleinwachter, Land Preservation Specialist for The Conservation Foundation,for an informative seminar about using native plants and water conserving practices to create yards that are more sustainable. Helpful tips and informative hand-outs will help you to get started with choosing plants and designing your planting beds. Native plants will be available for purchase. A sample rain barrel from The Conservation Foundation will be on display and pre-orders will be taken for the May 14th rain barrel pickup at Cypress Cove Family Aquatic Park.

Date: Wednesday, April 27
Time: 7:00-8:00 p.m.
Location: Woodridge Park District Community Center, 2600 Center Drive, Woodridge
Fee: FREE

Register in person at the Community Center, by phone (630) 353-3300 or by e-mail at info@woodridgeparks.org. Please provide your name and phone number.

Friday, April 15, 2011

April Meeting Seeds and Herbs

Bring your seeds for seed exchange during our next meeting at 7 PM Wednesday, April 20. This month's featured herbs are dill and catnip. Also, please continue to bring your favorite recipes, garden tips and quotes to the meetings.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Butterfly Garden Weeding

Meet at the William F. Sherman, Jr. Interpretive Center at Lyman Woods on Saturday, April 16, from 8 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. to weed the butterfly garden.

Monday, April 11, 2011

April Meeting

Join the Downers Grove Organic Gardeners on Wednesday, April 20 at 7 PM at the Downers Grove Public Library, 1050 Curtiss St., to hear radio host and gardening expert Mike Nowak explain how keep your lawn truly green.

Mike Nowak is host of the "Mike Nowak Show" Sundays on WCPT. Prior to that, he was host of "Let's Talk Gardening" on WGN. He knows that people love their lawns, so he preaches the gospel of organic lawn care. Most consumers are concerned about the environment when they buy lawn and garden products, and yet they are afraid of what their neighbors will think if their lawn does not look like a golf course fairway. Nowak will talk about ways to ditch the expensive chemicals and keep your lawn healthy.

Friday, April 1, 2011

Gardenology Festival

The Gardenology Festival will be held rain or shine on May 14, 2011 between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Third and State Streets in Geneva, Illinois. For more information visit http://gardenologygenevail.com.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

March Meeting

The Downers Grove Organic Gardeners welcome Robin Di Iorio to our Wednesday, March 16 meeting. Di Iorio of The Green End Goes Up will present the "basic recipe" for the perfect container which includes the do's and don'ts of container design and creating window-box displays and mini-gardens.

The meeting will also feature a seed exchange. As you plan your garden, look through your seeds and bring extras to the meeting. This month's featured herb is parsley. Also, please continue to bring your favorite recipes, garden tips and quotes to the meetings.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Erin Tuttle Teaching Cool Weather Gardening Class

Erin Tuttle, a certified naturalist and educator (and DGOG member) will discuss how to plant your gardens in cool weather to enjoy an earlier harvest.

"All too often we don't wake up our vegetable plots until Memorial Day, when the garden centers sell us tomatoes and peppers. But what about the kale and cabbages, broccoli, lettuce, beets, chard, arugula (and the list goes on!)? Break out of the warm-season vegetable box and learn how to grow the food that will fill your plates long before the tomatoes and peppers."

Date and Time: Sunday, March 13, 1:30 - 2:30 p.m.

Location: 6625 Greene Road, Woodridge, IL

Fee: $25 per person

RSVP: 630-667-6516

Friday, February 18, 2011

Plant Sale Committee Meeting

All club members are again invited to join us in planning for the annual Plant Sale. The date for our second plant sale committee meeting is Wednesday, March 2 at 7 p.m. at Caribou Coffee, 5100 Main St., Downers Grove.

Everyone is welcome - Hope to see you there!

Nancy Carlson

Monday, February 14, 2011

Slow Food Chicago programs

Vicki Nowicki recommends these upcoming programs by Slow Food Chicago:

Small Fruits for the Home Garden
Presented by Rick Belding, Horticulturist, Curator of Fruits, Vegetables at The Chicago Botanic Garden
February 20, 2011 at 2:00 PM, Planter's Palette Nursery

Rick is a master at growing fruits. Homeowners will learn which fruits are easier to grow in a home setting so they can expand the array of diversity available to them in their own backyard. The Planter's Palette staff has generously offered to allow us time to come early and look around and they are going to set up a fresh Winter market for us in the greenhouse!!

Come prepared to enjoy treats baked with fruits that could be grown home gardens.

Cost is $20.00

Click Here to Purchase Tickets

Organic Gardening in Small Spaces
Presented by Bill Shores, Soil Scientist, Horticulturist
March 6, 2011 at 2:00 PM
The Morton Arboretum - Cudahy Auditorium

Bill Shores and has exceptional experience with small space gardening. With an extraordinary knowledge of soils and skill for food production, he is growing food for Chef Rick Bayless's three restaurants in Chicago both in Rick's backyard on the rooftop of one of the Restaurants. In these spaces, he is producing pounds and pounds of greens and microgreens and more each week.

Cost is $25.00 which includes all-day admission to the Arboretum

Click Here to Purchase Tickets

Thursday, February 10, 2011

February Meeting

The Downers Grove Organic Gardeners welcome Bill Scheffler to their Wednesday, Feb. 16 meeting. Scheffler will discuss "Why Every Gardener Should Be Using Yogurt, Vinegar, Molasses, and Gypsum." He is the owner of Pure Prairie Organics, a natural lawn and tree care company active in the western suburbs for 17 years. Scheffler is an advocate of using natural products to maintain our gardens. Be prepared to ask a lot of questions.

The meeting will also feature a seed exchange. As you plan your garden, look through your seeds and bring extras to the meeting. This month's featured herb is mint. Also, please continue to bring your favorite recipes, garden tips and quotes to the meetings.

The Downers Grove Organic Gardeners meet on the third Wednesday of the month in January, February, March, April, June, July, September, October and November at 7 p.m. in the Downers Grove Public Library. The board meets at 6:30 p.m. and you are welcome to come early to attend the board meeting. Membership is $20 for individuals and $30 for families.

The Downers Grove Organic Gardeners are committed to raising the awareness of organic gardening in our community and educating members about the benefits and methods of organic gardening and other environmentally sound practices.

Monday, January 24, 2011

One Man's Trash is Another's Trellis

Aggie Nemzhow, known as the "Tomato Lady," became the "Trellis Lady" last Wednesday night, showing DGOG how to turn flea market finds, Amnesty Day rescues, leftovers from construction projects and stuff in the corners of the garage into structures for plants and art for the garden. Aggie also inaugurated our new meeting night, the third Wednesday of the month, by drawing a great crowd.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Attention Beekeepers

The UK branch of Timber Press is publishing a book on urban beekeeping, and they'd like it to cover the United States as well. Here's the pitch:

London beekeeper Luke Dixon is looking for the stories of city beekeepers in the USA to profile in his book. If you're interested in sharing information and photos of your town or city hive, please get in touch with him at: Luke@urbanbeekeeping.co.uk. All those featured will receive a free copy of the book.

So if you're a city beekeeper, or if you have any resources to suggest to Luke, please do get in touch with him directly.

Thanks to member Colleen Metzger for this info!

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

January Meeting (NOTE NEW DAY!)

Now is the time to begin collecting items for your 2011 garden. Join us as we hear about Trellis Construction and Found Objects in the Garden on our new meeting day, the third Wednesday of the month. Aggie Nehmzow, aka Tomato Lady, wields an axe, pry bar, and a variety of hand tools to demonstrate how to fashion attractive, durable, and versatile trellises from split rail fencing, founds objects, and inexpensive materials. Her demonstration will focus on trellises to fit the plants. Resources for obtaining materials and designs will be presented along with construction details.

The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, January 19 at the Downers Grove Public Library.