Feb 7,2018 Exploring Our Roots - part 1 of 3 part series on plants.

 Fundy Gardeners Meeting February 7th, 2018 -7 PM St. James the Less Church, 1760 Rothesay Rd. 

• Speaker:  Dr. Kate Frego 

• Topic:   "Exploring Our Roots" - that's plants, not ancestral! 

This will be Part 1 of a 3 part series presented by Kate Frego, with part 2 in November, and part 3 in 2019. 

. 

•  In place of our Display Table Theme:  last month Janet Colwell kindly brought in paper whites for us to plant and enjoy. So Steve's asking you to bring photos (up to 6 on a thumb drive) of your paper whites in bloom - or any other bulbs you've forced. Let's enjoy some colour while not stressing our plants by bringing them to a meeting on a cold winter's night! 

• 50/50 Draw 

2018 Memberships available: $20 single; $30 couple. REMEMBER - to win a door prize you need a 2018 #. 

• Gardening Bags - many years ago Fundy Gardeners ordered rugged canvas garden tote bags - see photo. Pat McGill has tracked down the maker and we will have 19 bags for sale at Wednesday's meeting at a cost of $15/bag. I can share that these bags are wonderful - so strong and will stand alone for easy filling with weeds, harvest or anything else you can think of. Size is 15 inches high and 48 inches in diameter 

 

• Ordering Mushroom spawn - I received this note from Jamie Floyd - if interested in ordering please contact Jamie directly: 

Time to Think About Ordering Mushroom Spawn for the Spring 2018 Season!  Anyone who may be interested in growing shiitake, oyster or reishi mushrooms on hardwood logs this spring, please send me an email (jfloyd@snbwc.ca) or give me a call at the SNB office (433-9860), or on my cell (432-1278).  I will be ordering 2.5kg bags of loose sawdust spawn and the cost this year will be $35.00/bag.  The company making the inoculation tools would like to know very soon how many tools to produce this season, so I would like to have the order completed by February 15.  So please get back to me as soon as possible.  

The bags of spawn will be shipped in early May and will be $35 for spawn, $65 for inoculation tool and $17 for cheese wax.  The hardwood logs must be cut before the buds burst (winter cut wood is the best) and should be in 3-4 foot lengths and ~4"-6" in diameter.  You will need around 20-25, 3'-4'  logs and the denser/harder the wood the better (i.e. oak, beech, sugar maple, ironwood and yellow birch).  White birch, grey birch and even alders, will work very well but their lifespan and overall production may not be as good as the tolerant or denser hardwoods. 

 Once the logs are inoculated, they should produce mushrooms 2-3 times/year (summer through till early fall) for up to 5 years!  They won't produce any (or very few) this fall, as it takes one full year for the mushroom mycelium to invade the log, mature and build up enough strength, to be capable of fruiting/producing mushrooms. For further details and growing info, don't hesitate to get in touch with me.  I have attached the inoculation instructions to provide you with some further details on the process.  Regards, Jamie Floyd  PLEASE TAKE NOTE: 

• Wear your 2018 name tag as we have many new members and this is how we get to know one another. 
• As the January minutes will not be read at the meeting, please follow the link to access them. 
• In the event of stormy weather and you're wondering if the meeting has been cancelled, please check either our Fundy Gardener Blog  - fundygardeners.blogspot.com  or the Fundy Gardener Facebook page. 

If the meeting has been canceled it will be posted at both sites by 6 PM. 

• As last month everyone seemed to enjoy the popcorn, and no one signed up to bring treats in February - there will be crunchy snacks and cold drinks once again.