The garden club met at Trisha Puckett’s greenhouses (Greenery’s) on September 11^th, 2008. Trisha demonstrated how to pick fall mums and which kind have a better chance of over-wintering if planted before Oct. 1, 2008. She said that if you really wanted mums to winter-over, they need to be planted before May 1^st. Trisha also showed us how to store geraniums and New Guinea impatients. Greenery’s has recently received their license to sell retail so we can now visit Tricia for our garden needs.

Our meeting was held in one of the greenhouse while it was lightly raining outside. It was a very peaceful setting with the sound of the rain on the plastic covering and open door looking out over all the mums and grasses.

Deb Bauer gave the treasurer’s report; we have $1,312.04 in our account as of 9-11-08.

We discussed changing the price of the honey hoes and voted to charge $20.00. Mary Ann Swihart volunteered to pick up the honey hoes the next time we order since she goes to Marshall, Michigan 2 to 3 times a year. This will save us in gas money and will keep the cost down for the hoes.

We agreed to meet on Saturday, September 27^th to remove the petunias in the pots uptown and replace them with mums. The North Manchester Tourism Committee agreed to pay for the mums. We will also help tie up the corn shocks in preparation for the Harvest Fest October 4^th.

We would like to have a booth at the Harvest Fest this year but were not certain we could get enough garden club members to volunteer due to various prior commitments. Danna will email asking for volunteers. The cost for the booth will be $10.00.

We discussed irrigation of the Eel River Gardens and the various problems that might decide if it will possible. The town will boar under the parking lot from the Lutheran Church spigot location to the center garden and then to the Main Street garden. They could hit cement from old buildings that still remain and if this happens, we will not be able to irrigate. The town will begin drilling in a few weeks. We will not be able to irrigate the far east side because it is known that the cement is still there. If the town does not hit cement drilling to the other two sections, Scott’s Landscaping will charge $1,417.15 to finish the work. Scott’s will allow us to pay half now and the rest when we can raise the funds. We will decide how to raise the rest of the funds when we know that irrigation is possible.

The meeting adjourned at 9:15 p.m.