About the Community Garden Club of Meredith

Presidents Message

CG Club of Meredith Celebrates 73 Years 1951~ 2024

It is not so hard to believe this year that the end of this week brings the month of March. We are seeing more blue sky, hearing drips of snow melt from rooftops and feeling just a bit of warmth from the sun as we head outdoors. Okay- agree that the last may be a bit of a stretch.

While not being big college basketball fans, the concept of March Madness brings to mind so many ‘Mad’ and ‘Frenzied’ gardening possibilities coming our way as spring approaches. Setting aside seed catalogs now that this season’s orders have been placed. Starting seed sets indoors will begin soon. Watching for patches of lawn to grow bigger as they show themselves amid the snowfall remnants. Looking for the open sign at Cackleberries to grab a happy pot of pansies. And yes, anticipating the mess of mud season is also on our horizon.

While many see mud season as an utter mess to their floors, cars and their pet’s feet, in reality, it is a sign of warmth. The ground is thawing once again so that we may get outside and toil in the soil for another growing season. Watching weather apps to monitor overnight temperatures and measuring soil warmth with a thermometer is an exciting kind of madness unto itself as we begin to count down the days till we can get pea seeds in the ground or whatever early plants may suit your fancy. While many of us are still haunted by the late deep frost we had last May, it has yet to stall thoughts of planning and anticipating what is to come this spring and summer.

The madness of anticipation is hitting fever pitch with the flurry of activity that has been happening behind the scenes of the Garden Club these past few weeks. Sandy Dodd has been working diligently finalizing our membership to the New Hampshire Federation of Garden Clubs. They have an annual meeting coming at the end of May with information for attendance forthcoming. Sue Mangers who has taken over as club treasurer has been pulling together the clubs finances and we hope to create an annual budget this year from her efforts. The program committee (Roberta Gasco, Carol Gerken, Charlene Malek, Loren McCabe, Pat McFarlin and Christine Wright) have been hard at work putting together a varied list of activities with floral arranging, field trips and a few historical presentations on the horizon. The yearbook for 2024 is underway and once again being formatted by Elena Larson. Carol Gerken has been working to seek out sponsorships and ads for the yearbook from local businesses. We hope you will take note of these in the yearbook and remember to shop local when possible. We look forward to reconnecting with you all in the coming months. Till then, read on about some upcoming dates and activities on our Events page.

Loren and Sandy

Co-Presidents 2024

Board Meeting dates

Board meetings for the 2024 year will be held the second Tuesday of every month in the Historic Room of the Library beginning at 1 pm.

CHARITABLE WORKS

This year we will continue past charitable works with ‘ Pennies in the Pines’ and ‘Socktober’. One new opportunity we would like to present to members is supporting the Meredith Library’s Seed Library. While this program is still putting some final touches together, we would like members to consider making contributions. There will be a box available for you to donate seed packets for the library at all meetings this year. Seeds are viable for multiple years and if you find you have a few unused packets or even partial packets you do not plan on using this upcoming season, this is a great opportunity to help the library grow their stock. If you would like to consider picking up an extra seed packet or two while you are out and about to contribute that would be most generous. The library will be hosting a seed starting demonstration given by our co-president, Loren McCabe, on Wed, April 10th at 630pm to help promote both the library’s new program and that of the Community Garden Club of Meredith.

WE NEED YOUR INPUT!

While many of us enjoy time spent in our own gardens, we all know it is nice to get out and visit and tour others, be it private or public. If you have a favorite garden near or far in the New England Area that you enjoy visiting, please share a name, location and website link if possible. Together we can accrue a list of places members in the group may want to visit either on their own or with a fellow member or two.

Please email your ideas to lorenmccabe@gmail.com. A master list will be compiled and available on the website as well as at meetings.

Dues: Please fill out the form below with your dues payment of $25.

Your support is always appreciated. Please return the form below to

MGC, PO Box 377, Meredith, NH 03253 to assure your name is in the yearbook. Thank you.

In gardening friendship,

Loren McCabe & Sandy Dodd, C0- Presidents

Name:_____________________________________________________

Address:___________________________________________________

Phone:______________________________Cell:___________________

Email:_____________________________________________________

Dues: $25

Donation:$___________

Total enclosed:$_______

Supporting Our Community

Local nonprofit organizations the Community Garden Club of Meredith has supported with donations from fundraisers:

Altrusa Festival of Trees
Town of Meredith-Laverack Nature Trail at Hawkins Brook
Page Pond and Forest Stewardship Fund
Lakes Region Conservation Trust
GMP Archie Statue Project
Meredith Conservation Commission
Meredith, Center Harbor and Moultonborough Libraries
Loon Preservation Committee