Rotten Apples At The Community Garden

Up until now, the garden was a peaceful sanctuary. Locals and visitors could walk among the beds, admiring an amazing array of herbs, veggies and flowers, including a 15 foot high sunflower which kept watch over the beds last year. But  two recent vandal attacks have gardeners worried.

From garden organizer Sharon Piper:

I have been in contact with Superintendent Marnell and am considering filing a police report for the missing cages and the hose destruction. I will also ask the Chamber to consider posting a reward to find these creeps. Please don't lose heart; friends….the majority of people are good and honest. We just have to weed out the bad apples. I'll keep you posted as we work through this challenge.

Take care.

Members of the garden are urging Sharon to file a police report.

To repeat an oft spoken catch phrase, if you see something, say something. The local state police phone number is 518-962- 8235

Friends of Schroon Lake Library: 2013 House and Gaden Tour

By Pam Scavera

The 5th annual Friends of the Schroon Lake Library House and Garden Tour will take place on Sunday, July 28, 2013 from 12 noon– 4 pm, rain or shine.  All proceeds will benefit the Schroon Lake Public Library.  The tour offers visitors the opportunity to explore some of Schroon Lake’s most interesting properties:  beautiful and unusual gardens, lovely renovations, inviting wrap-around porches, stunning views and unique locations. This year’s tour will have something for everyone.

We are very excited again this year to offer tour participants free admission to a new presentation at the Boathouse following the tour from 4:00pm – 5:00pm by David Campbell.  David Campbell has been gardening in the Adirondacks for over 30 years.  After attending Cornell University for Landscape Architecture and Ornamental Horticulture he worked in the horticulture field in Lennox, MA then in Ithaca, Queensbury, and back to Schroon Lake, where with the help of his mother, Ginni, they have tested hundreds of perennials at their garden in Schroon Falls and at various friends and client’s properties from the foothills of the Adirondacks to the mountains around Keene.  His talk will focus on extremely hardy plants that are easy to maintain, are insect resistant and have long blooming seasons. For people unable to attend the tour and wishing to hear David Campbell’s presentation, admission will be $10.00 payable at the door of the Boathouse Theater at 3:45pm.

We will also be offering tour participants a lovely buffet brunch at Witherbees Restaurant prior to the tour.  Brunch will be served from 10am – 1pm.  Pre-registration is required.  The menu will be a fresh green salad, spinach and bacon quiche, French toast with Witherbee's own home-made maple syrup, chicken picatta, roasted salmon filet, pasta primavera in vodka sauce, herb roasted potatoes, fresh seasonal vegetables, seasonal fresh fruit platter, assorted pastries, muffins and bagels at a cost of $15 per person if you book before July 1st. It's $17 after that date. Please include the cost of brunch in your check. Your ticket/map/brochure will be your admission to the brunch as well as the tour.

We will be selling a limited number of tickets this year and last year’s tour sold out well in advance. Ticket sales are $20.00 and after June 30 the tickets will be $22.00. Tickets can be purchased at the Schroon Lake Library, (518) 532-7737.

Upside Gardening Down In A Most Unusual Setting

We have stared at this green post blankly in the coldest of months. So you can imagine our surprise that on a day trip to the Gore Mountain Ski Mountain today that we discovered the above crop hanging on a post at the 8 person Gondola, at the base of the Mountain.

Basking in the late afternoon sunshine -- between showers and sun -- it appears that this unusual planting, has a healthy, but short lived, future. Have you grown upside down tomatoes? What’s your experience been.

Share with your fellow gardeners!

Hot Compost

That steaming pile of compost in your backyard could be a fire hazard. That was the experience for a homeowner from Tupper Lake over the weekend. From the Associated Press:

Firefighters in Tupper Lake say a compost pile near a deck spontaneously caught fire over the weekend, destroying a house.

Franklin County Fire Investigator John Bashaw tells the Adirondack Daily Enterprise the fire erupted Saturday morning.

Compost piles break down organic material such as grass clippings, leaves and vegetable matter to make garden fertilizer and mulch. Heat is generated by the decomposition process.

Bashaw says the material can ignite when it reaches a certain temperature and he recommends keeping such piles away from structures.

No one was injured in the blaze. You can see a photo of the blaze from the Adirondack Daily Enterprise here.