Hello My Dear Gardening Friends,

My roses are still blooming, and tonight I saw the remains of your gardens at the Lakefield Horticultural Society: marigolds, sedums, and a host of other goodies. The frost has still missed us here, although I hear that it is snowing in Elliot Lake - just when I was considering going to live there!!!

As you know I am a jazz nut and as I write this I am listening to the most wonderful music on C.B.C 2. It is still a miracle to me that I turn this little knob and music pours forth – as to the television I am still bewildered but very grateful for all that I am able to watch in my own home – there are some very good gardening shows too.

Remembrance Day approaches and I would like to share a poem with you - it was written by Freddy’s friend – Freddy was my beloved Jack’s brother and was one of the first Canadians to die on D-Day. He was hit in the water as he left the landing craft. When his things were returned to his mother, there was a crucifix amongst his belongings; this was a mystery until quite recently. I heard last Remembrance Day that a young priest had gone along the beach and administered the last rites to the dead and dying – I hope that he was with Freddy as he died. Of course Freddy as a Jew would not have been carrying a crucifix – so I thank this kind French stranger.

It is still fall, and we can purchase wonderful pumpkins and squash. As you know I am a book-a-holic and I found a great book called just that, “The Squash”. The following recipe was published in a cookery book called “The Modern Italian Cook” published in Livorno in 844! Wow that makes you think does it not??? The recipe is for:

Take some white squash, clean it and cut into slices half a finger thick, then into tiny dice, put these into a casserole with a good piece of butter, letting it fry over a low fire until it has taken on a fine golden colour. Then chop some onion very fine, with parsley, basil, celery, thyme, a little garlic, and put it all into the squash, stirring well, and adding two cloves, water as needed, fish juice, or failing that, butter or oil, or the one and the other together. Let it boil for an hour, then scatter on top some fingers of toast or fried bread done in butter or oil according to taste.

There is another recipe by Jean Marie Parmentier published in 1897 (150 years later). Strangely enough, apart from the addition of 4 cups of milk the recipe is about the same!!!!!! Soup in 2005?? Try ¼ cup/600g of squash, rind and seeds removed. 13oz/50g butter, 2 onions, 1 glass fresh cream, 4 tbsp of chopped toasted almonds, the yolk of 1 egg, 6 cups capon or chicken stock, salt and pepper Nothing really changes does it?

I promised you a calendar of things to do in November:
• When the ground has finally frozen, spread your winter mulch (especially on the roses) that you hilled up earlier.
• Wrap your evergreens with burlap, never plastic tarps. Protect fragile shrubs and trees from snow, sun and wind damage.
• Protect trees from animals with tree guards and rodent repellent.
• Drain hoses and sprinklers, store in either a shed or a basement.
• Empty your pond or at least remove any leaves that are floating.
• Put boards over the pond so that you don’t fall in! When it is covered in snow neither you nor your pets will see it – no you will not remember just where it is!!!!
• Hang up your bird feeders and fill with a good selection of seeds, sunflower seeds and mix some peanuts together so that you will have an abundance of birds to keep you company through the winter months.
• Take cuttings from African violets and other Gesneriads.
• Clean garden storage area. Clean sharpen and oil hand tools before storing them away. Rub the wooden handles with linseed oil. • Start paper white narcissus and other bulbs to force indoors.
• Store any root vegetables, carrots, beets, leeks etc in sand and place in the cold room for the winter months feasts.
• For 2 cycle and 4 cycle engines, change the oil and replace the filters.
• Add gasoline conditioner to the fuel tanks and any stored fuel.
• Clean and sharpen lawn mowers and string trimmers.
• This is a good time to take your small engines in for a tune up – in the spring you will have to “take a number” to get service. A gift certificate to get this done makes a wonderful Christmas gift, especially for a senior trying to get by on a single pension (I wonder if my family are reading this!!!!).
I should not say that for due to the kindness of a sister-in-law and grandsons I now have a new car. A dear friend has given me hers - a red hatch back – right now it is in the garage having a new radiator, snow tires, and other odds and ends fixed. Thank you so very much!

Rhubarb is a favourite of mine! It grows without any fuss or attention, and because of this most plants are overgrown and overcrowded. Thinning and a division of the roots should be done in early November before the ground becomes frozen solid. To do this you must lift and set aside every second plant, being very careful to dig sufficiently far from the crown so that most of the roots are preserved. Using a sharp spade, split the roots of the plants that are still in the ground. Remove one half of the plant and place it in the depression left, where the in-between roots had been. Pack the soil firmly around the roots of the field plants.

The large root-clumps that were taken from the ground should not be thrown away. Collect them and place them in a handy spot at the edge of the garden where they can be easily recovered in the winter. These roots can be forced to produce a supply of fresh rhubarb that will be enjoyed during January and February. Do not give them any protection for they must stay frozen until you bring them indoors. Without the shock of below freezing temperatures, the eyes will remain dormant and they will not respond to forcing.

In normal years, the roots can be taken into a warm basement in January, packed side by side on boards on the floor. You can scatter some soil amongst the roots to keep them moist. Water thoroughly, be careful not to over water or the rhubarb will be soft and tasteless.

The diffused light of the average cellar is just fine, or if you place the roots behind a curtain of burlap, the petioles will become strawberry coloured and the leaf blades will not develop, which is what you want to happen. About seven weeks after you bring the roots indoors, the rhubarb will be ready for cutting. If you bring the roots in at intervals, you can have the fruit until around the end of March. My grandfather used to do this and we had fresh rhubarb for Christmas!!!!

Hawthorn’s common name is May, the month in which its wonderful creamy white flowers appear. It is happy on hedgerows, and tolerates stony, shallow soil, as well as surviving droughts. It makes a very useful hedging plant.

Folklore tells us that the Hawthorne should not be brought into the house. Anyone who does is bringing in bad luck or sickness to the family - my grandmother firmly believed this. Even simply sitting underneath the tree was thought/believed to be dangerous.

In Cornwall they thought that the pixies who lived in the branches would/will take you into their power, but in other parts of England, Hawthorn was believed to protect you from evil spirits and spells. Branches of Hawthorn were tied to the outside of homes, stables and barns to repel the pixies coming to steal the milk and also to provide a protection against witches. Hopefully you all had a May tree in your gardens last Monday, when the Trick or Treaters were out in force.

If you have not yet purchased your tulip bulbs, look for those beautiful double ones that look like peonies. I am including a few tips to help you get the most from your bulbs.

Tulip time can vary depending where the plants are placed. Bulbs in a warm, sheltered spot will flower earlier than ones planted in cooler, more exposed locations. Plant double tulips in early October, but it is not too late, in fact I prefer to plant my tulips when the weather has turned cooler, then they will not start to grow. Ideally, plant Double Late tulips in wind-sheltered areas, as their heavy flowers can be blown over by strong winds and rains. Try either staking them, or use a tomato cage or peony ring to hold them up. Double Late tulips do very well in areas with cold winters and late springs. They are even hardy to zone 2 and 3.

Many novel tulip varieties, including most doubles, have been developed from natural mutations known as sports. A sport often goes on to produce more sports, so that you can end up with clusters of tulips of similar height that flower at the same time but have a range of different colours and markings. Many of us leave our tulip bulbs in the ground until they decay and no longer produce flowers. You can prolong the show in the garden for several years more if you dig them up every spring after the leaves have yellowed and died down. Dig them up, separate the bulbs and any offsets, store them in a cool, dry place until next fall, and then just replant them – I know it is a lot of work, but bulbs are getting more and more expensive. They are still very reasonable to purchase after all look at the pleasure they give us. It is worth giving up a few “Starbucks” for them.

I have a number of small goldfish, from my pond – if anyone would like them please give me a call – I have two aquariums on the go and I really do not have the room for them – it is throw out time!

Goodnight and blessings to us all – we are free and able to come and go as we please, thanks to all those wonderful young men, some teenagers, some not much older – who went to war to protect us – dying , far away from this beautiful country, buried far from their families and friends. Remember them on the 11th.

Goodnight and blessings to us all – we are free and able to come and go as we please, thanks to all those wonderful young men, some teenagers, some not much older – who went to war to protect us – dying , far away from this beautiful country, buried far from their families and friends. Remember them on the 11th.

Good gardening, happy reading – hats, gloves, rakes, sunscreen, warm jackets and goodbye to Bill who is leaving Lakefield on the 14th of this month (he too is a veteran) -we will miss you.

Lovingly, Beryl