Somerville Garden Club

Ditch the Dirt: Simple DIY Hydroponic Growing

Growing crops without soil is much easier than most people can imagine! With some simple, inexpensive equipment crops can be grown indoors all year around. In this lecture, we will discuss how hydroponic gardening works, and look at a few simple systems that can be built with materials easily available at big-box stores and on the internet. Plans and resources will be shared with participants so that they begin their own adventures into hydroponic growing.

All Somerville Garden Club meetings are free and open to the public. 7-9pm.

Meetings are held the at the Tufts Administration Building, (TAB), 167 Holland Street, second floor, wheelchair accessible. Parking is available for a small fee, and the building is a ten-minute walk from the Davis Square MBTA stop.

If you are interested in attending virtually, but have not received the meeting link via email, or are not a SGC member, you can email info@somervillegardenclub.org for the link.

Gardening Beyond the Horizontal Plane – Planted Walls and Inclines

Planting the vertical plane can add drama to a garden space than a hedge of possibilities. Planting a steep slope is more dynamic than a wall. Horticulturist and Landscape Designer Warren Leach will explore green walls and ramparts in the landscape.  He will cover small spaces as well as vertical spaces. He will show their construction and design application in the garden as well as the plants that inhabit the vertical plane. He will talk about conditions, soils and plant selections and show images of examples.

Warren Leach is the owner of Tranquil Lake Nursery, a prominent grower of Daylilies, Iris, and distinctive perennials and woody plants. He is a passionate plant collector, nurseryman, horticulturist and landscape designer. He received an award from the Rhode Island Nursery and Landscape Association for his ornamental vegetable garden at Brigham Hill Farm in N. Grafton, MA, images of which are archived at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. He has also received awards for his residential landscape design from the National Landscape Association for Residential Landscape Design, the Massachusetts Horticultural Society for his displays at the N.E. Spring Flower Show in 2010, and the Elisabeth and Roger Swain Award for his design and execution at the Rhode Island Spring Flower and Garden Show in 2010. He has taught horticulture and landscape design at the University of Rhode Island, Brown University Learning Community, the R.I. School of Design Continuing Education, and is a frequent instructor at the Arnold Arboretum. His book on the Winter Garden is soon to be published.

All Somerville Garden Club meetings are free and open to the public. 7-9pm.

Meetings are held the at the Tufts Administration Building, (TAB), 167 Holland Street, second floor, wheelchair accessible. Parking is available for a small fee, and the building is a ten-minute walk from the Davis Square MBTA stop.