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Herb Gardening

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Side Shoots of the Amherst Garden Club and the Amherst Town Library invite you to attend a presentation on Herb Gardening by Sarah Marcoux from UNH from 7:00 to 8:00 pm at the Amherst Town Library. Register through the library.

This presentation is for those at any level of gardening who are interested in incorporating herbs into a new or established space as well as in containers. The presentation will address the propagation and growing habits of readily available herbs, as well as some which are harder to find. An overview of environmental conditions necessary to grow herbs will also be addressed and a list of culinary and historic medicinal herbs will be provided. The focus of this presentation will be on the use of culinary herbs.

Sarah Marcoux has been active as a NH Master Gardener since 2016. Her recent projects include planning and implementing school gardens. She also assists with the Free Seeds Project which provides seeds to New Hampshire schools, homeschool families, and education-based organizations.

Gardening for Habitat

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Feb 2 @ 6:30PM Zoom Presentation

PASSING ALONG THE WORD. . .Gardens are habitats, but the degree to which they support local wildlife depends on how we plant and manage them. Our plant choices determine who visits, stays, or passes by as creatures look for food, shelter, to nest, and lay eggs. When and how we decide to clean up leaves or cut plants back affects life cycles of salamanders, bees, birds, moths, and butterflies. Learn how to create habitat in the garden year-round, while balancing your workload and garden aesthetics.This program is co sponsored by The Friends of Faneuil Library and the Brighton Garden Club. Email Friendsoffanueil@gmail.com to request the Zoom link to the program.

Fourth of July 2021 Recap

~ Becky Stoughton ~ Leave a comment

Happy 4th of July! The Amherst Garden Club was well represented with our standing float, consisting of 13 big flowers, a handmade parade banner, and the AGC’s new “anniversary edition” banner. Also adorning the “float” were 8 garden club members, holding a gardening tool and waving to passers-by.

Our efforts were well rewarded with the top award of “Best Overall” and the General Moses Nichols Perpetual Challenge Memorial Trophy (otherwise known as “the milk can”)! A huge thanks to all who participated to represent the club: Kathy Brundage, Becky Stoughton, Jeanne Johnson, Maureen Minner, Julie Hoag, Nancy Head, Diane Merrithew & Joan Poltack.

The flowers, which were made by Joan and Diane, incorporated in the center a gold ball ornament that was repurposed from the Civic Gardens 50th anniversary decorations this past winter. The petals were made from craft foam that was heated, shaped, cut, and glued, with the tips brushed with gold paint to relate to the 50th Anniversary. The banner, made by Diane, points out the anniversary and our years of beautifying Amherst. Participants all wore a specially made headpiece that reads “Gardening Superstar”, since the parade theme this year was America’s Superstars. The names of civic gardens were written on paper leaves that bordered the front of our display.

We’d also like to congratulate long-time ACG member and former president Anne Krantz for being named Amherst Citizen of the Year for 2021! The rain held off and we had a lot of fun. Happy 4th of July!

Our first ever online Plant Sale starts tomorrow!

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A spring tradition that was sadly missed in 2020 is back this year! Our club members have dug and potted our usual high quality, locally grown perennials. You will be able to purchase these plants through the online shop at AmherstGardenClub.org starting at 8:30 AM on Wednesday, April 28. Shop early for best selection! The sale will close on May 1 at 12:00 noon.

Payment will be made online during our sale hours. Plan to pick up your order curbside on Saturday, May 8 at Wilkins School. (You will be notified of your pick-up time prior to May 8.) Our plant sale helpers will be wearing masks and will load your car with your purchases — contact-free, no need to get out of your car. We do not deliver or ship.

Please check out our Garden Tools & Relics, Houseplants, Hanging Baskets, and Mother’s Day Baskets and consider a purchase. We missed our Plant Sale in 2020 and hope you might add one of these specialty items to your cart as a way of supporting our club. Proceeds from the Plant Sale go back to the community. The money we raise pays for town beautification projects and educational programs that are free and open to the public.

Important note: Please remember that the plants you are purchasing are in the beginning stages of growth and will not look like the colorful, flowery photos you see online. But their root systems are strong, and they have been cared for over the past few weeks while growing in the pots. They will eventually turn into plants that look like the photos on the site if you plant them within a week of picking up your order and water them daily. 

Looking forward to seeing you online!

The Amherst Garden Club

Holiday Magic Awards

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“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas,” thanks to all of you who participated in the Holiday Magic event sponsored by The Amherst Garden Club, as well as the neighborhoods/streets that came together to produce very creative holiday decorations!

Below are our winners along with a tour handout that you can print for heading out to check out the lights. We have grouped the participating houses into three areas in Amherst, so take a different route each night! You won’t want to miss any of it, but please slow down and drive responsibly, as some of these areas will have more cars than usual.

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Adding Compost to Civic Gardens

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This year as part of the fall cleanup of the club’s Civic Gardens, several of the teams decided to apply a top dressing of compost to improve soil fertility and improve the health of the gardens next season. In addition to adding important nutrients, the addition of the compost will improve the ability of the soil to absorb and hold water, which is increasingly important given recent droughts and the lack of irrigation at most of the gardens.

Happily, the day that was selected for delivery of the compost was sunny and warm for November, and we had a great turnout of volunteers. It was definitely an illustration of the concept that “many hands make light work.” Thank you to all of the volunteers, particularly Patty Healy Osborne and her husband Ken for letting us use their truck to transport the compost (3 yards in total) saving the club delivery costs.

Can’t wait to see the results!