The North Thompson Valley Garden Club (NTVGC) held their monthly meeting on March 20 at the NT Volunteer Centre in Barriere.
Discussion covered several upcoming events, including the Seedy Saturday event to be held in Clearwater on April 16. This year, NTVGC will only have a display of information at the event, and will not be selling any seeds. However, the club has been asked to run the coffee concession, which would generate some funds for NTCGC.
Also discussed was the annual spring Plant Sale. It will be held on May 7, from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. next to the Barriere Fire Hall. Anyone with pots to spare are asked to drop them off at the Community Garden.
Members are asked to consider the Harvest Festival when planting their crops this spring. If every member were to plant one row just for NTVGC this would help immensely. Anyone wishing to do this is asked to bring a list of what they plan to plant for the club to the next meeting, so they don’t end up with everyone planting carrots.
After the meeting adjourned guest speaker Tanya Ridge, from Delta Irrigation in Kamloops, talked about drip irrigation and answered many questions. She explained the different components of an irrigation line - the different styles of hose; and the many different sprinkler and drip heads.
“The same line can have several different heads attached,” Tanya explained, “it all depends on what plants you are watering.”
Another good tip - “If you are running a long line, use low flow headers at the start of the line, medium flow headers near the middle, and wide open headers towards the end of the line. This will even out the pressure throughout the line.”
Tanya had samples of most of the different irrigation items that she spoke about, as well as a handy planning and installation guide booklet.
The next Garden Club meeting will be on April 17, 1 p.m. at the NT Volunteer Centre in the Ridge.