Tower gardening explained

President Vic Palmer welcomed 28 members and guests to the Clifford and District Horticultural Society information meeting at the community hall in Clifford.

Guest speaker Stacey Black of Palmerston described “tower gardening” as ‘a vertical, aeroponic growing system which allows gardeners to grow vegetables, herbs, and flowers in less than three square feet indoors or outdoors.

Aeroponics is the process of growing plants in an air or mist environment. The best part is it uses no soil, said Black.

Black added that schools that adopted this growing system found ways to encourage healthy eating as well as educate the children on how to grow the food, harvest the produce, sell the produce, or donate to people in need in the community.

Grants are available to purchase the towers, but you will need a “champion of the tower” willing to maintain the growing project, Black explained.

Volunteers are a large component of the horticultural society. Canvassers go door to door in the spring to offer memberships. Last year, 322 people said yes to purchasing a $5 membership which helped the society earn a grant for $1,500.

Some of the members volunteer on the board and committees, plant and maintain the flowers, host yard and plant sales, tidy the village for Earth Day, organize flower shows and information meetings, make and distribute posters, and help children plant seedlings the same morning as the Rotary duck race.

Each information meeting offers a chance to learn about plants or plant life in other lands. The meetings are free and a light lunch is served.Blanche Freeman, Elsie Grummett, and Barb Harris prepared lunch.

Raffle prizes were won by Karen Dowler, Ann Bowen, Rita Measures, Blanche Freeman, Elaine Young, Georgie Hutchison, and Joyce McLean.