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By MAGGIE PETRUSHEVSKY The New Tanner The weatherman may be dithering about the season but area gardeners recognize the time of the year anyway. Master gardener and president of the Acton Hor- ticultural Society Max MacSween says it is indeed time to dig out the seeds, the potting mixtures and the seeding trays. "This is the right time for Lordy Lordy look Who's 40!! Love from the family starting most of the annuals you buy at the stores later in the season," he said in a re- cent interview. "Things like petunias and assylium, for instance. It's also the time for slipping geraniums and plants like that if you want to start them for planting out later." Those vegetable seedlings you buy, like tomatoes, don't need to get into the ground until mid April, however. Since they. take about six weeks to reach appropriate planting out size, you don't want to start them earlier or they will be spindly by the time you are ready to put them outside. For beginners in the gar- dening hobby he recom- mends trays with plastic tops that create their own green- house. He also suggests buy- ing a good planting medium from a nursery because it will labeled with its nutrient mix- tures as well as being steri- lized so as not to contaminate your sprouting seedlings. While you might think you could dig up some dirt from your own yard to start your seeds, he points out that much of the soil's nutrients will already be used up. There is also the risk it will contain fungus or other bac- teria which could infect your seedlings with ailments like Black Stem or root rot. If you have old trays you THE NEW TANNER It's time to start those seedlings want to re-use, don't forget to sterilize them first. A cou- ple of teaspoons of bleach in the washing water should eliminate any contaminants from previous seasons. MacSween suggests dampening your medium be- fore planting so that daily light watering will be enough to keep those germinating seeds moist. Once the second set of leaves appear your plants can siauid. a light ap- plication of fertilizer. Let them grow to the size speci- fied on the package before transferring them to indi- vidual containers. When they are reaching appropriate size and the days are sunny and warm, start setting the containers out- doors daily to let them harden up in preparation for replanting into the actual garden, he says. MacSween says the seed catalogues are just starting to arrive and the emphasis this year seems to be on mauve. "They have been talking about blue gardens or pink gardens and so forth for sev- eral years now," he says. Well this is going to be a mauve year from what I can see." This is the Acton Horti- cultural Society's 10th year. . MacSween estimates their membership at more than 70 with a good blend of ages from their early 20's to "probably in their 80's". Most unusual is the fact a high proportion of those ac- tive members are male. "Other clubs are envious," he laughs. "They all want to know how we get all those men to come out for us." MacSween himself has been gardening since he ar- rived in town and bought his first home in the early 1970s. Three years ago he and fellow gardener Karen Brozic successfully applied to join Burlington's Master Gardeners' Club. A master gardener is an experienced gardener who enjoys volun- teering time and providing knowledge to help others. Through the club, the club's Ontario organization and the Ontario Ministry of Agricul- ture, Food and Rural Affairs members receive training leading to a certificate in hor- ticulture. MacSween and Brozic are the first north Halton residents to join the club and graduate from the program. Now they can pro- vide alternate resources for the Acton club as well as be- ing a contact for speakers and other sources of information. Horticultural Society members plant and tend the flowers through the down- town core, in the parkette at Mill and Main streets and at the library. The library gar- den will be the club's millen- nium project. THURSDAY, MARCH 12, 1998 BA Max MacSween practises what he preaches. He al- ready has his potting mixture and his new planting trays to start some California poppies. IODE meets at Birchway Place By DOT NORTON _ The IODE meeting was held in the Terrace room of 51 Birchway Place with the hostess Helen Otterbien. Regent Helen Jocque an- ps there was a very jal invitation to a pa: fed Aileen Currie in Gkeiph on the occasion of her 85" birthday. Several ladies at- tended. The treasurer's report was 3 sizes fit all. Now KFC® Mega Meals start at just $999 7 "Sut "(epeued) siuesnesayy feqoID NOD! JO YeWEpER B S} D4» Se Ase "SeOWY [eeY ni OU) '(EPEULD) SUBINEISeY [EGOID NOOIHL "OWL '61u3'W WL Sou® REAL MEALS. EAsSy As KFC" Acton KFC »* 14 Main St. N. (in the Main-Mill plaza) ¢ 853-2510 read and approved and it was moved by Ernestine and sec- onded by Mary Papillon that all bills had been paid. Rosealea hada letter from our school in Labrador. Af- ter she had written them a five page letter on things the IODE did to help we finally got one back. A new teacher is there and she is more than grateful for the money and things we do to help them. Commentator Plates are being sold by the Blue Moun- tain Chapter. Anyone inter- ested can see the brochure at Helen's, Our Toys for the North Campaign have been discounted and must come through a supplier, but there is still a need for eyeglasses and hearing aids for the bale. New grooming bags for ba- bies this year have been added to our bale. Joyce will be handing out the bags in April. Ashort discourse from the Regent on the flag of Nova Scotia noted it has the Scot- tish cross and different ones reversed. A lion on a field of gold with a Laurel spray as well signified peace. The coat of arms for the flag was an- nulled early in the century and returned after the war. The next meeting will be at Dot Norton's, 51 Birchway Place, Apartment 201 at 7:30 p.m. Everyone is welcome. Entertainment by Barbara Andrews followed with a sale of New Kitchen cadets. About 22 ladies attended and were all interested in Barbara's talk and show of material. A light lunch was served after the demonstra- tion. f What do you _ get when you cross the Atlantic with the Titanic? About half way.