President’s Message – July 2026
I love to listen to podcasts especially my favorite garden podcast, The Joe Gardener Show. A recent episode called “Preventing Weed Overwhelm” caught my eye. What a great title and how timely. Last week I walked out into my yard and thought, how did this happen? I have been so busy planting, mulching, & pruning, then we got the tiniest bit of rain and Bam! The weeds are out of control! I was also facing a few days away followed by house guests and when was I going to get this weeding done?!!
Thankfully, Joe’s guest is one of my favorite authors and podcasters, Margaret Roach. Not only is she extremely knowledgeable but she has such a soothing voice. Together they talked me off the ledge. First by reminding me that I like to weed and crawl around in the dirt. Here is a link to the show and the show notes if you don’t like to listen, https://joegardener.com/podcast/preventing-weed-overwhelm-practically-and-organically-margaret-roach.
It is a great month to be a member of Hoe & Hope. This Saturday, July 18, we will be at the Callahan House, 3rd & Terry, for the Club-A-Fair, 10am-1pm. A special shout out to Micaela Brown and Erin Besson who made a beautiful poster for our display and Dudley McBride for offering to help us set up the pop-up tent. Stop by if you can.
Our July meeting is at Micaela Brown’s house. Map and driving instructions are on page 5. Michael Morris’s article on page 3 reminds us of a way to keep color going all summer. See the announcement from Dudley McBride on page 10. He is spearheading a fund raiser for the OUR Center to replace the wooden raised beds. We are so proud of the work we do there and throughout the community.
Closing with two pearls and a quote from Margaret Roach.
- Wear safety goggles when you are doing the Spider Man Crawl under your shrubs.
- Weed after it rains or soak the ground with a hose especially before pulling weeds that spread by underground rhizomes, such as bind weed. Pulling it out of dry dirt leaves too much root material. Get out as much as you can.
- “A lot of it is just accepting and it’s what I love about gardening. It’s my thing.”
Happy Gardening!
Mary