The Dallas Organic Garden Club members' annual spring garden tour of some members' yards recently took place.  Each late spring, this traditional tour highlights what some of our members have been up to and new plants, techniques and fun yard art items they've found, made or purchased.  Members ended up at the gardens of Michael Schmitt for a tour of his garden, complete with backyard chickens. 

In July, Randy Johnson will share all about butterfly gardening in Texas.  Randy is well known for his extensive knowledge of gardening.  We expect a good turnout - so you may want to come a bit early to get a good seat. 

This fall, the garden club is planning our annual fall trip, October is our annual seed exchange and of course, our new officer elections.  The DOGC meets every month on the 4th Thursday at Fretz Park except for November and December.  Meetings are open to the public. 

www.dogc.org

This is a little dated, but still a lot of fun to read.  Mike, one of the club's past presidents, shared with us a look at tomato gardening in his yard in our recent newsletter.  He has since backed up his planting date until the soil is a bit warmer, but otherwise, much of the info here can be used as tips for your garden as well.  Here is an excerpt from that article.  (members receive the newsletter via email)

Mike’s 2004 Tomato Adventures

To me growing tomatoes is one of the most enjoyable aspects of gardening. There are so many varieties and they taste so darn good when you pick your own. On March 18^th I planted my tomatoes. The beds were prepped with lava sand, green sand, compost, molasses, and organic fertilizer. I tilled all that up together with the existing soil back in early February. I then covered that in hardwood bark mulch in anticipation of my spring garden. The outside temperature was 78 degrees and the soil temperature was 50 degrees. I was very lucky that year that we had no late freezes.