The Brome Lake Garden Club: a growing interest

Gardening and horticulture are becoming increasingly popular, both as a pastime for beautifying our surroundings and as a way of growing healthy food crops while assuring their source.  The Brome Lake Garden Club’s popular and informative winter lecture series has ended. These monthly lectures spoke of:  Design Lessons from British Gardens; The Making of a Country Garden; The Wonderful World of Water Features, and Extreme Horticulture. The Club also held a fun Farm-to-Table dinner at Le Loft Restaurant in Knowlton, with wonderful demos and recipes from the chef and wine suggestions from a talented young sommelier.

Last year the Club took part in the new Brome Lake Community Garden – a wonderful new project by the Town of Brome Lake, with raised garden beds for the local food bank, wheelchair accessible beds as well as 24 beds for individual citizens. This project was and continues to be a great success! Another exciting initiative is the new Knowlton Academy Garden project. The Community is embracing this dynamic project which aims to teach kids to be self-sustaining adults. This ambitious three-phase garden project, on the grounds of Knowlton Academy aims to teach stewardship while strengthening community and social development and initiating healthy lifestyles and potential jobs in agro-tourism.  They have already raised enough money to get started on an outdoor garden classroom and plan the installation of a greenhouse (www.kagardens.ca).

The Brome Lake Garden Club’s popular summer garden tours of various private gardens in different sectors of Brome Lake or surrounding areas start in June. Once a month, the club members and guests see different plant combinations, garden designs, and talk to real gardeners, while picking up some handy tips.  A plant exchange is planned for September 23^rd at the Knowlton United Church.  For anyone wishing to join the Brome Lake Garden Club, check out bromelakegc.org

Happy gardening!