Westport in Brief!
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Sunday, May 15, 2011
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Westport's Sarah LaValley
knows about organic lawn and garden
care.
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EverythingWestport.com Saturday,
May 14, 2011 View photo album now - 33 photos | DSL/Broadband
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This year’s fair was a little bittersweet,
however, for some WRG members when they discovered early Saturday morning
that several flats of plants were stolen late Friday night. Geri Fortier reported that a flat of
geraniums and other plants were missing when members arrived Saturday morning
to open the fair. "We lost $200 of plants,"
Fortier said. "Who would steal plants from a garden fair on Main
Road?" But the midnight thievery was quickly
forgotten as sunny weather and a great turnout kept WRG members busy selling
everything from raffle tickets, plants and flowers, to vendors' products like
Manna Farm red wrigglers to custom birdhouses from Paul Trenouth.
And yes, there were more geraniums for sale. WRG members are well known for
quietly beautifying Westport one small plot at a time. And that all starts
here with their annual garden fair fundraiser. Projects over the years include
plantings at the Town Hall's front entrance sidewalk, the public library, welcome
to Westport signage areas and most recently thousands of daffodils at
Westport's newest fire station on Hix Bridge Road. They also will complete plantings late
this spring at the new “rockery", a spot that was demolished to make
room the new fire station’s entrance. Left: WRG members were kept busy throughout
the morning stuffing paper bags of natural mulched soil, "excellent for
planting." The site was replicated to the east
of the entrance, and will feature the original stone marker with a new stone
wall and plantings by the club. "All the perennials left over
from the sale will be used to decorate the “Rockery” and other areas," Geri
Fortier said. WRG member Marianne Naedele said sales of "plants and mulch give the
Westport club a much needed boost to their community projects such as the
“Rockery” at the new fire station."
Left: WRG member Betty De Veuve. Center:
WRG member Geri Fortier. Right: Trellisman's
Paul Trenouth, purveyor of fine birdhouses,
trellis' and Adirondack chairs.
Left: Lois Fulton of Manna Farm was displaying and selling red wriggler worms
and castings. Center: hawking raffle tickets kept many WRG members busy
throughout the morning. Right: the garden fair is set among
the historic buildings of the Friends Meeting House and the Macomber Community Center. Westport's Sarah LaValley knows about organic lawn and garden care. EverythingWestport.com Saturday, May 14, 2011 Westport's Sarah LaValley knows about organic
lawn and garden care. On May 14th she shared some of that knowledge,
garnered over 20 years of working in the nursery greenhouse business, with a
large group of landscape novices interested in hearing what she had to say. LaValley conducted an educational talk highlighted by a PowerPoint presentation
from 10 a.m. to 12 noon in conjunction with the Westport River Watershed
Alliance and about 20 guests at the Westport Free Public Library. "The
best things (mulches) to use are a nice dark, pine bark mulch, not too
heavily. Just two The
Westport resident talked about the proper mowing techniques, how to select
proper plants, how to control pests, when to water, and the basic steps to
achieving a beautiful chemical free lawn and garden that also conserves water
and saves you money. Organic lawns and gardens work to keep additional
Nitrogen from entering our streams and the Westport River. LaValley is a mother of three and has been a gardener since birth. She
has worked in the nursery greenhouse industry for 20 years including Quansett Nurseries in South Dartmouth, and G. Bourne
Knowles, & Co. in Fairhaven.
Sarah LaValley Garden Design began with the idea of providing
organic, detail-oriented garden services by knowledgeable, well-trained staff
for clients in Southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. They encourage
organic practices, native plantings, and water management for all their
clients.
"Monoculture
(the agricultural practice of producing or
growing one single crop over a wide area) is not a healthy thing. It's not
the way nature works, and a lawn is the biggest monoculture there is. Nature
does the mixtures because that's what works. If you have monoculture, that basically will
attract many, many pests to it." - Sarah LaValley.
"Doing
things organically takes a different mindset. You have to work with nature,
and not bypass it." Sarah LaValley. "Our
goal is to make your personal garden an oasis in your busy life that can
restore you to a sense of calm and peace and reconnect you with the beautiful
world we live in while also providing usable space for family play, pets and
entertaining," LaValley told her audience. If you want
more information, please call or click (508) 636-0061 or e-mail SLaValleydesign@aol.com. http://www.sarahlavalleygardens.com
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