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| OHCC LIVING | JULY 2020 | 13 Just in case: Check with your club contact to confirm meeting place, date, and time. Garden Club Choral Society OHSPA We are in the third month of the shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Susan Nessell was the planned speaker for the June Garden Club meeting. The subject of her presentation was the care of Roses and Hydrangeas. The photos are from OHCC gardens. Our scheduled speaker for July was Tom Merriman of Butterfly Farms. Jean Tilker, who is in charge of booking speakers for Garden Club meetings, has advised us that these speakers have been put on hold and will be rescheduled for future meetings. Gardening Tips: Our March speaker, Karen Greenwald, told us how to plant tomatoes. Here are some helpful hints on keeping the plants healthy. Hornworms favor the leaves of tomato and pepper plants. Since the hornworms blend in so well with the foliage, you might not notice them until you start to see the damage. Because the hornworm is so large (about the size of a pinkie finger), the easiest way to get rid of it is to simply remove it from the plant and dispose of it. Tomatoes tend to crack when they are not watered regularly. Often when tomatoes experience a prolonged dry spell, we try to make up for it with excessive watering. This causes the pulp inside the tomato to hold the water and swell faster than the outside of the tomato can stretch. When that happens, the outside of the tomato splits open, causing cracks. The good news is that the tomatoes are fine otherwise and perfectly edible. However, you will need to use them immediately, because the cracks will start to develop mold. How do you treat whiteflies, aphids and other insects on tomato plants? Always start with blasting whiteflies with your watering hose. This will cause the insects to scatter. Spray the leaves with insecticidal soap. Also be sure to spray the undersides of the leaves. To make insecticidal soap, fill a 1-gallon jug with water. Then add 2-½ tablespoons liquid dish soap (Dawn or liquid Castile soap are good choices) and 2-½ tablespoons vegetable oil. Upcoming Events: As you all know, it's very difficult to make future plans at present. What is most important is that we and our loved ones stay healthy. When our community reopens, the Garden Club will be ready to participate. Stay safe and healthy and enjoy your gardens. Choral Society rehearsals postponed indefinitely. Choral Society Spring Concert postponed as well. Stay healthy… and keep singing! A quick update on what is going on with OHSPA! The three remaining concerts have been canceled for 2020 and they are: One Night in Memphis (celebrating Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash), Dukes of Dixieland (from New Orleans), and Four By Four (celebrating The Beach Boys, The Beatles, The Bee Gees and Motown). However, they are all coming to Ocean Hills Country Club in 2021! Dates and more information will be coming later and I am also working on a fourth concert! Hope you are all well and finding things to do such as books to read, puzzles to solve, movies to watch, music to play so you can sing and dance and whatever else keeps your mind and body going. I have really missed seeing and talking with all as well as the staff. Stay well and thank you to all who have reached out to me during this unexpected time of my life. Hopefully, we will be able to "mingle" (and still keep the six feet distance)! ~ Donna Russell Keukenhof in the Netherlands

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