We had three weeks to make our sponsorship booth at the Litchfield Jazz Festival happen, and the hardworking Lakeridge team got to work on posters, press releases, material production and booth volunteers Dedication became plain old “perspiration.” Our Lakeridge video was resurrected, the copy machine did overtime, and shopping and footwork was the order of each day..

And on Friday, August 5th, Lakeridge had the best-looking sponsor booth at the Festival. As anyone entered the main gate each day our www.lakeridgect.com sign stood out boldly for all to see.

The music was fabulous. The students of the summer school played beautifully near our booth, which was next to the Infinity Theater (Norfolk) booth. The opeining night gala was not far from us. People wandered over. At night especially, our video on our new big projection screen drew people over to watch. In the end, we built more awareness and interest and added more e-mail addresses. Lakeridge became a part of what was happening at the Litchfield Jazz Festival, which drew crowds of nearly 3,000 people, despite the weather.. Thank you, Marketing people, Brokers, Volunteers, Management, and Board of Directors. We pulled this off because Lakeridge is like no other place. We have special people doing amazing things. We don’t just live here at Lakeridge. We make things happen.

Jeanne Cassidy

Hi Fellow Vegetable Gardeners,

By this time, your tomato seedlings have been planted, so perhaps a few pointers on their continued care:

• Tomatoes need water. Don’t let them dry out.
• Most tomatoes are vines and need support to keep the fruit off the ground. Put stakes on the windward side of each plant and tie loosely using strips of old panty hose or T-shirts and a figure eight knot.
• Pinch off suckers, the small shoots between the main stem and the branches.
• When green tomatoes appear, add a little fertilizer (5-10-5). Too little is better than too much.
• Inspect every few days for caterpillars or beetles and pick them off the plants. If the insect infestation is heavy, you can spray with Sevin.
• If signs of blight appear on the leaves — brown spots with yellow halos — spray with a fungicide approved for vegetables.

Thus far, the spring and summer weather has been awful, but hang in there. Good luck and have a good crop! In the future, more info on tomatoes –selecting varieties, starting from seed, and how to plant.

Paul Ellner

Our first meeting of the year was a huge hit. Over forty of our gardeners attended.

We had five of our gardener’s give us hints and talks about different aspects of gardening.
What should we plant, how should we plant it and what should we use to keep out the weeds?

Our own expert on tomatoes and many other topics was Paul Ellner. Paul’s knowledge and years of growing tomatoes was amazing, and we thank you for all of those great tips and the explanations of kinds of tomatoes, how to plant them, feed them and how they grow. I’d also like to thank the other gardeners who spoke Ron Berger, Wayne Merkelson, Diane Counihan, Linda Lowry and Gloria Kessler. All hints and information was well received and many notes were taken.

Our new scarecrow, in the back of the garden, needs a name. Please let me know what we should call it. Also, on August 20th at 5:30 PM we will be holding a Garden Party at the Lakeridge Gardens.
A great project for next year will be taking part in the program for the hungry. It’s called PAR = Plant a Row. Each gardener, if they want to participate, can plant a row of vegetables that we can give to the food banks in the area. We are looking into this for the next year. Keep tuned for further news.

Look in Lakeridge Life, we will be starting a column and I need help, information, tips etc etc. Please e-mail me with ideas, questions and tips for this column.
We would also like to start a Garden Committee, if you would like to volunteer please e-mail me with your name, e-mail and phone numbers where I can reach you.

Sue Romanoff Warsoff, #376
Cell: (201) 310-3325
email: suedos@aol.com

I was asked recently by a Lakeridge grandparent how to keep her teenage grandson occupied on a visit.
She figured, as the mother of two sons, one a teen and another who just turned 21, who grew up at Lakeridge (www.lakeridgect.com), I would know. And she was right