When you make your way over to Chaffee Park at the Andover Town Beach, take a minute to smell the flowers that have been planted. The Garden Club has been busy around town, at high visibility spots, adding some cheer.

Just before Memorial Day, the Garden Club placed hanging plant bags in several spots where the plants are watered and tended to by volunteers of the Garden Club. With the generous donation from 603 Barrels, located right here in Andover and started by Brendan Newton and Sheryl Proulx, the barrels at our town’s public beach are there for all to enjoy, except, hopefully, those darn geese!

If you missed some of the Garden Club’s programs, like the Foodscaping program or the Seed Sowing Workshop, make sure to mark June 21 in your calendars. This is a collaborative program with the Andover Conservation Committee on invasive species and how to mitigate them.  It will be held Wednesday, June 21, at 6:30 PM, at The Andover Community Hub. 

If you are interested in getting your hands dirty and expanding your knowledge about gardening, please consider joining the Garden Club and attending our meetings. For example, in our Foodscaping program, taught by Willamina Coroka of The Magpie’s Apprentice, we learned that planting members of the onion family (onions, garlic, scallions, alliums) will act as an effective barrier in keeping chipmunks and moles away. The taste and smell act as a natural fence.  

We also learned that some caterpillars are territorial, and hanging laminated pictures of them on fishing line will make them move on to your neighbor’s garden. The Garden Club members themselves are a wealth of knowledge, willing and able to share helpful tidbits and extra plants they may have.