The Gardening Guy

The power pull

Less Leg More Heart raises funds with Fire Truck Pull

Christina Hurley has given the question of what kind of fundraiser to hold a lot of thought.

She is the Founder and Executive Director of Less Leg More Heart, an organization dedicated to helping amputees get resources to help them thrive.

“We started eight years ago,” she said, “and we sort of threw spaghetti at walls for years trying to figure out what our niche sort of flagship events would be. There are a lot of galas and similar types of events. We wanted to create something that was unique, that had a little something for everyone, and that was able to involve a larger demographic in the community and create a real sense of inclusion and accessibility and community spirit.”

Which, in a nutshell, resulted in this weekend’s Fire Truck Pull.

This Sunday, May 31, from 1 to 5 p.m., Less Leg More Heart will host its third annual Fire Truck Pull and Festival. Participants pay for the bragging rights to physically pull an antique fire truck with a rope, competing with other individuals or groups. It is the sort of event that fuels bragging rights and spurs competition. According to Hurley, it was inspired by another, even more grunt-filled event in Maine.

“Some of our mentors are in the veteran space,” she said, “and Travis Mills, who runs a wonderful foundation up in Maine to recalibrate veterans, does an airplane pull. And they were mentioning the facets of it and how successful it’s been over the years. And so we started to look in our area, southern New Hampshire, about doing something similar like that. But, you know, airplanes have a little higher barrier to entry; fire trucks seem to be a little bit more up our alley. They are certainly fun for the kids and something fun for the strongmen in the area and athletes. We toyed with that three years ago and found it to be really successful. And now we’ve done it every year. This is our third annual Fire Truck Pull and Festival. It is a multifaceted event that has a large vendor village and a car show, as well as a fire truck pull. Children lead it off by pulling power wheels, and they’re rigged and educated by local New Hampshire strongmen. And then individuals will pull an antique, smaller-sized truck and then teams sign up to pull our larger rig — the 40,000-or-so-pound rig.”

There is something primal about pulling a fire truck, Hurley said, that speaks to each individual in personal and different ways.

“We’ve actually added some divisions to our awards this year,” she said. “We have really great trophies for the fastest team pulls — for first, second and third, but then we also have the strongest singles for men and women. This year we’ve added a costume award, a spirit award, a crowd favorite award, and a grit award. There’s an opportunity for folks to come out and be part of a community. We celebrate having people with all different types of abilities and different types of accessibility devices. In fact, several amputees last year, even from wheelchairs, participated in a pull and the strongmen would push it.”

This event has even surprised Hurley with how successful it has become, she said. “It’s just been really neat to see how folks just keep pouring out. We were unprepared for the 400-plus people who came to the event last year, and that’s a great problem to have.”

Less Leg More Heart’s Third Annual Fire Truck Pull and Festival
When: Sunday, May 31, from 1 to 5 p.m.
Where: Arms Park, 10 Arms St., Manchester
More: lesslegmoreheart.com/events

Featured photo: Courtesy photo

Late May in the garden

Test your soil, make it better

Asking me to name my favorite flower is, perhaps, like asking you to name your favorite child or dog. But late May brings one of my top picks: the candelabra primrose (Primula japonica). It sends up a flower stalk with a circle of florets, then it grows a few inches and sends out more blossoms, getting taller and blooming sequentially for nearly a month. They grow best in deep, rich, moist soil in partial shade and ideally under old apple trees.

Late May will also produce early peonies I love, including two part-shade peonies, Paeonia obovata and P. tenuifolia. The latter is also known as the fernleaf peony for its finely cut foliage; the blossoms are a deep red. Neither is common in garden centers, but keep an eye out for them.

Spring is a good time to improve your soil. Most commercial farmers grow food by adding chemical fertilizer to the soil before planting. I am an organic gardener, meaning I do not use pesticides nor do I use any chemical fertilizer.

Chemical fertilizers are safe to use but only provide three of the 17 elements needed by plants to grow and thrive. Granted, most of those elements are needed in very small quantities and may already be in the soil, but I want to provide my plants with the equivalent of a full five-course meal.

Chemical fertilizers only contain nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), and lots of filler. A 5-10-5 fertilizer is 5 percent N, 10 percent P, and 5 percent K; the rest — 80 percent — is filler. Nitrogen in the form of nitrate and ammonia ions is used by plants to make proteins, fueling green growth. Phosphorus promotes growth of roots, blooming, seeds and fruits. Potassium is important for growing thick cell walls to survive cold and excess heat.

Plants also need other elements in order to thrive: calcium (for cell metabolism), magnesium (for chlorophyll needed for photosynthesis), sulfur (for making proteins and fats). Also needed are micronutrients like iron, chlorine, manganese, zinc, copper, boron, molybdenum and nickel.

All those elements are found in organic fertilizers like Pro-Gro, Gro-Tone and others. And while most chemical fertilizers provide water-soluble elements for quick absorption, organic fertilizers are mostly slow-release, providing key elements over a period of months, or even years. Most contain things like cotton seed meal, kelp meal, ground peanut shells and ground oyster shells.

So what can you do to improve your soil? Add compost. Don’t buy just a bag or two of compost and think it will improve your whole vegetable garden with some left over for new perennials. Borrow a pick-up truck and get a “scoop” from a front-end loader at your garden center. Or get it delivered. Alternatively, you can buy aged manure from your local dairy farmer. Even aged manure will have some weed seeds, but it will add good organic material that will be used by your plants.

Why is compost so good? Well-made compost is full of microorganisms that will work with your plants. Many produce organic acids that help to dissolve minerals from fine stone particles in the soil and make those minerals available to your plants. Compost is, or should be, biologically active: full of living bacteria and fungi. And it will improve soil texture making root growth easier for your plants.

Our soils were created back during the last Ice Age when glaciers a mile thick ground up bedrock, making sand and even the finer bits of stone that are in clay and loam. Fully 50 percent of all soil is made of ground up rocks. The rest? Anywhere from 1 percent to 8 percent is organic matter, and the rest, nearly 50% of soil by volume, is air. Oxygen is absorbed by root hairs from the air in the soil.

Two other key ingredients do not come from the soil. Plants get carbon, a major part of all plants, from carbon dioxide that is in our air. Nitrogen is in our air, but most nitrogen used by plants comes from decayed plant or animal material — or is made in a chemical factory and sold as a fertilizer.

I highly recommend getting your soil tested every three to five years. Each state university offers a service for gardeners and farmers. It will tell you soil pH (a measure of acidity), soil type, levels of some soil minerals and the percentage of organic matter. It will offer suggestions on what to add to your soil, though different plants have different needs. You should strive to have 4 percent or more organic matter in your soil.

You can perform a simple test to see how well your soil holds water or drains. Dig a hole 24 inches wide and 8 inches deep with sloping sides. Fill it with your hose and time how long it takes to drain. Sandy soil will drain almost immediately. Clay soil will hold water for several hours, even overnight. Good loam might take an hour or two, depending on how much rain you’ve had recently.

Adding compost to heavy clay or sandy soils will help them considerably. Soil texture and the ability to hold some water but drain well is important to most plants. Compost does both.

Improving your soil takes years, even decades. Yes, I do use some slow-release organic fertilizer at planting time, but my real success has come from years of adding compost.

You may reach Henry at henryhomeyer@comcast.net.

Featured photo: Candelabra primroses delight me each year, starting in late May. Photo by Henry Homeyer.

Duckie race

Buy a six-quack and watch

On Saturday, May 23, the Downtown Nashua Association will launch what it hopes will become a yearly tradition, a Rubber Duck Regatta on the Nashua River. Participants will be able to purchase rubber ducks from Downtown Nashua. At 3 p.m. the ducks will be set loose in the river. The owners of the first three ducks to cross the finish line downriver will win prizes.

Alyssa O’Mara is the executive director of the Downtown Nashua Association. She said that while this will be the first year there has been a Regatta, rubber duck races have happened in Nashua for many years.

“We were gifted this event from Nashua Rotary West,” she said. “They had been doing this event for many years, but in the last couple of years they stopped doing it. When I took this position, our nonprofit community really stepped up and wanted to support us. [The Rotary Club] was one of the first organizations to do so and said if we wanted this event we could take it over. It’s a long-term community event that people love, and I absolutely jumped on it.”

Rubber Duck Regatta
When: Saturday, May 23, starting at 3 p.m.
Ducks can be purchased on the Downtown Nashua Association’s website at downtownnashua.org/rubber-duck-regatta. Ducks will also be available on site on the day of the event. Single ducks can be purchased for $5 each, six for $25, and 12 for $50. A “flock” of 25 ducks is $100.

So is this just a matter of dropping a few thousand rubber ducks in the river and watching them float downstream? Essentially, yes, O’Mara said.

“The ducks will be released near the area of the footbridge between Cotton Mill and Clocktower Apartments right on the edge of the river. Right now we’re still coordinating with a couple of people on the logistics of whether we’ll use a truck or a crane, but there will be 5,000 ducks launched from that area and they will race down to the bridge over Main Street to the finish line, where we will have catchers there to stop the ducks. The first three that go through will win prizes. First prize is $1,500, second prize is $750 and third prize is $500.”

The ducks will all be tagged with numbers, O’Mara said,

“When you purchase ducks, you will have numbers assigned to those ducks and that’s how we’ll do it. The winner doesn’t have to be there. If your duck is a winner, you win, whether you’re here or even in another state. This first year, we’ve started small with 5,000 ducks, but we’re hoping [this race] will grow and we can do up to 50,000 ducks at some point. Ducks are available for purchase through our website. People can purchase single ducks. They also can purchase a ‘six-quack,’ a ‘quacker’s dozen’ or a whole flock. We’re really pushing teams this year, so if [a group] has a nonprofit locally that they really want to support, they can create a team with that nonprofit name or their group’s name. In addition to our first-, second- and third-place prizes, the team that sells the most ducks will have $2,500 donated to the nonprofit of their choice, local to the Nashua area.”

Given that this is the Regatta’s first year, O’Mara said, sales have been strong. “Sales of ducks for Bridges: Domestic & Sexual Violence Support is definitely in the lead. We’re hoping people will jump on the bandwagon and make some more purchases. But no matter what, we knew that at a max we were probably going to be making the same amount as the nonprofit that we were donating to for this year. So if we can do anything, as long as we can get the prize money for the winners and for the nonprofit that has the highest team sales, we’ll be happy.”

Renaissance on the Riverwalk
Nashua will celebrate the newly renovated Renaissance Park on Water Street and Memorial Day weekend with a four-day event featuring music, kids’ events, food trucks, vendors and more, according to a press release from the mayor’s office.
When: Friday, May 22, with events from 5 to 9 p.m.; Saturday, May 23, from 2:30 to 9 p.m.; Sunday, May 24, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.; and Monday, May 25, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Event highlights: On Friday, performances by El Grupo Chevere (5:30 p.m.) and 4R Souls (7:30 p.m.) and a Positive Street Art kids’ art activity. On Saturday, the regatta, Renaissance Park Mural dedication (3:30 p.m.); performances by BailOut (4:30 p.m.), Lisa Love (6 p.m.), 4Play: The Boston Tribute Band (7:30 p.m.) and a drone show and lighted kayak parade on the river (9 a.m.). On Sunday, Nashua Farmers Market (10 a.m.), music, a petting zoo (10 a.m. to 1 p.m.) and a Nashua Area Artists Association activity. On Monday, a performance by Gary Lopez (9 a.m. to 1 p.m.), ballons from Dan’s Balloons (10 a.m to noon) and the Memorial Day Parade down Main Street (10:30 a.m.).
More info: See the mayor’s “Enjoy Nashua” Facebook page.

Featured photo: Courtesy photo

Kiwanis carnival for kids

Where to find your garden additions

Get new flowers and greenery for the growing season at area garden clubs and garden enthusiasts plant sales. Because the club members are the ones selling the plants, you can get some planting advice along with your new annuals and perennials. Here are a few sales slated for the next few weeks. Know of a plant sale not mentioned here? Let us know at adiaz@hippopress.com.

• Garden Club of Deerfield will hold its plant sale on Friday, May 8, from 3 to 6 p.m. and Saturday, May 9, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., at the Deerfield Town Hall on Church Street, according to a post on the club’s Facebook page.

• The Amherst Garden Club will hold its plant sale on Saturday, May 9, from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Wilkins School, 80 Boston Post Road in Amherst, according to amherstgardenclub.org/plant_sale.

• The Colonial Garden Club of Hollis will hold its sale Saturday, May 9, from 9 a.m. to noon at Lawrence Barn, 28 Depot Road, according to hollisgardenclub.org.

• The Friends of the Audi and Concord’s General Service Department will hold their Perennial Exchange on Saturday, May 9, at 9a.m. to noon at the Concord City Auditorium, according to theaudi.org.

• The Rye Driftwood Garden Club will hold its sale on Friday, May 15, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Saturday, May 16, from 9 a.m. to noon, at Goss Farm, 251 Harbor Road in Rye, according to ryenhgardenclub.org.

• The Nashua Garden Club will hold its sale on Saturday, May 16, from 8 a.m. to noon at the Nashua Historical Society, 5 Abbott St. in Nashua, according to a post on the Nashua Garden Club’s Facebook page.

• The Bow Garden Club will hold its plant sale on Saturday, May 16, from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Bow Community Center, 2 Bow Center Road, according to the club’s Facebook page.

• The Goffstown Garden Club will hold its plant sale on Saturday, May 16, from 8 a.m. to noon in the Goffstown Commons, according to their Facebook page.

• The Milford NH Garden Club will hold its annual plant sale on Saturday, May 16, from 8:30 a.m. to noon at the Community House Lawn, according to milfordnhgardenclub.org.

• The Candia Garden Club will hold its sale on Saturday, May 16, from 9 a.m. to noon, at the Masonic Hall, 12 South Road in Candia, according to a post on its Facebook page.

• The Windham Garden Club will hold its sale on Saturday, May 16, from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 61 Kendall Pond Road in Windham, according to a post on the club’s Facebook page.

• The Bedford Garden Club will hold its plant sale on Saturday, May 16, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the Educational Farm at Joppa Hill, according to bgcnh.org/plant-sale-2026.

• The Hooksett Garden Club will hold its annual plant sale on Saturday, June 6, from 9 a.m. to noon (or sellout) at the Hooksett Public Library, 31 Mount Saint Mary Way in Hooksett, according to hooksettnhgardenclub.org.

• The Derry Garden Club will hold its plant sale on Saturday, June 6, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., at Robert Frost Farm, according to the club’s Facebook page. See derrygardenclub.org.

• The NH Audubon’s McLane Center, 84 Silk Farm Road in Concord, will hold a Pollinator Fest & Native Plant Sale on Saturday, June 6, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., according to nhaudubon.org.

• The Merrimack Garden Club will hold its annual sale on Saturday, July 18, at the American Legion on Baboosic Lake Road, according to merrimackgardenclub.org.

Plant sale season