Ellen's Notes from the Garden

Hello Garden Gang,

Many thanks to all of you who came to our garden gathering last Saturday. We had a great turnout, and Ellen did a wonderful job of reporting her meeting notes from the Bhutanese garden. Colleen shared a resource for seeds: High Mowing Organic Seeds.

Here's a snapshot of the egg seedlings that I brought to the meeting, and how they've grown just since Saturday--aren't these adorable? I told the kids if they're lucky I'll put them in their Easter baskets!

Here are some of Ellen's notes from the meeting, for future reference. Thanks, Ellen!

Garden Meeting 3/29/2012
Neighborhood Needs Community Center – Bhutanese Refugee Garden
Altamesa, Fort Worth, TX 76133

What a great outreach they have to get a diverse group of people together. It's amazing. They also have a” feed the community” outreach and they feed around 150 families. With these families they partner with 5 other churches and also supply groceries, clothing and of course garden goods.

Tour of the Garden and suggestions from others.
1. All the beds we toured are maintained by the Bhutanese. They come in early morning or at dusk to attend their garden. At this time they have 27 families that work the beds and they are all full.
2. All beds had numbers on them and are full. Regardless of how many beds you have it is important to get the as full as you can quickly to attract new people.
3. Last year they out of the Bhutanese Garden they produced 895 pounds.
4. They had a board on the side of the building that charted the bed and weight.
5. They had a great little sitting area under a tree that was wonderful for the older people to rest.

Suggestions from other Gardens in attendance.
1. Garden in Arlington - This last Halloween they had a trick or treat event that attracted people to the church and in the Garden each Family sit up chairs and had candy. They would ask the kids questions. Example: Which garden has beans? The kids would run off and ask questions then come back and they would get their candy. Out of that they had 2 families
2. Suggestion to get help – Craig’s list
3. Fort Worth - When it gets hot create a natural resource to create shade. Example: cut limbs from tree that has a Y shape place into the ground then a cross beam at the top and start with branches, twigs and build from there. They tried a thin cloth at first and the first wind and rain took it away.
4. Call the volunteer center of north Texas. The Arlington Garden was able to connect and they received $20,000 which purchased 2 sheds and a chipper where the community could bring their branches and they mulch and use it in their garden.
5. While working in your Garden esp. on build days or work days have a banner made and place out front. Most of the gardens do this and they have people that walk up and find out what is going on.
6. If you know it’s going to rain or the weather is not good outside before planting use your church's gym and have a seed party inviting the church family to join in. Have sandwiches and fun for the kids. It does not need to be very big just let the kids know they will be playing in dirt.During this event have a pot painting event and have little pots placed in a certain area of you garden so the kids can watch their plants grow.


Actual presentation
1. Buy in Bulk. Seeds can be stored. Decide what you want to grow in the coming year and store being ready for the season. See handout on seed storage.
2. They had plastic containers that stored the seeds. Small and compact. Do not store in a shed or outside. They need to be stored in a climate controlled area such as your house. They do not need to get to hot or cold before you plant.
3. Transplanting information (from Texas Vegetable Gardening Guide – Argrilife Extension Service)
4.Companion plant growing. See handout.
5. Call outs for planning companions:–
·Alliums (onions, garlic, Leeks etc helps with fruit trees and night shade tomatoes, potatoes and peppers. It repels slugs, aphids and other pests.
·Beans help with Beets, Corn & Brassicas. They help with containing bacteria that fix nitrogen, and it helps to fertilize other plants.
·Beets help with Lettuce, Alliums & Brassicas . Beets help with adding minerals to the soil.
·Borage helps with strawberries, Cucumbers and almost anything. Borage repels many pests and attracts honeybees.
·Marigolds help with Squash, Tomatoes & Asparagus. Produces pesticides that deter nematodes & beetles.
·Geranium helps with Tomatoes, Grapes, Aubergines &Roses Geraniums help trap crop and attract the pest away from the other plants.
·I love that if you plant Basil under your tomato plants it makes the tomatoes taste sweeter
6. Handout – Plants Families.
7. Thinning Plants – Thinning is best when the soil is damp. Thinning is harsh because you see plants that you don’t want to destroy however if they are thick after planting they are competing for water, nutrients and sunlight that seedlings need to grow.

Bricks and Gather-in-the-Garden at 10:00 a.m. Saturday

Hello Garden Gang,

Two quick notes:

1. We're meeting in the garden tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. The Neffs attended the spring gardening class on Thursday and will share information on dealing with insects for this potentially "buggy" spring season. We'll also talk about watering guidelines, soil amendments, and natural ways to keep our plants healthy. I'll share a short devotion and we'll pray for the gardens.

2. The children's ministry is going to build a butterfly garden and we're in need of bricks. If you, your neighbors or your friends have extra bricks, please bring them to the garden this week. If you need help transporting them, let me know and I'll bring my truck. If you have Facebook, you might post this need as your status and see if anyone you know has bricks they can donate. Builders in Park Glen often leave extra bricks in garages, so the treasure trove we need might be all around us!

See you tomorrow in the garden!

Cheers,
Britta

Happy Seedlings, Happy Spring

Today the sun is shining, the weather is cool and brisk, and the rains have turned everything spring-like and green. The cucumbers, marigolds, and okra I started inside are happy, happy, happy. Currently they're taking a sun bath on my front porch, but here's a quick pic, and a snippet of poetry that captures the tone of today. Enjoy.

Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers today;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.

--Robert Frost

We're Up and Running...How Much to Give?

Many thanks all of you who came out for our work days during Spring Break. We had over 30 helpers in the garden, and together we dug, planned, planted and prayed Alliance Community Garden into existence! So far we have 20 beds for individuals/families with only two remaining beds still open. We have a pumpkin patch, a blackberry bush area, a communal area for eggplant and squash, and a gorgeous new spiral herb garden.

We were also able to plant our new trees: two figs, two persimmons, two plums and one peach tree. We're working on our irrigation so we can easily water our gardens (right now we're dragging hoses, but it's all good...) and we're still raising funds for a shed to house our tools. The missional giving Sunday in April goes to the community garden, so the opportunity for AUMC to further support the garden's mission is just around the corner.

Speaking of giving, many of you have asked what percentage of your crops you should donate to the food bank. My answer is: as the Lord prompts you. We want all of our gardens to produce a healthy bounty not only for our gardeners, but for those around us who are in need. Keep in mind that the donations we've received from TAFB and TCPH were given so we can be a part of the solution in educating folks on better nutrition and giving them access to healthy vegetables they wouldn't otherwise be able to afford. We'll have a station soon where you can drop your crops for donating--it will be so exciting to see how much we can give!

Additional warm-season plants are on the way including squash, okra, beans, melons, cucumbers, lettuce and snap peas. So, for those of you who haven't completed your beds, you might want to save a little room for these crops. I will let you know when they come in.

We're expecting a heavy dose of rain this evening, so I'm thankful for the refresher for our plants. I'm still a novice to the world of gardening, but I'm learning new lessons every day...

Today's good word is from Oswald Chambers in his devotional, My Utmost For His Highest. Chambers writes, "A life of faith is not a life of one glorious mountaintop experience after another, like soaring on eagles' wings, but a life of day-in and day-out consistency; a life of walking without fainting." Together, may we walk this life of faith, in and out of the garden, with consistency and grace.

Cheers,
Britta

Making Dirt: Compost Do's and Don'ts

Hello Gardeners,

We had a great meeting on January 22nd, and Colleen gave us an excellent overview of what we're including in our Community Garden Compost pile. We want your garbage! (Sort of.) Please read through the following guidelines that she shared with us, and join us in making dirt.

From Colleen's handout:

Compost provides numerous benefits to a garden. It adds nutrients to garden soil, encourages worm activity, provides mulch cover and reduces recyclable yard and raw kitchen waste that would otherwise end up in local landfills. Successful composting uses a '50/50 Rule': 50% Carbon (brown material) and 50% Nitrogen (green material). To ensure continued success, it is important to know which material can and cannot be included in the composting process.

COMPOST NO NO'S: These items should not go into a compost pile...

1. Meat products: these can attract unwanted visitors to a compost bin as well as cause the compost to develop a foul odor.
2. Dairy products: these will also attract visitors and encourage foul odors.
3. Animal feces: including bedding and litter. This poses a potential health risk. Cat litter may contain a pathogen that can carry taxoplasmosis. The exception to this rule is chicken and cow manure from farm animals, as these animal's diets are plant based.
4. Diseased plants: these will transfer fungal diseases to healthy garden plants.
5. Weeds: these will thrive in a compost bin rather than break down, resulting in weed seed transfer to the garden boxes.
6. Paper products: including household shredding, newspaper (contains additives and synthetic resins), cardboard, coffee filters, paper plates, etc. Unfortunately, many paper products contain man-made chemicals that can alter soil ph levels.
7. Walnut shells: these contain juglone, which are toxic to some plants (especially tomatoes and apple trees).
8. Sawdust: treated wood contains many harmful chemicals such as arsenic, carcinogens, insecticides and fungicides.
9. Cooking oil: this will alter the soil ph levels.
10. Rice: attracts unwanted visitors.
11. Cooked leftover table scraps: these can contain cooking oils, dairy or meat products. Can also attract rats.
12. Coal ashes: this can be toxic to plants.
13. Dryer lint: dryer sheets contain perfumes and chemicals that can alter soil ph levels.

COMPOST DO'S: The following items are beneficial additions to a compost pile...

1. Raw fruit and veggie scraps
2. Egg shells
3. Coffee grounds
4. Grass clippings: pesticide free, please.
5. Leaves and plant trimmings
6. Pine cones and needles
7. Hay, straw, alfalfa
8. Pet and human hair
9. Nuts and shells: except for walnuts (see Compost No No's above).
10. Tea leaves
11. Farm animal manure, such as that from chickens and cows.

For questions regarding any items that have not been included in this list, please feel free to contact us.

The information on this list was gathered from many helpful gardening sources such as www.motherearthnews.com, www.organicgardening.com, www.texasgardener.com, Reader's Digest 1001 Hints & Tips For Your Garden, Reader's Digest Illustrated Guide to Gardening, as well as personal gardening experience. Happy Gardening!

Garden Party This Sunday at 2:00 AUMC

Hello Gardeners!

Please join us for our first Alliance Community Garden Party this Sunday, January 22, at 2:00 in the Family Life Center at AUMC. This will a time of celebration and planning as we take the second-step in our journey with the community garden. If you like to garden, to pray, to build things, to create artwork, to plant seeds, or just like to eat--we want you! We'll share ideas, discuss design, and pray for the future of the garden. This will be your opportunity to reserve a bed for spring planting. We will have Katey Rudd, a Tarrant County Garden Coordinator, on hand for expert advice. We'll also have a taste of the garden!

Hope to see you there!

Winter Gardening--Yes, It's Possible!

We just returned from checking on the garden, with good news to report. The cauliflower and broccoli are doing so well. We harvested our first batch of broccoli on Thanksgiving day, and it was so tender and delicious. We have yet to taste the cauliflower, but it looks good so far. The spinach was struggling in its current spot (hidden from sunshine behind the enormous broccoli and cauliflower plants), so we transplanted it closer to the Western side of the bed.

If you've seen the garden lately, we "winterized" it by adding thin pvc piping with a "planket" to cover for a freeze. So far we've only had to use it once, with excellent results. The pvc piping keeps the planket off the plants, because I'm told that if the cover freezes and sticks to the plants, the plants freeze, too. Who knew?

New seedlings for carrots and lettuce have come up, and we planted a few extra radishes today since they come in so quickly--22 days! We hope to have a batch available for the first garden party meeting, which is tentatively set for 2:00 on January 22 at AUMC. More details to come soon.

Look for a ministry moment from Britta about the garden at each of the Sunday services at Alliance UMC on January 8. See you then!

Recipes from the Garden: Radish Top Soup

Radishes are one of the easiest things to grow in a garden, and we've had tremendous success with ours. Here's a picture of our first crop--pulled a little early because I was so excited. Isn't it a cute lil' radish? I let the other batches get bigger, and we enjoyed radishes all through the fall.

But what to do with a radish, other than slice it atop a salad? I found this delicious recipe for Radish Top Soup from one of my favorite sites, Allrecipes.com. This soup, submitted by Laura Nason, is peppery and smooth, and even our non-soup eater requested seconds. We found ourselves using the tops more often than the radishes themselves! Enjoy.

Radish Top Soup
Original Recipe Yield 6 servings
Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, diced
2 medium potatoes, sliced
4 cups raw radish greens
4 cups chicken broth
1/3 cup heavy cream
5 radishes, sliced

Directions
1. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion, and saute until tender. Mix in the potatoes and radish greens, coating them with the butter.
Pour in chicken broth. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes.
2. Allow the soup mixture to cool slightly, and transfer to a blender. Blend until smooth.
3. Return the mixture to the saucepan. Mix in the heavy cream. Cook and stir until well blended. Serve with radish slices.

Nutritional Information
Amount Per Serving Calories: 156 | Total Fat: 8.9g | Cholesterol: 28mg

Here We Grow Again...

Colleen and Russ have built a second garden bed, and our friends in Arlington have donated enough blocks for us to build two more beds! I met with Katey Rudd this week, and plan to attend a Community Garden Leadership Training in December.



Colleen and Russ will work on building the compost beds this week--most likely Thursday morning. If you're interested in helping out, holler at me and I'll give you details. You can post on this blog, or find me (Britta Coleman) on Facebook.




Please keep the garden in prayer as we work on plans to develop our vision. Look for upcoming ministry moments at Alliance United Methodist Church for meeting updates. We hope to have a church-wide/community-wide information meeting in January. With a potluck, perhaps?



If you happen to walk by the garden, pause and take a look at what's growing. Our cauliflower and broccoli continue to dominate, and Dan's sunflower is looking perky. The pepper plant is going bananas (?), and we've got new seedlings of beets and carrots making their way into this world. Amazing! I have a special helper, Toly Damon, who's been watering the plants with me and we came back to the house and shared a radish plucked fresh from the garden. A lovely experience.



Didn't Colleen and Russ do a lovely job? I hope to have the guidelines for building a bed posted soon, in case any other gardeners want to jump start and build a winter bed. For the rest of the garden, we'll plan on a build out this spring.

Stay tuned for more information...

The Test Bed is Born!

Today we built the first test bed for the Alliance Community Garden. We met at the church at 8:15 a.m. and had the planter built, full of soil, planted and seeded by 12:00 p.m. Way to go, teamwork!



For supplies, we used:

*52 cinder blocks from Home Depot
*3 yards of premium soil from Silver Creek
*5 bags of concrete-grade sand from Home Depot
*2 bags of mulch from Home Depot


We built the beds in a rectangular formation (4 blocks wide, 9 blocks long, 2 blocks high), lined the bottom with newspaper (free--the Colemans are proud Star-Telegram subscribers) and added a layer of sand to help thwart the weeds. We had additional bags of sand available in case we needed help for leveling the first row of blocks. Thankfully, the patch of land we picked was fairly level, so our sand use was minimal.

For plants, we brought several starters we had planted at home and transplanted them into our new garden. Though we're a bit late in the season to start, we wanted to see how far we could go with radishes, beans, okra, peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, and spinach. To help ward off unhelpful bugs, we planted a row of marigolds to surround the bed. For fun, Dan added a few sunflower seeds to the very edges: that boy has grown sunflowers since he was itty bitty.

For irrigation, we attached two super-hoses to our existing waterline, and have plans to build a water-saving rain barrel soon.



Many thanks to David and Beth Fitzpatrick (and helpful pooch Romo), Kern and Dan Coleman. We hope this test bed will be "a sign unto us" and an encouragement to those who would like to join us for spring planting. We'll have details on how you can reserve your spot in the garden soon.

And for those attending the AUMC Lord's Acre Festival on October 29th (you're all invited!), we'll have special opportunities for future gardeners.

Again, if you'd like to participate in the garden, please let me know!

Cheers and Blessings,
Britta

Alliance Community Garden...Coming Soon!

Welcome to the Alliance Community Garden blog. This will be a place where you can find information about the garden and get updates on new garden events.

The AUMC church council met last night and gave approval for a community garden to be built outside of the family life center. The idea behind the garden originated years ago, when Kern and I first joined AUMC. The lot next to the church seemed like such an ideal place for gardening: full sun, lots of space and room to grow. Wouldn't it be wonderful, we thought, to have a big space to grow fresh fruit and vegetables that we could harvest for our family, our church, and to share with area food banks?

The idea, like so many, was pushed to the backburner until this fall.

This fall, Jim's series on Breaking Free has helped me to step forward with the idea for the garden and seriously investigate the possibility for our church. The story Jim shared about Moses and his excuses hit particularly close to home. (Thanks, Jim.) Through faith, I decided to "step into the water" and follow where God seems to be leading. I've been in prayer about this garden for a long time, and I would ask that you would join me in that effort. What I've found, when I started researching, is that our plot and our neighborhood could be an extremely useful place to grow a community garden. Community gardens are blooming throughout Tarrant County, and volunteer gardeners, just like us, are helping to provide area food banks with hundreds of pounds of fresh produce.

So far, I've spoken with the trustees, the mission committee, and Katey Rudd, a Tarrant Area Food Bank community garden organizer. Katey has been extremely helpful and she'll be on board as we make the steps toward building the garden. I've contacted another successful community garden at Arlington First Christian Church and am amazed at all they've accomplished in less than a year. All of the steps so far have seemed spirit-led, and last night's council approval was the "green light" we needed to move forward.

We have plans to begin a fall test garden to work on our irrigation issues and planting structures. Our hope is to have several additional plots built in the spring, which we can lease to church members and members of our community. We'd like the space to be one of true community: to invite neighbor schools to have educational opportunities, to invite area apartment complexes to have space to grow food, to increase our missional giving to feed folks who need some extra help. Imagine concerts in the garden, picnics, and just good fellowship as we dig and play and grow.

If you'd like to be involved, or are interested in leasing a plot for your family or community group, let me know. If you've got a green thumb, have ideas for the garden, or just want to share your expertise, I'd love to hear from you. We'll have an informational meeting soon to discuss the garden, and you're invited. I'll post details soon.