Today was Food Share for senior citizens in the community delivered by volunteers of Aldersgate United Methodist Church. Thanks to Cindy Baxley for taking our 21 lb. harvest up to the church for distribution.
Pounds of fresh produce
The cucumbers and greens were beautiful.
And the tomatoes were abundant!
25.5 lbs
Saturday, March 28th we had a beautiful day for our end of month work day. At one time there were 26 people working like busy bees in the garden. We began by harvesting 25.5 lbs. of greens and cabbages for the Food Share program at Aldersgate Methodist Church. This was our first harvest of this year and you can see we had an abundance of greens Can you imagine how thrilled those seniors were to get this organic produce? And, some got deliveries from our smiling student volunteers. It was a treat for all. The student volunteers dug a lot of Bermuda and laid mulch in the aisles.
Thanks to Steve Barrett, the water was repaired and many gardeners took advantage of the beautiful day to get their beds planted for Spring.
The Giving Garden is still producing bountiful harvests in November. Today we harvested 36 pounds of gorgeous greens, eggplant, cucumber, okra, green beans, butternut squash and peppers. Gardeners should be picking greens throughout the winter, especially if the beds are covered with a frost protection cloth.
The garden is looking forward to the start of our fence project in early November. The three foot fence will be buried to a depth of six inches and surround the entire garden. Gardeners will enjoy spring gardening without the nibbling of our pesky rabbit neighbors.
Information will be posted soon about our annual Christmas party. Enjoy the beautiful fall weather!
Fall is always a good time to garden in Texas. At the Giving Garden, many of our gardeners have already planted their beds in fall vegetables. Because of our mild weather, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts, all types of greens and garlic produce most of the winter.
There are a few open beds available to new gardeners at this time. Please contact one of the Board members on the link on this page to request an interview. Applications can be downloaded from the links on this page (Application for Plot and Garden Application).
Come join the fun of gardening with like-minded folks, doing good for our community and harvesting the fruits of your labor.
The Giving Garden is experiencing an explosion of the rabbit population that is beyond our past experience. As the above picture shows, fence barricades are not stopping the rabbits from finding ways to eat tender crops. The “sticks” are what is left of the green bean plants that I started at home and transplanted in my bed. They lasted one day. This year the rabbits are eating crops they’ve never bothered before. They are eating young okra, pepper plants, sweet potato vines, beans…nothing seems to be safe.
The Board will meet this Thursday evening at 7 p.m. to discuss the problem and potential solutions. Meetings are held at the Indian Creek Clubhouse, located at 1689 Bandera Dr, Carrollton, TX 75010. The meeting is open to any gardener.
On Saturday, July 20th, 51 pounds of produce from The Giving Garden of Carrollton was donated to the CCA Food Pantry to help stock their produce section.
We’re heading toward a new record this year, with a donation of 752 pounds of scrumptious and delicious fresh organic produce donated, as of July 20, 2013.
Thanks to everyone who worked so hard in this Texas heat!
The Giving Garden is participating in the Million Tomato Compost Campaign sponsored by the U.S. Composting Council. Our garden received 10 cubic yards of compost from Texas Pure of Plano to help us enrich our beds for growing tomatoes.
As the picture indicates, our tomato yields this year are spectacular. The gardeners must keep track of the different varieties planted and the yields produced in weight. It looks like the compost is doing good work so far!
These tomatoes were collected for our Saturday, June 22 harvest to be donated to the CCA Food Bank. Just think…this is only half of what was picked. Gardeners take the other 50% for their personal use.
Giving Gardeners are making a difference in our community.
The Giving Garden will have a work day this Saturday, May 4th, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. to spread mulch in the garden pathways and add compost to existing beds. In addition, Keep Carrollton Beautiful will host a day of environmental education seminars in the portable nearest the garden. Here is more information from Keep Carrollton Beautiful:
Keep Carrollton Beautiful
Education Day
Saturday May 4 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
To register for all classes please email lisapstav@gmail.com
This first time event is going to be held at:
Aldersgate United Methodist Church 3926 Old Denton Rd, Carrollton TX 75007
Classes being offered:
9 a.m. – Keeping the outside out – allergies and asthma tips – taught by Lisa Stavinoha, volunteer asthma educator with over 1000 hours of presentation time
10 a.m. – Sue Hudiburgh Master Gardener @ Harvest Community Garden will present a 45 minute program on rain water harvesting
11 a.m. – Texas Xeriscapes will discuss ways to make our yards and gardens more water friendly
Noon to 12:30 and 12:30 to 1 – tour the Giving Garden and learn about organic gardening with Cindy Baxley
*Also we will offer two children’s classes, Recycling Made Easy, taught by Marysol Gallegos –
10:00 a.m. Recycling Made Easy – Ages 4 -7 – limit 15 spots – this is a 30 minute class
11:00 a.m. Recycling Made Easy – Ages 8 – 11 – limit 15 spots – this is also a 30 minute class
To register for all classes please email: lisapstav@gmail.com
Hope to see you at the garden on Saturday!
The Giving Garden is offering a quilt raffle in order to raise money to build our “Environmental Education Pavilion.” The quilt top is made from premium quality cotton fabric and the backing is muslin. It is 79″ wide and 96″ long. Raffle tickets are $5 each or 6 for $25. Each gardener at the Giving Garden will have raffle tickets. Checks are accepted and they should be made payable to “Keep Carrollton Beautiful” with a notation to The Giving Garden. The drawing will be held at the monthly gardeners’ meeting on December 13, 2012.
