The Giving Garden of Carrollton

We had a very successful workday with about 90% of all the gardeners coming out to work for the betterment of the garden. We had two student volunteers and a wonderful crew of eight people sent from the North Texas Food Bank.  Laura Margadonna ordered and received a delivery of compost on Thursday so we were equipped to direct the volunteers to wheelbarrow loads to all the plots that were ready for compost to raise the level of their beds.

Willie Lane directed some of the volunteers to get the remaining guide wires installed on the sagging rabbit fencing. Willie also lopped branches that were hanging around the side and back of the shed and installed an indoor/outdoor thermometer in the shed.

Joe Grizzel mowed, Jill White weeded the herb bed and sprayed some community bed plants, TC and Carolyn worked the berry patch and helped the harvesters.

Thanks to Laura Margadonna for picking up amendments and placing them in the shed for all gardeners’ use. Now is the time to amend your beds to prepare them for plantings.

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.  We had a Hebron High School senior assisting in the garden and with Food Share this morning and he was a tremendous help. We also had a neighbor volunteer. Linda had been a recipient of some of our free mulch and felt she wanted to give back so she joined us in pulling Bermuda grass.  She is in the orange shirt and floppy straw hat.

There were so many people working to clean up the garden common areas pulling Bermuda grass and weeds. It was hot but the efforts of so many were SIZZLING as tasks got done.  Thanks to all who help to keep our beautiful garden in good shape!

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.

Saturday, March 21st was one of the first days of Spring and we had a wonderful turnout for the kickoff orientation and workday in the garden.  We had a great group of students from Hebron High School who were participating in the school district’s Big Event to volunteer throughout the community. They cleaned out the pergola beds, placed mulch and weeded the aisles and also helped beautify the rose bush beds at the church.  Many gardeners, both new and existing, worked to get their bed plantings started.

We had an early harvest today and delivered 24 lbs. of a mix of radishes, onions, collard greens, peppers, Swiss chard and lettuce, and lettuce and more lettuce (did I mention we had a lot of lettuce!).  It was also our last Saturday of month work day and we had students from Hebron High as volunteers moving compost to raise levels in most of the beds.  There were a total of 26 people buzzing around the garden between 9:00 and Noon and some of the men (Willie, Will, Joe and Gary worked hard to get double hose hangar poles installed).  The garden is looking fabulous and we are off to a great start.

Saturday, February 22nd was a gorgeous day to get the mulch laid down in the aisles to curb the Bermuda grass at the garden!  Fourteen high school student volunteers worked to weed, mulch and clean up trash and it all looks fabulous.  Thanks to Angela Glover for arranging for a free truck load (yes I said FREE) of mulch. And thanks to Laura Margadonna for meeting the truck to direct the delivery on Tuesday.  Gardeners were out to work in the beds and get some plants in the ground.  Hopefully we won’t have another freeze and our Spring plantings can go in soon.

It was a chilly morning to begin our All Gardener Work Day but it warmed up nicely.  We had 12 Hebron High National Honor Society students volunteering for four hours and they got so many things cleaned up in the garden — the shed, the blackberry patch, dead plants from the freeze, etc.  It was also great to have some of our new gardeners participate — Jill, Karen, Will and Andrea — welcome to The Giving Garden.