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.
The Giving Garden had its first fundraising garage sale on Saturday, March 24. It was a huge success with the garden raising $963.55 for the support of the garden. Thanks especially to Willie Lane, who came up with the idea and did the legwork to secure the date and work two nights to gather in folks’ treasures. Thanks to all the gardeners and friends who brought their donated goods and thanks to Aldersgate UMC for letting us use the front parking lot. Laura Margadonna, Willie Lane and Helen Marsee also raised vegetable plants from seed to sell for this fundraiser.
Gardeners are trying to raise the funds to build a gazebo to help fulfill one of the garden’s missions of helping to educate the community about best practices for raising organic vegetables. The gazebo will be used for educational purposes and recreational purposes for gatherings at the garden.
Below is a vision of our gazebo. The estimated cost to build ourselves is just over $2,300.00. We’re well on our way toward our goal.
Our Gardener Support Meetings will be held the second Thursday of each month at Indian Creek Clubhouse, located at 1689 Bandera Dr, Carrollton, TX 75010 at 7 p.m. The purpose of the meetings is to allow a time and place for gardeners to socialize and to exchange gardening information. Please join us. The meetings are open to anyone interested in gardening.
Also, don’t forget to check us out on Facebook. Be sure to click “Like” for updates about The Giving Garden.
It’s almost time to get back out in the garden…start planning!
Saturday Harvest
Harvest has begun and for several weeks, The Giving Garden has gathered produce to donate to CCA. Today we picked 44 pounds of beautiful, organic vegetables. Potatoes, squash, peppers, chard, kale, onions, tomatoes and okra are producing right now.
The garden is growing not only delicious, healthy produce but we are developing a caring community. Quite a number of gardeners turned out about 8 a.m. to help pick, wash and sort the produce. Thank you all, Giving Garden Gardeners.
Thank you also for the many folks who have helped finish up the third mulch delivery. We are close to completing the aisle and common areas and will soon be able to use the remaining mulch for the garden beds.
The garden is looking just beautiful! Happy Gardening All.
Herb Garden
With two deliveries from Living Earth of 25 cubic yards of mulch, the garden is looking so beautiful. Believe it or not though, we still need to buy more to complete a few rows and the common area between Phase I and II. The mulch has made a huge difference in the neatness of the garden and will help with the weeds between the beds.
Here is a photo of the newly planted herb garden that is available to all gardeners of The Giving Garden. This bed was initially planted by Daisy Troop #3959. Kirsten, Amy and I had fun with the nine 5-6 yr. old girls and their parents, planting out the bed on Saturday, April 9. Soon the herbs will be mature enough for harvesting. Thank you, Daisies.
Some gardeners are already harvesting onions, carrots, potatoes, chard and kale. David Strickland took 25 pounds of veggies to CCA this past week. Soon we will start our Saturday harvests for our food share program. The soil seems so much better than last year, our first year. We have identified some pests this year-the harlequin bug and the flea beetle. So far, we have not seen the squash bug, but we are on the look out! Many of us have taken steps to deter the squash bug, such as planting radishes around the squash and setting out beer traps. So far, so good.
We soon will be harvesting tomatoes and squash. Happy gardening all!
Growing Plants for the Garden
Many Giving Garden gardeners having been growing vegetables to sell to other gardeners in order to raise money for the garden. The plant sale will be at the garden on Saturday, March 19 at 10 a.m.
Please come and support our efforts to raise funds as our needs are many. There will be many varieties of tomatoes, eggplants and peppers, among other varieties.
Each plant will sell for $3. Please bring cash or checks made payable to Keep Carrollton Beautiful with a notation for The Giving Garden. I’m looking forward to seeing you all at the garden on March 19th.
Happy Gardening!
Ladybugs on Arugula
I stopped by the garden yesterday to check on the “greens bed.” I’ve planted a variety of greens-butter lettuce, kale, spinach, chard, mesclun and argula. I was surprised and delighted to discover a ladybug explosion in the bed. I stopped counting at 20 ladybugs. I’m sure they were finding some bugs to munch on and they were also busy making more ladybugs!
Last spring, Willie Lane released a bunch of ladybugs in the garden and I’d like to think that these are their offspring. Hopefully the greens bed will keep them around until the next planting. I’ll be covering the bed to protect them from hard freezes.
Be sure to order your seeds for next spring’s garden now. If you want to grow your own seeds, many should be started around mid-January.
Happy Garden Planning!
