Volunteers Tackle Ambitious Agenda

As kids we learned, "March comes in like a lion, and out like a lamb." Today's cold March wind proved otherwise. However, in a battle between the spirit of our volunteers and the weather, we'll call it a tie. :-)

Our first official workday was beyond successful. Aside from the physical progress we made in the garden, several new friendships were cultivated. Who could ask for anything more?
 
Agenda items completed:

* Ed, Linda, Cortez, Freddie, Peggy and John carried wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of mulch between the beds where Bev, Sue, Sharon, and Gail raked it all out evenly
* Brian, Larry, Martin and Keith dug holes for the posts for entryway posts and blackberry posts
* Dwayne and Larry constructed the 4x4 herb communal herb bed and the last raised bed
* Martin and John finished the last 2 pieces of screen in the compost bin
* Sue and Bev helped plant lettuce and onions in the sponsors' plots
* Bev helped neighbor kids plant onions in one of the children's plot.
* The crew replanted 4 hedges and mulched that entire line.

* Several gardeners were impressed by Julia's square foot gardening guides in her plot, and were inspired to do try their own this spring. (If anyone is interested in more details of square foot gardening please email me for more information.)

* Special thanks to Bev for feeding our hungry volunteers. Everyone raved about her taco salad, orange slices, and brownies. Word has it Ed had 4 helpings of salad, and the brownies disappeared quickly.

It's hard to believe that a year ago this "little garden that could" was an overgrown and abandoned lot. We should *ALL* be proud of what we have accomplished, and excited about the potential in the years ahead!





Picture of the lot from mid-April 2009:

First Official Workday for 2010

Fellow Gardeners,

The last Saturday of March is upon us, which means our first formal group garden workday! Mother Nature has tried to dampen our spirits today by reminding us how fickle spring weather can be, but the weather man
says Saturday will be cloudy and a high of 62 with little to no chance of rain!

What will be doing?

- We have a fresh pile of nice hardwood chips (thank you Sanders Tree Service!) to spread in the orchard and in between the raised beds, we need 3" of depth.

- The City delivered a load of mulch that we can put down around the hedges.

- We will construct the herb bed and one last raised garden bed to square things off.

- Finish 2 pieces of screen in the last compost bin.

- We plan to finish the garden posting sign so we can post all our flyers and important data.

- The water line to the strawberries needs to be installed.

- We will be digging the holes and setting the posts for the gates and the tool shed.

- And you can plant in your beds!! We have some free plants left (onion sets, broccoli, lettuce, and a few cabbage plants.) If you can find brussels sprouts, herbs, or other sets they can go in now also.

It is a good time to plant the following seeds: leaf lettuce, spinach, radish, carrots, peas, beets, scallions, and turnips.
What to bring: Shovels, rakes, & hand tools for your bed work and a friend!!

Bev Walker will providing lunch (yeah Bev!) and we would like to hear from the rest of you which date you would be interested in providing lunch. You can pick from any of the open dates below. We have a grill if you need it, and bottled water is always supplied by the garden.

March 27 - Bev Walker
April 24 - Peggy Carson
May 29 - Sue Odell
June 26 - Available
July 31 - Available
August 28 - Available
September 25 - Larry Robinett
October 30 - Available

Your Garden Coordinators,
Larry & Heather

Boy Scout Troop 686 Deserves Two Green Thumbs Up!

On behalf of the OFW Community Garden, I would like to extend a heartfelt "thank you" to the wonderful volunteers of Boy Scout Troop 686, Blessed Teresa of Calcutta. They joined several of our garden members and lined the pathways between the plots with garden fabric and then covered it all with mulch.

UMSL's Neighborhood Leadership Academy class toured the garden early this afternoon and the Boy Scouts had already finished. It looked fantastic. We will be happy to "hire" them again!!

I would also like to thank each and every one of you that were able to make it to our initial garden meeting. The turn-out was excellent and the energy was a lot of fun. People are excited to get digging.

See you at the garden!

Opening Gardening Meeting

CALLING ALL GARDENERS!!!!

We will have our opening gardening meeting at 6pm at The Corner Coffee House in Ferguson, Thursday March 18th. Hope to see everyone interested there!

Some people pay for mud baths, right?

Wheelbarrows and several inches of mud made for a serious workout. The group of troopers yesterday was able to mound dirt in each of the raised beds and finish and fill the strawberry beds. A couple of boys in the neighborhood even came by to help.

Many thanks to the volunteers on a chilly Saturday morning: Ed and Linda, Gail, Cortez, Dwayne, Ben, Chase and the friends shown in one of the pictures above. A good portion of the mud in the garden made it home with each of us. (shoes, boots, gloves, socks, pants, hair... you name it!)

Next Saturday a group of Boy Scouts is going to meet us at the garden at 9:00am to assist in moving mulch between the beds. That will help in controlling the slip-n-slide Mother Nature has so graciously provided.

Don't forget about the garden meeting at the Corner Coffee House this Thursday evening (March 18th). Larry will be sending a reminder to everyone. Don't miss the kick-off to this fun-filled planting season!

Raised Beds!!!

The weather was a little cool and damp, but was no match for our volunteers today! Led by Mara and Amber from Gateway Greening, 17 of us built 20 raised bed in under five hours. The "before" picture is just above this paragraph, and the "after" is the first picture posted. What a difference! We also moved the three strawberry pyramids in place (each has a built-in sprinkler.)

Thirty-nine yards of dirt is a lot. The sore shoulders and backs around the neighborhood are proof. Shortly after a chili lunch in the rain, we breathed a collective sigh when someone suggested calling it a day. I believe it was Shannon who so eloquently put it, "I'm not moving ANY MORE DIRT." We'll finish topping off the beds and filling the strawberry beds tomorrow.

A very special thank you to the big crowd that was able to make it on a Friday morning: Bev and Emily, Keith and Shannon, Martin, Julia, Dwayne, Sue, Angelique, Peggy, Joe, Molly, and Ben the garden gnome. Thank you all for the hard work, the laughs and the reminder of how great this neighborhood truly is.

Gateway Greening Grant! Please help March 12th and/or 13th!

Here are some tomato seedlings we planted just waiting for warmer weather to enjoy some fresh air, sunshine and great soil. The good news is after next weekend the garden will be one step closer to accommodate them!

The following is a letter that Larry sent out last week. We are very excited to be building raised beds next weekend but we'll need help! We are also going to construct the strawberry beds this weekend to have in place for the soil that's being delivered. We are so close to planting and digging in the dirt!!!!!!

-----------------------------------------

Garden supporters,

I am very pleased to share the news that we attended the Gateway
Greening (GGI) awards ceremony and were presented with a grant to
cover all the lumber soil to cover construction of 5 of the raised
beds!! We also will be using Gateway Greening's resources to to get
the best possible price on the rest of the materials that we need to
construct the remaining beds not covered by the grant.

Equally or even more important than the financial support is the fact
that we are a part of the Gateway Greening community circle now.
Attending the Growing Gardener training classes I have found that the
Gateway Greening community is an awesome support mechanism for any
project or issue that you need help with in your garden. They have a
staff horticulturist who is willing to share her in-depth plant and
gardening knowledge, they have wonderful advice on anything we may
find that we need help on in the future. The have master gardeners
that are members of the the gardens they already support and they are
willing to come when needed. The also give grants for garden
expansions so we may be able to get additional financial assistance in
future years for an irrigation system.

We have targeted March 12th & 13th to do the raised bed construction.
We have 12 raised beds that have applications on them and we plan to
build 15 this spring in the event some late applications come in. The
plan is that GGI will deliver all the materials on Thursday and we
will begin constructing the beds on Friday morning. GGI also will
bring an array of tools needed for the construction. Saturday will
consist of filling the beds with soil, so we will need all the
wheelbarrows, shovels, and strong backs we can muster for the 2 day
event. I know Friday many of us will be working, but please come
either day, whenever you can and stay as long as you are able. If you
have a wheelbarrow or shovel bring that along as well. Hopefully the
weather will cooperate!

It is almost here!
Your Garden Coordinators