Sept 22 - Sept 28, 2014 CVG Progress and and Upcoming Organized Work Opportunities

Last week's 23 lbs of harvest donations:
to the Collierville Food Pantry = 12 lbs;
to Ms. Ruth Goodman of Harris Cove, Collierville = 11 lbs

Total YTD harvest donation = 2,157 lbs

This Week's Organized Work Opportunities:

Monday Sept 29: 8:30 am - 10:30 am -- Continue garden and compost area maintenance, Fall planting, continue the Harlequin Bug glove-to-bug combat
Tuesday Sept 30: 8:30 am - 10:30 am -- Continue garden and compost area maintenance, Fall planting, continue the Harlequin Bug glove-to-bug combat
Wednesday Oct 1: 4 pm - 5:30 pm-- Crosswind Elementary Roots and Shoots Garden Club
Thursday Oct 2:  8:00 am - 10 am -- Harvest and deliver to Collierville Food Pantry, continue Fall planting

CVG Press:

Look for Carl's column in this week's Collierville Herald!

Upcoming Educational Visits:

Wednesday Oct 1,  4:30 pm - 5:30 pm -- Crosswind Elementary Roots and Shoots Garden Club visit. Garden tour with a few simple projects dictated by a "garden bingo" game. With potentially 54 students (3rd-5th grade) visiting, many garden adult volunteers are requested! Please let me know as soon as possible if you are able to attend and arrive at 4 to be set before the students arrive 30 minutes later.

Draft Bingo card for the event:

Monday Oct 20, 9:30 am - 1 pm -- 6 classes of a total of 130+ Collierville Elementary 3rd graders and many of their parents to visit/tour the Garden. We are going to need a minimum of 10 volunteers to co-lead 5 different stations discussing the following topics with the 3rd graders: Plant Parts, Plant Adaptions, Plant Life Cycle, CVG Garden Tour, and Composting. Please let me know as soon as possible if you are able to attend and which topics interest you the most.

This week's Work Progress:

On Monday, Carl mowed and Stephanie worked on admin.
On Tuesday, Janeene weeded in the cinderblock beds and pulled volunteer cucumber vines to make way for other Fall planting. Patree harvested 6 lbs of green tomatoes and she and Stephanie pulled a few tomato plants. Stephanie started hilling up plot 3, changed out a rubber washer in the CVG hose connected to the main blue water valve, spread fire ant bait in plot 1 and the sw corner of plot 3, started filling a tire planter with compost, and spun the compost barrels. In the evening, a Girl Scout and her mother harvest 8 lbs of produce.
On Wednesday, Carl planted 63 cabbages in plot 3 and greens in plot 4. He also hand-watered plots 2 - 6 where needed. Stephanie began working on a tri-fold we'll use at the next MAMG meeting.

On Thursday, Janeene, Teresa, and Stephanie picked another 3 lbs of eggplant and green beans. They weeded in plot 1, watered, and picked up pea vines. They moved some comfrey to the barrel composters and transferred a mature marigold plant to the tire planter. Stephanie delivered 12 lbs of produce to the Collierville Food Pantry and 11 lbs to Ms. Ruth of Harris Cove. Ms. Ruth's husband asked if we were growing mustard greens. Continued work on the CVG tri-fold.

On Friday, Stephanie hand-watered the emerging seedlings in plot 6 and the newly planted cabbage in plot 3.

This week's Beauty in the Garden:

Sept 13 - Sept 21, 2014 CVG Progress and and Upcoming Organized Work Opportunities

Last week's 189 lbs of harvest donations:
to The Salvation Army  = 118 lbs;
to the Collierville Food Pantry = 52 lbs;
to Ms. Ruth Goodman of Harris Cove, Collierville = 19 lbs

Total YTD harvest donation = 2,134 lbs

Salvation Army's 118 lbs donation:

This Week's Organized Work Opportunities:

Tuesday Sept 23: 8:30 am - 10:30 am -- Continue garden and compost area maintenance, Fall planting, continue the Harlequin Bug glove-to-bug combat
Thursday Sept 25:  8:00 am - 10 am -- Harvest and deliver to Collierville Food Pantry, continue Fall planting

Upcoming Educational Visits:
Wednesday Oct 1,  4:30 pm - 5:30 pm -- Crosswind Elementary Roots and Shoots Garden Club visit. Garden tour with a few simple projects in the works. With potentially 54 students (3rd-5th grade) visiting, many garden adult volunteers are requested! Please let me know as soon as possible if you are able to attend.

Monday Oct 20, 9:30 am - 1 pm -- 6 classes of a total of 130+ Collierville Elementary 3rd graders and many of their parents to visit/tour the Garden. We are going to need a minimum of 10 volunteers to co-lead 5 different stations discussing the following topics with the 3rd graders: Plant Parts, Plant Adaptions, Plant Life Cycle, CVG Garden Tour, and Composting. Please let me know as soon as possible if you are able to attend and which topics interest you the most.

Last week's Work Progress:

On Saturday, CVG was on the Memphis Area Master Gardener "Beyond the Blooms" tour. Val, Jan, Carl, and Stephanie hosted. There were nine attendees. Val made a poster highlighting the major projects and accomplishments in the garden this year. In between visitors, Val continued filling cinder block holes and sowing Fall appropriate seeds in them. She also harvested 11 lbs of tomatoes and peas. One sweet potato bin and one in-ground "hill" was harvested by all, yielding 37 lbs. Dave delivered the remaining CVG garlic and Stephanie and her mother cleaned 26 lbs of garlic that evening to ready it for donation.

On Sunday, Stephanie made 1.5 quarts of a potent garlic spray with some of the split garlic, and added an onion and cayenne pepper for good measure.

On Monday, Stephanie sprayed the homemade garlic spray on the growing turnip and cabbage in the cinder block beds in an attempt to repel the harlequin bugs. She hand-watered the cinderblock holes and tomato bales and bean pots. She harvested 0.5 lb of tomato and okra.

On Tuesday morning, Stephanie harvested 26 lbs of sweet potatoes and readied plot 6 for the Girl Scout (and John!) visit.

On Tuesday evening, Jan, Carl, and Stephanie hosted the Girl Scouts in harvesting zinnias for Page Robbins Adult Daycare Center and 70 lbs of sweet potatoes in plot 6. They began clearing out the okra and sweet potato vines to make way for Fall planting. The Scouts were also able to harvest 7 lbs of beets and peppers as well as spin the barrel composters. A photographer from the Collierville Herald attended so keep a look out for some CVG photos in the paper.

On Wednesday, Stephanie harvested 10 lbs of peas and peppers.

On Thursday, Patree delivered 118 lbs to The Salvation Army in Memphis. Stephanie delivered 52 lbs to the Collierville Food Pantry. Carl delivered 10 lbs to Mrs. Ruth Goodman of Harris Cove, Collierville. Twila, Jan, and Carl added two bags of worm castings donated by the Girl Scouts (Thank you!) to plot 6. They tilled and rowed. Carl donated seed and seedlings (Thank you!) and planted/sowed the entire plot with cabbage, red leaf lettuce, mustard greens, rutabaga, Swiss chard, arugula, spinach, and radish. Twila and Stephanie harvested comfrey for composting. Jan and Twila tilled half of plot 3.

On Friday, Twila placed plastic weed guard and straw on the north side of plot 6. Teresa and Stephanie planted onions around the north side plantings in plot 6. Jan added angled extensions to the sprinkler heads to limit kinks in the hoses. Teresa and Stephanie harvested 9 lbs of peas and pulled pea vines in 3 wooden raised bed rows in plot 4. Stephanie spread fire ant killer in the walkways of plots 4 and 6. She sprayed plot 2 and 5 cabbages with BT and the plot 2 and 5 turnips with the last of the garlic spray. She killed a couple of dozen harlequin bugs and planted a handful of Bonnie's Best cabbage in plot 2.

On Saturday, Carl fertilized the 3 empty wooden raised beds in plot 4 and planted JR turnips, Napa Cabbage, and green leaf lettuce in two of the raised beds. Stephanie delivered 9 lbs of purple hull peas to Mrs. Ruth. Stephanie was interviewed by a high school reporter from the Collierville High newspaper.

Potatoes from the spring planting found in plot 4 by Carl!:

On Sunday, Teresa and her son Jack picked and pulled the plot 1 pea vines to ready it for Fall planting. Poundage to be included in this week's donation!

This week's Beauty in the Garden:

Monarch caterpillar:

Monarch chrysalis:

Mason bee!!:

Sept 6 - Sept 12, 2014 CVG Progress and and Upcoming Organized Work Opportunities

This week's 61 lbs of harvest donations:
to The Salvation Army  = 47 lbs;
to Ms. Julia and residents of Harris Cove, Collierville = 12 lbs
reserved green tomatoes for next week's donation = 2 lbs
Total YTD harvest donation = 1945 lbs

Next Week's Organized Work Opportunities:

Saturday 9 am - 1 pm -- Beyond the Blooms open house for MAMG
Tuesday 8:30 am - 10:30 am -- Continue garden and compost area maintenance, Fall planting, harvest zinnias for the Collierville Burch Library, harvest as necessary
Tuesday 5:30 pm - 7 pm --Girl Scout visit for last zinnia harvest of season and sweet potato harvest
Thursday 8:00 am - 10 am -- Harvest and deliver to Collierville Food Pantry, continue Fall planting

Upcoming Educational Visits:

Monday morning, Oct 20 -- 130+ Collierville Elementary 3rd graders and many of their parents to visit/tour the Garden. Details to follow!

This week's Work Progress:

On Monday, Stephanie picked 14 lbs of okra and tomatoes, added spoiled tomatoes and shredded paper to composter barrels. Hand watered cinder block holes, tomato bales, and bean pots. Added worm castings to north bean pots. Updated donation total on sign.

On Tuesday morning, Carl, Patree, and Stephanie harvested 4 lbs of tomatoes and okra, pulled/moved spent sunflowers and tomato bushes from plot 3 to the compost area to make room for Fall cabbage planting. Carl mowed. Jan delivered soil and red sand. Stephanie hand watered and half-filled some of the plot 5 cinder block holes with clay soil.

On Tuesday evening, Teresa and Arlene half-filled cinder block holes with clay soil and toped with cotton burr soil. Judy assisted Girl Scouts (Lisa and Anna) in harvesting zinnia and golden rod and arranging in vases for Page Robbins Adult Daycare Center. Girl Scouts, Jan, and Stephanie harvested 24 lbs of tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, beets.

Judy and Anna arranging zinnias:

Teresa filling the plot 2/ south cinder block holes:

Arlene filling the north bed/plot 5 cinder block holes:

Pretty Anna and the zinnias:

On Wednesday, Stephanie harvested an additional 5 lbs and Patree delivered a total of 47 lbs to The Salvation Army in Memphis. Stephanie sowed radish seeds amongst the turnip seedlings in the cinder block beds.

 On Thursday, following the day-long deluge that resulted in 4.5 inches of rain at the garden, Stephanie and her mom, Sandra, harvested 12 lbs of tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and peas.

On Friday, Jan and Twila cleaned up and organized the compost area and decorated with available corn stalks. Sandra harvested another 2 lbs of okra and peas, deadheaded zinnia for seed, weeded plot 1, pulled 3 spent tomato bushes in plot 3. Val planted half of the donated red cabbage plants from Bonnie Plants/Les Branum in plot 5 cinder block beds and sowed beet, carrot, spinach mustard, radish, and nasturtium seeds in most of the plot 5/north cinder block holes and fertilized. Jan shoveled the last of the available compost into the wagons and Stephanie emptied them into plot 4 wooden raised beds. Val added nitrogen to the fresh soil in plot 4. Jan spread a heavy tarp over the entire compost area to inhibit weed growth. Stephanie cleaned out and organized the CVG bin and added comfrey to the compost barrels. Carl mowed and changed out the hummingbird feeders. Sandra and Stephanie delivered 12 lbs of produce to Ms. Julia and picked up 20+ lbs of Starbucks coffee grounds.

This week's Beauty in the Garden:

Sweet potato vines covering half of plot 6:

Sweet potato bloom.... must totally be related to morning glory!

Hummingbird!

First monarch caterpillar in the Garden!

Pretty zinnias and golden rod:

Wood spirit, keeper of the nectar:

A pollen-coated bee in the milkweed:

Grasshopper:

A bee in the comfrey:

 Mason bee house:

Zinnias are still pretty in nearly mid September!:

Deadheaded flowers looking a bit like potpourri: