Collierville Victory Garden and Butterfly Haven: CVG 2015 June 1

I just want to personally thank all who worked so very hard in the garden this week. We accomplished a tremendous amount and truly had fun. There were a record number of community "drop in" visitors as well just wanting to walk through, see what we're doing, and ask lots of questions! Thank you for all that you do for the garden and the community!

CVG in the media:
Here's a link of a story about CVG that was produced recently by University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture and will be shown on WTVF, Channel 5 in Nashville:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwB9hKt34m4

Upcoming CVG Organized Work Opportunities:

Monday June 8: 8:30 am - 10:30 am, weather permitting -- Continue fence/border renovations, plant strawberries, finish demo-ing rotten central beds in plot 4

Tuesday June 9 : 9 am - noon -- Prep and host Central Day Camp Middle School students for a round of Garden Bingo.
Tuesday June 9 : 5:30 pm - dusk -- Host Girl Scout troop for garden tasks such as....Divide zinnias seedlings and pull weeds in Girl Scout beds, Continue weeding, especially walkways and "volunteer" grass in garlic beds. Work on more permanent id's for vegetables. Spray beans with neem oil mix again. Look for squash bugs/eggs on zucchini. Plant more peppers. Plant more okra. Plant more bush beans. Plant more corn. Make sure cukes and pole beans are vining up the trellises. Continue fence renovations.

Thursday June 11: 8:30 am - 10:30 am -- Harvest for the Food Pantry. Continue garden tasks.

Upcoming Teaching Opportunity:
Tuesday June 9 : 9 am - noon -- Host Central Church Day Camp Middle School students for a round of Garden Bingo. Please let me know if you are available to assist.

Tuesday June 9 : 5:30 pm - 7 pm -- Host Girl Scout Troop to tend zinnia beds and other garden tasks. Please let me know if you are available to assist.

Harvest donation:

June 2, 2015 305 lbs of cabbage, onions, kale, daikon radish, lettuce, garlic, carrots, eggplant, zucchini, cucumber, radish harvest donations:
to The Salvation Army on June 2, 2015 = 110 lbs
to the Collierville Food Pantry on June 4, 2015 = 125 lbs
harvested garlic currently drying/curing to be donated over the next couple of months = 70 lbs
to Habitat for Humanity landscaping = 40 perennial plants
Total YTD harvest donation = 879 lbs
To The Salvation Army:

Work Progress:

On Monday June 1, Jan, Teresa, Stephanie. Added compost/hilled potatoes. Worked with tomatoes and cukes to run up trellises. Started dismantling plot 4 rotten beds. Added landscape fabric around plot 4 peppers. Weeded in plot 1. Thinned out corn. Started staking some of the cage-less tomatoes. Discussed perennial dividing needs. Pulled 8 pounds of garlic.

New drainage tile that runs nearly the length of the north side of the garden:

On Tuesday June 2, Jan, Amy, Twila, Stephanie, Patree, Val and daughter, Jane, Lauryce, Senthil and father and son, Girl Scout Madison and mom and brother. Harvested 110 pounds of lettuce, onion, cabbage, leeks, garlic, alpine radish, carrots, zucchini, eggplant, kale, cucumbers, mint for The Salvation Army. Patree delivered. Harvested 52 lbs of elephant garlic and Chesnok red garlic. Weeded in plot 4. Kept pulling rebar out of plot 4. Twila moved 3 trash bins full of leaves to compost area. Emptied one compost spinner bin of beautiful compost. Weeded in zinnia beds and transplanted zinnia plants that were crowded. Reseeded the zinnia beds a little.

Close up of some of the donated radish, carrot, eggplant, zucchini:

On Wednesday June 3, Jan, Twila, Teresa, Arlene, Stephanie. Moved pine needles to mulch the zinnia beds. Continued demo-ing plot 4 rotten wood beds, Moved some plot 4 dirt into the plot 2 large cinder block bed. Started moving 6x6 timbers to outside of fenceline. Dug drainage at front gate. Planted parsley and some hot peppers in the garden. Moved volunteer milkweed. Moved volunteer zinnia. Transplanted pepper seedlings into bigger pots. Buried drain tile between the north fence line and compost area.

new drainage tile along "front"/east side of garden:

On Thursday June 4, Arlene, Jan, Twila, Patree, Amy, Teresa, Jessica, Cori, Dylan, Stephanie. Harvested 125 lbs of primarily cabbage and onions for the Collierville Food Pantry. Patree delivered. Loosened 6x6 timbers around fenceline. Set two 4x4 posts in corners. Finished burying drain tile at front gate/water spigot. Rebuilt plot 4 pepper bed and filled. Tilled corn area. Tilled big cinderblock beds. Laid landscape fabric. Planted sweet potato in plot 5. Trellised up tomato in plot 3.

On Friday June 5, Arlene, Jan, Twila, Teresa, Jessica, Kayla, Dylan, Stephanie. Shortened plot 4 north raised bed, planted hot peppers. Continued loosening 6x6 fenceline timbers. Continued demo-ing plot 4 rotten wood raised beds. Made new gate for north side of the garden. Loaded up 40 perennial plants for Habitat for Humanity landscaping.

On Saturday June 6, Twila, Jan, Hayden, Stephanie, Dylan, Teresa and two sons, Don. Pulled crooked fence t posts, set 3 more corner/gate 4x4 posts, stabilized corner posts, leveled and weeded garden perimeter, extended front gate drain tile farther out of the garden, laid thick woven plastic fabric around garden perimeter, hung new north gate, re-set all fence t posts, stretched new chicken wire fence, reworked front gate.