Thanks to everyone who came to our work day on Sunday.  We had a great turnout and got a lot accomplished.  I've posted photos.  Our next work day is scheduled for Sunday, March 3 at noon.  I'll send a reminder later.  Below is a list of all that we did on Sunday.

1.  Cleaned the garden shed inside and outside and organized all tools and supplies.
2.  Fertilized and watered fruit trees and started pruning them.
3.  Cut down asparagus fern, then weeded, fertilized, watered and covered with compost.
4.  Weeded, fertilized and watered strawberry plants then covered with compost and straw.
5.  Hung netting trellis for the snow peas to climb.
6.  Harvested brussels sprouts, radishes and a few carrots.
7.  Planted broccoli plants.
8.  Planted carrot, radish, and beet seed.
9.  Planted wildflower seed in the orchard.
10.  Made a new raised bed from a donated old sandbox.
11.  Edged the butterfly garden with rocks.
12.  Edged the big open bed with big donated rocks.
13.  Cleaned the grounds of trash.
14.  Weeded around all raised beds.
15.  Weeded the garden path and removed plastic edging.
16.  Watered and fertilized where needed.
17.  Had volunteers sign up for watering and garden inspection.

Charlotte

Twenty PE classes from Cambridge Elementary School visited the garden this week.  Five classes, one at a time, came each day Monday through Thursday.  By the time they walked over and allowed time for walking back they had just ten minutes at the garden.  They were studying root vegetables.

Charlotte

We have scheduled 2 work days - Saturday, November 24 and Saturday, December 1 both at 10:00 a.m.

Reminder:  Please drop off your gourds and pumpkins at the compost bin.

Garden needs - Please bring them to 1 of the work days or leave them beside the shed.
Medina Growin Green - 40 pound bag organic fertilizer
Sluggo - snail and slug bait
Hasta Grow - 1 gallon liquid fertilizer
Green Light Fire Ant Control with Conserve for organic gardens

We had a productive morning in the garden.  We planted broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and brussel sprouts.  We also weeded, watered, pulled out the dying zinnia plants, and trimmed the flowers off the basil.  Thanks to all who helped including Harrison, Carter, Emmy and Rachel Chaney, Sam Newman, Peter and Jane O'Brien, Gregg Chislett, Linda and Tom Hallstead, and Karla Toye.

The winter squash seeds that we planted on July 23 are growing out of the bed and are starting to produce squash.  The tomato plants are getting bigger and we hope they will be ready to harvest starting in October.  There are still a lot of peppers and basil.  The Hyacinth beans and yard long green beans are growing up the teepee poles.
Come to see and help out in YOUR community garden if you haven't been there in a while.

Charlotte

A lot has been happening at the garden.  We planted fall tomatoes Saturday morning and incorporated fantastic compost from our own production into the beds.  Fall squash seeds that were planted two weeks ago have sprouted and are growing fast.  Fennel is ready to harvest and peppers, eggplant and basil are still producing.  The butter bean vines are blooming, so beans should appear soon.  The herb beds have been reworked and now there are two herb beds with assorted herbs.  A new teepee of bamboo poles has been installed.  Hyacinth Beans (ornamental) and Yard long green beans will be sprouting soon and climbing the poles.  Come check it out!

Grub worms are present in our raised beds and they seem to be the cause of our pepper loss.  Perfectly healthy plants suddenly wilt and die.  We will treat the soil shortly with "beneficial nematodes" to take care of the grubs.

Green Spaces Alliance alerted us this past week about free plants, and we received tomato plants donated by an individual.  Also the recently closed Antique Rose Emporium on Evans Rd. donated all of their remaining stock to Green Spaces Alliance to share with all of the community gardens.  We received perennials, herbs and antique roses!

There is a community wide volunteer opportunity to help build the Green Spaces Alliance East Side Neighborhood Garden on August 15.  Fiskars Project Orange Thumb chose this garden from around the country as their one garden makeover project for 2012.  They need lots of help and you must pre-register at the Green Spaces Alliance web site to participate.  For more information and to register go to http://www.greensatx.org/upcoming-events/upcoming-events-2?event_id=179.

The next work day for the AH garden will be in September.  I’ll send an e-mail with details later.  In the mean time if you have a weed eater drop by and weed around the beds, walkways, curb, and grounds.  The thorny mesquite trees you see sprouting should be cut down.  Donations of bags of Gardenville Living Mulch are always appreciated.  You may leave them by the shed.

Thank you for your continued interest in our garden.  Come dig in and get involved!

Charlotte

We will be having a group work morning at the Alamo Heights Community Garden this Saturday, August 4 at 9:00 a.m.  Our main project will be planting fall tomatoes.  We are asking for every adult to bring 1 tomato plant and a bag of compost/mulch as described below.  If you can’t come but want to contribute please make a donation to the City of Alamo Heights designated for the garden or leave a well watered tomato plant and bag of compost behind the shed on Friday or early Saturday.

Calvin Finch suggests determinate varieties of tomatoes for fall.  Buy a large plant ($3-$5 size, one plant per adult) from the following varieties.
Tycoon
Phoenix
Solar Fire
Sunpride
Heat wave
444
Celebrity

Also each family should bring a 40 pound bag of Gardenville compost/mulch.

These items should be available at the following nurseries.
Shades of Green on Sunset
Schultz Nursery on Broadway
Arbolito's on San Pedro

Charlotte

Yesterday evening 4 of us worked in the garden for a couple of hours. We pulled out many plants that were past their prime including tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, leeks, and corn. We planted some winter squash seeds in a bed where a "volunteer" summer squash was growing. We also mowed around the beds and watered some of the beds that aren't on the drip irrigation system. A few people accomplished a lot but there's always more work to do. We will be having another group work time on Saturday, August 4 at 9:00 a.m. to plant some tomatoes and other things for fall harvest. We will send details later as to what plants and other supplies you will need to bring.

Charlotte

See the link below for information on a panel discussion about cultivating green spaces within the city limits.  http://www.tpr.org/articles/2012/07/views-and-brews.html

Linda Hallstead and Karla Toye will be working in the garden starting at 1:30 this Friday afternoon, July 6.  Please join them if you are able.  They will appreciate your help.

Charlotte

About 10 people braved the heat on Monday and Thursday nights to spruce up the garden.  Among other things, we weeded and mowed around the beds and fruit trees, weeded the gravel path, cut scrub vegetation and overhanging branches of trees near the compost bin, and watered the fruit trees and beds.  All of our hard work was to make the garden look extra nice for our special event Movie in the Garden - “A Lot in Common” coming up on Thursday, July 12 at 8:30 p.m.  Details are on the calendar page of our web site, www.ahgarden.org.

In addition to our group work times, the garden needs routine maintenance.  If you usually work in the garden on a certain day/time please let me know and I will post it on the calendar page of the web site.  That way people who want to work with someone else and new volunteers who want to find out what needs to be done will know when someone is likely to be there.

Finally, if you no longer want to receive these updates, please reply and I will remove your name from our mailing list.  I have taken over from Gregg Chislett the duties of updating the web site and sending e-mails.  Thanks to him and his wife Ruth for all of their hard work doing these tasks for more than a year.

Charlotte