g community gardens of tucson
TRANSCRIPT
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g Community Gardens g of Tucson
K E E L I NG R A MA DA WORK DONE BY G ATE HOUS E ACADE M Y
JANUARY–FEBRUARY 2011
VOLUME 12 ISSUE 1
Y C OM M U N I T Y G A R DE N S OF T UC S ON Z
JANUARY–FEBRUARY d TWO THOUSAND AND ELEVEN
FROM TH E PRES IDE NT
We have your money!
When you joined the Community Gardens of Tucson, most of you gave us a $25 refundable plot cleaning deposit. We are changing our accounting system and we have decided that keeping track of the plot cleaning deposits is more trouble than it is worth and we are going to discontinue them. We hope that you would consider donating your deposit to CGT and taking a tax deduction off of your 2010 taxes. Donations to CGT are deductible. We need to hear from you. Could you please send an email to [email protected] telling us what you would like us to do with your money. We hope you say “donation” but you can also say “refund”. Please let us know by January 30th so that we can move forward with our accounting changes.
— Gene Zonge, President
TH A NK YOU!
4 Alex at Civano for the compost.
4 Leo and Cindy for the shed and the tree stump.
4 Debra for the tree stumps.
4 Carol for all of the work on the cookbook.
4 Tierra Stone for the free sandstone for plaque for the 20th Anniversary party.
4 Boy Scout shed for Chaverim donations Darlene Schacht, Barry Salovitz, William Cohen, Jannuzi family, Karen Cardinell, Robert Kramer, Vera Godfrey, Hans Acosta, Hein family, Fiesta growers, George Hussey, Christy Awalt, Susan Sapanaro, Lois Silver, Charlotte Zimmerman, Janet Monnett, Robert Hussey, Sally Salovitz, Grant Road Lumber, Home Depot, Loews, Taylor’s Demolition and Recycling, Dunn Edwards, Costco, Brugers, and Oregano’s Pizza
4
As always, we extend our warm thanks and appreciation to our friends at AlphaGraphics, who not only make the publication of this newsletter possible, but make it beautiful as well.
JANUARY — MARCH CA LE N DA R
All meetings are at 9 AM . The Sabino Vista Meeting is to be announced.
Cancelled – New Spirit GardenJanuary 2 – Highland Vista GardenJanuary 8 – Presidio GardenJanuary 8 – SARG GardenJanuary 9 – St. Gregory GardenJanuary 13 – Board of DirectorsJanuary 15 – Sunrise GardenJanuary 16 – Chaverim GardenJanuary 22 – Benedictine Monastery GardenJanuary 22 – Sewell GardenJanuary 23 – Keeling Garden
February 5 – New Spirit GardenFebruary 6 – Highland Vista GardenFebruary 10 – Steering Committee/Board of DirectorsFebruary 12 – Presidio GardenFebruary 12 – SARG GardenFebruary 13 – St. Gregory GardenFebruary 15 – Deadline for newsletter submissionsFebruary 19 – Sunrise GardenFebruary 20 – Chaverim GardenFebruary 26 – Benedictine Monastery GardenFebruary 26 – Sewell GardenFebruary 27 – Keeling Garden
March 5 – New Spirit GardenMarch 6 – Highland Vista GardenMarch 10 – Steering Committee/Board of DirectorsMarch 12 – Presidio GardenMarch 12 – SARG GardenMarch 13 – St. Gregory GardenMarch 19 – Sunrise GardenMarch 20 – Chaverim GardenMarch 26 – Benedictine Monastery GardenMarch 26 – Sewell GardenMarch 27 – Keeling Garden
The largest broccoli in our gardens is at the Benedictine Monastery Garden. This picture was taken on December 10th.
N E W LO C KS
Many of you will notice some new high security locks appearing at your gardens. There are two tricks that you need to know about the locks. The rst trick is to not follow your instinct that tells you to pull on the lock to get it to open. That won’t work. You have to push then pull.
The second trick is to scramble the combination as soon as you open the lock. There are two reasons for this. By scrambling the combination right away, you can be sure that no one will come along and see the combination. It does no good to have a high security lock if the bad guys know the combination. The other reason is that the lock won’t lock until the combination is scrambled. When you are done at the garden and you push the lock closed, you might think it is locked but it isn’t unless you scrambled the combination before you pushed it close. With all of your help, we can keep our tools and our gardens safe.
Y COMMUNITY GARDENS OF TUCSON Z
d
G EORG E SAYS…
First, you shouldn’t have to worry about freezes because the plants you have in your garden are cool season types and are able to withstand cold weather. However, should you go to your garden early one morning and see hoarfrost on the lettuce don’t do anything except wait for the sunshine to gently unfreeze your plants. Don’t spray with water, don’t touch them––just wait.
You could, while waiting, pull out all the seedlings of winter weeds that are germinating. As with our vegetables, we have summer weeds and winter weeds and the best way to be free of them is to catch them while they
are small, before their roots have taken a firm hold in the soil.
If you have crowded lettuce or other “greens” think about thinning them. You can transplant them if you have an empty corner, or you can eat them. If you have a lot of empty space it’s a good idea to make a succession sowing of quick-growing lettuce, or radishes. Avoid the slow-growing cauliflower and red cabbage because there’s not enough time between now and planting out of tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. When you sow seed, try doing it standing up and let the air scatter the seed as it falls. Don’t crouch down close to the soil and put down clumps of seed. If your irrigation lines are parallel all the way down your plot from the green valves all the soil surface will be adequately moist and this means that all the seeds that fell will have a good chance of germinating––nicely spaced out.
You can, of course, fill empty spaces with transplants and the best plants you can find are the ones that John Swanson sells every Sunday at the St Phillips Farmers Market. There are other nurseries that sell plants but they are often not well named––they’ll tell you it’s “cabbage” instead of “Copenhagen Market Cabbage”. And this brings up another thought. Please keep a garden journal and please label your plantings so we can all learn from your choices and experience. Often when a gardener tells us what a wonderful harvest was gathered--tasty, abundant, beautiful, and so on-- and we ask what its name is everything is forgotten and the whole season’s experience has been lost. Collectively, we have learned a lot concerning “The Best variety” for our region, but that knowledge is lost because we haven’t kept records, and our memories fail us. Darlene has remembered that Big Beef tomato is tasty, a good performer, free of problems, that she will plant again. Do you have such a favorite? Please let us know!
Unless you do tell us, it means we have to start all over again with the seed catalog descriptions, which are too enthusiastic to begin with (have you ever read a negative description?) and never specific enough for our desert conditions. Winter months are our best time for studying these catalogues--not just looking at the pictures.
Tomatoes are well-documented in today’s seed catalogs. We are told that some are determinate and others are indeterminate. The first relates to yielding a harvest in a short period, and then it’s all over. These are not the kind that home gardeners want, so you should choose indeterminate kinds that keep on producing over their lifetime. Cherries and Pears are good examples, but there are others. Seed catalogs put the letters V, F and N after a tomato variety name, indicating a built-in resistance to Verticillium, Fusarium and Nematodes that may be in our soils. They are devastating diseases that are difficult to control so some kind of built-in resistance is called for. Gardeners at Chaverim garden have recently found nematodes on the roots of their tomato plants that inexplicably failed to thrive all summer.
Bear in mind that our seasons of opportunity are short, so all vegetables, with the fewer “days to harvest” are what we should be looking for. With fruiting vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers and eggplant we want plants that have plenty of foliage that shades the fruit inside their leafy canopies, otherwise our summer sun spoils the harvest.
— George Brookbank
MONE Y TA LK
The New Year is just around the corner and that means it’s once again time for our plot fees to be paid. $90 per plot is due by January 1st, and you can mail your check to Community Gardens of Tucson, PO Box 65900, Tucson, AZ 85728-5900. Or if you prefer to pay with a credit card, go to our website, www.communitygardensoftucson.org and click on “Donations and Fees.” Please indicate your garden site on your check or PayPal payment. Although your plot fees are not deductible, any extra you care to donate to the program is. Many thanks to all who have already done so
— Darlene Schacht
FROM A HIGHLAND VISTA GARDENER:
I want to take a small opportunity here to say thank you for all the work you do unpaid I am sure to promote and sustain the CGT. I have seen it in the news many times lately, and I am proud to be a part. Mostly I am grateful for the great encouragement and push it has given our family to grow the stuff we eat. We are learning more each season now and it’s really a joy and quite fulfilling to know that we can grow our own food.
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JANUARY – FEBRUARY TWO THOUSAND AND ELEVEN
Y C OM M U N I T Y G A R DE N S OF T UC S ON Z
january–february d two thousand and eleven
NOTES
1. If planting seeds indoors, plant 8 weeks before planting times above. The average dates for first and last frosts are November 15 and March 15.
2. Potatoes and Jerusalem Artichokes are planted from seed potatoes.
3. There may be restrictions when planting pumpkins and mint at CGT gardens. Mints may need to be planted in containers. See your Site Coordinator.
4. Quality herb production is best achieved with filtered sun/open shade during hot months.
5. Please contact your site coordinator for any plants you can’t find in the planting guide, such as Amaranth, Asparagus, Chervil, Cress, Dandelion, Epazote, Fennel, Horseradish, Lemon Balm, Lemon Verbena, Lemon Grass, Lima Beans, Mache, Marjoram, Purslane, Rhubarb, Shiso, Stevia.
Copyright 2010, Community Gardens of Tucson
5
Vege
tabl
es
Germ. Soil January February March AprilTemp. °F 1-15 15-31 1-15 15-28 1-15 15-31 1-15 15-30
Artichoke/Cardoon 70-80 T T T T T TArugula 40-95 ST ST ST ST
Asian Greens 45-85 ST ST ST STBeans (Bush) 65-85 S S SBeans (Fava) 65-85 S S
Beets 50-85 S S S S S SBlack-eyed Peas 65-95 S
Broccoli 45-95 ST ST ST STBroccoli Raab 45-95 ST ST ST ST
Brussels Sprouts 45-95 T TCabbage 45-95 ST ST ST ST
Cauliflower 45-95 ST ST ST STCarrots 45-85 S S S S S S S S
Chinese Pole Beans 65-100 SCollards 45-95 ST ST ST ST
Corn 60-95 S S SCucumber (Armenian) 70-95 T
Cucumber 65-95 S STEggplant 75-90 T
Endive 65-80 ST ST ST STGarlic/Shallots 45-85 T T
Irish Potato2 45-75 T T T TJerusalem Artichoke2 70-80 T T T T T T T
Kale 45-95 ST ST ST STKohlrabi 65-80 ST ST ST ST
Leaf Lettuce 40-80 ST ST ST STMelons 75-95 T
Mustard Greens 45-95 ST ST ST STOkra 70-95
Onion/Leeks 50-95/70-7 T TParsnip 50-70
Peas 45-75 S SPeppers 65-95 T
Pumpkin3 70-95 ST ST STRadish 45-90 S S S S S S S S
Rutabaga 60-75 S S S S S S SSpinach (Winter) 45-75 T T ST ST
Spinach (NZ & Malabar) 70-80 STSquash (Summer) 70-95 ST ST ST
Squash (Winter) 70-95 ST ST STSweet Potato 75-85 TSwiss Chard 50-85 ST ST ST ST ST ST
Tomato 60-85 T T T T TTurnip 60-105 S S S S S S S
Her
bs4
Basil 55-75 STChives 55-75 T T
Cilantro 55-75 ST ST ST STDill 60-80 ST ST ST ST
Mint3 65-75 T T T T T T T TOregano 45-80 T T T T T T T TParsley 40-90 T T T T
Rosemary 50-80 T T T T T T T TSage 60-80 T T T T T T T T
Tarragon (French) 60-80 T T T TThyme 60-80 T T T T T T T T
Y C OM M U N I T Y G A R DE N S OF T UC S ON Z
january–february d two thousand and eleven
PRESIDIO GARDEN
Winter gardens are growing strong! A few nights of below freezing temps did very little damage.
A new load of mulch was delivered in early December and is being spread in the parking lot for
dust control. We are fortunate indeed to have so many gardeners who are willing to pitch in and
keep our garden looking good! This is especially helpful in our ongoing battle with Bermuda grass.
Through a recent agreement with a neighboring property owner, we will be removing the grass
from the fence line that we share. Our thanks go to Mr Dennis Williams for his cooperation in
this matter and his donation to CGT.
Shirley McReynolds has taken on the Site Coordinator duties for Presidio. Shirley is a long time
member of CGT and was previously Site Coordinator at the First Ave garden.
The plots that were designated for refugee families have, sadly, become available again. We had
great hopes for this project but it has not proven to be successful. This is partly responsible for
the large number of available plots that now exist. Please pass the word to any prospective
gardeners that may find Presidio to be a convenient location. We are on Presidio Street, between
Country Club and Dodge. (Presidio is one block south of Fort Lowell.) This is a good time for new
gardeners to become involved since there is still time to plant some winter crops and plenty of
time to plan for the summer season.
Season’s Greetings to all!
Presidio Garden (Midtown) Near Fort Lowell & Country Club Site Coordinator – Shirley McReynolds (t) 520.408.0659 (e) [email protected]
Sabino Vista Garden (Northeast) Near Sabino Canyon & Cloud Site Coordinators: Teddy Carney & Jo Schmidt 520.722.0334 [email protected] (t) 520.303.3616 (e) [email protected]
St. Gregory Garden (Northeast) Near Craycroft & River Site Coordinators: Patti Hartmann & Bruce Plenk (t) 520.795.8611 (e) [email protected] (e) [email protected]
S.A.R.G. Garden (Downtown) Near Stone & Speedway Site Coordinator: Gene Zonge (t) 520.326.0458 (e) [email protected]
Sunrise Garden (Northeast) Near Sunrise Drive & Craycroft Site Coordinator: Gene Zonge (t) 520.326.0458 (e) [email protected]
Sewell Garden (Eastside) Near 5th St. & Craycroft Site Coordinator: Gene Zonge (t) 520.326.0458 (e) [email protected]
Wilson Test Garden (Experimental Plantings only) Near Fort Lowell & Campbell Site Coordinator: Gene Zonge (t) 520.326.0458 (e) [email protected]
Benedictine Monastery Garden (Midtown—closest to U of A) Near Speedway & Country Club Site Coordinator: Kristen DiBone (t) 520.884.0557 (e) [email protected]
Chaverim Garden (Eastside) Near Speedway & Craycroft Site Coordinator: Stephanie Bourn-MacDonald (t) 520-318-3015 (e) [email protected]
Highland Vista Garden (Eastside) Near 5th St. & Craycroft Site Coordinators: Eric & Natalie Shepp (t) 520.747.1006 (e) [email protected] (e) [email protected]
Keeling Garden (Midtown) Near Fort Lowell & First Ave. Site Coordinator – Mark Bryant (t) 520.795.1718 (e) [email protected]
Mountain Vista UU Garden (Northwest) Near Ina & Thornydale Site Coordinator: Gene Zonge (t) 520.326.0458 (e) [email protected]
New Spirit Garden (Southeast) Near Camino Seco & Old Spanish Trail Site Coordinator: Gene Zonge (t) 520.326.0458 (e) [email protected]
LOCATIONS
THINK G
Fundra
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The Community Gardens of Tucson is pleased to announce
Dishes from a Desert Garden,
a collection of over 240 favorite recipes from members of our gardening community.
This attractive cookbook makes the perfect gift - for the holidays or any occasion!
Prices:
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only!$15
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Board of Directors | Information
PRESIDENT Gene Zonge (t) 520.326.0458 (e) admin@ communitygardensoftucson.org
VICE-PRESIDENT Zach MacDonald (t) 520.318.3015 (e) [email protected]
TREASURER Carrie Naughton (t) 520.548.9285 (e) [email protected]
SECRETARY Signa Roswall (t) 520.750.8439 (e) [email protected]
EDUCATION DIRECTOR John Swanson (t) 520.548.8193 (e) [email protected]
Community Gardens of Tucson 2940 North Santa Rosa Place Tucson, Arizona 85712
SUBSCRIPTION MANAGER Ginnie Grif (t) 520.290.0484 (e) vgrif [email protected]
NEWSLETTER Karen Zimmermann (t) 520.395.1378 (e) [email protected]
George Brookbank (t) 520.888.4586
Teddy Carney (t) 520.722.0334
Gwen Curiel (t) 520.327.0578
Shirley McReynolds (t) 520.408.0659
Darlene Schacht (t) 520.795.8823
Jo Schmidt (t) 520.303.3616
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our mission statement: “ The all-volunteer nonprofit Community Gardens of Tucson establishes and maintains community gardens and provides ongoing education that enables Tucson residents to grow food successfully and sustainably in garden communities within their neighborhoods.”
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