The second annual Garden Winter Solstice Tea Party was held on Saturday, December 20 in the garden.
A group of approximately twenty-five hearty souls gathered for the celebration. Many pounds of canned goods were received on behalf of City Harvest through the event’s Yes We Can Can drive as well as $93.61 for the garden cats via the Spare Change for Cats initiative.
Many thanks to all those who helped brighten the shortest day of the year.
View a slideshow at:
We lucked out!
It was a relatively hassle-free delivery, with the alternate side car-parkers cooperating.
The compost is rich, dark and delicious. And there is LOTS of it, we didn’t take the full truck load because it was just too much.
Fortunately the port-a-potty has been taken for the season, so we don’t have to worry that we are blocking it with our new mountain.
Please be careful as you pull the tarp away to grab your share. We used the tarp that was used when the fence was painted silver.
Therefore on the one side of the tarp there are lots of silver particles that shake off as you move it. This will contaminate the soil, PLEASE do your best to handle it delicately.
If anyone has a fresh / spray paint-free tarp that they can offer as an alternative to the one we used, please be generous and share it 🙂
Enjoy!
P.S. two issues:
1. If anyone knows the “generous” landscaper that keeps dropping off the white and HEAVY bags of bad soil for our use, please ask him to stop.
These bags are inhibiting our ability to open the delivery gate.
2. Tree guards are not yet installed and this is a good thing because the dump truck would not have been able to access the delivery gate.
Do we want to consider not installing this guard due to the likelihood that it will prevent future deliveries?
In My Garden
New Regional Blogs!
That Goes, This Stays in the Winter Garden
Resources
Shows & Events: Cast Your Vote for a 2008 Garden Hero
Books: Perennial Garden Care Tracy DiSabato-Aust’s “The Well-Tended Perennial Garden: Planting and Pruning Techniques”
Regional Reminders
* Dig Your Holiday Tree Hole Now
* Fertilize Spring and Summer Bulbs
* Leave Ornamental Grasses and Select Seed Pods
* Empty, Clean and Store Nonweatherproof Containers
* Pop In Pansies, Dwarf Evergreens
National News:
New Award-Winning Christmas Melon
Community Gardens Add Value to Inner City Homes
New Biopesticide Controls Tomato Blight and Mildew
Garden Gloves for Animal Lovers
Read the full newsletter at: http://www.garden.org/regional/report/current/13
Chip in! Mulch your tree! Help NYC grow.
Chip in and join the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation at MulchFest 2009! Stop by any of the 30 chipping sites in all five boroughs on January 10th and 11th from 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. with your Christmas tree and watch it get turned into mulch! You can even take home a free bag of fragrant mulch. Or just drop your tree off at another 60 locations citywide, and we’ll do the rest. Not only will it help make NYC greener, it will help your spring flowers grow too!
Call 311 or visit www.nyc.gov/parks for a list of citywide locations.
(Jean notes that although all sites take trees, only a few will give you the chips. These sites have an asterisk next to them (the Central Park site is NOT one of them), so if you want to take the mulch back, be sure the site is willing to do this.)
This month Edible Landscaping closes the year with thoughts on sunlight, pawpaws and mushrooms. Lucille mentioned that Mary Wakino is a great mushroomer!
Edible Landscaping is on sabbatical until the Spring. If you’d like to continue receiving good gardening information on a regular basis, subscribe to the National Gardening Association’s Regional Reports e-newsletter. In each biweekly report, experts share gardening advice, techniques, news, and events specific to 12 regions across the country.
Neighbors and Gardeners-
Mark your calendars for a Solstice Celebration Tea on Saturday, December 20 at 3:30- 5PM in the W. 104th St. Community Garden.
Like last year, there will be:
-A can drive (Donations going to City Harvest)
-A Solstice illumination spectacular
-A warming fire
-Plenty of hot tea and tea time goodies
This year, ALL NEW:
-A warming tent
-Burning of the T. E. Jaworek Memorial Solstice Log
-Pennies from Heaven; Spare Change for Cats
(Purge your home of all the loose those pennies sitting around. Bring them to the garden and donate them tothe care and feeding of our exterminating felines.)
Attention Gardeners,
This year the garden closer potluck will be:
Sunday, November 23rd
(this is a date change from what was issued on the calender at the beginning of the season)
1pm
Schneider Apartments Community Room
West 102nd Street
between CPW & Manhattan Aves
It is important that you attend because we will be collecting membership forms / payment for the 2009 season.
The earlier you register the better are your chances for getting into the committees you want and priority on plot assignments.
Please bring a covered dish to share.
Keep in mind we will also need plates, napkins, forks, spoons, cups etc.
Also important:
The garden needs to be cleaned up and prepared for winter!
Please take advantage of the good weather this weekend and get into the garden to put away Halloween decorations,
clean up your beds, distribute soil from the mountain, mow the lawn, put away everything that is not weatherproof.
We need EVERYONE‘s help with this. If you have been missing meetings all season, now is your time to clear your conscience and put in your part.
Now that we have a strong Steering Committee and healthy committee structures, there will be less likelihood that absent gardeners will be slipping through the cracks.
The Steering Committee will definitely be looking at your participation level when deciding if you deserve
to be awarded your very own plot – this huge privilege, not a right.
Be a good gardener, do your part and let’s finish the season on a positive note!
Thank You!
The Steering Committee
The Saturday Oct. 18 workday was one of our most productive!
Garden members:
1. Pushed wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of soil up the hill from the East to the West garden, where it was deposited in communal beds and spread over the main and maze lawns. The East garden beds and lawns were treated as well. The dirt mountain is now just a hill.—This was hard labor! Special thanks to the mountain movers. (Also to the anonymous “promoter” who pinned a sign to the hill, “Potting soil–$1,” before the Fall Festival.)
2. Cleared, cleaned, and reorganized the shed in the East garden, which had gotten to be a jumble. Much needed housekeeping.
3. Decorated the garden with hay bales, old and new dolls, skeletons, a spider, pumpkin and ghost balloons, etc. for the Fall Festival. Seasonably scary.
4. Put together yet another bench. Hurray.
Thanks to everyone who pitched in that Saturday –and to those who worked on the mountain by themselves the week before.
There’s a lot more to be done to close down the garden for winter.
Come out this weekend; the weather is gorgeous!
The Steering Committee
It’s fall and at this time of year my mind automatically turns to compost. Okay, it’s not the most glamorous gardening topic in the world, but it’s an ess
ential one. Adding compost to garden soil improves soil health by providing … more »
The common, white-fleshed, “Irish” potato has a reputation for being inexpensive, plain, and boring, so why bother growing potatoes? Well, there’s more to potatoes than meets the eye … more »
It’s an election year and there are many hot topics on people’s minds. With the economy tanking, fuel prices high, food prices soaring, and concerns about global warming, health care, social security, and education ever present, many people feel … more »
Leeks are easy to grow, but they do require a long growing season. Fortunately, you can harvest them into late fall and some varieties actually taste better once they’ve been nipped by frost. Most leek and potato soups look bland, but my version … more »
We like to keep you posted about stuff going on in our neighborhood. Here are three events coming up—one Friday October. 31, one this Saturday afternoon, November 1 and another on the evening of November 6.
We think these will be of interest to you.
1. West 107th St. has been coming together with their own block association. Trick or treat candy will be distributed to children by the group between 3 and 6PM on Friday Oct. 31 at 62 W. 107th St. between Manhattan and Columbus. There will be pumpkin carving too!
2. November 1 Harvest Festival/Day of the Dead
honoring the harvest season and departed souls
On Sat. Nov. 1, 12noon-5pm
at the La Perla Community Garden
(between Manhattan and Columbus
Avenues on W. 105th St.)
Festival includes:
Mexican family activities for celebrating and honoring departed souls.The event will feature crafts andstories provided by El Comite Guadalupana de la Iglesia Ascension.
The West Side Streets Renaissance Campaign will have a table with ideas for changing streets to make them safer for people walking, cycling and driving.
(Vendor spots available at $20 for general merchandise or $40 for food. If interested, please call Lulu-646-736-8450)
Please share with friends and neighbors!!
The Old Streams
Waste Water
6 – 8 p.m.
Bloomingdale Library, 160 West 100th Street
(between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues)
Second Floor
Speaker:
Kevin Bone, Author, Water-Works:
The Architecture and Engineering of
New York City’s Water Supply
Invited Commentators from the
NYC Bureau of Waste Water and the New York
Public Library Map Division.
Columbus/Amsterdam
Business Improvement District (BID)
For further information, call 212-865-3078
Jean L. Jaworek