April Events

April 4, 2009
by garden
2 min read

SATURDAY, APRIL 11, 1pm –3pm, 7th Annual Easter Parade & (for kids through 8 yrs. of age) Egg Hunt. FREE — bring your kids and grandkids to participate in games, sing-a-long, crafts (anyone to make a basket?), and snacks. Perhaps you might help to decorate, supervise wandering youngsters, lead a game, etc.,: call Lou 666-9733 to volunteer?

SUNDAY, APRIL 19, 1pm ,Opening Season Garden Meeting: Progress, Treasury, Green Thumb reports; Election of 2009 Steering Committee, Signup for monitor shifts, check working committee assignments, and meet and greet new and old friends! It’s our annual Potluck brunch, so bring a dish to share as well.

OTHER:

MACY’S FLOWER SHOW, Sunday, April 5 thru Sunday April 19. It’s usually a rare treat in sight and fragrance. Broadway window displays and floral arrangements throughout the 34th St. store itself. Regular store hours.

ALERT;

We’ll probably experience the renovation of the West garden site’s retaining wall toward the end of our season (Fall), so you might not want to plant anything other than annuals/vegetables (no bulbs) in your beds — or in community beds along the front and inside east side fences — in case any of the beds have to be upset in the doing. We’ll receive advance notice of when, exactly, later.

KUDOS to:

The two dozen-plus gardeners who worked devotedly on our first workday March 29 to clean up both East and West gardens; rebuilt individual beds with new planking; pruned the Peach trees; and spread the last of the woodchiips mulch! The garden is in grand shape going forward into our new season.

See you on the 19th?

Lucille

Wood Chips Galore! Art Exhibition! And Renewal Reminder‏

February 13, 2009
by garden
1 min read

Spring is just around the corner, and things are happening in the garden.

  • I spoke w. Matt Brown of the Central Park Conservancy and he kindly arranged to have wood chips delivered to our garden today. More than enough for paths, rose garden and water barrel sites. If the weather’s good and you feel inspired, please feel free to start rolling!
  • Anna Lise Jensen has curated a fascinating art exhibition, with gardens as its topic. Please see invite, sent separately.
  • If you haven’t sent in your application for this season, please do so now. If you want to keep your plot, the application should be postmarked by tomorrow, Feb. 14. If need another application, please go to our website (west104garden.org)

    • See you all soon,

    Suzanne Charle’

Fall Festival This Saturday – October 25

October 21, 2008
by garden
2 min read

Hello Gardeners!

The garden is looking very bright and festive in preparation for our event on Saturday.

Thank you to all that came out on Saturday to help decorate, move dirt and clean out the shed to make room for winter storage.

Also thank you to everyone posting flyers and forwarding e-mails to publicize our Fall Festival.

The Special Events Committee is requesting some additional help from anyone available and willing to contribute.

We could use the following donations:

1. Baked goods to sell at the garden table – please wrap your cookies, muffins, brownies or mini loaves individually for easy selling
2. Hot mulled cider to be sold at the garden table by the cup – this is a great money maker when the weather is nippy. The orange igloo cooler is the perfect container and it can be found in the large shed in the east lot.
3. Donations of Halloween Candy – very easy to find these days at the grocery and drug stores
4. Harvest your herbs and put them in a small sandwich bag with a label – they are so expensive in the supermarket and usually more than we need to buy at one time. Herbs are an easy item to sell.
5. Cups for cider

Any and all donations can be dropped off at the garden the morning of the event – 11am. If you want to make arrangements to drop off items prior to Saturday, please call Veronica at 212-774-1944.

Also, if you are available for an hour or even 45 minutes to man the garden table, relieve someone that is on duty or just generally help us out with the festivities, please do not hesitate to let us know.
Let Veronica know what you are able to contribute: vdoubleu@usa.net

Or simply come out on Saturday and look for Raleigh, Paula, Lou, Veronica or Jean and ask where your help can be used.

Reminder of the details:

West 104th Street Community
Fall Festival
Saturday, October 25th
11am – 4pm

Frank Schaap and Josh Levine will start performing acoustically at noon.

The raindate is Sunday, October 26th

Vendor spaces are only $15
Call Julia to reserve a spot: 212-316-2964

Saturday Workday: Construction and Sanitation committees

October 13, 2008
by garden
1 min read

Construction: We will try to assemble some more benches. I think we have lumber and sides for two more.

We need to work on repair of the gazebo, but I’m thinking we may want to hold off on that until after the event. I need to review this with Frank Grech.

Sanitation: Clean up before the event is important particularly on the East side. This might be the time to get rid of a lot of misc. junk.

So everyone knows, when Robin and I went for the pick up Sat. we got some wonderful plants; however, there were no roses available. Also we were limited to 30 bulbs for our garden. We got mainly tulips and a few hyacinths.

Most of the plants were placed in the gazebo. Robin took some over to the Western lot for the communal beds.

Moving Mountains

October 12, 2008
by garden
1 min read

Dear Gardeners,

If you’ve been by the garden lately you’ll have noticed a small mountain in the east garden. It’s dirt–very nice, rich dirt, that we ordered last week. It all, or most, has to go to the west garden in time to clean up for the fall fest. It’s a very big mountain. Alan & Susan spent several hours today hauling dirt and they hardly made a dent. This is a case where we really, really need everyone in the garden to help. Especially if you’re signed up to work on communal beds, this is your time to shine.

This will not all get done in one workday even if it doesn’t rain (which it might}. Any time you can give this week will help–stop by after work and haul a couple of wheelbarrow fulls to the west garden.
We’ll mark a central dumping spot and leave the wheelbarrows out by the mountain. You’ll just need to get a shovel from one of the sheds. You can even take small loads to ease the back aches–every little
bit helps. This is doable if everyone pitches in.

Green Guerrilla’s giveaway update

October 6, 2008
by garden
1 min read

Please advise if you can lend yourself/transport to pick up the many dozens of plants, shrubs and bulbs requested for our garden on:

When:
Saturday, October 11th
11am to 3pm

Where:
9 and C Community Garden
Located at the northeast corner of 9th Street and Avenue C
(Not La Plaza Community Garden on the opposite corner.)

We hope that you and/or anyone else from your garden group will be able to come at that time. Also, we and the 9 and C gardeners will have some light refreshments to celebrate the season and get to know one another. Feel free to bring something to contribute

RSVP to Suzanne: suzcharle@gmail.com . If we don’t have any volunteers, we’ll have to rent a van for somebody with a driver’s license to use for this pickup. Please RSVP by Tuesday to give Suzanne time to reserve a van? Thank you, LM

October Calendar

October 6, 2008
by garden
2 min read

Saturday, oCT. 11 — Plants pickup from Green Guerrillas Giveaway 10AM-3PM,
Avenue C and 9th Street, NW corner garden (Not La Plaza garden which is across street)
See my earlier e-mail re: this large number of plants for community beds both sides.
Call Suzanne (212) 665-4604 for details, re: loading Ave C & 9th loading and unloading in
garden thereafter

Saturday, Oct. 18 – October meeting and workday. 10:30 AM Meeting, work projects 11 to ?

Saturday, Oct. 25 – Fall Festival: including Flea Market 11AM-4PM for the adults, musicale throughout, and 9th Halloween parade/party from 1–3PM for the kids. Contacts: Julie (Flea Mkt) (212) 316-2964 to reserve vendor tables (on street) @$15; Lou (Halloween) (212) 666-9733 to donate/help distribute party decorations and goodies.

Volunteers to setup, take down decorations and man garden table are also needed.
Call Veronica ((212) 774-1944 re: overall help needed.

THANKS TO:

New Yorkers for Parks for free daffodils from Holland for community and building gardens supplied Oct.4th and 24th in Manhattan (other dates in Bronx, Queens and Staten Island).
Suzanne has already e-mailed you re: this pickup.

Green Thumbs for providing the porta-potty all summer at discounted rate to GT gardens,
including ours.

Dept of Parks for scoping out renovation of the leaning retaining wall (south of West garden shed) and adding it to Park’s requested budget for 2008-2009. If money obtained, work would be done after garden season ends in the fall. Will let you know if and when.

Green Thumbs for checking out the dying ailanthus tree, and possible removal of same before
it falls across rear fence of East garden next to 12 W, bldg. Will let you know if and when.

Nora Whysel for so well setting up, then maintaining and updating our garden website all
season.

July-August Garden Events up-date

August 13, 2008
by garden
2 min read
Hi all —
Meeting/work session tonight 8/13/08, 6PM – ?
THANKS TO:
Lou Ludyny for p cutting together and overseeing a fabulous 4th of July BBQ, with some 40 gardeners and friends enjoying the great potluck ethnic items brought! Special kudos to Larry Lewis — who marinated overnight at home and then grilled on premises delicious tender BBQ ribs, and Jesus Torres for his fancy franks and burger broiling.
Pamela Wax for her worthy and successful endeavors in putting together both the committee and full membership lists.
Robin Mace and her crew for the good ‘police-cat’ work done — such a pleasure to be rodent free!
Lou Ludyny for obtaining two new lawn mowers (one for free, another for $5!), andhaving the original working one sharpened. I’m sure the lawn areas are showing happily.
There are no special events scheduled in August.
HOWEVER, if you’d like to hold a birthday, back-to-school sendoff, private event, contact Veronica Winsch for permission and to be sure there are no conflicts with another gardener’s planned event? All weekends are open.
OTHER:
PLEASE BE SURE TO LOCK THE GARDEN GATE(S) when you leave? Both gates have been left open on several occasions — fortunately the locks remained where left on the fence.
PLEASE return tools to the shed from which you obtained them, and in the Rose Caddy. Otherwise, somebody else has to replace them appropriately and one can’t find tools expected in either East or West gardens. The Steering/Maintenance crews have made sure that there are equal tool distribution between both gardens — though we only have one ladder currently.
All for now – Lucille

Water, water

July 17, 2008
by garden
1 min read

During these hot days, please take some time to water the communal gardens (including the herb and rose gardens). They all need long, deep drinks.

Many thanks.