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November 2016
Established in 1980
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In this issue you will find:
- Upcoming Events
- Member tours & events
- Seminars
- Board Election Results
- Feature Articles
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Ogden Garden welcomed members in October |
- In your plot by Lorna Mitchell
- We say goodby to Billee Hoornbeek
- Project Updates
- Arid Garden
- Historic Canoa Ranch
- Ogden Community Garden
- Desert Meadows Park
- Committee Updates
- Seminars
- Membership Activities
- Membership
- Message from the President
- Photos contributed by members
Want to submit an article or a photo in the December newsletter? Please submit it by November 30th.
Click to submit
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Plan to attend the annual barbecue!
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Upcoming Events
- November 10th ~ Seminar at Desert Hills
- Toni Moore, U of A Master Gardener
- Water features for the Sonoran Desert
- November 12th ~ Annual Member's Barbecue
- Desert Meadows Park
- Festivities begin at 1 pm
- November 17th ~Members' Tour
- U of A Arboretum guided by Tucson Master Gardeners
- Carpool from Green Valley Village ~ Watch for e-mail blast for time and details
- December 1st ~ Seminar at Desert Hills
- Robert Putney, Green Things Nursery, Tucson
- Caring for your holiday plants after the holidays
- December 8th ~ Members' Activity
- Holiday Plant Display, Green Things Nursery, Tucson
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Election Results
Congratulations to Judy Christensen, Pat Pearson and Gene Van Dyken
Please see "Message from the President" for more information
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"In Your Plot"
by Lorna Mitchell
Vegetable gardening is all about the harvest. October's heat has given incredible harvests of tomatoes, eggplant, green beans, and peppers, and the pantry and freezer are full. The heat has also given great growth to our young winter plants and life in the garden is good.
But, the gardener always looks ahead! November means frost by the end of the month. Frost has some welcome benefits; it will reduce the grasshopper population and the cabbage loopers, it gets rid of the mosquitoes, it kills some of the weeds, and it makes our carrots sweet and tender.
Frost means dead summer plants to clean out to prevent rot which makes for insect pests and disease. It also means covering your faucet and clocks to prevent freezing and breakage. Insulate the faucet upright with pipe foam then an old blanket or large towel wrapped around the whole thing and tied or taped in place. Cover the entire unit with a bucket or bin to keep out moisture, because if it gets wet it is no longer effective. The tubes leading to the plants will not retain water so they will not break with a freeze.
Seeds
of radishes, turnips, lettuce, peas, carrots, beets, kohlrabi can still be put in, sooner is better.
Plants
of broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cilantro, Swiss chard, spinach can be put in, sooner is better. Garlic cloves can still be put in for harvest next May or June.
Onion
plants go in this month through January. I prefer to plant them by the middle of November to allow plenty of time for foliage growth before they "bulb" in the spring. Onion plants of short day varieties are the only ones that will yield large bulbs. Allow about six inches between them for bulbs to expand. Plant one plant in each hole, no deeper than one inch, and keep green tops above soil line. Harvest will come next May, though they may be pulled and eaten at any stage. The ideal onion has 13 leaves, but it only grows one at a time, the more leaves the bigger the onion. Prepare the soil with organic amendments and 10-20-10 granular fertilizer and make sure each plant will receive adequate water supply. Visit www.dixondalefarms.com for complete information on onion growth and cultivation as well as choosing onion plants.
Those are my plot thoughts for now, Happy Gardening!
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Billee providing SAV traffic control at the Plant Sale
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We say goodby!
Billee and Frank Hoornbeek will be moving from Green Valley to Newport, Oregon. They have decided it's time to downsize and to trade the desert view for a view of the harbor at Newport.
Billee donated her complete collection of potted plants to our fall plant sale. Many sold out within the first hour. Sure helped our bottom-line!
Billee has served in many, many roles during her membership including the term on the board. She has most recently been seen controlling traffic for our fund raising events as a SAV member. We enjoyed her smile and humor during both the garden tour and the plant sales.
We reluctantly say goodby. We send them off with our best wishes!
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Bouteloua gracilis "Blonde Ambition"
"Blonde Ambition" Blue Grama Grass
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Arid Garden
by Mary Kidnocker
Mary Beth Stevenson, a nearby neighbor, has been working with our volunteers for the past three weeks, anxiously learning about desert gardening and being a big help.
Michael Pinson, another neighboring visitor, has generously made a $100.00
donation to the upkeep of the garden.
We selected several new plants from the plant sale, and will be in the "planting mode" this week. The photos show two of our plant sale selection.
Our budget is continuously monitored and we
are well within our limits with only two months left in this year.
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| Russelia equisetiformis ~ Coral Fountain Grass |
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Historic Canoa Ranch
(HCR)
by Jack Davis and Raydine Taber
October was a very busy month for HCR volunteers. We planted our winter crops and made changes to the window box in the Junior House. Jan Nash used her knowledge of winter crops combined with her research and knowledge of plants used in the late 1800s and early 1900s to lay out both Grijalva House raised beds and Senior House Herb Garden. We plan to use the window box as a seasonal display. As the seasons change, we will use seasonal annuals that are recognized in each season. Presently, we have chrysanthemums and for the holidays we will switch to red and white cyclamens with a few poinsettias.
We participated in Anza Day both with decorating a child's wagon that was displayed at Grijalva house for the Mexican Vaquero Family exhibit opening and will remain until late December. We (John and Patricia Stocker and Raydine) also manned a table at Senior House to provide information about GVG and how we partner with Pima County to maintain all the gardens on the HCR grounds.
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Little Red Wagon at Grijalva House with fall harvest.
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After the Anza Day, Mexican Vaquero Family presentation speeches and ribbon cutting, several of the family members, who had spent their childhood on the ranch, left us a couple of plants. A fig tree was left which will eventually be planted in the Junior House Courtyard. The other plant is a lemongrass planted in a small wash tub which will remain in the Grijalva House courtyard.
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Allen J. Ogden Garden by George Stone
OCTOBER NEWS ~ Old news:
- October 5th ~Onions ordered from Dixondale's with delivery on or about the November 10th. Will be planting 2,000 in November.
- October 11th ~ The last soil was delivered and installed in our onion plots. Matthew Provstgaard saved the day for us by hand shoveling 30-yards of soil.
- October 20th ~ Thirty or so club members made the trek to the Ogden community garden where they enjoyed tea and donuts and were shown about the garden.
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| George Stone greets members during a Members Event at the Ogden Garden. |
NOVEMBER NEWS ~ What's coming up?
- November 4th ~ Mitzvah day at the Ogden will have volunteers painting the seed shed . Work party of 4 starts at 9am and will spend four hours at the garden. This volunteer event is sponsored by the local Green Valley Jewish community to help others.
- November 5th ~ In some publications the 5th of November is the first frost date for our zip code of 85622. Take necessary precautions in your plot.
- November 6th ~ End of day light savings time, in those areas where it is practiced.
- November 10th ~ Club seminar every Thursday. See event calendar in this Sand'N'Seeds issue.
- November 12th ~ Club BBQ at Desert Meadows. Hope you made reservations.
- November 14th ~ Fred & Lorna Mitchell will be planting our 2 thousand onions in plot 19 & 20. At least the November 14th is the target date to do that.
Monthly family focus:
New! Future Sand'N'Seeds issues will include a short introduction of Ogden gardeners. We feel this will be an effective way of introducing our gardeners to others. This month's focus is on Dietrich & Ann-Marie DeBoer. The DeBoers have been married 20 years and have 6 children from ages 18 to 3 .
Dietrich is employed by Pima County WIN while Ann-Marie is a stay at home Mom with plenty to do. From home school teacher to cook Ann-Marie still finds time to garden. Living in Arizona for 18 years the DeBoer family has learned to embrace the outdoors through biking and gardening. The Green Valley Gardeners were introduced to the DeBoer family by Fred & Lorna Mitchell who are valued members of the club and the Ogden garden.
Cooler temperatures have brought a new energy to the garden where both plants and the gardener are benefiting. The DeBoer family in plot # 5 are a prime example. Ann-Marie with her little basketball team are seen at least every other day tending to their plot by weeding, planting, pruning and just having fun and enjoying the food their plot provides. Ann-Marie discovered the Ace hardware store on 22nd street in Tucson. What a great place to shop. Have you been there? If not, GO. It's a one of a kind hardware store that sells everything from chickens to old time tin signs. Address is 6959 East 22nd St. That's 22nd & Kolb.
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| Garden club members visiting the DeBoer plot during the member event. |
Final thoughts:
Tim & Kat Drumm are growing tomatoes that are still producing baseball size fruit. They gave me three this am and could hardly contain myself as I raced towards home. I ran inside, grabbed my salt shaker and stood over the sink and ate every one of those suckers. GOD, I LOVE THIS WEATHER where we can grow and eat tomatoes from June until ??? November! When asked what he did to grow the tomatoes for that length of time, he answered---nothing. But, he says, he did 'nothing' for a long time. I love it.
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Tom Kelley from White Elephant and
GVG board members Francis Howe and
Jo Ann Wilson cut the ribbon.
Photos by Gary Campbell |
Desert Meadows Park
by Chuck Parsons
Volunteers spent part of our Wednesday work morning in celebration on October 12th. We did a 'ribbon cutting' for the newly completed picnic ramada. Then enjoyed treats baked by Marita Ramsey and Elissa Dearing in the Barrio Garden. It's nice to relax and enjoy the results of our work!
I has been nice to see our winter-resident plot holders and volunteers returning over the past month.
Just over 4200 pounds of fresh produce have been donated this year to the local food banks from the community garden plots at the park!
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Plant Sale Committee
Outstanding plants. Great weather. Terrific volunteers. Lots of customers. All added up to a very successful fall plant sale!
Our spring and fall plant sales provide funds to cover operating costs of the club's various community service projects.
The committee projected an income of $12,500 for the two sales during 2016. The spring sale generated $7840 and the fall sale generated $6170, for a total of $14,010. Very nice!
Thom Metcalf has created a popular sale feature ~ the "Plant Orphans" ~ which is attracting repeat customers. For the fall sale both Bach's and Civano's donated plants for us to sell at this table.
The committee thanks the many volunteers. We had approximately 150 volunteers sign up to contribute time to this event!
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Membership Activities
By Marita Ramsey and Cathy Merritt
A tour of the University of Arizona Arboretum is scheduled for November 17th. We will have a guided tour conducted by Tucson Master Gardeners. We will carpool from the Green Valley Village parking lot, adjacent to the El Rodeo restaurant, at 9am.
Preparations are well underway for our annual BBQ, Saturday, Nov 12th. It will be held at Desert Meadows Park at 1PM.
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Membership
by Judy Christensen
Thanks to the 9 new members who joined Green Valley Gardeners in October. We so appreciate your enthusiasm and willingness to support our Mission of community service and education.
WELCOME
- Barbara Bennett
- Ann Lutz Dravigny
- Sandra Marrs
- Glenda & Dennis McCulley
- Christa Ryan
- Mary Wagner
- Kristee West
- Rhonda Woods
Looking forward to seeing you at a Thursday Seminar or other event soon. Stop by the Membership Table to say 'hi' and pick up your name badge. Thanks to Board-Member, Mark Thompson who has agreed to be our next Membership Chair.
Our current Membership Total is 390!
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Message from the President -- Bill Berdine
The Board of Directors met Tuesday, November 1, 2016 at it regularly schedule monthly meeting in which the Nominating Committee's slate of winning candidates for the three open Board of Director seats were approved. They were Judy Christensen, Pat Pearson and Gene Van Dyken. There have been no challenges with regard to the election and the Board was unanimous in accepting the results and congratulating the Nomination Committee (i.e., George Stone, Pat Pearson and Jo Ann Wilson) for job well done.
The Board of Directors additionally elected a new Executive Board, Bill Berdine, President, Judy Christensen Vice President, Raydine Taber, Treasurer, and Jo An Wilson, Secretary.
Outgoing Board members Jack Davis and Thom Metcalf were thanked for their years of service to the Club.
The next Board of Director meeting will be held on Tuesday, December 6, 2016 at the Friends In Deed (corner of La Canada and Camino Casa Verde), starting at 12:00 PM. The monthly Board meetings set the Club's agenda for the upcoming Fall, Winter and Spring seasons and active involvement by the membership at large would be appreciated and welcomed by the Board of Directors
We continue to be in need for volunteer involvement by members with interest or expertise in finance, web-based data management, garden tour expertise/interest. Anyone with a background in and/or interest in those areas should contact me.
Click to email Bill Berdine
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Photos Contributed by Members
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Plaque on new picnic pavilion at Desert Meadows Park.
Photo by Gary Campbell
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Fall colors in Jordan River Valley, Michigan.
Photo by Judy Christensen
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