May 2017
Established in 1980 
In this issue you will find:
Bees are happy to find the cactus in bloom at Desert Meadows Park. Photo by Gary Campbell.
  • Message from the President
  • Upcoming Events
    • Member Tours & Events
    • Seminars
  • Feature Articles
    • Looking Ahead to the 2018 Spring Garden Tour
    • "In Your Plot"
    • Make a Donation to GVG via AmazonSmile
  • Project Updates
    • Arid Garden
    • Allen J. Ogden Community Garden
    • Desert Meadows Park
    • GVG Gardens at Historic Canoa Ranch
  • Committee Updates
    • Art-in-the-Park/Spring Fair
    • 2017 Spring Garden Tour
    • Membership ~ New Members
  • Member Photos
    • Art-in-the-Park/Spring Fair
    • Spring Garden Tour
     
To submit an article or a photo for the April newsletter? Please submit it by May 30.  Click to submit.
MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
The results are in, and the Club has recorded a record-breaking fundraising campaign this spring. The Spring Garden Tour achieved a record $6,277 in net profits. This is an all-time high and speaks highly of the team that pulled this off, including Cynthia Surprise and Stacie Meyer. Congratulations to that team of volunteers for what was an exhausting day. The new spring venue, the Art-in-the-Park coordinated by Gene Van Dyken, recorded a net profit of $5,086. This was the inaugural for the Art-in-the-Park, and from all the input we have received, it could become a major Club event in the years to come. These two events, co-existing within the Club's brand, made a significant impact on the immediate and regional community. Many thanks to the leadership and volunteers for these two events.
 
Coming up are the Ogden Garden Committee's onion sales. All members are encouraged to both promote and purchase the onion products that will be on sale at Desert Blooms and Desert Meadows Park. Additional site locations for sales will be forthcoming. This is the finale of the Club's fund raising, and everyone is encouraged to inform their friends and neighbors of the availability of these sweet onions.
 
There are no scheduled GVG Board meetings until September 2017. If any member has a suggestion for an agenda item, they are encouraged to submit it to me. Thanks everyone for a very good and productive year. For those returning to northern homes, safe travels, have a good summer and I am looking forward to your return this fall.

Bill Berdine, President
UPCOMING EVENTS
Seminars
  • Seminars will resume in September
Member Activities
  • Member Activities will resume in September/October


Visit our website for a complete calendar of events
FEATURE ARTICLES
Looking Ahead to the 2018 Spring Garden Tour  by Stacie Meyer and Cynthia Surprise

The 2018 Spring Garden Tour is already in the planning stages.  We're looking for gardens in the Madera Reserve, Madera Highlands or Madera Shadows areas to feature on the tour.

If you live in any of those areas and are interested in having your garden considered for the 2018 tour, or if you know of any interesting gardens in those areas, please contact either:

Stacie Meyer at [email protected], phone 859 691-1121

or

Cynthia Surprise at [email protected], phone 857 209-1978
Who doesn't prefer home-grown tomatoes over store-bought!
"In Your Plot"   by Lorna Mitchell

HARVEST:  That's what motivates us. Yes, we enjoy our mornings tending our little plants and the discussions with other gardeners; but if we never harvested anything we wouldn't last long in the garden business. So, how do we get the most out of what we put in? Read on.

We keep one eye on the weather. May will bring in summer, and moisture becomes paramount as the temperatures climb. Adjust watering schedules to supply needs.

We know our varieties. Each variety has its own special characteristics and needs. For instance, tomato plants come in either determinate (growing like a bush with fruit ripening at the same time) or indeterminate (continuing to grow and producing fruit all season).  They must be treated differently to maximize the harvest.

Determinate plants will bush and stop growing as they set fruit and do not need any pruning. They usually don't need support and all the fruit will ripen about the same time, which is great for sauces and canning.

Indeterminate plants are more common, such as Early Girl and Juliette, and will benefit from some pruning and support. Pruning consists of snipping out "suckers" at the leaf axials, which helps channel energy into the leading stem, which produces fruit. I suggest reviewing a video on pruning tomatoes at Johnny's Selected Seeds website (click here to view). The idea is to identify two or three central leaders and make them produce fruit instead of extra vines, which makes the plant bushy. I have found that pruning my plants gives me more tomatoes over the season.

Indeterminate plants also need sturdy supports because of their huge growth over the many months in the garden. Many factors need to be considered when choosing what to use. Consider the strength of the monsoon storms when your plants will be large and heavy.

We watch for pests on our plants. White fly, tomato hornworm and squash borer show up early. All these have a larval stage so we can use BT to control them. BT stands for Bacillus Thuringiensis, a natural organic bacterium which is selectively toxic to many caterpillars. It is applied in water solution, there is no residue and it is exempt from tolerance requirements so may be applied up to the day of harvest. I have found it to be very helpful in controlling caterpillar pests. Repeated applications may be necessary to control new populations, but it doesn't hurt beneficial organisms.

Aphids may be a problem, and ladybugs are their natural predator (we like them). Insecticidal soap (NOT dish soap) can be effective in reducing aphid numbers and some of the beetles that eat eggplant and tomatillos.

We feed our earthworms. Earthworms are our friends; they till the soil, aerate it, and put nutrients into it. Replenish the organic matter in your soil every time you dig. You can make slurry of fruit and vegetable scraps in your blender and bury it in your plot - they love it!

We maximize our plot. Bulb onions are harvested this month, and in that new space dig in steer manure and/or peat along with some granulated balanced fertilizer; then plant seeds of green beans, melons, radishes, okra, black eyed peas, and squash, etc. Plants of peppers, sweet potatoes and eggplants can also go in.

Garlic needs to dry out completely so leave it in till the tops die down.

Those are my plot thoughts for now, Happy Gardening!
Shop AmazonSmile and Benefit the Garden Club  

Green Valley Gardeners is now listed on AmazonSmile. When you shop Amazon, log into AmazonSmile, use your existing personal account login information, select Green Valley Gardeners as your non-profit of choice. The club will receive a small donation for each qualifying purchase you make. Thank you!

To shop AmazonSmile go to http://smile.amazon.com/.
PROJECT UPDATES
Just the beginning of "Flying Saucer" Trichocereus flowers in  Arid Garden.

Arid Garden  by Mary Kidnocker 

We currently have two more winter volunteers leaving for the "cool country." With our annual dry spring winds, those of us left behind will be busily hand-watering until the arrival of the monsoon season. If you would like to help out and learn more about the garden, join us early any Friday morning.
 
Trichocereus cacti are loaded with buds and waiting for the right conditions to put on their spring show. Local camera buffs are stopping daily to check on their progress. If you're interested, remember that they open in early evening and begin deteriorating by the next mid-morning.
 
There have been a number of compliments, both email and handwritten notes, on the garden's newly-completed, hard-surface walkways. After over  31 years with gravel paths, the garden seems to have acquired an updated personality. For this, we are grateful to the generosity of White Elephant and to the skill of Val Valle of Valscape.

Red Chuparosa in bloom at Arid Garden.


Can you find Elissa Dearing and Leslie Campbell busily trimming  bottom branches from jojoba bushes at Arid Garden?
The hen house
Allen J. Ogen Community Garden  b y George Stone

We predicted the chickens would be a popular addition to the gardens,and boy are they! Gardeners, as well as our visitors, enjoy the chickens. For the adults, the chickens kick into gear the remembrance of years gone by as well as a simpler time and place. And for the children, it's the fun of watching the chickens scramble for bugs thrown their way. In addition, we have five families who, for 10 minutes of Chicken 101 (that's the coop cleaning), get in return about 1 dozen eggs every 10 days. Please take an hour of your time to visit the Ogden Garden and our chickens. You may want to call me at 343-9690 to make sure someone is there. Kathy says I may as well as sleep there - but I don't!

Events at the garden this month included:
  • By April 1st our five hens were providing us with three eggs per day

  • April 5th, the remodeled gazebo was completed. Volunteers planted a peach tree and three trumpet vines as projects.
  • April 9th, we are shifting to high gear in preparing for our next fund raiser - THE ONION SALE. For the rest of April our attention will be mainly focused on that project.
  • At their April 12th Board Meeting, the Sahuarita Unified School District recognized the Green Valley Gardeners and the Ogden Community Garden as a partner in a collaborative effort in creating excellence in our local schools. I was pleased to represent you at that meeting. I will post a copy of their letter, addressed to me and the Ogden Gardens, inside the message board.
  • April 17th, we bought a shade awning for our very spoiled chickens. Bob & Rita Skora picked it up at Costco saying "the girls need their privacy".
The hens got some much-needed privacy and shade.
  • April 22nd, the Onion Sale fundraiser is in high gear, and we gathered at my home to make signs.
  • April 24th, FLASH !!!!! We believe one of our hens is hatching baby chicks. Good Lord. I told that chicken to watch out for those young roosters!
Lorna Mitchell with a nice bunch of beets.
      See you in the garden!  
The GVR Camera Club used Desert Meadows Park to practice their "light painting" technique. Photo by Gary Campbell.
Desert Meadows Park by Chuck Parsons

Desert Meadows Park was introduced to many more residents of Green Valley and the Santa Cruz Valley this past month. It is hard to believe how many folks admit to visiting the park for the first time!
  • The Art-in-the-Park/Spring Fair brought more folks to the park than we had imagined as the event was being planned. Overall reaction from the community was very favorable - both about the event and with the park for those that discovered it for the first time.
  • KGVY Quarterly ran another excellent spread about the park including many, many excellent photos by Gary Campbell. I understand from DeAnna Walker at KGVY, they have received many compliments about the article and requests for additional copies because of the article.
  Other highlights for the month:
  • The park was used by both GVR and Quail Creek photography and art classes - what a nice 'classroom'!
  • It was a good month for picnics - all three areas received additional use.
  • The community garden plot holders began their summer season - runs April 1st to September 30th.
  • Fourteen plots will be used for food bank production this summer.
  • We completed the installation of four new raised-bed plots. This brings our total number of assigned garden plots to 56. We currently have four members on a wait list.
Grijalva House
GVG Gardens at Historic Canoa Ranch (HCR)  by Jack Davis and Raydine Taber

April was among the busiest months of the year, with the completion of two new projects:

- Grijalva House

Installation of the irrigation system, which covers the existing raised beds and plants as well as the newly-planted tomatoes and peppers along the north wall, was completed. The tomato and pepper plants were donated by Elissa Dearing, who grew them from seed in the Desert Meadows Park greenhouse.  Now in the second week since planting, all seem to be doing well despite the heat.

The plantings will complement the new historical project inside of the Grijalva House, further enhancing the feeling of the 1900s Latin period. The irrigation system was installed by Lee Harr of H&H Yard Services in Green Valley. Lee has been our local volunteer irrigation consultant since the initial Sr House kitchen garden installation.

- Jr House
The gardens inside the Jr House courtyard are finally completed. The original plan for these gardens was developed in the spring of 2013. It took some time to put in gutters and a water collection system, the latter being donated by former GVG President, Bettye Jo Preis.

Last year, a water line was brought into the garden and an Ash tree was planted. In April, funding became available, and we were able to continue with irrigation system installation. A mild cool-down triggered our decision to purchase plants and begin planting. We obtained many of the plants from Civano Wholesale Nursery to combine with those set aside from the Pima County Native Nursery (PCNN).

The garden design was a collaboration between Jessie Byrd and the GVG team. Major irrigation line installation and digging of the larger holes was done by the HCR staff. Planting was undertaken on April 24-26, as a team effort by the GVG team and Amy Belk from the PCNN.

This feat could not have been accomplished without the tremendous work of our volunteers: Bill Berdine, Jo Ann Wilson, Denny Clouse, Joy Maier and Rhonda Woods, as well as Jack and Raydine. Another fun partnership project, under HCR Project Manager, Robert Vaughn's direction, accomplished  just in time for the GVG Members Activity event on Saturday, April 29.

While there are many new plantings for our volunteers to keep an eye on and tend, the two new irrigation projects will significantly reduce the time spent by our GVG HCR volunteers and make their job more enjoyable. We still need volunteers to help out during the summer/early fall. If you are interested, please contact Raydine Taber at 520-625-0961 or [email protected].
COMMITTEE UPDATE S
Art-in-the-Park/Spring Fair by Gene Van Dyken

The new Art-in-the-Park/Spring Fair  turned out to be a huge success, and we're still getting feedback on how well it all turned out. Our club created a lot of energy and fun on Saturday, April 8 . It was hard not to find something of interest with great art artisans and plant vendors galore, in addition to food trucks and music. And how about the silent auction and hidden treasures yard sale?

With some fine tuning, we should make next year even better. A special thanks to all who contributed their time and effort into making this event a success!

Green Valley Gardeners' plant booth during the Art-in-the-Park/Spring Fair. Elissa Dearing was our lead coordinator for this booth, selling leftover plants from the spring plant sale, plants propagated by DMPark volunteers and plants donated to the park. This booth was one of the more financially successful at the event, selling nearly $2000 in plants. Photo by Gary Campbell.

2017 Spring Garden Tour by Stacie Meyer and Cynthia Surprise

The Green Valley Gardeners' 2017 Spring Garden Tour was a great success! More than 600 people visited the five beautiful gardens featured on this year's tour.
 
Verbal and written feedback indicated that visitors enjoyed the diversity of the gardens, both in size and style. As usual, the excellent plant signage, knowledgeable hosts and friendly greeters helped to enhance the experience for those visiting the gardens. The emphasis this year on adding to the enjoyment of gardens through the arts was a big hit. The homeowners' creative use of artwork in their gardens, and the addition of Plein Air artists and a violinist, served to enrich enjoyment of the gardens.
 
The Spring Garden Tour, paired with the Art-In-The-Park at Desert Meadows, provided a wonderful opportunity for the community to learn more about gardening as well as to enjoy some of the beauty in our community, both in private homes and in Desert Meadows Park. We would like to thank all of the many volunteers who worked so hard to make the day such a success. Wonderful day, wonderful organization!
Membership - New Members
 by Mark Thompson

During the month of April, we welcomed five new members to our group:
 
Lynn Norred
        Susan Quinn
William John
        Ruth Ross
        Lahna Chaffee
 
The next time you see them, please welcome them to our group.
 
Our current membership stands at 379 and represents $7420 in gross revenue to the club. It is important to note that $860 in donations have been received in addition to membership dues so far this year. This is more than twice what was received through membership last year. One personal note here - while attending one of the cashier stations at the Art-in-the-Park event, a woman approached me and said that she was not a member, but wanted to donate to the group for what we do for Green Valley. When I asked how much she would like to donate, she replied without any hesitation, $150, and then gave me her credit card.  I was only too glad to process that payment and made sure she subsequently received a proper receipt. I talked to her about membership, but she is a caregiver and does not have the time.  Perhaps someday, she will.  

Thanks for your support!
MEMBER PHOTOS
Art-in-the-Park/Spring Fair
Photos by Gary Campbell

Mother Nature provided beautiful weather for our Art-in-the Park/Spring Fair fund raiser. Gary Campbell captured much of the beauty and activity in a series of photos. Here are a few of them for your enjoyment!









Spring Garden Tour
Photos by Linda Gregory

The Spring Garden Tour fund raiser was a sold-out success. We're fortunate that Linda Gregory toured the gardens and shared these photos with us.




















Editor: Linda Gricius | Green Valley Gardeners | [email protected]  | www.greenvalleygardeners.com
STAY CONNECTED: