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July 2019
Established in 1980
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In this issue you will find:
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Volunteer Sunflowers at DMP |
- Message from the President
- Upcoming Events
- Seminars
- Nominating Committee
- Member Tours & Events
- Feature Articles
- "In Your Plot"
- Assistant Treasurer needed
- Make a Donation to GVG via AmazonSmile
- Project Updates
- Allen J. Ogden Community Garden
- Arid Garden
- Desert Meadows Park
- GVG Gardens at Historic Canoa Ranch
- Elementary Schools
- Committee Updates
- Membership
- Fall Plant Sale
- 2020 Garden Tour
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MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
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In the June Sands N Seeds, I urged all Club members to communicate with Board members, including myself, about your interests, concerns and expectations for the upcoming Summer months. To date, I have heard from one member who wanted a hands-on class for installing and maintaining residential irrigation systems I am repeating this request regarding whether there is interest in offering a Summer program of topical classes. These would entail a series of small attendance (10- 15 members) "master classes" on focused gardening and landscape topics (e.g., fruit tree selection, care and issues; vegetable gardening in high heat months, monsoon season gardening). The classes would be held at sites illustrating the topical considerations not in an auditorium. Your suggestions and topic recommendation will be appreciated. For members interested in fruit tree selection, care and pruning, I have a 56 fruit tree orchard in Amado and would be happy to answer questions regarding that topic. My E-mail contact information is: whberdine22@gmail.com.
A reminder:
I want to remind the membership that we are beginning the process of electing three members to the Board of Directors. I hope to see a ballot in October that contains the names of members who aspire to serve on the Board. Members can nominate other members and/or self-nominate. All Board of Diretor nominations should be directed to the Nominating Committee by contacting either Bill Carley [custombill@att.net] or Dave Crumley [crumley99@msn.com].
Bill Berdine, President
Green Valley Gardeners
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SEMINARS
by Bill Carley
NOMINATING COMMITTEE
"There are three types of people in this world: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what happened."
Mary Kay Ash
The Nominating Committee is looking for members interested in serving on the Green Valley Gardeners Board of Directors.
As a board member, you will have an opportunity to establish and administer club policies. You will also have input into the establishment of new programs and projects the club undertakes.
The term of office for board members is three years. Board members are elected in October and take office in November.
If you have questions about serving as a board member contact Bill or Dave at the email or phone numbers listed below.
If you would be willing to serve or would like to nominate a member, please contact Bill Carley at
custom.bill@att.net 920-344-6563 or Dave Crumley at crumley99@msn.com 520 404 8773
MEMBER TOURS AND EVENTS
by Marita Ramsey
Be on the lookout for separate eblasts providing details for each of these seminars and member activities. And visit
our
website for a complete calendar of events
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"IN YOUR PLOT"
by Lorna Mitchell
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Summer cuisine is in full swing and I'm excited for eggplant parmigiana, Pico de Gallo, pizza and spaghetti sauce, chili rellenos, onion pie, zucchini zoodles, zucchini everything, and peppers and tomatoes that have graced my table recently! Gardening is all about harvest and harvest is all about eating. Remember to look for the vegetable you are harvesting in Plot to Plate, the club's cookbook, for ideas on how to turn it into a delicious dinner worthy presentation.
Water is the key to gardening harvests in our desert. Try to visit your plot 2-3X a week to pick fruit at its peak flavor and texture and to check irrigation systems for leaks and adequate delivery. Just one or two days without water can have negative effects but too much water is also negative if it is pooling and attracting wasps.
Monsoon rains traditionally start in July and pests come in abundance with the rains. Tomato hornworms can devour enough leaves in one day to almost destroy the plant. Look for their signs of leafless sticks of tomato stems and little black droppings on leaves and ground. The caterpillar itself can be very difficult to see as it is the same color as what it eats. Spray Bt (follow directions on dilution) on the entire crop of tomatoes. Bt contains bacteria which once ingested by the caterpillar causes it to stop eating and our plants are safe. It is effective for only 2-3 days so must be repeated every week to treat the new hatchlings. Bt - short for Bacillus thuringiensis - is a naturally occurring soil bacteria that kills caterpillars after they ingest it. It is organic and is found under names such as Thuricide, Monterey Bt, Garden Safe Bt, Dipel Dust.
Seeds of fast growing, heat loving plants can go in the ground now: squash including acorn, butternut, spaghetti and pumpkins, radishes, corn, beans, okra, and melons. Transplants of tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant should give a harvest before fall, too. Remember that plants you buy have been grown in a greenhouse and they need time to acclimate to living outside if they are to survive.
Think cool and plan your fall garden. Browse seed catalogs and think of cold nights and lots of broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, and cauliflower. Seeds and transplants will go into the garden by the end of September. If you grow your own transplants from seed allow 8-10 weeks from seed to plot; that means by the middle to end of July your seeds are in potting soil. Keep them moist and in full sun after they get some leaves so they can be ready for life in the big outdoors. Think ahead - fresh broccoli for Thanksgiving dinner!
Those are my plot thoughts for now, Happy Gardening,
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Assistant Treasurer Wanted:
In order for the Green Valley Gardeners Club to continue their great work, we are always in need of volunteers. The GVG Treasurer, Diane Carley, is looking for an Assistant Treasurer. It would be helpful to
be good with numbers and have some accounting/bookkeeping experience. The assistant treasurer's
duties would include being in charge of Square (Credit Card System), learning how to do the Tre
asurer's j
ob and assist at the various fundraisers.
The ideal situation would be for the Assistant Treasurer to eventually take on the Treasurer's job. It would be the Board's desire, that this individual would consider running for a Board position for e
ither this coming election (2020) or the following year.
If you are interested in this position, please contact Diane Carley,
d.carley@att.net
or 920-344-6564.
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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/
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Allen J. Ogden Community Garden
b
y George Stone
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Arid Garden
by Mary Kidnocker
The huge Agave Americana on the garden's southwest slope is no more. After a long life, this plant decided to begin flowering several weeks ago. With magnificent blue-gray leaves over 6-ft. long (that's a 12-ft. diameter plant), plus a stalk approximately 40 ft. high, heavy with bloom-loaded stems... well, you get the picture. Concerned about the possibility of its blowing over and the attending liabilities, it was necessary to remove the entire plant. Although several garden volunteers wanted the club to rent a helicopter and tackle the removal themselves, it was taken out by Valscape Landscaping who did a great job with no damage to nearby plants, and leaving the area perfectly clean. Probably missing the agave most are the many birds that daily contended for the top-most perch!
With the changing angle of the hot summer sun, it has been necessary to cover a number of leaning columnar cactus, especially 'Big Bertha' and several Trichocereus. Watch for discoloration of the exterior of your cactus denoting sunburn and cover with shade cloth or simple window screening.
Footnote:
You must be a gardener if you remember exactly the date you planted your heritage tomatoes, but can't recall your first grand-child's birthday!
Agave Americana
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Desert Meadows Park
by Chuck Parsons
Weather continues to be favorable this year. This is reflected in the activities at the park. Last year the tomato crop was disappointing, this year the plots in the garden area are plentiful. Last year it was so hot and dry, by now, that few people used the park. The hardiest dog walkers came out before sunup. This year the park is being used until 8 or 9 in the morning and again after sundown. Enjoy it while we can!
Last summer Charlene Westgate worked with the volunteers to create the Rainwater Garden. We shoveled a lot of dirt and laid a lot of rip rap. The goal is to create a showcase bird habitat. We invited Tucson Audubon Society to visit the site and provide us a suggested plant list. Three representatives of the society visited the park and have provided us a list. Charlene will provide the volunteers a schematic for planting. Our timing for seeking collaboration with the society was good. They are actively promoting their 'Habitat at Home' program. The Audubon folks have been very impressed with the park. They presented us a plaque to designate the Hummingbird/Butterfly Garden as an example "Habitat at Home" garden.
Just a reminder, as a member of the garden club you are invited to help yourself to herbs being grown in the garden area of the park. Sandy St. Thomas is the park volunteer that maintains this garden for you. She even has a pair of scissors at the plot for your convenience.
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| Club members are invited to clip some herbs |
As the club launched the Desert Meadows Park project, Mary Kidnocker pointed out that initially the work would be focused on creating the park. Eventually the work would switch to maintenance. That has been the case in 2019. It took 5 years to build, but now comes enhancements and maintenance. Volunteers meet each Wednesday morning, and have since we started. As the club membership grew, we found that some folks were interested in volunteering, but that Wednesday didn't fit their schedule. We came up with the concept of 'adopt an area' which allows folks to work at the park when it fits their own schedule. In the paragraph above, I mention that Sandy St. Thomas maintains the herb garden ~ she has a schedule conflict on Wednesday ~ she has adopted that area. We now have 12 volunteers that have adopted a task or area of the park. If interested in participating in this way, please contact me. I am sure we can find something that you enjoy doing that would be of benefit to the park project.
While working at the park now, it is sometimes hard to remember what it was like in the beginning. Look at these before and after photos. Wow! Results from the time and creativity of our volunteers has been dramatic ~ beneficial for our community and rewarding for our volunteers. Contact me at : chuck@greenvalleygardeners.com
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| The area that became the Library Garden ~ 2014 |
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The Library Garden ~ 2019
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GVG Gardens at Historic Canoa Ranch (HCR)
by Raydine Taber, Bill Carley, and Jack Davis (emeritus)
The big news at HCR in June was the plant donation by Elsa and Bill Swinford. The Swinfords contacted Chuck Parsons wanting to donate their house plants and pots. Chuck and Raydine worked out a plan and a group of volunteers from DMP and HCR moved pots, plants, and trees to various locations in Green Valley.
HCR had received permission from Pima County to undertake the beautification of Junior House East Sun Room and South Wall of Sun Room. The donation of plants has allowed us to move forward with our plans to do this. Raydine has lead on this project and has spent the last week putting the plants in the proper places.
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In other news at HCR all the gardens and the Orchard seem to be standing up to the heat. While Bill C. was on vacation for 3 weeks, David Duffy and Christa Ryan performed their
duties and Bill's. On his return this week Bill found everything in good shape although some plums and peaches have disappeared from the
trees. But we do have Asian Pears and our new Oro Blanco figs have a few fruit on them.
The next Tour of The Gardens of Canoa will be Wednesday, July 17, at 8;30 a.m. Also check the events calendar on the HCR website for additional events.
For more information and/or registration for events at Canoa Ranch access the following website:
http://webcms.pima.gov/cms/One.aspx?pageId=1507
Gate is open 6 am to 4 pm, 7 days a week, for Canoa Lake and access to Anza Trail. Open House and/or scheduled tours are Saturday, 8 am to 11 am.
Want to be a part of our garden restoration,
join us, on Tuesday's, for our gardening adventures, at "the ranch"? We meet at 7 a.m., at the Sr. House Herb Garden. You are welcome, at any time, to join us.
Co-managers: Raydine Taber, Bill Carley and Jack Davis (Emeritus)
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ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
by Steve Curtis
We have finished up the year working with the schools. There is a completed desert garden at the Sahuarita Middle School for faculty use and occasional student use. It is right outside the faculty room and has been planted with survivable plants with little maintenance. We finished the rock area beside the garden at Copper View Elementary so the shade is over the rock area with tables for family and student use.
We put up a wall in the garden area so Special Education students can have some art and sound activity in the garden area.
The one picture is how it is now, but the students will decorate it this fall.. We will be looking for contact information regarding Continental School so we can get a project going there. We'd like to start the school with some progress.
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Membership
by Mark Thompson
The summer is always a slow time in the membership department, but June saw five new members join our ranks:
Tia Ballantine
Edward and Judith Payton
Sondra Bond
Suzanne Kenney
Our annual Round Table Open House has been moved up to January 2, 2020 at the Desert Hills Rec Center. All members who joined in 2019 will receive a special invitati
on to attend.
Coming soon, our members will have the opportunity to order a clothing direct from an embroidery house in Tucson. You pick what you want, the size you want, the color you want, pay them directly, and you will soon be wearing something with a new GVG shirt logo. It couldn't be any easier. Look for more information coming, hopefully, by the end of July.
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Fall Plant Sale
by Christa Ryan
PLAN AHEAD FOR OUR 2019 FALL PLANT SALE
The fall Plant Sale dates have been set for October 24, 25 and 26, with set up on Wednesday, October 23. Please check your calendars to make time to help us again. Sign-up sheets will be available at the September seminar as well as the 2 seminars scheduled for early October. You can also email me, Christa Ryan, at
chrstrn4@cox.net
if you want to sign up early.
Wednesday afternoon will be for Members Only Shopping.
Please contact Christa Ryan or Kathy Stone if you would like to be on the planning committee for the sale. We are looking forward to another outstanding sale!
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Seeking Gardens for the April 2020 Tour
The April 2020 Garden Tour will be the club's 40th, and we want to celebrate the success and popularity of the tour over the years.
The Garden Tour Committee has been busy searching for wonderful gardens, but we need your help in finding those hidden gems. We have not selected the area of concentration, but would like to find gardens in Quail Creek and north of Continental.
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If you have some favorite photos you've taken at one of the club's projects, please submit them prior to the 28th of the month to be included in the newsletter for all to enjoy.
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| Lahna Chaffee relaxing at the Gardens after tending her garden |
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