April 2020
Established in 1980
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In this issue you will find:
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Creativity at Copperview School |
- Message from the President
- Upcoming Events
- Seminars
- Member Tours & Events
- Spring Garden Tour
- Art-In-The-Park
- Work Calendar
- Plant Sale
- Feature Articles
- "In Your Plot"
- 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
- 40th Anniversary Project
- Committee Updates
- Member Photos
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MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
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Wow, March was an interesting month. Nothing any of us would expect.
The first part of the month we heard of the death of two of our long time members: Jack Davis and Bob Schmidtt. Many of you knew these men well and have commented to me what active members they were. Jack's wife Marsha and Bob's wife Karen have both asked that donations be made to Green Valley Gardeners in lieu of flowers or other memorial items. The board is starting a task force to investigate a method to honor people who have given so much of their time and loved this club. This would be a good way to utilize the monetary contributions to the club. If you have suggestions or would like to be part of the task force, please let me know. A big thank you to these two men for making the club better and sharing their time. Best wishes to their wives and family.
Then came the coronavirus. Something I had never dreamed I would have to make decisions about, as president of our club. Fortunately, I don't have to make those decisions alone. The club has a great board of directors who shared in these decisions. The goal is to protect all our members as best we can. You all know by now that we have cancelled all events until the fall. Turns out the county shut everything down anyway. This is a first, as far as I know. We hope to have some type of fall festival and a better than ever fall plant sale.
I found myself sewing face masks for my sister who is a hospice nurse back in Michigan. You thought toilet paper was hard to find, 1/4" elastic was non-existent. I met several ladies shopping looking for the same thing. We got creative and found another method and it gave me hope that we will find a way to get through this coronavirus shutdown.
We have continued to accept donations for Art-in-the-Park with George Stone picking items up. Those donations have been selling at Desert Meadows Park on a daily basis along with many of James Tyrer's propagated cactus. James gave me a lesson on propagating cactus one Wednesday. He makes his own cactus mix. If you would like to learn how to propagate cactus, stop by and see James on Wednesday morning.
Work began on our 40th Anniversary median project. That team led by Phyllis Barboza and Ruth Tamminga are amazing. They work together safely and quickly to get the projects done. What a nice job. They also are maintaining the island on La Cañada.
Continuing with my idea to let you know about some people who work behind the scenes, I want to tell you about Cynthia and Craig Surprise. Cynthia prepares all of our Eblasts, sometimes at a moments notice. I never have to worry about them being appropriate because Cynthia is fantastic at her job. She also co-chairs the Garden Tour, the Parade Committee and the Seminar Committee. Probably more that I have forgotten about. Craig, our webmaster, has had to make several changes to the website and did it with ease. There was an email scam that affected the contact page of our website so I asked Craig to make some major changes to that. He has posted some information to our Garden Tips page, which until now contained nothing. These two work behind the scenes and deserve a big congratulations for all they do.
Some things to think about during these unusual times, you can still go to a park and have a picnic. You can take a walk around the block. You can facetime with family and friends. You can work a jigsaw puzzle. You can organize that junk drawer that keeps growing. You get the idea. So, be positive, this too shall pass.
Email to: pats@greenvalleygardeners.com
Patricia Simpson, President
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Seminars are cancelled until fall.
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MEMBER ACTIVITIES
by Marita Ramsay
Member activities are cancelled.
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Spring Garden Tour
by Stacie Meyer and Cynthia Surprise
As you know, the 2020 Spring Garden Tour was cancelled in light of these uncertain times. Everyone worked very hard on the tour and we would like to express our appreciation to all those who volunteered to be greeters, to serve as hosts, to make plant signs, to sell tickets, and of course those who bought tickets. If you bought a ticket for the tour you might consider it a donation to the club or you might request a refund. For a refund, mail us your ticket to the following address and a refund will be made
Green Valley Gardeners
PO Box 86
Green Valley, AZ 85622
We are very disappointed that we are unable to share the fabulous gardens slated to be on the tour this year. We have included some pictures from the gardens to brighten up your day.
We hope that you will have a chance to see some of these gardens in person during the 2021 Spring Garden Tour. We plan to have a wonderful tour next year.
Keep calm and garden on!
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Art in the Park
April 4, 2020
Art in the Park is cancelled.
We are still taking donations to sell at Desert Meadows Park. Drop off or contact George Stone at 123gstone@gmail.com.
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Volunteering and Event Calendar
April 2020
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"IN YOUR PLOT"
By Lorna Mitchell
Spring has definitely arrived and it's planting time! Yeah! The sun is pleasant, the soil is warming, our earthworms are active, and it's a great time to plant our summer vegetable garden. We envision red juicy tomatoes, long green cucumbers and zucchini, bright orange cantaloupe, purple and white eggplant, yellow and red peppers, watermelon and honeydew, endless squash, even okra and corn. But it won't happen without some work.
Prepare your soil by digging in composted manure, mushroom compost, and/or peat along with granulated vegetable fertilizer in quantities directed on the label. Remove old roots and any grubs you find, and break up dirt clods. Set up automatic irrigation and test it for adequate delivery and leaks.
Seeds for squashes, green beans, leaf lettuce, cucumbers, radish, melons, okra, etc., can go in the ground now. Soaking the seeds in water 12-24 hours before putting in the ground can hasten germination. Read the package as to depth and spacing of placing seeds. Keep the ground moist with a few minutes of watering several times each day, not too wet, not too dry. Consider successive plantings every three weeks or so if you want a continual harvest.
Transplants of tomato can be set out anytime. Peppers, eggplant, and okra like warmer night temperatures and would prefer to wait till the middle of April to live outside. Check the plants for any hitchhikers like aphids, insect eggs, etc., and remove before transplanting. Space to allow room for growth; indeterminate plants need support which can be added over the next few weeks. Remove the lower tiny leaves of tomato plants and bury the stem in the soil up to the growing leaves, new roots will grow from the stem and offer more support and nutrient intake. Water once with a nutrient solution such as Miracle Grow but mix it up at half the dose on the label. These new little babies will need TLC for a couple weeks; check them often, a lot can go wrong.
The Texas sweet onions will bulb this month for harvest in May. Garlic needs to stay in the ground until late May or June. Remember to plant what you eat, eat what grows, and enjoy health benefits. With a little effort you can eat something grown in your garden every day of the year.
While you are buying seeds for spring planting think ahead and buy seeds for FALL planting! Usually when it's time to plant in the fall the seeds you want are not found, so buy extra summer veggie seeds for August planting. Also, buy packs of parsnips, turnips, cabbage, broccoli, kale, peas, cauliflower, carrots, beets, and chard that are available now but don't go into the garden until after most stores have taken seeds off their shelves. Store the seed packets in the house on a cool shelf, NOT in the garage or in your locker at the garden where they will get hot. They will wait patiently for you to put them in the ground.
Those are my plot thoughts for now,
Happy Gardening
Lorna Mitchell
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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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Through Amazon Smile, the GVG has earned $97.12 this year. Thank you all for the support!
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Allen J. Ogden Community Garden
b
y Erin Walker
Hello Friends,
I hope this issue finds you well and the current state of affairs hasn't completely ruined everyone's plans. We first want to extend our condolences to Jack Davis' widow. Jack was a long-time member who passed away in February and also to Karen Schmidt who also lost her husband Bob. Bob was a plot holder at Desert Meadows who thoroughly loved gardening, attending seminars, and helping with our annual onion sale.
On March 5th, an open house was held at the Ogden garden with about 50 guests and a light lunch provided by Membership Activity manager Marita Ramsey.
At Ogden, we are doing our best to stay healthy and productive. As of now, our annual onion sale is still a go for May 28-30th at Desert Meadows but is going to be contingent on the developments with the COVID-19 virus. Our highest priority is to make sure that everyone stays safe and healthy.
Among all the events cancelled, Art in the Park was going to receive a visit from our sulcata tortoise George Jr. (no relation), who is also our educational ambassador. He is a very social boy and enjoys making visits. Let us hope we can get him out and about soon.
In other news, it looks like our bunnies will not be parents just yet. Not sure why the honeymoon didn't go as expected, but they are still young and fertile and hopefully will learn to love each other. Pictured is our girl Snow and hubby Turbo. I think he's rather handsome myself. We will keep everyone apprised of progress as a couple.
Now that the weather is warming up, our chickens have started laying many more eggs. Some days up to a dozen between the 4 ladies here. We have an amazing group of members who care for our critters and are rewarded with these delish eggs. All of our animals are always happy to welcome and entertain the little gardeners at Ogden, and the adults benefit from their presence in many ways too.
With the restriction of movement for the health and safety of our communities, now would be a great opportunity to review canning and preserving safety protocols. Many of our members (including myself) preserve and can the products that we grow and would be happy to help assisting and teaching this skill. At the moment, George, Kendra and I will be kicking around ideas for a seminar or sharing via email our favorite YouTube videos for canning or using Facebook live. Please don't hesitate to contact any of us if you have ideas or if you have any limitations to these formats.
Now, something from our long-term manager, George Stone:
When this is over, I'm seeking psychiatric treatment. After raiding the freezer and throwing away stuff that was 4 years old, Kathy and I managed to produce a few one instant pot menus. Thank God we have a garden plot and were able to harvest cabbage, carrots, beets, & kohlrabi. That saved the day-so far. Could we have been more prepared? Of course. We could have canned some of last year's summer crops such as tomatoes, green beans, peas, zucchini. Did you know that Ogden Community Garden has a full kitchen with every kitchen tool used to can? We even have 2 canners that were donated and available to CLUB members. I will be doing some serious canning this year if I stay healthy. Want to join me? If enough people are interested, I'm sure I can arrange for someone with more experience than me to teach/show & tell a day or two. We just need to be prepared before the crops are ready to harvest. Email or call me.
Many of our BIG fundraising events have been cancelled, which I'm sure you are aware of. I'm sure you are also aware that a big portion of our annual budget went with those cancellations. That means the board is making decisions right now on how to proceed with fundraising. The club has NEVER stuck its hand out and said to anyone-please donate money to run this club. It has always given you something in return for your hard-earned cash. You get a garden tour for your money. A plant at the plant sale. An onion at the onion sale and something always at the ART IN THE PARK. This year is somewhat different. I believe you can give your purchased garden tour ticket money back to the club as a donation. Every little bit will help, so will you think about doing that and to help with support when the onions go on sale. Not sure how we are handling that, but it will be done so no one's health is at a risk.
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Arid Garden
by Mary Kidnocker
Mary is taking a break to attend to her husband Dwight who has a medical need. Best wishes to you both.
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Desert Meadows Park
by Chuck Parsons
We may have had to cancel the Art-in-the-Park, but with all the venue cancellations in town combined with outstanding weather the park is in heavy use. The park and Anza Trail are providing thousands of residents a healthy outdoor alternative.
March 2020 Rainwater Garden bloom
Several members donated items for the garden/plant sale booth and for the silent auction tent at Art-in-the-Park. Last week the park volunteers priced the garden items in addition to the plants that had been propagated for the event. James Tyrer has spent the last 6 days managing the sales and brought in over $2000. The silent auction items are being stored until Art-in-the-Park 2021. While cancelling Art-in-the-Park 2020 we surveyed the artisans and food trucks that had planned to attend whether they would participate in a smaller, similar fall event. We received encouraging support ~ so that may take place in mid-October.
Meredith Archer took this picture while at the park tending her garden plot ~ she calls it "Social distancing at the park". A good example of appropriate behavior in our current environment!
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GVG Gardens at
Historic Canoa Ranch (HCR)
We are still able to work at the ranch. Our guidelines or not more than 10 people in one place, practice physical distancing (6 ft), OCD hand washing and when you use a piece of equipment, sanitize it before you put it away. Goes without saying, if you are not feeling well stay home. Those guidelines are the same for the Pima County Crew.
Here are a few pictures to brighten your day. Peach tree in full bloom (at the bottom of the newsletter) apple tree blossoms and the plum tree in full bloom. The irises that were given to us last fall are beginning to bloom.
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Work continues on the Tradesman's House. The end is in sight. We have done a walk about with the Ranch Manager to start discussing plants for the courtyard. Trees will be the first to be planted.
Irrigation at Grijalva House is back working. The stucco work is done and we are ready to plant our summer crop. We are also discussing what will replace the butterfly garden.
With the extent of the Coronavirus, we want to tell everyone to TAKE CARE OF YOURSELVES AND BE SAFE.
Historic Canoa Ranch offers an enormous assortment of gardening venues. If you are interested in, want to learn about or are an expert with vegetables, ornamental plants, indoor plants, herbs, cacti, native plants, succulents, plants for the pollinators and/or fruit trees, then, for you, Historic Canoa Ranch is the right venue. We have a variety of plants and gardens to meet everyone's preference. You can choose to work on all the gardens or just the one you prefer. Want to be a part of our project team? J
oin us, on Tuesdays, to play in the dirt, meet gardening friends, learn something new, have some gardening adventures and be a part of restoring Canoa Ranch to its past splendor. Our early birds arrive around 7:30 a.m. at the Sr. House Herb Garden. You are welcome, at any time, to join us.
HCR Project Manager: Raydine Taber
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ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
by Steve Curtis
Schools are closed so nothing happening here.
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40th ANNIVERSARY PROJECTS
MEDIAN GREEN PROJECT
What an exciting time we have had working on the medians. The volunteers, all 22 of them, have been fantastic working long days hauling rocks and moving dirt for Gene Van Dyke and let's not forget Ruth Tamminga and her plants, a specific spot for each and every one of them. Henry Garcia brought over the completed Ocotillo metal project and it was placed on NE17; if you get a chance you need to drive by and see it.
I can not say enough about our volunteer team, they are an integral part of this project. We could not do it without them, each and everyone is a pleasure to work with.
A trip to Pima County Native Nursery turned out to be very lucrative. Jessie Byrd gave us two truck loads of plants free. She also sent us back with hop plants that she had intended to give to everyone at her seminar, but ran out of plants, so head over to Desert Meadows Park and claim your plant.
Now for the real exciting news! We are near completion of all four medians. NE16 is the only one left to be completed and needs only some planting and of course a little dirt and rocks to be moved around. The signs for the four medians are here and awaiting placement at the completion of NE16.
by Ruth Tamminga and Phyllis Barboza
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| Ocotillo metal art on median NE17 |
THE WHITE ELEPHANT PARADE PROJECT
Although the committee had to cancel its March meeting for obvious reasons, we still want to continue planing the project, and it's not too late for volunteers to join. Because we are currently unable to meet in person, the groups working on each specific area of the plan will collaborate by email.
Our entry will consist of a pickup truck decorated to represent the club as a whole and four golf carts decorated to represent Ogden Garden, Arid Garden, Desert Meadows Park and the gardens at Historic Canoa Ranch. Walkers will carry signs to let people know about all of the club's projects.
If you are interested in joining the Parade Committee, please contact the co-chairs: Cynthia Surprise (cjsurprise@verizon.net) or Marita Ramsay (maritasandpoint@yahoo.com).
by Cynthia Surprise and Marita Ramsay
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Membership
by Mark Thompson
Despite the worldwide restrictions, the Green Valley Gardeners continue to grow. We welcomed 14 new members in our group and now show 538 members in the best garden club in the southwest. Joining us were:
John and Catherine Miller
Jim Miller
Femke and Dave Durham
Lawrence and Anna Bennett
Katy Emmart
Tom and Monica Parker
Jill Popejoy
Matt Preston
Kay and Richard Farland
It is good to see our members joining together to continue cultivating our ongoing projects while practicing social distancing. Of particular note, however, are the new members who have become totally involved with our 40th Anniversary median project. They show up on the medians with a smile on their face and leave them a few hours later with sore muscles and still a smile on their face. Fun and fellowship indeed.
Don't forget to order your GVG branded clothing. Just check out the website. Enjoy!
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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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| Photo courtesy of David Duffy at Historic Canoa Ranch |
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