January 2021
This Month
- Message from the President
- Announcements
- AmazonSmile
- Donations
- Volunteer
- Feature Article "In Your Plot"
- Project Updates
- Allen J. Ogden Community Garden
- Arid Garden
- Desert Meadows Park
- GVG Gardens at Historic Canoa Ranch
- 40th Anniversary Project
- Committee Updates
Would you like to submit an article or a photo for the newsletter? Articles of interest to our gardening community will be reviewed for potential publication and if approved published when possible.
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MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
Happy New Year! Your new GVG Board for the upcoming year is as follows:
- President - Marilee Crumley
- Vice President - David Duffy
- Secretary - Phyllis Barboza
- Treasurer - Diane Carley
Our GVG activities are limited, because we are still under Covid restrictions. I hope people remember to enjoy the monthly seminars via Zoom. You get a lot of good information and hear from other gardeners, sharing ideas that you can incorporate into your gardens. Those will continue into the spring.
I hope people got out to some of the Art Walk & Plant Sales that occurred each Saturday in November. Another series is being planned for the spring.
Enjoy our weather by getting out to our four project gardens: Arid, Desert Meadows, Historic Canoa Ranch, and Ogden. There's information on them on our website in case you're uncertain where to find them. They offer great places to walk, view a variety of plants and wildlife, see what other gardeners are growing, and learn more about what grows well here as most plants and trees are labeled. There are opportunities to volunteer at any of those gardens. There's more information in Sand 'n' Seeds and on our website.
Email to: marilee@greenvalleygardeners.com
Marilee Crumley, President
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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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Donations
Monetary Donations
Your generous contribution goes toward operating expenses.
If you want your donation to go to a specific project or in honor of an individual, please indicate your intention in the comment area.
Square offers a direct link to make a credit card donation to the garden club. Donate; you will be asked for an amount, your contact information and credit card information.
You also can mail in a donation to:
Green Valley Gardeners
PO Box 86
Green Valley, AZ 85622-0086
Other Donations
Green Valley Gardeners will accept other donations related to gardening; for example, plants and pottery that we deem fit for resale. Please, keep in mind that we are not collecting unusable or unwanted materials. Materials may be dropped off at the nursery at Desert Meadows Park. Questions may be directed to: info@greenvalleygardeners.com
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Arid Garden: Every Friday 7:30 a.m.
Mary Kidnocker 520-648-7949
Canoa Ranch: Every Tuesday 7:30 a.m.
Raydine Taber
Desert Meadows: Every Wednesday 7:30 a.m.
Chuck Parsons
520-904-9020
Median Project: Phyllis Barboza
503-515-3483
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"In Your Plot"
By Lorna Mitchell
2021 January
Can you believe it is 2021 already? We are all pleased to leave 2020 behind; but what will this next year hold? Our cycle of gardening chores and rewards is a lot easier to predict than politics, quarantines, viruses, masks, shortages, and social distancing. Check the Calendar section at the beginning of the Plot to Plate
cookbook for an overview of what's ahead.
Cool nights and warm sunny days is perfect growing weather for our root crops and Brassicas; a time when our famous Arizona sun is friendly. Cold nights make the plants produce solutes as a natural defense against freezing, but we perceive it as sweeter carrots, turnips, and beets!
It is possible that temperatures could dip below freezing so it is better to insulate than repair above ground plumbing that retains water. Pipe insulation or a couple turns with an old towel or blanket covered by waterproof protection will do the trick, and be sure to cover the timer and hold it all in place with a bungee cord. Remember that wet towels do not insulate! Tubes with holes that deliver water will not be damaged during a freeze because the water drains from them.
Look around the garden and note what plants are producing a harvest right now and which plants are languishing. Try to remember when those plants came to live in the garden and think of their history. Timing of our plantings is critical as we work with the extreme temperatures of our area. Broccoli that has produced its large beautiful heads and cauliflower and Brussels sprouts ready to pick probably went into the ground last September when the nights and soil were warm which allowed for good vegetative growth before flowering. November plantings of the same varieties will not have the same success.
January is the time to plan your summer harvests. Browse a good seed supplier (I like Johnny's Seeds of Maine). It is odd that I get good seeds for Arizona from Maine but I've honed it down to this company for reliability for specialty crops. Obtain tomato, pepper, and eggplant seeds by the end of this month if you want to grow your own transplants. Get them growing and ready to put in the garden by the middle of April at 8-10 weeks old; counting back means seeds in the soil indoors by the end of January!
Choosing what tomatoes to plant is similar to choosing what dog you will have as a companion. Choose the characteristics you want: growth habit (determinate or indeterminate), size of fruit (smaller to medium is better for our hot summers), growing vigor, length of harvest (all at once or a little every day), ability to set fruit in hot or cold weather, and abundance of fruit set (individual or like grapes). Every tomato seed comes pre-programed for these things, all we do is supply the environment to maximize its potential. The expression of these characteristics is called the plant variety.
Keep that irrigation going!
Those are my plot thoughts for now.
Happy Gardening.
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PROJECT UPDATES
Arid Garden
By Mary Kidnocker
Thanks to volunteer enthusiasm... frost cloths and Styrofoam cups are in place to protect old plant friends from possible cold season surprises. As of this writing the garden has had only brief temperatures down into the low thirty's, so any frosty damage has been minimal. Automatic drip irrigation has also been reduced from the dry summer-through-autumn's three times weekly to one time per week, with each duration remaining the same. In other words, this garden is now in winter mode.
Welcome back to valued winter visitors Hans Hohle and Maria Duane.
With both Christmas and New Year's Day landing on Fridays this year, garden volunteers are taking off two work days in a row... such a nice gift.
Each of us wishes you and yours a Happy Holiday Season and a Better New Year!
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| | One of the Arid Garden's Applecactus in its favorite winter outfit |
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| | Columnar cactus collection ready for an old-fashioned Arid Garden Freeze |
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Desert Meadows Park
By Chuck Parsons
The volunteers working this project just completed our 7th year. We've collectively donated 31,500 hours and have donated 20,235 pounds of fresh produce to the local food banks.
With this project, the club has created another asset for our community. The park has been a welcome reprieve to many in 2020 as normal activities were disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
As we enter a new year it is typical to look at past photos. I share two park photos I pulled out of my files. First, a photo taken in January 2014, the month and year that Green Valley Gardeners started the Desert Meadows Park project ~ our time has made a big difference.
The second photo is of the community garden at the park this month last year ~ with the severe deficient in rain we've experienced in 2020, I for one would welcome snow again!
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| Desert Meadows Park Snow 2019
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GVG Gardens at Historic Canoa Ranch (HCR)
By Raydine Taber, HCR Project Manager
HCR 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, Historic Canoa Ranch is the right gardening volunteer 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 alone or with someone else. As the Covid-19 virus starts to improve, we hope to see some new faces on our Tuesday, Day at The Ranch.
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Jr. House Sun Porch Decorations
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Everyone please, stay safe.
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Allen J. Ogden Community Garden
By Erin Walker
Happy New Year. I do hope this finds everyone well and you all had a wonderful holiday season. We really enjoyed both Hanukkah and Christmas here in Tucson.
Sorry I have been absent with news from the garden the last few months; happy to be back. We have had some big things happen and many new families join us. They have all come with copious amounts of enthusiasm, energy, and know how. Ogden community garden would not be in such good shape without everyone's input. That is what we got in November when we put in the onions for the annual onion sale. I am grateful for all the help and logistical support because this was, in fact, my first time being involved. Five weeks later, they are starting to look happy and like we will have another successful crop.
Also coming up in the very near future will be a renovation of George Jr's habitat. For those who do not know him, George Jr. is a very large sulcate tortoise our George Sr. adopted a couple years ago. Since his original home was put together with the help of several GVG members, he has just about outgrown his house. So, look for an invite from me soon to "Sign-up Genie" for filling volunteer spots. Any help for any amount of time will be super helpful to the project.
Until next month, I wish everyone well.
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40th Anniversary Median Project
Phyllis Barboza, Co-chair Median Project
A lot was accomplished this last month. We worked on three medians on the south end of Abrego. A lot of prickly pear was removed (I am still pulling out spines from places I did not think those little spines could get) and we are now looking at planting in the spring. If you think you would like to learn about planting native plants, this would be a good opportunity to get some knowledge. Please contact me so I can put you on the volunteer list and keep you updated on time and place.
Hope to see you in the spring.
Stay safe!
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Seminars
By Rhonda Rinn
GVG Seminars
The December Zoom seminar featuring Charlene Westgate and Jennie MacFarland was a success. We had a good turnout of GVG members. We are working on providing at least one seminar in each month, January through April. Watch for informational eblasts for dates, times and Zoom login information.
Hope to see you "Zooming" soon!
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Membership
By Mark Thompson
GVG Member Services
We had three new members join in December. So, please welcome them to our ranks:
Shelby Cove
Michael Oare
Kristi Lund
January begins the renewal period for your 2021 membership. We need your continued membership and support more than ever. With our fund raising efforts way down, your membership support is critical to our continued success.
The renewal membership fees remain the same: $25 for a single membership, and $35 for a household membership. To renew by credit card, go to our website, click on "Membership" and then click on "Credit Card Payment." That will take you to our secure site for payment. Alternatively, you can send a renewal check to us at:
Green Valley Gardeners
PO Box 86,
Green Valley, AZ 85622-0086
If you have any changes to your contact information, please email me at memberships@greenvalleygardeners.com. And, don't forget to order your GVG branded clothing or get your fresh herbs at DMP. I hope your holidays were rewarding.
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| | The Arid Garden's mature Sonoran Tree Beargrass (Nolina matapensis) |
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| | This round, red fruit at the Arid Garden shows how 'Applecactus' got its name. |
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