SAND'n'SEEDS
November 2021
Serving Our Community Since 1980
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Message from the President
By Marilee Crumley
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Welcome back all our seasonal gardeners! We’re glad you’re here to enjoy our great gardening weather. Please take time to enjoy our garden projects at Desert Meadows Park, Arid Garden, Historic Canoa Ranch, and Ogden Garden (if you have a plot there). All are so different from each other and give a view of what grows well here.
We have some events occurring in December. Our annual GVG meeting is Wednesday, December 8. This will be a festive luncheon meeting with seasonal entertainment and good food. Please check your e-Blasts for information or contact Marita Ramsey, phone # 208-290-7770; the deadline for reservations is Dec. 1.
Desert Meadows Park is having two events – Saturday Dec. 11 from 9:00 – noon there will be coffee and cookies in the nursery. Local artists will also have Christmas ornaments & gifts in the hummingbird & butterfly gardens. Then Saturday Dec. 18 an ensemble from Green Valley Concert Band will be playing Christmas carols at the Barrio Garden. Mark your calendars for these local outdoor opportunities to celebrate the holiday season.
Despite it being inclement weather for gardening elsewhere, this is a good season for us here. My cool weather vegetables are coming on. I’ve picked a snow pea, and note the broccoli, cauliflower, and golden beets are all growing nicely. I’ve still got tomatoes, and pick at least 4 or more daily as long as the nights don’t get too cold. When those colder temperatures are predicted, we use Christmas lights around the plants and cover them with frost cloths. You might want to try this if you love fresh vegetables like we do.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our gardening friends. I especially want to thank all the volunteers who give us much of themselves so our garden projects, medians, and other events run smoothly.
Happy gardening!
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We Accept
Charitable Donations
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You will be asked for an amount, your contact information and credit card information.
Donations go 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.
You also can mail in a donation to:
Green Valley Gardeners
PO Box 86
Green Valley, AZ 85622-0086
Donations to a 501(c)(3) are tax deductible. Please check with your tax accountant for more information on this deduction.
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Would you like to help, have fun and meet new people?
Arid Garden:
Fridays at 7:30 a.m.
Contact: Mary Kidnocker
520-648-7959 or
Canoa Ranch:
Tuesdays at 7:30 a.m.
Contact: Raydine Taber
Desert Meadows Park:
Wednesdays at 7:30 a.m.
Contact: Chuck Parsons
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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
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Member Activities ... By Marita Ramsay
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Save the Dates!
Poinsettia and Holiday Plant Tour at
Green Things Nursery
Wednesday, December 1st at 9AM
3384 E River Road Tucson
Annual Luncheon and Holiday Party
Wednesday, December 8th at
Las Campanas Recreation Center.
More information to follow via eblast.
Green Things is known for growing poinsettias and has several greenhouses in full production. As the largest producer in the Tucson area of these holiday plants, the beauty and variety of plants is amazing.
This nursery also has a huge selection of cacti, perennials and annuals as well as shrubs and trees.
More information on this event will also be sent in an eblast.
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Holiday Gatherings at Desert Meadows Park!
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GVG Seminars ... By Rhonda Rinn
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The GVG Seminars
On December 2nd:
Edna San Miguel
Will speak about plants used as natural pigments. Really an interesting speaker; don't miss it!
On December 9th:
Ursula Schuch University of Arizona
School of Plant Sciences - will be speaking about frost protection for plants.
Reminders will be sent via Sand'n'Seeds, Green Valley Gardeners Website and in eblasts.
We hope to see you there!
Happy Holidays
Rhonda Rinn
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In Your Plot ... By Lorna Mitchell
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Christmas is coming! Yeah! It’s the most wonderful time of the year when friends and grandkids get all of our attention; so it’s good that our gardens are on auto pilot this month. A few visits and a little maintenance in our plots will keep it thriving.
We have been enjoying great weather this last month but we all know Jack Frost will make his rounds here at some point. Frost has yet to be predicted but if we prepare for it now we won’t have to scramble when it arrives. Exposed water pipes, hose bibs, and timers need to be wrapped with insulating material such as foam, a towel, or a blanket and protected from getting wet. Water will drain out of piping beyond the clock so those tubes do not need to be protected.
In our desert environment the clock timer that controls irrigation is the work horse of the garden. We depend on it to water our plants so we can get away for a few days. How old are the batteries in your timer? If you can’t remember, it might be good to remove them for inspection. Batteries can corrode and damage the device before they die; outdoor weather is hard on batteries and it is better to replace them if they show signs of leaking. Remember to re-program the clock and tuck it under insulation.
A common question is: How long do I set my timer to water? Well, that depends. How much water is coming out of the emitter, what kind of soil do you have, how big are the plants, and what’s the air temperature? Watch the soil around the root zone and make sure it’s moist all the time but not “wet”. If the soil is sandy or the plants are small they may need a short watering twice a day; the number of minutes depends on the emitter. The schedule for clay soils or large mature plants may be less frequent. Watering requires astute observation and may need adjustment week to week.
There is still time to put in onion plants or sets and garlic cloves for harvest in late spring/early summer. Peas, spinach, and carrots may germinate well if put in soon. This is the month to browse seed catalogs and sources for next spring’s plantings. Find interesting varieties of tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, etc.; order the seeds this month and plant indoors in January. They are slow starters and will be ready to put out the end of March.
This is a good time to grow sprouts in a jar on your kitchen counter. Get seeds from a food source or ones labeled for sprouts. Mung beans, garbanzo beans, peas, alfalfa, clover, arugula, lentils, dill, broccoli, etc., can all be sprouted in a mason jar laid on its side with a little water in it with cheesecloth replacing the lid. It is very important to soak the seeds first then rinse and pour off the water at least once, maybe 2-3 times a day. Keep the seeds moist, but not sitting in water; clean and airy is the trick. Sprouts are wonderfully nutritious and add a great crunch to sandwiches, salads, and snacks. There are great web sites for all the info you need for successful sprouts and recipes and ideas on how to use them.
I wish you joy this holiday season and a very Merry Christmas,
Happy Gardening!
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Arid Garden …
By Mary Kidnocker
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Certain Agave varieties like to produce adjacent offsets to eventually develop into large clusters. A number of the older clusters in this garden have created such large colonies that they have overrun nearby plants, so it has become necessary to do some thinning. Longtime volunteer Jim Campbell has developed a method and become a master at re-apportioning these plants. Among those that have recently required thinning in the Arid Garden are: Agave lophantha, toumeyana, lechuguilla, and schottii. Jim uses a fork to separate and pop the unwanted plants out of the cluster. Those that have been removed were offered to volunteers, neighbors, or taken to DM Park to be potted and sold.
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Mexican Sunflowers beauties at the height of bloom. They have now turned brown and are removed from The Arid Garden
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Do you have any Bee Bushes (Aloysia)? If so, you probably also have a collection of Green Hornworms. These large bushes seem to be a favorite of the worms which rapidly devour the small leaves. Our four Aloysia are currently alive with these colorful, hungry worms which are welcome to the foliage most of which will drop off in winter anyway.
A big thank-you to Bill and Diane Carley who recently hosted the garden volunteers to a lovely luncheon. Their extensive plant collection was most impressive, as was the delicious food!
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Desert Meadows Park …
By Chuck Parsons
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Super Saturdays at the park was a success by all measures ~ great weather, happy vendors, enthusiastic participants and a profitable fundraiser for the garden club. Thanks to all that volunteered. We are always pleasantly surprised how well the park fares from these special events. Within a couple hours after the event closes, the park “regulars” return with their dogs and all is “normal” nary a scrap of paper littering the grounds.
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Need a last minute Christmas gift? Here are a couple ideas:
- Saturday, December 11th from 9 am to noon, a few local artists will have tables in the Hummingbird/Butterfly Garden selling appropriate items. While there, stop in the nursery for complimentary coffee and cookies.
- The volunteers working in the park nursery are adding a holiday touch to some of the potted plants. These might make the perfect gift.
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Also being scheduled, Saturday, December 18th at noon is a sing along holiday program in the Barrio Garden by the Green Valley Concert Band. We recommend you bring your own chair. Complimentary beverages and snacks will be available in the Sunset Pavilion.
Be sure to bring your out-of-town holiday guests for a walk through the park ~ include the Arid Garden and the Historic Canoa Ranch too! It’s always fun to show off our community service projects. Have a pleasant holiday season!
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Historic Hacienda de la Canoa ...
By Raydine Taber
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Life at the ranch has been hectic. Everyone is working to decorate the compound. Last year was a “dry run” for future holidays at the ranch. They strung miles and miles of holiday lights. Lights around the houses and lights in the trees. The entire compound will be lit up with colorful holiday lights. Some of the building windows have also been decorated. Beginning December 4th and continuing through December 30th, the ranch will be open 5:00-8:30 p.m. for everyone to experience the magic of the winter holidays. On Saturday, December 4th, 11th and 18th there will be musical performances to entertain as you walk the beautifully lit compound.
We have completed planting our cool weather plants and moving some of the large pots from Senior House to Grijalva House. The canoas (one at the Visitors’ Center and one at Grijalva House) have been planted with seasonal annuals and Junior House has our annual holiday touch. This year, the Poinsettias are in the entryway on either side of the front door, red and white Cyclamens are in the window box and a Christmas Cactus sits on the visitor’s, ledger signing, table.
The Natural Resources, Parks and Recreation’s (NRPR), Educational Environment (EE) group has requested a training session, on the gardens of Canoa for the ranch’s, historical tour, docents. This session has also been opened to all NRPR volunteers. First session will be held early in December. Training will cover the GVG partnership with NRPR, garden plant selection process and a tour of all the gardens, explaining what plants are in the gardens, their history, their relationship to the ranch culture and some, ranch related, plant stories.
Friday, December 3rd is the 200th anniversary of the San Ignacio de la Canoa Land Grant. This was the beginning of, what we know of, as Historic Canoa Ranch. The reading, of the Pima County Proclamation, commemorating this anniversary will be done by The Honorable, Adelita S. Grijalva, Pima County Board of Supervisor and will commence at 4:00 p.m. Following the reading, 4:30-5:30 p.m., there will be the Mariachi Aztlan de Pueblo High School performing band along with traditional Mexican foods and soft beverages. That includes the wonderful tasting, traditional, Mexican hot chocolate. Buildings will be open and roving historians will be available to answer questions. The holiday lights will be lit around 5:00-5:30 p.m.
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With our warm fall, “Mother Nature” has been fooled. Two of our yellow Iris, in the Orchard, are blooming. We have cut all the Iris summer growth back but left the two lonely blooms. Here are the photos before we cut the summer growth back. Our Iris, this year, have received many compliments.
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WE WISH EVERYONE
A VERY MERRY AND HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON
If traveling home or visiting family and friends, stay safe
Come join us for some of our interesting adventures. The fun part about volunteering, at Historic Canoa Ranch gardens, is our variety of plant life and learning a small part of Southern Arizona’s history. We are not just native and drought tolerant plants but we also have herbs, vegetables, fruit trees and indoor plants. Each garden, we work, enhances one of the Ranch’s historic buildings. Take a step back into Southern Arizona’s History.
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We meet on Tuesdays at 7:30 a.m. Please join us! If you want more information call me at 520-625-0961 or email rs_taber@msn.com
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Allen J Ogden Community Garden ...
By Bob Laux-Bachand
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Preparations for this year’s George Stone Onion Planting Event began in the spring with a bulk delivery of local garden soil. Much of it was used to fill new raised beds, but a substantial portion of the material went onto the onion patch. Weeding was finished on Nov. 4, and as the Nov. 20 planting date approached, more than a half ton of soil amendments (mushroom compost, compost from the garden, and bagged soil) were worked into the ground, along with high-phosphate fertilizer and an application of sulfur to gradually lower the pH. As a final touch, garden manager Harry Jepkema set up a new watering system.
Erin Walker took delivery of a 21-pound case of Texas SuperSweet seedlings and the call went out for volunteers. Then a last-minute glitch arose with publication of the route for El Tour de Tucson, set for the same day. Would Sahuarita Road — the only route to the garden — be closed to accommodate thousands of bicyclists? There were worries, mixed messages, and a detour off I-19, but our volunteers were undeterred and 14 showed up, including Kathy Stone, widow of the longtime Ogden manager. The crew finished the job by 8:40 a.m., beating the earliest riders, who weren’t expected until 9.
Unlike the 2020 shipment, when hundreds of seedlings were left over and claimed by club members, this year’s batch of about 2,000 onions ran a little short. Luckily, Ray and Marysia Czachor had extra onions ordered from the same source, and Marysia planted the last row of about 60 seedlings on Nov. 22. If all goes well, all those onions will be “super sweet” in May and ready for harvest as a club fundraiser.
Elsewhere in the garden, the new growing season is well underway, with healthy plantings of cool weather crops — some from seeds and homegrown transplants, others store-bought. The garden also welcomed a new member, Wes Cook. He has logged a slew of hours to restore a 10-by-40-foot plot and is reviving Ogden’s worm production, one of his areas of expertise.
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On Nov. 20, a team of volunteers planted onion seedlings, spaced 6 inches apart in the Ogden garden's 800-square-foot onion patch.
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Plants at one of Barb and Tom Mantell's raised beds at the Ogden garden were in good condition as November neared an end
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40th Anniversary Median Project ... By Phyllis Barboza & Ruth Tamminga
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Happy Holidays Everyone!
The median project had a lot of activity in November. Our volunteers were hard at work, moving rock and planting 2 of the medians
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We will be starting up again in January 2022, (if weather permits) finishing up the last 2 medians on Abrego.
Thanks to the volunteers who stepped up to water the newly completed and the last 2 medians.
We are excited at the prospect of completing our collaborative effort with Green Valley Council. The medians are gorgeous and have been well worth the effort.
An announcement will be made next issue as to date and time for our 40th Anniversary Median Project Celebration
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Membership ... By Mark Thompson
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Membership Renewal. The renewal of your membership is necessary for us to continue all our various activities here in Green Valley. The membership renewal campaign for 2022 begins on January 1st. Please do not send in renewal membership payments until January.
Donations. As we are a non profit organization recognized by the IRS under section 501 (c) (3), any donation you make to us is deductible. Please consider a tax deductible donation as we approach the end of this tax year.
We have had a tremendous month in the membership department as we welcomed 22 new members to our Membership Roster which now stands at 588. So many people, like the 22 below, just want to get involved. When asked what they wanted to get out of their membership, one of the new members said it best with “Activities and Friendship.” So, let’s get them started. Please welcome our new members:
Chi and Doug Craig
Judy James
Mike and Simo Crussell
Terry Gerba
Mary Arrigoni
Karen Rainford
Carol Joy
Nand Guar
L.T. Sparrow
Kathleen Reginato
Marcia Hamilton
Victoria Bauer
Dan and Christel Shumate
Kim Washburn
Barbara and Michael Oemcke
Cheri Golden
Darren Selvage
Diane Deno
If you see any of these new members around town, encourage them to get involved. Like most new gardeners in Green Valley, they really want to learn how to garden here. I always tell new members to join in any of our projects, because they meet new friends who know what to plant, how to plant it, and how to fix it when it breaks. Let’s all help them to do just that.
And, please, calendar your renewal membership for January.
Don’t forget to order your Green Valley Gardener’s branded clothing, get your fresh herb plants at DMP, and notify me if you have a change to your contact information at greenvalleygardeners.com
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Mailing Address:
PO Box 86,
Green Valley, AZ 85622-0086
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