Produce from the garden after one morning’s harvest—bound for the Garland Good Samaritans – July 2017
101.5 Pounds of Produce so Far from Our Experimental Garden Plot!
Way back in April of this year Shannon Lawless, a Senior at North Garland High School and also President of NGHS Environmental Club contacted Loving Garland Green and asked they could work with Loving Garland Green in some way.
As most of my readers know, the mission of Loving Garland Green is to increase the number of Garland residents who grow some of the food they eat. So we designed a Citizen Science Project: The 100 Square Foot Garland Urban Garden. The goal of this project is to see how much produce a resident can grow in a small urban garden from April until the first of November here in Garland, Texas—both total poundage and dollar value. This citizen science project is a team effort between members of Loving Garland Green and the members of the North Garland High School Environmental Club. The students were in charge of this garden plot from April through May. Then from June until the end of the first week in September, members of Loving Garland Green are stewarding this plot. The students will take over in September and carry through with stewardship until the first of November.
Sign in front of Experimental Garden plot – Garland Community Garden – July 2017
Jane Stroud, President of Loving Garland Green, has been exemplary in her leadership of this project for our organization. Without fail, Jane has been down to the garden every Monday Wednesday and Friday to harvest and weigh the produce and tend the experimental plot. In addition, Jane (a recently retired microbiologist) is meticulously maintaining a spreadsheet with the statistics related to type of produce harvested, poundage and dollar value.
The latest report on Monday of this week from the experimental plot:
Tomatoes 1.5 lb
Cucumbers 6 1/4 lb
Okra 2 lb 5 oz
Mexican Zucchini 3 lb 6.5 oz
Green Beans 7 3/4 lb
Yellow Squash 1/2 lb
Bitter Melon 1 1/2 lb
About 23.5 lb of produce, all donated to Garland Good Samaritans
For the NGHS bed Year-To-Date: 101.5 pounds produced at an estimated value of $200 (72.5 pounds of this have been donated to Garland Good Samaritans.
At the end of this Citizen Science Project in November, we will publish a report on this project—the goal of which is to show folks just how much food it is possible to grow in your own yard right here in Garland, Texas.
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Produce and Donations from Loving Garland Green and the Garland Community Garden
In addition to the Experimental Garden Plot, the Garland Community Garden has been prolifically producing this year. We have harvested 32 pounds of beans from our bean plot. Our tomatoes are about to come into their own as well as our okra patch. Only a few blackberries are left, but to date, of those we weighed, the garden produced 28 pounds of blackberries. At an average price of $5 a pound, that’s $140 in blackberries alone. I’m sure there were more as people often come to the garden and pick and eat blackberries while they are there. I know I do. They are hard to resist.
Our members also produce and donate from their home gardens. For example, I know that Gene and Margie Rodgers, founding members of Loving Garland Green have donated 42 pounds of tomatoes and squash to the Garland Good Samaritans.
I have donated 9 pounds of figs,15 pounds of grapes, and 13 pounds of carrots from my garden and both Charlie and Jane have donated several pounds of tomatoes each from their gardens to the Garland Good Samaritans.
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IF YOU DON’T HAVE A GARDEN YET, HERE IS THE GOOD NEWS:
We have a long growing season here in North Texas. You are just in time to start that fall garden. Look on our website www.lovinggarlandgreen.org to see what you can plant now.