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A Great and Soggy Day in the Gardens

In the back of Garland Community Garden near the Children's Garden the jonquils bloom bring the promise of warmer times--some day.

Today was an all day work-in-the-garden day. It began at 7 am in the Garland Community Garden where I planted about 60 tulip bulbs--25 of them in a large black pot I also installed this morning in the garden.  

 

In 3 or 4 weeks we will see tulips in the black container and in front of both the square foot beds too.

Then, just as I was about to leave to work in another Garland Garden, Gregory from the Garland Environmental Services stopped by to deliver two green trash containers.  These containers are the first step in our plans to collect uncooked vegetable scraps from the citizens of Garland and also from one of our local grocers. Now we have a safe and sanitary place to store them prior to using them in compost trenches in the beds.  By the way, please continue to drop off your bags of leaves as we can always use them in the garden.

 

The City of Garland delivers as promised.  Now the Garland Community Garden has two great storage bins for vegetable waste.

Other plans for the week include installation of the Buffalo Grass test lawn and the Blackland Prairie demonstration plot.  We have decided to make the Buffalo Grass plot a participatory site.  We will, of course, have a sign providing information about the plot.  We also plan to include a clip board and pen for visitors to write comments regarding what they think of the grass.  

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By the time I arrived at the other Garland Garden I was a soggy mess looking more or less like something creek possums had drug up, but I don't think my Master Gardener friends minded as we all know what a difference an extra pair of hands can make--even if they are already dirty.  Garland is in the process of creating yet another unique public garden site and I'm happy to say that I'm a member of the team who is building it.  As far as I'm concerned, this one makes the fourth one that I'm aware of in our city in terms of garden or agricultural spaces that seek to educate the public:  1) Spring Creek Forest Preserve 2) Rosehill Park 3) Garland Community Garden and 4) The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service Dallas County Master Gardeners and the host organization of this site which is located on Rowlett Road about a mile east of Broadway.  Currently this site is under construction and not open to the public.  We are "nearly new and hardly begun", but I'll keep you posted on our work as we progress.  It's a remarkable project and I'm honored to be associated with it.

 

Tom, one of the certified Master Gardeners on this project waves to the camera

Our work today was spreading mulch and making sure to steer clear of the large beehive found in a nearby shed shown in the photo below.  A local beekeeper has been contacted and we will have the hive moved to another location on the property.

Linda Barnes -- Queen of the Tree Stump removers and also a certified Master Gardener. Dudley Hargrove, President of the Dallas County Master Gardeners, takes a break to scratch his nose while Cassie continues to work.  At lunch time Cassie and I, both interns, got a lesson in plant propagation from Linda.  We started about 10 about ten plants each.

All in all it was another wonderful soggy day in paradise.

 

Wednesday, 04 March 2015