Growings on in the garden the week of 5/26/13

It's Time to Grow!
With the Memorial Day weekend come and gone, it is the official, unofficial start of summer!  We finally got the last of the raised beds in place and now we need to fill them up.

Take a look at the schedule to the left.  You will see, we will be in the garden on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday this week.  Please take some time out of your busy days and come on out and help us get our plants in the ground!

The Water is Coming!

Why did the chicken cross the ditch?  To avoid getting his feet wet!  The irrigation water is starting this week, Friday from 5:15-7:45 to be exact!  This is light work, but we do require some help to get everything watered.  One of the things I personally like about participating in watering is that I get to see every bed up close and personal.  I get to see the changes every week and what is growing in each bed.  I feel this is a way to really get in touch with the garden.

Remember the irrigation water comes every 6th day throughout the season.  So next week it will be on Thursday from 5:15-7:45.  The irrigation schedule has been posted on our calendar.  Check it out on our blog, www.MulberryCG.blogspot.com

Thursday Potluck

Just a reminder this is going to be every Thursday from 7-9 for the foreseeable future.  Please bring a dish to share as well as your favorite beverage.  Also, please remember your own reusable plates, cups and utensils.

Garden Quote

Goings on in the garden the week of 5-19-13

Time to Sow!

Well folks it is officially time to get everything in the ground.  We will be working hard to get our beds filled this coming week.   We have added Tuesday from 5-7 to our regular hours.  This just give us more time together!  So hopefully we will see you all sometime in the coming week.  Tuesday 5-7, Thursday 5-7 or Saturday 9-1

A Big Thank You!

A big thank you to everyone who came out and helped this past weekend with the Garden sale.  We raised a bunch of money, we raised a bunch of awareness to our little patch dirt. we had some fun, we got some work done and then we ate, drank were merry!  This sounds like a perfectly spent Saturday to me!  So once more, thank you for everyone who made this past week a great success!

Here are a couple photos of the day.

Thursday Potluck

So it is official, we are having a potluck in the garden every Thursday, weather permitting, for the foreseeable future.

Everyone is welcome and invite anyone you want.  We will be meeting in the garden from 7-?.  So bring a dish to share and your favorite beverage.  As always, please bring your own reusable plates, cups, and utensils.

The Water Is Coming!

The water is coming the water is coming!  We will be getting our share of irrigation water shortly.  For those of you who don't know, we have 1/20 of a share of irrigation water from the Pleasant Valley Ditch Company.  This is english means that every 6 days we get 2-2.5 hours of water coming through our ditch on the west side of the garden.  This is enough water for the beds, trees and to fill up our water storage.  Then 3 days later we empty the water storage to water the beds, then 3 days later we get water through the ditch, then 3 days later we empty the water storage to water the beds.  I think you get the point now.

Since this cycle is every 6 days, this means that we do not have a regular irrigation day.  It is moving every week.  So please see the irrigation schedule in our weekly email or check out the calendar on this blog,

This is really the lifeblood of our garden.  Without this we would not be able to have this garden.  In order to effectively irrigate the garden we need some help, so please try to come by during these days to help out.

Garden Quote

Sorry for the tardiness of the email.  I try to get these out on Tuesday so you can plan your week.  I'll get back to that next week.

Goings on in the garden the week of 5/5/13

It's almost time!

Well May is finally here.  The average last frost in Ft Collins is May 15th.  This means that the garden is almost ready to have those wonderful starts placed in the beds!  There are plenty of projects to be done in order to have the beds ready.  Come on out Thursday (weather permitting) from 5-7 and Saturday from 9-1.  Can't wait to see everyone! 

Thursday Potluck Dinner

A potluck is planned for Thursday after volunteer hours, 7-?  This is weather permitting.  The forecast is not leaning on our side, but you know how that goes here in Ft Collins.

Please bring a dish to share and your favorite beverage.  As always, please bring your own reusable plates, cups and utensils.

Board Meeting Tuesday May 14

We will be having a board meeting on Tuesday May 14 at 7 in the garden.  This meeting is open to everyone and is a great way to participate in the planning of your garden.  All are welcome and encouraged to attend.

Garden Sale

The garden sale is almost upon us, Saturday May 18th 8-1.  Think of a garden sale as a yard sale meets a plant sale.  We will be selling some of our lovely plant starts as well as some donated household items to raise funds for the garden.

How can you help you ask?  There are many ways you can help.  You can assist with the actual sale, you can donate any unwanted items, you can make some signs or hold a sign at the intersection.  Or you can come by and offer moral support.

This past weekend Reanna and Cale (Thank you both for your time!) sold some of our starts at the Starter Barter sale and came back with some additional plants as well as some cash.  The money they came back with was enough to cover the cost of seeds that we purchased, so everything else will go directly to other projects in the garden.  

Spring Get Together

After the garden sale, 5-?, we are having a spring get together.  This should be a good time!  Pot luck dinner with rumors of entertainment, bluegrass band, and a special Heinze spring home brew.

Come on out and enjoy the garden and everyone else. And let's get the garden started with a party!

The Bees Arrived!

Lahoma and Chuck went down to Denver and picked up 2 packages of bees.  Each package contains approximately 10,000 bees as well as a queen.  They have been introduced to their new home and we hope they found it suitable.

Lahoma was even interviewed on the local news.  you can see the interview here, http://goo.gl/XxHuH



Here are the videos of the bees going into their new homes



Lahoma






Chuck

Mulberry Garden Blog

Have you seen the blog, http://mulberrycg.blogspot.com ?  A lot of folks have said how useful the calendar feature on the blog has been.  Check it out.

Are you interested in learning how to blog or contributing to this resource?  It's very easy trust me.  Chuck will have a clinic after volunteer hours on Saturday to teach anyone who is interested.  If you would like to participate, please email me so I can set up an account for you ahead of time, Chuck@MulberryCommunityGardens,org


Garden Quote

This was a long one.  Thanks for sticking in their with us.  Hopefully we will see you soon at one the upcoming events.

Thursday Potluck

Weather permitting there will be a Thursday Night Potluck tomorrow at the garden. Bring a dish to share and beverage to consume. If you can, please remember to bring utensils and a plate. 

We will do volunteer hours from 5-7 and potluck at 7. Hope to see you there! 

Goings on in the garden the week of 4/28/13

Old Man Winter Keeps Coming!

So we are under yet another winter storm warning with forecast up to a foot of snow.  The moisture is more than welcome but this puts a damper on our garden plans.  Because of the snow forecast we are canceling Thursday hours.  It just wouldn't be pleasant with all the mud.  So we will meet again on Saturday from 10-2 so we can get the heat of the day.

The bees are coming!

Chuck is picking up a package of bees on Saturday to place in our hive.  Come on by between 12 and 1 and see Lahoma and Chuck introduce the bees to their new home.  Lahoma is our resident bee expert.  she was a professional bee keeper and is full of knowledge.  Come on out and learn more about the great pollinator!

Here is a video of Lahoma releasing bees in her hive last year.

Home Grown Foods

This Saturday Home Grown Food is holding their annual Starter Barter from 11-2 at Avos.  This is a great event and is a good fundraiser for the garden.

We are going to be a bit shorthanded with some folks out of town and with Chuck going to pick up bees.  Is there anyone out there that would like to sell some of our starts at this event?  We really could use the help!  If interested, please contact Lorraine at Lorraine@MulberryCommunityGardens.org

Garden Sale

On Saturday May 18th we are having our Garden Sale from 8-1.  Think yard sale in the garden plus plant starts.  If you have anything you want to donate to the yard sale portion of this sale, please drop these items by anytime before then.

We will need plenty of help with this event, if available please come on by to assist with what has come to be one of our most important fundraisers of the year.

Then at 5:00 we are having our spring get together!  This is a pot luck dinner so please bring a dish to share and as always please bring your own plates, cups, eating utensils and your favorite beverage.  Rumor has it there will be a bluegrass band playing and a special spring time Heinze home brew.  This should be an incredible event and lots of fun.

Garden Quote

In the Garden on Saturday April 27th

What a beautiful day to be in the garden!  We got all the raised beds constructed.  The bee hive has been polyed and peas, onions and squashes were planted.  Thanks to everyone who came out!

1st bed being installed.  Lorraine forgot the champagne to christen it ;(

In the Garden on Thursday

Thanks to everyone who came out Thursday evening.  We got a lot accomplished.  Raised beds were made, starts were transplanted, bee hive got protected and then we shared a pot luck dinner.  Looking forward to seeing you all again on Saturday!

Mike and Nate moving a completed bed

Jilli, Reanna and Cale transplanting starts

Potluck getting started