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The Seedling - February 2021
Time to dig into a new season!
Happy Spring! There’s a small chance we could get another freeze in the coming weeks but it is usually safe to plant warm season crops by early March. We are excited to get the season off to a great start!
Gardeners, a friendly reminder to renew your plot fees for the spring season by April 1st. Please process your payment via our website if you are able. Checks or money orders by mail are also accepted: 5049 E. Broadway, Suite 300 Tucson, AZ 85711. Please contact Membership Manager, Kelly with any questions.
In this Seedling:
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CGT Updates
Welcome New Faces at CGT
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Didace Mugabonke- Didace started with us months ago, but between newsletters,- he finally gets his time in the spotlight! We're so excited to welcome Didace as our new Garden Maintenance Lead. Didace is from Rwanda where his family made their living growing bananas and coffee. He had his first farm of 360 coffee trees when he was 15 years old. He also used to grow onions in high school in order to support his family and pay school fees. In 2017, a year after graduating from college, he introduced a tree tomato (tamarillo fruit trees) project on two hectares with 1,600 tamarillo trees. He moved here to Tucson with his wife in 2018. They both have a passion for gardening and have been enjoying spending time in their plot over at St. Demetrios where they started gardening in the fall of 2018. In 2019, he began volunteering as a Co-Coordinator of St. Demetrios garden, where he has spent a lot of time maintaining the garden plots. He looks forward to continuing this work and much more as Maintenance Lead, not only at St. Demetrios, but all garden locations with CGT.
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Natalie Shepp- Natalie has joined the Board of Directors after many years of gardening and contributing to Community Gardens of Tucson. In 2009 she started the Highland Vista garden in her neighborhood park. She held the position of Site Coordinator for ten years and then joined the CGT board in January 2021. Over the last decade, she has honed her gardening and nutrition education skills as a Program Coordinator for 4-H Youth Development and the Diabetes Prevention Program at the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension and the Tucson Village Farm. Natalie graduated from the University of Arizona with a BS in Environmental Sciences and a Master’s Degree in Public Health Promotion.
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This is a great time of year to get started gardening. With plots available in gardens around town help us spread the word to your friends and neighbors that they can garden for free during the month of March! Contact Kelly@communitygardensoftucson.org today to get started!
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Kids in the Gardens Continues to Adapt and Inspire
Jessica Paul
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Community Gardens of Tucson began our Kids in the Gardens Program in the fall of 2019. We were barely six months in when the pandemic brought an abrupt halt to our exciting new program. I admit that at first, I was at a complete loss of how to move forward. Teaching kids gardening (and all the other interwoven academics that can be taught in a garden) couldn't possibly be adapted to a virtual setting! I wondered how kids would learn to garden digitally through a screen and not with their hands in the dirt. I was more than a little heartbroken, as were the students and teachers who were anxiously awaiting their harvest. Finally, I mustered the courage to start planning virtual classes. I figured that if that was the only way to get kids and families gardening, I had no other choice but to make it work. Forty-five families later, we have adapted to the challenge of virtual garden learning. It's been a great pleasure working with families who are inspired to use some of their extra time at home, to grow their own food and learn more about gardening in our unique environment. I look forward to getting back into the gardens with the kids when it is safe to do so, but in the meantime, I am honored to work with our community and provide gardening opportunities in whatever way we can. Now is a great time to get outside with your kids and teach them all the amazing lessons a garden has to offer.
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Spring Gardening Classes for All Ages
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Adopt a Garden, Grow your Community!
Scott Feierabend
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We are proud to announce a new opportunity for your business, organization or group to join us in creating a stronger, healthier, more vibrant Tucson. Through our Adopt A Garden Program, you can sponsor a garden and show your support for the important community service that CGT provides. By adopting a garden you provide CGT with critical financial support to help defray our operating costs and pay for important garden improvements, such as compost, fencing and raised beds AND gain public recognition for your community support and visibility for your business with our network. Adopt A Garden Program sponsors will be recognized on our website, as well as through social media, newsletters and garden signage.
If you are involved with a business or organization that would be interested in adopting a garden check out our website or contact Scott for more details.
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Save the Date!
Help Us Make This Year’s Arizona Gives Day On April 6th A Huge Success!
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During one day of online giving this April 6th, Arizonans will open their hearts and wallets to support their favorite charitable causes. It’s a whirlwind of just 24 hours, but the tangible and intangible impacts of Arizona Gives Day can be long-lasting for CGT and its critical mission work. This year, with your generous financial support, we hope to raise $3,000 for our gardening scholarship program, which allows those in our community who lack the financial means to grow fresh, nutritious, and healthy produce for the table. Stay tuned for more to come, and please mark your calendars now to join our efforts on April 6th!
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Thanks to a generous donation from Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona's Garden Program each garden will receive a great selection of heat and drought tolerant seed varieties to share for this season. Remember that many summer crops get very large and may need some extra support (such as trellises for beans or supports for tomatoes). Plant each seed imagining the space it will need when it is mature. Ask your Site Coordinator for more information. If you have extra seeds you are welcome to share with other gardeners as well. Happy gardening!
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Last month Sasha (Garden Operations Manager) and Jessica (Garden Educator) presented on composting basics and tips for getting composting started in community gardens. Composting is an awesome way to reduce food waste by converting it into a rich, nutrient packed essential resource for gardens. You can watch the presentation recording and let your Site Coordinator know if you're interested in helping with composting!
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It's time! Within the next few weeks, we will be past our average last day of frost as days start getting longer and warmer. It's a great time to plant warm season veggies such as squash, tomatoes, basil, peppers and eggplant. There will be loads of amazing local plant sales coming up. You can follow Community Gardens of Tucson on Facebook to recieve updates. Be sure to see our full planting guide for even more planting ideas!
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