GARDEN DADDY TAKES ON NEW COMMUNITY PROJECT

HELLO from your Garden Daddy here at the garden home! Well, today, Wednesday, 03/17/10, I attended a meeting in downtown Jackson, TN. at the First United Methodist Church (FUMC) regarding the Jackson Community Gardens. Remember, I placed it on this site a few days ago on a side bar highlight. I went in to actually sign up to get my name on the list for a 10ft x 25ft plot and ended up becoming a Lot Coordinator for an entire garden site. Evidently there is a new site opening up this spring but they were in need of a coordinator and I don't know why I raised my hand! But for serious this is a wonderful opportunity to not only get my volunteer hours in for my Master Gardener intern hours but one of the best ways to serve my community and my LANA neighborhood as the garden site is in my neighborhood community as well. I think this will give me insight into putting my life long love of gardening to good use, put my feeble talents and newly learned MG intern knowledge to use but will help me develop my gardening leadership talents in order to work better with the MG's.http://www.jacksonfumc.org/how-to-serve/communitygardens.php

I drove past the lot on my way home from the meeting and viewed the potential site. It was not used last year and needs much work but with a little back bending and much help from the City of Jackson, JEA (Jackson Energy Authority & their composting material), other lot coordinators and the community that intends to use the sub-divided gardening plots I know it will be a big success. And I know that if the stars align just right and things work out well and I am able to continue this project for future years, next year and the one there after will only be better and better. The more the property gets worked and cared for and tended the more weed free and better the soil will become as well as the better gardeners we will have in this program.

Thursday, 03/18/2010, I took some photos I will share below of the JCG site I will working on. It is really raw just now and used to have some kind of home on it but the neighborhood it is located in and the cross streets are in need of some vitality and a little love and care and just general maintenance.

As you can see from these shots the property is pretty well a clean slate and so it will take some time and effort to get this into shape for any kind of gardening plots. But with some hard work and the process as it stands now it should be ready possibly by the middle of May for a late summer garden site. Then next year it should be much easier.

This afternoon I also spent about 2-hours over at Tigrett Middle School helping another LANA volunteer, C.C., plant 17-trees over there on that property. Tigrett is probably the school in Jackson that has the least "curb appeal". So after getting some JEA compost/mulch and picking up C.C., we headed over to the school property, shovels, gloves and buckets in hand and did our chore there. When dropping my work partner off at her home close to my house, she and I walked her lovely garden and she offered me a few plants from her collection, which of course I gladly accepted. You know how your Garden Daddy loves to collect plants he does not have, especially perennials that will return year after year!

So I leave you this day, this wonderful, sunny spring day, with our ongoing gardening affirmation: "GARDENING: ONE YARD AT A TIME!"