Thursday, May 22, 2008

Garden Progress

¡Hola! Estamos cultivando varias plantas ahora y arreglamos un sendero en el medio del jardín. Los niños pueden regar más facilmente. Miren las Flores: primrose, sweet william, sage, rose bush with two buds, irises.







Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Las plantas para el jardín de la comunidad en Cobden

Mil gracias to John Rivera for the strawberry plants and the beautiful blue balsam tea mint! We are off to a good start. Our herb garden already has chive and sage from last year and the blooms are lovely! The strawberry and mint plants were placed here and we're looking forward to eating las fresas this year.

The Cobden Community Garden has been tilled now, thanks to Paul Frank, and ready for the plants that have been donated so far: tomatoes; cayenne, jalapeño, hot banana and bell peppers; cucumbers; zucchinis; and eggplants. We are extremely grateful to Patricia Sawyer, a colleague at the TLC, for her donation!

Muchas gracias también to Cliff Connelly and Walter Russell for their help in cleaning up the area to remove sticks and rocks! The soil is getting better each year and soon we will not have to till at all. We have put many loads of manure, compost, and top soil because when we started the soil was very rocky with not much top soil.

The irises that were donated last year are going to be blooming soon. We will have some beautiful yellow blossoms. Our goal is to plant some tiger lilies around these to have more blooms after the irises. These flowers are located at the far west side of the garden, near the car lot.

The garden also has some grasses at the far south side that we are trying to develop. Some have come back and some have not, but we will keep trying.

To the right is our herb garden that we started last year: It is three-tiered and has a hose that runs up the center so that with a water source attached, it waters the plants like a fountain. ¡Por supuesto, a los niños les gusta mojarse!

Monday, May 5, 2008

Plants y seed donations needed to fill our garden!

Plants y seed donations needed to fill our community garden!

This year the theme is edible y fragrant plants. We've compiled a list of various plants and herbs that we can use to fill our garden space, eat, and enjoy the their fragrance and beauty.

Here's a list of plants and herbs that we would like to put in our garden areas. Do you have any of these that you can divide from your garden, share your seedlings and/or donate seeds or small potted plants??
  • arugula
  • basil
  • bee balm
  • calendula
  • chamomile
  • cilantro
  • day lilies
  • dill
  • echinacea
  • fennel
  • garlic
  • kale
  • lavender
  • lemon balm
  • marigolds
  • mesclin
  • Mexican sage
  • mizuna
  • mountain mint
  • oregano
  • pineapple sage
  • rhubarb
  • spearmint
  • Swiss chard
  • thyme
Do you have any time to spend alongside us as we plant our donated plants and seeds? Help tend to our gardens with watering, weeding, and mulching? Or just to enjoy? Please contact Jeri Kinser.




Jeri Kinser shows volunteer Jay Young (sociology undergrad de SIUC) where he will be planting.