I recently had the opportunity to interview JoJami Tyler of FabulousAfter40.com who has been giving beauty and fashion advice to women over 40 and has become an AVEENO® Ambassador spreading the word about their “Be an Active Natural” campaign where helping your community could get you $10,000 to further your cause. One great way to make positive changes in the Tampa Bay area communities is to get involved in one of the organic community gardening initiatives such as Dunedin Harvest, Dunedin Community Garden, Seminole Heights Community Gardens, Oldsmar Community Garden, or Clearwater Garden Club’s Rakeholders.org.
Q: Do you feel it is important for communities to promote organic gardening? Why or why not? “Oh yes, extremely important! Really, I’m sure more people would opt to garden organically if they were educated on how easy it is and how important it is on so many levels. It’s all about educating people! There is a wonderful man out of Philly, Mike McGraff who does a weekly show on PBS called, “You Bet Your Garden“. He has been someone I have listened to for years and he has helped educate so many people on the alternatives to using pesticides! I have also been reading Organic Gardening for many years to get ideas too.”
Ms. Tyler’s vegetable garden is fairly small, at approximately 250 square feet but she manages to grow a variety of vegetables including squash, strawberries, green onions, cucumbers, green beans, lots of herbs, pumpkins, radishes, lettuces and spinach. She also has container gardens on her deck, many of which are home to cherry tomatoes, herbs and other flowers. She uses the same organic approach to grow flowers as well as vegetables saying, “because even the bees can be affected by chemicals and we don’t want to hurt them either!”
Companion planting which can be a great way to save gardening space, is one of the ways she uses to help combat pests by planting marigolds and growing basil between the tomato plants. “I never seemed to have too many problems…I would hand pick some pests off and knock them into soapy water… my roses were the worst. I did spray them with a spray I made with soap and cayenne pepper, but they would still get aphids pretty bad.”
Ms. Tyler expressed her belief in the benefits of organic gardening, “It can be so rewarding! For me, it’s a way to relax and bond with nature. I had my children help me in the garden too! I always get so excited when the garden is blooming to be able to run out and grab some herbs and veggies and whip up a luscious meal! Even if you just have a few containers, you can still enjoy organic gardening!”
Q: Tell us about the AVEENO® Be an Active Natural™ campaign and why you think this is a worthy cause? “I work with AVEENO® as an Ambassador and this year the Brand expanded the Be An Active Natural™ program to include a grant competition to award people who are making a positive impact in their neighborhood. Eight $10K grants will be rewarded to individuals making positive change in their community. These grants are awesome because they are helping and encouraging all of us to go out into our communities and make a difference by educating, protecting and inspiring others! So we need to spread the word about it – for full details head to Facebook.com/AVEENO.”
The AVEENO® Be an Active Natural™ campaign started on April 10, 2012 and will run until October 31, 2012.
Read more about how Organic gardening could get you $10,000.
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