Fall is the ideal time to start a garden or improve an existing landscape. Get advice at Fall Garden Day, 9 a.m.-noon Oct. 12 at Harris County Texas AgriLife Extension Service office and gardens, 3033 Bear Creek Drive.

Extension horticulturist and Master Gardeners will offer presentations on a range of topics, including drought- and disease-damaged lawns. See the schedule under special events at hcmga.tamu.edu.

Registration, which includes an information booklet, is $15 in advance or $20 (at 8:30 a.m.) at the door. Call 281-855-5600.

Extension horticulturist Skip Richter shares his advice on greening grass.

Fall lawn care:

1. Water deeply, infrequently and only as needed. Watering too often results in soggy conditions that discourage deep root development and promote disease. With the heat giving way to cooler temperatures, applying ½ to 1 inch of water every seven to 10 days is plenty, Richter says.

2. Mow often. Frequent mowing promotes a denser, better-looking lawn. Infrequent mowing is more stressful to the grass and can open areas that allow light to reach the soil surface and allow weed seeds to germinate.

3. Fertilize mid to late October. Choose a product with a 3-1-2 or 4-1-2 ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Apply 1 pound of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet of lawn. To calculate: Divide the first number (nitrogen) on the fertilizer bag into 100 to determine how many pounds of the product are needed to apply 1 pound of nitrogen.

4. Stop weeds before they’re a problem. Cool-season weeds begin germinating late September to mid October. Preventative products must be applied before the weeds sprout. Apply a half inch of finely screened mulch to help cover the soil surface and deter some weed germination while feeding the turf over the coming months. A dense, healthy turf is the best weed control.

5. Don’t overseed a St. Augustine lawn in fall. Green winter rye lawns are pretty, but that means more fertilizing, mowing and sometimes watering through the winter. It also results in a stressful spring transition when St. Augustine attempts to begin growing but is shaded by winter turf that also competes for water and nutrients.

6. Identify the trouble before purchasing and applying control products. Your extension office can diagnose lawn problems and identify weeds to help you make the best choice.

Click photo to enlargeCollege plant sale Friday, Saturday

For the Ukiah Daily Journal 

Mendocino College’s horticultural students are offering winter gardeners the opportunity to purchase a wide range of vegetables, perennials, trees and native plants at their annual Fall Plant sale. The event will take place this Friday and Saturday and is one of two annual plant sales held at the college.

 Kim Lyly, Agricultural Technician for the college says the students are ready to display their hard work. “We have over 250 varieties of plants available for sale,” says Lyly, adding that all plants are good performers for the region. Tender specimens which may need a little extra protection are noted on descriptive cards placed with each plant.

 “We’ve expanded our vegetable offerings and have placed a poster asking our customers what other types of vegetables they would like to see at future sales,” says Lyly.  New to the sale are white “Tama” Japanese radishes. “We are also offering Chinese Cabbage and Pak Choy. Heirloom and organic seeds are procured when available. There are a variety of lettuces, broccoli, cabbages, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, spinach, cilantro, parsley and chard.

 For those looking to put some late-season color into the garden, salvias are the way to go, says Lyly. “We have a large selection of salvias in many colors,” she notes. Butterfly bushes, gaillardias, penstemon and Princess Flowers are all blooming, and have the additional benefits of attracting hummingbirds, which sip the fall nectar to help build energy for the winter.

 Incense Cedar, California Bays and Western Redbuds are beautiful native trees that are ready for planting. “The fall is the best time to plant natives, shrubs and trees,” says Lyly. The cool air combined with the warm ground allows plant roots to get a good start. “Then your plants really take off in spring,” she continues. Lyly emphasizes that mulching new planting will help to preserve water. “The only thing you should pay attention to is if we don’t have any rain for a few weeks, you’ll want to give new plantings some water,” she notes.

 Other trees available include several varieties of fig, dogwood, prune, linden, hornbeam, oaks and the beautiful liquidambar. “We have dwarf peaches which will do very well in containers,” says Lyly. Culinary herbs, sedums, succulents, lavender, columbines and a large variety of native plants are available. Staff and students will be on hand to help with information and plant selection.

 Shoppers can take some time to wander through the horticultural department gardens. Recent student plantings include a blue and white garden, a California native garden, a desertscape and a “follow the flow” garden that is punctuated by a meandering walkway through the landscaping. For the past year, students have been working on the native garden, installing a bridge and pond. Proceeds from the sale will help to fund improvements to the landscaping in the front of the horticulture department, developing a raspberry and blueberry and expanding upon the very successful kitchen garden which is being used by college culinary students. “We have over 50 tomato and pepper plants in the garden. Students are picking and utilizing the vegetables like crazy,” Lyly smiles.

 The bargain prices make winter gardening very affordable. One-gallon plants are $5. Six-packs are priced at $2 and four-inch containers are $3. Five-gallon trees are $15. “We haven’t raised our prices in 15 years,” Lyly notes.

 The sale runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday. The fall sale is slightly less crowded than the department’s spring sale, so Lyly encourages anyone who can’t make it on Friday to visit the college on Saturday.

“There will be a good selection available both days. People can bring their own wagons, but please put your name on them,” she notes. Cash and checks are accepted.

 For information visit www.mendocino.edu/tc/pg/6153/plant_sale.html or phone 468-3148.

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Power Lawn and Garden Equipment Industry Worth $20 billion by 2017 Says a New Research Report at RnRMarketResearch.com

PRWEB.COM Newswire

Dallas, TX (PRWEB) October 03, 2013

This study analyzes the world power lawn and garden equipment industry. It presents historical demand data for 2002, 2007, and 2012, and forecasts for 2017 and 2022 by product (e.g., lawnmowers, turf and grounds equipment, trimmers and edgers), power source (internal combustion engine, electric), market (residential, commercial), world region, and major country. The study also considers market environment factors, details industry structure, evaluates company market share, and profiles industry players.

World demand to rise over 4% annually through 2017

Worldwide demand for power lawn and garden equipment is forecast to rise more than four percent per year through 2017 to well over $20 billion. Growth in equipment sales will be supported by a recovery in the massive US market that will lead to increased spending on durable consumer goods and landscaping services. Demand will also rebound in Western Europe as the construction of new housing climbs following the Euro zone economic troubles in 2012. In developing areas of the world, particularly the Asia/Pacific region, sales of outdoor power equipment will be stimulated by households that will increasingly seek out multifamily residential properties with associated lawns and/or gardens, spurring growth in commercial lawn care equipment.

Complete report is available @ http://www.rnrmarketresearch.com/world-power-lawn-garden-equipment-to-2017-2-market-report.html.

US, Canada, Western Europe to remain dominant markets

While power lawn and garden equipment sales in developing nations will record the largest advances in percentage terms through 2017, the US, Canada and Western Europe will continue to account for the vast majority of world demand. Consumers in these developed nations have high income levels that allow for discretionary purchases like power lawn and garden equipment, and landscaping services that utilize this equipment. Additionally, countries such as Canada, the United Kingdom, and the US have strong residential lawn and garden care cultures, and the lion’s share of golf courses worldwide are located in these three nations.

Turf and grounds equipment to be fastest growing

Lawnmowers will continue to account for the biggest portion of sales among all product groups, owing primarily to the large number of homeowners that possess and maintain their own lawns in the US, Canada and Western Europe. In these areas, a lawnmower is considered an essential appliance for most homeowners, as these products are the only way to efficiently manicure a larger lawn. Turf and grounds equipment is expected to post the fastest market gains, driven by recoveries in the professional landscaping industries in many developed nations. Furthermore, a continuing trend toward urbanization of developing nations, including those in Asia and South America, will boost the use of public parks and other green spaces, increasing maintenance needs and bolstering demand for related equipment. Sales of aftermarket parts and attachments will rise at a slower rate than demand for new equipment, as economic growth in the US and Western Europe will boost per capita incomes, and prompting many users to discard older units that require repair and maintenance.

Commercial applications to experience fastest gains

Residential demand for power lawn and garden equipment will continue to account for the majority of all sales globally through 2017. However, demand for outdoor power equipment for commercial applications will grow at a faster pace going forward, fueled primarily by a recovery in the professional landscaping industries in industrialized nations. As technologies for batteries and electric motors continue to improve and the use of large battery-powered equipment becomes more economically viable, market expansion for electric equipment will outpace that for internal combustion engine-powered machinery. The growing popularity of robotic mowers will also contribute to gains in electric outdoor power equipment.

Company Profiles

Profiles global players including Deere, Husqvarna, MTD Products, STIHL Toro.

Purchase a copy of this report @ http://www.rnrmarketresearch.com/contacts/purchase?rname=118070.

Browse more reports on Garden Industry http://www.rnrmarketresearch.com/reports/consumer-goods/house-home-care/garden.

About Us:

RnRMarketResearch.com (http://www.rnrmarketresearch.com/ .) is an online database of market research reports offers in-depth analysis of over 5000 market segments. The library has syndicated reports by leading market research publishers across the globe and also offer customized market research reports for multiple industries.

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/world-power-lawn-garden/equipment-market-2017/prweb11192831.htm

It’s easy to miss the discreet white gates that lead to Copper Beech Farm. Tucked into high stone walls covered in foliage, they swing open onto a winding 1,800-square foot driveway surrounded by woods in nearly every direction. Hidden from the street by the copper beech trees for which the property is named, sits a grand white Victorian mansion and behind it, as that long driveway ends at a cul-de-sac once used by horse drawn carriages, a breathtaking panoramic view of the boat-studded Long Island Sound.

This is Greenwich, Conn.’s last Great Estate, an opulent robber baron-era property enveloping 50 prized acres along the tony New York suburb’s waterfront. And it all contributes to an equally breathtaking price tag: $140 million.

Copper Beech Farm first came to market in May asking $190 million, an unprecedented number that made it far and away the most expensive home for sale in the U.S. In September, that staggering sum was slashed by $50 million, or 26%,  to $140 million.

At the current asking price, it is still the most expensive home publicly listed for sale, meaning it is being marketed on the Multiple Listing Services. More technically however, one other home unofficially asks more: the “off-market” Owlwood estate in Los Angeles that’s quietly being shopped for $150 million. If this Greenwich compound were to fetch a sum remotely close to its asking price, it would dash records to become the biggest home sale in American history.

FORBES has been offered an exclusive tour of the property.

On a sunny autumn afternoon, Copper Beech Farm’s real estate broker, David Ogilvy, whose eponymous firm is affiliated with Christie’s International Real Estate, strides across the lawn, past lush gardens displaying palmettos, rose bushes and an alley of flowering crepe myrtle trees.“The star of this property is really the water that’s all around,” he says, turning toward the sea. “We use the word unique in our business way too often but this really is.”

Copper Beech boasts roughly one mile of water frontage including a strip of private beach and a tree-studded island off the coast that the owners row a boat out to on summer weekends for picnics. A 16-sided pool faces the Sound, accompanied by an adjoining spa and a nearby Victorian tea pagoda turned pool house. The banks of the property are perched above a sandy beach accessible by wooden stairs. The backyard sits 40 feet above mean tide, meaning it remains safe from storm surge associated with hurricanes like Superstorm Sandy.

A cast iron gate swings open onto gardens meticulously manicured, the landscaping updated by an alum of the New York City’s Botanical Gardens. Tropical plants like palm trees grace the terraced lawns, which move into a hot house at the edge of the property during the winter. There’s an apple orchard, and past that, a grass tennis court.

Stairs lead from the gardens up to the back of the French Renaissance-style main house, a white manse comprised of angular windows, ivy-covered columns and terraces stretching the length of the structure. “It seems like a Newport Mansion and is very reminiscent of the same period, only a lot closer to New York,” says Ogilvy.

Greenwich’s $140 Million Copper Beech Farm

The house spans 13,519 square feet across four floors. It has 12 bedrooms scattered among the top two floors, seven full baths and two powder rooms. A dark cherry wood-paneled library with curving corners and glass-fronted bookcases typical of the Victorian era sits off of a three-story wood-paneled entry. The dining room has oak columns, a fireplace and an ornate plaster tracery ceiling. There’s also a garden room, with walls of windows looking out on the water, and a solarium with stone-tiled floors and a fountain adorning the back wall. The kitchen, tucked down a hallway accessed by discreetly hidden doors in the wood-paneled entry foyer, sits at the end of the house. Its dumb waiter allows access to the home’s original kitchen, located in the basement among the former staff quarters.

Fireplaces adorn nearly every entertaining space and many of the bedrooms open onto sleeping porches once used during summer months before the advent of air conditioning. In the entry space, an antique open-air elevator that one might expect to find in a throwback Parisian hotel chugs slowly between floors at the push of a button.

Yet despite all of these features, the home itself could use some updating. It doesn’t have central air conditioning, for example, because the current owners prefer to live without it. And the private beach doesn’t have a dock either.

So why the nine-figure price tag? “There were several appraisals done on this property by the owners…and the appraisals came up with numbers that are extremely high,” says Ogilvy. He adds that other waterfront properties in Greenwich has commanded between $4.5 million and $9 million per acre.

The lofty value of Copper Beech Farm can be sourced to its acreage, which used to be a gentleman’s farm (it still hosts several greenhouses and a cow milking station inside a stone carriage house). The property’s size is unmatched in the high-end New York suburb and it has the ability to be subdivided. Currently it has been approved to be divided into two major parcels, one comprised of 20 acres and the other of 30. But development could potentially include as many as 10 to 12 lots, estimates Ogilvy, given the fact that this area of Greenwich is a two-acre zone and that development beyond the two large parcels would require a builder to relinquish about eight acres to parkland according to the town’s laws.

That possibility has extended the buyer pool beyond billionaire house hunters to investors as well. Still, the initial $190 million asking price proved too pricey, spurring the owners chop it significantly. So far, says Ogilvy, it’s drummed up fresh interest: “When you start exploring at a different [price] level, it opens the buying public to a very different group.”

There’s a story Margaret Orr likes to tell about the genesis of her garden: “We had just bought the house,” the longtime WDSU-TV meteorologist recalled. “I was a young thing, had one child (her daughter, Kathleen, now in her 20s) and was pregnant with my boy (Alden, also now in his 20s). “This little man — Jake Noack, who was in his 70s — was walking by and said, ‘I love your garden.’ And I looked at him and I looked at my house, and I said, ‘I don’t have a garden.’ And he said, ‘I know, that’s the point: You need a garden.’ “

Feast with the Stars

What: Margaret Orr will receive Parkway Partners’ Green Spirit Award at its Feast with the Stars patron party. She is being honored for her support of community gardening and beautification projects. Feast with the Stars is Parkway Partners‘ annual fundraising gala.

When: The patron party will be Oct. 10, 6 to 8 p.m, and the Feast with the Stars jazz brunch gala will be Oct. 13, 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Where: The patron party will be held at Callan Contemporary Art Gallery, 518 Julia St. The jazz brunch gala will be held at Gallier Hall.

Tickets: $75 for the jazz brunch and $125 for both the patron party and the jazz brunch at www.parkwaypartnersnola.org or 504.620.2224.

From that encounter grew a long, fruitful relationship with gardening, one she has carried privately and publicly via her former gardening segments on WDSU’s morning show and, more recently, her Twitter feed. Today, the gardens at Orr’s Lakefront area home are a testament to that abiding love, which she says brings her in touch with the circle of life.

“To me, gardening brings you closer to God,” she said. “You see life and death and rebirth in the world. That’s why I love butterflies. It’s the rebirth and the changes we go through.”

Orr’s garden has changed considerably since she and her husband bought the property 26 years ago.

“I had three yucca plants in the front, and they were yuck. I hated them,” she said.

Noack, Orr’s neighbor who gave her a gentle kick in the pants about the need for landscaping (he has since died), had received several home-garden awards over the years. He offered to help her create her first garden. They went to a nursery together, where the salesperson asked Orr what kinds of plants she liked.

“I said, ‘I don’t know,'” Orr remembered, laughing. “I didn’t know anything about gardening.”

But garden they did. “We put out the dirt, we planted the plants, and I was addicted.”

At the time, around 1985, Orr was co-host of WDSU’s morning show, “Breakfast Edition.” Eager to learn more about her new hobby and share her lessons with the morning viewers, she began interviewing gardeners, landscapers and other agricultural experts for the recurring segment “Margaret’s Garden.”

“I did them once a week, and that’s how I learned about gardening,” she said, naming experts such as horticulturist Melinda Taylor, who has worked for Walt Disney World and the New Orleans Botanical Garden at City Park, garden columnist Dan Gill and Paul Soniat, director of the City Park botanical garden. “I learned what works.”

The lessons included basic landscape maintenance, information about growing seasons and general care. Taylor taught her how to prevent weeds by placing sheets of cardboard between plants and covering with pine straw. Another expert taught her about roses and the power of compost.

Today, she uses a row of fuchsia Knockout roses to create a bold line between the rear of the front lawn and the front porch, where Orr sits every morning sipping her coffee, tracking the weather and interacting with her followers on Twitter. She also makes her own nutrient-rich compost and turns fall leaves into mulch by storing them in ventilated bags in a corner of her backyard.

Though her television work Orr also learned specifics on plant varieties that helped inform her personal gardening decisions. Taylor introduced Orr to the distinctive Natchez crape myrtle with white blossoms and a two-toned, peeling bark. Orr uses them to line and provide shade to the right side of her property, front and back.

Severin Dowdy, who accompanied Orr on several trips to Longue Vue House and Gardens, helped her pick out a “bloodgood” Japanese maple and sago palm for the corner bed fronting the street.

Orr learned what flowers attract butterflies (pentas, purple coneflower, lavender, salvia, zinnia, ageratum and black-eyed Susans, among others) and hummingbirds. “They love red and orange,” Orr wrote in an e-mail. “The tubular plants are the best. Plant salvia, zinnias, hibiscus . . . foxglove, nicotiana, to name a few.”

She also learned what she doesn’t like. For instance, “I hate begonias,” she said. “They attract snails. How do you get rid of snails? You put out little saucers of beer, and they drown. I’m not doing that to the stupid snails. I am not going to kill a snail, OK? I’m just not going to do it. So I hate begonias.”

Though Orr absorbed as much knowledge as she could through her television work, her approach to gardening through the years has been “trial and error,” she said. Her front yard has a garden-heavy layout, with beds along the perimeter and a large centerpiece bed brimming with color and variation.

Early on she adopted a palette of pinks, blues and purples, which she hypes up during the flower-heavy seasons, early fall and spring. The colors are concentrated in the large, octagonal central bed in the front lawn, which features the conical blossoms of pink Angelonia, bulbous pink pentas — “A great summer plant,” Orr said — cheery purple aster and more, all bustling in crowded concord.

A yellow rose bush provides height to the center and serves as a nod to Orr’s Texas roots. (Her parents and grandparents lived in Bryan, Texas.) A simple fountain sits in the middle of the bed, hugged by a rogue red salvia that Orr gladly allowed to come up.

“I love volunteers,” she said, referring to plants that drop into landscapes via wind, wildlife or other carriers. Orr likes to use as many of them as she can, sometimes allowing them to stay in place or moving them to a better spot.

“I will have rudbeckias (black-eyed Susans) growing in the grass and dig them up and put them somewhere else, because the seeds just go everywhere.”

Orr’s love of serendipitous finds extends beyond plants. Her side yard features a metal butterfly chair, which a neighbor had bought at a garage sale but decided not to keep. Orr was happy to give it a home. The cherub statue in the side yard bed was her grandmother’s.

The side yard also features boxwoods and mondo grass. “I planted them in Xs and Os, because they’re hugs and kisses from God,” she said.

The beds along the left side of the yard continue the pink, purple and blue theme with torenia (also sometimes called wishbone flowers) in all those colors, purple cone flower and purple salvia.

In the spring, she’ll plant poppies, foxglove, bachelor’s buttons, dianthus, pink snapdragons and irises — one of her favorites. On the porch, fuchsia and purple bougainvilleas sit in planters, while spindly lemongrass softens the transition from the porch and front yard to the side walkway.

Just as Orr encouraged “Breakfast Edition” viewers to send photos of their own gardens to be featured on the show’s “Garden of the Month” segment, Orr receives countless images of fans’ outdoor landscapes via Twitter. Interacting with people, fans or experts, who love nature — be it the weather or a pretty flower — is one of her greatest pleasures.

“Sitting on the porch this morning with the boys (her dog, Bleu, and her daughter Grace’s dog, Sunny) running around the yard, I saw a hummingbird, Gulf Fritillary and swallowtail butterflies, a female cardinal and a couple of blue jays,” Orr wrote in an e-mail. “There was a bit of a breeze playing music in the wind chime. The humidity was low, the sun was shining, and it was just a beautiful morning. This is where I Tweet in the morning. It’s my little piece of paradise.”

****

Parkway Partners Green Spirit award

A longtime supporter of community landscaping and beautification projects, Orr will receive Parkway Partners’ Green Spirit award on Thursday, Oct. 10, as part of its Feast with the Stars patron party.

Orr is being honored for her work with “neutral ground and garden projects, including the sunken gardens on Canal Boulevard, community and schoolyard gardens,” Jean Fahr, Parkway Partners executive director, said in an email.

The neutral ground adoption program was just beginning around 1989 when Orr “walked door to door on Canal Boulevard with Parkway Partners’ founder Flo Schornstein,” Fahr said. “Today the neutral ground is adopted by the Lakeview Civic Improvement Association and its recent restoration was spearheaded by Al Petrie and the LCIA Green Space committee after Hurricane Katrina.”

Orr also was a supporter of Parkway Partners’ schoolyard garden program, Sow Grow.

In keeping with Atascadero’s Centennial Celebration, this year’s Autumn Garden Festival on Oct. 12 will be held at the historic five-acre Portola Inn, where apricot trees planted by E.G. Lewis, founder of Atascadero, still yield a plentiful harvest.

The inn is the perfect outdoor classroom for the Atascadero Mutual Water Company’s festival to celebrate sustainable, low-water landscaping.

Beginning with a continental breakfast at 9 a.m., registered attendees will hear seven 30-minute presentations during the day, with breaks for exhibits, walks and picnics throughout the spacious oak-canopy grounds of the inn.

Topics include a history of urban farming, rainwater harvest, backyard beekeeping and vermicomposting (worm composting), to name a few. The presentations come alive on the grounds, where owner Tom O’Malley has already incorporated many of the day’s topics on his expansive property.

O’Malley has created rainwater and graywater collection areas on his slightly sloping grounds, allowing for plenty of water for thirsty plants such as kiwis. Handicap-accessible paths in switchback designs slow down the flow of rainwater and direct it to catch basins.

As guests meander down these paths, they are treated to a variety of mature plantings that have created their own microenvironment under the oaks. O’Malley knows each plant and system intimately, having purchased this property next door to his childhood home 19 years ago.

“I remember helping my neighbors pick the apricots at age 7,” he recalls.

Going back 100 years, in 1913 E.G. Lewis, the founder of Atascadero, had a vision of sustainable landscaping. His idea was that colony residents would have one- to twoacre parcels where they could grow enough food for their family, with room for a small orchard, vegetables and chickens.

The lots in Garden Farms, River Garden and throughout the community reflect this. Lewis’ advertisements focused on the advantage of living in the city while having enough property to farm at home. He chose a quote from Abraham Lincoln to adorn the entry of the now-restored City Hall: “The most valuable of all arts will be the art of deriving a comfortable subsistence from the smallest area of soil.”

“Lincoln’s quote is applicable to the theme of the event, as we want local homeowners to know they can have beautiful and productive gardens with less water use,” said Jaime Lien Hendrickson, conservation manager at the water company, who started this event in 2006.

“After the drought of 2003, the Mutual Water Co. realized the need to educate homeowners about how to lower water needs,” she said.

This autumn festival has became the vehicle for that message, and along with a rebate for lawn replacement and focus on drought-tolerant plants, John Neil, general manager of the water company, reports that water use has dropped from a 10-year average of 2 billion gallons per year to 1.8 billion gallons in 2012.

Neil, Hendrickson and O’Malley share a common goal for the educational event: “We want locals to be empowered to incorporate these ideas in their home gardens, and to know that drought-tolerant does not just mean rocks and cactus,” Neil said. “With over 150 low-water plants to choose from, they can have a new and beautiful garden with lower water use and a lower water bill as an added bonus.”

The event promises to be informative and inspirational for the 100 who register to attend. If this sounds appealing to you, use the information on the sidebar to register right away, as space is limited and the event may sell out.

See more photos »

Prudential Global Volunteer Day at Hillside School in Montclair

BY Georgette Gilmore  |  Wednesday, Oct 02, 2013 5:00pm  | 
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A call out to all members of the community large and small! Go out and help get Hillside School’s outdoor classroom be ready for planting and help plant bulbs and shrubs this Saturday, October 5, at its Prudential Global Volunteer Day.

Last year Hillside school held a plant sale sponsored by the Montclair Garden Club to raise funds for the garden and landscaping. Combined with grant money from the District Initiative Gardens (DIGS) program,  the school a great start. Prudential gives grant money for  schools who meet their criteria and having enough volunteers is part of this process.

Hooly Korus is the  Hillside Garden/Grounds chair. She explains:

Our goal is to refurbish garden beds created years ago by parents. Sadly the beds have not been maintained and have become wild as well as overgrown. The goal is to create a sustainable fenced in outdoor classroom  where the children can learn and experience everything from planting, understanding compost, measuring volume, community giving, etymology and kitchen science. Our biggest challenge is move the beds around, remove struggling plants and create a space that can be sustainable for years to come. We are staying away from plants that are in their prime from July-August when the school is empty. Swapping squash for tomatoes and lilyturf  for lilies.

This project has been a labor of love and I have had a wonderful dedicated group of volunteers who have given their time and their muscle countless hours this past spring and this fall. I have also had great support from both the Hillside staff, PTA as well as Building and Grounds.

Last year, more than 28,000 people participated in 750 Global Volunteer Day projects in the United States and 10 other countries where Prudential has a business presence. Check out the slideshow from  last year’s Hillside School Prudential Global Volunteer Day.

Related Posts:

• MFEE District Initiative Gardens (DIGS) Initiative
• Montclair’s Hillside School Global Volunteer Day
• Watchung Elementary School Landscapes Grounds with the Help of Montclair Community

The Destin Garden Club is an interesting and exciting group of women interested in gardens, luncheons, plant swapping and keeping the gardens at The Destin Library green and gorgeous. President Carol Boden presides and members come from all over Okaloosa County and neighboring areas. The club meetings are held on the second Tuesday of the month except July and August at The Destin Library at 9:30 a.m.  Dues for 2013 are $35.  New members joining October through December will have their membership dues covered all the way through 2014.

Entering the library, I find a beautiful table set to my left that carries enough food for Pharoah’s army. I wonder if they do this all the time.  I find shrimp, fresh watermelon pieces, strawberries and blueberries and brownies — and much more.  Member, Carol Tyler, has created a stunning tiered centerpiece using fresh potted flowers. 

In the large meeting room of the library, I find two tables set up. At the first table members sign in and receive a free ticket in the hopes of winning one of the beautiful crates of fall mums donated by Home Depot and Lowes. The second table is a 50/50 table, a fundraiser, where all purchased tickets go into a pot. Tickets cost $1 each or $5 for ten. A winning ticket is drawn and the winner receives 50 percent of the pot and the club gets the remaining 50 percent to help toward new landscaping for the library.

September’s program is a PowerPoint presentation by Okaloosa Master Gardener Karen Kirk-Williams. Her presentation highlights plant recommendations to create beautiful fall color in our own Destin gardens.

 Some of her recommendations for our area include alyssum, flowering kale, “red butterfly” pentas and Mexican tarragon, which is anise scented with edible flowers. Fennel and parsley will be enjoyed by the swallowtail butterflies as they pass through town.  Pineapple sage has edible pineapple scented blooms and leaves, and our ever durable pansies and violas will last through all the cold winter months.

“The cool weather that is coming provides a good time to plant for next year as it gives your new plants and trees time to concentrate their energy on growing roots rather than top growth,” Karen says.

 Plant now for next year the Cape Plumbago, which likes full to part sun and has a long blooming season that extends close to year round. You can also plant narcissus and daffodils now for a show in the early spring of 2014. Recommended daffodils that do well in the Florida Panhandle are Carlton, Fortune, Thalia and Silver Chimes.

Plans are already underway for The Island Garden Club of Okaloosa Island and The Destin Garden Club to join together for a bus trip to the Mobile 2014 Festival of Flowers.  This is a March horticultural extravaganza acknowledged as the premier flower and garden event of the greater Gulf Coast.  This event is one you don’t want to miss.

For more information on the Destin Garden Club, call Carol Boden at 424-3979

At a small community garden on the corner of Ridgeview Drive and Fairmont Avenue in City Heights, there are a few plots filled with straggling end-of-summer vegetables. There are tomatoes, pole beans and squash, but the lot is noticeably bare. Out of the 19 garden beds, only six have anything growing in them.

That’s because gardeners at the Ridgeview Community Garden don’t have access to water on their land.

Photo by Bianca Bruno

Gardeners use old laundry detergent bottles to haul water to the garden from their homes.

Instead of using a hose to water their beds, they’ve been hauling water from their homes in gallon jugs and old laundry detergent containers. Garden organizer Jeanette Neeley said it’s a heavy burden — literally — for many of the senior gardeners.

“If you can see some of the beds behind me, those are beds of 60- and 70-year-old people,” Neeley said. “They paid for the beds. They filled them. But without water, they just don’t have the wherewithal to do that amount of heavy lifting.

“It’s a chore anytime you have to carry water. Water is 8 pounds per gallon, if you’ve ever backpacked the Sierras. So I can tell you that it’s a challenge.”

San Diego amended its ordinance on urban agriculture last year, lifting restrictions on backyard bees, chickens and goats. It also made it easier to establish community gardens. At least that was the goal.

Community garden advocates say there are still roadblocks – chief among them is the high cost of water.

The Ridegeview lot once had a water meter hookup that served former residents, but it was cut off and covered up when the home was removed and the lot was made smaller to widen a road.

Neeley said the city quoted the community gardeners $11,000 to re-establish the meter. And it nixed their plan to tap into a meter for nearby city landscaping because there’s no system for billing the residents.

“We keep getting shuffled from department to department,” Neeley said. “No one wants to take ownership and create a process where we’re allowed to give them money. I know it sounds odd. If we could pay the bill, we would be ecstatic. That’s our goal.”

In Madison, Wis., most community gardens get water from hookups to fire hydrants. Baltimore has issued a $120 fee for installing water meters in community gardens. San Francisco has a grant program that cuts the cost for installing meters at community gardens significantly.

San Diego Public Information Officer Kurt Kidman said the city treats community gardens no differently than any other customer. He said as long as community gardens can round up the necessary funds to install a meter, water access should not be an issue.

He confirmed installing a meter can run in the thousands of dollars – a bill most community groups can’t foot.

Judy Jacoby is director and CEO of the San Diego Community Garden Network. She said in comparison to other cities, San Diego still has a lot of work to do to support community gardens.

Jacoby said a first step would be putting a single city department in charge of all community garden queries.

“There is no one, actually, who feels it’s their job to help people out,” Jacoby said. “There is no liaison for community gardens. You can go to your council member and ask for help. They can be helpful, but it’s a matter of whether they choose to or not.”

Jacoby points out that in Seattle, community gardens are overseen by a staff of six in the city’s Department of Neighborhoods. Many other cities manage community gardens through their park and recreation departments.

Jacoby said the process in San Diego is so complicated that even she doesn’t understand all the nuances of establishing gardens on city-owned land. Kidman said there is no one in San Diego city government who is qualified to talk to the press about gardens.

“Knowing what department to go to and who to talk to with your list of questions really would make it a lot easier,” Jacoby said. “The code in and of itself is not everything.”

Jacoby said her organization has been working with multiple groups that want to start gardens in their communities. For some, several years have passed without any real headway.

“It all comes back to the question: If the city of San Diego values community gardens and thinks that urban agriculture has a place in the city and that people who live in apartments should have a place where they can grow food, then it’s up to them to find a way to support it,” Jacoby said.

After working with representatives from multiple city departments over the past two years, the Ridgeview gardeners think they may have caught a break.

They’ve been meeting with public utilities customer advocate David Akin, who suggests a possible solution to the high cost to access water: securing certain fee waivers for the group.

While the gardeners say they want the city to make it more affordable for gardens to pay for water, Neeley said they don’t want a handout.

“The next step to me would be to streamline the process in just getting access to landscape water,” Neeley said. “Help us to help ourselves, not give us anything free. Allow us to get access to water, grow our own vegetables share with our neighbors.”

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