Updates

Three lovely people showed up to work on the entrances on Saturday. We weeded, trimmed and prepped the beds for winter. None of us could bare to take out the annuals because they look so lovely, so we left them to remove later.

The rain started in earnest shortly there after, which might be why people didn't show up for the perennial exchange. However, plants were exchanged with neighbors on a door to door basis later on, and new friends were made, which was the point of all of it--so let's just call that one a success! :) Hopefully this will be a biannual tradition.

Much of the discussion on Saturday centered around catching people up on the opposition to the garden. Ideas of a revitalization of the garden club ensued as a different way to help get people involved in the community and connected. We will see where this all goes.

Lastly, today surveys were handed out to neighbors, and an electronic version will go out via email. Hopefully the organizers will get a lot of responses.

Entrances

Sue and I will be meeting 9/13 at 4pm to make a plan for the entrances for the fall work day on 9/26 from 8-10 am.

We will be making a plan for moving and dividing plants, and creating an updated design for next year. If you would like to share your two cents, please let us know; you are more than welcome to attend the meeting or just let us know what you would like to see more of, etc.

We would welcome anyone who would like to help grow annuals at home to contribute to the entrances next year.

Work crew and results

Entrances!

SHRA Entrances are done! :)

Hope you like them! We spent $394.55 out of the $1000 that would have normally gone to an outside contractor! That means the garden raised its first money ($605.45). The final work day was Saturday, May 9, and big big thanks go out to Sue Middleton, Jill, John and Max Gjamov, Roger Cherry, Kim Hugill, Jim Hezter, Annette Buckley, Holley Morris, and Melody and Dick Sexton for doing their part and kindly volunteering their Friday evening for shopping for plants or picking up 80 bags of mulch, as well as their Saturday morning spent weeding, tilling, trimming, fertilizing, transplanting, dividing, planting, shoveling, and mulching. On Sunday, I picked up the last 10 bags of mulch we needed for the N side and spread it. It was quick work.

On the first work day, April 25, Rosemary Sartor, The Gjamovs, Tom Kasberg, and Jim Hetzer prepared the beds by edging and weeding. This was key to have two days with a weekend in between. Sue and Amy continued the work on the Northside the next weekend.

We saved a lot of money through the generosity of Mr.Mulch and Oakland Nursery. Please let them know that you appreciate their support for SH when you go to shop there!

This information is just for the record and might not be very interesting! The mulch was easier to get in bags for this endeavor because Mr. Mulch would have charged us two different $45 delivery fees for each entrance. The NN side took 22 bags, NS 18, SS 25 bags, and SN 25 bags=90 bags total. 30 bags fit in my car, and 25 in Jill and Sue's, but going in shifts throughout Friday evening to pick it up worked out really well as Mr. Mulch was very accommodating. Knowing all of this should save time in the future. We also planted a bunch of perennials that will hopefully continue to grow and thrive, so we can devote more money to annuals next year. In the future, we would also like to coordinate with neighbors who would like to contribute plants they have extra of in their gardens like hostas, daylilies, and sedum. We are going with a red, yellow, and orange color scheme at least for this year-every year will reflect on what worked and what needs to change. The butterfly weed and crocosmia are not available at nurseries during May, so we may continue to amend the bed throughout the summer with those perennials as they become available.

Entrance Research

Here is my organizational chart to facilitate the workdays. I was busy the other day thinking about possible plantings for the entrances. I am looking for deer resistant perennials.

SHRA Entrance Makeover to Raise Funds

Hi, Everyone!

We have some residents signed up to help, but we would love more. The dates for our SHRA entrance makeover will be:

4/25-Saturday-weed/edge/plan
5/9-Saturday-shop/plant/mulch/trash removal

This schedule makes it possible for families to participate both days without committing two weekends in a row. Please email me to let me know you are willing to help (even if it is just for an hour). This will help us to divvy up the tasks.