January: What to do in your garden

~ Information compiled by Santos Flores, community gardener at Briggs Avenue Community Garden, from the book Month by Month: Gardening in the Carolinas by Bob Plomski

Its January here in Durham and its a bit warm and wet outside. What can you do, if anything at all, in the Briggs garden?

Planning
Intensive gardening can be accomplished in a number a number of ways to increase production from a limited space. Our raised beds are great for taking advantage of the soil depth. Consider "square-foot gardening," where the bed is divided into square blocks. Each plant or seed is planted in the center of each square.

Another intensive gardening approach is vertical gardening, which exploits the air space above the bed. Vining and sprawling plants such as cucumbers, melons, indeterminate tomatoes, and pole beans can be supported with trellises, nets, strings, or poles. Since they occupy little garden space the

remaining space can be planted with low-growing vegetables.

Planting and Transplanting
Some gardeners grow their seedlings indoor in the bright direct light of a south facing window, greenhouse, or sunporch. Others prefer the outdoors, using a cold frame. In the milder areas of the Piedmont and Coastal Plain, gardeners can move their seedlings outdoors during the day to expose them to full sunlight. Be aware that you will have to contend with some cloudy, overcast days. Instead of relying on sunlight, you can buy or build an artificial light stand and grow your seedlings under lights.

A need for the Briggs garden is to organize our seed packets so that they follow a sowing schedule. Also, a step-by-step information guide on producing transplant from seed indoors to get a jump on the growing season.

Piedmont gardeners can sow seeds of broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower indoors for transplanting within six to eight weeks. Head and leaf lettuce can be set out four to six weeks after sowing. Piedmont gardeners can also wait until next month before starting these vegetables.

Fertilizing

Fertilize seedlings growing in soil-less mixes when the first true leaves appear.

Care for your Herb and Vegetables

Continue harvesting carrots, radishes, and turnips. Lettuce and spinach growing in a cold frame or under the protection of a fabric row cover or plastic tunnel can also be picked.  

Pest Control

Diseases: "Damping off" is a serious disease that attacks and kills seeds and seedlings. It especially attacks weak seedlings when growing conditions are unfavorable. Over watering, lack of drainage, poor ventilation, and crowding can foster an attack. With seedlings, the stem rots at or close to the soil surface. This is mainly caused by the fungi present i the seed-starting medium.

"Damping off" is easier to prevent than cure. Use clean containers. If necessary, disinfect them with a 10 percent bleach solution (1 part bleach to 9 parts water).

Use a sterile, well-drained medium. Provide good conditions for rapid seed germination and development. Avoid water logging the medium when watering. Damping-off can be reduced by cutting back the frequency of watering and increasing the amount of light.

Voices from Briggs

Briggs Avenue Garden Youth Blog

Thanks to Trevor Hamlett for posting this blog about his experience working at the Briggs Avenue Community Garden this past year. We hope to see more posts and photos in the near future from him and others!

Expansion at Briggs Ave Community Garden

Thanks to many helping hands this parcel of land on Briggs Avenue in Durham, NC went from this in August 2007...

to this beautiful green oasis today -- the Briggs Avenue Community Garden!

Now the garden is expanding to include a fruit orchard adjacent to the existing plots and an irrigation system to make it easier for gardeners to water their plots. If you are a plot owner, a gardener, a student, a community member or just anyone interested in getting your hands dirty and working for a good cause, WE COULD USE YOUR HELP!

There are several volunteer opportunities over the next few weeks that include:

·         Cutting and stacking wood for making bio-char
·         Reinforcing the fence to keep the groundhog out
·         Pruning blackberries and retraining them
·         Installing the irrigation piping
·         Taping the irrigation female connecters with Teflon prior to the irrigation installation
·         Painting the shed
·         General maintenance – mowing and weeding

Workday Calendar
*** Provided it does not rain and there are no delays ***


If you plan to volunteer please email the appropriate person listed in the description section of each Volunteer Workday. You do not have to volunteer the entire time – please give us an idea of how long you will be able to help.
 

Have Extra Garden Produce? Donate to Students in Need

-- Durham, NC

Hello Briggs Avenue Gardeners,

I’m Sally Parlier, the Volunteer Coordinator at Durham Tech. You may have seen me and some of our students volunteering during garden workdays. I’m writing to announce a new garden initiative that will gather gardeners’ extra produce and distribute it to our students in need.

At Durham Tech, our students often go to school while working and supporting their families. They can struggle to make ends meet as they seek to better their lives through education, and we’ve noticed that some students are having a hard time affording groceries and healthy food. This summer, Durham Tech is piloting a program to distribute fresh produce to students in need on our campus.

In order to do this, we need your help! If you have excess fruits and vegetables from your plot at Briggs and would like to make a donation, you can do one of two things:

1. Meet me in the garden. Durham Tech volunteers and I will be in the garden working and accepting donations on the following Tuesdays during workdays:



2. Email me to let me know what you’d like to donate and your plot number. Volunteers and I will harvest your specific donation on the Tuesdays when we’re volunteering. Please send an email to parliers@durhamtech.edu or call me at 919-536-7231 (ext. 8194).

* Please note: We will never take from a gardener’s plot without his/her consent. You are in no way obligated to make donations of your produce to our cause, and you don’t have to donate every week. Even one time donations are helpful.

If the July pilot goes well, we’d like to continue this project through the growing season. Thank you for your consideration. Please contact me if you have any questions, concerns, or wish to make a donation.

Get your hands dirty this summer!

Spring 2012 @ Briggs Avenue Community Garden

Along with the warmer than average weather, spring has brought many new additions to the Briggs Avenue Community Garden thanks to the hard work of the gardeners, volunteers, Durham Master Gardeners and staff at the Durham County Cooperative Extension office -- not to mention the numerous donations and monies received in support of the garden!

In addition to the beautiful flowers blooming and vegetables growing all over the garden, the following additions have made the garden a wonderful place to be:

• a platform plus drainage grate under the front gate
• pavers and stones boarding perrenial flower and herb beds
• a pergola at the main gate that will eventually offer some nice shade
• a new roomy garden shed with a green roof!   (plants will soon be added to the roof)
• numerous well-designed trellices made by the gardeners to support their plants
• coffee sacks lining the front fence with potatoes growing in them!
• communal herb beds along with blueberries and blackberries that the gardeners can share

Come visit us to see how beautiful the garden is this time of year!

Many thanks to the following groups for providing financial and volunteer support to the garden in 2012:

• Daylily Garden Club
• Garden Makers Garden Club
• Forest Hills Garden Club
• Nature's Green-Releaf
• Durham Technical Community College
• Durham Master Gardener Volunteers
• Nourishing North Carolina grant
• CYFAR NIFA USDA grant

NC CYFAR Project Featured in Recreation Management Magazine

Wagram Community Garden, North Carolina CYFAR Project

Our NC A&T CYFAR (Children, Youth and Families At Risk) Community Garden Project was recently featured in Recreation Management Magazine.

The article entitled Gathering a Community - Planning Community Gardens and More, written by Kelli Anderson, talks about the history of community gardens, the feasibility of having gardens in public parks, the importance of pre-planning and community support, and mentions several community garden programs and organizations across the country -- including ours!

To read the online version of the article and see a couple photos from our gardens that were published, click here!

Composting Workshop @ Briggs Avenue Community Garden

Saturday May 12 from 9am - noon

Come to help celebrate
International Compost Awareness Week!

Composting can be done in your house, your backyard, at a school, at work, or just about anywhere!  Join us in learning how to compost.

The Many Benefits of Compost Include:

• makes soil easier to work
• improves soil health & fertility
• increases the nutrient content of soils
• promotes higher yields of crops

Thoughts from Four Community Gardeners

Community gardens offer something different to everyone. Some people most enjoy eating the food they grew themselves, some welcome the opportunity to meet new people in the community, and some find the garden offers them a place to "get-away", clear their head and spend time outdoors in a peaceful place.

In this short video two gardeners from the Briggs Avenue Community Garden in Durham, NC and two gardeners from the Wagram Community Garden in Scotland County, NC share their experiences. They talk about what they grew in their garden this year, how they are eating differently because of it, what they have learned from working in the garden, and more.



Thanks to all these gardeners for taking the time to share their thoughts and experiences with others. Your hard work and dedication over the long growing season paid off and has made the gardens the beautiful places they are today.

Fall Gardens as Beautiful as Ever

Gardeners have welcomed in a new fall by planting some magnificant looking garden plots! Broccoli, cabbage, mixed greens, brussel sprouts, arugula and swiss chard are just some of the delicious treats you'll find scattered throughout the garden.

Check out recent photos of the Briggs Community Garden here

Sign up for our Facebook site to keep up to date on what's happening at this garden and other community garden projects we're working on!

Success! Briggs Avenue Community Garden Grand Opening

The gardening tools were thankfully sharp enough to cut the green ribbon at the Briggs Avenue Community Garden grand opening event on April 9th. The day was a success!

10 VIPs spoke great things about the garden 
1 green ribbon cut
1 garden plot planted for Urban Ministries (the food harvested will be donated to them)
11 educational stations manned by volunteers taught gardening and nutritional information to visitors
51 garden plots reserved for community gardeners, some of whom already planted their own garden plots
10 garden plots reserved for a summer youth agri-entrepreneurship project
1 community brought together

See photos of the event here. more on the way...
See videos of the event here. more on the way...
Read a blog about the event here.

The following VIPs were on hand to give short statements about the new community garden:
Delphine Sellars, Director of Durham Cooperative Extension
Durham Mayor William V. Bell
Commissioner Ellen Reckhow, Vice Chairman, Durham County
Jim Cowden, North Central District Director, NC Cooperative Extension
Dr. Keith Baldwin, Western District Director, NC Cooperative Extension
Sharon Rowland, Director of Resource Development, NC Agricultural Foundation
Dr. William Ingram, President, Durham Technical Community College
Laura Hodge, Briggs Ave Community Garden Plot Owner
Michelle Wallace, Consumer Horticulture Agent, Durham County, NC Cooperative Extension
Santos Flores, Briggs Ave Community Garden Coordinator 


Special Thanks to our Supporters
Belle Long
Black Kow
Chapel Hill Carboro Sunshine Rotary Club
Daylily Garden Club of Durham
Duke University Student Volunteers
Durham County Master Gardeners
Durham Tech Community College Volunteers
Duke University Medical Residents’ Clinic
East Coast Metal Distributors, INC
Forest Hills Garden Club of Durham
Goodwill Community Foundation – Nature Center
Home Depot
Hope Valley Garden Club of Durham
Jim and Caroline Hunt Child Resource Development Center
Keifer Landscaping and Garden Center
NC Agricultural Foundation
Novozymes
SEEDs Educational Garden
Shin-yiing Yeung
Tiffany Griffin
Town and Country Garden Club of Durham
Triathlon of Doom

Briggs Avenue Grand Opening

Briggs Ave Community Garden
Grand Opening & Garden Field Day

Saturday, April 9, 2011 from 10am -1pm

1500-1598 S Briggs Ave, Durham, NC 27703
(Across from East Coast Metal Distributors)

Event Program - VIPs - Sponsors

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony
Planting Beds for Urban Ministries

Garden Field Day Educational Booths
  *Gardening with Children & Grandchildren
  *Select & Grow Great Vegetables at Home
  *Home Garden Water Harvesting
  *Gardening Without Digging
  *Outsmarting the Critters
  *Let's Talk Dirt: Soil Matters!
  *Garden Calisthenics
  *Eat What You Grow (featuring a local chef)

All garden plots are currently reserved!
Please contact briggsgarden@gmail.com or call 919-560-0526 for more information and to get on the waiting list.

*** Food truck will be curbside; cash only for food or drink purchases ***

2011 Community Garden Kickoff Events

This spring all three of the North Carolina CYFAR Sustainable Communities Project gardens will have an event to kickoff the 2011 gardening season. Community members, town governments, Extension staff, local businesses, garden partners and all interested parties are invited. During the events residents will have an opportunity to sign up for garden plots and plant cool season vegetables, educational events will teach people about proper planting techniques and how to safely use garden equipment such as the rototillers, and information will be provided about opportunities for involvement in various aspects of these new community resources. 

** We invite you to be a part of these 2011 Spring Gardening Events. **

  

Saturday March 5, 2011

Wagram Community Garden Early Spring Planting

Saturday March 12, 2011

Lewiston Community Garden 2011 Opening Event

Saturday April 9, 2011

Briggs Avenue Community Garden Grand Opening

For more information about specific activities at one of the garden events, please see the "Contact Us" section of this blog and contact the garden coordinator for the site you are interested in.

Contact the project coordinator with any general questions.

2010 Program Highlights

As the year comes to a close I'd like to share a few highlights from our community garden projects over the last year. Congratulations to all the garden coordinators, garden collaborators and to the community gardeners themselves for making it through the first community garden season! To see photos of each site over the last year, please click on the photo slideshows on the left side of this blog.

Briggs Avenue Community Garden (Durham)

• 15 community collaborations formed including those with Duke Medical residents, Master Gardener Volunteer Program, Home Depot and long term volunteer commitments from Durham Tech Community College employees
• 22 garden beds assigned to gardeners; 62 raised beds built in total
• An 8 foot tall deer fence surrounding the garden plots is near completion; water well, pump and electrical hookup were installed on site
• 22 youth participated in two summer agri-entrepreneurship programs led by the garden coordinator
• Over $14,900 from in-kind donations and grant monies was received (not including CYFAR grant $); 190 adult volunteer hours and 30 youth volunteer hours were recorded
• Both the garden’s advisory council and the community gardeners are meeting monthly

Lewiston Community Garden (Bertie)

• Parcel of land was prepped for the garden; gardening supplies and equipment (rototiller) were purchased
• Key partnership formed with the Bertie Resource Center; several visits from youth groups who came to work and learn in the garden
• Interest within the community for the project is growing as noted by the garden coordinator
• Garden harvest was shared among community members and was also donated to the Resource Center
• 170 adult volunteer hours and 5 youth volunteer hours were recorded; in-kind donations of materials were received

Wagram Community Garden (Scotland)

• 24 garden plots were built; 19 different families were working in them throughout the last year
• Interviews with 8 gardeners showed that all of them successfully grew food in their plots and were satisfied with the program overall
• 5 gardeners who returned surveys estimated the value of the produce they grew at $1,245; 7 out of 8 gardeners thought they spent less money on food due to the food they grew in their garden
• Planning is underway for a high tunnel to be reconstructed at Scotland County High School for use with a youth agri-entrepreneurship program
• $2500 was received in grant money + more from in-kind donations of materials; 35 volunteer hours were recorded
• Monthly gardener meetings are being organized

Sustainable Communities Project - Community Garden Curriculum

The first complete draft of the CYFAR Sustainable Communities – Community Gardening Curriculum should be ready by the beginning of next year. Thanks to the following people who have put together the curriculum modules:
- Keith Baldwin: Horticulture
- Montreka Dansby: Diet and Nutrition
- Travella Free: 4H Youth Entrepreneurship
- Michelle Eley: Community Development
- Meeshay Wheeler: Parenting

Looking forward to a year ahead filled with bountiful harvests.
Happy Holidays to all!!!

Infrastructure at the Gardens

One of the biggest obstacles we overcame this year for our community garden sites was getting the garden infrastructure in place necessary for successfully growing vegetables in North Carolina.

Undoubtedly one of the most quoted challenges associated with starting and sustaining a community garden is obtaining access to water. We now have access to water at ALL 3 of our garden sites! Yeahhh! In our two rural garden sites, Wagram and Lewiston, the initial process was relatively easy once we knew who to ask. City water was tapped from a nearby road and spigots were installed. After receiving the first few water bills though, we realized that we may need to rethink our strategy!

At Briggs Garden in Durham, however, a more urban site, it took months to raise enough money to dig a water well and buy a pump (determined to be necessary given the garden location and most sustainable over the long term), have the well dug, and connect the well pump to electricity. The project started well before the beginning of summer and finally just this month I saw water being pumped out of the ground at the garden site for the first time! Although the water didn't arrive in time for this summer's crop, it will be readily available next spring - a welcome thought to community gardeners like Amy and Ted who had to water their summer crop this year by bringing water from home in a cooler!

Another piece of infrastructure we are extremely proud of that was installed at all 3 of the community gardens is something every community garden could use - a bulletin board kiosk that can double as a garden sign. Master gardener Steve Arnold from Durham used his crafty workmanship and built all three beautiful kiosks. Thanks Steve! Garden coordinators are already posting information for the community gardeners and plans are being made to paint the back sides as garden signs.


Kiosk in Lewiston Community Garden, Bertie County



Bulletin board kiosk in Wagram, Scotland County

Steve at Briggs Avenue Garden, Durham County



Youth Entreprenurship in Durham

This past summer, several youth groups from Durham gained leadership skills, learned about agriculture venture opportunities, and discussed good business principles as they relate to gardening and agriculture.

Santos Flores, the community garden coordinator at Briggs Avenue Community Garden (and also the DIG community garden coordinator for SEEDS in Durham) put together his own youth agricultural entrepreneurship program from his extensive experience working with youth and his knowledge of sustainable and local food systems.

One group of 16 middle school aged youth that are part of the DOVE program (a volunteer organization led by Antoinette Joyner which is connected with Durham Extension's CAPS Program) learned the meaning of the word entreprenuership and agriculture, created business plans, and then made value added products to sell for people to use in their gardens.



Santos builds teamwork and leadership skills among DOVE youth group participants.



The beginning of a business plan.



The group is divided into two and each are given a budget of $100 to spend on materials.



Santos discusses project ideas with the DOVE group.

Santos talks with the DOVE group about their ideas for a value-added garden product.

Santos met with the DOVE youth group six times this past summer and discussions are now underway as to how to keep a similar program running year round. Now that the basic infrastructure is more complete, plans for the future include a youth agricultural entreprenurship program based at the Briggs Avenue garden.

A second group of young adults in the Go Green Program (connected with NC Central University) met with Santos nine times this summer. The goal of the program was to develop leadership skills and increase their knowledge of gardening. This group built several raised beds made of concrete blocks at the Briggs Avenue Garden site and planted vegetable and herbs this fall. One of the young adults is now serving as an intern and has 2 of her own raised bed plots at the garden where she grows food.

Building Community Gardens

All three of our community garden sites are now up and running!

On May 15th the Wagram Community Garden had a grand opening event and families came from the community to claim 20 x 20 garden plots. Plot owners are free to plant vegetables of their choice and are resposible for the upkeep of their plot. They may do whatever they wish with the produce they grow - eat it, give it away, or sell it! During this event a variety of plants including corn, peas, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash, and watermelons were provided by Cooperative Extension Program and were planted by gardeners.

See the "Contact Us" section of this blog to find out where the Wagram Community Garden is located in town and to find contact information for the Garden Coordinator, Melissa Tomas.

On May 22nd the Briggs Avenue Community Garden in Durham was built. Over 30 community members, Cooperative Extension staff and Master Gardeners helped to build twenty 3x10 raised bed gardens and fill them with compost. Plants were donated from a variety of sources around Durham and gardeners planted vegetables in the new raised beds. Please see the "Contact Us" page of this blog to find contact information for the Garden Coordinator, Santos Flores.

On June 9th the Lewiston Community Garden held an information meeting at the Lewiston Resource Center to drum up support for the community garden and tell parents about the opportunities their children will have this summer to visit and work in the garden as part of their summer camp experience. Community members signed up for various volunteer positions including being part of an advisory board, serving as a garden mentor, and doing site maintenance. See the "Contact Us" page to find information for James Peele, the Garden Coordinator.