The Giving Garden of Carrollton

The Giving Garden is still producing bountiful harvests in November.  Today we harvested 36 pounds of gorgeous greens, eggplant, cucumber, okra, green beans, butternut squash and peppers.  Gardeners should be picking greens throughout the winter, especially if the beds are covered with a frost protection cloth.

The garden is looking forward to the start of our fence project in early November.  The three foot fence will be buried to a depth of six inches and surround the entire garden.  Gardeners will enjoy spring gardening without the nibbling of our pesky rabbit neighbors.

Information will be posted soon about our annual Christmas party.  Enjoy the beautiful fall weather!

Fall is always a good time to garden in Texas.  At the Giving Garden, many of our gardeners have already planted their beds in fall vegetables.  Because of our mild weather, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts, all types of greens and garlic produce most of the winter.

There are a few open beds available to new gardeners at this time.  Please contact one of the Board members on the link on this page to request an interview.  Applications can be downloaded from the links on this page (Application for Plot and Garden Application).

Come join the fun of gardening with like-minded folks, doing good for our community and harvesting the fruits of your labor.

The Giving Garden is experiencing an explosion of the rabbit population that is beyond our past experience.  As the above picture shows, fence barricades are not stopping the rabbits from finding ways to eat tender crops.  The “sticks” are what is left of the green bean plants that I started at home and transplanted in my bed.  They lasted one day.  This year the rabbits are eating crops they’ve never bothered before.  They are eating young okra, pepper plants, sweet potato vines, beans…nothing seems to be safe.

The Board will meet this Thursday evening at 7 p.m. to discuss the problem and potential solutions.  Meetings are held at the Indian Creek Clubhouse, located at 1689 Bandera Dr, Carrollton, TX 75010.   The meeting is open to any gardener.

On Saturday, July 20th,  51 pounds of produce from The Giving Garden of Carrollton was donated to the  CCA Food Pantry to help stock their produce section.

We’re heading toward a new record this year, with a donation of 752 pounds of scrumptious and delicious fresh organic produce donated, as of July 20, 2013.

Thanks to everyone who worked so hard in this Texas heat!

The Giving Garden is participating in the Million Tomato Compost Campaign sponsored by the U.S. Composting Council.  Our garden received 10 cubic yards of compost from Texas Pure of Plano to help us enrich our beds for growing tomatoes.

As the picture indicates, our tomato yields this year are spectacular.  The gardeners must keep track of the different varieties planted and the yields produced in weight.  It looks like the compost is doing good work so far!

These tomatoes were collected for our Saturday, June 22 harvest to be donated to the CCA Food Bank.  Just think…this is only half of what was picked.  Gardeners take the other 50% for their personal use.

Giving Gardeners are making a difference in our community.

The Giving Garden will have a work day this Saturday, May 4th, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. to spread mulch in the garden pathways and add compost to existing beds.  In addition, Keep Carrollton Beautiful will host a day of environmental education seminars in the portable nearest the garden.  Here is more information from Keep Carrollton Beautiful:

Keep Carrollton Beautiful

                  Education Day

Saturday May 4 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

To register for all classes please email lisapstav@gmail.com

This first time event is going to be held at:

Aldersgate United Methodist Church 3926 Old Denton Rd, Carrollton TX 75007

Classes being offered:

9 a.m. – Keeping the outside out – allergies and asthma tips – taught by Lisa Stavinoha, volunteer asthma educator with over 1000 hours of presentation time

10 a.m. – Sue Hudiburgh Master Gardener @ Harvest Community Garden will present a 45 minute program on rain water harvesting

11 a.m. – Texas Xeriscapes will discuss ways to make our yards and gardens more water friendly

Noon to 12:30 and 12:30 to 1 – tour the Giving Garden and learn about organic gardening with Cindy Baxley

*Also we will offer two children’s classes, Recycling Made Easy, taught by Marysol Gallegos –

10:00 a.m. Recycling Made Easy – Ages 4 -7 – limit 15 spots – this is a 30 minute class

11:00 a.m. Recycling Made Easy – Ages 8 – 11 – limit 15 spots – this is also a 30 minute class

To register for all classes please email: lisapstav@gmail.com

Hope to see you at the garden on Saturday!

The Giving Garden is offering a quilt raffle in order to raise money to build our “Environmental Education Pavilion.”  The quilt top is made from premium quality cotton fabric and the backing is muslin.  It is 79″ wide and  96″ long.  Raffle tickets are $5 each or 6 for $25.  Each gardener at the Giving Garden will have raffle tickets.   Checks are accepted and they should be made payable to “Keep Carrollton Beautiful” with a notation to The Giving Garden.  The drawing will be held at the monthly gardeners’ meeting on December 13, 2012.

The Giving Garden had its first fundraising garage sale on Saturday, March 24. It was a huge success with the garden raising $963.55 for the support of the garden. Thanks especially to Willie Lane, who came up with the idea and did the legwork to secure the date and work two nights to gather in folks’ treasures. Thanks to all the gardeners and friends who brought their donated goods and thanks to Aldersgate UMC for letting us use the front parking lot. Laura Margadonna, Willie Lane and Helen Marsee also raised vegetable plants from seed to sell for this fundraiser.

Gardeners are trying to raise the funds to build a gazebo to help fulfill one of the garden’s missions of helping to educate the community about best practices for raising organic vegetables. The gazebo will be used for educational purposes and recreational purposes for gatherings at the garden.

Below is a vision of our gazebo. The estimated cost to build ourselves is just over $2,300.00. We’re well on our way toward our goal.

Our Gardener Support Meetings will be held the second Thursday of each month at Indian Creek Clubhouse, located at 1689 Bandera Dr, Carrollton, TX 75010 at 7 p.m. The purpose of the meetings is to allow a time and place for gardeners to socialize and to exchange gardening information. Please join us. The meetings are open to anyone interested in gardening.

Also, don’t forget to check us out on Facebook. Be sure to click “Like” for updates about The Giving Garden.

It’s almost time to get back out in the garden…start planning!

Saturday Harvest

Harvest has begun and for several weeks, The Giving Garden has gathered produce to donate to CCA. Today we picked 44 pounds of beautiful, organic vegetables. Potatoes, squash, peppers, chard, kale, onions, tomatoes and okra are producing right now.

The garden is growing not only delicious, healthy produce but we are developing a caring community. Quite a number of gardeners turned out about 8 a.m. to help pick, wash and sort the produce. Thank you all, Giving Garden Gardeners.

Thank you also for the many folks who have helped finish up the third mulch delivery. We are close to completing the aisle and common areas and will soon be able to use the remaining mulch for the garden beds.

The garden is looking just beautiful! Happy Gardening All.