Volunteers Needed to Help Bring an End to 2012 Growing Season

2011 Closing Day Volunteers -- Blue Skies and Sunshine

We all know what an awful year this has been for weather.  Extreme Heat.   Drought.  Early frost and early snow.  We had above average temperatures until September, and then we had two months of below average temperatures – until, that is, the last week of October.  And then we had a tropical superstorm with wind and rain.  But you know what?  We always – AND I DO MEAN ALWAYS – have PERFECT weather for our opening day and closing work day on the second Saturday of November.  This year will be no different.   We will have a balmy and dry day in the 60’s on Saturday, November 10 AND there will be no football game to rush off to because it’s an OSU bye week.



2010 Closing Day Volunteers -- Notice the blue skies?

Every year, we close the Stoddart Avenue Community Garden the second Saturday in November.  This is when we clean out our flower beds, fill up our compost bins, clean up the shed, prune the perennial flowers, raspberry bushes and roses, rake up the garden and neighbor beds, put away the tomato stakes, plant tulips, empty rain tanks, and make our last food pantry harvest of the year.    We will also conduct our annual members' meeting.




Because so many gardeners dropped out in May and June with the heat and drought and weeds, we were able to donate more food than ever in 2012 despite the lower productivity/plot.  We might even hit the 500 pound threshold next weekend when we pull out the remaining collard greens, kale, chard, carrots, herbs, and turnips that are still growing.  You can see from the chart below how we have donated the 465 pounds of garden produce harvested to date.

Although we won’t have Tom’s famous BBQ this year, we will lots of refreshments for volunteers, beginning at 9:30 a.m.  We should be finished by 1:30, depending on how many people come to help.   If we’re lucky, we’ll have enough help to move the compost bins so that they are not such an eyesore to folks travelling on East Main Street (now that the eyesore building that used to be south of the Garden has been demolished).

So, please come and help us put the Garden to bed for the winter.  Many hands make light work and it’s about the only time that the gardeners get to meet and see each other.