Mother’s Day Comes Early to the SACG With Platform Raised Garden Beds with Benches

While the rest of the country celebrated Cinqo de Mayo, Derby Day and the Columbus Half-Marathon, Tom, James, Cathy and I brought Mother’s Day early to the Stoddart Avenue Community Garden by building raised platform garden beds with benches. Last year, I noticed that Betty – one of our charter members -- was not bending to pick up weeds she had just hoed and figured out that it might be her last year at the SACG if I didn’t figure something out. So, earlier this year, I applied for a grant from the City/County Community Garden Fund at the Columbus Foundation to build three raised platform garden beds (i.e., Grandmother beds). We found out on April 9 that our grant request had been funded. However, leaving nothing to chance while I waited to hear about our grant, I also sought out corporate in-kind donations and was blessed that Lowe’s Home Improvement Store on East Broad Street – just 2 miles from the SACG – agreed in early April to donate the seriously expensive cedar lumber to build our raised beds. Of course, when I saw the shock on the staffs’ face about how much lumber that would take, I immediately scaled back my request to lumber for two beds so as not to take advantage of their generosity and burn bridges for other community gardens in the future. They even cut down the lumber for me to build the 6x4 raised beds and helped me to load all of the lumber into my Jetta.

I researched other similar raised beds at other community gardens on the internet and decided on a design. However, during one of my evening constitutionals, I again walked by Jim Z’s house. Outside his wood shop was a sandbox he had built for a grandchild that was now being transferred to another friend (or I would have snagged it for our first raised bed). I liked his design so much better because it came with a built-in bench. I ran home to get a camera and took pictures of it at various angles before it began to rain. He must think I’m a freak.

Gardeners Beth & Mike live behind me in Bexley. Mike has his own wood shop and cut notches in the boards for the legs. I started to put the first bed together on my patio last Sunday before realizing that I might not be able to get it out of my backyard, let alone into a vehicle and over to the SACG if I finished the project there. So, I fit what I could into my Jetta (as funny as that sounds) and took it over to the SACG, where I finished assembling it on Monday evening. I have to admit there was a lot of profanity involved as I tried to assemble it by myself when the wind kept knocking it over while I screwed in pilot holes, etc.  As you know, I had to wait until Thursday for Justin from CleanTurn to flip it over for me to finish. I bought the rest of the lumber from Lowe’s for the third bed. (I’d like to say it was from the East Broad store, but they had sold out of the required size of cedar and had to send me up to Weber Road on Friday). I wanted to save Mike the trouble of cutting the notches for the legs and checked out a jig saw from Rebuilding Together, but it did not come with a blade. When I called Mike to borrow one, he ended up just cutting all of the lumber down for me on Friday evening.

Saturday was much, much easier. Tom met me at my house at 9 a.m. to pick up the lumber for the second and third bed. Orlando (from BTBO) stopped by to give me a jovially hard time about leasing our second lot (next to BTBO) and helped us move the first bed into its final location. Tom and I then assembled the second bed when I discovered to my horror that I was missing one 12-foot board. I knew the East Broad Street store was sold out, so we headed for Weber Road, only to meet with the closure of I-71! How did I not know this!?? Then, we ran into the Half-Marathon traffic. Ugh! Back to East Broad to get a narrower board. Tom even bought me lunch. We finished the second bed and made substantial progress on the third bed before Tom had to leave at 1:30. As we were eating our lunch tailgate style, Mari & John stopped by with our new gate sign. (More on that in a few days).

Also Dr. Jim from the Morrison Hill Community Garden stopped by to introduce himself (after Cathy from Urban Connections suggested that he do so) and I encouraged him to thin our strawberry patch out for the benefit of their Garden.  He came back with his two young sons and did just that.   Neighbor Rose also came by to make sure I was wearing enough sun screen.

Meanwhile, I had already learned with the first bed that my cordless drill’s battery was insufficient to complete the project. So, I checked a drill out from Rebuilding Together, only to find that they have no cordless drills!!!! Frank and Cathy loaned me their cordless drills. We burned through my drill and Frank’s drill and, shockingly enough, Cathy’s 24-V drill lasted the rest of the afternoon. She stopped by, briefed me about the block watch meeting and helped me finish the third bed and put it into its correct place. I whined so much, she agreed to come help me out on Saturday mornings.  (I won't hold you to that promise made under emotional duress:)   Ms. Anthony also stopped by to say hello as well. Then, some neighborhood girls stopped by to see our project progress. Then, Miss Gladys stopped by after church to see and select her new bed and pose for pictures. She was so excited, she wants to plant at least one of everything.   That made everything worth it for me.

Shortly after Cathy left, James came to do some gardening. Boy, did I love his shuffle hoe. When he saw me lifting the soil bags, he immediately stepped in and insisted on doing that for me. We then filled the second bed and the neighbor plots (along the alley) when Margaret Ann from Four Seasons City Farm stopped by with our grant check. (City Farm is our fiscal agent). I showed her around. She loved the new beds and our new sign. She couldn’t believe we had accomplished so much in so little time.   What a positive life force she is.

I should mention that James is quite a character.  He is one of our new gardeners.  He lives on Berekely.  In addition to growing something on every inch of his lot (like chard in the median), he also mows the grass of the abandonned house next door with his reel mower.  He reads Mother Jones and has been doing some creative gardening in his SACG plot.

Anyway, by this point, I had lost the ability to think or communicate with anything other than a grunt. Even though the beds had not been filled or donated soil completely distributed, I headed home and collapsed into an incoherent puddle just in time to see the Derby.  I then ordered a pizza and ate the whole thing as I walked home. Craziness. I woke up this morning with every muscle in my body aching and aching. I’m too old for this.

I had been concerned that the middle was not strong enough to support the weight of wet soil, so this afternoon, I cut down and installed braces and then filled 2-1/2 beds. Rayna helped distribute more soil in the neighbor plots along the alley and I began planting in them (with lots of help from the neighborhood girls). The beds have become the new gathering place for the girls because the benches allow them all to sit and chat among themselves. Rayna just loved it. They wanted to break down all of the large clumps of soil and giggled when I poured in bags of manure.   Truth is, they want me to build tiny versions of these beds for them.  Fat chance, girls:) Then, the kids just hovered over the blueberry bushes and strawberry patch predicting when the berries would be ripe enough to eat. 

For those of you who want to seek similar grant funding and build your own grandparent beds, the lumber cost around $200 and the 30 bags of soil $50. 

The next phase is to build regular raised beds (with cedar donated by Trudeau Fence Company) for our youth gardening program near the grandmother raised beds. Gotta love intergenerational gardening.

For those of you who are interested, all three of the grandmother beds may be spoken for, but one of the ladies has not turned in a signed agreement yet.  (Miss Gladys had her grandsons satisfy her working hour requirement by spreading wood chips a couple of weeks ago and signed her agreement the instant she saw her new bed).  If you want  one of the beds, let me know.

We also have four regular plots available to any hardworking and serious gardeners who will come next Saturday to help me build regular raised beds for the kids and a new compost bin.  We really need another gardener with a truck or SUV:)   Many hands make light work.

Thanks again to the City of Columbus, Franklin County, the Columbus Foundation, Lowe's Home Improvement, Scotts Miracle-Gro, Home Depot (for the fence) and our wonderful volunteers, gardeners and neighbors for making the grandmother beds possible.

Now, I will let Rachmaninoff play me off to sleep . . . . . 

Mother’s Day Comes Early to the SACG With Platform Raised Garden Beds with Benches

While the rest of the country celebrated Cinqo de Mayo, Derby Day and the Columbus Half-Marathon, Tom, James, Cathy and I brought Mother’s Day early to the Stoddart Avenue Community Garden by building raised platform garden beds with benches. Last year, I noticed that Betty – one of our charter members -- was not bending to pick up weeds she had just hoed and figured out that it might be her last year at the SACG if I didn’t figure something out. So, earlier this year, I applied for a grant from the City/County Community Garden Fund at the Columbus Foundation to build three raised platform garden beds (i.e., Grandmother beds). We found out on April 9 that our grant request had been funded. However, leaving nothing to chance while I waited to hear about our grant, I also sought out corporate in-kind donations and was blessed that Lowe’s Home Improvement Store on East Broad Street – just 2 miles from the SACG – agreed in early April to donate the seriously expensive cedar lumber to build our raised beds. Of course, when I saw the shock on the staffs’ face about how much lumber that would take, I immediately scaled back my request to lumber for two beds so as not to take advantage of their generosity and burn bridges for other community gardens in the future. They even cut down the lumber for me to build the 6x4 raised beds and helped me to load all of the lumber into my Jetta.

I researched other similar raised beds at other community gardens on the internet and decided on a design. However, during one of my evening constitutionals, I again walked by Jim Z’s house. Outside his wood shop was a sandbox he had built for a grandchild that was now being transferred to another friend (or I would have snagged it for our first raised bed). I liked his design so much better because it came with a built-in bench. I ran home to get a camera and took pictures of it at various angles before it began to rain. He must think I’m a freak.

Gardeners Beth & Mike live behind me in Bexley. Mike has his own wood shop and cut notches in the boards for the legs. I started to put the first bed together on my patio last Sunday before realizing that I might not be able to get it out of my backyard, let alone into a vehicle and over to the SACG if I finished the project there. So, I fit what I could into my Jetta (as funny as that sounds) and took it over to the SACG, where I finished assembling it on Monday evening. I have to admit there was a lot of profanity involved as I tried to assemble it by myself when the wind kept knocking it over while I screwed in pilot holes, etc.  As you know, I had to wait until Thursday for Justin from CleanTurn to flip it over for me to finish. I bought the rest of the lumber from Lowe’s for the third bed. (I’d like to say it was from the East Broad store, but they had sold out of the required size of cedar and had to send me up to Weber Road on Friday). I wanted to save Mike the trouble of cutting the notches for the legs and checked out a jig saw from Rebuilding Together, but it did not come with a blade. When I called Mike to borrow one, he ended up just cutting all of the lumber down for me on Friday evening.

Saturday was much, much easier. Tom met me at my house at 9 a.m. to pick up the lumber for the second and third bed. Orlando (from BTBO) stopped by to give me a jovially hard time about leasing our second lot (next to BTBO) and helped us move the first bed into its final location. Tom and I then assembled the second bed when I discovered to my horror that I was missing one 12-foot board. I knew the East Broad Street store was sold out, so we headed for Weber Road, only to meet with the closure of I-71! How did I not know this!?? Then, we ran into the Half-Marathon traffic. Ugh! Back to East Broad to get a narrower board. Tom even bought me lunch. We finished the second bed and made substantial progress on the third bed before Tom had to leave at 1:30. As we were eating our lunch tailgate style, Mari & John stopped by with our new gate sign. (More on that in a few days).

Also Dr. Jim from the Morrison Hill Community Garden stopped by to introduce himself (after Cathy from Urban Connections suggested that he do so) and I encouraged him to thin our strawberry patch out for the benefit of their Garden.  He came back with his two young sons and did just that.   Neighbor Rose also came by to make sure I was wearing enough sun screen.

Meanwhile, I had already learned with the first bed that my cordless drill’s battery was insufficient to complete the project. So, I checked a drill out from Rebuilding Together, only to find that they have no cordless drills!!!! Frank and Cathy loaned me their cordless drills. We burned through my drill and Frank’s drill and, shockingly enough, Cathy’s 24-V drill lasted the rest of the afternoon. She stopped by, briefed me about the block watch meeting and helped me finish the third bed and put it into its correct place. I whined so much, she agreed to come help me out on Saturday mornings.  (I won't hold you to that promise made under emotional duress:)   Ms. Anthony also stopped by to say hello as well. Then, some neighborhood girls stopped by to see our project progress. Then, Miss Gladys stopped by after church to see and select her new bed and pose for pictures. She was so excited, she wants to plant at least one of everything.   That made everything worth it for me.

Shortly after Cathy left, James came to do some gardening. Boy, did I love his shuffle hoe. When he saw me lifting the soil bags, he immediately stepped in and insisted on doing that for me. We then filled the second bed and the neighbor plots (along the alley) when Margaret Ann from Four Seasons City Farm stopped by with our grant check. (City Farm is our fiscal agent). I showed her around. She loved the new beds and our new sign. She couldn’t believe we had accomplished so much in so little time.   What a positive life force she is.

I should mention that James is quite a character.  He is one of our new gardeners.  He lives on Berekely.  In addition to growing something on every inch of his lot (like chard in the median), he also mows the grass of the abandonned house next door with his reel mower.  He reads Mother Jones and has been doing some creative gardening in his SACG plot.

Anyway, by this point, I had lost the ability to think or communicate with anything other than a grunt. Even though the beds had not been filled or donated soil completely distributed, I headed home and collapsed into an incoherent puddle just in time to see the Derby.  I then ordered a pizza and ate the whole thing as I walked home. Craziness. I woke up this morning with every muscle in my body aching and aching. I’m too old for this.

I had been concerned that the middle was not strong enough to support the weight of wet soil, so this afternoon, I cut down and installed braces and then filled 2-1/2 beds. Rayna helped distribute more soil in the neighbor plots along the alley and I began planting in them (with lots of help from the neighborhood girls). The beds have become the new gathering place for the girls because the benches allow them all to sit and chat among themselves. Rayna just loved it. They wanted to break down all of the large clumps of soil and giggled when I poured in bags of manure.   Truth is, they want me to build tiny versions of these beds for them.  Fat chance, girls:) Then, the kids just hovered over the blueberry bushes and strawberry patch predicting when the berries would be ripe enough to eat. 

For those of you who want to seek similar grant funding and build your own grandparent beds, the lumber cost around $200 and the 30 bags of soil $50. 

The next phase is to build regular raised beds (with cedar donated by Trudeau Fence Company) for our youth gardening program near the grandmother raised beds. Gotta love intergenerational gardening.

For those of you who are interested, all three of the grandmother beds may be spoken for, but one of the ladies has not turned in a signed agreement yet.  (Miss Gladys had her grandsons satisfy her working hour requirement by spreading wood chips a couple of weeks ago and signed her agreement the instant she saw her new bed).  If you want  one of the beds, let me know.

We also have four regular plots available to any hardworking and serious gardeners who will come next Saturday to help me build regular raised beds for the kids and a new compost bin.  We really need another gardener with a truck or SUV:)   Many hands make light work.

Thanks again to the City of Columbus, Franklin County, the Columbus Foundation, Lowe's Home Improvement, Scotts Miracle-Gro, Home Depot (for the fence) and our wonderful volunteers, gardeners and neighbors for making the grandmother beds possible.

Now, I will let Rachmaninoff play me off to sleep . . . . . 

Hot Day in the FPC Corral: City-County Community Garden Grant Awards Cause Fainting

Yesterday was an exciting day for the Stoddart Avenue Community Garden. First, Bexley electrician Mitch Stewart fixed the grouchy Garden Manager’s 25-year old air-conditioner in less than ten minutes – a new personal record – and a godsend on a day that reached 90 degrees. (Thanks Mitch!) Then, over 100 bags of mulch, top soil, garden soil, and hummus donated to the SACG by Scotts Miracle-Gro was delivered by Justin and Juan (as promised by CEO John and scheduled by Jimmy) from CleanTurn International LLC. Picking up, transporting, unloading and stacking all of those bags would have been very difficult for the SACG team on the tight schedule provided by FPC (i.e., only Thursday afternoon or Saturday morning), so we are extremely appreciative that CleanTurn volunteered to pick up and deliver the Scotts Miracle-Gro donation for any community garden that asked. We are also appreciative of the fact that FPC permitted CleanTurn to start their deliveries in the morning because there were so many gardens who received similar donations. (In fact, my orange-clad Juan and Justin CleanTurn team had been working since 8 a.m. and had been to the American Addition community garden off Joyce Avenue before coming to the SACG). As hot as it was when Justin and Juan arrived at 11:40, I’m sure it was much hotter later in the afternoon when the rest of the gardens received their materials. We were also blessed that new guy, Frances, was strolling around Build the Bridge of Ohio next door and jumped in to help Justin and Juan unload the truck.

As a personal observation, that Justin is one strong dude. On Monday, I had built a 4x6 platform raised garden bed out of cedar. However, it was still upside down and I did not have the strength to turn it over without damaging it so that I could finish the last side and add the bench seats. Barb and Cathy both stopped by the SACG on Wednesday and offered to help me, but I didn’t think we could do it even together. I figured the CleanTurn guys would be strong enough and suggested to Justin that this garden damsel in distress needed some help. Instead of waiting for Juan to come back with the truck, Justin pretty much lifted the entire bed with one arm, twirled it over his head and then set it down on all four legs facing the correct direction. Ok. I’m exaggerating a bit. But he flipped it all by himself without breaking it. I have been reduced to an all new level of puniness.

Then, it was off to beautiful Franklin Park Conservatory for the award ceremony of the community garden grants collectively awarded by the City of Columbus, Franklin County, 5/3 Bank, the Columbus Foundation and Franklin Park Conservatory. There were approximately 200 community gardeners and other officials (like Dr. Teresa Long, Ms. Seckler, etc.). According to the official press release, there were 76 applicants (all of whom generously received requested product from Scotts Miracle-Gro) and 43 of the applicants received funding.   I walked in with some teachers from Lincoln Park Elementary School who had received a grant to upgrade their school garden. There were a lot of other school teachers there, too, from Whetstone and folks from Otterbein College and Southside Settlement. There was a long line to check in (because, if you did not arrange for CleanTurn to deliver your product, you received your donated Scotts Miracle-Gro materials in the order you checked in).  It quickly became apparent that this would be a hot and sunny day, so I put on my garden hat to hide the fact I was melting into a very bad hair day. Peggy was graciously shuttling between the refreshment line and the check-in line to make sure we were all hydrated. (Thanks Peggy!). Bill Dawson was also on hand to personally greet every garden leader and ask detailed questions to show-off his memory of all things personal.

The SACG received a grant to build platform raised garden beds, start a fruit orchard, support the Block Watch garden across the street and replenish our neighbor plots. I’ve attached a picture of the very pretty Certificate of Honor and Recognition for the SACG signed by Columbus Mayor Coleman and City Council President Ginther. Of course, all of the gardens in attendance received one. I ran into the Growing Hearts and Hands Community Garden leaders en masse (i.e., Pepper, KT and Richard) and heard about all of the different groups and organizations that send them volunteers to help with their program. The Rebuilding Together Tool Library team also has an impressive produce garden in front of their warehouse and was in attendance (having shut down for the afternoon to pick up their donated materials). I also picked up a snazzy water bottle from the Columbus Health Department and an apron and useful fan from 5/3 Bank.

Speaking of 5/3 Bank, they had dozens and dozens of volunteers on hand to handle check-in and keep things moving. The ceremony was scheduled for May 3 because it was, after all, 5/3 Day.

Then, there was a very formal ceremony. The podium was in the hot sun and there were small tents for the VIPs (in suits and ties). The rest of us (in much more casual and comfortable clothing) struggled with finding a shady spot that was close enough to the podium to hear the speakers.  I stayed close to the Epworth Methodist gardening goddess.   The 5/3 volunteers were clearly not used to working in such heat and stayed up front and close to the podium while we hardened gardeners flocked to the back (and the shade). FPC’s Bruce kicked things off. He announced that the American Public Garden Association conference would be in Columbus in June and explained that the American Community Garden Association had relocated its headquarters to FPC because of the wide community support for community gardens in Central Ohio.

Franklin County Commissioner John O’Grady credited the public-private partnerships in Central Ohio for making the grant awards possible for so many local community gardens. He was particularly excited about the partnerships which include UWCO, Franklinton Community Garden and others for making fresh produce available in local food deserts. He said “good things grow together.” Catchy.

City Councilperson Priscilla Tyson then spoke. I have to admit that I could not hear much of what she said. She talked about the beginnings of the community garden grant program and began thanking supporters by name. There were some people in the back (and I knew each and every one of them) who were conversing loudly because they assumed that if they could not hear from back there, they wouldn’t be disturbing anyone. Of course, that wasn’t true and those of us ten feet closer to the action had to shush them. Really people. However, the real excitement of the afternoon came when one of the 5/3 volunteers – bless her heart – fainted soon after Mrs. Tyson stood up. She was quickly helped to her feet, but I had to practically pull her back into the shade b/c she didn’t want to be any trouble. (People suffering from heat stroke cannot be expected to exercise good judgment). Other 5/3 volunteers found a shady place for her to sit, formed a fan brigade around her to create a cool breeze and others brought her water to drink. Not to be outdone, Peggy found really cold water for her. After the ceremony ended, Dr. Long sauntered back to check on her, too. I bet she never forgets this 5/3 day:)

There were some boys who looked like the Jonas Brothers talking about their garden. Then, Bill Dawson closed the ceremony by making all of us come up for a giant group picture and the gardening O-H cheer: O-H-I-Grow. He also explained how the distribution of the materials would work for those organizations that did not arrange for CleanTurn to deliver their donations. There was some grumbling from some of the gardens about not knowing about CleanTurn’s offer (to which I explained that they should have attended the GCGC meeting at the Columbus Foundation explaining the process and CleanTurn’s offer and then told them when and where the next GCGC meeting would be). There were a lot of organizations who were then going to have to spend that hot afternoon loading and unloading heavy bags. They were very lucky to have lots of 5/3 volunteers on hand to help them because the groups picking up their materials on Saturday were not going to have any help. I, on the other hand, sauntered back to my car and my air-conditioned house to prepare for the next phase of the day.

I picked up additional supplies at Lowe’s and then returned to the SACG to finish the first platform raised bed (built entirely with seriously expensive cedar lumber that was donated by Lowe’s Home Improvement Store on East Broad Street). Gardener Mike had cut notches into two of the boards to make room for the legs. Two neighbor girls stopped by while I was applying glue around the joints, stapling garden fabric in as a lining (with a stapler borrowed for free from Rebuilding Together) and then emptying five bags of top soil into it to stabilize it. (Did you know that the Scotts top soil also has peat in it? No wonder it’s more expensive than generic). Again, I am so puny. A second grader can carry and empty a bag of top soil all by herself and even I find that to be an effort. Oh well.

On Saturday morning, we will be building two more of these raised platform beds: One with cedar lumber donated again by Lowe’s and one with lumber purchased with our new grant and all filled with donated Scotts Miracle-Grow products.   We will also be building some regular raised beds for the kids in our fledgling 4-H program and maybe a compost bin (built with cedar lumber donated by Trudeau Fence Company in Hilliard).   We could always use more volunteers to help make these projects go faster:) The work is not that difficult, as evidenced by the fact that I could do it by myself with the help of a second-grader and kindergartener.  But many hands make light work.

Hot Day in the FPC Corral: City-County Community Garden Grant Awards Cause Fainting

Yesterday was an exciting day for the Stoddart Avenue Community Garden. First, Bexley electrician Mitch Stewart fixed the grouchy Garden Manager’s 25-year old air-conditioner in less than ten minutes – a new personal record – and a godsend on a day that reached 90 degrees. (Thanks Mitch!) Then, over 100 bags of mulch, top soil, garden soil, and hummus donated to the SACG by Scotts Miracle-Gro was delivered by Justin and Juan (as promised by CEO John and scheduled by Jimmy) from CleanTurn International LLC. Picking up, transporting, unloading and stacking all of those bags would have been very difficult for the SACG team on the tight schedule provided by FPC (i.e., only Thursday afternoon or Saturday morning), so we are extremely appreciative that CleanTurn volunteered to pick up and deliver the Scotts Miracle-Gro donation for any community garden that asked. We are also appreciative of the fact that FPC permitted CleanTurn to start their deliveries in the morning because there were so many gardens who received similar donations. (In fact, my orange-clad Juan and Justin CleanTurn team had been working since 8 a.m. and had been to the American Addition community garden off Joyce Avenue before coming to the SACG). As hot as it was when Justin and Juan arrived at 11:40, I’m sure it was much hotter later in the afternoon when the rest of the gardens received their materials. We were also blessed that new guy, Frances, was strolling around Build the Bridge of Ohio next door and jumped in to help Justin and Juan unload the truck.

As a personal observation, that Justin is one strong dude. On Monday, I had built a 4x6 platform raised garden bed out of cedar. However, it was still upside down and I did not have the strength to turn it over without damaging it so that I could finish the last side and add the bench seats. Barb and Cathy both stopped by the SACG on Wednesday and offered to help me, but I didn’t think we could do it even together. I figured the CleanTurn guys would be strong enough and suggested to Justin that this garden damsel in distress needed some help. Instead of waiting for Juan to come back with the truck, Justin pretty much lifted the entire bed with one arm, twirled it over his head and then set it down on all four legs facing the correct direction. Ok. I’m exaggerating a bit. But he flipped it all by himself without breaking it. I have been reduced to an all new level of puniness.

Then, it was off to beautiful Franklin Park Conservatory for the award ceremony of the community garden grants collectively awarded by the City of Columbus, Franklin County, 5/3 Bank, the Columbus Foundation and Franklin Park Conservatory. There were approximately 200 community gardeners and other officials (like Dr. Teresa Long, Ms. Seckler, etc.). According to the official press release, there were 76 applicants (all of whom generously received requested product from Scotts Miracle-Gro) and 43 of the applicants received funding.   I walked in with some teachers from Lincoln Park Elementary School who had received a grant to upgrade their school garden. There were a lot of other school teachers there, too, from Whetstone and folks from Otterbein College and Southside Settlement. There was a long line to check in (because, if you did not arrange for CleanTurn to deliver your product, you received your donated Scotts Miracle-Gro materials in the order you checked in).  It quickly became apparent that this would be a hot and sunny day, so I put on my garden hat to hide the fact I was melting into a very bad hair day. Peggy was graciously shuttling between the refreshment line and the check-in line to make sure we were all hydrated. (Thanks Peggy!). Bill Dawson was also on hand to personally greet every garden leader and ask detailed questions to show-off his memory of all things personal.

The SACG received a grant to build platform raised garden beds, start a fruit orchard, support the Block Watch garden across the street and replenish our neighbor plots. I’ve attached a picture of the very pretty Certificate of Honor and Recognition for the SACG signed by Columbus Mayor Coleman and City Council President Ginther. Of course, all of the gardens in attendance received one. I ran into the Growing Hearts and Hands Community Garden leaders en masse (i.e., Pepper, KT and Richard) and heard about all of the different groups and organizations that send them volunteers to help with their program. The Rebuilding Together Tool Library team also has an impressive produce garden in front of their warehouse and was in attendance (having shut down for the afternoon to pick up their donated materials). I also picked up a snazzy water bottle from the Columbus Health Department and an apron and useful fan from 5/3 Bank.

Speaking of 5/3 Bank, they had dozens and dozens of volunteers on hand to handle check-in and keep things moving. The ceremony was scheduled for May 3 because it was, after all, 5/3 Day.

Then, there was a very formal ceremony. The podium was in the hot sun and there were small tents for the VIPs (in suits and ties). The rest of us (in much more casual and comfortable clothing) struggled with finding a shady spot that was close enough to the podium to hear the speakers.  I stayed close to the Epworth Methodist gardening goddess.   The 5/3 volunteers were clearly not used to working in such heat and stayed up front and close to the podium while we hardened gardeners flocked to the back (and the shade). FPC’s Bruce kicked things off. He announced that the American Public Garden Association conference would be in Columbus in June and explained that the American Community Garden Association had relocated its headquarters to FPC because of the wide community support for community gardens in Central Ohio.

Franklin County Commissioner John O’Grady credited the public-private partnerships in Central Ohio for making the grant awards possible for so many local community gardens. He was particularly excited about the partnerships which include UWCO, Franklinton Community Garden and others for making fresh produce available in local food deserts. He said “good things grow together.” Catchy.

City Councilperson Priscilla Tyson then spoke. I have to admit that I could not hear much of what she said. She talked about the beginnings of the community garden grant program and began thanking supporters by name. There were some people in the back (and I knew each and every one of them) who were conversing loudly because they assumed that if they could not hear from back there, they wouldn’t be disturbing anyone. Of course, that wasn’t true and those of us ten feet closer to the action had to shush them. Really people. However, the real excitement of the afternoon came when one of the 5/3 volunteers – bless her heart – fainted soon after Mrs. Tyson stood up. She was quickly helped to her feet, but I had to practically pull her back into the shade b/c she didn’t want to be any trouble. (People suffering from heat stroke cannot be expected to exercise good judgment). Other 5/3 volunteers found a shady place for her to sit, formed a fan brigade around her to create a cool breeze and others brought her water to drink. Not to be outdone, Peggy found really cold water for her. After the ceremony ended, Dr. Long sauntered back to check on her, too. I bet she never forgets this 5/3 day:)

There were some boys who looked like the Jonas Brothers talking about their garden. Then, Bill Dawson closed the ceremony by making all of us come up for a giant group picture and the gardening O-H cheer: O-H-I-Grow. He also explained how the distribution of the materials would work for those organizations that did not arrange for CleanTurn to deliver their donations. There was some grumbling from some of the gardens about not knowing about CleanTurn’s offer (to which I explained that they should have attended the GCGC meeting at the Columbus Foundation explaining the process and CleanTurn’s offer and then told them when and where the next GCGC meeting would be). There were a lot of organizations who were then going to have to spend that hot afternoon loading and unloading heavy bags. They were very lucky to have lots of 5/3 volunteers on hand to help them because the groups picking up their materials on Saturday were not going to have any help. I, on the other hand, sauntered back to my car and my air-conditioned house to prepare for the next phase of the day.

I picked up additional supplies at Lowe’s and then returned to the SACG to finish the first platform raised bed (built entirely with seriously expensive cedar lumber that was donated by Lowe’s Home Improvement Store on East Broad Street). Gardener Mike had cut notches into two of the boards to make room for the legs. Two neighbor girls stopped by while I was applying glue around the joints, stapling garden fabric in as a lining (with a stapler borrowed for free from Rebuilding Together) and then emptying five bags of top soil into it to stabilize it. (Did you know that the Scotts top soil also has peat in it? No wonder it’s more expensive than generic). Again, I am so puny. A second grader can carry and empty a bag of top soil all by herself and even I find that to be an effort. Oh well.

On Saturday morning, we will be building two more of these raised platform beds: One with cedar lumber donated again by Lowe’s and one with lumber purchased with our new grant and all filled with donated Scotts Miracle-Grow products.   We will also be building some regular raised beds for the kids in our fledgling 4-H program and maybe a compost bin (built with cedar lumber donated by Trudeau Fence Company in Hilliard).   We could always use more volunteers to help make these projects go faster:) The work is not that difficult, as evidenced by the fact that I could do it by myself with the help of a second-grader and kindergartener.  But many hands make light work.

BTBO Raised Bed Project Makes Great Progress on Blustery Weekend

On a chilly and blustery day in Columbus, several volunteers from Build The Bridge of Ohio joined me to build raised vegetable garden beds at homes operated by BTBO to help ex-offenders reacclimate to society. Although we got off to a rocky start, we eventually completed four of the seven raised beds yesterday before 3pm. Randy had helped me on a sunny day 10 days ago scout locations for the beds.

Charles and I worked on constructing the frames (made from cedar wood). For the 6x4 beds the SACG built behind the BTBO offices last month, we used one-inch cedar boards (which can be pretty expensive). Including the cost of the 20 bags of top soil, those beds ran about $60/each. However, for these beds, we used much less expensive cedar fence boards (which are only 3/4 inch thick) and only cost about $2.50/each at Sutherlands (compared to $18 for similar one-inch cedar boards). They also only needed about 10 bags of top soil (and then we filled the beds to the top with bulk compost purchased from Kurtz Brother for $18 per pickup truck load). This adjustment in the lumber cut the cost of the beds in half and only reduced the size by a few inches. Granted, the thinner beds won't last as long, but the cost savings was worth it under the circumstances.

To join the sides, we cut down cedar 2x4 boards donated last year by Trudeau Fencing and Bowden fencing. We put these 6 inch cedar 2x4s at each corner and screwed the fence boards to them. We also sometimes used metal L-braces to reinforce the corners.

Next, I put down a thick layer of newspapers (with some help from Ms. Anthony and collected by Betty) in order to keep the existing grass from growing up through the soil and compost. Then, Orlando, Veronica and/or Scott, helped spread the top soil and compost into the bed and Charles spread wood chips around the outside of the beds to keep down the future weeds. Finally, I planted some seeds (beans, lettuce, spinach, mustard greens, zucchini, squash, & cucumbers) and Scott watered them in. Next week, we'll also plant some seedlings (which was too dangerous this weekend with the low night-time temperatures and frost warnings).

I was concerned about the available sunlight the beds would receive. At one location, Orlando climbed up into the trees to cut down some branches that might block sun from the western sky. Orlando has the gift of finding humor in any situation -- like when two neighboring, quiet and obedient pit bull dogs stopped by to check us out -- and this became one of the funniest parts of our adventure. For instance, there was some discussion about whether his saw was a hack saw or a buck saw, but we ultimately decided it was his saw and he could call it whatever he liked.

Four down; three to go.

BTBO is a faith-based, prison re-entry, non-profit organization which provides housing, employment and life skills services to ex-offenders being released from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections (DRC) and placed on parole or post-release control (PRC). BTBO’s services assist ex-offenders to find housing, improve life and conflict resolution skills, obtain employment and establish credit so that they can transition from prison into productive and taxpaying members of society and not return to homelessness or their criminal past. BTBO also provides its clients with clothing, food baskets, referrals for food stamps, Bible classes, mentors, and referrals to other social services and agencies (like health care, mental health counseling, literacy assistance, etc.). None of BTBO’s housing services are offered near the SACG, but BTBO provides employment training, job referral services and life skills training at its Main Street office. All BTBO clients are required to remain drug-free as a condition of its program.

Funding for the raised bed project came from the grant we received from the Scotts Miracle-Gro Fund at the Columbus Foundation.

BTBO Raised Bed Project Makes Great Progress on Blustery Weekend

On a chilly and blustery day in Columbus, several volunteers from Build The Bridge of Ohio joined me to build raised vegetable garden beds at homes operated by BTBO to help ex-offenders reacclimate to society. Although we got off to a rocky start, we eventually completed four of the seven raised beds yesterday before 3pm. Randy had helped me on a sunny day 10 days ago scout locations for the beds.

Charles and I worked on constructing the frames (made from cedar wood). For the 6x4 beds the SACG built behind the BTBO offices last month, we used one-inch cedar boards (which can be pretty expensive). Including the cost of the 20 bags of top soil, those beds ran about $60/each. However, for these beds, we used much less expensive cedar fence boards (which are only 3/4 inch thick) and only cost about $2.50/each at Sutherlands (compared to $18 for similar one-inch cedar boards). They also only needed about 10 bags of top soil (and then we filled the beds to the top with bulk compost purchased from Kurtz Brother for $18 per pickup truck load). This adjustment in the lumber cut the cost of the beds in half and only reduced the size by a few inches. Granted, the thinner beds won't last as long, but the cost savings was worth it under the circumstances.

To join the sides, we cut down cedar 2x4 boards donated last year by Trudeau Fencing and Bowden fencing. We put these 6 inch cedar 2x4s at each corner and screwed the fence boards to them. We also sometimes used metal L-braces to reinforce the corners.

Next, I put down a thick layer of newspapers (with some help from Ms. Anthony and collected by Betty) in order to keep the existing grass from growing up through the soil and compost. Then, Orlando, Veronica and/or Scott, helped spread the top soil and compost into the bed and Charles spread wood chips around the outside of the beds to keep down the future weeds. Finally, I planted some seeds (beans, lettuce, spinach, mustard greens, zucchini, squash, & cucumbers) and Scott watered them in. Next week, we'll also plant some seedlings (which was too dangerous this weekend with the low night-time temperatures and frost warnings).

I was concerned about the available sunlight the beds would receive. At one location, Orlando climbed up into the trees to cut down some branches that might block sun from the western sky. Orlando has the gift of finding humor in any situation -- like when two neighboring, quiet and obedient pit bull dogs stopped by to check us out -- and this became one of the funniest parts of our adventure. For instance, there was some discussion about whether his saw was a hack saw or a buck saw, but we ultimately decided it was his saw and he could call it whatever he liked.

Four down; three to go.

BTBO is a faith-based, prison re-entry, non-profit organization which provides housing, employment and life skills services to ex-offenders being released from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections (DRC) and placed on parole or post-release control (PRC). BTBO’s services assist ex-offenders to find housing, improve life and conflict resolution skills, obtain employment and establish credit so that they can transition from prison into productive and taxpaying members of society and not return to homelessness or their criminal past. BTBO also provides its clients with clothing, food baskets, referrals for food stamps, Bible classes, mentors, and referrals to other social services and agencies (like health care, mental health counseling, literacy assistance, etc.). None of BTBO’s housing services are offered near the SACG, but BTBO provides employment training, job referral services and life skills training at its Main Street office. All BTBO clients are required to remain drug-free as a condition of its program.

Funding for the raised bed project came from the grant we received from the Scotts Miracle-Gro Fund at the Columbus Foundation.