2010 Spring Clean-Up

On April 17th, Unity Urban Garden officially opened for the season in conjunction with the Baltimore City Mayor's Spring Clean Up. 10 Volunteers and community members joined in to plant a variety of plant's donated by Shari's co-worker (see previous posting for list). The plethora of hostas donated beautifully finish the border area on Schley Ave. We proudly affixed our sign from University of Maryland Cooperative Extension, officially recognizing UUG as a Master Gardener site. Thanks to Shari' and Shelowann for completing the Master Gardener program and continuing to use their knowledge and resources to grow the garden. We had a productive day of weeding (yea!), mulching and planting. One of our new young volunteers, along with her mom w harvested some chives and mint planted last season. During the next few garden days we look forward to planting new crops, erecting official UUG signs, rain barrels and completing the fence on Schley. Thanks to all the volunteers who came out on the 17th!

Japanese Maple Seedlings

The Process of Installing Rain Barrels

We thought it would be interesting to chronicle the process of installing about 3-4 rain barrels at Unity Urban Community Garden. Donna, a neighbor that lives directly adjacent to the garden has agreed to allow us to use a part of her property to gather rain, which is at the back of her yard where her garage is. Right now we're trying to create the best way get the rain into the rain barrels. This means we'll have to build some sort of attachment to her existing gutter that will lead to the rain barrels. First though, we had to clean Donna's gutter and reshape a pretty beaten up gutter as you'll see below. Here are a few pics and be on the lookout for more as we continue this process.

Just a Few of Our Herb Seedlings

Echinacea
Yarrow
Chamomile
Dwarf Calendula

A Change in Work Day

UUG has changed its regular work day on Wednesdays to Tuesdays, 6:30-8:30 pm. So work days are Tuesdays and Saturdays, 9 am-12 pm. Hope to see you!

Oh a Planting We Will Be!

Unity Urban Garden was donated boatloads of perennials by Shari's co-worker. Thanks bunches! Here's her dig and haul of the goods along with a short list:

Hostas
Lamb's ear
Day lillies
Some type of ornamental grasses
More day lillies
Liriope
Daffodils

HELP PREPARE UNITY URBAN GARDEN FOR THE GROWING SEASON!

Join in on the fun!

* mulch the grounds
* pick up general debris
* build compost sifter
* plant perennials
* plant flower seedlings
* and much more!

WHERE: The corner of Southern and Schley Avenues (4001 Southern Ave.) Baltimore, 21206

WHEN: Saturday, April 17, 2010 from 9-1 p.m.
Rain date: Sunday April 18, 2010

Please wear sturdy shoes and bring gloves.
For more information call: 443-220-3053 or 410-485-3037
Email: unityurbangarden@gmail.com

Parks & People Foundation Donation of Bench

We're grateful. It's a beautiful bench.

Spring at Unity

Greetings!

The organizers of Unity Urban Garden, Essence, Shari' and Shel had a meeting not too long ago and discussed goals and plans for the upcoming Spring Equinox season and the months to come. We are in the midst of starting herbs and veggies from seed. We planted a few berry plants last season so it will be nice to see them grow this year.

This year our goals are to create a permanent sign, post the beautiful sign we received from the Maryland Cooperative Extension of College Park with the Master Gardener's Association of Baltimore, finish installing our fence, install a much needed shed, attend free seed giveaways, test/amend the soil, install rain barrels, find out which grants we can apply for and budget the rest of the money that UUG was gifted from previous grants.

Since UUG is a garden that was created with partnerships with the community at the forefront of our work we are always in dialogue about how to welcome and gain more volunteers from adults to children by creating projects or having them be a part of some existing projects we know we will be completing. We also decided that UUG will not be an exclusive organic garden as we rely heavily on donations and most donations in the form of plants and such are not organic. A possibility is to have a small section of the garden be completely organic in the future.

Last year we were very fortunate that the garden was not vandalized and only a few non-essential items were taken. This year I will be energetically cleansing the garden before we begin work in it, which I am excited about. As the garden grows the organizers are growing right along with it as we learn just how far we want to go with the garden as we also grow spiritually on a personal basis. UUG is a work in progress.

Here is a list of the herbs we will be starting from seed:

Basil, sage, thyme, lavender, oregano, chives, peppermint, goldenrod, calendula, lemon balm, yarrow, rosemary, echinacea and chamomile.

Check back for upcoming updates, pics and posts!

Peace,
Shelowann

Awwww Pics!

Better late than never!

Parks & People Annual Greening Celebration!

On October 21, 2009 Shari' and Essence represented Unity Urban Garden at the Parks & People Foundation's Annual Greening Celebration. The Garden was one of four gardens nominated for the 2009 Best neighborhood Greening Grant project award. The nominees where chosen from local gardens who were awarded a Parks and People Greening
Grant. This grant will allow Unity Urban Garden to create permanent signage, add a shaded seating area, rain barrels and native plants.

During the celebration Unity Urban Garden was also awarded a signature "open spaces" two person bench from the TKF Foundation and a "Certification of Special recognition" from U.S. Senator Benjamin L. Cardin. This was a lovely evening allowing Essence and Shari' to meet and exchange ideas with other community gardens. We also presented a poster presentation of the garden since its inception in April 2009 to the present.

Give thanks! :-)

Winner of the Bench!

*GRIN

Unity Urban Garden was the winner of the lovely wooden bench we discussed in an earlier post. It was found that our garden is the most open and the bench will allow more energy around the garden. This is great and we are very thankful to the
Parks & People Foundation! We will post a picture of the bench as soon as it is delivered. :-)

Updates!

There is much going on at Unity Urban Garden. We have currently entered a contest with several other community gardens in Baltimore for a beautiful wooden bench, which we need very much in our garden! We had to send in answers to three questions explaining what the bench will be used for, how the community will benefit, and where it will be located.

We are also preparing a few of the herb raised beds for cover cropping, which we received the seeds from a fee give-away here in Baltimore City. Our resident horticulturist and Shari', went to Herring Run's Plant Day to get more plants. We got four berry bushes including blueberry, a hyacinth tree, hydrangeas, and more understory/shade plants for the shade garden. What it looks like in the garden now is little seedlings planted in seemingly random areas but they were planted in the best places for optimum growth/support, and beautification.

A neighbor was giving away two very pretty plants (one is a holly and the other one we are not sure of just yet but it is pretty and we can cut it back if need be as it grows or until we find out what it is). So, we dug up these two plants and have replanted them in the garden.

We also had more leaf mold and wood chips delivered thanks to the city!

As you can see from the picture we have a bit of an aphid invasion and will be using soap wash on them. Companion planting will definitely be in place even more so in the future to cut down on those pesky critters!

If we win the bench we will let you know!

The mimosa seedling is still available!

As it gets colder we will be putting the garden to rest as best we can. We will allow Mother Nature to do what she does. The garden is looking great and we are excited for next spring as we will have more experience and be prepared for what may or may not come!