"Baby It's Cold Outside..."

Yes, per the calendar it's officially Spring,  but if you were anywhere near the Harvest of Hope (HOH) Community Garden (or NE Tennessee) today, you may be saying

  " Baby it's cold outside! "

... but it's warm in here !

Today at the HOH Comm. Garden.

Image below shows inside the covering

At our Garden Kickoff two weeks ago, gardeners planted broccoli, cabbage, onions, etc in raised beds.  This raised bed (see above two images) has a covering and boy what a difference planting inn raised beds and having a covering makes!

Check out how much this broccoli seedling has grown in two weeks.  The left image shows it about two weeks ago, at about 3 inches high.  The right image shows seedlings now at 5+ inches.  Wow!

March 9th

Today, March 24

 What "growing on" in the coming months at the Harvest of Hope Garden:

• New community gardeners will be adopting new beds & planting.
• Master Gardeners will be available to provide seeds/seedlings & assist gardeners Mondays, Wednesday and Saturdays: mornings and/or evenings (tentative & TBD)
• Plans to conserve resources by using recycled materials to make raised beds
• Continued community involvement & donations from industry to help this non-profit endeavor.
• Possibly more classes organized by Keep Kingsport Beautiful.

 Learn more about the Benefits of Community Gardening.

Happy Gardening :)

Link to gardening article

Here is an article from USA TODAY:

Farmscape gardens grow in urban areas

http://usat.ly/15X4lWS

Establishing a Community Garden Seminar

Oh, BTW...

.... Master Gardeners told me today that there will be an "Establishing a Community Garden" seminar at the Kingsport Library Thursday 3/21/03 noon to 1:00 PM

Keeping Kingsport Beautiful

"Green and Growing"

Lunchtime Gardening Seminars

Kingsport Public Library

Mead Auditorium

Free Admission

 Establishing a Community Garden will be conducted by Phil Ramey and Doug Hilton. Both Mr. Ramey and Mr. Hilton are master gardeners who have been instrumental in the development and continued success of the “Harvest of Hope Community Garden”.

Don't Miss It   :)

They've Done Gone Plum Crazy !!!

Last week we kicked off the planting season at Harvest of Hope (HOH) Community Garden with a class & planting of early Spring vegetables.

All I can say about today's workday at the HOH garden is:

 "Them Gardners Have Gone Plum Crazy !!!"  

Several of us shoveled, loaded, moved and raked the chat (gravel) surrounding the raised beds.  Seem like it just magically happens, but there's a lot of hard work (& sweat) that goes into getting the garden ready.  

It was a beautiful day to be outside and working in the garden.  Good company too :)

Happy Gardening!

Harvest of Hope Garden "Kickoff"

Today was the "Kickoff" for the Harvest of Hope Community Garden.

We had a great turnout for our gardening classes this past Saturday (March 9th)!  "Spring Fever is In the Air" and we are all excited about the promise of new growth, sunshine, and just having fun in the garden.  Thanks to Seavers Donuts for providing yummy donuts and thanks to Master Gardeners for putting on the classes and helping others in the garden.  And thanks to you all who provided pictures for the blog :)

Phil (right) explaining benefits of root vegetables.

The Raise Bed Gardening class at 10am covered the benefits & construction of a raised bed. 

The 1pm class covered the benefits of growing and consuming several root vegetables:  highlights on beets, radishes, parsnips, onions, carrots & broccoli.  Who knew there were so many health benefits to these veg’s.  

Above:  Broccoli seedlings and various seeds.

Master Gardener (MG) Earl demonstrating the planting of broccoli

White tubing provides structure for mesh covering (not shown) for greenhouse effect

 Demonstration of Radish & Beet Seeds Being Planted

After the classes many of us, who had adopted a raised bed, planted seeds & seedlings to support Harvest of Hope's mission:  Community members and groups grow fruits, vegetables, and flowers. Food grown by organizations is donated to local food pantries and kitchens.

MG RuthAnn plants in a bed that has been adopted for a local school

Here's are some recipes for some of the things we are planting!

• Recipe for Beet Salad
• Braised Radishes. 

As we count our blessings for sunshine, rain, and the earth (soil), off we go.  Happy Gardening!

Link to Feb 28th Times News Article

Click here to read the article that was published  in the Kingsport Times Newspaper on Feb 28th.