Last work days of the semester!

Come to the UA Community Garden (1400 E. Mabel St) for the final two work days of the semester!

1) On Thursday 12/8/11, "Dead Day" for the university, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. we will be working on digging shallow trenches in preparation for irrigation, sifting compost and adding it to the garden beds, and possibly doing more path tamping. Take a break from studying and let off steam by doing some good garden work!

2) On Thursday 12/15/11, we will be doing an irrigation-focused work day, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. At 10 a.m. we will be beginning our work day with an "Irrigation Installation"workshop to go over how to install and maintain a drip irrigation system, and afterwards we will be installing the irrigation for all the garden beds.

Both workdays will conclude with a fun POTLUCK as usual, so bring some food to share if you wish.

We'll see you there!

November 19th Work Day

Greetings!

On the 19th of November we had our first Fall work day at the UA Community Garden. This may seem a bit late in the game, but we spent all semester setting up the management system and contracting someone to get the beds dug and backfilled and the mainlines of the irrigation installed. This means, yes, the beds are dug and the mainlines of irrigation are installed. We also got a beautiful turquoise shed built in which to store our tools (go check it out, it's lovely and hard to miss).

Anyways, this all means our work days are going to involve tamping pathways, dressing beds with compost from the UA Compost Cats, installing the drip tape and laterals of the irrigation, and building pallet compost bins. We'll be open for the public in the spring of 2012! Get excited. Because we are.

Back to the work day, we had a great turnout of folks and we really got a lot done! The dirt (and I call it dirt because it is terrible soil) that was dug out of the beds is really chunky with caliche, so we have to sift it before we use it to tamp down the paths.

Our giant pile of unsifted dirt we had to wheel to the garden area.

Nothing our fancy sifter couldn't handle.

We also had a big pile of soil (and I say soil because it is what was used to fill the beds, and is a mix of compost, sand, and soil) left over from the construction of the garden that was done by machinery. We used it to backfill some of the beds that were looking a little low.

I guess we forgot to take a "before" picture, but if you imagine a big pile where all that dark soil is, that's what we managed to move in a couple of hours. Three wheelbarrows and a group of motivated individuals will really get you a ways.

Anyways, there was a lot of tamping, shoveling, and wheelbarrow-ing, on top of some general merry making. I like to think most people that were present had a good time. They all did stay until noon, but I understand that could have been because of the promise of good food.

If there's one thing we're good at, it's feeding people that help us.

The UACG is really coming together! We're having another work day this Saturday, December 3rd, from 9 am to 1 pm. Come join us for more path building, back filling, and (hopefully) compost bin building. There will also be foooood! And you really shouldn't miss the development of the garden; it's pretty exciting to see.

Nowadays it even looks like a garden!


And gardens need to have people in them!

So come and join us sometime soon! If not this Saturday, then at least when we open in the spring. Go to our website (www.uasfs.com, under the Garden in the Desert tab) to fill out an interest form for a plot, to sign up for our list serv, and to check our calendar of events! And feel free to email us at sfsgitd@gmail.com with any questions.

Happy gardening, folks!

Sofia

Our Community Garden

Known as UA Community Garden, our plot at Highland and Mabel just north of the Highland Garage on the UA campus is no longer a vast lot of bare soil. Last week, we had our Meet&Greet where community members exchanged ideas and shared a delicious meal, and the excitement was building up waiting for the garden and imagining all the possibilities. The space is now showing signs of garden beds and community, and at the conclusion of a 6 hour work day we had successfully filled 8 beds with native soil (after sifting it), earthy compost from Tanque Verde Farms, and beautiful aged manure from Campo Urbano (in approximately a 3:2:1 ratio). 15 of our 18' x 3' community plots were excavated yesterday and we were given the task of filling them to create sunken beds. We are planning to dig and fill 47 beds (community and production) in our garden, but it will be a gradual process. It was wonderful for us all to share in the labor and work together in making our first mark upon this land that we are fortunate enough to use and will be able to transform into a beautiful community space where people can learn and connect and create and experiment and grow and grow food.

*We will post again here when another community work day is happening, so check back! Also, if you have given into the epidemic of facebook, look for us there (as Garden in the Desert) for events and pictures!*

pictures (top to bottom): 1. the excavated beds 2. pouring compost 3. hardworking sifters 4. more sifting! 5. GITD about to fall asleep in an unfilled plot at the end of a long day :)

UACG Groundbreaking!

Fellow gardeners and community members! The time has finally arrived for our UA Community Garden Groundbreaking event. Please join us on Saturday, April 23, any time from 9 am to 3 pm and get your hands dirty building the community garden we have all been looking forward to.

We’re going to be sifting soil and mixing compost into the legion of gardening beds that will be available for community use. This will require a lot of hard work from a lot of people, so we could really use all the help we can get. Invite friends and spread the word for the start of this exciting new community resource. There will be plenty of water and some food provided, but make sure you bring your own water bottle, sun-friendly clothes, and work gloves (if you have them).

Hope to see you there!

The Garden in the Desert Team

UACG Meet & Greet!

Tucson Gardeners,

Garden in the Desert, a student team affiliated with Students for Sustainability and ASUA, is proud to present theUA Community Garden. This garden will produce food grown by students, for students.

Not only will you be able to grow you own food at this garden, you'll be able to buy food that we grow organically. Local, organic food food grown on campus!

We invite you to join us for our Meet and Greet Social on Saturday, April 16. The event will be held at the future garden location where you can provide your input and share your vision for the up and coming project. Delicious food will be provided so bring a plate to join in the feast. Please bring a plate, cup and silverware (we'll have extras if needed.)

Where: SE corner of Mabel and Highland: Map

When: Saturday, April 16, 4pm

What: An opportunity to share your ideas about the new garden

Facebook Event

Hope to see you all there!