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!

Arizona Daily Wildcat Article

"We aren't really a committee anymore, we're a community," Caleb Weaver

Check out the article in the Daily Wildcat about our garden.http://wildcat.arizona.edu/news/garden-grows-community-1.1855451

Garden work-weekend - preparation for the winter

Preparing for the Winter

The weekend of December 4^th and 5^th, 2010 we had one of our biggest garden work days at One Tree Garden, comparable to our first garden work day a little more than a year ago. Team members, Student for Sustainability members, friends, grad students, etc… all came out to help prepare One Tree Garden for the winter.

 

We had two full days of digging as we worked compost into our sunken beds, stabilized the western sunken beds, removed our hay bale raised bed, dug out and created waffle beds on the east side (a Zuni pueblo desert gardening technique), and harvested arugula, amaranth, and basil. All the soil that we removed was used to make passive rainwater harvesting berms surrounding the Udall Center.

The berms are a step forward in creating the Sonoran vegetation area up front. The berms will also help minimize the severe erosion that happens on the steep slope on the west side of the Udall Center and reduce the amount of flooding that happens on Euclid Ave. during heavy rains.

Although we will miss our hay bale bed we decided that after experimenting with a raised bed it is not the preferable technique in the Sonoron desert, we found that the bed dried out much quicker than the sunken beds and therefore required more water. After a year the hay bales were also starting to break down and didn’t look too good.

For this winter break, since most of the team members were not around, we decided to leave the garden fallow and let the soil sleep under a warm blanket of hay. We added compost, donated from Civano Nursery, to all of the beds so that they’ll be ready for planting when we return. The beds were covered in with hay from the old raised bed to retain moisture and keep weeds from growing.

 

I was silly in fearing that we would not finish in time to tidy up the garden and remove the piles of soil from the sidewalk before the Udall Center staff walked in Monday morning. Everyone worked so hard that we finished with no worries (because we are amazing!). I do admit though that I was sore afterward…for a week.

Looks like everyone enjoyed themselves, and there were even some visitors interested in our garden. It was a great weekend!

And now…

our One Tree Garden sleeps….

-andré luiz

Super Garden Volunteer Weekend!

We're having a big work weekend getting One Tree Garden ready for planting next semester! Saturday and Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm we'll be working, but if you can only show up for a few hours each day, that'd be fine. We'd love your help and there's plenty to do, so please stop by!

Wear comfortable clothes to work in and a water bottle, and we'll be sure to feed you for lunch :)

Thanks, you marvelous person, you!

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Date: Sat Dec 4 - Sun Dec 5

Time: 10 am - 5 pm

Place: One Tree Garden at the Udall Center (Euclid Ave and First St)