Homegrown in Ukiah was a success!

Thanks to all of you who came out and helped make "Homegrown in Ukiah: A Community Garden Tour" such a wonderful event!



Over 50 community members came out to see 5 community and school gardens. During the tour we ate delicious snacks made from garden produce, shared gardening challenges and tips, heard stories about the gardens, and visited with new and old friends.

We visited the gardens at Orchard Apartments, Head Start (on S. Orchard), Cleveland Lane, Washington, and Plowshares.

After touring the gardens everyone gathered at Bella Vida where we drank wine, ate more delectable treats, and grooved to the music of Mendo Zone.




Hope to see you next year at our 3rd annual Homegrown in Ukiah: A Community Garden Tour!

Homegrown in Ukiah: Community Garden Tour!

Join our gardeners for the 2nd Annual "Homegrown in Ukiah: Community Garden Tour!" This year's tour will feature five gardens: The Cleveland Lane Community Garden, The Washington Avenue Community Garden, The Orchard Head Start Garden, The Plowshares Peace and Justice Garden, and The Orchard Apartments Garden.

The tour will begin and end at the Garden at Bella Vida (formerly Tierra). Reserve a ticket today: call 462-1955 or contact The Gardens Project

Sunny and Successful Saturday at Orchard

Last Saturday turned out to be beautiful weather and beautiful company at Orchard garden. The garden welcomed three new members from the surrounding apartments who will be planting this spring and summer. The gardeners also worked on combating that dreadful Bermuda grass - a constant battle at Orchard. The Bermuda grass has made its way into the beds and have taken over the pathways. The gardeners have decided to combat the Bermuda grass by laying cardboard over the grass and will cover the cardboard with wood chips. Keep and eye out on the corner Ford and Sidnie to see some progress in the next couple of weeks!

Orchard Work Day!

Beat the winter blues with the gardeners at the Orchard Community garden in Ukiah. Get outside and enjoy the crisp winter morning by helping remove the dreaded Bermuda grass, mulching some paths, and helping gardeners build up their beds. Meet some new community members, enjoy company of other gardeners, and get outside! Work day is January 22nd, starting at 10:00 AM - 12:30 PM on the corner of Sidnie St. and Orchard Ave. at Orchard garden. Contact Kelly Burwell for more information and to RSVP, 462-2596 x 185

Natural Building in Community Gardens

I recently attended a week long Natural Building Intensive course at Emerald Earth in Boonville. In this course, we learned how to use basic materials such as wood, earth, rock, and straw to build beautiful, safe structures. The methods feel so intuitive, and the work is most often accomplished as a community. Using these techniques, you can build large homes and skyscrapers, but I'm to take what I learned and start small by constructing some structures and garden features in community gardens throughout Mendocino County. We are starting with a small cob greenhouse at the South Ukiah Head Start Preschool garden, a cob bench at the Cleveland Lane Community Garden, and counters and benches to surround the earth oven already constructed at Talmage State Preschool (there is also a cob greenhouse there!). In Willits, Mason has plans to also build a shed in the WISC garden, and in Ft. Bragg at the Learning Garden, Veronica Morales of the Noyo Food Forest plans to build an earth oven.


This is an example of a cob bench at Emerald Earth.

These structures will make the gardens even more functional, beautiful spaces for communities to gather. And the best part is, we're going to build them together, strengthening partnerships with different organization, such as the Solar Living Institute and Head Start Preschools, and building community so that we can then take what we know to share with others. I can't wait! See you out there.

happily yours,

Lovin' donation from Lovin' Blooms and AVHS!

A big thank you to Lovin' Blooms and the Anderson Valley High School Agriculture Department for such generous donations of starts to The Gardens Project. Last week we were up to our ears in plant starts - four different varieties of tomatoes, tomatillos, chives, bunching onions, two different varieties of eggplants, endless peppers, and so much more!

The donations were given to Nokomis, S. Ukiah Head Start, Orchard Head Start, Willits Head Start, Orchard, Jack Simpson, Grace Hudson Elementary, and Pomolita Middle School, Calpella Elementary, Round Valley Elementary, Blosser Elementary, Oak Manor Elementary, River Oak Charter School and Eagle Peak Middle School. Wooza!

Check out the picture to see how much they donated, its a sight to see. Imagine in September when these lovin' plants have a lovin' bounty of food.

Thanks Lovin' Blooms and Anderson Valley High!

Spring Garden Blitz! Done and Done!

Spring Garden Blitz! has been deemed a success in Ukiah. Thanks to the CCC, Together We Can! Mendocino, the parents at all the school gardens, Schat's for donating 7 dozen pastries to keep our volunteer fueled, Cold Creek Compost, Oak Valley nursery, Home Depot, and the City of Ten Thousand Buddahs. Also a huge thanks to our partners in Willits and Ft. Bragg for making this a county wide event! All played an integral part in getting our gardens ready for the most successful season yet!

All of our volunteers did an awesome job last Saturday. Volunteers helped get boxes re-built and filled with compost at N. Pine street senior apartments, the gardeners at Orchard got their plots de-bermuda grassed and ready for the summer season, Talamage pre-school planted strawberries and fruit trees, and S. Ukiah head start built a lovely fence out of bamboo.

Spring Garden Blitz! was truly a community endeavor. Over 88 volunteers served 299 volunteer hours at 10 gardens across the county. Everyone played an essential role and contributed to the successes at each garden. The Gardens Project and the gardeners can not thank all the volunteers and businesses enough! Check out the slide show below to see pictures from this weekend. If you are interested in volunteering at future events or on a regular basis with The Gardens Project, please click here for our volunteer form.

Orchard Work Day - Sunday !

It's time to get our fall gardens going!! Orchard Garden will be having a work day this Sunday, starting at 11:00 AM. Get to know other gardeners, plant fall crops, share ideas, help clear beds, and get rid of that NASTY Bermuda grass. The work day will start off with a brief garden meeting to get reacquainted with each other and to discuss fall planting.

Be ready to plant your fall gardens! Not sure what to plant? Kale, Chard, Broccoli, Onions, Garlic, Cauliflower, Lettuces, Spinach, and Brussel sprouts are all good options. Check out our "How To" section under grow food for a local planting guide.

And, as always, volunteers are always welcome! Bring tools, gloves, and a good attitude!

Gardens get new gates!

Ukiah High Students With Gate
Originally uploaded by The Gardens Project

A big thanks to the welding class at Ukiah High. They donated their time during class to make some awesome looking gates for some of our gardens. The gates were made for Nokomis, Talmage State Pre-School, Orchard Apartments, and the MCOE youth gardens.

Thanks also to Reliable Mill steel who helped us in obtaining steel for the gates, and to Norcal powder coating and NCD painting who will paint the gates for us this week. Look for the gates in your neighborhood garden!

The CCC Rocks!!

New raised bed!
Originally uploaded by The Gardens Project

The California Conservation Corps was back at work building wheelchair accessible raised beds and tool sheds for three new gardens in the Ukiah Area. A giant thank you to the numerous crew members who diligently worked for 6 days to build 15 two foot high raised beds for the senior Jack Simpson Apartments and the Orchard family apartments of RCHDC. They also constructed three tool sheds for the two apartment gardens, as well as the Talmage State Preschool.

The CCC is a tremendous resource and all of the gardeners are so appreciative of the amount of work that they were able to accomplish.
Many thanks to North Cal Wood Products for their generous donation of sustainably harvested redwood for the beds, Mendo Mill and Lumber Co. for the great discount they provided for the tool shed materials, and John Haverman at MCOE for the tool shed designs. Additional thanks go to the Ukiah Natural Foods Coop and the Community Foundation of Mendocino County for their generous grants.

To see pictures of all of their great work, visit The Gardens Project photo gallery. Let the planting begin!

Orchard Apts. Dig In!

Out with the lawn and in with the garden! On Sunday, April 5th, the residents of Orchard Manor and Village Apts. of the Rural Communities Housing and Development Corp. (RCHDC) pulled out the lawn, laid out the garden beds, and spread the compost for the new resident garden. A big thanks to Ed Madson and Mark Rauch of Mendocino College for cutting the lawn, the newly formed volunteer group "Together We Can Mendocino" for contributing their time and labor, Cold Creek Compost for providing the compost, Nor Cal Wood Products for the redwood posts, Chevalier Vineyard Management for installing the fence, and Dark Horse Farming Co. for augering the holes. Next up: The Ukiah High Welding class is completing the steel gates for the garden, irrigation to be installed, and start planting!!

To see more pictures of the day, visit The Gardens Project Photo Gallery. To be involved in more garden work parties, check out the Events Calendar.