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

Homegrown in Ukiah

Last Saturday was a celebration of Ukiah's efforts to become a more self reliant community. We hope that everyone who came out had a blast, enjoyed lots of good food, met some new people, and got a different preservative on whats being grown in our community spaces of Mendocino County.

In case you missed it some highlights include: Jack Simpson gardener Oliver Schearer dazzling us with his vibraphone skills. Cleveland Lane gardeners showing us what a mini Ukiahn-Michoacan would look like. Washington Ave. gardeners celebrating their successful first season with Ensalda de Nopalitos. April Cunnighman from Head Start showing off school garden curriculum. Grace Lutheran gardeners sharing their favorite recipes.

Thank you again to all of our supporters: Tierra-Art,Garden, and wine for the use of their space. Ukiah Brewing Company, Patrona Resteraunt and Lounge, and The Ukiah Valley Medical Center for chef time of Molly Vogel, Phil and Craig, and Jim Stuart. Together we Can! for providing us with volunteers. Mara Montiel, Sid Cooperrider, and Will Siegel and friends for providing music, and of course all of our wine donors - Rivino Wines, Frey Vineyards, and Raye's Hill vineyard.

Check out some pictures below taken or check out our facebook page. Pictures were taken by two awesome volunteer photographers Cate Oliver and Paul Taylor. Again, thank you all for your support - we hope to see you again next year.

Day of Caring '10 Rocks Washington and Nokomis Gardens

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Originally uploaded by The Gardens Project

The Gardens Project love the United Way and their Day of Caring. Over a dozen volunteers descended on the new Washington Avenue Community Garden and the Nokomis Elementary and Head Start School Garden this Wednesday, September 8th. Within 3 hours this fantastic crew dug and installed a 100ft. french drain to deal with soggy paths and installed an arbor and herb bed at the Washington Garden.

At the Nokomis Garden, this crew did a thorough clean-up, weeding, and harvesting of the garden in preparation for the Homegrown in Ukiah Community Garden Tour and Fall plantings.

Much thanks to the fantastic volunteers and their employers who gifted them to the Gardens Project for a day: Mendocino Co. Health and Human Services, First 5 Mendocino, Fetzer Vineyards, and Ukiah Valley Medical Center.

Click on the photo of Kelly and the United Way volunteers digging a the drain to see all of the pictures of the day!

Celebrating the original harvest

I visited some gardens this morning and was completely amazed at all the food that everyone is producing. It is amazing to walk into one of the community gardens and feel the energy around the garden. Bees are buzzing, people are sure to be in there in the early morning and late evening hours, compost is decomposing, weeds are being pulled, and if you stand still long enough you can hear the veggies grow!!

Homegrown in Ukiah: Celebrating the original harvest

On another note, The Gardens Project is hosting a Community Garden Tour and fundraiser - Home Grown in Ukiah: Celebrating the original harvest. If you haven't had a chance to check out your local community garden, now is the time! Enjoy music and garden fresh hors d'oeuvres from each garden and a complimentary wine tasting from Tierra - Art, Wine, Garden. Tickets are available at a $30 suggested donation by calling 462-2596 x 185 or contacting us here.

Just a quick update on the gardens ..

Grace Lutheran is looking amazing - Toni the garden manager has done a great job in organizing people and getting in infrastructure for the garden. She was able to score some really cool tables for their garden. Washington garden is looking as lush as ever. Yesterday I stopped by and there were gardeners out harvest corn leaves to make fresh tamales. Yum!

Nokomis and South Ukiah are busy getting ready for the arrival of new smiling face in their gardens. Nokomis is busy growing pumpkins and acorn squash to make soups for their nutrition lessons come winter. Jill is busy weeding, planting flowers, and harvesting some delicious rattlesnake beans.

Check out the slide show below - can't wait to see you at the gardens tour!

Garden Update

The Washington Ave garden was a quarter acre parking lot until May 2010. Now it is a gardening destination for the neighborhood, filling up with squash, ripening tomatoes, and content gardeners.

The Ukiah High School Hillside Farm made a huge push the past few months to start a CSA for this summer. Now the hillside above the High School looks like a productive farm straight out of Switzerland, with rows and rows of veggies running along the contours of the hill.

The South Ukiah Head Start Preschool garden broke ground in May of 2009.

The before pictures were taken in November ’09, and the after pictures were taken this week. There is a three sisters garden (corn, beans, and squash), a tomato-pepper-basil jungle, herbs, flowers, strawberries, and a bed waiting

for more greens. Yum.

Washington Ave. Gardeners start the new season

Washington Ave. has almost completed its transformation from parking lot to community garden - in a matter of weeks! It has been amazing to watch the entire process; ripping out cement and asphalt, digging irrigation trenches, hauling in compost (over 50 yards!) and building beds, and finally just last week installing drip irrigation, and planting plants!

The gardeners are out in full force at the garden. Some are already planting their beds with baby tomatoes and squash, others are planting cactus along the fence, and some are planting strawberries and herbs. We can't wait to see the garden come July!

The best news is that Washington Ave. garden is full! The garden filled up faster than you can say, "tomatoes!" Community gardens are needed in Ukiah - if you know of anyone who would like to turn their land into a community garden contact us!

If you are interested in donating to Washington Ave garden click here, or consider donating any of the following items:

- Tool shed ( large enough to hold a wheelbarrow and community tools)
- 2 50 ft or longer hoses
- 2 Wheelbarrows
- Community tools ( shovels, hoes, rakes, forks, hand trowels, and picks)
- Gardening gloves

If you are interested in donating any of the above items, give us a call at 462-2596 X 185, or click here to contact us. To see more pictures of the Washington Ave. garden, click here.

Happy gardening!

Earth Day with the CCC

Thursday April 22^nd was Earth Day, and the Ukiah California Conservation Corps (CCC) showed their love to Mother Earth by volunteering with The Gardens Project. 75 CCC members spent the day tackling large infrastructure tasks in five community gardens around Ukiah, including installing a new community garden located on 168 Washington Street. The site for the new garden had been covered with asphalt for the past five decades, and the soil just saw light and breathed fresh air for the first time last week when the asphalt was removed. The CCC dug, sifted rocks out of the soil, and moved compost to get the garden beds ready for residents of the surrounding area, most of whom live in apartments, to plant their summer gardens. The CCC also dug garden beds at the Ukiah High School farm, where community members are reinvigorating the agriculture program and will shortly be offering a CSA. Pomolita Middle School got their infrastructure needs taken care of so that they can focus on planting and harvesting, as did River Oak Charter School. Cleveland Lane Community Garden received help installing a much needed fence along one side of the garden to stop vandalism and the pilfering of vegetables.

A thousand thank yous to the CCC for all their hard work. What a difference they continue to make in community and school gardens around Ukiah!

New Community Garden

The Gardens Project is helping to facilitate a new community garden in Ukiah! The garden, to be located off of Washington Ave and Mulberry Ave will soon be planted with a summer crop.

The idea of the garden started last year when Lynda Meyes, the property owner, approached The Gardens Project with the idea to turn her old asphalt parking lot into a community garden. Since then The Gardens Project has been busy testing the soil for contaminants, canvassing the neighborhood to see if there was interest in a community garden, and applying for permits with the city (This is the first community garden on private land in Ukiah!! woohoo!)

We are so excited that after all that hard work the asphalt is finally being taken out! Today is a day to celebrate the re-birth of that land- from a parking lot to a community garden! If you live in the Washington Ave/Observatory Ave neighborhood in Ukiah and you are interested in getting a garden plot come to a planning meeting this Saturday from 1:00 to 4:00 in the afternoon. We will be discussing the garden design and taking a field trip to Grace Lutheran community garden for some inspiration.

Check out the pictures below for a slide show of what the land looks like now, and try to imagine the future as a garden!