Garden party welcomes spring planting season

Community Garden leaders picked a perfect theme on a picture-perfect day to hold what they hope to grow into an annual party to welcome the spring planting season.

The theme: Go Green!

The day: St. Patrick’s Day.

Green shirts, green decorations and green thumbs were in abundance as approximately 60 members of the Community Garden gathered under tents that offered shade from sunny skies and relief from 83 degree temperatures to enjoy a potluck lunch and workshops at the garden in Brook Run Park.

Angela Minyard, one of the organizers, welcomed everyone, introduced new members, announced that all the plots have been rented and said no more expansions are planned. One of the new members Minyard singled out was Marianne Jaskevich, who rented the last plot.

Some of the people who brought dishes for the lunch placed recipes beside their plates or bowls. Rebecca Barria, who is working with Lori Davila to produce an e-book on recipes for sustainable living, collected them for consideration for the final product.

The book will feature easy-to-make cooking, cleaning, self care and sustainable living recipes that can be made with natural ingredients (including plants that can be grown in Dunwoody gardens).

In some cases, the recipes may be accompanied by tips, suggestions or an interesting story relevant to the recipe.

To submit a recipe or ask a question about the project, contact: Davila (lori@loridavila.com) or Barria (rebecca@barria.org). Proceeds from the sale will be used to help support the garden.

After lunch, Rod Pittman, an entomologist, garden member and adviser to the garden, led a gardening workshop as others tended to their plots.

“The event today was indeed fantastic,” Community Garden President Don Converse wrote in an email to the membership after the event.

He credited Muriel Knope for coming up with the idea to “celebrate spring and the new planting season and a chance to see each other again” and to schedule it on St. Patrick's Day and call it “Go Green!”

He also thanked the key organizers, singling out Minyard, Nicole Maslanka and Theresa Meschede “for doing the heavy lifting in getting everyone informed and to the event.”

Some of the other garden members who contributed to the event’s success were Carl Bortle and David Knope who set up the tents, and Ann DoVanQuy, Lalitha Jammalamadeka, Maria Barton, Karen Converse, Inger Ban Hoy, Nancy Kaylor, Marilyn Porter, Jim Hines and Ben Lucas who helped with set up and clean up.

The garden’s next party will be on Thursday, April 12, to kick off the annual plant sale fundraiser. Garden members will be able to buy plants at the party before the sale opens to the public on April 13.

The hours of the sale, which will be at the greenhouse in Brook Run Park, are Friday, April 13, and Saturday, April 14, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, April 14, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Community Garden once again has a waiting list after renting out all of the plots that were added in last year’s expansion.

To add your name to the waiting list or to ask other questions about garden membership or activities, send an e-mail request to membership@dunwoodygarden.org.

The garden has a total of 92 numbered plots, of which 80 are rented to members. Of the remaining dozen, 10 are designated as Food Pantry beds and two are demonstration beds where Rod Pittman grows artichokes and asparagus. 

There are other beds along the fence, which are mostly used for the Food Pantry. An exception is the one to the left of the front gate, which is labeled the "Three Sisters" garden. Four members pay to tend it.

Produce from the Food Pantry beds is dedicated to St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church.

The Dunwoody Nature Center had received orders for almost 200 quart-size plants for its annual plant sale as of the end of last week. At that time, all plants offered in the sale remained available.

The sale features wildflowers and other ephemerals and is online only. Visit www.dunwoodynature.org/do/plantsale/Spring2012plantsale.html to see photographs and descriptions of plants on sale and to place orders.

All orders must be placed by March 31. Payment may be made with Mastercard, VISA or Discover cards.

Pick up dates for plants are Friday, April 13, from 2 - 4 p.m. and Saturday, April 14, from 10 a.m. – noon.

Another sale will be held in the fall and will include shrubs and trees.

All profits from the sales benefit the Dunwoody Nature Center's various programs and projects. 

A DeKalb Growers meeting is scheduled for Friday, March 30, from 10 a.m. – noon. A location has not been determined.

The meeting will focus on agricultural zoning issues in DeKalb County and will be a follow-up meeting to the Feb. 22 meeting at the Clarkston Community Center. That meeting was co-hosted by DeKalb Growers and the DeKalb County Board of Health.

The two main topics discussed at that meeting were:

1. A report on a white paper about the public health perspective of urban agriculture that the Board of Health is preparing.
2. How advocates of urban agriculture can make their voice heard in a new draft of zoning codes that the county is preparing.

The Community Garden was represented at the Clarkston meeting by David and Muriel Knope.

For more information about the March 30 meeting, contact Susan Pavlin of Global Growers at susan@globalgrowers.net. To learn more about Global Growers, visit the Global Growers website at www.GlobalGrowers.net.