If you live in Virginia and have the capacity to see, a simple glimpse outside the window may elicit a quickened pulse if you’re lucky enough to be within eyeshot of the Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis) tree, currently ablaze. From pink to purple, with the occasional touch of red, this brilliant native is a showstopper for two weeks or so in the early spring. Half a century from now that might be February, but let us all take actions to prevent that.
We are back in the garden. Group volunteer hours are Fridays from 3:00-5:00 and Sundays from 2:00-4:00, weather permitting. For more information, reach out to garden@pvcc.edu.
Yesterday was the 2023 United Way Day of Caring and we had nearly 40 people from two areas of UVA volunteer from 9-12. Again, it was a beautiful weather day. Just amazing how this happens on this special volunteer day year after year.
One team was led by Rose Oliveira-Abbey and came from the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library. The second team was lead by Tim Robinson with UVA’s Communications team. It was just awesome to work with them and I hope that they will come back to the garden again.
When you next come to the garden take a walk around and admire all the work that got done!
A few highlights:
The shed has been thoroughly organized
Two new vegetable planting stands have been assembled
The hoop house was thoroughly cleaned, old insulation was removed, and the bed space had compost added and was planted. The bed space around it was weeded.
A new umbrella was set out (though I’d like to figure out how to increase the height). Help?
A new picnic table was installed with a concrete footer.
The poison ivy by the front corner was cut off the fence and removed. There was a lot of it and we had a volunteer (Jonelle) who wasn’t allergic! Amazing.
Huge amounts of vines were cut off the fence and removed. There is more to be done, but it was a great start.
The overgrown compost area was cleaned and is now usable. Feel free to add it to your plots. Please keep it clean.
Overgrown areas were trimmed, including trimming around all the garden beds.
Trash and broken bits were removed.
And more! Too much to list. What a wonderful day. I would like to give a special shout out to John and Mac, both of whom showed up for hours, worked hard and supervised volunteers. I would also like to recognize Kim, who made sure that the broken bits and trash that were moved to the curb were quickly removed. It takes a crew of people to keep this many volunteers working well and I’m grateful to all those who were able to come.
Approximately a dozen members of this wonderful community-based organization volunteered in the PVCC Community Garden a few Sundays ago. We had a wonderful few hours spent cleaning up a garden bed and planting two fruit trees: an apple and a peach. We were fortunate, and the days weather was perfect, sandwiched between hard rain the day before and rain the day after.
The ladies worked hard! And they are welcome back anytime to work in the garden and watch their donated trees grow. Thank you to all of them, especially Dr. Keisha Taylor for arranging the date.
Recently we said farewell to this spring’s student volunteers. A few will stay on for summer, managing individual plots. Others will be back in the fall to volunteer again. A few, some of who have spent years with us, are graduating. Included among that last group are “Boss Lady” and “The Admiral”, Madison House Project Directors who have been such a huge part of the garden. They will be greatly missed.
The weather Sunday was sunny and beautiful but it couldn’t compare to the smiles of the women’s volleyball team as they spent several hours in the garden learning about growing food and helping ready the beds for the next season. And oh, did they get a lot done! Five plots were readied, plus the community flower section, plus the communal herb bed, and they also helped weed, wheelbarrow and integrate fresh compost/topsoil mix, plant potatoes, and lots more.
They couldn’t have been friendlier or more gracious, and we would love to welcome them back someone later in the season when there is more in bloom so that they can see the fruits of their labors. Go Hoos!
September 21st dawned clear and bright the way the Day of Caring always does in Charlottesville, VA. It shone on hundreds, perhaps thousands, of eager folks looking forward to the largest day of volunteering of the year. Or maybe they were really just looking forward to getting out of their workplaces. We’ll never know.
About thirty of those volunteers came from the UVA department of student athletes to volunteer in our community garden. Students, coaches, and staff joined Debbie Ashby and Nehali Patel of PVCC’s Student Success Office and worked on a number of tasks throughout the morning. They worked hard and had fun and made an awesome difference in the garden.
Our exterior fence had become quite overgrown with years of vines thickly intertwined and entire sections of terrain made impassable by tall, weedy growth. Our compost bins were falling to pieces and so choked with brushy material that they were quite unusable. All this, plus planting, watering, creating new beds, organizing the shed… I could go on and on. Much of this is simply one of those artifacts of Covid, for we have not yet returned to the number of students on campus that we had prior to 2020, and well the garden has been maintained well in some areas, we fell behind in others. It is deeply soothing to peel back the layers and bring back some order.
Gardening in the summer can feel so overwhelming at times with the heat, humidity, insects, groundhogs, occasional drought (not this year) and sheer exuberant growth. So by late summer many gardens look overgrown and a little bit neglected. Even passionate gardeners feel a little bit of summer wilt.
But then cooler weather begins to steal in and as temperatures slide down into the 80’s and cooler nights make being outdoors a little more enjoyable again, so does our attention turn back to the garden. It has, after all, not only continued to produce but as always, we’re trying to remain one season ahead. August and September are the times to be planting your fall garden. Later in September it will be time for the truly cool season crops like kale, turnip, mustard, broccoli, and cabbage. A good planting calendar for this zone can be found here. Later it will be time to get in your cover crops for winter.
But for right now, enjoy the beginning of cooler temperatures and get those fall transplants in the ground!
Recently the garden received some great donations from two wonderful local gardening resources. Last Friday Snow’s Garden Center at 1875 Avon Street welcomed five of us and donated plants (herbs, marigolds) and bags of soil and mulch, along with as much loose straw as we could gather into bags. One of their employees even pitched in too, then Snow’s Garden Center Manager Zachary Pittinger walked us around pointing at things we could take. This is not the first time that Snow’s has supported the garden and we really appreciate their plants, knowledgeable staff, and great upbeat attitudes.
Then on Saturday, Jeremy was visiting the Blue Ridge Farmers Co-op at 810 Harris Street. Garden Center Manager Dorie Smolar was kind of to donate a bucket of Sweet Potato slips and 30 packets of Organic Summer seeds (tomato and pepper). They indicated that would continue their support with some bags of soil, compost, or mulch to donate.
We are so grateful to both organizations for their support. Many of us with the garden have shopped at one or both locations before and know how crucial they are to us local gardeners. Please, support your local garden centers instead of the big chain behemoths.
Our community garden is volunteer led and driven and I’m pretty proud of that. I mean, if we had paid staff, a large budget and fine, shiny resources I’d be proud of that too – but in a different way.
One of the garden’s raised beds
Schoolyard gardens are funny creatures in the summer if you think about it. Between late May and early September is often when the garden is at it’s most productive – and neediest. The weeds are growing fast, insects are eating and multiplying in large numbers, and here in Virginia it constantly seems like a month will go by without rain. Raised beds drain pretty quickly anyway even with regular rains or watering.
But guess what? Schools are largely devoid of students, staff and faculty in the summer. So who takes care of it? That’s where our top notch volunteers come in. They have “ownership” of sections of the garden and work together to maintain the common areas (flowers, herbs, shed, hoop house, native plant beds, etc.).
Broccoli, cabbage, squash
Our native plant beds, however, thrive even if neglected. Years ago we dug long beds alongside the fence’s interior and over time planted much of the space up with native plants. Some we were fortunate enough to get small grants for. Over time these hardy plants have flourished and as they did, we began seeing more birds, butterflies and helpful predacious insects. Plus, as they create healthy ecosystem and small shade areas, they give the gift of beauty to our eyes and perfume to our noses.
Native iris
I have memories of the years when there were just two or three of us keeping the whole garden running. Now there are dozens of wonderful people. Our garden community is always looking though for good hearts and eager hands, particularly during the busy and hot Virginia summer. If you’d like to get involved email garden@pvcc.edu.
Saturday, October 2nd was the quintessential Virginia fall day with a sky so blue it almost hurt to look upwards. And, for the first time in a few years, the community gardeners gathered in celebration – a community harvest festival, if you will, a chance to be joyful in each other’s company. The food was delicious – these people can really cook – and the conversation was better. It was great to see smiles unhidden by masks.
The Piedmont Virginia Community College Community Garden has been in existence since 2008. This student-led effort exists for many reasons, including hands-on education, student involvement, leadership and personal development. We also have community members, staff, and faculty who volunteer in the garden. Most of the produce grown is donated to feed the local hungry through The Haven, a multi-agency effort working with the homeless, and the Thomas Jefferson Area food bank, though some goes to feed our laboring students! Additionally, we also have summer camps and other groups that visit the garden.
For more information about the club please contact garden@pvcc.edu.
_____ PVCC Horticulture & Environmental Club _____ Community Garden 