Tuesday, April 25, 2023
Wednesday, April 12, 2023
LCG President's Report by Janet Crozier
Spring is such an interesting time for gardeners. First, you get the itch to start gardening, you look through seed catalogs and visit nurseries and make your plan. You start planting your seeds. After all, the temperature says it’s 70, 80, and even 90 degrees. Perfect you say. But then ……. What! The temperature is in the upper 30s and if you are lucky, it doesn’t freeze and then there is the wind to contend with. All that enthusiasm changes to “What, I have to replant my tomatoes?” Welcome to Texas weather, friends. We are just glad we are not having feet of snow to contend with or tornados (not yet at least). I am hearing sentiments like these from some of our new gardeners.
Despite the weather, we have added 6 new gardeners since the beginning of our spring planting. You should see how the garden beds are thriving. Thank God for the rain. Our rain barrels are full and being utilized. Even the Girls Scouts had to come in and see what we are growing. We even let them taste lettuce and a stray carrot.
We have been blessed with new Master Gardeners needing their volunteer hours. Karen Allen and Linda Johnson have completely revitalized the pollinator garden. It’s already looking tended. Our garden members were out in force on Saturday morning cleaning the walkways and untended garden beds. Thanks to all the help we are receiving, the gardens look great.
I have been attending the Chamber of Commerce Wednesday Networking meetings and have met so many interesting people who are interested in gardening. The Chamber has been so good about getting our activities on their calendar that goes out to all their members. It’s another way to get the word out about who we are and where we are located.
We had a meeting on March 30 to plan our event at the Arts in the Park. Many of our gardeners will be volunteering, some Master Gardeners, and friends will be showing up to help make this a fun time for the kids. Many thanks to Kenya Martin for all her hard work making our flyers and postings on Facebook. We have been posting the flyers all around the Square.
I have been in contact with Marion Vance of Season Three Winery. We have been in communication concerning the proposed Wine Tasting Fundraiser to be held in May. I have obtained the permit for the event and talked to HEB about a donation for appetizers and waters for the event. They will also provide the meat for the BBQ that Dusty Dreher has offered to grill for us.
I attended the Town Hall meeting to go over the plans for the Eclipse that is to take place in April of 2024. There is a lot of good planning taking place. There still are a lot of things to be worked out. The parks are in question whether they will be open or not. The city seems to be worried about the investment that they have in the infrastructure within the parks. There was some opposition as the townspeople objected to closing the parks, the city’s main feature. We will see how that evolves.
Friday, March 24, 2023
LCG President's Report by Janet Crozier
The LCG has garnered a lot of attention recently. I was asked to speak about the community garden at the Kiwanis Club on March 1. The Lampasas Public Library invited me to offer a class on Square Foot Gardening at the library on March 8. After the class, we walked over to the gardens and toured the beds.
On March 18, a class on botany was held at the gardens for kids ages 6-8, some younger. They learned how plants evolve from seeds and what is required to help them grow. It was well attended.
To date, we have 4 new active gardeners. Eve French and her sidekick, Becky Smith, Kenya Martin, Lindzey Jackson, and Elaine Turley. Kenya’s mom is also interested in becoming a gardener. She has been helping Kenya and got the bug.
Our Kickoff was a success! It was held at the Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall which proved to be a great venue for potlucks and perhaps food tastings. This event aside from the potluck was very fruitful. Many of our gardeners attended and brought seeds to share and exchange, but the highlighted feature was the social aspect of the event. This was an opportunity for the gardeners to get to know one another. Many of them were neighbors and didn’t know it.
Several Master Gardeners were in attendance as well as Gail Eltroth, their volunteer coordinator. They offered their volunteer service to us. They offered to take over the pollinator garden and beautify it as well as help with other areas in the garden that need attention.
Speaking of volunteers, on Sunday, March 12, the teenagers from the Methodist Church came by and helped create Mel’s Mix for the small boxes to be used for the library kids to plant seeds in the following week. They also worked on the compost pile and Bob had several of them cleaning out some of the beds and walkways by pulling weeds.
I still am looking for more Board Members to help fill in the gaps in our current board. We need a fundraiser and publicity chair. I am especially looking for someone with the passion for what we are trying to accomplish, namely to help people learn to garden and learn about nutritious food in order to live a healthy lifestyle. We will discuss this more in our board meeting.
Saturday, February 25, 2023
LCG President’s Report by Janet Crozier
February 24, 2023
Many of us gardeners have been taking the seed packet’s suggestion to get an early start in the garden with cool-weather crops. Some of us are planting our lettuces, radishes, and other veggies. I guess it’s all that springlike weather we have been having. I don’t believe we will be without another cold spell or two before spring really gets here. We need to keep the row covers handy and keep the roots watered. We are so excited to have 2 new gardeners already participating in their respective garden beds. Welcome Lindzey Jackson and Eva French!Thanks to volunteers, The Barber family (Amber Mae is a Master Gardener that needs to do volunteer hours for her designation.) She put the rest of her family to work as well. Her husband Ben took out the volleyball poles which makes the garden look so much nicer. The rest of the family strung the Square Foot Garden beds and cleaned out the dirt of some of the beds to ready them for Mel’s Mix. Amber and I worked on the hügelkultur bed and planted potatoes in it.
The Wings of Eagles sent us 4 volunteers to create Mel’s Mix for a 4’X4’ bed. After that, they worked on our compost pile chopping the coarse compost and moving the decomposed into another bin, shredding the decomposed compost and mixed it with the recently purchased mixture of compost. We are so grateful for that good work. Compost is vital for the Square Foot Garden beds.
Many thanks to Lucien Hodges for his donation of 2 fruit trees that he purchased from our good friend, Barbara Wright at Wright’s Nursery in Briggs. We are encouraging the purchase of fruit trees as a donation to our “Remembrance Orchard.” This orchard will provide a way to remember a friend or relative or even a milestone in one’s life. Amy Holkesvik has agreed to paint a tree on the back of our shed with the names of those being remembered.
We have had a turnover in the Board of Directors this month. Ladonna Bishop has agreed to take on the position as Treasurer, replacing Krista Spurgeon. Krista held that position until the end of January.
I attended the Parks Board meeting on January 16. I wanted to check on the timeline for the sidewalk along the fence line leading from the parking lot to the ADA-compliant garden site. Chris said he had a quote of $5,200 for that project which will be starting in the next several months. This will provide the incentive to find the funds to purchase the concrete needed for the garden beds for the physically challenged. Labor will be donated.
We are looking for Board members with experience in fundraising and social media experience. If you have that experience or know of anyone we can contact, please pass it along to us. lampasascommunitygardens@gmail.com
Tuesday, February 21, 2023
Upcoming Events
"Square Foot Gardening" with Janet Crozier
Tuesday, March 7, 2023
Please join us for a special Library program with guest speaker Janet Crozier on March 7th at 5pm at the Lampasas Public Library. She will be talking about Square Foot Gardening, its benefits, and how you can get started using this method.
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Lampasas Community Gardens invites all gardeners to our 2023 Season Kick off! Let’s gather and celebrate the coming growing season. We will start off with a potluck meet and greet, followed by a Square Foot Gardening starter course taught by Janet Crozier, and finally a seed swap where you will have the opportunity to try out new varieties of both vegetables and flowers. A $10 donation is suggested for this wonderful event. Proceeds to go to Lampasas Community Gardens, a non-profit that provides space and education opportunities for those looking to start their own garden in a community bed. Please register for the kick-off by emailing lampasascommunitygardens@gmail.com.
Class details:
Janet will walk you through the benefits of gardening with the Square Foot gardening method. This method allows the most efficient use and the highest yield for your garden beds.
Potluck details: A main course will be provided, sides and desserts are welcome! Please reach out to sign up so we can get a list together.
Seed Swap details: Viable seeds will need to be divided, bagged, and labeled. 2x3 inch ziplock bags can be provided upon request prior to the event. Each label should tell the plant Name, Variety, source (either where you purchased them, or if you self harvested), and # of days until harvest. Number of seeds per bag will depend on crop type. See below for number of seeds per bag:
Ornamental flowers- 5+ (depending on size, give what you can)
Leafy greens- 10+
Root vegetables (carrots, beets, etc.)- 15+
Vining vegetables (melons, cucumbers, peas)- 5+
Herbs (basil, thyme, etc.)- 5+
Upright vegetables (tomatoes, zucchini, etc.)- 3+
Feel free to reach out with specific questions. We look forward to starting the new growing season among friends!
Janet will walk you through the benefits of gardening with the Square Foot gardening method. This method allows the most efficient use and the highest yield for your garden beds.
Potluck details: A main course will be provided, sides and desserts are welcome! Please reach out to sign up so we can get a list together.
Seed Swap details: Viable seeds will need to be divided, bagged, and labeled. 2x3 inch ziplock bags can be provided upon request prior to the event. Each label should tell the plant Name, Variety, source (either where you purchased them, or if you self harvested), and # of days until harvest. Number of seeds per bag will depend on crop type. See below for number of seeds per bag:
Ornamental flowers- 5+ (depending on size, give what you can)
Leafy greens- 10+
Root vegetables (carrots, beets, etc.)- 15+
Vining vegetables (melons, cucumbers, peas)- 5+
Herbs (basil, thyme, etc.)- 5+
Upright vegetables (tomatoes, zucchini, etc.)- 3+
Feel free to reach out with specific questions. We look forward to starting the new growing season among friends!
Wednesday, February 1, 2023
2023 Season Kick-Off
Class details:
Janet will walk you through the benefits of gardening with the Square Foot gardening method. This method allows the most efficient use and the highest yield for your garden beds.
Potluck details: A main course will be provided, sides and desserts are welcome! Please reach out to sign up so we can get a list together.
Seed Swap details: Viable seeds will need to be divided, bagged, and labeled. 2x3 inch ziplock bags can be provided upon request prior to the event. Each label should tell the plant Name, Variety, source (either where you purchased them, or if you self harvested), and # of days until harvest. Number of seeds per bag will depend on crop type. See below for number of seeds per bag:
Ornamental flowers- 5+ (depending on size, give what you can)
Leafy greens- 10+
Root vegetables (carrots, beets, etc.)- 15+
Vining vegetables (melons, cucumbers, peas)- 5+
Herbs (basil, thyme, etc.)- 5+
Upright vegetables (tomatoes, zucchini, etc.)- 3+
Feel free to reach out with specific questions. We look forward to starting the new growing season among friends!
Janet will walk you through the benefits of gardening with the Square Foot gardening method. This method allows the most efficient use and the highest yield for your garden beds.
Potluck details: A main course will be provided, sides and desserts are welcome! Please reach out to sign up so we can get a list together.
Seed Swap details: Viable seeds will need to be divided, bagged, and labeled. 2x3 inch ziplock bags can be provided upon request prior to the event. Each label should tell the plant Name, Variety, source (either where you purchased them, or if you self harvested), and # of days until harvest. Number of seeds per bag will depend on crop type. See below for number of seeds per bag:
Ornamental flowers- 5+ (depending on size, give what you can)
Leafy greens- 10+
Root vegetables (carrots, beets, etc.)- 15+
Vining vegetables (melons, cucumbers, peas)- 5+
Herbs (basil, thyme, etc.)- 5+
Upright vegetables (tomatoes, zucchini, etc.)- 3+
Feel free to reach out with specific questions. We look forward to starting the new growing season among friends!
