On a scorching August day, the Coral Springs Community Garden saw its best players come out and prep the area for another fruitful season. Everyone was amazed at the amount of growth we encountered—the hot rainy summers in Florida are like that! A lot of the plots were choked with weeds, and we needed Lee to scorch the overrun gravel path; that’s the cool way we keep things out here looking so good!
There was a lot to tackle last Sunday. The world’s tallest okra plant was surrounded by out of control Morning Glory that saw a lot of us poking through it with a pitch fork, hoping to find some sweet potatoes. Were any recovered?
We got busy weeding, but we also had time to take to the shade and enjoy some of the provisions. Jackie Ida brought fresh fruit and tons of ice cold water. Jen Russon brought blueberry cake and a carafe of strong iced coffee—others brought donuts and homemade snacks wrapped in foil. Word to the wise: foil is the way to go out in the elements; it’ll save your food from ants!
Download the 2014/2015 Plot Agreement!
But let’s get to the heart of this blog: which serves to remind that the gardening season here in the tropics unofficially starts NOW and resumes full swing in October. We usually don’t put our crops to bed until May. The 2014/2015 Plot Agreement is now available online, so go ahead and fill it out, whether you’re renewing or simply “new”! Judith Gulko, one of the garden organizers, says that technically the garden is full but you never know who’s renewing and who’s not, so do send in your forms and small annual fee for the year!
You’ll notice in this photograph that Judy is wearing a Garden Club shirt—these are for sale! Proceeds go to making this place bigger and better, so be sure to check out all the wares: shirts, cups and totes were all designed by Margarita Lartitegui-Mata, pictured below with her creations. She says the price of these items has yet to be determined, and to please get in touch with her directly if you are interested!
And speaking of work, everyone in the garden is looking forward to meeting some pretty big goals—like turning the adjacent field into a food forest for the public to enjoy. One of our gardeners—you can see her by liking her page on Facebook, is hoping to turn one of the huge plots into Cub Scout Pack 497’s vegetable garden, the fruits of which will all be donated. The cubs are looking forward to meeting the experienced gardeners and getting an earful on how to do their plot up right.
Good things are growing here this year—so come out, roll up your sleeves and start bringing in the harvest. Cheers!
Rotary Community Garden and Food Forest of Coral Springs 