A little help from family

The Old Six Mile Community Garden is very blessed with all the help that we receive.  Not only has our family gotten involved by also neighbors and friends.  It has also helped people connect to their childhood.  Recently a father of one of our Jr. Gardeners came over and started talking to Jim.  He said as a child he would come over to the very spot his son has a garden plot and help garden with Mr. Whipple, the owner of the home that we turned into a museum.  He donated some wood which Jim turned into some raised beds for watermelon.  He also explained that their used to be chicken coops on the property, which explains why the land is so fertile.

At the beginning of spring the museums lawn mower broke.  We were asking people for donations when my Aunt Colleen donated her parents, who recently passed away, lawnmower to the garden.  This donation came at a perfect time for us and we greatly appreciate them doing this for us.

One of my favorite things about having this garden is the way it has brought my family closer together.  Our entire family works in the garden, but nobody works harder than my nephew Brady.  He rides his bike over first thing in the morning, sometimes beating Jim and Pete, and starts working.  He has learned, much to his grandmothers dismay, how to drive the lawnmower/tractor.  I won't lie, I laugh every time I see him drive the mower all around the yard just to get a shovel from the garage.  Brady is probably one of the hardest working kids I have ever seen.  Today when I was there he was laying down burlap bags between the rows of plants.  By watching him you can see that he really enjoys being out there.  And I know Jim loves having him there.  These are memories Brady will never forget.  And we have the garden to thank for this.

 Brady explaining to me what is planted and where.  He knows where everything is and exactly what to do when he arrives.

 The Jr. Garden clubs lettuce is coming in great. I was pretty nervous when I watched those kids place the seeds in the ground.  I know they will be excited to see how well their plants have grown.

 The radishes are ready to be picked!  One of the girls from the club already come over to take some from her plot.  

 The zucchini is starting to bloom.  Won't be long till we will be making some fresh zucchini bread.

Our new cherry tree

Adopt a Plant Day

Once again the 4th grade students from Worthen Elementary school came over and helped us plant.  Each student was given their own tomato plant and after they planted it they put their name on it so they knew it was theirs. This way, next fall when they come back they will be able to find their plant and see how well it did over the summer.

 Getting ready to be planted

 Mrs. Dioneda's class was the first to come over.

 They all lined up and started planting!

Dennis Nobbe took time out of his busy day to help.

 My nephew Ben's class.  He was both excited and embarrassed to be here.  Excited because he got to show off  the fact that he works in the garden all the time, embarrassed because, well that's what I try to do to him  : )

 Miss Hadley was all excited to see Ben there!

 Gotta love teamwork

 Mr. Andrews also spent the morning helping.

The kids had a great time and many said they can't wait until they can join the garden club next year!

High School Garden

Granite City Community Gardens has recently planted a garden at the High School.  Austin Gaines was instrumental in getting this started.  Right now he has help from the Science Club and many of the faculty.

 The students worked really hard moving the dirt and putting everything together.

 There are four raised beds that have a variety of plants in them.

 The city was kind enough to donate the dirt for the beds.  We needed two trucks to bring all the dirt in.

 This is an important project for the gardens.  Many schools are expressing interest in having a garden on their property so we are waiting to see how this one turns out before we get more schools involved.

So far everything is looking great!

Another great meeting of the Jr. Garden Club

This week was another great week for the Jr. Garden Club.  When the students got there they worked on weeding their plots the went to work planting tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet banana peppers, bell peppers, and eggplant.

 Once again we had help from our neighbors. Pete came by and helped the kids plant their vegetables then went and watered the whole garden!

 The kids really seem to be enjoying working in the gardens.  And all of their plants are doing extremely well. 

 We have a wonderful group of kids who work really hard and pay attention to what they are doing.  

 Trying to figure out how long six inches is so they know where to plant the seeds.

They also helped us plant the rest of the plants for the big garden.  It started as an organized plan, but I think it is going to be interesting to see exactly what got planted where.  The kids were so excited to be planting they just took whatever they could find and put it in the garden.  Can't wait to see what comes up!