On Friday, April 12 from 5-7pm join Alpine Shop (1102 E. Broadway) for an Al-Pint Fundraiser Night. A donation of $10 will get you a novelty pint cup and two complimentary pours of local beer. All profits go directly to support the Community Garden Coalition and their mission to feed and flower our Columbia community.
Thanks so much to Alpine Shop for their support! We hope to see you there!
With Saturday’s meeting of garden leaders, the spring season is truly underway at community gardens. Here are a few things to know!
If you were a community gardener at one of our member gardens last year, please take a minute to confirm with your garden leader whether you will garden again this year. We have heard from many new gardeners seeking plots and some gardens are already full!
If you’re a garden leader or helping out at your garden, please see our Resources for Garden Leaders page for information shared at our meeting today, the annual reporting form for group/youth gardens, and more.
Please remember that all garden leaders and CGC board members are volunteers! We appreciate everyone’s effort to keep the gardens running! If you have time to volunteer a little more at your garden, contact your garden leader; there are usually lots of tasks to go around.
Or, maybe you’d be interested in helping out on our board! We have some veteran members stepping down; and we could use some fresh faces to help us continue this work. Please contact us for more information!
As we mark the end of another gardening season, many of us are pausing to give thanks and celebrate seasonal bounty.
As a community gardener, I am grateful for the continued generosity of the landowner of my garden, my garden leader who shares so much of her time to keep the garden running, and my fellow gardeners who help keep it maintained through the season. And I’m grateful that the Community Garden Coalition organization has backed my garden with supplies, insurance, water, compost, straw and other support.
As a longtime CGC board member, I want to express my thanks more broadly to my fellow board members and all the community garden leaders and gardeners out there working to keep these community spaces vibrant and productive. And, of course, I’m thankful to all our supporters out there who have donated money, time or other resources!
This was our 40th year as an organization! We thank you for being a part of that, and we hope you’re planning for a great garden next year.
Don’t forget about the free Garlic Growing Workshop planned for Monday, August 28! Veteran community garden garlic grower and MU Extension specialist Dhruba Dhakal will have lots of tips for planting, harvest and storage. As you think about your fall garden and the end of the season, planting some garlic makes great use of a portion of your garden plot over the winter!
Garlic Production Workshop
Monday, August 28
6 p.m.
Columbia Public Library, Friends Room
100 W. Broadway, Columbia, MO 65201
This workshop is part of our celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Community Garden Coalition. Thank you for your continued interest and support!
Have you tried growing garlic in your garden yet? It’s an easy, fall-planted crop that usually has great success in our area. The Community Garden Coalition is sponsoring a free workshop with an expert in garlic growing. Dhruba Dhakal is an MU Extension specialist AND a longtime community gardener who has grown many, many a head of garlic in his plot at Ash St. garden.
Mark your calendar for August 28 and join us for this free workshop for community gardeners or anyone who’d like to learn!
Garlic Production Workshop
Monday, August 28
6 p.m.
Columbia Public Library, Friends Room
100 W. Broadway, Columbia, MO 65201
If you can’t make it to the workshop, check out this how-to post from a former CGC board member: Gearing Up for Garlic. This workshop is part of our celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Community Garden Coalition. Thank you for your continued interest and support!
As of our mission to help community gardeners, this year we’ve been focusing on educational opportunities. We’ve offered several workshops with other partners as part of our 40th anniversary celebrations. We also want to let you know about the following free or low-cost classes offered by University Extension presenters to help you deal with drought in your garden, learn how to store your harvest and improve your compost pile.
Check out the following offerings and follow the links to register. Another composting workshop is being planned in early August at our Unite4Health garden, so stay tuned for more information!
Wednesday, July 12, 6-8 p.m.
1012 N. Highway UU, Columbia, MO 65203
Cost: FREE
Register at this link.
In this workshop, horticulture producers and gardeners will learn about the effect of drought and heat on garden plants. They will also learn about how to minimize the drought effect in the garden plants in the workshop.
Friday, July 21, 12-1:30 p.m.
2nd floor, 105 E Ash Street, Columbia, MO 65203
OR Live via Zoom
Cost: $20
Register at this link.
(Registration closes Tuesday, July 18 at 11 p.m.)
This course will look at current standards for harvesting and storing fresh produce as well as hands-on preparation of a seasonal recipe. Participants may either attend in-person or online via Zoom. Participants who attend online must be able to pick-up a grocery bag of food to be prepared from the MU Family Impact Center in Columbia, MO.
Monday, July 24, 6-8 p.m.
1012 N. Highway UU, Columbia, MO 65203
Cost: FREE
Register at this link.
Participants will learn about benefits of compost in the soil, source of composting materials, good materials, and materials to avoid during composting. The speaker will talk about the greens and browns materials used during composting. Participants will learn about methods of composting, site selection for compost pile and compost testing in this program.
We’re so excited to be co-sponsoring a gardener education workshop this month with the Columbia Public Library! Clear your calendar for Saturday, June 24 and see the details below. No need to register and all gardeners and community members are welcome, teens and adults!
Garden Pests and Pollinators:
How to Manage for Both in Your Home and Community Garden
Saturday, June 24 at 2-3:30 p.m.
Columbia Public Library, Friends Room, 100 W. Broadway
Mid-Missouri gardeners are bedeviled by all kinds of pests, from tomato hornworms to Japanese beetles, throughout the growing season. The ongoing challenge is to fight back against these pests, while encouraging the presence of the bees, butterflies and moths who pollinate your plants! Joe Walls from the Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture and Dana Morris from Central Methodist University will share their know-how at this presentation. Joe will share natural pest management tips for home and community gardeners. Dana, who has worked extensively with monarch butterfly recovery, will present on “Thinking Like a Bee: Planting and Planning for Habitat.”
Joe Walls received his master’s degree in entomology as well in plant pathology and environmental microbiology from Penn State University. During graduate school, he studied integrated pest and disease management for plant viruses and their insect vectors, with special focus on climate change. Since finishing his graduate studies he has worked at Happy Hollow Farm and currently works at Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture. He specializes in pest and disease management plans as well as farm systems maintenance and construction.
Dana Morris earned her B.S and M.S. in fisheries and wildlife sciences and a Ph.D. in biology from MU studying avian ecology. She worked for the Missouri Department of Conservation and the Department of Natural Resources in water quality and outreach education. She taught for 4 years in the School of Natural Resources at Mizzou, worked as a post-doc studying savannah ecology in Kenya and as a post-doc for the Missouri Ozark Forest Ecosystem Project before joining the faculty at Central Methodist University in Fayette, MO in 2012. Since 2014, she has been restoring an 86-acre university-owned nature sanctuary with native habitat to better support biodiversity, pollinators and an outdoor classroom. In her own garden, she grows just enough produce for her family and several families of wild animal neighbors.
This workshop is part of our series of gardener education workshops celebrating our 40th anniversary.
The next event in our 40th anniversary workshop series is brought to us by MU Extension and taking place at the Columbia Public Library.
Soil and Nutrient Management in the Garden
Monday, May 1 at 6 p.m.
Columbia Public Library, 100 W. Broadway
Please register with MU Extension
This program provides education to the local gardeners about soil and nutrient management in their gardens. The speaker will talk about function and composition of soil, and soil organic matter. The standard procedure for soil sampling will be discussed in the meeting. There will be discussion about essential plant nutrients, soil test report interpretation and fertilizer application.
Interested participants need to register online or call to Boone County Extension Center at (573) 445-9792.
This Saturday’s workshop at Friendship Community Garden will go ahead despite the weather! We hope you’ll bundle up against the chill and join us to learn about square-foot gardening and rain barrels!
Saturday, April 22 at 12 p.m.
Friendship Community Garden
1707 Smiley Lane
Learn about square-foot gardening and DIY rain barrels at this demonstration event. Square-foot gardening is a popular method of growing an intensive vegetable garden in less space. It is also very water and resource-efficient. Visit a working square-foot garden and discuss how to fit in all your favorite veggies. Gary Carter of Friendship garden will also discuss how he sourced and installed the DIY rain barrels that help gardeners water there.
Participants will get a free space-saving heirloom tomato seedling!
This event is part of our celebrations of our 40th Anniversary! More events will be announced soon!
It’s the 40th year for the Community Garden Coalition, and to celebrate we’re organizing some public workshops on various gardening topics all season long! Please note that as our plans have come into focus, our small space gardening workshop events have changed from their original dates. There will no longer be a workshop on April 8 or May 13 as was originally planned.
Instead, please join us to learn about small space gardening and DIY rain barrels on the following date:
Small Space Gardening Workshop
Saturday, April 22 at 12 p.m.
Friendship Community Garden
1707 Smiley Lane
Learn about square-foot gardening and DIY rain barrels at this demonstration event.
Square-foot gardening is a popular method of growing an intensive vegetable garden in less space. It is also very water and resource-efficient. Visit a working square-foot garden and discuss how to fit in all your favorite veggies. Gary Carter of Friendship garden will also discuss how he sourced and installed the DIY rain barrels that help gardeners water there.
Participants will get a free space-saving heirloom tomato seedling!
Our earlier spring workshops focused on learning how to prune the fruit trees and elderberry bushes that make a nice addition on the margins of some of our community gardens. Thanks to our board member Mallary Lieber for leading those events!
We hope you’re able to get your garden ready and growing soon!
Community Garden Coalition 