Kansas City Urban Farms and Gardens Tour

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Last weekend a few CGC gardeners headed west to tour the urban farms and gardens of Kansas City. The event was hosted by the Kansas City Center for Urban Agriculture and featured small farms, community gardens, youth gardens, and homesteads throughout the KC metro area.  Live music, cooking demonstrations, and childrens activities were sprinkled throughout the tour and farmers and gardeners were eager show off their efforts.  The tour was preceded by a week and half of events, films, and discussions about growing, selling, preparing, and eating locally grown food.

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Community Garden Bike Tour — Saturday, June 20, 9:00 to 11:00 am

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We are putting the finishing touches on organizing a Community Garden Bike Tour with PedNet and GetAbout Columbia. The tour will take place on Saturday, June 20, from 9 to 11am and will begin at the Ash Street garden (201 W Ash, behind the brown apartment and wooden fence). The tour will then proceed to the Circus-Lyon garden, St. Joseph Street garden, Sustain MIzzou Research Farm, Benton-Stephens Neighborhood garden, and finish at the Westwinds Court garden. Plans are to spend about 10 to 15 minutes at each garden. Gardeners and garden leaders will be on hand to provide information and answer questions. For more information, check out the listing on the GetAbout Columbia events calendar, http://www.getaboutcolumbia.com/calendar.

Register by calling GetAbout Columbia at (573) 442-7189, ext. 29. Be sure to bring your helmet.

Warm Season Plants Ready, Thanks Due

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Warm season transplants are ready for community gardeners to pick up starting Friday. Contact your garden leader for details.

I thought it was high time to thank some people for these plants, too. While the CGC paid for the seeds, the generosity of many people was necessary to raise them. Jenny Grabner ordered materials, seeds, and donated her time to grow the plants for us. Jerry and Janice Schuerenburg, owners of Heartland Family Nursery, donated space and heat for Jenny to raise the plants in their green house. Becky Whitworth, daughter of Jerry and Janice, delivered plants and donated some miscellaneous herbs and flowers. Thanks also to the Columbia Farmers Market for donating a few flats for tomatoes and hot peppers.
Please thank these kind folks if you run into them at the farmer’s market or around town.

Making the most of clay soil

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During last weekend’s warm and dry weather, I finally had the chance to turn over and work up part of my garden plot at the Ash Street garden. To my disappointment, I discovered that my plot is full of heavy, sticky clay. I suspect the soil had been disturbed when the three houses that used to reside on the garden were removed. If you’ve ever worked with heavy clay soil, you know that it can be quite challenging. On the other hand, it offers the chance to use some good gardening practices to turn poor soil into productive soil… if you’re up for it. Continue reading →

Community Gardening Webinar

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mp0906coverA webinar (on line teleconference) will be held on Thursday, April 23, from 2:00 to 3:30 pm, to introduce a new University of Missouri Extension publication titled “Community Gardening Toolkit.” The toolkit provides tips, steps, resources, and tools for starting and managing a community garden. A PDF of the toolkit can be downloaded at http://extension.missouri.edu/explore/miscpubs/mp0906.htm.

To register, contact Casi Lock at LockC@missouri.edu or 573-884-3794. Once registered, you’ll receive information about how to to tune in and take part from your home or office computer.  The webinar is sponsored by University of Missouri Extension Healthy Lifestyle Initiative.  Bill McKelvey will be the presenter.