Fenton Friday: HarvestShare Donations

 

Great news from the garden this week! We hosted our end-of-the-season Harvest Festival on Sunday and had a terrific turnout from our own garden plot folks and new people curious about the garden.

Cat Kahn, Founder and Executive Director of HarvestShare, Inc., commented: "I hadn't been to Fenton in a few months and the garden looked spectacular, especially for mid-October. The bounty collected weighed 41.2 lbs and was taken to So What Else, an organization that not only supports its own clients but shares food with other MoCo food assistance providers. That donation brought your total collection for the year to 266.45 pounds! Woohoo! Please send my congrats to the garden participants who made it happen."

In addition to sharing our produce, we shared seeds, snacks, played games, and made several cut-flower arrangements. You can see more pics from the event here.

We had another week of fairly mild weather and harvested more zucchini, cucamelons, peppers, and cherry tomatoes. We also cut more bouquets of zinnias and dahlias. The arugula, radish, and cilantro seedlings are all doing well. 

We'll be ripping out the tomato vines and last of the beans soon.

How is your garden plot growing this week?

 

About Fenton Friday: Every Friday during the growing season, I'll be giving you an update on my community garden plot at the Fenton Street Community Garden just across the street from my house in zone 7 Mid-Atlantic MD/DC border. I'm plot #16. It is a 10 ft x 20 ft space and this is our 12th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.)  See past posts about our edible garden by putting "Fenton" into the Search box above (at the top, left on this blog).

Washington Gardener Donates 10 New Gardening Books to Brookside Gardens' Horticultural Reference Library

Stephanie Oberle, Director, Brookside Gardens, peruses the latest batch of  donated books.

Washington Gardener Magazine donated 10 new gardening books to Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, MD, on Friday, November 22. These books will be added to their Horticultural Reference Library collection. 

Kathy Jentz, Washington Gardener's editor and publisher, said, "We are committed to sharing gardening knowledge with the greater community along with promoting visitation and use of our local public gardens."

Three of the books in this donation batch were reviewed in the November 2019 issue of Washington Gardener Magazine. Here are a excerpts from those reviews:

• Mini Meadows: Grow a Little Patch of Colorful Flowers Anywhere around Your Yard: “I would highly recommend this book to both experienced and first-time gardeners who want easy tips and tricks on how to plant your own small meadow!” – Taylor Markey, Washington Gardener fall editorial intern

• Growing Herbs for Food and Medicine “is the all-in-one guide you need to help you start planting and tending for herbs.” – Jessica Kranz, Washington Gardener fall editorial intern

• Dragonflies and Damselflies: A Natural History: “If you have a home library with a natural history section and children, say, over 12 years old, you should consider getting this book.” – Jim Dronenburg, local gardener and Washington Gardener freelance writer

The value of the 10 donated books is approximately $220, which brings the total to about $7,200 worth of books donated to Brookside’s Horticultural Reference Library over the past seven years by Washington Gardener Magazine.

According to the Montgomery Parks website, “The Mission of the Horticultural Reference Library at Brookside Gardens is to be a resource for Brookside Gardens and Montgomery County Parks staff, the citizens of Montgomery County, and any other individual interested in learning about the science and art of Horticulture (Adopted 1997). The library is staffed Monday – Friday from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. (or by appointment) by volunteer librarians ready to help you find answers to your plant questions. After library hours, visitors can submit plant and gardening questions to the Information Desk and will receive an answer by phone or email.”

About the author:

Taylor Markey is a senior at the University of Maryland, College Park majoring in multi-platform journalism. She is an editorial intern at Washington Gardener this autumn.

Fenton Friday: Harvest Donation

Rainbow Swiss Chard

Earlier this week, a few of us at the Fenton Street Community Garden gathered up some excess produce to donate to Shepherd's Table soup kitchen in downtown Silver Spring, MD.

From my plot, I gathered 'Rainbow' Swiss Chard, Broccoli, and Cauliflower. Donations from other plots included tomatoes, cucumber, and zucchini. I can imagine a nice vegetable soup from these contributions.

It was another hot week and every day we were promised flooding rains, but instead they went north or south of us. It is getting quite stressful watching the storm fronts flare up on the radar daily and then getting nothing here. One bonus: where we haven't watered, the weeds are parched and dying back. 

At the cistern, honeybees are desperately trying to drink from the dripping faucet handles, so I put a few container lids out a bit of water in each to give them something to land in and drink from. I'll dump these out and refill them daily until the rains return.

What is growing in your edible garden this week?

About Fenton Friday: Every Friday during the growing season, I share an update on my community garden plot at the Fenton Street Community Garden just across the street from my house in zone 7 Mid-Atlantic MD/DC border. I'm plot #16. It is a 10 ft x 20 ft space and this is our 8th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.) See past posts about our edible garden by putting "Fenton" into the Search box above.

Washington Gardener Donation Supports Brookside Garden's Horticultural Reference Collection

Corinne Stephens and Albert Arevalo
with new garden book donations at the Brookside Gardens Library.

By Alexandra Marquez

Washington Gardener staff stopped by Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, MD, last Friday to drop off a donation of books that will be added to the Horticultural Reference Library. 

Editor and publisher Kathy Jentz has featured reviews of several of the books in previous editions of the magazine. The books cover a wide range of horticultural topics, such as growing succulents, creating fairy gardens, and urban garden design. 

The value of this batch of 15 donated books is about $415, which, added to previous donations, adds to a total of about $6,971 worth of books donated to the Horticultural Reference Library in the past six years. The magazine’s largest yearly donation was its first one in 2013, with $3,070.94 worth of books donated.

The mission of the Horticultural Reference Library at Brookside Gardens is to be a resource for Brookside Gardens and Montgomery County Parks staff, the citizens of Montgomery County, MD, and any other individual interested in learning about the science and art of Horticulture. Volunteer librarians are there and ready to help you find answers to your plant questions; they are available Monday through Friday at 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., or by appointment.

About the Author:

Alexandra Marquez is a rising junior journalism and anthropology major at the University of Maryland. She is an editorial intern at Washington Gardener this summer.

Gardening Books Donated to Brookside Gardens

By Racquel Royer

On Saturday August 4, Washington Gardener Magazine donated a stack of gardening books to the library at Brookside Gardens. The value of the books came to $212, making the total amount donated to Brookside Gardens thus far from the magazine around $6,500! Book topics in this batch ranged from garden decorating to succulent growing to planting for pollinators. Washington Gardener Magazine looks forward to donating even more gardening references to the community at Brookside Gardens in the near future.

The mission of the Horticultural Reference Library at Brookside Gardens is to be a resource for Brookside Gardens and Montgomery County Parks staff, the citizens of Montgomery County, MD, and any other individual interested in learning about the science and art of Horticulture. Volunteer librarians are there and ready to help you find answers to your plant questions; they are available Monday through Friday at 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., or by appointment.

Washington Gardener Magazine dedicated to treading lightly on this planet. Because we are committed to doing all we can to protect and preserve the environment, we've adopted business practices to make our footprint as small as possible. We source 100% wind power. All of our partners and suppliers are local (DC-area) businesses and we support our local public gardens.

About the author:

Racquel Royer is a senior studying broadcast journalism in the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, College Park. This summer, she is an editorial intern at Washington Gardener.

Garden Books Gifted to Brookside Horticultural Reference Library

By Uyen Nguyen

Holly Stover accepts the book donation on behalf of Brookside.

Washington Gardener staff stopped by Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, MD, last Saturday to drop off a donation of books that will be added to the Horticultural Reference Library.

Editor and publisher Kathy Jentz has featured reviews of several of the books in previous editions of the magazine. The books cover a wide range of horticultural topics, such as propagation techniques, miniature bonsai trees, and landscape design.

The value of this batch of donated books is about $300, which added to a previous donation made earlier this year for a total of about $1,000. Last year’s book donations came to $683.01, and in 2015, Washington Gardener gave $535 in donated books. The magazine’s largest yearly donation was in 2013, with $3,070.94 worth of books donated.

The mission of the Horticultural Reference Library at Brookside Gardens is to be a resource for Brookside Gardens and Montgomery County Parks staff, the citizens of Montgomery County, MD, and any other individual interested in learning about the science and art of Horticulture. Volunteer librarians are there and ready to help you find answers to your plant questions; they are available Monday through Friday at 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., or by appointment.

About the Author:

Uyen Nguyen is a senior multiplatform journalism major at the University of Maryland. This autumn, she is an editorial intern at Washington Gardener Magazine.

Garden Books Gifted to Brookside Horticultural Reference Library

Jason Gedeik, Brookside Gardens Adult Education Manager,
accepts the latest book donations from Washington Gardener Magazine. 

Guest Post by Ana Hurler

Washington Gardener staff stopped by Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, MD, on June 28 to drop off a donation of several books to add to the Horticultural Reference Library.

Editor and publisher Kathy Jentz has featured reviews of several of the books in previous editions of the magazine. The books cover a wide range of horticultural topics, such as growing vegetables and flowers, creating pots and containers, and food gardening.

The gifted books value $217.64, added to the previous donations this year for a total of $684.04.  Last year’s book donations totaled $683.01, and in 2015, Washington Gardener gave $534.99 in books. The magazine’s largest yearly donation was in 2013, with $3,070.94 in books donated.

The mission of the Horticultural Reference Library at Brookside Gardens is to be a resource for Brookside Gardens and Montgomery County Parks staff, the citizens of Montgomery County, MD, and any other individual interested in learning about the science and art of Horticulture. The Library is staffed Monday-Friday from 10am-3pm (or by appointment) by volunteer librarians ready to help you find answers to your plant questions.

About the Author
Ana Hurler, a senior multi-platform journalism major at the University of Maryland, College Park. Ana is interning with us this summer.

Garden Book Donations to Brookside Garden's Library

Guest blog by Gaby Galvin 

On July 29, 2015, the Washington Gardener team took a trip to Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, MD, to donate 25 gardening and landscaping books to the Horticultural Reference Library in the Visitor's Center. This donation marked 197 total books donated by us with a total value of $5,506.66 since 2013.

Jared Ashling, volunteer coordinator at Brookside, said Washington Gardener Magazine’s donations have been helpful in keeping their library collection up-to-date and relevant. They have more than 7,000 books for horticulturists to conduct research. They rely mostly on donations.

Kathy Jentz, editor and publisher of Washington Gardener, received many of the books as review copies from the books’ publishers and authors. She expects to have another large crop of reviewed books to donate this fall.

Ashling said the Brookside Gardens' library has many generous donors who support them and that over the years they have received more than 5,400 books through donations. They accept gardening and horticultural books in good condition as donations. They inspect each book before adding it to their library. Books that don’t meet the criteria are either sold to earn money to buy more books or put in one of the three free little libraries on the grounds, where anyone can come and take them. 

About the author:

Gaby Galvin is a Washington Gardener Magazine summer 2015 intern who is studying multiplatform journalism at the University of Maryland. She does some gardening at home in Davidsonville, MD, with her mother and grandparents. 

 

Fenton Friday: Harvest Donation for the Hungry

This week at the Fenton Community Garden, three of us gathered donations from various plots and then tallied and weighed our annual harvest donation for a local food pantry. Here is our preliminary total:

cut flowers 3 dozen (not counted in total weight)
zucchini squash 5 lbs
beans 2 lbs
swiss chard 1 lb 11 oz
beets 2 lbs 2 oz
cherry tomatoes 39 oz
tomatoes (full-sized) 6 lbs 11 oz
melons 5 lbs
peppers (hot) 1 lb 12 oz
carrots 3 lbs basil 2 oz
parsley 2 oz
cucumber 12 oz
misc. 9 oz

TOTAL: 31 lbs 2.5 oz

Thank you to all who participated! If you would like to donate excess harvest from your garden, it can be as simple as picking it, weighing it, and dropping it off at your local food pantry or shelter. See the Plant A Row for the Hungry for more details.