::quick links

::resources

garden update

Collierville Christian Church is proud to host the Collierville Victory Garden, a community project to grow vegetables in an eco-friendly, sustainable manner. All produce is given to the Collierville Food Bank and other charitable organizations. Visit us on the fourth Sunday of every month at 4 p.m. in our "Open Garden"--we'd love to give you a tour!

If you would like to be involved with the Collierville Victory Garden, email Martha Pauley at smpauley@earthlink.net.

Recent photos can be viewed here

Online photos can be viewed here, compliments of Cindy Yarbrough

Collierville Victory Garden - Abundance Abounds! 8/24/2008

 We gardeners feel so much gratitude to the church for supporting our community garden, and we are thrilled and humbled every day by the beauty we see.  Venturing out in faith has blessed us all beyond our imagination.  Guess that's how it works.

 The bible says ask and you shall receive and that is just what happened in July when we gardeners asked how we could bring water closer to the garden.  Bill Ayers heard the need and next thing you know he's out there with other men digging holes and putting in irrigation lines.  Within days of asking, we had instant water...thank God for Bill Ayers!  And for all of you...whenever we have needed someone to harvest or plant, a church member has come forward, making the garden a joy rather than a burden.

 Purple hull peas, tomatoes, peppers, and squash are keeping our harvesters busy these August days.  In early September we'll be planting cold season crops:  turnips, cabbage, rutabagas--perhaps peas, onions, and lettuce, too. 

 All this generosity has resulted in more than 1250 pounds of produce delivered to the food bank and Page Robbins this year to date.  As Carl Wayne, our garden visionary says, Ain't God Good!

CVG Log Monday July 27 and Thursday July 31, 2008:

 Bill Ayers, Dylan Atchley, and Jim Gafford perfomed a miracle, adding irrigation facilities to the garden this past weekend.   We gardeners are forever thankful, and the plants are too.

 This week we sent the Collierville Food Pantry 45 lbs of zucchini, yellow squash, butternut squash, acorn squash, banana peppers, jalapeno peppers, bell peppers, purple hull peas, and tomatoes.  Total year-to-date is 780.1 lbs. This includes 3 lbs purple hull peas Janet picked Friday and 32 lbs we all picked on Sunday, all of which was taken to Page Robbins on Monday.

 Goldfinches are having a field day with the sunflower seeds!  Lots of butterflies dancing around the zinnias, too.

 Jeff is raising pea and bean plants for us to plant ASAP.

 I need to order our donated cabbages etc from Bonnie Farms for us to plant turnips and rutabagas by late August.

 Carl

The Spring Garden 2008    Carl Wayne   May 14, 2008

"I would not enter on my list of friends the man who needlessly sets foot
upon a worm." ~ William Cowper

But setting ones foot on a cutworm surely is a good deed. Our Spring Garden
for the Food Pantry for the needy is laid by, and we have begun to harvest.

We have been blessed with free use of land, a team of hard working
volunteers, more than enough funds for this year, and donated materials
and supplies.

May 10 was an open garden. We were thrilled by the many visitors and
their encouraging comments. Education on low cost, low maintenance,
sustainable practices is part of our mission. Visitors are welcome anytime,
and children are welcome to help harvest. Contact me. See email below.

We have picked and donated 65 pounds of tasty, nutritious Romaine lettuce.
That spot has already been reused by planting purple hull peas. The cabbage
and onions and Irish potatoes are big and healthy without the use of
chemical pesticides.

We did most of our work in the Winter and Spring. We have deep, rich, raised
beds planted and heavily mulched with layers of newspaper and organic
material. We are gardening above the undisturbed soil where the microbes,
earthworms and structure are with its capillary action which uses osmosis
to bring up deep moisture during Summer dry spells.

The raised beds contain over 500 bags of finely ground (with a lawn mower)
leaves, twenty yards of donated mulch, alfalfa pellets, 13-13-13 fertilizer,
SoilSoup microbial spray, homemade alfalfa tea, two trailer loads of rotted
manure, and nitrogen as needed to keep the composting process going.

This time next year we should have, Lord willing, a rich deep humus, but
this is the first year, and we are having to cut corners a bit.
http://picasaweb.google.com/sharon.lusk/ColliervilleCommunityVictoryGardenTourDayMay102008

We have struggled with rain, cool air and soil temperatures, rabbits, and
cutworms. The raised mulched beds have ameliorated the effects of the rain
and cool temperatures. It rained four tenths of an inch last night, yet I could
walk all in the garden this morning.

We have ceded the broccoli to the rabbits, but we have battled the cutworms
several ways. First we put a wood shish-ka-bob skewer beside each tomato,
pepper, squash, zucchini, and cucumber plant. But they continued they dastardly
deeds. Next we wrapped each plant stem with tin foil and applied organic
Neem oil to each plant. Almost there but no cigar. I suppose we will begrudge
them a few plants and replant the skips. Cut off tomatoes will reroot if
replanted but will waste a couple of weeks reestablishing roots.

One special joy is the grass walking paths and the interplanted flowers and
the flower beds at the trellis entrance. Momma used to tell me to make
myself useful as well as ornamental. The flowers are. They attract pollinators,
and are part of the biodiversity which attracts beneficial insects. Already the
ladybugs are busy munching on aphids. That's the way it should be.

Ain't God good!
Carl Wayne, Master Gardener
mymaters@yahoo.com