It's been hot enough to wilt lamp posts lately! Our new plants have struggled in the heat so I've been watering them daily. One of these days their roots will be strong and settled and then they'll laugh at the heat!
Tomorrow (June 20) we'll lay down newspaper as weed barrier and future compost. We have some donated grass coming for one of our big containers and I hope to bring some Donkey-tail Spurge to add to our animal section.
I can't say thank you enough to the moms who have been so committed and helpful - you add so much to our garden and program!
Young gardeners, you can be proud of the work you've done so far! We'll just keep caring for it and watch it get better and better!
Sybil and Kim will be there tomorrow and your learning and sharing about relationships will continue, too.
See you tomorrow, wear sunscreen and hats! Sybil and Kim will have drinks and snacks.

Thurs., June 14

Oh my gosh, in my thanking I forgot someone! Geri Rood and Rood's Tires generously donated all the tires we're using for planting! It's been fun to paint them and see how "snazzy" they looked  when they're planted.

We have a little more painting to do on three of them, the lamb (planted with Lamb's Ear), the dragon (planted with snap dragons and Dusty Miller) , and the one with our Tickseed Coreopsis.

Thank you, Barb, for the reminder and many thanks for Geri and Rood's Tires for the retired tires!!

Today we had more planting to do than we had people! But, our little crew was mighty and we got all of the potted plants in the ground as well as some of the seed. Our animal plants are all planted, now we need to come up with a good way of making signs to identify them. We also planted seeds: cucumbers, pumpkins and cantaloupe.

 

The good guys from the parks department moved four giant planters and four great sitting rocks to help form the garden boundary. We're thinking of planting big grasses in the containers.

After the digging, planting, watering (and sweating!) Sybil and Kim shared info on relationship boundaries, which was followed by good discussion. All in all, a very good morning.

We're working an extra day this week - tomorrow morning we hope to get the corn, watermelon and sunflowers planted.

Hands for Growing

Hands for Growing is a collaborative effort between St. Patrick's Youth Ministry and DOVES. We grow and maintain a garden located near the horseshoe pits at Sidney Legion Park. We use the skills learned in growing and maintaining a healthy garden and relate those to skills needed to grow and maintain healthy relationships.
The program is open to young people in our community who are going into 7th-9th grades.

We are grateful to the Sidney Parks Dept for the use of land and water, and for their assistance in so many ways! Their generosity makes our program possible.

TNT Lumber generously donated and cut pieces of wood to create bottoms for our tire planters.

Our garden space has expanded this year as our young people's imaginations have expanded with their dreaming of what is possible. At this point (June 12th) we need to kick it into high gear to get things in the ground!

This space is created to allow us to share our experiences through pics and posts and it's exciting to have it in order to hear the thoughts of the young people and parents who make it possible.

Happy growing -both the garden and relationships in our lives! - this summer!