The Morning Blend on Channel 9 from 11AM to noon on Wednesday, August 25 will be airing a segment on the Community Gardens of Tucson.  It is a live show so we will see what happens.  We plan to display a lot of vegetables from our gardens.  Please tune in!

We have received some wonderful publicity lately.  The current issue of Tucson Lifestyle Home and Garden has a beautiful article about us and the Sunday Arizona Daily Star (August 8th) had a great story about us on page B3.  We are hopeful that all of this may help us get some funding so that we can put in more gardens in underserved areas in our city

The number of our gardens continues to grow.  There is a tremendous interest in community gardening in Tucson right now.  All you have to do is casually mention that you work with the Community Gardens of Tucson and BOOM! everyone in earshot starts talking about land that is available for gardening.  One of our biggest expenses in putting in a garden is the shed.  In most cases, a secure shed is essential to keep all of the tools safe.  Do any of you know anyone who would like to donate a shed?  Please have them contact me:  Gene 326-0458.

We just got the letter from the IRS that approves our application for 501(c)(3) status.  This means that we are officially a nonprofit corporation and we can accept tax deductible contributions.  Your plot fees are still not tax deductible but any amount you want to donate beyond your plot fees is deductible.  Darlene worked long and hard to get this accomplished so please be sure to give her a pat on the back next time you see her.  We also are eternally grateful to Kelly and Carrie for all of the time and reams of paper they spent getting this done.  It is amazing how professionals can make a difficult task look so easy and flow so smoothly.  THANK YOU!

Several of our gardens are now full – Benedictine, Sabino Vista, St. Gregory and Sunrise. The other 6 gardens – Chaverim, Highland Vista, Keeling, New Spirit, Presidio, and S.A.R.G. – all have vacancies and we would be happy to talk to potential gardeners and help them find a garden convenient for them. Please refer your friends.
S.A.R.G. (Southern Arizona Rain Gutters) Garden is our newest garden. With this garden we finally have a garden close to downtown. It is on Stone, near Speedway. It is just starting and is not quite ready for gardeners yet but it will be soon. Contact us to reserve your plot. We hope to learn a lot about incorporating rain water harvesting at this site.
Mountain Vista UU Garden is our other very new garden and with it we finally have a garden on the northwest side of town. It is located in a beautiful setting near Ina and Thornydale. Please contact us if you would like more information.

We use a lot of tools in our gardens and sometimes they get broken. We have quite a few shovels with broken handles. Do any of you have any ideas about what to do with all of these shovels? We can buy new shovels for $6.99 and replacement handles usually cost as much or more. Is there a place to buy new handles for less? What is the answer?

It takes a couple thousand dollars to put in every new garden. In the past year, we have nearly tripled in size, growing from 4 gardens to 11 gardens. Believe it or not, CGT missed out on literally hundreds of thousands of dollars of grants this past year. Our organization needs to build relationships within our community for many reasons but some of those reasons include learning about grant opportunities and partnering with other organizations to win grants. If you think that you can help with grant applications, please contact us.

Big things are happening!  On December 18th, the Community Gardens of Tucson became officially incorporated.  This was the first step toward becoming a recognized nonprofit entity.  For nearly 20 years, CGT has been an all-volunteer-not-for-profit but the IRS considered us a social club.  By going through the process of incorporating and applying for nonprofit status, we will be able to accept tax-deductible contributions and stand a better chance of being awarded any grants we attempt.

We have new gardens open and gardeners gardening.  The garden at St. Gregory school is almost full as is the garden at Highland Vista Park (but there are a couple openings at each – contact us soon if you are interested in these gardens).  The Highland Vista gardeners put up a great fence around their garden and it looks fabulous.  The fence at St. Gregory Garden is turning out to be quite challenging but it should be done soon.  The gardeners at New Spirit Garden are harvesting the fruits of their labor.  There are still plenty of openings at this garden.  We are planning to start the fence at this garden this week.  Also this week, we are starting a new garden near First Ave. and Fort Lowell.  This garden is named Keeling Garden.  Please contact us if you would like to garden in this area.

Plots are being prepared at the New Spirit Garden and water is flowing.  We should be breaking ground at two more new gardens this week: St. Gregory and Highland Vista.  St. Gregory is near Craycroft and River and has 33 plots.  This is a school garden and is similar to our Sunrise Garden in that the school will be taking several of the plots to use for classroom activities.  Highland Vista is near 5th St. and Craycroft and is our smallest garden with only 17 plots.   It takes a lot of stuff to set up and keep our gardens running. Next time you are throwing out things or setting them by the curb or see them in your neighborhood or at a yard sale, please think of donating them to CGT. When you are at a yard sale, frequently the sellers will donate the items to you if you explain that they are for the all-volunteer not-for-profit Community Gardens of Tucson. Here are some of the things that we can always use:

Brooms

Machetes

Rain Gauges

Hammers

Long & Short handled pointed and square shovels

Hard rakes

Leaf rakes

Hoes

Buckets

Garbage cans with lids

Railroad ties

Strong scissors (kitchen shears)

Small hand trowels

Wheelbarrows

Fencing

Fence posts

Hoses

The New Spirit Lutheran Church at Camino Seco and Old Spanish Trail has donated the seed money to get their community garden started. They have also donated the space to use as our storage shed. Thank you Pastor Alan and New Spirit Congregation! We are calling it the New Spirit Garden and, of course, it is open to everyone. All of our gardens are non-denominational. It will have about 35 or 36 plots. The church held a work party on August 15th and got the site ready for the garden installation. We have outlined all of the plots and the fence line (thank you Darryl and Bonita). We should be breaking ground for the plots during the first week of September and are planning on having plots available by the last week in September.