Hi All,
Well, it’s finally happened. Today it feels like autumn has officially begun. Larry is outdoors wearing his winter coat and I’m in the study with the fireplace warming my toes. Our calendar officially reminded us last month (September 22) when cooler weather was expected along with shorter amounts of daylight. All I can think is, Welcome fall! For week 25 expect beautiful PGG pictures of spectacular tree colors.
Last week when Project GREEN volunteers + Master Gardener (MG) volunteers met the temperature was 64-degrees and as we left the temperature had risen to 68-degrees. The air quality was “good” at 39 and humidity was 81%. Our week’s rain total was 0.25 inches. There were 11 volunteers in all and they were: Diane Allen (3 hours), Kara Frankman, Monica Hoherz, Barb Schintler (1 hour), Susan Ahrens, Rina Sjolund, Pat Yeggy, Hetty Hall, Lisa Haverkamp (MG), Cindy Parsons, Linda Schreiber (MG). Since week 23, Larry and Diane Allen spent 2 hours each clearing West Oval 1. This past Saturday, Jim Peters cleared the sidewalks, driveway for 1 hour. By the way, we have a lot more sidewalks now! It was reassuring when Jim mentioned nearly all the walnuts had fallen. Diane Allen and Michele Sorrell met on Thursday, 9:30 a.m. for 1 hour each to discuss other times to volunteer at the PGG.
Our to-do list included: raking West Oval 1, weeded and deadheaded the Gardens, watered containers and wagons, filled the Little Free Library, cleared sidewalks, driveway, and parking lot, pruned trees in West Oval 1 with new batches of reciprocal saw blades, straightened the garage. Thanks to Gary Klinefelter and Cindy Parsons for their latest donation of a battery powered blower. We LOVE power tools at the PGG!
Here are the numbers after spending 24 weeks caring for the Project GREEN Gardens. Weeks 1 – 23 + Week 24 = 970 1/2 hours + 25 hours
= 995 1/2 hours for the PGG and our merry-band of gardeners!
Many thanks to all! Look how close we are to our goal of 1000 volunteer hours! With two weeks left on our PGG calendar, we will surpass this amazing number while continuing our quest to beautify and make welcoming the PGG.
Ed Rinderspacher, Project GREEN’s project manager, has delivered to the parking lot mulch to move to West Oval 1. Do I need to remind everyone it’s still the good stuff, better known as black-gold quality mulch? Ed plans to bring his dingo and gater to move the mulch along with our very own Fern. We will use shovels, rakes, and volunteer power to get a 3 inch mulch layer over the Oval. Also volunteers will dig canna lilies and elephant ears to place onto tarps. The rhizomes and bulbs will be cleaned up and dried before over-wintering in the Hidden Acres well house.
The REAP GRANT continues! Here are a few pictures of last week’s work:
Pictures 2 & 3 show a northern path from the hiking/biking trail that leads to a fire pit. Project GREEN hopes to use the fire pit October 27 after volunteers finish their to-do list. Fingers crossed it will be ready to make s’mores for all! More info on this later.
During our week 23 morning discussions, volunteers chose November 3 for our end-of-season brunch. Brunch will be at Chez Allen’s, 2752 Hidden Valley Trail NE, Solon, 52333. GPS will lead you to our front door. We will begin at 9 a.m. and celebrate our 26 weeks together. There will be a slide show as we eat and discuss this year’s successes and next year’s plans. The Allens will provide 2 breakfast casseroles, mimosas, coffee, hot tea, etc. Larry will grill a couple ham steaks. Tomorrow (Monday, October 20) a sign-in sheet will be available for volunteers to help with the menu by bringing: fruit salad, potato dish, and sweet breakfast treats. Anyone who has worked at the 2025 Gardens is invited! Please let me know if you plan to attend.
Looking forward to seeing our volunteers tomorrow! Until then, happy gardening! Diane