June was another busy month for the Connellsville Community gardens! Among the Trail Town Outreach Corps (TTOC), a watering schedule was written up and Elisa, Will, Emma, Phil, and Mandy all were given a weekly watering assignment. If you see these faces in the gardens, thank them for their help!
The Youth Action crew and TTOC put together June’s first community garden event, where they planted wildflowers, marigolds, and sunflowers in the CCG beds in East Park. We had hoped to spend the afternoon in the park and play some kickball, but storm-clouds rolled in just as we began to plant and the sky darkened through the afternoon. We hurried to put the last seeds in the final bed just as the rain began.
We donated our first bag of endive greens, mustard, and arugula to the Salvation Army Soup Kitchen here in Connellsville. It was exciting to see the greens planted by the Youth Action Crew ready to be shared and enjoyed! The community center garden had an impressive number of tomatoes pop up again from last year’s planting, so they were herded into one bed for mystery tomatoes. The squash and melons have stretched their long vines and the sunflowers are getting taller! June’s heat proved wonders for the peppers, but the pea season is almost up.
We gathered some dried, rattling pods from the 3rd Street. beds to save as seed for next year. By the end of June, a bountiful display had grown along the 3rd Street beds with the Lions’ Club roses still in bloom, La Boheme’s swiss chard and peppers, and the CCG berries and greens. In the CCG plots along 3rd St., the endive and lettuce mixes are thriving around pepper bushes; the Golden Raspberries, Red Raspberries, and Strawberries have been neighborhood favorites. We found our first pepper of the season on June 14th along 3rd Street.
Later in June, we had a volunteer night in the garden across from the Armory. Community members came out to build a compost bin, remove poison ivy, and plant seedlings. The Domino’s here in Connellsville donated pizzas for the event and we snacked on some Golden Sweet Peas growing along the garden’s fence! It was a great chance to get to know the volunteers in the garden and learn about garden lime, poison ivy, and lasagna mulching.
July should be a calmer month for the community garden with more food to donate to the food bank and the start of pepper, tomato, eggplant, and bean seasons!
