SPRING!
Is March 20th.
Hard to imagine that those piles of snow in the garden pits will EVER melt. Nevertheless, it's time to think green. We are having our pre-Sping pre-planting meeting in a few weeks. I will email the final date and location by February 20.  Stay warm and flower power!!

Chelsea Garden Club Tour

You are cordially invited

to the
Second (sort-of) Annual
 Chelsea Garden Club Pit Tour
on
Saturday, July 13that
10 a.m.meet at
Eighth Avenue & 22nd Street
(at our composter in front of Foragers)

We will start at 22nd and (if everyone is game, make a side trip to 23rd and 7th to Kent's gardens) then proceed South to 17th and Eighth then over to Ninth Ave and stroll north up as far as Cynthia's pit at 30th then back to Eight Ave and down finishing at 23rd.
(You might want to bring a folding chair, or your bike)

Gardeners you have three weeks
Flower Power!

The latest: free sod, compost news and pit tour

Hey everybody,
A couple things:

1) We have been offered some free grass/sod!
Village Alliance is sponsoring a street festival that will have a temporary lawn with 1,000 sq. ft. of sod out on the street. If anyone from CGC be interested in picking up the free sod once the festival concludes at 5pm on 6/15 and 6/22, let me know as they would like to have an idea of how much they can unload. (cgc.nyc@gmail.com)
... The pick up site would be West 8th Street & MacDougal.

2) the composter is up and running at 8th & 22nd. Right side is cooking nicely and almost ready to be used. The left side is empty and ready for your discarded fruit, veggies, leaves, plants, coffee grounds and brown paper. Small pieces please. They break down faster! Thanks again to Phyllis Waisman for getting it for us. We've had it about a year without incident. So far so good!

3) I'd like to get everyone together for a garden club tour sometime in July, say a Saturday morning on the 13th, 20th or 27th. If anyone feels strongly about any of those dates let me know.
Flower Power!
Missy

Gardeners,
Send me pictures of your pits with their Spring blooms!
Here's 19th& 9th, north side with Chewey wondering why I am making him sit still:

First flowers of Spring

It is so heartening to see the bulbs beginning to bloom. Walking by the grape hyacinths, tulips and daffodils just makes me happy. I've put down hundreds of seeds and can't remember what or where. Summer's blooms will be a big surprise.
Flower Power!

Daffodils at 20th St. & Ninth Avenue (why are they looking away?)

 See if you can spot the cigarette butts.

Hudson River Park is looking for volunteers

They got hit bad by the Sandy storm surge.
So if you want even more gardening in your life, email them.
Contact Matt Post, director of horticulture. mpost@hrpt.ny.gov

And check out their website at hudsonriverpark.org

Cold, Dark and Dead

Spring seems so far away. The only things of note in my pit are the garbage and cigarette butts. Still I got this note from Christine Quinn's office and thought a few of you might still be interested in things like mulch. In the meantime, stay warm. Think green thoughts.

MulchFest 2013

Please join the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, the New York City Department of Sanitation, and GreeNYC in recycling your Christmas trees into wood chips.  Bringing your tree to a designated city park to be recycled into mulch will nourish plantings across the city!  You can also take home your very own bag of free mulch to use in your backyard or to make a winter bed for a street tree.

MulchFest 2013 is happening this Saturday and Sunday, January 12 and 13 from 10:00AM to 2:00PM.  

There are chipping locations, where you can drop off your tree and pick up a bag of mulch and drop off only locations all over the City.  To find one closest to you please visit http://www.nycgovparks.org/highlights/festivals/mulchfest.   

You can bring your tree to a drop-off site from Wednesday, January 9 through Sunday, January 13.  Leave your tree with the Parks Department and they will recycle it.