January 2008 news: garden preservation, fundraising

Good news for our South Philadelphia neighborhood: The Hicks Street Garden is now officially owned by the Neighborhood Gardens Association. The land is now preserved for the purpose of community gardening! This is a win for the garden as well as for the whole community.

Now, the Hicks Street gardeners can work freely on the Garden... and on fundraising.

In order to purchase 1835 S. Hicks St. from its previous owner, it was necessary to borrow a significant amount of money from a generous donor. The sooner we repay this loan, the sooner we can give our undivided attention to improving the Garden.

If you would like to help, click here to donate through the Neighborhood Gardens Association. NGA is a non-profit agency, and your contributions are tax-deductible. (Important: Please be designate your donation for "Hicks Street Garden.")

If you have any questions about our garden or our fundraising efforts, please feel free to contact Mary at marywb@temple.edu.

Thank you for your support!

Happy Halloween!

A few of us are dressing up for Halloween and will be handing out candy
to the kids on Wednesday.  

Dress up in your duds and join us between 5:30-8:00pm, or simply stop
by to say hello.

Please tell the kids you know that we're there for "trick-or-treat."  

Fall photos

Daisies and Nemesia.



A tropical path.



Clematis has bloomed.



Vines everywhere.



Elephant's ears!


(Photos by Tiffany F.)

We won! Another workday! and... Halloween!

Fall Garden news & events:

PHS City Gardens Contest
We won 2nd place!!! We received $25 and an invitation to attend the Awards Reception on Sunday, October 21st at 2pm. ALL Hicks Street gardeners are invited. If you would like to attend, please RSVP by October 14th to marywb@temple.edu. (Space is limited.)


Fall Work Session
Sunday, Oct. 14th, 1-3pm.
RAIN or SHINE
Time to get the garden ready for winter. Volunteers needed to remove some of the plants for winter, and to decorate for Halloween. Please come and help out--the garden needs you!


Halloween in the Garden
Wednesday evening, Oct. 31st, time TBA.
Dress up, hang out, and hand out candy to the kids. More details coming.

IMPORTANT MEETING: Weds. Sept 12 @ 7pm

Hicks Garden Planning Meeting
Wednesday, Sept. 12
7:00-8:30pm
1917 S. Mole Street

SPECIAL GUEST: Terry Mushovic, Executive Director, Neighborhood Gardens Association

PLEASE MAKE TIME TO ATTEND and SHOW YOUR SUPPORT for the garden. This is a very important meeting, since it may determine the garden's future land security.

Terry Mushovic will be present to answer our questions about placing the garden in the NGA land trust.

Hope to see everyone next week!

Mary Ward-Bucher

Next Workday and Meeting

Dear friends of the Hicks Street Garden,

There will be a garden workday on August 13 and a
meeting on September 12. See below for details.


CITY GARDENS CONTEST/WORKDAY: MON., AUG. 13 6:30-7:30pm

Our garden has been selected as a "finalist" in the PHS City
Gardens contest!  We will clean up and replant parts of the
garden the evening before the
judges come.  Come out and show your support!

NEXT MEETING: WEDS. SEPT. 12 7:00PM

Our donor-lender is purchasing our garden lot this week.  At
the meeting we will discuss the next steps (fundraising, land
trusts etc.) as well as future plans for the garden.  If you
are skilled or willing in these areas, please plan to come.
We need to raise about $20,000 and would greatly appreciate
any help you can give.


In the meantime, please feel free to e-mail me (see contact info) with
questions or ideas.  Hope your summer has been a pleasant one
so far!

Mary Ward-Bucher

---

August news

Hello Hicks Garden Friends,

You'll find a quick update below.

The sunflowers are huge!!! If you haven't been by the garden recently, please stop in for a rest and a look about. The judges from the City Gardens contest thought it was "just lovely." (No word yet on the contest outcome.) THANKS to EVERYONE who is helping to water and maintain our garden this summer. This has truly been a neighborhood effort! --Mary

BUYING THE LOT:

So far, the process of buying the lot seems to be progressing fairly smoothly. Settlement will be taking place in the next week or two.

Following settlement, we will hold an open meeting to discuss where we go from here. There is much to consider, including what type of organization we want to be and how we will begin fundraising to repay the donor who is purchasing the lot for us.

The meeting will take place sometime in mid-late August at the garden. Time will be announced.

GARDENING WORKSHOP:

PHS' City Gardening Series is holding a FREE workshop called "Growing Herbs in the Home Garden." It will take place on Mon. 7/30. 6:00pm at the library @ Broad & Morris.

MOVIE NIGHT:
There will be another movie night at DiSilvestro Playground (15th & Morris) on Sat. Aug 30. @ 8:30pm. The feature film is "City Harvest," sponsored by Scribe. The film is about community gardens in Philadelphia, and the Hicks Garden will have an info table there. Come out, enjoy this documentary and show your support!

Garden party photos 6.30.2007

A pumpkin starting to grow...


Rose and Byrd.






Kitties have moved in underneath our rainbarrel!



Our flamingo with new prosthetic legs.

"Judgment Day" and other news

The garden looks great, and we had a wonderful potluck on
Saturday!  (Hope to get some more photos up soon...)

A few garden announcements:

1) CONTEST.  Philadelphia Horticultural Society's "City Gardens"
contest judges are coming to look at the garden on Weds. July
11 @ 9:30am.  If you're free at that time, you are welcome to
come and bribe... er... talk to them about your experiences
with the garden.

To get ready for their visit, I'm hoping we can tidy things up
NEXT Tuesday evening, from about 6:30-7:30.  If you can help,
please let me know.

2) BUYING THE LOT. In case you have not yet heard, the garden
lot is for sale and we're making an offer this week.  Mary's
brother has generously offered to buy the lot if our bid is
successful.  Our longterm goal would then be to raise enough
money to repay him and put the garden in a trust.

3) PLEASE PICK the GREENS!  The endive on the right side of
the vegetable frame (rear of garden) is ready.  Please help
yourself.  It can be cooked or used in salads.

That's all for now.  Will keep you updated about the sale and
the contest.

Mary

Garden Potluck--Sat. June 30th!

Come and celebrate our beautiful Hicks Street Garden.

All are invited!  Bring a friend!

GARDEN POTLUCK
Saturday 6/30/07

Garden Meeting--10:00am
Weeding & Planting--11:00am
Lunch--12:00pm

Please bring a dish to share with everyone. 
Beverages will be provided.

Workday photos 6.3.07

Look at us working hard! The kids did a great job and the heavy rain held off until we were all done. After a long struggle with dirt and compost, we finished the last planting beds. We're looking forward to our party on June 30th.







Good news: The garden is attracting birds.






A few of our many sunflowers.


In May, the neighborhood kids planted a vegetable bed and an herb box.






Lots of impatiens!




"Nicotine" flowers. (This was very exciting for our smokers.)








Hoping to put in benches sometime this summer.

June Garden News

NEXT WORKDAY
Sun. 6/3, 1pm-4pm *RAIN OR SHINE!*

After a VERY busy May, we are ready to construct the final planting beds in the garden. We may be working in the rain, so be sure to dress for the weather. Light snacks will be provided.

GARDEN POTLUCK
Sat. 6/30, 10am

Bring some food to share with your neighbors. We will do some light work in the garden and then take some time to celebrate our accomplishments!




Thank You

Even though we've only been working on the garden for a short time, we've already received substantial help from some great organizations. We'd like to especially thank Weaver's Way, Home Depot, and Philadelphia Green. Their generosity has made it possible for us to purchase materials, tools and flowers for our garden.

Above all, we'd like to thank every person who has given in some way to our neighborhood efforts. Together, we have been able to make something beautiful for everyone to enjoy. This garden would not have grown without you!

May garden news

Hi Garden Friends,

Our 1st annual Mother's Day sale was a great success! We raised over $200 for the Hicks Garden and other neighborhood greening efforts. Special thanks to everyone who helped out. We met a lot of neighbors and were able to tell many people about community happenings West of Broad.

MORE GOOD NEWS: The Hicks Garden has also received a grant from the Weavers Way Co-op in Mt Airy. With these funds, we will make more flower beds in the front of the garden, most likely in June.

AND FINALLY... Our next workday is Saturday, May 19 @ 10am (raindate: Sunday). We'll be finishing up our vegetable bed and doing a few other projects. Free snacks and water to participants!

Above all, thank you for your ongoing support. Without you, this would not have been possible. Look at all we've accomplished so far!

Hope to See You on Saturday!

BAKE SALE! Sat. 5/12, 10am-2pm

Our 1st annual Mother's Day Plant and Bake Sale is this Saturday, May 12 from 10am-2pm.

We'll be in front of the library at Broad and Morris Sts. Come out and support us! All proceeds will benefit our garden and the DiSilvestro Playground Horticulture Club.

Workday photos 4.28.07

A more relaxed workday after last week's intensive garden session. We built a new planting bed, the frame for our future vegetable plot and more parts to our rainbarrel system. Some new volunteers came out, too. Another good day!

April and May events

We had an awesome workday on Sunday! A BIG thank you to everyone who came out and got their hands dirty. Also a special thank you to the Sanchez family for donating the plans and the materials for our new fence. The progress we made in just one afternoon is amazing. Great work, everyone. Your willingness to donate your time and your ongoing support has really made this garden happen.

For photos of our garden and our work sessions , click here.

See the sidebar for upcoming events! ------------------------------>

Workday Photos: 4.22.07

Our workday on Sunday, April 22nd. We were rained out the week before, but this time we had beautiful weather.

We were able to accomplish a tremendous amount on Sunday. We planted flowers, built a fence and set up rainbarrels--all in one afternoon.

Everyone worked so hard; it was a great day!