Fall Garden Reminders

If you enjoy fall gardening, you'll need to remember a few key points! The fall planting schedule means that you will most likely be growing your garden during the driest part of the year. Just because it is cooler doesn't mean that your fall garden crops needs less water.  Keep a eye on you rain gauge. If your garden is not getting at least 2 to 3 inches of rain each week, you will need to make up the difference through watering.
Also keep in mind that if you are planting a fall garden according to the first frost date, the first frost date is only a guideline. Jack Frost may come a bit earlier than expected, so be prepared to cover and protect your fall vegetable garden in the event of light frost.

If you live in the South, it is nice to know that Mother Nature makes up for sweltering summer heat by giving you the chance to enjoy a fall vegetable garden.

County Commission Unveils New Website - Features Community Gardens Project

The Montgomery County Commission just released its new website, and we are thrilled with all the information the new site will offer. New additions include an expanded web page for Montgomery County Parks and Recreation -- the home of the Community Gardens Project!

On the popular links section of the page, it will link to this blog and will provide citizens with more information on healthy eating and gardening tips. Look for tips on fall gardening and recipes coming soon.


County Parks and Rec Supervisor James Williams said that they are currently gearing up for the fall planting season. We'll post more about their fall community gardens once we get more details! Until then, Happy Planting!

Until then, please check out the new website at: http://www.mc-ala.org/

ACHIEVE "Change Week" Program

During ACHIEVE'S "Change Week"last week, members of the Montgomery County CHART met with designated segments of the county to identify areas of change needed in the community. Representatives from Health Care, Community At Large and Community Initiatives enjoyed a working lunch at Silver Spoon in Montgomery, as they collectively answered questions designed by the ACHIEVE organization. Team members met with members of the school system earlier to take a look at the county's education system and changes needed in that segment.

According to Co-Chairman of the Montgomery CHART, Jennifer Anderson, the information collected from the meetings will be used to identify gaps in the community and identify ways to institute health and wellness plans and systemic change in Montgomery County.

Be Careful in the Garden

Now that summer is here, many of us will begin to build our gardens. While we may not think about it, the garden can be a dangerous place if we do not take steps to include safety into our routine. For maximum benefit with minimum effort, there are some things that you can do in the garden to make your gardening safer and more pleasurable. The sun is hot so remember to wear a hat in the garden and don't forget the sunglasses to protect yourself from the sun and flying objects that can injure your eyes. Don't forget to apply sunscreen liberally even if it is a cloudy day.

Wear proper attire. Safety gloves will protect your skin from cuts and from contaminated soil. Wear boots and no baggy clothing. Most importantly use goggles to protect your eyes when using trimmers or other cutting machinery. Place your garden tools in an area where you will not cut yourself on any sharp edges. Beware of the improperly placed garden rake-unlike the movies-getting hit in the face with a handle hurts. Make sure the garden tools and equipment you are using are in good condition because a malfunction in damaged garden tools can cause a serious injury. Use ladders, shovels, and heavy cutting machinery with safety and caution.

Many garden supply centers sell resting pads for your knees. This is a comfortable option if you are going to spend a lot of time digging. It protects you from the hard ground and from the chill.

Take a break. Don't spend too much time in the sun and heat. Cool down and get yourself a glass of ice water. Don't over do it.

Gardening to Cut Your Grocery Bills

Gardening to Cut Your Grocery Bills
by Veronica Lorson Fowler

Why pay top dollar for produce that isn’t half as good as what you could grow in your garden?
Want to save $5, $10 – even $25 – a week on your grocery bill? Consider adding fruits and vegetables to your garden! You can grow much of the food you regularly purchase for a fraction of what you pay at the store. (And if you normally only buy organic produce, the savings can be even higher.)

Of course, there are additional benefits to growing your own food. For one, you’ll always have a variety of produce handy, which means fewer last-minute grocery trips. And chances are you’ll be eating better, too. After all, you’ll have a bounty of produce right at your fingertips! Perhaps the biggest advantage of all is you’ve got control of where your food comes from, which means you won’t have to worry about unwanted pesticides and salmonella outbreaks.
The list of fruits and vegetables that the average gardener can grow is practically endless. Here are some of the easiest ones to plant, tend and harvest. (Unless otherwise noted, all need full sun.)

Lettuces and greens (especially gourmet types). You can spend as much as $4 (or more) for a bag or box of mixed spring greens, baby spinach or arugula at the supermarket, but you can grow it at home for a lot less! Growing greens takes up very little space (you can even do it in containers), and it’s easy to do from seed. For the price of one packet (just $1-$2), you can have lots of beautiful salads.

You can spend $2-$3 on one container of cherry tomatoes at the store, or you can buy one tomato plant and enjoy a season-worth of (better) flavor.To get the most of your leaf lettuces and spinach, trim off the leaves an inch or two above the ground rather than pulling out the entire plant. The tops will regrow quickly, giving you at least one extra harvest in less time than it takes to replant the crop from seed. While lettuces do best in full sun, they’ll grow nicely in light shade, too – especially if it’s afternoon shade.

Tomatoes. Almost everyone knows homegrown tomatoes just taste better, yet scads of shoppers pay through the nose for pithy, flavorless supermarket varieties. If you insist on flavor but don’t grow your own, you may end up purchasing your produce at a farmers’ market or fruit stand – better than a grocery store, but sometimes still expensive. Buying an entire tomato plant is so much cheaper (not to mention more rewarding)! You can usually buy a few plants for under $5, and you can grow enough tomatoes for delicious BLTs all summer long for a family of four!

Tree fruits. For a one-time investment, you can have a lifetime supply of your favorite fruit! Some fruits, like plums, peaches and apricots, are hard to find in stores at tree-ripened perfection the way they grow in a home garden. Nothing tastes like a perfectly ripe, homegrown peach, right off the tree – still warm from the sun! If you wind up with more harvest than you can handle or give away, freeze it. Cherries and other stone fruits take the cold well, saving you even more money during the winter months. It’s truly a priceless – and delicious – investment.

Fresh herbs. How maddening is it to spend $2-$3 for a shriveled little bundle of herbs in a plastic box at the supermarket when you know that same herb will grow in abundance in your garden with almost no work? Herb starts (or starter plants) sell for anywhere from 50 cents to $5, depending on the type and size. Plant a bed of herbs by your back door or in any sunny spot, and you’ll have a living spice cabinet at your disposal!

Bramble fruits (raspberries, blackberries, etc.). Berries cost a king’s ransom at the supermarket – easily $2 or more for a small box, even when they’re in season. Equally annoying is the fact that berries tend to mildew within hours of arriving home. Stop dealing with the middleman and grow bramble fruits on your own!

Take raspberries, for example. It’s easy to grow them in your back yard. In fact, in most climates, the shrub-like canes spread and multiply. Most need no sprays or fertilizer – just an annual spring pruning. They’ll do best if trained on a fence or support, but the bushes also do fine just spreading in a patch. Bramble fruit plants usually sell for $3-$5 each and multiply rapidly. Start with 10 plants, and in 2-3 years, you should have enough fruit for a family of four.

Asparagus. When in season, this spring treat can cost about $4-$5 for two small bundles at the supermarket. Instead, consider purchasing some starter plants and establishing an asparagus patch. It takes about three years before you can harvest, but like a fruit tree, your asparagus patch will continue to produce delectable harvests for a lifetime – and save you lots of money over the long haul. Twenty plants cost about $15 and are enough to modestly feed a family of four. (Forty plants is an even better idea.)

Of course, there are countless other crops you can grow to help reduce your grocery bills. Even if you’re pressed for gardening space, just one or two plants can save you money – not to mention introduce you to a new rewarding pastime!

Grilled Baby Carrots and Green Beans

Fire up the grill! A garlic-pepper spice blend jump-starts the flavor in this great veggie combo. From eatbetteramerica.com
Prep Time:35 min
Start to Finish:35 min
makes:4 servings
1 cup baby-cut carrots, cut in half lengthwise
8oz fresh green beans, ends trimmed
Cooking spray
1teaspoon olive, canola or soybean oil
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram leaves
1/2 teaspoon garlic-pepper blend
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 medium red onion, cut into 1/2-inch wedges
1. Heat gas or charcoal grill. In medium bowl, place carrots and beans. Spray vegetables with cooking spray; toss to coat. Add remaining ingredients except onion; toss to coat. Place vegetables in grill basket (grill “wok”).
2. Place grill basket on grill rack over medium heat. Cover grill; cook vegetables 10 minutes. Place onion in same medium bowl. Spray onion with cooking spray; toss to coat.
3. Add onion to grill basket. Cover grill; cook 8 to 10 minutes longer, shaking basket or stirring vegetables occasionally, until vegetables are crisp-tender.

Nutritional Information
1 Serving: Calories 60 (Calories from Fat 15); Total Fat 2g (Saturated Fat 0g, Trans Fat 0g); Cholesterol 0mg; Sodium 170mg; Total Carbohydrate 10g (Dietary Fiber 3g, Sugars 4g); Protein 2g % Daily Value*: Vitamin A 110%; Vitamin C 8%; Calcium 4%; Iron 4% Exchanges: 0 Other Carbohydrate; 1 Vegetable; 1/2 Fat Carbohydrate Choices: 1/2 MyPyramid Servings: 1 c Vegetables *% Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

Gardening from Generation to Generation

I grew up gardening. My grandfather had a garden…not a huge one but enough land to plant beautiful straight rows of tomatoes, peppers, okra, squash and other summer and fall vegetables. For fun, he even tried his hands at peanuts, watermelons, cantaloupe and a couple of cotton plants...just to show the grandkids and neighbors ... and "just to see how they turn out," he'd say.

He grew fresh vegetables for our family’s dinner table…but he also grew them to educate me. You see, he loved the land and he wanted me to love it, too. To this day, I can still remember the feel of rich Louisiana river bank soil in my hands. And its smell! There’s nothing like it in the world…fresh, robust, sweet!

I remember the look of my grandfather’s hands, weathered and callused, working beside my tender, tiny hands. Pop-o had his large garden and I had my own. Together, we worked the soil; pulled the weeds; planted the tiny plants and quenched the soil’s thirst for water. Each day, I awoke and ran barefooted to the garden to see how nature’s handiwork had changed overnight.

Each year, my own little garden boasted one lone blackeyed-pea and lima bean bush, a tomato and pepper plant, and a single strawberry plant. Throughout the summer, Pop-o and I harvested our crops and basked in the praises we received for our efforts at our family’s dinner table. There is nothing as satisfying as eating the peas that you planted, nurtured, picked and shelled! No store-bought, canned or frozen peas would dare to compare.

Today, I’m passing that passion for gardening on to my own daughter. Times have changed. We don’t own a tiller and our gardens are now limited to containers. But none the less, the love of land and sense of accomplishment can still be passed on, no matter its form.

Freshly-grown tomatoes, peppers and strawberries are now on our family’s dinner table. Well, everything but the strawberries. As soon as they rippen, my daughter plucks them from their sunny spot and runs to wash them in the water spigot, quickly popping the sweet berries into her mouth. I see her sitting on the swing, barefooted, tanned and smiling, and I catch a glimpse of myself at six years old, eating the best strawberries in the whole life! I think of my grandfather and can just picture his big smile of approval, as he removes his hat and wipes his brow...pausing just a moment from his work in Heaven’s gardens.