Friends of the Occoquan

Garden Talks

Sponsored by Friends of the Occoquan

On Saturday, October 8th, 2022 from 11 am to 1 pm Dan McGregor, co-owner of Ecological Gardening Services presented a workshop "Gardening in Uncertain Times: Building Autonomy & Connection to the Land. 

The workshop was held at the Park Place Peace Garden in Norfolk, Virginia.  

Topics Included:

* Ecology-Environment and how we need to learn that we are part of it- not above or apart from it.

* Low maintenance annual crops

* Perennials

* Community Gardens

Handouts  included:

1  20 Most Valuable Wood & Perennial Native Plant Genera in Terms of Supporting Biodiversity in the Mid-Atlantic Region 

2. Notable Plants and Mushrooms

Gardening at home shouldn’t cost more than buying produce from the local grocery store.  The whole idea is to beat the system—better quality food at lower cost.  Realistically, you won’t be able to supply all your fruit and veggie needs for the entire year, but you should be able to make a dent in what you have to import, especially if you’re buying organic.  Frugal gardening is a mindset; an extension of the concept, frugal living.  Conscientious effort is given to reusing, repurposing, recycling, sharing, etc. to avoid paying any more than necessary for necessities and any luxuries.    Imagination is a crucial element to frugal gardening as one must be able to see the potential uses for discarded items, as well as, envision a way to maximize savings for purchases.

 Sharon Barnes

On Saturday, August 22^nd in Norfolk, VA, Sharon Barnes did a FOTO sponsored workshop on Frugal Gardening the Cheapskate Way.  Attendees learned that gardening at home shouldn’t cost more than buying produce from the local grocery store.  Sharon explained the whole idea is to beat the system—better quality food at lower cost.  Realistically, you won’t be able to supply all your fruit and veggie needs for the entire year, but you should be able to make a dent in what you have to import, especially if you’re buying organic.  Frugal gardening is a mindset; an extension of the concept, frugal living.  Conscientious effort is given to reusing, repurposing, recycling, sharing, etc. to avoid paying any more than necessary for necessities and any luxuries. Imagination is a crucial element to frugal gardening as one must be able to see the potential uses for discarded items, as well as, envision a way to maximize savings for purchases. After the brief talk participants took a tour around the Panther Fresh Garden at Lindenwood Elementary School where they were able to see firsthand how items that normally would make their way to the landfill were repurposed into the garden. Examples Included (pictures below):

Real Wood Dresser as planting boxes

Air Conditioner condensation is used to fill a rain barrel and buckets for watering

Metal chair frames used to support tomatoes

Old Leaky boots get a new life as planters

Wooden Pallets serve as raised beds

Wheel barrow with bowls are repurposed for plantings

Scour the curb on trash days for all your garden needs. Not the shed composted wheelbarrow and garden cart were all rescues from the doom of the landfill

We thank Sharon Barnes for her commitment to both the environment and her community!

August 2020

Sharon Barnes writes:

We meet up at the garden weekly on Tuesday evenings at 6 pm to beat the heat.  Watering is a top priority at this time of the season.  While rain storms are seeming to mostly evade us, we have the rain barrel positioned underneath an air conditioner drain pipe.  The condensation drip fills the barrel. I just started a simple compost bin and am asking garden volunteers to bring fruit and veggie scraps from home to get it going.  Over the spring and now summer we have harvested blueberries, Swiss chard, peas, lettuce, zucchini squash, ikra, beans and corn.  There are 4-5 baby watermelons and at least one cantaloupe on the vines and sunflowers galore.  I hope to get informational signage installed before the end of summer.  It is a labor of love!  I'll keep you posted.  Thank you FOTO for your continued support.

May 2019- The Panther Fresh Garden

Friends of the Occoquan supports garden projects in the City of Norfolk. With the support of our sponsors we were able to assist Lindenwood Elementary School’s Panther Fresh Garden.  FOTO was able to supply the green club with garden gloves, seed packets, organic soil mix, garden plants, ceder fencing, a rain barrel and paint primer.

Below is the report from Sharon Barnes a community member who took it upon herself  with the help of Principal Dennis Holland, Betty Baucom, Steven Dolly, Halima Davis, and Lorenzo Fiorillo to get this garden project underway.

The Lindenwood Elementary School Green Team began its vegetable and flower garden journey on March 12, 2019.  Twelve students, mostly 5^th graders and one 3^rdgrader, along with four adults, staff and volunteers, met in the school library to set off on the mission of building, literally, from the ground up, an understanding of what is involved in growing food. Each weekly meeting begins with a short planning session to review what was accomplished the previous week and discuss what is intended for that day’s work.                     

Each week we have a slightly different group of students working in the garden, but we have had a lot of fun getting to know one another.  We’ve tasted unfamiliar food that we have attempted to grow from seed (papaya, unsuccessfully). 

We look forward to sampling our crops when they mature for harvest.  There have been a few setbacks, but that happens to the most seasoned of farmers.  Vandals have visited our little plot of land, but we persevere.  There are rabbits with which to contend.   Every week we can possibly attend to our garden, we are out there working, laughing, and learning.

The Panther Fresh Garden is not just a garden.  It is an outdoor laboratory for learning about plants, yes, but also about decomposition (composting).  We are learning about  recycling and reusing.  Our planting boxes were rescued from the curb on trash pickup day.  So was our compost bin.  Our students are learning that you don’t have to spend a lot of money to start a vegetable garden.   You can grow food using what you have in creative ways; by repurposing items and giving them new life.

On Saturday, May 27th, 2017 a group of volunteers braved the heat to finish a pollinator garden at the Park Place Peace Community Garden in Norfolk, Virginia. Plants and work efforts were donated by members of the Friends of the Occoquan, League of Conservation Voters, Friends of the Indian River, Catholic Workers and the Park Place Peace Garden. Even the chickens came out to check out the action! FOTO has several projects that they will be assisting the Park Place Peace Garden with this summer which will include soil testing, and creating a Straw Bale garden. Job well done everyone!

Norfolk, Virginia

Spring/Summer 2016

Congratulations to Boy Scout Adrian Monson from Troop 180 on the completion of his Eagle Scout Project. Adrian helped a group of Master Gardeners from the Wesley Memorial UMC turn a topic of conversation into a reality- a beautiful community garden. FOTO provided Adrian with the wood, soil, compost and barrels/accessories to assist with his project. With the help of family and friends Adrian built three 4’x8’ raised beds and filled them with soil and mushroom compost. To provide water for the garden Adrian created a rain harvesting system by constructing, connecting and installing four rain barrels.  

The Giving Garden is maintained by the Master Gardeners and the children from the Club Sandwich After-School Program.

Workdays for the garden are 1:30-2:30 pm on Fridays. The garden is located behind the church at 288 E. Little Creek Road in Norfolk, VA. 

Established in 2010 The Park Place Peace Garden is an organic community garden located at 527 and 529 West 29th street in Norfolk, Virginia. Visit their Facebook page Park Place Peace Garden and see what's happening.

The beautiful Zakiyyah Rasheed, In Her Own Words. With her grandchildren and fellow gardeners Gary Dubour Jr., George Ibarra and Park Place Peace Garden community. Video by Nia Amoruso