Seed-saving has been popping up in conversations in our area. Enough so that the Coalition of Community Gardens gathered some of the local seed savers to talk about what we can do, what we need to learn, and how we can spread the word.
Will Stone with the UF/IFAS Extension Hillsborough County shared the following information with us:
And, to celebrate the beginning of Community Gardens month, Seminole Heights Community Garden is hosting the first of 3 (and hopefully more!) seed and seedling swaps on April 1st. Join us!
We talk a lot about plants, but it’s our volunteers that feed our garden and help it grow. Here are just some of our wonderful gardeners:
Clockwise from top left: Snake visitor (we like him); Ellen both watering and talking; Yaakov, Thomas and Zach double-digging our future sweet potato bed; one of the pollinators in our pollinator garden; Maria wielding a rake; Cathy making perfectly straight rows for a future collard patch; Anita in a common weeding pose and Annie putting in a patch of Okinawa Spinach (center).
There’s a lot going on! Want to know more? We’re open to visitors and volunteers Saturdays 9am – 11am at 6114 River Terrace, Tampa, FL 33604.
Actually, in our garden it’s always gardening season, but the pace has really picked up this month. Here are a few images of the past month:
Everyone has pitched in spreading horse manure and turning the soil, bed by bed. We have been busy planting seeds and seedlings with our freshly sifted compost soil (thanks McFadden and Ellen!). We’re watching the new bananas, and have really been enjoying the visits from the pollinators.
The rescheduled 4th Annual Grow Gardens Conference on Friday, October 22nd had numerous engaging speakers and everyone brought home so many seeds. Thank you Kitty and the team from the Coalition of Community Gardens for continuing to expand the conversation around community gardens
It was a gorgeous day for the Seminole Heights Garden Tour on Sunday. We welcomed over 50 Seminole Heights neighbors to our garden, and it didn’t rain!
Seminole Heights Community Gardens is open to visitors and volunteers on Saturday mornings, 9am – 11am. Come see what we’re growing!
UPDATED July 20, 2021: The 4th Annual Grow Gardens Conference has been postponed. Here’s some essential information you may need to know about this change.
Changes to this event
We will reschedule later in the year.
Getting a refund
You are welcome to request a refund. You may also retain the ticket to attend the conference in the fall.
Check in for updates
We will send information directly to you about the newly scheduled date and whether in person or virtual.
Thank you for your continued support of community gardens. We look forward to seeing you at the rescheduled conference!
Thank you to all the volunteers that came out and helped us plant our garden grove of fruit trees – it’s fantastic! And once again a huge thank you to the organization Ideas For Us for the generous donation of fruit trees – they made this dream of ours a reality.
Join us next Sunday June 27, from 4 to 5 pm, when we will host a team of volunteers from IDEAS For Us supported by their partner One Tree Planted. This visit is significant for us, because the group is coming out to deliver and plant a gift of fifteen tropical fruit trees on our garden property.
Many hands make light work!
We’re pleased that IDEAS For Us chose the Seminole Heights Community Garden to receive these trees (and also their volunteer labor) in service to its mission advancing environment action worldwide. As they state it…
IDEAS For Us is working to implement local solutions to global climate issues by mobilizing individuals in eco-action projects and educating them on the environmental movement. IDEAS frequently works with like-minded groups and organizations to include more people in the mission and to expand the impact. We are honored to be partnering with the Seminole Heights Community Garden in creating a local eco-action project as we plant 15 fruit trees throughout the garden in order to provide a fresh and local food source and improve ecological health.
Our sincere thanks to them! And to you for coming out to join the effort. Please go to this Facebook link for more details.
We’ve been busy gardening through the Florida winter and spring, and the garden is as beautiful as ever. It has really been wonderful to see so many volunteers come out to help – both garden members and community members – to help maintain our lovely little corner of the earth.
A month or two back a student reporter from the USF Zimmerman School of Advertising and Mass Communications spent a morning in our garden and published this article. Check it out!
We had fun being part of the Seminole Heights Garden Tour on Sunday, October 25th. If you missed us, we’re usually in the garden Saturday mornings 9-11am.