Springmoor Floral Focal Points: Plant a Row of Veggies for Charity

By Thom Morgan, Springmoor Landscape Manager

Thom Morgan

Springmoor Donates Spare Veggies to Food Bank

It was January 2009, and I was thinking about what Springmoor residents and staff could do in the way of a community outreach project when I heard of the Plant a Row program in which a lot of local organizations were participating. It seemed like a great fit for our community: Springmoor had a half-acre of land that we set aside in March 2000, and we had 24 resident gardeners who were very adept at growing fresh vegetables.

Plant a Row, by the way, encourages gardeners to plot one extra row of their vegetable garden and donate the resulting produce to their local food bank. I asked Springmoor Executive Director Fred Conner to see if we could participate and he thought it was a good idea; at the same time, another staff member approached him to see if Springmoor could participate in Stop Hunger Now, which is another community outreach program that helps malnourished residents of impoverished countries. Springmoor ended up taking part in both programs, and just finished packing more than 40,000 meals for Stop Hunger Now.

Springmoor's Floral Focal Points: Rain--too much of a good thing?

By Thom Morgan, Springmoor landscape manager

In last month’s blog, I mentioned that Springmoor experienced a lot of rain in June and July. August continued to be wet, and we got a break from the summer heat. I also mentioned that lawns, landscape plants and vegetables only need 1.5 inches of rain a week in summer, and just one inch of rain a week during the cooler months.

When you get too much rain, the ground becomes saturated and plants that can’t tolerate too much water die. If you have a spot that stays constantly wet, there are trees and shrubs that can tolerate high moisture, and low oxygen in the soil.