Spring Plant Sale – Orders Being Taken

Contributed by Mike McCulley and Joe Howard

Get ready to plant! This spring’s plant sale begins today. Mike McCulley, Chair of the Garden Committee, reports, “We are not going to be able to have our plant sale in the traditional way this year, because of the restrictions, and that is why we are doing a virtual sale and need to get the order form on the RA website.” So, click here to download the order form. Joe Howard has included pictures of the flowers and vegetables available on the order form. You complete the order form with a check made out to the Residents Association and return it to Mike. (The form has all the instructions.) Plants will be delivered on a first come, first serve.

Mike reports that the committee began planning right after last year’s sale. They got a new supplier, a new watering and fertilizing program and the expertise of Kyle Olsen. As the pictures show, the plants are growing well! A crew of residents planted 1200 flower plugs in early March and later planted 250 vegetable seeds – tomatoes, peppers and herbs. They have been diligently cultivating them since.

Composting! A new green venture on campus!

Contributed by Marian Fuchs

A small group of entrepreneurial residents have got together to start a new eco-project at Collington. All of us who drink tea or coffee have the chance to recycle our old grounds and tea bags in the Collington compost project, along with fruit rinds, vegetable waste, dead plant leaves and the like.

The implementing team consists of Don Peterson and an ad-hoc committee of four: Nini Almy, Liz Barbehenn, Shirley Denham and Marilyn Meek. Below are Don and Nini — two of the instigators!

Don Peterson

Nini Almy

Without much fanfare, the group have set up a series of seven compost bins – four by the greenhouse and raised beds (pictured above), the other three at the Hilltop Gardens. Totally compostable bags are available in the greenhouse, up at the Gardens and in the Country Store.

If you haven’t already started recycling, here are the compost instructions – copied on every bin.

Near the compost bins is a big trash can, where you can contribute the things that should not be composted, as shown below.

It will take about a year for the items in the bins to turn into good, rich, compost that Collington gardeners can use in 2019 to improve the soil in which they will be growing their herbs, vegetables and flowers. What a win-win project!

Persimmons

Have you ever tried persimmons? One of the most common fruits in Asia, they come in two major varieties, heart-shaped Hachiya that is palatable only when soft while the more squat fuyu can be eaten as an apple. Our highly knowledgeable chair of the Garden Committee, Bill Preston, owned a thriving orchard of organic fuyu persimmons for many years. He has painstakingly grafted the trees with the best cultivars, yielding persimmons that are wonderfully tasty. Bill will have a stand in the Holiday Bazaar this Friday. Do not deny yourself the opportunity to try them.

Contributed by Dorothy Yuan

Collington blooms at the end of summer…

By Marian Fuchs, photo editor

mums

It’s been sad to see the leaves turning so early this year. But Collington still has plenty of flower viewing left for you to enjoy. Here are some examples from the Hilltop Garden, which you can visit for yourselves, ideally in the early morning of a sunny day.

In addition to the marigolds, cosmos, asters and daisies, there are still a few sunflowers, and lots of zinnias in full bloom. Below are a few samples.