The Providential Gardener

Gleaners Wanted!

If you'd like to help the great folks at the Rhode Island Food Bank out, read on....

This is a cross reference to a post today (September 19, 2008) on the What Grows On in Rhode Island News Blog, a companion to the What Grows On in Rhode Island Calendar, the most comprehensive environment-related calendar in Little Rhody. The News Blog and Calendar are Providential Gardener projects.

Farm Fresh Rhode Island is looking for volunteer gleaners. Our local farms have produced more than the farmers can harvest, and they're looking for folks to volunteer to harvest some fresh food to be delivered to the Food Bank. The photo is from today's Farm Fresh RI email update ~ recommended weekly reading! See the News Blog post for details and contact information.

A bit about What Grows On in RI .... The Calendar has several subcalendars, including the Outdoors calendar, which lists lots of hikes, walks, paddles, and cruises led by Audubon, Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council, and the Appalachian Mountain Club among others. You can add events from this calendar to your own online calendar; change the views from day to month to map; search by categories such as farms, gardens, waste & pollution, and water; and limit the view by town or city. It's quite amazing what Rhode Islanders are doing for our environment, so check it out! There is a LOT "growing on" in Rhode Island!

However, even though it has more event listings than you'll find in any one place anywhere else, the Calendar still missing many activities. Anybody can submit event listings ~ it's free. And you can run segments of the Calendar on your website. For instance, if you'd like to let your readers know of cleanups & workdays, or children's events, or outdoor activities, contact me about making this happen on your website.

Spring Clean-up at Smith's Castle ~ April 12, 2008

The Providential Gardener has been very busy creating the new What Grows On in Rhode Island Calendar the last few weeks, so postings here have been few recently. Now that it is established and growing, there'll be more posts here again.

Rhode Island has many historical sites, and one I've mentioned before is Smith's Castle in North Kingstown, just north of Wickford village on Route 1, which I understand is the old Algonquin Trail. Smith's Castle is one of the many, MANY, sites for Earth Day cleanups and celebrations listed in What Grows On in RI. Here are some of the folks cleaning up last year. Join them or other Rhode Islanders elsewhere this month.

SPRING CLEAN-UP AT SMITH’S CASTLE, Saturday; April 12, 8 AM til noon or so....

Scenic, historic Smith’s Castle is right on the water at the end of Richard Smith Drive; just across from the State Police barracks in Wickford, RI (Post Road – Route 1).  A beautiful setting.

Bring small tools – pruning shears, loppers, claws, trowels, rakes, pails, etc.

You’ll work in the Colonial Revival Garden or on the grounds.  You’ll pick up an appetite.  Castle folks have always had donuts and coffee available in the morning; and also a good lunch at Noon.

Some folks will be there at 8 AM; but you can come when you wish.

Master Gardeners have supported this clean-up for a number of years.  Hope you’ll want to help, too. If interested, please contact Jules Cohen by phone (294-6617) or e-mail.

Central Landfill News ~ Make a Date with Eco-Depot!

If you are like me, one of these days ~ sometime ~ you intend to take household hazardous waste to the Central Landfill. Many Rhode Islanders have been doing this, but many of us still have a lot of stuff hanging around the house in those garages and basements we, if truth be told, are going to leave for somebody else to clean up after we're gone. 

It's hard to work this chore into our busy schedules, and that's why I'm building a union Calendar of all sorts of environment-related events for Rhode Islanders called What Grows On in Rhode Island. The Calendar is full of useful features ~ for instance, it can send you reminders, and you can add events to your own Outlook or other electronic calendar. Maybe this is the year all those poisons get to Eco-Depot!

On March 5, 2008, I transferred the What Grows On in Rhode Island Calendar to new, more powerful software, and you'll see you can now sort by event type such as Cleanups and Workdays. And just this afternoon I've added to the Calendar all the Eco-Depots, some of which are not at the Central Landfill, but are rather in outlying regions of the state. It's important to call ahead and make an appointment so you (and everyone else) doesn't have to wait forever in line.

Can you guess what Rhode Islanders have lugged to the Eco-Depots? According to Joe Rotella at RI Resource Recovery Corporation (RIRRC), we've brought more than 5 million pounds of household hazardous waste since 2001. Just last year, 2007, we carted 1,069,939 million pounds. Seventy percent of it is oil-based paint, which is actually recycled by Clean Harbors for use on bridges and such. Last year's (2007) paint haul converts to 748,960 pounds, or 78,838 gallons of paint.

When the Spring Cleaning bug bites soon, make a date with the Eco-Depot guys. Check the Eco-Depot website for what you can (and should!) bring. It's free!

You may have heard that the Central Landfill is filling up fast (you can see it in the distance from Prospect Park in Providence), and Rhode Islanders could do a much better job of recycling. Sarah Kite, Recycling Manager for the RIRRC, reports that we're not really increasing our recycling rate. The national average rate of household recycling is 35%. North Kingstown has the best rate in RI currently at 32%, and Portsmouth has the worst, at 5%. Our state average is 15%. This isn't a good thing, folks.

Some recycling bills are coming up in the General Assembly, and again, if you're like me, you find it difficult to track these things. The dates and times of hearings are on the General Assembly's website. You could check the environmental committees' agendas:

• House Committee: http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/CommitteeMeetings/Henvmet.htm
• Senate Committee: http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/CommitteeMeetings/senvmet.htm

But that's a lot of work, and most of us don't have the time. That's why these hearings are being integrated into What Grows On in Rhode Island Calendar. See the "Hearings ~ Legislative ~ Regulatory ~ Public Comment ~ Surveys" sub-calendar for announcements. Right now, there is one upcoming hearing about RIRRC on Wednesday, March 12. Look for it on the What Grows On in Rhode Island Calendar.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN VOLUNTEERING TO TRACK HEARINGS and ENTER INFO INTO THE CALENDAR, LET ME KNOW! - Sue Korte ~ email

Secrets of Expert Rose Gardeners

If you love roses, you can't do better than to join the Rhode Island Rose Society. Their quarterly publication, Rhode Island Rose Review, is one of the best newsletters by the numerous gardening groups in the state, and well worth the $20 annual membership dues by itself. The current November 2007 issue testifies to the Rose Society members' dedication to rose care and their deep desire to share their passion for growing roses with anyone who will listen.

The Rhode Island Rose Society maintains the Roger Williams Park Rose Garden and organizes a spectacular rose show each June. They meet monthly and have a good time talking roses, sharing roses, propagating roses, and planning trips to see other gardens such as the newly renovated Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden at the New York Botanical Garden. [If you were a member, you could be one of the 48 people on the bus next June ~ First come, first served.] There are other benefits, such as discounts at garden centers.

If you have roses in your garden and live where winter freezes the ground, be sure to check out online articles about winterizing your roses. There is an excellent article about winterizing in the current newsletter as well. The plants cannot take the freezing and thawing that occurs in our New England winters, so last Saturday we mulched the roses at the park using horse manure courtesy of the Providence Police Mounted Command and the Parks Department. It was very cold, and we didn't look our best in these photos, but I don't know when I've had so much fun shoveling you know what. The photos are by Angelina Chute, current president of RIRS. The photo on the right doesn't really show what we're shoveling, but I assure you it was the real deal ~ not odorous actually, but full of nutrients the roses will love. We used five truckloads of manure on the garden, FYI. The Rose Society does this every year, and you can pitch in, too! All are welcome. The record for winterizing the garden is around 45 minutes, I think, but this year things took an hour and a half before everyone got into giving away rose plants.

One more item from the newsletter: The lead article by Dacia Nickerson would interest anyone who makes public presentations on any topic. Dacia, who has extensive professional experience as a public speaking trainer, gives valuable tips for making successful presentations. This is a welcoming group, and if you love roses,  you'll love the Rhode Island Rose Society.

Southside Community Land Trust & Friends Build More Urban Gardens

One of my favorite organizations in the state ~ and there are many outstanding groups in Rhode Island! ~ is Southside Community Land Trust. Word comes today from Katherine Brown, director of SCLT, that there will be two new community gardens by the next growing season. These gardens couldn't happen without help from a lot of folks, but increasingly, Rhode Islanders are working together to create gardens that will produce healthy crops of vegetables around the city. Katherine writes:

Thanks to the spectacular vision, delightful collaboration, and hard work of Urban Ag Task Force members, two new community gardens (integrated with new affordable homes) are in the works! 

a. In partnership with the Parks Dept., the Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council, Olneyville Housing, Streuver Brothers, the EPA, Kurt Van Dexter, the Steel Yard, Earthcare Farm, and SCLT, the new community garden in Riverside Mills Park (across the street from Olneyville Housing's beautiful new homes) is well under way in readiness for Spring planting!  Come check out this unique raised-up-high-off-the-ground raised bed garden this coming Saturday--there will be a workparty at the park 11/10 at 10:00 am.

b. Councilperson Miguel Luna, the Parks Dept., The Elmwood Foundation, and SCLT have begun plans for a new community garden, on land next to The Elmwood Foundation's beautiful new homes on Early Street. In addition to new homeowners, the garden will also involve folks from McCauley Village and a [nearby] highrise.

Kudos to everyone who is making these wonderful initiatives come into being. Here's to growing more food in Providence, together!

And thank you to Southside Community Land Trust for tilling the urban soil these past twenty-five years!

THEY "HELP PEOPLE GROW FOOD IN AND AROUND THE CITY!"

Rhode Island's 3,500 Historical Cemeteries Need Tending

The Providence Journal's frontpage headline for Halloween, "In grave condition: Rhode Island's historical cemeteries are suffering from neglect," tells how one woman, Evelyn Wheeler of Narragansett, is leading Rhode Islanders throughout the state to notice the condition of historical cemeteries near them and take action to clean them up. If you didn't read it, I hope you'll read her story. One person can make a big difference!

NOTE that November 3 is historical cemetery cleanup day! There are spring and fall cleanups every year, and lots of little ones. You can go clean up a cemetery yourself, but check the hints and guidelines because there are problems you might not think of at first. Scroll down the RI Historical Cemeteries' homepage for helpful hints.

Rhode Island differs from other states in many ways, one of which is that because the government and religion were always separate here, cemeteries were not necessarily coordinated with churchyards. Birth, death, and marriage records were always considered civil rather than religious matters. Consequently, in the 17th and 18th centuries especially, and even down to the present day, cemeteries were established all over the place. Some cemeteries are even on private land rather than on land held by an association.

The Providential Gardener is especially interested in historical cemeteries because these can be places we not only can enjoy for their natural beauty, but also for rooting us in the history of this state. At Providence's North Burial Ground (North Main St & Branch Ave), professionals and volunteers are developing and implementing a comprehensive plan to make the place more of a park and arboretum, and we've been adding trees. The Groden Center now uses the greenhouse to grow annuals for sale. The gates on North Main to this cemetery are now unlocked so neighbors can take walks there, enjoy the serenity of the place, see the birds attracted to the pond....  This particular cemetery tells more than 300 years of Rhode Island history if you start looking carefully. And reading gravestones puts the day's troubles into perspective, you know. Keeps you focused on what's really important in life. "Oh, for the touch of a loved one's hand, the sound of a voice gone still...."

The article by Donita Naylor points us to The Rhode Island Historic Cemetery Commission's homepage. Note the database listing the historical cemeteries, each of which is numbered. Are your ancestors in any of these cemeteries?  There's a master index of names of those buried in these cemeteries. Is there one near where you work? Where you live? Do you drive by one regularly? Check it out! For further info, contact Evelyn Wheeler at 401-789-3503 or email.

Coastweeks 2007 ~ A Celebration of the Coast

There are so many events coming up as part of Coastweeks 2007—A Celebration of the Coast, from September 15 through October 13, that I must give you fair warning!

Take out your calendar and check out their calendar on the Rhode Island Sea Grant website and make your plan. Here is some of what's growing on along the shore during those weeks:

• Historic Lighthouse Tours
• Boat tours of the Blackstone River Valley
• Hikes, walks through salt marshes, preserves, and along the shore,
• Kayak trips
• Lectures on aquaculture, oyster gardening, Bay water quality
• Coastal cleanups
• Shoreline Biathlon
• Book discussions
• Garden tours
• Commercial Fishing Trawl
• FOOD!
• Several birding events
• Fairs, Harvest Festivals
• Prudence Island Bicycle Tour
• Waterscape/Streetscape Symposium in Newport

Wow! I will put some of this into the Providential Gardener Calendar, but scan through the Coastweeks events list and enjoy our great little state's 400 miles of coastline this fall.

Propagating Roses

If you have been thinking about joining the Rhode Island Rose Society, and you have wondered how to propagate roses, show up at the society's next meeting in the Victorian Rose Garden at Roger Williams Park, Providence on August 11, 2007, 9:30am. see the Rose Society's website for details. They'll also be working on the rose garden, cleaning things up, so bring clippers and gloves. Please come early & help support our public garden!

Clean the Bay Cleanup, Warwick, August 9, 2007

Update from Clean the Bay, and news of their next cleanup:

Thank you for a job well done at Brush Neck Cove, we have had greater attendance at every cleanup.

Project Clean Sweep has great news! We have been officially awarded a second $170,000 grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to continue the project! Cleanups activities will now cover more areas of the Bay throughout the end of the fall, and into next year's navigable season.

Our next cleanup is scheduled for:

Thursday August 9, 2007 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. Rock Ave. Warwick, RI

Directions to Rock Avenue:

From the North - Take 95 S to EXIT 14B-A to merge onto RI-37 E toward US-1/WARWICK. Take Exit 5A for POST RD. SOUTH merge onto POST ROAD.. Turn left onto AIRPORT RD. AIRPORT RD becomes RI-117/W Shore Rd. Turn Left onto ROCK AVE. and park at the end of the street.

From the South- Take 95 N to EXIT 13 toward US-1 / T. F. GREEN AIRPORT. Merge onto AIRPORT CONNECTOR RD E. Take the POST ROAD / US-1 ramp. Turn RIGHT onto AIRPORT RD. AIRPORT RD becomes W SHORE RD / RI-117. Turn LEFT onto ROCK AVE and park at the end of the street.

Here are Mapquest Directions.

Please wear closed-toed shoes and bring water, and sun protection. We will provide gloves and bags.

Email or call: (401) 222-3434 ext 4401

Stay tuned for more cleanups throughout the summer and fall!

West Warwick Corporate Cares Community Day

From the Kent County JAYCEES:

Corporate Cares Community Day is July 27, from 10 to 2pm.

Join JAYCEE Members from the Kent County chapter, as they work side-by-side with the friendly Corporate Employees of Koch Eye CARES Day. The group will be doing general landscape tasks that will refresh, adorn and overall beautify through watering/weeding/light raking, fertilizing and recreational  restoration of the JAYCEE CORRIDOR & ARBORETUM and the entrance to the state Senator Donald Roch RIVERWALK. Basically, no training of any kind is needed just a minimum commitment to standard horticultural endeavors in an open space venue interacting with small groups of volunteers.

Refreshments will be served.      

Ongoing landscape projects and horticultural activities are always welcome!

Contact Information (401) 828-9191,  (e-mail) wwjayceeskc@aol.com

Directions: Riverpoint COMMUNITY Park in West Warwick. Intersection of Providence & Hay Streets (Rts. 115W / 33).