Friendship Evergreen Community Garden at Ehrhardt Park

2023 was the FECG third year. What an exciting year it was. Here are some photos and facts from the year.

Awards:  Frances Curtis, resident, was awarded a plaque for her generous donations and support of the Orchard trees and the Rose Garden shade structure.  She was honored at our Oct 07, 2023, 1^st Saturday of the month Meet and Greet gathering. The plaque hangs on the rose structure.  Cora Strange registered FECG as a National Wildlife Habitat, certification #294184.  Cora also registered FECG as a Monarch Butterfly Waystation, certification #46292

Communal Garden Area:  This area is established for donated plants, to provide herbs for all gardeners, and to have flowers/plants to allow visitors, especially children, to take with them.  The area is expanded for perennial asparagus and potato beds.

Pollinator Area:  Bees, birds, and butterflies thrive.  We had 19 Monarch caterpillars on the Desert Milkweeds. Giant Swallowtail, Painted Lady, Pipevine and Queen butterflies visited.

November’s Meeting featured a talk about herbs by Garden Coordinator Cora Strange. Also, a children’s mosaic tile painting workshop for tiles that will become part of the mosaic wall was hosted by Jan Linssen.

The Garden is thriving. If you haven’t visited before come by and see what’s growing.

The Rose Garden Shade structure is finally moving along. If you are in the garden please be careful to avoid the construction.

The Pavillion shade structure is almost complete.

Happy Labor Day Fellow Gardeners,

It is time for another season of gardening together!  

For returning gardeners, most of you have completed your applications for a plot in the Friendship Evergreen Community Garden (FECG).  If not, we would appreciate hearing from you since we need to notify people on our wait list.

We extend a special welcome to new gardeners!

Please reserve the 1^st Saturdays of each month for Greet, Treats and Volunteer in the Garden.  We will start our season with the first Greet, Treats and Volunteer Day, October 1 which is the first Sat. of October, from 8 AM – 10 AM.  Our Garden, with its programs, is open to all whether you are continuing to garden with us or not.  Invite a neighbor to join you.

Oct. 1, we will be introducing our new Garden Coordinator, Cora Strange, who is a Master Gardener.  Cora and our wonderful Friendship Village Crew – Yeh, Guys!!! –  have been preparing the garden plots for this third season of gardening. Bring your plants and seeds and get help from Cora and our Volunteers.

We will be introducing our painting muralist, Jennifer White, who has completed the first of our murals for Art in the Garden!

Our tile muralist, Jan Linssen, has received the Tempe permits for the mural planned to surround the green letters spelling out the name of the garden.  Jan will be signing up individuals, families and children included, who want to participate in making a tile for the mural.

Folks, it takes a lot of work, with fun involved, to have a successful garden.  We will be asking for Volunteers for such things as helping other gardeners, keeping the garden clean, working with the roses, in the pollinator garden, in the communal garden and in the orchard.  Yes, we have an orchard with 12 fruiting trees!  This is too much for one garden coordinator and we appreciate all volunteer help.

Calling All Gardeners!                                                                 

We hope you have already visited the Friendship Evergreen Community Garden.  We started work on this endeavor in 2016 and opened the garden for the first season in 2020.  The Community Garden is a joint venture with the City of Tempe, Friendship Village, and the Tempe Neighborhood of Evergreen.  We have truly multi-generational gardeners who share the joys of gardening together.

This is the start of our 3^rd season of gardening.  You probably know gardening in central Arizona is opposite other parts of the U.S.  We start our fall/winter gardening Oct. 1 with crops loving the slightly cooler temperatures.  By April of the next year, we have put in the “summer” crops of other parts of the country and by late May, some of us have put in melons, heat-loving peppers and summer squashes.

Experience gardening with us.  We have a Master Gardener as our Garden Coordinator, Cora Strange, who will answer your questions and help you get started.  We have monthly Greet, Snack and Volunteer meetings on the 1^st Sat. of the month and other planned programs. All of this for the single price of $100 for the year, Oct. 1, 2022 – Aug. 31, 2023.  You only need to supply the starter plants, seeds and the labor.  Ready to grow soil, water, a secure shed to keep your small tools, and help from your neighbors and Cora is all included!

Come experience the joys of gardening with us!  We are assigning plots now!  Questions?? Please Contact us using the Contact tab on this site.

Tempe Artist Jennifer White has completed the Hummingbird mural for the garden.

Jennifer White, a local artist, is creating the Hummingbird mural in the garden.

Learn about your melons:

We have experienced difficulty with the garden email address for about a week now and have not been able to send or receive emails.

Please use this new email to contact the garden starting 4/25/2022:

FEcommunitygarden@gmail.com

Calling all Friendship Evergreen Community Gardeners!!

We will be hosting our March Meet and Greet on Saturday, March 26 from 8:30 AM – 10:00 AM in the Community Garden.   Please note the earlier start time due to predicted high temperature.  This may be our last Meet and Greet of the season unless April temps remain lower than expected.

We will have treats, coffee and lemonade and a short program.

Our program will be a Q & A on the Garden’s composting station and methods.  A local artist, Jan, will present the proposed design and samples of mosaic art for the Garden Wall Art Project.  Jan will start a list of those interested, families included!, in creating a mosaic tile to go on the wall.  This project is in the proposal stage as we are waiting for word on funding.

See you on Sat. March 26, 8:30 AM.