Month: March 2013

South Philly High Arboretum — Donate Now!

South Philly HighI’m totally cribbing this entry from an email a friend of mine sent to me a couple of weeks ago:
It’s raining, it’s pouring and there’s a special gardening project that I’m really excited about. Help create and arboretum at South Philadelphia High School by donating those Recyclebank points that you’ll never use anyway!
The SPHS arboretum project is especially great for three reasons:
  1.  It’s totally student designed
  2. It will feature native plants grown in Philly at Bartam’s Garden, America’s first botanic garden
  3. It will add some much needed natural beauty in a neighborhood otherwise lacking in green space
 So, dust off that Recyclebank login and password and donate some points before March 15! For every 250 points donated, the project will receive $1… so please give freely. There’s only one day left to reach the goal. Plus, if you’re able to donate 2,000 points or more,the Streets Department will gift you a jumbo recycling container.
Here’s the link to donate those points.
Spread the word!
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All Thumbs

Tom ThumbHey, gardeners, it’s March! And nothing says spring like sunshine, cold-reddened fingers, and drippy noses. And while the long-range weather report isn’t filling this gardener with a ton of enthusiasm, it’s good enough, one hopes, for the newly purchased Tom Thumb pea seeds. Courtesy of Greensgrow and the Seed Savers Exchange.

Both the seed packet and the University of Tom Thumb 2Tennessee claim Mr. Thumb can withstand hard frosts and temperatures as low as 20°. While this feels like an exceptionally cold winter for we weenie Philadelphians, here’s betting that we won’t see temperatures that cruel  until next January.

And Plants On Deck is super-excited about this particular pea. It’s a tiny dwarf heirloom, first grown in the late 1800s in Philly, that purportedly produces s-tons of peas in cramped quarters. Sounds too good to be true. We’ll know in 50-55 days.