TribLocal has an article and video on the community garden for seniors living at Wyndemere retirement community.

Stan Allured knows that when he sits down for a meal at Wyndemere, a retirement community for seniors in Wheaton, he’s in for a flavorful meal. The longtime Wheaton denizen knows this because it is he who takes and fills the kitchen staff’s orders for thyme, basil and other fragrant herbs he then plants in a small garden plot on the facility’s common grounds.

 

The plot Allured tends is one of 29 residents manage at Wyndemere, where tomatoes and squash on the vine grow alongside wildflowers. In one lush plot, a grasshopper can be seen perched atop a brightly colored ceramic mushroom.

 

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The speaker at our recent forum on Community Gardens, Julie Samuels, gave an excellent and highly informative presentation. We’ll pass along some of the tips here and there over the next few days. First, we’ll focus on trees.

Julie in her presentation noted a common misconception about trees that leads to a lot of accidental tree fatalities. Many people believe that trees roots grow downward, when in fact primary roots grow outwards away from the base of the tree beyond the length of the branches at a depth of about 6 inches to 24 inches for primary roots, and smaller feeder roots that take in the trees water and nutrients are even closer to the surface.

To keep the tree healthy, avoid cutting or disturbing its roots:

• Don’t use a rototiller or disturb the soil under a tree.
• Don’t plant a garden in the ground under a tree.
• Do not dig underneath a tree — many contractors and even landscapers will dig underneath trees without paying attention to the roots of a nearby tree.
• Avoid mulching around a tree, or if you do mulch, use a very thin layer. Do not “volcano mulch”. That is, do not pile the dirt or mulch up against the crown — the bulge at the base of the tree. The crown needs to be exposed to allow moisture to evaporate.
• To promote tree health, don’t use herbicides on your lawn, and don’t worry about keeping a perfect grass lawn.
• When planting new trees, do not leave the roots in canvas bags they came in from the landscaping store. Also, do not use ties to prop up the tree. The tree needs to learn how to stand on its own!
• Do not purchase cyprus mulch or peat moss. Cyprus forests and peat bogs are destroyed in order to get those products.

Julie works for Openlands, which offers a TreeKeepers program, which is going into its 20th year of teaching people in the Chicago area how to care for their trees. Learn more about at www.openlands.org.

After a successful run in its first two years, the Social Justice in DuPage series is now being relaunched, with a slightly different focus. In the past we hosted single forums on a variety of topics such as marriage equality, single-payer health care, poverty and red light cameras. Now, we will host a series of smaller events that center around a larger topic. Our first area of focus is suburban agriculture, a burgeoning trend in DuPage and neighboring counties. We are pleased to announce our first forum, later this month:

Community Gardens: Reconnecting with Community, Organic Eating, and the Earth
Wednesday, August 31, 7 p.m.
213 S. Wheaton Ave, Wheaton IL

Seating is limited – Please Request your Reservation

What can your garden do for you? Your children? Your community? Community garden organizer Julie Samuels will discuss the health, environmental and educational benefits of local food production, as well as give tips on getting the most out of your garden.

This is the first in the Social Justice in DuPage series on suburban agriculture. The events are co-sponsored by the DuPage and Will County Greens.

Seating is limited – Please Request your Reservation

Here’s the flyer for the August 31st Social Justice Forum discussion.  Please distribute it widely.