Harvest time at Crestland garden!

Hey, look! It's that garden we started from seed! Man, it's doing really well!

But uh-oh... we forgot to thin the seedlings.

That means the Chinese cabbage are all crowded together!

And the red lettuce is kind of shoved into the collards...

I guess we will just have to eat it!

Come to the Crestland garden this Tuesday, at 7:30 pm, for a harvest and improving the garden! Please bring a bag for harvesting, tools, and any creative materials to add to the garden. We will also put in some new transplants for spaces where seeds didn't sprout. A flashlight will be super handy, as it will be dark by 7: 30.

Afterwards, we'll have some fall themed refreshments at Lindsay's house - a 5 minute drive from the garden. Please keep in mind that how much each of us harvests depends on how many people there are - and we want to leave some for the neighbors.

Here's a map:

View Larger Map

And here's some peas.

E.A.S.T. is for cake

We're back! With more tales of E.A.S.T. and an unprecedented rate of blogging, previously unseen on the Garden Posse blog. It's because we feel inspired by the creative energy mentioned in the last piece, and because we met someone who actually reads this blog! Our readers are a silent bunch. That's okay, but don't be afraid to mention your presence in the comments. We'd love to hear from you.

Okay, so on to dessert.

The Garden Posse is not the only game in town when it comes to taking guerrilla-style action in public spaces. The Waller Creek is for Lovers Action and Adventure Society is taking on a very specific piece of public land. Unsurprisingly, that piece of land is Waller Creek, running through downtown. The area - that in parts, is the definition of neglected public space - is slated for large-scale redevelopment, aimed to transform the unassuming creek into a San Antonio style riverwalk.

The Waller Creek is for Lovers Action and Adventure Society, a project of Public Workshop, wants to get people involved in thinking about what this opportunity for new public space could be for them, personally. I admit, I'm guilty of ignoring and deriding redevelopment projects as an unnecessary city expenditure which is bound to inconvenience me during its planning and construction. I hadn't thought about how I could someday enjoy it. And I definitely hadn't thought about how I could be a part of imagining it as something new.

Not until I experienced Waller Creek made out of cake.

Alex, the founder of Public Workshop, said the idea came to him in a brainstorming session. A 6ft long topographical model of Waller Creek made out of cake must have hit his mind like a lightning bolt of sugar. A member of the group spent Saturday baking cake after cake, and on Sunday the cake map was assembled in front of the HOPE Farmer's Market entrance on 5th & Waller. There was frosting, chocolate rocks, sprinkles, and many more sugary topographical features. There were also stickers that asked participants to write what Waller Creek was for. I wrote, turtles.

It took about two hours to construct the cake from start to finish, during which time I met many cool people and stole some frosting on my fingers. At the end, there was cake eating. Lots and lots of it. The Waller Creek is for... estimates that at least 100 people took part in the cake eating. You can read their version of the event on their blog.

After witnessing the Waller Creek cake, my mind has snapped open to the ingenious idea of combining baking with community action. It is no secret that the Garden Posse loves to bake, and so I've spent the past few days thinking: How can we bake a guerrilla garden? Or can we guerrilla bake? What would guerrilla baking mean? If we made a garden out of vegetable shaped cookies on a base of brownies, how long would it last? I must know.

It was wonderful to meet all the inspired people behind the Waller Creek... Action and Adventure Society. Perhaps a collaboration lies in our future? Ah, the magic of E.A.S.T.

E.A.S.T. is for lovers

There's a certain kind of energy that runs through the East Austin Studio Tour. Maybe it's because the doors to studios, galleries, houses, garages, and gardens are open, and inviting you in to look at and experience something new, something creative. There are finished works, works in progress, collaborations being made in the moment. People are talking to other people they've never met. There's plenty of wine and beer and snacks. People are riding on handlebars, or walking in groups like over-aged trick or treaters. Leaves are on the ground. Things have been made. Things hold ideas and purpose. The creativity and openess is in the air, and it's infectious. You want to be a part of it.

The purpose of Co-lab is to conduct that energy and give it a home. It's a new media project space with a small tin building that serves as a gallery, and a large, fenced in lawn with picnic tables and installations scattered around. The garden's Swiss Chard was gigantic. Sean, the main force behind Co-lab, told us that the lot used to be an auto body shop, and he had pulled two garbage cans full of man-made stuff out of the ground. The garden was built on donated soil. The purpose of Co-lab, Sean says, is an experiment in the gift economy - he doesn't ask for money, and relies on the help and creativity of artists to make it work. He had art and events lined up every day last week.

Sean had not hesitated to say yes when the Garden Posse asked him if Co-lab would host a last minute seed bomb workshop in honor of E.A.S.T. The day was a bit cloudy and chilly, but quite a few people proved unafraid to stick their hands in a muddy mess of seed bomb batter. Matthew, who is making a short video about the Garden Posse, documented the event. We were also visited by a woman who follows this blog but didn't leave her name or email address. (If you're reading this, thanks for coming! And leave us a comment with your email and we'll get you on our email list.)

So a new batch of Texas Wildflower seed bombs were made, and the old ones bagged up so we can give them to you when you come to Garden Posse events. If you already have seed bombs, now is the time to throw them! Wildflowers should be seeded in the fall and bloom in the spring.

Sean mentioned that Co-lab is extremely open to future collaboration, so we are thinking of art/gardening events we can do. We'd love to hear your ideas. As we learn from E.A.S.T., there is no limit on what can be done. Well, asides from planting edible plants directly in Co-lab's soil. The auto body shop history makes that a little sketchy.

After we finished up the seed bomb making, and made sure our hands weren't too muddy to touch art, we moved on to some of the studios in the neighborhood. One member of the Garden Posse has a small obsession with the Decoder Ring Design Concern - a top-tier design shop with an amazing office, tucked away in a bamboo forest. We met the man behind the bamboo, and the incredible landscape design. His name is David, and he is a guerrilla gardener, too. When we told him about the Garden Posse, he said that he had planted about 40 trees a block away, near the Capital Metro stop. David said he was engaged in a silent battle with the city over the trees - when they took them out, he would just go back and plant more. He reminds us of Denver's Tree Fairy, except not crazy.

David's nursery is called Utility Research Garden, and you should check it out if you have the chance. What's amazing is that everything you see in the garden - including the 20 ft tall pine trees (native to Afghanistan) - were planted four years ago. Yep. We wish we had those skills (the term "garden boner" was used). We hope to get to spend some time guerrilla gardening with David, and somehow soak up his gardening magic.

More tales of E.A.S.T. coming soon.

Garden Posse at E.A.S.T. this weekend!

The Posse has been in temporary hibernation for the past few weeks, taking a much-needed rest from the craziness and excitement of our filming with Central Texas Gardener.

So we figured we'd come back with something short and sweet - a seed bomb workshop during the East Austin Studio Tour on Saturday! Co-Lab is a new media project space featuring a new community garden, and they are hosting our event. There will be lots of other stuff going on, including an art sale!

Saturday, Nov. 21, around 1 pm
613 Allen St (at the intersection of Allen & Hidalgo)

We'll be making seed bombs - mixes of native seeds, clay, and dirt - and giving them away, if you ask nice.

More info about co-lab at EAST here: http://www.colabspace.org/

Stop by if you are going to be out strolling the studio tour!

Cherrywood garden expanding!

David stopped by to check out the Cherrywood guerrilla garden we dug two weeks ago, and found Melvin (standing) and John (crouching) adding a new bed, with five rows. There was so much energy behind the dig in Cherrywood, the fact that the neighbors have expanded the garden is not surprising - there was already talk of it as we dug the first two beds. Melvin has been mowing the empty lot across from his house for years, and he was really enthusiastic about digging it up. David says that John is a new neighbor working on the garden. We're so excited that the garden is being embraced and cared for by the neighborhood - this was definitely one of the best digs yet!

We have photos from the dig and the filming of Central Texas Gardener, which we will post and recap soon.

Central Texas Gardener filming this Thursday!

The Garden Posse is getting ready for our television debut - Central Texas Gardener is filming our gardens and a dig on this coming Thursday evening!

No, we cannot believe it either.

We'd really like for you to be a part of it. Have you not always dreamed of being on a well respected gardening show? Now is the time for you to achieve that dream! Come to Cherrywood & 34th Street (the address of the lot would be 1710 E. 34th St) around 5:45 pm on Thursday, November 5. They'll be doing some interviews, and then filming our dig before the sun goes down. Then, drinks?!

We'd particularly like you to come out if you have done digs with us before. This is a really great opportunity to show the public television watching public what guerrilla gardening is about, and encourage other Texans to guerrilla garden their own city.

As always, bring whatever tools, plants, and seeds you have!

Here's a map:


View Larger Map

Brunch & Garden: The phototastic epilogue

What better way to start a day associated with evil spirits and human debauchery, not to mention candy, than with a brunch associated with a gardening workday? Wait, don't answer that question. Let's rephrase: Don't you love gardening and eating in juxtaposition?

After the Garden Posse arrived at the Webberville Road Baptist Church, our stomachs were filled up by egg strata, homemade bread, doughnut bread, and coffee. The flies and wasps also got their share.

Then the real work started. We had to dig up and pick out the Bermuda grass - which we dubbed Satan grass in honor of the day.

We expanded the bed around the old tree trunk, and lengthened the other bed as well.

A few basil plants and a pepper plant were all that remained from the summer. We don't have any before pictures, but let's just say that the other plants were skeletal.

We re-bordered the beds with rocks we picked up from the cemetery in the spring. Appropriate?

Watch out for the fire ants crawling up the middle of that bed. Whew!

The summer garden was most notable for its productive watermelon patch. We found one last watermelon amongst the weeds, orphaned as we pulled up the vines. Pastor Ealey stopped by to chat a bit, and told us that the church had gotten a lot of peppers and tomatoes out of the garden, and the sunflowers had grown over 6 feet tall. The congregation had been really excited to see that we were working on the garden again, after we had started working on it on Tuesday.

Dan enjoys the last of the last watermelon.

Planted! A lot of greens, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and so on and so on.

Plus, two agaves we got at the Cherrywood plant swap!

Here's the expanded bed planted with broccoli, swiss chard, cabbage, and lettuce.

And the other bed heaped with more swiss chard and lettuce. Salad, anyone?

Great work from everyone who came out!

Brunch & Garden with the Garden Posse on Saturday, 11 am

Last spring, we built a garden for the congregation of the Webberville Road Baptist Church - a tiny little church on the East Side with very nice people and a lot of open land. The garden was a great success - Pastor Ealey fell in love with the seven watermelons growing in the melon patch, and he wrote to us, "What you have done helps a lot. I heard a couple of people say. I have tried many gardens,and they did not turn out like this, "I think I will try another one at home."

We returned this week to replant the garden for the new season and found it in disarray - weedy, overgrown, and in need of immediate TLC. We want to get this garden back to its former glory as soon as possible. If we can get a large, motivated group of people together for two hours on Saturday, we know that we can not only restore, but expand and improve this garden into a gem!

Meet us at 1405 Webberville Road, next to TC's Lounge, at 11 am on Saturday. Yes, that's Halloween. It's your chance to do something good before nighttime debauchery.

RSVP to the event on Facebook.

We have all the plants. We just need you! And your tools - hoes, pick-axes, shovels, trowels, etc. Trust us, gardens go in really quick if a lot of people are working on them at once. No experience is necessary.

Oh, did we mention that this is a brunch, too? Bring a dish or baked goods! There is a lot of grass to picnic on.

Tuesday Night: Webberville Baptist Church garden

I have some exciting news to share: The Garden Posse is going to be featured on KRLU's Central Texas Gardener! This is a great public TV show which features lovely gardens and gardeners, and we are pretty honored to be in some way amongst the ranks. They'll be filming us building a garden on November 5 (that's next week, after this coming week), and taking footage of some gardens that we've made. So right now, we're focused on making our existing gardens look the best they can.

On Tuesday we are hitting up the Webberville Baptist Church Garden aka Paradise Angel Garden. It's located at 1405 Webberville Rd, Austin. This is a really, really great garden which has been cared for and treasured by the church community, and we are replanting it for the fall season!

Meet us there at 7:30 pm with tools, seeds, and flashlights. It will be fun!


View Larger Map

This Tuesday: Greetings from Austin Mural garden!

Tomorrow night we'll be digging it up at the Greetings from Austin Mural in South Austin! That's Tuesday, October 20, at 7:30 pm, at 1720 S 1st Street, on the side of Roadside Relics.

This dig's special feature: We might be on TV! A reporter from KVUE has contacted us and is very anxious to film the Garden Posse at work. This will have to be confirmed, but the reporter does seem very keen on it.

We planted this garden last spring, but it needs some fresh TLC. We'll be planting lots of flowers and doing some beautifying. It will likely be quick, easy, and glamorous.

As always, tools, plants, seeds, and flashlights are helpful to bring.

I saw the sign. And it opened up my eyes. I saw the sign.*

We made new signs last night! It's part of our effort to use the new Garden Posse logo (see bottom right) in new, awesome ways. The next step is to get someone to tattoo it on their back. Any takers?

Thanks David, for the artwork and photo, and to Carly, for the logo and stencil!

*"Life is demanding, without understanding." - Ace of Base

This weekend's Garden Posse events

The Garden Posse doesn't restrict its activities to just Tuesday nights. We like to occupy your weekends, too. You can spend some time with us on both Saturday and Sunday.

SEED BOMBS: Saturday, Oct. 10, 10 am @ Cherrywood Green (Cherrywood & E. 34th)

Seed bomb workshop at the Cherrywood Plant and Book Swap! Free plants, free books, and making seed bombs - why would you not come to this (besides for a hangover)? You don't need to bring anything to participate. The Garden Posse will have a small table to make seed bombs, which are a rolled mix of native seeds, compost, and clay dirt. They are really fun to make, and you can take them home to throw in your yard, or your derelict neighbor's yard, we won't tell.

POTLUCK: Sunday, Oct. 11, 2 pm @ 702 West Crestland Drive, Austin, TX 78752

A fan and neighbor of the guerrilla garden on the Crestland Triangle has invited the Garden Posse to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving! We were previously unaware that Canadians had a Thanksgiving, and are still not sure whether or not this is just a big joke. But hey, it's potluck time. We figure it's a good time to meet the community around one of our gardens. And eat tofurkey. Here's the facebook invite.

Don't forget to keep up with the Garden Posse on our FB fan page, and our Twitter feed. Mmm. Delicious Tweets.

Report from last week's dig

So, the East Austin dig didn't go exactly as planned. Emily arrived at the site, deep in a neighborhood off Springdale and Webberville, to find the field being mowed. As the rest of us arrived, the smell of freshly cut grass filled the air. The lot, which had been identified by a friend and not previously seen by the Garden Posse, was a long, narrow strip of land with a chunk of trash mounded in a forward corner. A decent spot, but our number one rule of guerrilla garden site choosing had been violated by that darn mower: A garden site must be truly neglected, and not actively maintained and mowed. Lawn mowers kill gardens. And obviously, the people who owned this land were looking after it. The site was a no-go.

Yet there we were, with a car chock full of tools, dirt, and plants, including some flowers that had been saved from the garbage at Shoal Creek. It was time for Plan B: Replant the Chestnut & 16th Street garden.

The Chestnut garden has always been popular with the neighborhood, so we were all excited to revive it. The summer had not been kind to the garden. Everything we had planted last winter was dead, but we were happy to see a yellow-flowered vine had climbed and bloomed on the large dead tree next to the garden. We expanded the garden in order to fit all the vegetable plants, and created a flower border around the dead tree.

As we worked, Tara from KVRX's Upstream program (last week, featuring the Garden Posse, but unfortunately the audio was lost), happened to be riding by and recognized our activities. She stopped to plant a couple of lettuces into the already crowded bed. The Posse was also helped by two shirtless guys who were out walking their pit bull and drinking an unknown beverage out of a brown bag. They were very excited to see us working on the garden, and although we were almost done, they insisted on helping spread some mulch around the plants. They were an uncle and nephew who worked at a construction company and lived with family in the neighborhood for a long time. They said they wanted to build a border around the bed with extra rocks from work, and tell their family and neighbors about the garden. We said, that would be awesome.

So although things didn't go exactly as planned - this is the first time that we've had to abandon a site we hoped to dig - the night was productive and had a happy ending. Let's hope the garden is just as productive!

East Austin dig!

Less than twenty-four hours after the conclusion of the Garden Posse Benefit Show, the Garden Posse is still feeling pumped! We are not on steroids, we swear. We are just on an adrenaline cruise from the success of the show. It was a spectacular day. Every single band put on a great performance, the music was fantastic, the crowd was wonderful, the venue had a good variety of food and drinks, and the Garden Posse raised $500! What could be better than yesterday?

Special thanks to Eva from Stem & Leaf for putting on this epic show, and Boonesboro who not only played a great set, but donated $50 of their own to us, plus a matching $50 donation from the Great Outdoors.

We'll be posting a full update when the photos come in. Also, we still have free posters if you want 'em.

Tomorrow, we will use our adrenaline to drive our shovels into the ground, at a new desolate piece of urban land in East Austin. 7:30 pm at the intersection of Tura Dr & Terry Lane.

Here's a map:

View Larger Map

As always, bring tools, flashlights, plants and seeds. This dig may be filmed. See you there!

Benefit show TOMORROW!

The Garden Posse is totally pumped. It is as if we have been listening to Eye of the Tiger for the past week straight, that is our energy level. We are so excited for our benefit show tomorrow. It's going to be the best thing on Earth. Seriously.

Relevant details are: SUNDAY, SEPT 27. 1 - 8 PM. UNITED STATES ART AUTHORITY (next to Spiderhouse.) TWO STAGES. 10 BANDS. $5 SUGGESTED DONATION.

WIN A CHICKEN TRACTOR FROM SKILLSHARE, A GARDEN OF YOUR OWN FROM THE POSSE, AND BUY TRANSPLANTS FOR CHEAP TO SUPPORT QUILOMBO GARDEN.

The real value is the quality and talent of the bands playing at the show. We're incredibly lucky to have gathered such an amazing group of people to support us, who have some seriously awesome tunes. To hear a selection, check out this playlist, played on KVRX's Upstream program on Thursday.

Also, you can listen to incredible music and some incredibly dirty jokes with some of the very talented musicians playing on Sunday here. The music starts at 41 minutes with Danny Malone, followed by Eva Mueller, Marshall Escamilla, and Harrison Speck, playing live. Thanks to KAOS & the Annie Street Collective for having us over, then giving us shots.

And now, for the first time ever, you can follow the Garden Posse on Twitter! We'll be providing updates on digs, gardens, and other guerrilla gardening bits of interest, told in 140 characters. (This blog post is much longer than that).

Hope to see you tomorrow!

Garden Posse for your ears

The Garden Posse is coming to a radio near you!

Over the next two days, we'll be on a media blitz - like Obama, but with two local radio stations instead of 6 major networks. Lindsay (who writes this blog) will talking to local radio stations about guerrilla gardening in Austin, and spreading the good word about our benefit show on Sunday. Here is where and when you can tune in:

Thursday, Sept 24, 7 - 8 pm

KVRX, 91.7 FM

Lindsay, founder of the Garden Posse, along with Megan of Quilombo Garden and Charity of Skillshare Austin will be featured on the hour-long program Upstream. We'll be talking about how the Garden Posse and Quilombo got started (a lovely and intertwined tale), how we've evolved, what we're about, and why community gardening is important. In other words, everything you ever wanted to know but were afraid to ask. Plus, you'll hear music from the musicians playing for us on Sunday!

Friday, Sept 25, 7 -9 pm

KAOS Radio, 95.9 FM

It's only logical to promote guerrilla gardening on a pirate radio station. We'll be hanging out with the folks from Annie Street Radio, talking about the Garden Posse and playing music live in studio. Featuring Danny Malone, Harrison Speck and Eva Mueller from One Hundred Flowers and Lady Maybe & the Sometimes Friends, and Marshall Escamilla of Stephen's Island Wren. All talented, all dreamboats, all the time. Also, I've been told there will be drinking. It's a can't miss, tune in!

We'll also be in print this weekend. Look for the Garden Posse Benefit Show on the Sunday "Best Bets" page of the Austin-American Statesman (Lifestyles, page 2). You can bet on us. We will totally win you money. Okay, maybe not money. A garden? We will win you a garden.

Stem & Leaf Press Release: All your information about our benefit show!

On Sunday, September 27, Stem & Leaf Showcases is happy to be hosting The Garden Posse of Austin Benefit Show at The United States Art Authority from 1:00 - 8:00PM.

The Garden Posse of Austin is a guerrilla gardening group in Austin, TX whose mission is to transform neglected urban space into lush and productive gardens with the help of their young, like-minded volunteers who share a love of gardening, fun, local food networks, and sustainable land use.

Garden Posse founder Lindsay Patterson worked on community gardens in Austin’s East Side. While researching how to establish and run a community garden, she started running into information about guerrilla gardening. The idea of starting a series of small gardens all over the city appealed to her, both as a way to bring people together within their community, and to make urban spaces more beautiful. Their first dig was at the end of August, 2008 and since then the Posse has gone on to establish gardens all over Austin, host seed bomb and gardening workshops, and organize Austin’s International Sunflower Guerrilla Gardening Day, amongst other community outreach.

The group hopes that through guerrilla gardening they will encourage others to be inspired to help a garden in their area grow as it transforms formerly neglected urban space into a place rich with healthy food and community togetherness. They are happy to have had their group grow with new members over the past year and welcome all who wish to become involved and share their gardening tips over social gatherings and potlucks.

Showing our appreciation for what they do, Stem & Leaf Showcases and all the musicians involved, hope to raise funds and spread the good that the Posse has done for our community.

Included with the $5.00 suggested donation, attendees will receive a raffle ticket. The winner of the raffle will receive their very own garden; project management, planning, labor and supplies provided by The Garden Posse of Austin.

Also involved will be Skillshare Austin, raffling off their handmade Chicken Tractor and Quilombo, a community garden on the East Side, will be selling vegetable transplants for cheap!

Please see the stage schedule below to see the full line up of bands playing on both stages. We hope you will make it out for this tremendous community event and help show your support for a group of people that have Austins best interest in mind.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2009

UNITED STATES ART AUTHORITY

GARDEN POSSE
of Austin
BENEFIT SHOW


brought to you by
Stem & Leaf Showcases


STAGE 1 (Inside) :
The Lovely Sparrows, 7:15 - 8:00
One Hundred Flowers, 5:45 - 6:30
Cartographers, 4:30 - 5:15
The Great Nostalgic, 3:15 - 4:00
Marcus Rubio & The Gospel Choir of Pillows, 2:00 - 2:45


STAGE 2 (Outside):
Danny Malone, 6:45 - 7:15
RAFFLE WINNER DRAWING, 6:30 - 6:45
Dana Falconberry, 5:15 - 5:45
Lady Maybe & The Sometimes Friends, 4:00 - 4:30
Stephen's Island Wren, 2:45 - 3:15
Boone Graham, 1:30 - 2:00

1:00 - 8:00 PM
All Ages!!!
$5.00 Suggested Donation

Donation includes Raffle Tickets
Raffle to be held at 6:00 PM!!

For more information on how to become involved with The Garden Posse of Austin, please e-mail them at gardenposse@gmail.com.

For more information about Stem & Leaf Showcases and how to have your event or show hosted by, please e-mail Eva Mueller at eva.stemandleaf@gmail.com

Sprout!

Good news! Our North Lamar garden has its first sprout. It's a baby bean!


Thanks to David for sending this photo and babying his guerrilla garden. Here's to hoping the rain brings many more sprouts!

The Posse savors success, dirt, and cookies

Last Tuesday night found the Garden Posse digging industriously away at the triangle of North Lamar. After a summer of insufferable heat and drought, members of the Posse were heard to remark that the seasons were finally changing. It was a good time to come back to gardening. 

The triangle we chose for gardening is pretty large, and the posse member who picked out the spot would eventually like to turn it into a community garden. But big ideas start small and guerrilla-style, and we decided to dig two 4' x 6' beds on the side of the triangle closest to Lamar. The Posse got to it with pick-axes and shovels, then raked out the grass. Shoal Creek Nursery donated a bunch of broken bags of soil and compost, which we used to amend the soil. Vegetable transplants were not yet in the nurseries, so we're starting these beds from seed. The prospect of growing a garden straight from seed, with visions of little green sprouts springing up, excited the Posse. We planted a great variety of fall vegetables, including broccoli, cabbage, bak choi, kale, and more. Hands got dirty. 

We did it all in an hour and a half. This is the amazing thing about guerrilla gardening - it's very fulfilling and it doesn't even take very long. We had plenty of time to celebrate Posse'er Carly's first anniversary of being in Austin, complete with freshly baked cookies and champagne. Yes, that's right. Membership in the Posse gets you cookies and champagne on special occasions.* 

Long time Posse friend, cookie baker, and new member David will be taking care of the North Lamar triangle garden, and alert us to any sprouting action. In the meantime, we're getting excited for our benefit concert on Sunday, September 27! (10 days away!) We'll be sharing more enticing details soon. But in the meantime, look for our posters posted around town, featuring our beautiful new Garden Posse logo! Check it out! (Exclamation points convey our excitement!)

All credit for the logo goes to Carly. 

* no guarantees on the cookies and champagne.

First dig of the season!

We are meeting on Tuesday, September 15, at 7:30 pm for our first dig of the season!

We've located a large triangle of open public land right off North Lamar, which is prime for a few veggie beds. It's at the corner of North Lamar and West Crestland Drive. Here's a map.

View Larger Map

You'll see that there are two triangles on W Crestland - make sure you're at the one closest to North Lamar. 

Please bring all the helpful gardening tools you might have: Shovels, trowels, picks, rakes, garden gloves, whatever ya got. Donations of fall seeds and plants are very welcome. And don't forget your flashlight! (Guerrilla gardening is about doing things under the cover of night. Or at least the cover of deepening evening light.) We hope to see new faces this season!

Want an even easier way to stay updated with Garden Posse events and guerrilla gardening around the world? Become a fan of the Garden Posse on Facebook! Being a fan is also an easy way to ask us to come garden in your neighborhood. We'd love to, thanks. Tell your friends!

 

Garden Posse benefit show lineup!

On September 27, from 1 - 8 pm, we are going to have a rocking party!

10 bands! 7 hours! Win a garden in your yard from the Garden Posse!

United States Art Authority (attached to Spiderhouse)
2908 Fruth St. Austin, TX
(Guadelupe & 29th)

Check out the lineup:

OUTSIDE STAGE

1:30 - 2:00 Boone Graham

2:45 - 3:15 Stephen's Island Wren

4:00 - 4:30 Lady Maybe & The Sometimes Friends

5:15 - 5:45 Dana Falconberry

6:30 - 6:45 Raffle Winner Drawing

6:45 - 7:15 Danny Malone


INSIDE STAGE

2:00 - 2:45 Marcus Rubio & Gospel Choir of Pillows

3:15 - 4:00 The Great Nostalgic

4:30 - 5:15 Cartographers

5:45 - 6:30 One Hundred Flowers

7:15 - 8:00 The Lovely Sparrows

Dead of summer posse update

When you look outside of your hopefully air-conditioned home, what do you see? Brown trees, dead plants, even succulents wilting in the sun, and emergency drought conditions. It's a depressing scene, we know. Most of our hand-watered guerrilla gardens couldn't make it through this extremely harsh summer. But the Garden Posse holds on to the hope that someday, this too, will pass, and we can look forward to the long season of growing ahead and establish new gardens. Depending on the weather, we will start gardening again Tuesday nights in September. 

What we are REALLY excited about, is a big deal event coming up in the fall! 

GARDEN POSSE BENEFIT SHOW AT UNITED STATES ART AUTHORITY!

September 27 (Sunday, 2 - 7 pm)

Mark your calendars for this one, it is going to be big. 10 bands, 2 stages, and possible gardening/ plant giveaways! It's celebrating our one  year anniversary (which is this week, actually, but Sept. 27 is a only month belated), and raising money for the Garden Posse, so we can do bigger and better things. Please come out and support us that day, and if you  is interested in getting involved with organizing the event, please let us know. We're working with a booker, but we could use help finding businesses to sponsor the show. 

Details about regular Tuesday night activities are listed on our google calendar. Please email gardenposse@gmail.com if you would like to be invited to the calendar and receive weekly updates. It's supposed to be public, too, so if you are savvier that I, you could probably search for gardenposse@gmail.com Google calendar. 

Our website and logo are in the works, so stay tuned!

Photos from the Paradise Garden

If you are not currently located in Texas, you might not realize how amazing a green garden is this year. Gardens are fried to a crisp if they go a few days without water. Pastor Ealey's only trick is to water in the early morning and night, every day. And now his church has a thriving garden. Not to mention a continually expanding watermelon patch. 

Pastor Ealey has named each of his seven watermelons. I believe this one's named Ernestine. 

We planted some beans around a tree trunk. It's taken over, and shades the herbs underneath.  

Here's Pastor Ealey, showing off his garden. 

Check out the garden if you are on Webberville Road. But don't touch Pastor Ealey's watermelons!

Message from Pastor Ealey, keeper of the "Paradise Garden"

Yesterday, members of the Garden Posse joined the Webberville Road Baptist Church for a potluck get-together. It was so wonderful to meet the congregants, share a good meal, and talk about gardening. But the real star of the potluck was the garden itself - the "Paradise Garden" is thriving! Even in this heat, it is looking glorious. The tomatoes, pepper, and basil are green and without a sign of wilt or pests. We planted two watermelon transplants, and now there is a watermelon patch with seven - count 'em, seven - watermelons on the vine!

We received this email from Pastor Ealey, for whom the watermelons have become his pride and joy.

Seven is the number of perfection,thank-you,thank-you,thank-you,thank-you,thank-you,thank-you,thank-you.

The paradise garden Potluck was fun and went well. I learned a lot about the plants and I plan to weed a little and keep some basic definition among the different vines.... I hope we can help you in some way. You envisioned a garden and it is happening. Our esteem level is soaring. Some of my old folks are inhibited and this helped them get out of the box. This will motivate more initiative efforts and enhance fellowship experiences.... I have met most of my goals the biggest challenge has been to develop things structurally around here. What you have done helps a lot. I heard a couple of people say. I have tried many gardens,and they did not turn out like this, "I think I will try another one at home."

Let me know If you get this email. We keep you in our prayers,and give glory to God.

Sincerly,Pastor Ealey

This is what we had hoped for when we planted the garden, and we are overjoyed to know that it is inspiring people to start their own gardens.

Photos will be on their way...... and don't forget, planning meeting tomorrow! Clementine's on Manor Rd, 7:30 pm.

Potluck this Sunday at 1 pm

We will be having a potluck this Sunday, July 19, 1 PM at the Webberville Road Baptist Church to celebrate the success of the "Paradise Garden." Please come meet the people who benefit from the fruits of the Garden Posse's work! We would love to see everyone come out. Bring a dish to share.

Webberville Road Baptist Church is located at 1405 Webberville Road, next to T.C.'s Lounge. The church is set back from the road.


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"The Garden" doucumentary playing at the Alamo Drafthouse

The South Lamar Alamo is doing three screenings of the superb documentary, "The Garden." It's about the South Central Farmers in LA, and their struggle to save their community garden - the largest community garden in the U.S. I saw it tonight, and I can't express how glad I am that I saw it. Not only is it a compelling story with an emotional telling, it can teach us a lot about the culture and importance of community gardening. Also, it's not preachy. Check it out - the film won't be on DVD for a while.

The director is also at the showing, and does a Q & A session afterwards. It's playing Monday and Tuesday at 7 pm.

Get tickets here: http://www.originalalamo.com/Default.aspx?l=4

Events! They're upcoming!

Posse members & posse pals might be interested to know that we have a few new items on the calendar.

Sunday, July 12 is our long awaited potluck with the Webberville Road Baptist Church. To them, we are "Paradise Garden Angels," as they have named their plot "Paradise Garden." It's already produced tomatoes, peppers, basil, and a watermelon growing on the vine. It looks great, and we're excited to meet the congregation.

The weekend of August 1 - 2 the Garden Posse is going tubing! Yes, summer field trip! Robb is planning where we are going and when, and the logistics of floating a keg down the river. (JK - responsible river use is what's cool.) Feel free to provide suggestions.

The first anniversary of our first dig is August 26, and we hope to have a party celebrating 1 year of the Posse around that date.

Sign painting - finally, yes, tonight.

The Posse is back! And it's time to get the long put off sign painting done. 7:30 pm, tonight, Greg & Carly's house.

Email gardenposse@gmail.com for directions.

We'll be getting artistic, and also getting some planning done. It's about time to get focused on activities for the fall (it's never too early to look forward to it not being hot - am I right or am I right?). And we still have cool summer activities coming up - a tubing trip, church potluck, and our first anniversary party, which we think is a good way to break into that not-so-hot weather.

Guerrillas in Austin, LA, and beyond!

Last week we were all set up for painting signs for our guerrilla gardens. But then, the Garden Posse received a massive, ready-to-plant shipment of flowers from Steve. Digging and adventures ensued, but that's a story for another time. A story for when photos get uploaded and such. A story, maybe, for when you see us in person and think to ask about it.

For now you will be pointed to the adventures and ideas of other guerrilla gardeners across the globe. 

Here's an article about Scott, of SoCal Guerrilla Gardening. He's a true guerrilla gardening pioneer - he's been doing it for 20 years. A few months ago, he sent us succulents sprung from his guerrilla gardens. They're almost ready to plant. 

A guerrilla gardener (or just creative, green-minded person?) in Ireland was sick of seeing politicians' faces on campaign posters. So he made garden boxes out of them. Instructions and photos are here. 

Richard Reynolds' Twitter feed is always an informative and updated source of guerrilla gardening activities. Reynolds is the founder of guerrillagardening.org. I'm not sure if he has a real job, but he makes it his business to keep on top of the world's guerrilla gardening. 

As for upcoming Garden Posse activities, we are trying to plan a potluck with the Webberville Road Baptist Church. They are calling the garden "Paradise Garden," and they'd like to thank us by stuffing us with food. Does this weekend look good for you guys? 

Updates on Garden Posse activities will be upcoming. Should we get a Twitter feed? I'd probably update it just as often as this blog....  or, who knows.

Sign painting tomorrow! & 34th Street garden in need.

It's time to represent the Garden Posse! We have two gardens without proper signage - the Greetings from Austin mural garden on S. 1st, and the Webberville Road Church garden. The public needs to know what these gardens are about, and signs have served as good publicity in the past. So let's paint some signs!

Carly has volunteered her house for the sign painting party tomorrow at 7:30 pm. Remember, these events are always improved with food and drink, so feel free to bring some over. We'll also be talking about planning some fun summer events - possibly a Garden Posse First Anniversary Party?

Also, the 34th Street Garden is in need. Can you help? The Posse's first garden's caretaker (me, Lindsay) has moved away and is no longer able to provide the garden with the water and care it needs to survive. The area around the garden was recently clear cut - fortunately, the clear-cutters preserved the garden - but all the shade is gone. It may be too late for the veggies in the heat, but we can keep the perennial flowers happy. They've been doing so well over the past year, please help them survive the summer! Contact gardenposse@gmail.com, and I'll let you in on the location of free water & water jug.

Webberville Church Garden update!

The Garden Posse has been on hiatus for the past few weeks - there's something about summer in Central Texas that makes you want to do nothing but sleep and swim. But not at the same time. 

However, when we last left our garden at Webberville Road Baptist Church, there were some finishing touches that needed to be made. And that's when heroic Posse member Robb took action.

He picked up a load of rocks in his truck from Memorial Cemetery, which has a huge supply of free rocks. (Good tip!) He used them to landscape the garden beds. 

Did I mention he mulched them a few days before that? He is truly capable at this guerrilla gardening thing. Also, he know how to help you move apartments. 

How is the garden itself? It's looking very good.


Thanks to Robb and everyone else who worked on this garden!

Seed bomb workshop at Windsor Park Library this Saturday

This isn't a Garden Posse event, but it's an interesting event which has come to our attention and involves learning how to make seed bombs. We fully endorse such activities.

The Windsor Park Library is in the 51st & Cameron area. The event is on June 13 and runs from 10 am - 2 pm.

Learn How to Build a Guerrilla Garden - tomorrow!

Saturday, May 30 (that's tomorrow), at 4:15 pm, the Garden Posse will be doing its last dig of the season. It's an extra-special dig because it's part of Skillshare Weekend! Skillshare Austin is putting on an entire weekend of helpful, D.I.Y.-type workshops.  

At our workshop, How To Build A Guerrilla Garden, you'll learn about this thing called guerrilla gardening, and we'll get some hands-on digging experience near Treasure City Thrift. We'll be planting drought-tolerant plants for the summer.  

The actual event is hosted by Space 12 (3121 E 12th, just west of Airport Blvd), so show up there for the workshop and you'll be guided down to our spot. Or, if you want to help us set it up, meet at Greg and Carly's house at 3:30 pm. We hope to see you then!

Flyer boxes turn into planter boxes

A great example of guerrilla gardening:


A street artist outfitted this graffiti-covered flyer box with a custom-built planter. It's pretty much the definition of guerrilla gardening. I'd love to see more container-type guerrilla gardening ideas hitting Austin's pavement.

Final gardening escapade before summer!

Tonight, at 7:30 pm, we are meeting up at the Webberville Road Baptist Church to do some maintenance and beautification on the garden we installed last week! Please bring any rocks or bricks you have to make a border around the beds, tools, and flashlights. Here's the link to the location.

This project will probably not take very long, so there's a possibility we could get some refreshments at Clementine's afterwards (read: cheap drinks). We'd like to talk about planning for summer events, and our workshop for Skillshare Weekend. Which is, of course, this coming weekend. Our workshop, How to Build a Guerrilla Garden, will run from 4:15 - 5:45 on SATURDAY, MAY 30. Mark your calendars (more precisely this time). But you'll want to stick around for the whole weekend, because you'll learn how to make puppets, zines, a tv remote from a coat hanger, woodblock printing, taking control of your pregnancy, and so much more! Plus, you'll probably meet a whole bunch of cool people. Oh, yeah, and and an afterparty with The One Hundred Flowers, one of the best bands in Austin. It sounds fun, right? Yep.

Webberville Church Garden: We dug it.

Webberville Baptist Church is deep on the East Side of Austin. It's a simple building, and there are only a handful of congregants - all of them over the age of 60. A few members of the Garden Posse sometimes attempt to bring down the median age when they attend services at the church. In the process, they've gotten friendly with the pastor and members of the church. When they mentioned the idea of building a garden on the church's nearly 2 acres of green lawn, the congregation got excited. 

Robb, Carly and Gregg spent Monday night doing some preliminary digging so we would be able to get the garden put in on Tuesday. They dug three beds around this patch of concrete, close to T.C.'s Lounge. T.C.'s is one of those classic ramshackle night spots, with music, pool, free blues and comfort food on Mondays, and a few people whose souls could use saving. They could be saved in the middle of a garden, maybe?

Carly, Robb, and Juan dig out one of the beds. The soil was very sandy, so we put a few bags of compost in. 

Nice, rich soil in what will eventually become the herb garden.

This garden was planted with flowers, and two transplants. 

The third, and largest bed, was divided into two for peppers, tomato, and basil plants. 

We're very excited about the garden, because it's for a community that will care for it and hopefully add to it. We would like to plan a potluck in cooperation with the congregation, and talk with them about what they'd like to see in the garden. You have another chance to get involved next week! We'll be back at the church, putting a border around the garden and fixing it up a bit more. 

The planting season in Texas takes a hot hiatus June through August, so next week, and our event with Skillshare, will be your last chances to get your hands in the dirt for a few months. Come out and hang out! We'll be arranging seed bomb workshops, potlucks, and possibly a Garden Posse tubing trip over the summer, so keep an eye out for updates. Just because we can't garden doesn't mean we won't have fun.