The Garden Posse

Crafts with the Garden Posse at the HOPE Farmer's Market! This Sunday

2010-08-24T19:09:00.000-05:00

We at the Garden Posse love crafts. And why not? Gardening goes hand in hand with D.I.Y, which goes hand in hand with crafts, which goes hand in hand with making adorable and practical chalkboard labels on terra cotta pots for your container garden, as pictured above!

Come visit us at the HOPE Farmer's Market this Sunday from 10 am to 2 pm and make these pots with us! Oh, and then you can shop for local produce and eat delicious food!

It's such a winning plan for Sunday. We guarantee all your friends will be jealous with your productivity on a day most consider lazy, so why not bring your friends as well? Do you have kids? They will like this.

We encourage you to bring your own pots to paint with us, but we will also be selling pots for a reasonable price. Sales will help cover the costs of the project and support similar projects in the future.

The HOPE Farmer's Market is located at 414 Waller Street, in and behind the ramshackle building you may recognize as the Fader Fort during SXSW (near Progress Coffee). The market host farm vendors such as Johnson's Backyard Garden (whose produce made a beautiful soup last week), food vendors such as Royal Indian Food (who will stuff as many delicious samples in your mouth as you can handle), and garden vendors like A to Zen (who sell exotic trees that I pine after). And you can buy recycled yarn from our friend at Yarn Harvest!

We hope to see you then.

View Larger Map

We did the work. Now it's time to celebrate.

2010-08-13T21:10:00.000-05:00

You may recall our involvement with the legal planting of the median at Rosewood and Chicon, back on July 10. Let me tell you about July 10. It was hot. We got to the median around 9 am, and worked spreading soil and compost, grading the landscape, planting over a hundred plants, and finishing it off with a layer of glass mulch, until after 3 pm. And let me tell you about 3 pm on July 10 in Austin, Texas. It was hot. We were sunburned. We were tired. At least one of us had been attacked by ants. But we had accomplished something - the planting of a median that took years (years!) to plan. (To see photos of the median, check out this Flickr set.)

So now, we party.

Wait. First we go back and weed. Then, we party.

This Saturday, August 14, starting at nine and continuing to noon you can volunteer to weed, water, and mulch the median.

On Sunday, August 15, the fun begins at 7 pm with stories and skits based on the experiences of the neighborhood, at the New Movement Theater. A reception will follow with a TRIANGLE CAKE! Delicious and appropriate.

If you want to get involved, contact Ilse Frank at ilse@studiobalcones.com

Here's a map:

View Larger Map

Garden Posse summer potluck! August 5

2010-07-29T17:06:00.000-05:00

What: Garden Posse potluck

When: Starting at 7 pm, August 5

Where: 2212 B Lanier Dr

Lindsay is hosting this event at her house, near Anderson & Burnet Rd. Please bring a delicious dish and hopefully we will end up with lots of beer and wine, too. This is a great time to do some pure Posse hanging out and some thinking about gardens before the fall season really gets rolling. It's also a great time to become friends with your neighborhood guerrilla gardeners! Everyone is welcome.

Legally planting a median! July 10

2010-06-24T18:30:00.002-05:00

Usually, the Garden Posse spends the summer alternatively hiding inside and watering our plants and praying for their survival. But we are coming out of our summer hibernation (is that a thing?) to plant an East Side median, legally!

Landscape architect Ilse Frank asked us to participate in the planting of the median at Rosewood and Chicon with years of planning behind it. We said yes, as our last garden is halfway across the street at the New Movement Theater! We need a couple of volunteers, so we hope you can make it out on Saturday, July 10 at 9 am for what is likely the only planting event of the summer.

Read about it on the Out & About blog, and look for the news in the July 4 edition of the Statesman!

The time hasn't been solidified, but it will probably be sometime in the morning.

Come to McAllen's Cooking Skillz & Potluck, July 8th!

2010-06-23T17:01:00.001-05:00

Longtime Posse pal McAllen goes down to the roots of the Garden Posse - back when the idea for guerrilla gardening was hatched over a couple of homemade pizzas (food and great ideas always go together). McAllen went to a couple of workshops during Skillshare Austin's weekend of skills, and got inspired. He says, "As a gardener I've been wanting to make better use of all the food I'm growing for a long time. The Skillshare workshop inspired me to make that dream a reality, and teach it to others."

McAllen is going to be hosting a cooking skillz and potluck at his house (12th & Airport) from 7 - 10 pm on July 8. Featuring homegrown garlic! Here's the announcement, from McAllen himself:

Hey garden knomes. Or should I say "hay" garden knomes, hay makes great mulch. I'm allowed one awful pun for the year.

So check it out: I harvested some garlic in my community garden a few weeks ago. It takes that long for the bulbs to cure before they're ready for use. It's almost time to put it in the pantry. What the heck am I going to do with twelve heads of garlic? This question gave me an idea. I want to host a workshop in which people teach a few skills about food, including how to make:

Roasted Garlic
Ornamental Hot Pepper Wreaths
Flavored, Ornamental Oil Jars
Soup Stock from Scratch
Some great recipes that are as easy as they are tasty
Also:
Canning
Time Saving Food Prep Tips

Bring a dish to share!

Garden this weekend!

2010-06-17T11:48:00.000-05:00

Recently, the Garden Posse was contacted by landscape architect Ilse Frank, a woman with her fingers in many planting pies. She won a grant from Keep Austin Beautiful to install gardens near bus stops, and she needs volunteers for a dig that's happening this Saturday, from 9 am to 3 pm! There are FREE TACOS in it for you! Here's the info.

Hey Volunteers, Ambassadors, and Friends of Plaza Saltillo,

Great news!

Our Plaza Saltillo Beautification team is ready to plant more trees and plants. Thanks to the hard work from our volunteer Landscape Architect Ilse Frank, the folks here at Capital Metro, and some help from PARD, we have the resources and assistance we need for another volunteer day! Hurray!

However, summer is upon us so we need to host our volunteer day asap.

Please join us on Saturday, June 19 from 9AM – 3PM.

Location: 412 Comal Street, Austin, TX 78702

Parking: Consider taking the bus, carpooling, biking, or walking! Limited parking on North and South side of site.

Bring: Water, Hats, Sunscreen, Water bottles,

Wear: Clothes to get dirty in.

We need about 40 volunteers to get the job done, so spread the word to your co-workers and friends.

2010-06-15T15:24:00.001-05:00

New garden at the New Movement

2010-05-26T23:05:00.000-05:00

Huzzah! The Garden Posse has installed a new garden at the New Movement Theater, home of improv comedy classes and shows, as well as the megaphone pictured above. And temporary home to the monkey pictured below.

As we mentioned in our last post, the plan for this garden was hatched by our new friend Jen, who is both an improv and guerrilla gardening enthusiast. This makes her a person who is funny and handy with a shovel. She'd spent some time planting at the door of the theater and had started making her way down the side of the small building. The Garden Posse joined in to speed up the process, with a whole bunch of perennials donated by Shoal Creek Nursery, and more hands.

One of the Garden Posse's favorite adages to needlepoint on pillows is "Many hands make light work." So we were psyched to see a whole bunch of new guerrilla gardeners cruise in on bikes to help out! Here we are, hard at work.

We pulled out all the weeds that lined the side of the building, in order to amend the notoriously crappy soil that Jen had warned us about. Then we spaced out all of the plants - blackfoot daisy, lantana, firecracker, verbena, and more - and settled them in to their new homes. Here is Jen putting the finishing touches on the newly installed garden plus some improv people hanging out:

Yeah, so that's not the best photo, but trust us, it's going to be so pretty! As we were digging, we got lots of encouragement from neighbors driving by, who would stop at the stoplight and shout out their windows things like, "I appreciate what you're doing!" in perhaps more colorful language.

The other great thing about this garden (besides all the people who helped out, and its beautiful future) is that the people of the New Movement Theater are truly awesome (love fest time!). We are looking forward to the fall when we have some property stuff worked out and we can unleash the Posse powers on this beautiful, wide expanse of grass behind the building:

Can you say community garden? Also, can you say delicious smoked BBQ? The smokehouse!

Garden Posse teams up with improv comedy theater, hilarity ensues!

2010-05-21T12:55:00.000-05:00

The Garden Posse is a lover of all kinds of laughter: Giggles, chortles, chuckles, hoots, belly laughs, and laughing until you think you can't laugh anymore but you keep laughing because there is no way to stop. So we're very, very happy to be working with The New Movement Theater, which puts on improv comedy classes and shows here in Austin! Jen, an ambassador from The New Movement, has been guerrilla gardening on her own in along the side of the building. She came to our dig at Chestnut last week, told us what she's envisioning for the space, and asked for our help. With Jen's enthusiasm, and the enthusiasm of The New Movement's founders, we are totally psyched to start gardening here!

Next Tuesday, May 25, we'll be meeting at 8 PM (a half hour later than our usual time) in front of the New Movement Theater (1819 Rosewood). It's on the East Side, next to local landmark Nubian Queen Lola's.

We'll be planting landscaping plants along the side of the building, and scheming about what else we'd like to do in the building's spacious backyard and Lola's alley. It's getting close to the end of planting season (heating up much?) so we'll be thinking in the grand scheme for the fall.

Here's a photo of the space, which we checked out last night:

And here's a map to get there!

View Larger Map Driving Directions View Bird's Eye

Chestnut Garden tomorrow, Skillshare in June!

2010-05-10T13:39:00.000-05:00

One of our oldest and favorite guerrilla gardens is the Chestnut Garden. It's got a great location across from Chestnut Park, and it's in an abandoned lot with lots of room for expansion. We'll be replanting it for spring/ summer tomorrow night! We'll meet at 16th & Chestnut at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, May 11.

Bring any plants you need to get in the ground, and whatever tools ya got. Headlamps are always helpful!

If you've been outside in the last two weeks, you'll notice it's getting hot - that means the Chestnut Garden is one of the last gardens we'll be planting this season! Get in on this sweet guerrilla action before it is too late and we reverse hibernate for summer.

Oh and one more thing: Our friends at Skillshare Austin are hosting their annual Skillshare Workshop on June 5-6 at Space 12. That means a whole weekend filled with fun and practical workshops on everything from DIY art & craft to parenting to chicken tractors. The Garden Posse will be hosting a workshop on something either gardening or guerrilla related. Put it on your calendar! www.skillshareaustin.org

Carver Museum Butterfly Garden: The Report

2010-05-04T21:52:00.001-05:00

Not long after we filmed our segment for Central Texas Gardener, the producer, Linda, got in touch with us about a gardening project at the Carver Library and Museum. The organizer, Faye, was looking for some help with the landscaping outside the East Side cultural center. Apparently, the city funding (and the water) for the outside landscaping had dried up. Which is really a shame, because obviously a lot of planning and money went into building, and doing the initial landscaping, for these relatively new buildings. The rest of the story is that it's really hard to get the city to give permission to do anything to the landscaping, and so you can end up with a bunch of dried up clumps of grass and weeds that you can't do anything about.

So Faye and her team at Carver had finally gotten permission to touch the landscaping, but still - no funds, no city employees to help. That's where the Garden Posse came in. We became responsible for installing a butterfly garden in an area outside the museum which was currently hosting aforementioned dried up clumps of grass and weeds.

The Great Outdoors provided us with a very generous donation of about 20 plants which are sure to prove irresistible to butterflies. And Shoal Creek Nursery gave us broken bags of dirt and compost. We set to work pulling up weeds.

Well, at leas some of us did. We had a pretty good crew.

Hilary arrived on her bike, proving that the Garden Posse is truly an environmentally friendly posse.

Allen and Gene proved very effective weeders. It was a hot day and we were all rewarded with the most delicious pizza from East Side Pies - conveniently located across the street from Carver! (I want to live there now.)

After lunch, we did not take a nap.

We had to cut through the black landscaping cloth that the city put down. We don't like that stuff - not only does it make it inconvenient to plant new plants, but it can't be a good thing to coat the ground in plastic.

If you ever run into this situation, use a pick-ax. Also pictured above: Our amazing Cobra Head with which we are still very much in love.

Hopefully the plants are happy in their new home, and lots of butterflies will fall in love with them.

The hardest part? Watering. As mentioned before, the city had turned the water off to all the exterior spigots, apparently due to a neighbor's complaint. So we had to kind of rig up a system involving a series of buckets, an Igloo cooler, and a library cart. We just hope the water gets turned back on soon!

In these photos we're missing some of our early-leaving crew, but they were in our hearts. As we finished the job, Faye told us that we all "belong" to Carver now.

All in all, we felt really great about the garden and helping out Faye and everyone else at Carver! It wasn't the most guerrilla garden we've put in, but it was definitely one of the most rewarding to dig.

Seed bombs from a candy machine?

2010-04-28T12:18:00.001-05:00

They're better for your teeth than candy, that's for sure. And better for beautifying the spaces around you. Lucy of the Waller Creek is for Lovers sent us word of this seed-bomb dispensing project called Greenaid, based in L.A.

Apparently, the idea is that people would buy these for their neighborhoods. From the website:

Whether you're a business owner, educator, or just a concerned citizen we'd like to work with you to get Greenaid in your community. You can purchase a machine (or two, or ten...) directly from us and we will develop a seed mix as well as a strategic neighborhood intervention plan in response to the unique ecologies of your area. You then simply place the machine at your local bar, business, school, park, or anywhere that you think it can have the most impact. We will then supply you with all the seedbombs you need to support the continued success of the initiative.

I'd love to see these spread around downtown Austin! As the creators say, it makes guerrilla gardening efforts a lot more accessible. Not that it's hard to come to one of the Garden Posse's events!

Speaking of, I have been very bad at updating the blog with our guerrilla activities. Bad, bad, guerrilla gardening blogger. Last night we visited the mural garden at South 1st and Annie, and discovered that our sign had been stolen, but the garden itself was doing very well! There's a beautiful spread of blackfoot daisy, sage, mint, and another plant I can't identify but is growing very vigorously. (We'd appreciate an ID!) We planted a few more perennials on the sidewalk strip, having given up on the other side of the mural as three consecutive plantings have refused to breathe life into the compacted soil. And since the basil did so well last year (as you can see in our Central Texas Gardener segment, it is the one plant the camera chooses to feature), we planted four different kinds of basil! A passerby with child asked us where the beautiful basil had gone. This summer, we hope to have a more active caretaker at this site - and more rain.

If you're in the area, stop by the garden and peek behind the flowers to pick some of our mint. It's perfect for a refreshing summertime mojito!

Plant a garden at the Carver Library with us on Saturday!

2010-04-19T16:52:00.000-05:00

The Carver Library needs our help! They have asked the Garden Posse to install a butterfly and herb garden as part of the effort to recover their landscaping. This is our first officially sanctioned garden, but that doesn't make us any less guerrilla. It just means we can do whatever we want with city property!

So meet us at the Carver Library (1161 Angelina Street, off Rosewood on the East Side) at noon this Saturday, April 24. We'll be pulling out old plants, and designing and planting a brand new garden! Please bring whatever tools ya got (no flashlights necessary this time), and donations of herbs and butterfly-attracting plants and seeds are much appreciated. Friends are appreciated too. Snacks will be provided!

Here's a map to the Carver Library:

View Larger Map

And here's a resource for the plants that Texas butterflies love.

See you on Saturday!

Help scientists track climate change, in your own yard!

2010-04-19T14:17:00.002-05:00

Do you have spiderwort, red columbine, or common lilac in your yard or neighborhood? They're on a list of the "Ten Most Wanted Plants" of Project Budburst, a citizen science initiative that helps scientists track climate change.

Scientists have observed that the date that flowers bloom is changing across the country, perhaps due to warming temperatures associated with climate change. The data provided by gardeners will be used to test the connection and learn more about how a warming environment affects plants. It's important stuff. So all you have to do is join the website to report observations in your yard - and boom, you're a scientist! It's way easier than getting a Ph.D. And it's also probably a fun way to get kids involved with gardening and science - at the same time.

Project Budburst has been going on for the past three years. For more information about how you can help, visit the website and/or read today's press release on the Ten Most Wanted Plants.

Cherrywood Book and Plant Swap!

2010-04-09T20:38:00.001-05:00

We were so happy to participate in the spring Cherrywood Book and Plant Swap this year! Organizer Jack Darby started the swap over a decade ago (I think) after he saw a neighbor host a small book and plant swap in her yard. The swap was moved to Cherrywood Green, a pocket park in the center of the lovely Cherrywood neighborhood, and expanded into a community event where people from all over Austin are invited to bring their propagated plants, saved seeds, and books to trade freely. It's a beautiful idea, and it's fun! Everyone comes away happy.

Last fall, we invited ourselves to do a seed bomb demo, and introduced ourselves to the Cherrywood community. We were extremely lucky to find a nearby spot that was perfect for a guerrilla garden, and we dug the garden a few months later (as seen on TV). The garden has been a welcome addition to the neighborhood by all accounts, and it's expanding and thriving! More on that in an upcoming post.

We collected a small crowd to help us roll seed bombs. You definitely get your hands dirty in this activity.

Helpful books at the swap. Wonder who purchased this book first, and needs it no longer?

At the end of the demo, we had 3 trays full of seed bombs! We had some from previous demos to give away to our helpers, and we'll have more for wildflower planting next fall.

Thanks to Jack for inviting us. We met so many wonderful people, made great gardening connections, had a fantastic time, and now we're rich with plants!

For more photos, visit our flickr group!

Happy Hour at Sao Paulo!

2010-04-05T23:40:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow, have $2.50 margaritas and bottomless Brazilian chips (cross between tortilla and wonton) with us at Sao Paulo! We'll be meeting there around 5:30 pm on Tuesday to make merry and make plans for upcoming events. If you'd like to help formulate those plans, offer new ideas, or just see how a guerrilla gardening group does happy hour (do we try to plant the table? we might), please join us. San Paulo is north of the UT campus at 2809 San Jacinto Boulevard. (near the intersection of Dean Keeton & San Jacinto)

Photos of the Cherrywood Book and Plant Swap, and the gorgeous and successful Cherrywood Garden will be coming soon.

Get your plant, book, and seed bomb on this weekend!

2010-04-01T09:33:00.000-05:00

It's been a beautiful week and I know many of us are spending time in our gardens, trying to put all our work in before the hot months of summer. Perhaps you're thinking of buying more plants? No need to buy! You need to swap!

Come to the Cherrywood Book and Plant Swap this Saturday, at Cherrywood & 34th (near our Cherrywood garden). It runs from 9 - noon. You and the neighbors can trade plants, cuttings, and seeds you've propogated, and books you don't want anymore! We will be doing a seed bomb workshop, back by popular demand. Other features include: Master Gardeners on hand to answer your questions, and a performance by the Maplewood Yukelele Choir. It's sure to be a worthwhile event in a wonderful neighborhood. Now, let's hope for sun.

For more information, visit the event website.

The Crestland Garden gets a facelift

2010-03-25T23:06:00.002-05:00

Welcome to the old Crestland Garden! We love the location of the garden - the triangle is like an oasis right off the busy, barren street of North Lamar. It's surrounded on three sides by houses full of neighbors, who we met when we knocked on their doors, to invite them to work on the garden with us. Our hope for every garden we plant is that it will become a part of the community. In our dreams, the neighbors treat the guerrilla garden like a community garden - planting their own plants, expanding it when it's needed, and weeding and watering. In that way, the whole neighborhood can share the fresh food that comes out of the middle of their street.

Above you'll see the garden filled with with the remains of the fall crop. We planted everything from seed, and it did very well - full of cabbage, brocolli, beets, and kale.

But the garden was also being strangled by weeds. This is kind of a good sign, because it means that the city workers who mow the triangle have left the garden - bordered by a variety of rocks and wood - well enough alone.

And most of the plants had bolted. Here is the broccoli turning into tiny yellow flowers.

We were joined by a neighbor, Chris, who we met at a neighbor's Canadian Thanksgiving potluck last fall. We started off by attacking the weeds - quite a task. We pulled most of the plants out, but we thought this Chinese cabbage made quite a nice centerpiece. (Eventually we pulled it up.) Chris carted the discarded green stuff back to his compost pile.

We had a few visitors as well: A neighborhood mom and daughter gardening team walked over to give us a tomato transplant and a pod of okra seeds. The mom told us that whenever they drive by, she and her daughter check out the garden and what's happening there. They said they wanted to garden with us, but they had already done a lot of gardening at their house that day, and the daughter (who was about 7 and very cute) looked ready for bed. We told them that we would save room for them to plant their own veggies in the guerrilla garden.

And then a stranger encounter: A white mini van drove into the neighborhood and circled our triangle, calling out, "Headlamp gardening! Cool!" After one complete rotation, the car stopped and out came a skinny man who proclaimed himself a professional dumpster diver, a freegan, and career chef to diplomats traveling the world. He gave us each a business card to promote his line of dressings, available at your neighborhood market. He told us he was totally on board with what we were doing, then jumped back into his van, circled the triangle a few more times (calling out, "Cool!") and then disappeared back into North Lamar traffic.

But back to gardening. The other bed was more manageable, and we left the remains of the kale and cabbage to come to their natural end.

After we were done weeding, we got ambitious and decided to expanded the garden. We dug up a third bed. We've found with experience that pick axes work best, even better than tillers.

We neglected to take any photos of the plants, so you'll have to trust us when we say that we packed those beds full of peppers, tomatoes, herbs, sorrel, garlic chives, cucumbers, and we can't remember what else. There's sure to be quite a harvest... that is, if the cat we saw dive into the bed right after we were finished learns a valuable lesson.

Here are the ladies of the guerrilla gardening night after the dig.

We are planning a return to the Crestland Garden, to encourage the neighbors to come out and learn about the plants in their neighborhood. Details to be announced.

Garden Posse screenprints at SXSW!

2010-03-21T17:42:00.007-05:00

Yesterday was the last big day of SXSW (everyone knows Sunday is just for recovery), and the Garden Posse spent it in a blur of screenprinting, music, beer, and crafts at the Stem & Leaf day party. Seen above are Mount Righteous, an incredible marching band from Dallas playing inside Rainey Manor, a random house on the west side of I-35. The Silent Chase was playing outside, on a cold, windy day which many people braved to come to a raucous party. Luckily, the Posse was warm inside, sharing a room with Skillshare Austin, and screenprinting to our heart's content.

Here's just one of our satisfied customers, wearing a hoodie sweater made exponentially cooler by our print.

Truth be told, none of the Posse had ever screenprinted before this day. It was an idea that sounded good to us, so we made it happen, with a lot of help from a more experienced friend. We used a photo emulsion chemical to transfer Carly's design onto the screen. The process takes about a day.

It came out looking beautiful. And the process of printing couldn't be easier. Just put some paint on the screen, get some fabric under there, and spread the paint across with the squee-gee tool. Here's Carly at work.

We printed up a bunch of these fabric posters/ patches.

We also screenprinted clothes people were wearing or bought at Treasure City's sale. My personal favorite was a friend's velour jacket, which despite concerns about the fabric, turned out really well. We also printed on a huge puffy jacket, and a fleece vest. It was cold.

This is my tank top. It looks good, no?

We are really pleased with how the design came out, and we hope to sell Garden Posse t-shirts at more events! Tell us in the comments if you want one! FYI, it helps to let people know that you're in a posse.

Just a bit of cuteness to close out South By... the dog sneaks into the photo shoot.

Crestland Garden rescheduled!

2010-03-21T15:08:00.002-05:00

Due to a day full of rain, a week of South by Southwest, and a misunderstanding involving the meaning of the word "snout" in a text, last week's dig at Crestland Garden was postponed. That means, if you hadn't planned to come last week, you can make it this week!

Tuesday, March 23, we'll meet at the triangle on W Crestland closest to North Lamar. 7:30 pm. We'll have the plants, you bring your tools.

You can get all your relevant information (including a map and photos) on the last post about this event, here.

Garden Posse screenprinting at SXSW! This Saturday

2010-03-15T10:27:00.005-05:00

By now you should know that one of the Garden Posse's secret strengths is having an awesome graphic designer as a member. Carly designed our logo in anticipation of our September benefit concert at the United States Art Authority, put on by Stem & Leaf showcases. Garden Posse and Stem & Leaf just sound like a natural fit, right? So we've teamed up with them again to support what is sure to be a kick-ass day party at South by Southwest.

This year Stem & Leaf is celebrating their fifth birthday with 16 bands, free beer, snacks, crafts, and screenprinting by the Garden Posse! On March 20, come to "Rainey Manor" (90 I-35 South which is kitty corner to Lustre Pearl. Also directly located off of the I-35 Frontage road just past Cesar Chavez.) You can get this image screenprinted on fabric provided by us, t-shirts purchased by Treasure City, or stuff brought by you!

RSVP, band lineup, and more infor on Faceboook. (Note: RSVP not required.)

Bands I recommend: Squalor Victoria (their first show, they will be wearing warpaint), Mount Righteous (super fun marching band from Dallas), Stephaniesid, One Hundred Flowers, the Distant Seconds, Peter and the Wolf, Monarchs, and pretty much everyone else. And you can check out Sondre Lerche at 6 pm across the street at Lustre Pearl.

Bottom line: It's going to be awesome. Hope you can make it!

Crestland Garden on Tuesday!

2010-03-13T16:55:00.003-06:00

We stopped by the Crestland Garden off North Lamar today, and we found this beauty.

It's ready to harvest, along with kale. The garden has sent up bright yellow sentinels in the form of the Chinese cabbage bolting. That means, time to clean up from winter and replant!

We'll be meeting at the large triangle on W Crestland Dr, right off North Lamar, at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, March 16. You can search for it with the approximate address 679 W Crestland Dr. Here's the map.

View Larger Map

If you're driving up North Lamar, it's kind of a quick turn to the right across from the Surplus Warehouse and a big carpet outlet.

We'll be weeding out the garden and planting new seeds and transplants for spring. Depending on how many people show up, we might expand the garden.

Hope to see you there!

Seed bombing 2/2/10

2010-03-07T13:26:00.002-06:00

Last Tuesday marked our first foray into East Side seed bombing. We set off from our garden at Chestnut Park towards the yet-to-be-opened-and-we-haven't-been-holding-our-breath-for-it-thank-God train station at MLK.

However, a little birdie left a helpful comment in our last post that is going to open on March 22, only a year after the launch party was planned. We'll believe it when we see it. But we figured we'd give the hypothetical riders something nice to look at off the side of the tracks.

We were looking for spots that were not landscaped and had bare dirt - the exposed slope, the tree wells. It's important to place them in an area where the seeds won't be overcome by weeds, or chopped down by a mower. Wildflowers have no natural defenses from mowers.

We moved up from MLK towards Manor Rd, dropping seed bombs along the perimeters of construction sites and the edges of curbs. Our best site was an abandoned airport parking lot. The airport closed over ten years ago. We plopped seed bombs over the fence, and found bare spots among the weeds. Hopefully they will provide a little beauty in contrast to the broken beer bottles, and used fast food wrappers.

Our next meetup is planned for Tuesday, March 16. We'll be replanting and possibly expanding our garden at the Crestland Triangle, off North Lamar. We'll meet at 7:30 pm. Put it on your calendars!

Seed Bomb Chestnut Park!

2010-03-01T19:19:00.004-06:00

The Garden Posse is somewhat like squirrels and acorns in our behavior regarding seed bombs. We make them, and we horde them. Over a couple of fall seed bomb making sessions, we've accumulated an impressive stockpile. Now it is time to spread them.

This Tuesday, March 2, at 7:30 pm, we'll be meeting at Chestnut Park (16th & Chestnut) to divvy up our pile and seed bomb wherever needs seed bombing. On the map below you'll see the park and the garden. If you enlarge the map (meaning, make it so you can see a larger area by hitting that "-" sign), you can see three sites for potential seed bombing.

View Seed Bomb Chestnut Park in a larger map

One site is nearby the MLK train site (hey, when is that train coming in anyway?). There are two more nearby, at MLK Blvd and Manor Rd, respectively. We'll check out these sites, spread our seed bombs around, and wait for the magic to happen. Seed bombs release their seeds when rain comes and dissolves their little package of compost and clay.

This shouldn't take more than an hour - maybe afterwards we can grab a drink! Hope to see you there.

Welcome to the Garden Posse! FAQs

2010-02-28T16:38:00.005-06:00

If you are visiting the Garden Posse blog for the first time after seeing us on Central Texas Gardener, welcome! Presumably, you are here because you want to know more - you are on a quest for information about, maybe, what we do or how you can get involved. Well, you are in luck, because we just wrote up some handy FAQs for our new website, which is about to launch. (Yes, we are going to bust out of this rinky-dink Blogspot soon. Our new home will be substantially more beautiful and informative.)

So read on for answers to all your most burning questions about the Garden Posse. If you have a different question, don't hesitate to ask in the comments.

Q: What is guerrilla gardening?

A: Guerrilla gardening is commonly defined as gardening on public land without permission, typically at night. However, the Garden Posse’s activities are not confined by this definition. We might ask permission to garden on private land, or we might garden to help out another community group. Some people might use guerrilla gardening as a type of political action, but we see it more of a way to encourage creative gardening and create a sense of community. We’ll get behind any activity that furthers those goals.

Q: Where are your gardens?

A: Check out our handy-dandy Google Map to locate guerrilla gardens we’ve planted since we started.

Q: How can I join the group?

A: All it takes is you showing up to one of our events to consider yourself a guerrilla gardener. If you want to feel official, come to our meetings, digs, and events on a regular basis and we’ll consider you to be a “core member” of the Posse. From then on, we’ve got your back. You won’t regret it.

Q: How do I find out about Garden Posse events?

A: There are lots of ways – we are not too secretive about our doings. Check out our calendar on our website, join our mailing list, read our blog, become our fan on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

Q: I want to help you find new garden space. What are the requirements for sites?

A: We are really glad you want to help! For a traditional vegetable or flower garden, there are three main requirements:

- Legitimately neglected, meaning, no mowing or maintenance by city or neighbor. Public space or you have permission of owner.

- Near a water source

- Neighbors will actively maintain garden

There may be exceptions, so inquire directly about a potential space. It helps if you send photos and an approximate address.

We are looking for other types of spaces for different activities, as well.

- Wildflowers! (large areas appropriate for broadcasting seeds. Think roadsides, triangles, medians)

- Native fruit tree groves (large areas that have room for one or more large trees)

- Invasive species removal

- Wildlife habitats (for bats, birds, and bees)

- Places appropriate for home-made container gardens (sidewalks, wherever!)

Q: Where do you get your materials?

A: A few area nurseries (in particular, Shoal Creek Nursery) have been very kind to us and donate plants, soil and compost. We also have hosted a benefit that gave us funds to buy plants. We always welcome participants bringing their own plants and seeds!

Q: What should I bring to a guerrilla garden dig?

A: Bring shovels, trowels, rakes – whatever tools ya got. Flashlights are extremely helpful for digs at night. And as mentioned above, plants and seeds are nice to bring. We encourage you to bring native plants adapted to the Central Texas climate – they’re more likely to survive in a guerrilla garden.

Q: I’m a lost soul. How do I know if guerrilla gardening is right for me?

A: If you are a beginning gardener looking to get your hands in the dirt, an experienced gardener looking for a creative challenge, a frustrated gardener without a yard looking for a garden to care for, or a person looking to try something new and meet new people, we think you will enjoy guerrilla gardening.

The Garden Posse on Central Texas Gardener!

2010-02-28T16:19:00.004-06:00

Here it is, our long-awaited television debut:

Thanks to Linda Lehmusvirta, producer of Central Texas Gardener, for making us look good to our fellow central Texas gardeners. At our screening party on Friday, there was a Posse consensus that the segment really expressed what our guerrilla gardening is about. So, we are a very happy Posse! Thanks also to all the Cherrywood gardeners who made the dig so great, and to Marshall Escamilla for providing the music.

We can't wait to get going for spring!

Winter garden

2010-02-25T21:28:00.004-06:00

This is the last state I ever expected to see my front-yard garden in:

Yes, this is Texas, and that white stuff? It's called snow, something we don't see often here, and the absence of the stuff is the reason we garden year-round. The garden boxes did a nice job of catching it, as if freshly mulched.

I wanted to put a sweater on the kale, maybe with a little hat and scarf. It must be freezing!

They're huddling together for warmth, see?

How did your garden weather the snow?

-Lindsay

Central Texas Gardener (ft the Garden Posse) Screening Party this Friday!

2010-02-23T16:24:00.001-06:00

Remember how, back in November, we were filmed by KRLU's Central Texas Gardener? Well, now it is finally airing, and we are hosting a sneak preview party!

Come to Greg & Carly's house (2601 E. 17th St) for a potluck dinner and viewing this Friday, February 26, at 7 pm.

RSVP to the event on Facebook.

We'd especially love to see you if you participated in the dig or you're looking forward to joining the Posse for the coming spring! We're talking of course, about the spring when it doesn't snow.

We hope to see you there! If you can't make it, but still want to see the show, watch KRLU on Feb. 27 at noon and/or 4 pm.

The Garden Posse

Little Baby Dirt

2010-02-01T11:54:00.004-06:00

Achewood is a hilarious web comic involving all sorts of cats, bears, otters, and other assorted animals. I've followed it for years. If you've never had the pleasure, it's well worth your time to start reading right from the beginning.

Here's a link to yesterday's comic- a debate on composting.

Do Not Get Caught

2010-01-29T19:40:00.004-06:00

An interesting legal analysis of one of our favorite activities.

image credit: Good

Map of current and past guerrilla gardens

2010-01-28T09:03:00.005-06:00

Many people ask where they can find our gardens, and we usually give a vague answer: "All over Austin." Indeed, it is taxing on our minds to recall the precise addresses and locations of each garden, and besides, we are having a beer right now! But Google Maps delights in addresses, locations, and sometimes revealing satellite images.

So here is a handy-dandy map of our current and past guerrilla gardens.* Feel free to visit and help plants grow!

View Garden Posse guerrilla gardens in a larger map

*Map may be incomplete, please let us know if you remember a forgotten garden!

We are back!

2010-01-21T09:54:00.002-06:00

It's been quiet, or more like completely silent around here at the blog for the past few months. Chalk it up to cold weather, lots of traveling on Lindsay's part, and an Arctic blast that made us pray for the survival of our gardens. But the good news is that it's warming up again. Outside the window looks downright balmy, in fact.

We're looking forward to this season. First of all, the episode of Central Texas Gardener featuring the Garden Posse is coming up on KRLU. It's going to premiere on February 27, at noon and 4 pm. It will feature the music of the Posse's unofficial favorite band, the Unbearables, with instrumental versions of their zombie rock opera! At the end of one song they sing, "Beets are in season" (which I am told is a zombie non-sequiter), pretty appropriate for a gardening show, no? Linda has promised to send us a DVD so we can set up a viewing party and watch it at our pleasure.

Also, we are going to get our website going soon! For real this time. No, guys, seriously, for real. We own the domain gardenposse.org, and we hope we can put something decent looking up there soon.

We're meeting on a semi-regular basis now, and we plan to get a couple of guerrilla projects on the docket for February. We are looking for sites, and we are expanding the type of sites we are looking for. Please help us locate sites in your area! We are looking for sites appropriate for:

- New vegetable-focused gardens (neglected public space, near source of water, needs to be maintained by neighbors)

- Wildflowers! (large areas appropriate for broadcasting seeds. Think roadsides, triangles, medians)

- Native fruit tree groves (large areas that have room for one or more large trees)

- Invasive species removal

- Wildlife habitats (for bats, birds, and bees)

- Places appropriate for home-made container gardens (sidewalks, wherever!)

Put your sites (with an approximate address) in the comments, or email us at gardenposse@gmail.com. Or just come to our next meeting/ cocktail party! It's at Rio Rita, on East 6th St, Tuesday 1/26 at 8 pm.

Hope to see you this spring!

Harvest time at Crestland garden!

2009-11-30T19:45:00.002-06:00

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

2009-11-23T19:42:00.006-06:00

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

2009-11-22T17:26:00.005-06:00

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!

2009-11-20T19:07:00.001-06:00

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!

2009-11-14T12:41:00.003-06:00

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!

2009-11-03T09:53:00.003-06:00

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

2009-11-02T22:57:00.007-06:00

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

2009-10-28T09:39:00.003-05:00

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

2009-10-27T08:37:00.000-05:00

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!

2009-10-19T18:53:00.002-05:00

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.*

2009-10-14T14:30:00.003-05:00

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

2009-10-08T08:00:00.000-05:00

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

2009-10-07T09:52:00.004-05:00

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!

2009-09-28T18:47:00.003-05:00

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!

2009-09-26T12:57:00.004-05:00

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

2009-09-23T19:25:00.003-05:00

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!

2009-09-22T10:00:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-09-22T09:50:00.003-05:00

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

2009-09-17T21:58:00.008-05:00

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!

2009-09-12T14:18:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-09-08T21:53:00.002-05:00

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

2009-08-21T15:18:00.003-05:00

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

2009-07-21T23:09:00.006-05:00

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"

2009-07-20T09:26:00.003-05:00

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

2009-07-16T10:14:00.002-05:00

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.

View Larger Map

"The Garden" doucumentary playing at the Alamo Drafthouse

2009-07-13T15:11:00.000-05:00

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!

2009-07-09T13:03:00.000-05:00

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.

2009-07-07T09:05:00.000-05:00

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!

2009-06-19T15:18:00.003-05:00

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.

2009-06-15T11:53:00.003-05:00

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!

2009-06-14T09:52:00.007-05:00

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

2009-06-11T09:47:00.003-05:00

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!

2009-05-29T10:54:00.002-05:00

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

2009-05-28T16:47:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-05-26T13:28:00.004-05:00

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.

2009-05-22T11:18:00.005-05:00

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.

Webberville Baptist Church (tonight) + Skillshare Weekend (May 30 - 31)!

2009-05-19T09:34:00.003-05:00

Tonight we're starting on a project the Posse has been very excited about - a community garden at the Webberville Baptist Church on Webberville Road! A few of our members have attended this very small church on the East Side, next to TC's Lounge. They have lots and lots of land, and are very excited about the prospect of having a garden. And even though it's not "guerrilla", per se, we are pleased to build a useful and productive a garden for people who want it.

Word is that Carly and Robb have already been out to break ground on this project. So we'll be doing some digging and planting tonight. Meet at the church at 7:30 pm tonight with tools and flashlights! Here's a link to a google map of the location at 1405 Webberville Road.

You''ll see the church is a little set back from the road. Hope to see you there tonight!

And mark your calendars: May 30 - 31 is Skillshare Weekend at Space 12! The Garden Posse will be teaching a 1 1/2 hr workshop on how to build a guerrilla garden. The weekend will be filled with tons of interesting and useful skills to learn from Skillshare Austin & friends. And it's FREE. RSVP to the event on Facebook, or just remember to show up.

More seed bombs and sunflowers

2009-05-11T21:56:00.004-05:00

I must say that International Sunflower Guerrilla Gardening day was a great success. Tossing seed bombs and sunflower seeds all over the place was so much fun that we are going to carry it over to this week. We'll be meeting at our usual day and time, Tuesday at 7:30pm, over on the East Side for more seed bombs. The meeting place is Webberville Baptist Church, at 1405 Webberville Rd. We will also be taking this opportunity to scout of possible garden locations and to share future garden ideas. We've been gathering some great ideas lately, and we can't wait to share them. But please bring all of your own gardening hopes and dreams along with your familiar flashlights, seeds, and trusty guerrilla gardening tools.

As usual, there is a good chance that everyone will head over to Clementine Coffee Bar on Manor afterwards. It's hard to beat $1 Lone Star drafts after a night of gardening.

See everyone there!

More photos from International Sunflower Guerrilla Gardening Day!

2009-05-08T11:23:00.003-05:00

We started out on the Lamar Street Pedestrian Bridge, spanning downtown Austin. We got a crowd of about 15 to split up by bike and feet to sow seeds.

Rachel, a brand new guerrilla gardener, and I biked to the East Side, where we knew there would be plentiful neglected field space.

There were only 2 of us, but we could have easily had 50 people planting the whole field. We had to settle on covering a corner.

On our way back to meet up with the rest of the Posse, I sighted a perfect spot for sunflowers. We jumped off our bikes to stick a few seeds underneath I-35.

We got together at Barton Creek Saloon - a bar in a former gas station - to tell of our exploits.

Success! I know more people have pictures - send them to gardenposse@gmail.com, or better yet, post them yourself!

Photos from International Sunflower Guerrilla Gardening Day

2009-05-04T13:57:00.005-05:00

The Garden Posse's International Sunflower Guerrilla Gardening Day was a rousing planting success! We met up at the Lamar Street Pedestrian Bridge, and broke into groups to spread sunflower seeds around the city. We handed out our stockpile of seed bombs, as well.

We're pretty sure the next few months will be prettier because of us. Thanks to everyone who showed up - particularly our new guerrilla gardeners! We have a few sets of pictures from the different groups. Please email yours to gardenposse@gmail.com (or post them yourself).

Here are Greg's photos, from downtown Austin.

International Sunflower Guerrilla Gardening Day!

2009-04-17T15:12:00.005-05:00

May 1st is International Sunflower Guerrilla Gardening Day! It's an event originated by guerrillagardening.org, encouraging people to spread a few sunflower seeds in their neighborhood, or on their route to work. Well, the Garden Posse is going beyond that. We're hosting an event to mobilize Austinites to cover the Central Austin area with sunflowers, seed bombs, and tomato transplants. Because why have a little guerrilla gardening when you can have a lot?

We'll meet up at the Lamar Street Pedestrian bridge at 9pm on May 1st, on our bikes or other planting-friendly transportation (scooters, good; walking shoes, good; cars, bad).

Bring trowels, flashlights, water, and a couple packets of sunflower seeds. The Garden Posse also has wildflower seed bombs and tomato plants for planting. We'll converge and then disperse to plant our seeds around Central Austin, taking pictures to send into guerrillagardening.org, which is coordinating efforts around the globe.

We'll meet up later at a downtown bar to regale ourselves with stories of our adventures. If you haven't experienced the cheap, green thrills of guerrilla gardening yet, tonight is the night to do it! The feeling of earthy satisfaction is far better than drinking your early evening away.

RSVP to "International Guerrilla Gardening Day in Austin" on Facebook.

Details of the night are still being finalized. Feel free to throw any suggestions the Garden Posse's way at gardenposse@gmail.com.

And in the meantime, keep your eyes peeled for areas that could use sunflowers! Suggestions include:

1. Undeveloped lots
2. Empty flower boxes
3. Areas that might be within the range of sprinkler systems and could use some brightness.

The sunflowers we plant in May will bloom in August.

For more information, visit guerrillagardening.org and join the Garden Posse facebook group.

Chestnut Garden for Spring!

2009-04-13T10:00:00.001-05:00

Hello posse,

This Tuesday, we'll be meeting at 7:30 pm at the corner of 16th & Chestnut (on the East Side). We're going to be sprucing up the Chestnut neighborhood garden for spring! The garden has been thriving in the community, with neighbors volunteering to water the garden and placing new plants in the ground. It's in an empty lot, so there is lots of room to expand it.

Greg has plants, and he'll be heading up the mission. If you have any questions, email him at greggardenposse@gmail.com. Feel free to bring any seeds or plants you would like to donate, as well as tools and flashlights (always helpful).

Also, over the weekend we received a veritable bonanza of tomato plants from Gardens. There are three flats of different varieties sitting outside my apartment now. Do you have any ideas of what to do with a bonanza of tomatoes? Let us know.

Conquering the invasive cesspool - tonight!

2009-03-31T12:13:00.001-05:00

Tonight, at 7:30pm, we'll be back at 1st and Annie, at the Cesar Chavez mural in South Austin. Last week we did quite a job on the "cesspool" of invasive plants at the base of the mural. We tore out the china berries and other bad trees with a weed wrench. It made us feel tough. But there is still much work to be done in terms of pulling out and cleaning up the scraggly grasses, which have probably left their seeds behind in the dirt.

We want to get the area as cleaned up as possible. Then we have sunflower seeds and an agave to plant, plus seed bombs. We also have the makings for a garden sign. And there is a plan to get the mulch in at the other mural.

We hope you'll join us - bring any tools you might have to pull up grass and do some planting. Flashlights are good, too!

New garden, near same location!

2009-03-24T12:37:00.001-05:00

Tonight we'll be returning to the corner of S 1st & Annie at 7:30 pm, but we'll be moving across the street. Across from the "Greetings from Austin" mural is a lesser known mural featuring Cesar Chavez besmirched by some graffiti with little artistic value. There are also some nice looking sunflowers painted onto the wall. Right now, the ground beneath it is a mess of weeds and rapidly growing invasive chinaberries.

With a bit of the Garden Posse magic, the mural will become the backdrop to a beautiful garden. Plans tonight are to pull up the weeds and invasives, and figure out plans and plants for the garden. This shouldn't take more than an hour - please come out and join us tonight!

Photos from the "Greetings from Austin" mural

2009-03-23T16:34:00.004-05:00

Our "Greetings from Austin" garden is nearly complete! All it requires is massive amounts of mulch, a sign, and a bit of continuing TLC. Here are the long-delayed photos from our two nights on the job.

It's the crew! "Greetings" from the Garden Posse.

Planting our first bed with bluebonnets, sedums, and other succulents.

Travis throwing dust in the air with his rabid shoveling.

A highlight of the dig was watching a vintage firetruck being towed from Roadhouse Relics. You never know what wonders you might see at a Garden Posse dig, really.

Nor do you know what kinds of amazingly generous and helpful people you may meet. This is the second night, when we discovered our garden frame had disappeared.

Here at the workshop near Happiness, Vic and Ryan swiftly measure and cut our three-armed frame.

Emily says, "Look, I'm helping!" Mostly we stood back and were impressed with our own good fortune.

The biggest challenge? Tying this awkward thing on to the car.

And then my camera battery died. But the Posse lived on.

So there you have it, folks! The pictures I promised to post weeks ago. We are likely going to move across the street to fix up the lesser known Cesar Chavez and sunflower mural. Details upcoming tomorrow.

Adventures in late night gardening

2009-03-13T11:03:00.006-05:00

I'd like to say up front that I apologize for not being a more wonderful blogger. The truth is I (Lindsay) have been experiencing some computer problems (hard drive death, considering throwing it off a second-story balcony). Blogger has been acting weird on my other computer. And now my camera battery is also dead, and I can't find the charger. It's one of those weeks, right? So I won't be able to show you photos of our magnificent Garden Posse adventures until the digital gods resume smiling on me.

Fortunately, the garden gods have been just beaming at the Posse. Well, kind of. So two weeks ago, we dug into the hard, compacted soil underneath the "Greetings from Austin" mural, with the blessings of the property owner. Who was moving his vintage fire department truck at the time. It was neat. Anyhow, we planted a thin strip of sedums and bluebonnets, along with a ghost plant and a jade plant donated by a neighbor, on the right side of the mural. On the other side, our diggers were not having so much success. We decided it would be best, and look better, to build a raised garden bed with a wooden frame.

Travis, bored over the weekend, built us a frame. But he wasn't going to be able to make it on Tuesday, so he dropped it off beforehand. When the Posse arrived at 7:30pm, the frame was nowhere to be seen. Who steals a garden frame? Seriously. We were puzzled, and not a little disappointed in humanity. Everyone else in the area seemed so nice. Without a garden frame, our plans were in a bit of a bind.

So I ran off to GAGA, a few blocks up, thinking that even if they didn't have extra wood, they might have an even more creative solution. Unfortunately, it was closed. Across the street is Happiness, an adorable succulent and gift shop. I thought as gardeners, they might be sympathetic. They were all sitting around a table, drinking beer when I ran in and explained myself. One guy said, "Sure, we got a pile of donated wood," and I was whisked back to some workshop area where Vic and Ryan decided they would just build us a brand new frame to order. "Bada-bing, bada-boom!" is how Vic described it. He had some colorful expressions.

We measured the bed and returned to the workshop. In less than 10 minutes, we had a brand new, very sturdy garden frame. The comical part was when we had to tie the frame to the top of my station wagon, and drive back to the mural with hazard lights on. And after that, everything went as planned. We filled the frame with rich soil and compost, and planted a ton of plants. And it looks great.

The Garden Posse had triumphed over adversity. We were extremely lucky to have found such generous and able people to help us out. Guerrilla gardening is like that - people take and people give. And it always seems like the people giving are giving so much more than what is taken. It gives you an optimistic feeling about humanity.

There's still a bit more work in our plan for the mural - it involves a truckload of free mulch. But next week we'll be relaxing from this week's adventures. We'll be meeting at 7:30 pm at Salvation Pizza for the pizza and beer. And checking out the 34th street garden, maybe doing some weeding or replanting. We hope you come hang out.

And thanks to Chaz for stopping by to say hi and drop off plants on Tuesday! Hi!

Raised bed at Greetings from Austin!

2009-03-10T09:42:00.000-05:00

Denmark's Public Picnic project

2009-03-06T11:11:00.004-06:00

It's not guerrilla gardening, it's more like guerrilla picnicking. A few summers ago, a group in Copenhagen, Denmark, took over a wild and abandoned urban plot full of wild berries, apple trees, and weeds. They created a public garden for the staging of a series of picnics. Their intent was to go back to nature within the city, and escape the commercialization of the urban environment.

From an essay on Free Soil:

The early allotment gardens in Denmark were connected to the workers movement and thus had a political component. Many workers got access to a plot of land away from overpopulated cities and small apartments. Access to land was especially 100 years ago a deeply democratic spatial project, as well as about having places for leisure and retreat from working life. Today it is harder to spot the project in the allotments and it seems there is a need to define what are the spatial rights worth fighting for now?

An attempted answer could be that we need spaces free from the omnipresent regime of disciplining by media and commerce and institutions telling us how to live our lives, how to look, act and feel. Places where the collective is possible, where there is no division between production and play, between pleasure and politics; places for the life-world.

....This is the spaces we want, spaces in out neighbourhood where we can meet, organize and express ourselves in informal ways. It is a modest demand: inclusive spaces free of commercials, self organized urban free spaces where we live, everywhere.

Public Picnic's motivation is more idealistic and political than the Garden Posse, but we share the intent of reclaiming public space for communities, and valuing the natural productivity of the land. There are lots of places in Austin (such as the area around Quilombo) which are similar to Public Picnic's Copenhagen plot. Check out more of the project on their website: Publik Picnic.

New dig: Greetings from Austin!

2009-03-02T16:30:00.001-06:00

Last week a few of us Posse members arrived at the famous "Greetings from Austin" mural on the side of Roadhouse Relics to find a note written for us. Our reputation had somehow preceded us. The owner of the sign shop wanted us to contact and speak with him before we did anything with his property. We all heartily agreed, as the area we want to garden is right up against the building. I know we say we garden only public property, but the mural is heavily trafficked by the public. We're interested in guerrilla gardening a visible area in time for South by Southwest. So Travis got in touch with the owner, and he gave us the go-ahead to garden in the way we wish.

Tomorrow we will break ground on our first garden of 2009! Be there at the corner of S 1st and Annie at 7:30 pm on Tuesday. We'll be deciding how to landscape, tearing up the compacted ground with our shovels and Cobra tools (!), amending the soil and hopefully getting some stuff in the ground.

We'll have most of our supplies from Shoal Creek. Please bring shovels, pick-axes, flashlights, and any plants and/or seeds you would like to contribute. We think this will be mainly a succulent and flower garden.

A day at the 34th St garden

2009-02-27T10:12:00.004-06:00

We're happy to report that the garden on 34th street is happy and healthy, and looking forward to spring. Here are a few scenes from a recent day at the garden.

Our useful and beautiful sign, paired with swiss chard.

Peas on the vine, clinging to the fence and the seeding Chinese cabbage.

Flowering broccoli enjoyed by bugs.

Tiny broccoli heads springing up towards a recently devoured crown.

Our newest addition to the garden, pepper transplants planted by our anonymous gardener! The mystery gardener has also spiffed up the garden with more rock and brick landscaping. Stopping by the garden these days is like heading for a pleasant surprise. Thanks to our newest gardener, and feel free to get in touch with us to take credit for your wonderful work.

I'll be posting an update on next week's project when I have more details.

"Greetings from Austin"

2009-02-24T12:07:00.003-06:00

Due to winter-like conditions, the GP has been almost hibernating for the past two months. But tonight, we are starting our slow, bright-eyed emergence into springtime, and back to gardening.

Tonight at 7:30 we'll be meeting up in South Austin at the famous "Greetings from Austin" mural. It's on the side of Roadhouse Relics, at South First and Annie - 1720 S 1st Street.

We're not going to break ground on this one yet, so no need to bring tools - just flashlights (or as the Brits say, "torches"). We'll be scouting out the landscaping, plants, and other logistical concerns. We'll also be talking about plans for parties, gardens, seed bomb throwing, and other covert operations, possibly at a nearby coffeeshop. We hope you can make it.

Plus: Good news! An anonymous gardener has expanded our guerrilla garden at 34th & Guadelupe! I visited yesterday to find new transplants, more rock landscaping, and a brand new water jug in the garden. This is what's supposed to happen - and it's very exciting. It's proof to the theory that if a guerrilla garden sticks around for long enough, the community will adopt it. We established the 34th St garden in August 2008, making it seven months old. Let's see if we can keep repeating this success around Austin. Much appreciation goes out to our new gardener - we'll be posting photos of the garden improvements soon.

We're still looking for new sites, so keep emailing your potential gardens to gardenposse@gmail.com.

More seed bombs, more really free, more fun

2009-02-19T09:46:00.003-06:00

Did you miss the Really Really Free Market last month? You probably did. Well, we're giving you a second chance. Because you deserve to know the happiness of seed bombs and free stuff.

Please come out to the Really Really Free Market this Sunday around 1pm for a seed bomb workshop. We did this last month and I can't stress enough how fun it was. Learn how to make seed bombs (it's really easy), and watch the joy spread across children's faces as you help them play in the mud. Read about it here.

The Really Really Free Market is at the corner of 16th and Chestnut. There is a pavilion there, and underneath it, stuff is free. Lots of reasons to come, please do.

see you there,
the posse

No Posse-time tonight

2009-02-10T15:59:00.002-06:00

Hey everyone,

We had planned to pot succulents and strawberries in my garage tonight. However, not everything goes as planned, and we've called off tonight's meeting. Travis will be potting our succulents on his own because it brings him a piece of zen.

We're also working on our awesome new website, so stay tuned for web developments!

Love,
The Garden Posse

GP night out + Greater Austin Garbage Arts

2009-02-03T09:25:00.003-06:00

Tonight the Garden Posse is taking it downtown. No gardening tonight - we're in our winter hibernation/planning period. But you are welcome to join us for some wholesome Garden Posse fun.

We'll be meeting up at Koriente at 8pm for dinner. We'll be talking about our new website, which local web designer Christian Bowers has generously volunteered to help us create. And we'll be planning our upcoming events, so you can know when we are actually guerrilla gardening, perhaps weeks in advance. Then we're going to check out a show at nearby Stubb's, with The Morning Benders and The Submarines.

And, this is not a Garden Posse event per se, but I highly suggest you visit the clothing swap at Greater Austin Garbage Arts (GAGA) next Saturday. Bring old clothes, and you can trade and repurpose them with help from resident artists. GAGA is committed to the idea of zero waste - the first step of which is finding new uses for old stuff. Plus, they offer FREE SEWING LESSONS. You won't find that anywhere else in Austin.

GAGA is located at 2214 South 1st Street (just north of Oltorf, across from End of an Ear and next to a plaza with Cream Vintage and a coffee shop).

Garden Posse seed bomb workshop

2009-01-30T12:47:00.004-06:00

Still feeling fresh from our kid-friendly seed bomb demo at the Really Really Free Market, the Garden Posse hosted a seed bomb workshop for grown-up types. Warm cookies and homemade cider were served.

Boone and Dieter came all the way from San Marcos (the night of Austin's "Arctic" cold front) for the workshop. We recognized Jessica from our very first dig at 34th Street, and we were glad she came back. It helps us believe people really do read our emails.

Seed bomb making with grownups is less frenzied than doing it with kids, but everything is essentially the same. And it's so simple. We got our "recipe" from Heavy Petal (which I recently discovered is a great garden blog). It's this:

5 parts dry red clay (from potter's supply store, in Austin)
3 parts dry organic compost
1 part seed
1 - 2 parts water

Measure the parts evenly with any measuring implement (we used a red plastic cup), and mix together. Then roll into balls. Your hands will look a little bit like the swamp thing.

We made two batches of seed bombs. Eventually people started getting fancy and trying out different shapes. Someone suggested heart-shaped seed balls would make a great Valentine's gift. Seriously, they would. It made all the girls go "awww."

We plan to throw them into overgrown lots, and tuck them into the margins of curbs and grass. They'd also be great to throw into your own lawn or garden. The possibilities are endless.

We made these with Texas native grass seeds, and flower seeds collected by Natalie's uncle. We encourage using native seeds, especially when you are not controlling how they spread.

So, another successful seed bomb workshop! This is such a great activity, we can't wait to share it with more and more people (especially teacher people). Our next planned workshop is February 22nd, and we'll keep you updated on other GP goings-on.

In the meantime, Quilombo is looking for volunteers on Saturday afternoons. Come over to the Eastside and help out in our sister garden! You'll be glad you did.

Seed bombs are a kid magnet

2009-01-26T09:48:00.005-06:00

Here is the tray of seed bombs we made at the Really Really Free Market on Sunday - muddy little blobs of clay, compost, and seeds. Our first foray into seed bombs could not have been more successful, or more fun. It was all thanks to a horde of kids, and this magic formula:

KIDS + MUD = AWESOME FUN TIMES

With the help of a few new friends from Treasure City Thrift (organizers of the Really Really Free Market, a play on Milton Friedman's "free market"), the Garden Posse set up shop on a bench in Chestnut Park. No sooner had we begun to mix clay with compost than the boy pictured above wandered over to ask what we were doing. We told him he could help us mix up our batch of seed bombs. "I don't want to get my hands dirty," he said. But after we told him he could wash them later, he was all about seed bombs. Then three more kids showed up....

And then every kid in the park was huddled around our bucket, grabbing a handful of muddy clay, and rolling it to spherical perfection in their hands. It was awesome. Even after all the seeds had been cleared out of the bucket, the kids hung around admiring their handiwork, pointing out which seed bombs were theirs, and asking when they could throw them. They all wanted to make seed bombs again, one girl wondering if she could do it at home with her mom. A particularly adorable brother-sister pair picked out seed bombs to take home and plant. "I wonder what it will grow into," said the girl. "Maybe tomato seeds!"

I think it's the combination of playing with mud and the excitement of an experiment that makes seed bombs such a great kid project. The demo having been an unintentional kid project, it felt pretty magical. We'll have to see on Tuesday if adults can match the joy and excitement shared by the kids on Sunday.

We were convinced by the folks at Treasure City to repeat this at the next Really Really Free Market, on February 22. They also took a lot of unbearably cute pictures of the kids with the seed bombs (while my hands were covered in mud). Hopefully I'll be able to post those on the blog.

The next demo will be tomorrow, at 7:30pm, Carly & Greg's house. Contact Greg if you need directions at GregGardenPosse@gmail.com. Bring native seeds and snacks if you have them. The possibility of going to Clementine's for music and $2 beer will be on the table as well.

See you then!

Seed bomb videos

2009-01-23T11:55:00.002-06:00

Are you hearing all this stuff about making "seed bombs" or "seed balls" and wondering what that's really about? Do you wish you had a visual representation of your possible future experience? Well, that's why we have YouTube. There's several seed bomb videos out there. Here are a few:

The Seed Ball Story
(It's almost a half an hour long, probably very thorough)

Fruit Tree Tour
(for some reason, there is no sound, but very nice images. You get the idea.)

Permaculture Seed Balls "The Fukuoka Method"

(in Japanese without subtitles. Masanobu Fukuoka, father of "natural farming", uses seed balls as an integral part of his technique.)

Seed bombs & the Really Really Free Market

2009-01-21T12:34:00.002-06:00

Our seed bomb making workshop will be held next Tuesday night at our regular meeting time of 7:30 pm.

But if you can't make it next Tuesday to our seed bomb workshop, we will be trying it out at the Really Really Free Market on Sunday. We invite you to engage in the learning process with us, and also shop for really, actually free stuff (it's better than any recession sale!). Corner of 16th & Chestnut (at our Chestnut garden) on Sunday, 1 - 4pm. I can't promise we'll be there for the full three hours, so check it out on the early side of things.

The Really Really Free Market is a monthly event brought to you by Treasure City Thrift. Hope to see you there!

Seed bombing postponed

2009-01-20T09:29:00.001-06:00

Inauguration wins, and seed bombing has been postponed to next Tuesday. Updates will be forthcoming. Meanwhile,

HAPPY OBAMA DAY!

Seed bombs vs Inauguration

2009-01-14T09:37:00.002-06:00

I just realized that January 20 has a significance that goes beyond our first endeavor into seed bombs. It's Barack Obama's inauguration. People may want to watch the most historic event of our times. So we could combine making seed bombs with watching the inauguration, or we could move our seed bomb making to another night. Because I don't think that they'll move the inauguration (but maybe if we ask nicely?).

Let's discuss our options.

No gardening tonight - Seed bombs next week!

2009-01-13T13:00:00.003-06:00

A combination of tonight being freezing and not having a site has resulted in no gardening plans this week.

Let us renew our call for potential sites! We need them. Tell us about them. We are anxiously looking forward to planning them.

Next week, however, we will participate in that time-honored guerrilla garden tradition: Making seed bombs. Seed bombs are the friendliest bombs ever. Also known as the less militant-sounding seed balls, they've had a long history. They were first used in guerrilla gardening in 1973 by New York City's Green Guerrillas. (You can see the original recipe here: TWO SEED GRENADE RECIPES OR HOW TO HIDE THE ILLEGAL DUMPING SPACE.)

You can also watch this video of guerrillagardening.org founder Richard Reynolds making seed bombs. Or read this blog with instructions of a seed bomb-making workshop likely to be similar to ours.

We need red clay (like potter's clay) and wildflower and other native seeds to make seed bombs. So if you can collect those over the next week, bring them!

We'll be doing the actual bombing at another time to be determined. Also to be determined is the location of this workshop. (If you'd like to volunteer your space, let us know.)

Happy freezing temperatures, everyone.

We're looking for new garden sites - Help us find them!

2009-01-09T09:33:00.003-06:00

Since the Garden Posse's auspicious birth, we have gardened within our own neighborhoods. We want to keep planting throughout Austin, which is comprised of many neighborhoods our members do not live in. We believe these neighborhoods could benefit from guerrilla gardening, too.

Do you live in one of these neighborhoods? Is there a potential site near you which you think could use a guerrilla garden? Would you point it out to us, please?

Here are a few guidelines for a garden site:

- Located on genuinely neglected public space
- Relatively permanent
- Back from the road and traffic (for a vegetable garden)
- Close to a legal source of irrigation (your house, or a business or neighbor who will give permission)

Also, would you be willing to maintain the garden, and tell your neighbors about it?

Here's a "before" photo of our 34th St garden, so you have an idea of what a potential site may look like. Keep in mind they come in many shapes and colors.

We'll be compiling a map of sites to check out and plan during coming weeks.

We're discussing this in our Facebook group. If you're on Facebook, please join us there. You can do all sorts of things like share your own gardening experiences and tips, get advice for guerrilla gardening, and post photos of your oh-so-cute new puppy. (Although we'd prefer that you refrained, technically you could do that, and we'd all go, "Awww.")

If you're not on Facebook, we vaguely understand. You can always comment here or email us at gardenposse@gmail.com. We hope to hear from you soon!

This year, resolve to join a cool posse

2009-01-05T14:47:00.002-06:00

Happy New Year, everyone! As I mentioned in the last post of 2008, there is a lot to look forward to in 2009. Like the potluck at Greg and Carly's tomorrow, where we will be thinking about exciting things to come. It would be awesome if you came with your own ideas for the future. Here's a prompt: What guerrilla gardening projects would you want to do if we had actual money to do them?

If you are on the email list, you'll be receiving directions from Greg to his house. If not, please email Greg at GregGardenPosse@gmail.com.

An update on the water jug situation: The missing water jug has been returned! I bought a new water jug from Wheatsville, and the second time I went out to water the garden the old jug was just sitting there, where the tomato plant used to be. If the borrower of the water jug is reading this, thank you for returning our jug. It will come in handy because the water jug at Chestnut Garden has gone missing as well.

The 34th Street garden was very grateful for the return of water and the plants are looking great. I've been doing some much-needed weeding, with our new Cobrahead tool. Not to be too relentlessly promoting this item, but seriously, it is awesome. It's like a sharp giant iron fingernail which makes digging out roots ridiculously easy. I no longer swear at Bermuda grass - I just destroy it. You really have to try it.

Also, did I mention that an anonymous person planted radishes in the garden? It's very exciting to have people participate in our projects on their own. It's also exciting to see so many new faces in the Garden Posse Facebook group. I'm pretty pysched that people are interested in following our activities. Stay tuned.

Help thirsty plants!

2008-12-31T10:06:00.003-06:00

Is your New Year's Resolution to help out the Garden Posse, or commit random acts of kindness and generosity? If so, get an early start on 2009 by a couple of hours! Our 5 gallon watering jug at the 34th street garden (across from Salvation Pizza) was stolen during the past week. As a result, the plants are looking very thirsty. The garden would much appreciate a new watering jug!

Empty 5 gallon jugs sell for $14 at Wheatsville, and although we got some for $6 at HEB, I have checked with the HEBs on 41st and Burnet and they only sell full jugs. (The one on South Congress might still sell them - that's where the stolen jug came from.)

Or, it would be awesome if you had one or more extra jugs around that you wanted to donate. We will certainly need them as we create more gardens. Just drop them off at the garden, or to be safe, behind Salvation Pizza. We have permission to stash a jug there.

Email gardenposse@gmail.com if you can help today (12/31), or would like to make future contributions of gardening goods.

Twenty Seven--Whoa!

2008-12-20T17:32:00.003-06:00

Hello, Posse! I know everyone has missed me terribly these last few weeks that I've been so conspicuously absent. Don't blame yourselves, posse. Blame the allure of Minnesota in winter and then blame the cold I picked up there. At any rate, I am having a birthday party this coming Monday and would love to see your bright faces there. I will be making a borscht, which is much like a vegetable garden in soup form. Party starts at 7! Email emclaire.tx@gmail.com for directions!

So much news: Garden Posse 2009!

2008-12-19T15:37:00.002-06:00

The holidays are nearly upon us. The Posse will be taking a two week break. But we have so much news to share with you now. Consider it something low-fat to chew on over the holidays.

FIRST:
The next meeting of the Garden Posse will be a potluck at Greg & Carly's house, at 7:30 pm, on January 6. If you have been considering getting involved with the Garden Posse, or you have been involved in the past and would like to be back in the thick of things, come to this event! Reasons why:

Delicious food + nice people = good times
We'll be formulating our vision for 2009 & beyond.

In other words, we'll be getting introspective about who we are as a group, and what we want to accomplish. We've had discussions about why we guerrilla garden: ideas of land use, local food systems, permaculture, and community-building have come up. Our goal is direct our energy into projects that will help the Posse further the ideals important to us, and to be useful to our community.

So look inside your heart (for real) and ask yourself: What does guerrilla gardening mean to me? Then come with a dish and your ideas to the potluck.

SECOND:

A few members of the Garden Posse presented a plaque to Shoal Creek Nursery on Thursday, thanking them for being amazing to us. (They really, really are.) I didn't bring my camera, but the presentation looked kind of like this:

THIRD:

The Garden Posse now has a Facebook group! Heck, it's almost 2009, we figured it was time to get fully integrated with the social networking. JOIN US! You don't have to be an active member of the Posse to be in the group. We would really love to see everyone who is interested in our efforts. We'll also be using it to send out event invitations, etc.

FOURTH:

Events like the screening of the Garden Posse documentary in January! Katy is finishing up "the director's cut." We'll be having a screening and a party. Details are still in the works. But there is going to be film, music, fun, and beer involved; that much is certain.

FIFTH:

Hey, do you feel like building a website for the Garden Posse? Email gardenposse@gmail.com.

SIXTH:

Happy holidays and see you next year!

Photos galore:

2008-12-17T11:40:00.005-06:00

More pictures straight from the Chestnut Garden... now with 100% more additional daylight!

Thanks for all that helped out. This garden has lots of room to grow, so look for more pictures from it in the future.

Cheers,

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire

2008-12-17T09:43:00.006-06:00

The Chestnut Garden is the coldest garden. Interrupted last week by snow (!), Tuesday's mission was a chilly 35 degrees. The Posse showed up to the site bundled thickly in coats, hats, mittens, and wool socks. The cold would have scared off lesser Texans. But the Garden Posse is nothing if not totally hardcore.

Last week, our group had spaced out the dimensions of the garden before it started to snow (!). On the weekend, Greg and his neighborhood friends prepared the bed. So all we had to do was put the plants in the ground. We had a mix of vegetables (leafy greens, broccoli, and cabbage), and pansies. A million continuing thanks to Shoal Creek Nursery!

We also planted a vine that will crawl up the very large, cool, and dead tree, which you can see behind McAllen here.

We were joined by Jessica, one of those extremely nice people who knows everything about all the free stuff that the city has to offer (glass mulch! random dumps of wood mulch!).

Here Carly demonstrates the use of our new Cobrahead ("The Best Tool on Earth!"). It looks a bit like a pirate hook, and is scarily effective at pulling up grass, weeds, dirt, and what have you. It was donated to us by Geoff Valdes.

I'm not skilled at taking photos at night, but you get the gist of our wide spread of veggies and pansies. (Greg said he will eventually post better pictures with daylight.) We're getting the water from a neighbor across the street, and more neighbors have offered to be caretakers for the garden. There is a lot more space in the field beyond the garden and bus stop - hopefully, it will continue to grow.

After the successful planting, and sufficient freezing of extremities, the Posse retreated to Clementine's for warm drinks and music.

So that's it for guerrilla gardening in 2008. Hurrah for a successful year for the Garden Posse! Having begun our mission only four months ago, I'm amazed at the work we've done and the energy we've amassed. The Garden Posse will be even stronger and more exciting in 2009 - stay tuned! I'll be posting an update on beginning of the year plans soon.