September 2012
1 post
We threw ourselves a party: FensFest 2012
by FGS Roving Reporter Bruno Rubio Ah, Autumn! To John Keats — “season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, close bosom-friend of the maturing sun.” To others — football, leaf-peeping, and apple-picking. To the Fenway Garden Society — Fall means FensFest! This year’s edition featured all the essentials so eagerly anticipated by the membership: a BBQ, music, garden...
August 2012
7 posts
Open Gardens 2.0: Worth the wait!
by FGS Roving Reporter Bruno Rubio. Gardeners in the Center South and Park sections hosted the second Open Gardens Night on August 15. July’s Open Gardens was a casualty of a 2-inch downpour that had the bad taste to strike in the hours just before the start of the event. The silver lining: Combining the two sections put lots of beautiful and inspirational gardens on display. Olga has...
Watchverticaltheory:
Pam Warhurst: How we can eat our landscapes
http://people.csail.mit.edu/ewhiting/resources/pubs... →
landscapearchitecture:
MITquest, a web application that generates efficient walking routes
Green Team Victorious!
by Mike Mennonno, FGS President As always we at the Fenway Victory Gardens are grateful for the great work that our friends at the Emerald Necklace Conservancy do up and down our extraordinary park system. And come summer, we are especially grateful for the Green Team, and all the help they give us with projects like our community compost and the Teaching Garden. In fact, last year’s crew...
FGS pilots new compost set-up in Areas 1 & 2
by Mike Mennonno, President, FGS With the summer heat things tend to quiet down a bit in the gardens, but don’t be fooled! In July and August the board’s been working hard with the Emerald Necklace Conservancy’s Green Team on our biggest ongoing communal project: our community compost! Earlier this summer FGS Executive Board member Mario D’Amato and I met with composting...
July 2012
4 posts
Summer Reflections
by Mike Mennonno, Fenway Garden Society President As we wend our way into summer, and the frenetic pace of the spring slows a bit, it’s a good time to reflect on where we’re at as a community and a garden. The Fenway Victory Gardens have always had some unique challenges as a community, and the board over which I have presided, this year and last, has put an emphasis on assessing...
June 2012
19 posts
And the Winners Are...
Second Place Winner, “Vs for Victory” by Neighbors. Wednesday night the winners in this year’s Common Boston Common Build were announced at an awards ceremony at the Boston Society of Architects BSA Space. Organizers thanked the Fenway Garden Society for hosting the competition, and FGS President Mike Mennonno expressed his gratitude to participants: “You really brought...
FGS hosts Common Boston Common Build Competition:...
By FGS Roving Reporter Bruno Rubio The Fenway Garden Society was honored and excited to serve as the venue for the 2012 Common Boston Common Build Competition from Friday June 22 to Sunday June 24. The CBCB is a three-day design and construction competition that invites Boston designers to actively address social, economic, and environmental issues by taking part in rapid design-and-build...
FGS WELCOMES COMMON BOSTON COMMON BUILD
The Fenway Garden Society is excited to welcome the Boston design community to the Victory Gardens for the Common Boston Common Build Competition this weekend! Starting Friday, six teams will be scouting locations in our park for installations that speak to the unique nature of the Victory Gardens, which they will have 72 hours — until exactly noon this Sunday — to build. These...
Boylston Open Gardens a Hit Despite the Heat!
by FGS Roving Reporter Bruno Rubio
Gardeners in the Boylston section rolled out the welcome mat for the season’s first Open Gardens Night on the evening of June 20. The event offered a chance to visit ten gardens, to meet the participating gardeners, and to draw inspiration from their garden design. Kristen Mobilia and Susan Povak coordinated the team that made the occasion an entertaining and...
City Compost Update from BNAN:
Hello Garden Coordinators, We know many of you have requested free city compost this spring and have been patiently waiting for your delivery. Unfortunately, we are now uncertain as to whether or not compost will be available from the City of Boston this year. The city is looking for a source of compost that is suitable for growing edibles but have not yet determined a source. At this point we do...
"Greening the Greenway" with Toby Wolf
Landscape architect Toby Wolf talks about the Dewey raised beds and rain garden in parcel 22. A small group of hardy gardeners joined FGS President Mike Mennonno and Landscape Architect Toby Wolf, designer of Rose Kennedy Greenway parcels 18, 19, 21 and 22, for an insider’s tour of the Greenway yesterday afternoon, overcast and windy though the weather was. One of the challenges of a...
City of Boston Compost and Chips Update
Hi All,
The board puts a lot of work into our monthly e-letters, alerts, and keeping you informed through facebook. Help us out by checking your e-letters and alerts for the latest on issues like compost and chips.
In the June e-letter compost and chips were discussed under “2012 Boston Natural Areas Network Soil Delivery Update”:
BNAN has for many years been the sole source of...
FGS MEMBERS ACCEPT MHFNT GRANTS
by FGS Roving Reporter Bruno Rubio. The beauty of the Fenway Victory Garden proclaims the horticultural skill of our members. That nothing happens in the Victory Garden except through volunteer action testifies to our commitment to service. The generous spirit of our gardeners was recognized as several FGS members accepted grants from the Mission Hill/Fenway Neighborhood Trust (MHFNT) at a...
The Season of Renegade Roses and Vigilante Pruners
The roses in the Fenway Victory Gardens started to pop just as sunshine gave way to rain last week, and many of those growing along the fenceline, weighed down by water, gorgeous as they are, are drooping into the aisles, making them, in some cases nearly impassable.
The board of FGS understands that this is a special time in the gardens, and wants all you rosarians out there to know that we...
FGS Receives $3200 Grant from MHFNT for History...
FGS President Mike Mennonno accepting the 2012 grant award from the Trust. FGS received a generous grant from the Mission Hill/Fenway Neighborhood Trust Wednesday for its 70th Anniversary History Project. Fenway Garden Society President Mike Mennonno accepted the grant and thanked the Trust for its continued support of FGS. In past years the Trust has funded events like the Fourth of July...
The Fenway Victory Gardens: Finding History Inside...
We had a great turn-out for last night’s program “The Fenway Victory Gardens: Finding History Inside and Out” at the Massachusetts Historical Society. The event, a partnership between the MHS and FGS, was the perfect opportunity for FGS members to get a peek into the FGS archives at the MHS, and for members and friends to get a tour of the Victory Gardens based on Richard D....
Meet Up In the Meadow This Thursday from 5-7 pm!
It’s on! Looks like the clouds are parting, so join fellow FGS members and friends for bocce, croquet, and horseshoes, or bring your own lawn games or an appetizer or dessert to share. Contact Kristen Mobilia for more information.
The Fenway Gardens: A Unique Example of...
By Richard D. Parker, circa 1964 [The following is a brief history of the establishment and first roughly twenty years of the Fenway Victory Gardens by one of its founding members, Richard D. Parker.] The history of the Fenway Gardens dates back to the advent of World War II when it became evident that our national capacity for food production would be insufficient to supply both our armed...
DEPOT DEBUT
by FGS Roving Reporter Bruno Rubio. If you’re like me, a trip to the compost area or to get a wheelbarrow can seem like a trek to Outer Mongolia. Well, now I have one less thing to complain about! Thanks to Bruno, Ed, Ellen, Mike, and Nick, we have a second wheelbarrow depot located on the east side of the Accessible Garden. This will make carting away all those non-invasive weeds a lot...
FUN IN THE SUN AT THE CARTER SCHOOL
by FGS Roving Reporter Bruno Rubio Students, parents, faculty and staff of the William E. Carter School took advantage of a gloriously sunny afternoon to celebrate the arrival of Spring with a party at the School’s Sensory Garden on the first day of June. The Carter School, located on the border of Boston’s Lower Roxbury and South End neighborhoods, is dedicated to educating students with severe...
The Tomato - Ripe, Juicy and Bursting With Genes -... →
May 2012
7 posts
Join Us for These New FGS Events!
Central Meadow Night (Thursday, June 7th) Join us for the first monthly Central Meadow evening of lawn games and light refreshments on June 7th. The official time is from 5 to 7pm, but please feel free to stay longer! We’ll have bocce, croquet, and horseshoes available - be ready to play or just bring a chair and watch the activity. You are welcome to bring your own lawn games or add to...
Summer Safety in the Park: Let's ALL Do Our Part!
Memorial Day marks the unofficial start of summer in the city, and activity of all sorts in our park inevitably picks up. Because the seven acres on which the Fenway Victory Gardens are situated are accessible 24-7, and because the FGS is largely responsible for stewardship of this seven-acre park, Fenway gardeners have some unique challenges to deal with. The board of the Fenway Garden Society...
2012 Seed Grants Sprouting!
This is one of my favorite times of the year. Not only are peonies in bloom, and the gardens looking lush and buzzing with activity, but the grants I was working on back in March are coming back. And that means full steam ahead on projects and programming! Last week word came down from Parks & Rec that we’d won a handy little grant to help master gardener Bonnie Thryselius maintain...
FGS Wins Seed Grant Award
Boston Parks & Rec has announced recipients of its 2012 Seed Grant Award, and the Fenway Garden Society is a winner!
The $250 award will be used to beautify and maintain our public herb garden, which is tended by master gardener Bonnie Thryselius.
Thank you to the City of Boston and Parks Commissioner Toni Pollak for helping us maintain this wonderful resource for the whole community!
Join the board (for a coffee)!
I have been a gardener in the Fenway Victory Gardens for almost a decade, nearly as long as I have called Boston home. I started out like most members, transforming a derelict plot into my little oasis, volunteering for the odd Community Participation Day (we only had three a season back then), getting to know my neighbors, learning, growing (and sometimes blogging about it all). Then I joined...
April 2012
13 posts
Mark your calendars for these two great FGS...
Join FGS and Mayor Menino Saturday, May 12th from 10 a.m. to noon for the kick-off of Summer in the City 2012!
Mayor Menino and Parks Commissioner Toni Pollak will be on hand to announce the City’s official Summer Program from the Fenway Victory Gardens! Join us for music, food, and fun for all. Mahoney’s will be giving away tomato plants while they last, too, so don’t miss out! And...
Go Botany Website Launched by New England Wild...
Framingham, MA – First came Flora Novae Angliae, the definitive manual for the identification of native and naturalized vascular plants of New England. Now comes the website with thousands of full-color images and illustrations for teaching and learning botany. New England Wild Flower Society announced today the first stage of Go Botany, the Society’s exciting, new open source website that teaches...
Watchverticaltheory:
Brooklyn Grange Apiary Project
This is very cool — would love for the Fenway Victory Gardens to get more active in the urban ag and local food movement!
A Glimpse at the Victory Gardens 40 Years Ago
Richard D. Parker, one of the original Fenway Gardeners for whom the Fenway Victory Gardens are named was still gardening there in 1973.
There were some 315 gardeners (by Parker’s own estimate), not too far off our current number.
Membership was a voluntary $5 (adjusted for inflation, that’s $26.55 today, so our current dues of $30 are still a great value).
The estimated cost...
An Update On Our BNAN Compost Delivery
(image: some of last year’s BNAN compost delivery)
Just got this from BNAN, from whom we receive our annual compost delivery:
Dear Garden Coordinator,
Spring has arrived early in Boston and many gardeners are working their plots with the hope that compost will soon be delivered. The City of Boston Department of Public Works, BNAN and the BU School of Public Health have been...
A Visit to the Carter School's Spectacular Sensory...
I dropped into the Carter School this afternoon to have a look at their beautiful sensory garden, the first phase of developing a workshop for them on getting the most out of their planters. The gracious faculty, headed by Principal Marianne Kopaczynski showed me around the grounds, pointing out areas of particular challenge to them. The wheelchair accessible planters are gorgeous: …but...
