The next meeting of Middle Tennessee Plant Swap is May 22 at 9AM at Henry Horton State Park. Come picnic and share plants and hear the featured speaker.
http://www.midtnplantswap.com/
Davidson County Master Gardeners are holding a Plant Sale at the Flatrock Festival – Saturday, May 29, at Coleman Park, at the intersection of Thompson Lane and Nolensville Road. Sorry, no further information.
National Trails Day is June 5. Locally, Radnor Lake, Beaman Park, Bells Bend, Warner Parks and others will host trail days for trial maintenance or clean up. Great way to meet wildflower enthusiasts.
http://www.americanhiking.org/NTD.aspx
Radnor Lake is rebuilding trails and roads after the flood, and education programs will be temporarily suspended. If you'd like to volunteer to help repair and rebuild, they are holding Volunteer Days on every Saturday in June from 8am to noon. Meet at the Visitor Center off of Granny White Pike. Lunch is being provided to volunteers each Saturday in June.
http://www.radnorlake.org/programming.html
Lots of educational opportunities at our state parks. One example... a Nature Hike on the Grundy Forest Day Loop to discuss unusual and 'dangerous ' plants at Grundy Forest.
9:00 a.m.June 26 at the South Cumberland Visitor's Center.
http://www.friendsofscsra.org/activities.htm#june
Botanical Tour of the Couchville Cedar Glade June 26 in Davidson and Wilson County
http://www.tn.gov/environment/parks/events/pdf/may_june_events.pdf
Many great events at the UT extension gardens in Jackson TN including their "Bloom Days" on June 26 & 27
http://utgardens.tennessee.edu/news_events.html
Water Resources
The interesting dilemma this past period in Nashville is that although our landscape plants didn't need supplemental watering for several weeks, residents of Davidson County and some other municipalities are taking a new look at water conservation. Although our area has a surplus of rain and ground water, we are needing to conserve our use of purified city water.
When we return to typical weather patterns and feel the need again to water our ornamental and food crops, we can use these lessons to think about recycling and reducing our use of water.
Rain barrels are one way to catch and hold rain water, thus using less water from your local water distribution system. You can have a few rain barrels and use them to hand water your potted plants or a small garden or you can have a larger water cachement system and possibly run distribution/soaker hoses to other garden areas.
Metro Water Services (Nashville) and Cumberland River Compact both sell rain barrels. There are many online sources and local groups teaching you to build your own
http://www.cumberlandrivercompact.org/
http://www.nashville.gov/flood/water.asp
http://www.nashville.gov/water/education/rainbarrel.asp
Rain gardens are another tool, involving a little more investment. Rain gardens can fit a lot of situations but basically are a way of thinking about plants as a tool to modify storm runoff, problem solve soggy areas, and help cleanse runoff going into our drinking water sources.
Flood Related
Volunteer with the Nashville Hiking Meetup in cleaning up various area greenways and water systems affected by the flood, including Radnor Lake and Richland Creek. You must register and join the Hiking Meetup. This is a group of fantastic fun hikers who also contribute a lot of volunteer hours in the community, helping out parks, greenways, Habitat, and Second Harvest.
http://www.nashvillehiking.com/calendar/
FOOD GARDEN SAFETY:
For information on vegetable/fruit gardens that were flooded or splashed by river water during the flood, please see Safety of Produce from Flooded Gardens from University of Wisconsin Extension at this link.
http://www.uwex.edu/ces/ag/issues/documents/SafetyofProducefromFloodedGardens08.pdf
