Saturday, February 26, 2011

Never had to write a press release before.

So help.
Suggestions please?
Charity plant sale to benefit Children’s Miracle Network (CMN) Hospitals in support of Children's Hospital Boston to be held Starting Friday April 29th Sat April 30 and Sunday May 1st from 1130 am to 5 30 pm.

At the Costco Avon Location 120 Stockwell Drive Avon MA 02322, 508-232-4000 behind Jordan's Furniture..

( Plant sale will also be open every weekend in May. 6th,7th,8th,13th,14th,15th,20st,21nd,22rd and final weekend Thursday 26th,27th,28th,29th,)

Why a Plant sale for a hospital some people ask??... Because it's a way to spread HOPE for the kids that Children's Hospital Boston serves,and the joy of gardening rewards all the people kind enough to donate to the cause. It's a great win win partnership where the giver gets as much as the receiver!

The Plant sale May 2010 raised $10,500.00. Goal is to raise $20,000 in 2011.

I am asking for your support in donating:

*

Any plant material such as :Aloe Vera plants, African Violets, and seasonal annuals, perennials,herbs,veggies,shrubs .Any plants you need to divide or need to move to make room for new ones are more then welcome!
*

propagation supplies such as soil,seeds,trays,pots,

Desperately need plant smart volunteers to share their knowledge and love of plants.This is a key component to making the plant sale work. Need Volunteers to help people select the right plants,.All set up tear down and watering will be done for you. You get to share your knowledge and love of gardening,inspire others to garden.. And help a very worthy cause right here in our area! Plus you get a free one day shopping pass to the Costco Avon store and lunch during your volunteer shift.


Also need volunteers Sunday April 17th from 1 pm till 5 pm in Dighton MA . Music,food,kid friendly,work day to get the 600 plants grown at Michelle's house ready for the sale. RSVP at Crazyplantlady@AaronTarver.org.


The sale will feature beautiful; plants donated by many area nurseries and grown by dedicated volunteers
.
Packard farms in Brockton is a very generous sponsor and donates many beautiful plants of all kinds to fill all your spring gardening needs for the duration of the sale. Lori Packard at Packard farms is the fairy god mother to this project.
Pleasant View Gardens in Louden NH has promised once again to donate beautiful hanging baskets for Mothers day weekend.
D&D Farms in Stow Mass has promised to provide plants to kick of the sale and we are exited to welcome them to the team!

The sale will have a large assortment of heirloom and hybrid tomatoes grown by various volunteers for the 3rd week of the sale.
More sponsors are expected! So stay tuned! Not able to Volunteer? You can still help! Come shop for your spring plants and support Children's Miracle Network Hospital!

The 6 Costco locations in MA and NH, partnering with the CMN Hospitals, raised over $147,000 for Children 's Hospital Boston in 2010. Please join us in helping a great cause that has tremendous impact on the lives of so many local children and families.


--

offical 2011 begging letter.. yours to use if you want to help

I am planning a charity plant sale to benefit Children’s Miracle Network (CMN) Hospitals in support of Children's Hospital Boston (see enclosed) to be held this May 2011 . I would like your assistance.

I successfully facilitated a small-scale plant sale May 2010 and raised $10,500.00. I hope to raise $20,000 in 2011.

I am asking for your support in donating:

*

Any plant material such as Aloe Vera plants, African Violets, and more common seasonal annuls and perennials
*

propagation supplies (seeds, light carts, trays, plug cells, starting mix, plant tags, fertilizer, seed mats, etc)
*

Any staff that would like to spend a few hours sharing their knowledge of plants at the sale; monetary donations were always greater when a green-thumb was on hand to advise. Volunteers will receive a one day shopping pass to Costco Avon.
*

Any other items you think would be helpful in this endeavor would be welcome as well.

Costco Avon will provide one extra large CMN Hospitals Sponsorship Poster with your business information posted in a prominent location for any donation worth $500 at retail.

The 6 Costco locations in MA and NH, partnering with the CMN Hospitals, raised over $147,000 for Children 's Hospital Boston in 2010. Please join us in helping a great cause that has tremendous impact on the lives of so many local children and families.

This request can be validated by contacting Shannon Collins (Warehouse Manager) or Eric DeSatnick (Marketing Manager) at Costco Avon, 508-232-4001.

For any other questions, or to coordinate a donation, you may contact me (or my husband Aaron) directly.

Michelle Tarver

256 Kirk Terrace

North Dighton MA 02764

crazyplantlady@aarontarver.org

H 508-386-0759

C 774-273-0020

Monday, February 21, 2011

Someone asked for advice...

And that is flattering.... So I figured I'd try and walk them through the whole process and give some good advice...

1st advice I guess is this: Know it's going to be a LOT of work. It's NOT all going to go smoothly.And it's kinda stressful trying to get a living product to do what you want on YOUR time schedule. It gives a whole new level of respect to farmers.
Make sure your spouse/kids are on board. It's good to have the moral support and the extra hands.

How to get plants:
Wintersowing. Super simple way to start a lot of stuff.... Soil seeds old milk jugs and a paint pen to mark the kind of seeds in it


a short video that gives the gist of setting up the container...

The PERENNIALS: you sow now will be best for sale in 2012, If you can find perennials that bloom the 1st yr from seed those are good for this year..

Herbs of all sorts are GREAT to start this way.
Tomatos do really well...
I do my sale in May because I have to ..but if you can do Early June or your zone is warmer then me you have more options of what can wintersow well.And be ready in time for your sale . Pansys Petunias really anything can be winter-sown or spring sowed.

Due to my Early sale and zone 5 I start the peppers and tender annuals like impatiences indoors under-lights. My hubby made me a light-set up out of office shelves and fluorescent lights for about 200 bucks,

Low tunnels/hoop-houses are a good way to get the plants out of the lights and outside a lil sooner.
I have an EXTENSIVE list of places I ask for donations ..I mail all over the country. Do not limit yourself to just your area...And I get a good response rate. I have 3 categorize of letters one for nurseries,one for garden clubs and one for hardware-stores.
make sure your letter can be vetted. Provide your intended charities recipients information and let them know that they may get calls.
I do not take the 1st NO for a donation request. If they can not donate I ask for volunteers or to let me buy stuff at cost.

Keep GOOD RECORDS.
Your supporters deserve accountability in how their donations are used. and you need good records to send thank you notes and to build next years plans

Friday, February 4, 2011

May I ask you to consider sending me some seeds... I need a few specific ones: Green beans,summer squash,zucchini,broccoli,lettuce and cauliflower. I have people lined up to sow seeds for the plant sale but these are the requests I can not fill...