We've held many educational sessions at our residential edible landscaping demonstration location. Participants have assisted with constructing the raised beds and lining them with hardware cloth to keep out the gophers that tend to destroy the roots of our plants. We also held education sessions to prepare the soil and discuss the benefits of pollinators, the many pollinators that are also edible, and how pollinators, when companion planted with fruits and vegetables, can be an important part of an integrated pest management program - alleviating the need for toxic chemicals. Unfortunately, the rabbits loved our edible pollinators and natural repellents, such as cayenne pepper, did not work. In fact, the rabbits seemed to love our spiced-up edible pollinator plants. We purchased small baskets from the dollar store and put them upside down on the plants, as barriers, and anchored them with landscape staples. That seemed to work. The plants have outgrown the baskets and seem to now be large enough to survive the nibbles of hungry rabbits. Nevertheless, we're now working on a more gardening-friendly rabbit barrier, a hardware cloth fence. This will also keep our animals out of the garden since our dogs seem to really love digging in the homemade compost we use in the raised beds. The residents in our area are likely to suffer the same issues with rabbits and gophers, so this is a wonderful learning experience so we can share our successes and failures with them. This is especially important since we live in a food desert and our mission is to educate local residents on how to grow their own food as part of a beautiful landscape.

We removed the baskets a few days ago and the rabbits did not eat the melon plants. WINNING!!! The plan is for the melons to grow among the pollinators. The marigolds and other edibles will attract beneficial pollinators and will keep the bad insects at bay, an Integrated Pest Management system using edible pollinator plants. Did we mention that the marigolds are edible? In our opinion, they aren't very tasty -- apparently edible doesn't always equate with tasty.

Edible pollinator seeds were planted, but as they came up we discovered that the rabbits loved them!! Edible marigolds were transplanted into the beds and the rabbits are leaving them alone. The plan is to interplant seasonal items (watermelon right now) to utilize the pollinators. Sunflowers were planted in the perimeter to ultimately provide shade, but the rabbits attacked them immediately. The first attempt to keep the rabbits away was the natural method of using cayenne pepper -- they seemed to enjoy the extra spice on the edible pollinator plants!! Parsley, coriander, and chives didn't seem to deter them either. We creatively used Dollar Store baskets until the plants grew too large, but we are discovering that the rabbits will still eat that size of a plant that fills those baskets. So, we came up with another option which is an upside down tomato cage wrapped in chicken wire with a small piece of pvc pipe keeping the prongs together until the plants get so large that the rabbits can't reach the leaves. Ultimately, we are going to install a fence that doesn't block the beautiful view of the edible pollinator plants, since this is an agri-landscaping demonstration project, around the entire garden area to keep rabbits out. Since this is a demonstration project, we're determined to make it work. We plan to use our experience as a teaching tool for other agri-landscaping enthusiasts.

We completed installing the water blankets in 2 of the 3 garden beds yesterday. Now to plant!!!

The beds are completed. Next, we will plant the pollinators and direct the existing water lines to the plants.

We've researched and gathered the materials for the raised beds, constructed the raised beds, and brought water lines to the beds. Today, TigerMountain Foundation brought compost. Tomorrow, we will line the bottom of the beds with hardware cloth so that our determined gophers can't get to and eat the roots of our edible pollinators. After lining the bottom of the beds with hardware cloth we will fill the beds with 70% native soil and 30% rich composted soil. After filling the beds we will construct living shade structures of edible vegetation over the beds since we are in the Sonoran desert and the summer sun is brutal on plants.

Meeting Agenda
ChangeX Pollinator Grant Kick-off

1) Greetings
2) Delegation of Duties and timeline
a) Coordinate w/ ChangeX regarding readiness for next step after kick-off meeting & team photo: Mozette
b) Purchase materials: Mozette
c) Build Boxes: Darren & Mozette
d) Transport Boxes to Humphreys Residence: ??
e) Deliver compost and wood chips to Humphreys Residence: Darren
f) Install irrigation and plant boxes: Cole & Caleb
g) Seed funding will be used to purchase materials for raised beds and Pollinator garden materials. NO FUNDING will be used for labor.
COMMUNITY BENEFITS:
Educational tours and Pollinator garden talks.
Include TigerMountain volunteers in pollinator garden upkeep
Show how pollinators can be edible - since we live in a USDA Food Desert. In our low socio-economic area, we will show how edible pollinators can be used within the family or sold at local farmers markets to increase family income.
The COVID-19 safety plan is adopted from TigerMountain's procedure manual. All in-person interaction and labor will take place outdoors, with 6' spacing between individuals and masked.
www.tigermountainfoundation.org

I love gardening and working with people to build community