THE GARDEN STORY

Retail Construction Services, Inc. is dedicated to giving back.

We give back not only to those in need within our community, but also the future generations of this wonderful community. What started out as a great idea has grown exponentially and became an amazing reality. Here at the RCS Giving Garden, school groups, master gardeners, corporate volunteers, and our own employees work together for the common good of teaching children the art of gardening and the importance of healthy eating. Click Here for Full Story.

LOCATION:
Retail Construction Services, Inc.
11343 39th Street N.
Lake Elmo, MN 55042

From HWY 36 - go south on Lake Elmo Ave, turn left onto 39th Street, garden is at corner of 39th and Laverne.
From HWY 5- going west from Stillwater take right onto Laverne (near Fury dealership) garden is on the right at corner of Laverne and 39th street.

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The RCS Giving Garden

The RCS Giving Garden

5/27/15

Planting Day has Arrived!

"Our lives are to be used and thus to be lived as fully as possible, and truly it seems that we are never so alive as when we concern ourselves with other people."  -- Harry Chapin
Before Planting
After Planting
Planting day arrived!  Our employee volunteers were joined by employees from UPS as well as several Washington County Master Gardeners.  The Krueger's had come the raining day before an tilled the garden one last time before planting.  Beautiful dirt!

The fencing team began with marking out the fence perimeter.  Our garden has lost about two feet of width over the years, so some of
the employees tilled out the additional garden space and squared off the corners of the garden. 


While the fencing team was at work, we reviewed the garden plan with the garden staking team, the planting team and the landscape fabric team.  Plants were pulled from the greenhouse, and our homemade seed tapes were brought together, ready to be placed next to their designated row as they were staked out. 


 The Jr. Master Gardening program, led by Kathy Luoma not only made most of the seed tapes, but they started, from seed, half of the plants for the garden.  The remaining plants came from Costa's Farm and Greenhouse, and the Hugo Feed Mill.  The landscape fabric came from Hedberg Supply.

With the fence perimeter set, the three sections of the garden were quickly laid out, and starting with the corn rows, planting began.  As the planting
teams finished each row, the landscape fabric teams followed right behind. 

It was a beautiful warm day, but as the noon hour approached, it was very warm to be planting!  At the very end, we were all too beat to plant the beets, the only crop not planted today.

The UPS Team
We focused on giving each section of the garden a good watering.  We will not be installing the irrigation system until the seedlings are a few inches high.  That afternoon we had a few employees that touched up paint on some of the garden structures to freshen them up. 

This year, our garden plan has many 1' rows, which will double and triple some of our crops.  We are hoping to hit the goal of 3,000 lbs of produce this year.  Thank you to all of the volunteers who made our 2015 Planting Day such a success!