Delta Informal Gardeners (DIG), was formed in 1988 by people interested in learning about what we call “dirt gardening.” Pat Moore, our founder, was our first president. We knew we needed a fund raiser for basic necessities. We also needed a purpose. We readily decided that education, (gardening education that is) and beautification of our community by way of gardening of course, would fulfill our reason for being.
Jean Scudero made the original sketch for our logo. George (Jake) Dwelley came up with our name (the “i” was the hardest part, but informal turned out to be a good description of our laid-back manner). Russ Wold, the master composter, was our first speaker. Pat Moore started our sharing exchange table at our third meeting.
From the beginning, DIG has not been a fundraising organization. Our emphasis is on gardening, not on money. We decided to have one plant sale a year, and that plus our nominal membership fee, would be the extent of it.
DIG’s first actual plant sale was at the Art & Wine Festival in Brentwood Park. It was so successful that customers were buying plants off the truck as we were trying to unload them. Members went home and dug up clumps of bearded iris and took them back to the park for sale. People waited in line while we divided and cleaned them up. We sold the iris corms for 25 cents apiece. All plants we sold that day had come from divisions or starts from our home gardens.
We realized with some surprise, that the garden club was a big draw at these yearly functions. It was also apparent that we could sell a lot more plants if we had them. Steve Hendrickson began taking Kathy Echol’s propagation classes at DVC and bringing his new knowledge home to DIG.
DIG’s first Propagation Workshops started at the Hendrickson’s home with big galvanized tubs of soil which we sat around and filled with second had potting soil from Delta Growers, a local wholesale nursery, no longer in business. Mel Abreu, a member and retired local farmer, offered the use of his greenhouse and grounds, so now we have a good place to work and store our ever increasing number of plants.
Our plant propagation season officially begins in September, although we usually have a propagation session or two before that. Whoever can make it goes to Mel’s every Saturday morning from 10 until noon. Members bring cuttings from our gardens. We prepare many boxes of plant starts during each session. As the cuttings root, we move them up to 4-inch or gallon pots, all eventually to end up in gallons. Our every-Saturday-mornings go on till about Thanksgiving. Then we start up again in February.
From our humble beginnings, we now have the monumental task of taking care of approximately 10,000 plants we grow to sell every year.
We started DIG with 14 people. There are now more that 150 members. More than fifty percent participate in our propagation program and plant sale. It is pretty amazing, and always a pleasure.
– Carole & Steve Hendrickson, October 2011