Garden Is Ready!

[Doug Butdorf]

Hi All,

Thanks to numerous volunteers from our Community Garden and the Adirondack Young Professionals, we've expanded our garden by 12 additional plots to a total of 60 plots. The water system is ready for bucket watering (like last year), the straw mulch and some pretty stinky, yet great for the soil manure compost is waiting and the shed is cleaned up and ready for use.

Feel free to get your gardens going when you think best. I probably won't put in any seedlings until near the end of May so as not to risk frost, but some hardy plants like kale, spinach, greens, cabbage and some other might be OK to get in the ground. Also, peas can be sown, as can a number of others, remembering that soil temp is what you're hoping for when sowing seeds.

PLEASE spread a good helping of composted manure on your plot and work it into the soil before you do anything else. I'd very much like to get that pile worked down quickly, plus the sooner we get the manure into the soil for the soil's bacteria and other critters to break down the faster we'll get away from the not so pleasant smell.

I've tried to start the little tiller in the shed, but can't get it to go. I've replaced the gas with new, but still no start. I'll take it to One-Stop next to the old Agway this week to see if they can get it going for us soon. That would be a great way to work in a bunch of composted manure.

I've attached a plot layout and gardner list for your review. Please get to know who your neighbors are and lend a hand as you can when folks go on vacation, etc...

Cook and Gardner has a lot of stuff ready for you to purchase for the season and I'll put a box of free seeds in the shed for you to feel free to use.

Looking forward to a great season!

Doug