Community Garden Notes... We're feeding over 200 people fresh, organic, local vegetables this year!
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Doug Butdorf
May 17, 2013, 9:07:28 AM5/17/13
to plattsburghco...@googlegroups.com
Hi All,
It looks like our cold evenings are mostly behind us, but still be sure to check the 10 day forecast if you're planting warm loving plants. All of our plots are spoken for, but a few of them won't be worked until June. We have 60 plots (6,000 square feet) with 58 gardeners and three community organizations represented in our garden, including the United Methodist Church the Plattsburgh Presbyterian Church and the Advocacy and Resource Center. Our gardens are growing food for an estimated 200+ people, not including those that will receive donations from the Interfaith Food Shelf through the Plattsburgh Plant a Row for the Hungry. We have a long and wonderful reach into the community. Kudos Community Gardeners! We have a lot to be proud of!
Your First Stop for Gardening Questions Should Be the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Clinton County's Gardening Resource Page. It is FULL of great stuff.
http://blogs.cornell.edu/cceclintoncounty/gardening/resources/
This guide was written by a Plattsburgh Community Gardener for our Plattsburgh Community Garden Gardeners. It is a GREAT resource. Please refer to it often. Copies of it are available in our shed.
http://www.plattsburghcommunitygarden.org/pcg-file-cabinet/BeginnersGrowingGuidelines_NorthernNY.pdf?attredirects=0&d=1
A few things to remember:
=====================
1) Your plants will be a LOT bigger in August than they are now. Please space them in your garden according to their full size so you can be sure to have good air-flow and not too much root crowding. Also, don't put big plants at the perimeter of your bed, so your neighbor gardeners aren't squeezed out of the aisle-pathways.
- For those of you considering square foot gardening, here is a pretty easy to use spacing guide - http://www.mysquarefootgarden.net/plant-spacing/
2) Once you've planted your seedlings, you can put down straw mulch or dried leaf much or dry grass clipping (BEWARE OF PESTICIDES AND HERBICIDES IN THE CLIPPINGS!!! KNOW YOUR SOURCE!) - up to 3", but remember that too much may make it hard for water to penetrate to the soil and roots.. This mulch will conserve water and reduce weed growth. Don't put mulch on before your seeds are germinated. Let them get a few sets of true leaves before you much, so the soil can gain heat from the sun and so they don't have to struggle through a layer of mulch.
3) You don't have to till your soil! - Many gardeners are discovering the pleasure of no-till gardening. Just top-coat with compost or composted manure (1.5 inches or so) and mulch and keep on gardening.
4) Mounding for water. If you build some hand-made mounds or moats around your seedlings or the perimeter of your plot (about 2-3") you'll capture rain and keep it on the surface long enough to soak in instead of letting it run off the sides of your plot. This is especially helpful when bucket watering.
- consider trenching... I like to run a trench or two through my plot and use that for watering with 5-gal buckets. Just pour the water in the trench and plant the plants on the edges and you'll quickly water your plants in a manner that allows the water to soak in where it is needed by the roots.
5) Remember our facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/PlattsburghCommunityGarden/
- I recommend starting there if you have something you need to communicate to the group.
6) Seedlings: If you have extra seedlings you've either started or purchased but don't have room for, please place them in their containers next to the shed by the straw. PLEASE water them (everyone), if you are at the garden and notice they need some love. These will be adopted by other gardeners. We have a seedling swap on June 8th at which time we'll probably get some donations from local farms and/or stores, as that is when they start to give them away.
7) pests - remember that row-cover is your best defense against flea beetles and cucumber beetles, both of which will be a problem for us. I recommend you cover from the start.
8) Our next work day is next Saturday the 25th. There are some projects that need to be completed, so we would appreciate your attendance. Note that we will probably be beginning our hose system construction then and may need to do some additional fund raising... we'll keep you posted.
Good Gardening Everyone!!!
Doug
It looks like our cold evenings are mostly behind us, but still be sure to check the 10 day forecast if you're planting warm loving plants. All of our plots are spoken for, but a few of them won't be worked until June. We have 60 plots (6,000 square feet) with 58 gardeners and three community organizations represented in our garden, including the United Methodist Church the Plattsburgh Presbyterian Church and the Advocacy and Resource Center. Our gardens are growing food for an estimated 200+ people, not including those that will receive donations from the Interfaith Food Shelf through the Plattsburgh Plant a Row for the Hungry. We have a long and wonderful reach into the community. Kudos Community Gardeners! We have a lot to be proud of!
Your First Stop for Gardening Questions Should Be the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Clinton County's Gardening Resource Page. It is FULL of great stuff.
http://blogs.cornell.edu/cceclintoncounty/gardening/resources/
This guide was written by a Plattsburgh Community Gardener for our Plattsburgh Community Garden Gardeners. It is a GREAT resource. Please refer to it often. Copies of it are available in our shed.
http://www.plattsburghcommunitygarden.org/pcg-file-cabinet/BeginnersGrowingGuidelines_NorthernNY.pdf?attredirects=0&d=1
A few things to remember:
=====================
1) Your plants will be a LOT bigger in August than they are now. Please space them in your garden according to their full size so you can be sure to have good air-flow and not too much root crowding. Also, don't put big plants at the perimeter of your bed, so your neighbor gardeners aren't squeezed out of the aisle-pathways.
- For those of you considering square foot gardening, here is a pretty easy to use spacing guide - http://www.mysquarefootgarden.net/plant-spacing/
2) Once you've planted your seedlings, you can put down straw mulch or dried leaf much or dry grass clipping (BEWARE OF PESTICIDES AND HERBICIDES IN THE CLIPPINGS!!! KNOW YOUR SOURCE!) - up to 3", but remember that too much may make it hard for water to penetrate to the soil and roots.. This mulch will conserve water and reduce weed growth. Don't put mulch on before your seeds are germinated. Let them get a few sets of true leaves before you much, so the soil can gain heat from the sun and so they don't have to struggle through a layer of mulch.
3) You don't have to till your soil! - Many gardeners are discovering the pleasure of no-till gardening. Just top-coat with compost or composted manure (1.5 inches or so) and mulch and keep on gardening.
4) Mounding for water. If you build some hand-made mounds or moats around your seedlings or the perimeter of your plot (about 2-3") you'll capture rain and keep it on the surface long enough to soak in instead of letting it run off the sides of your plot. This is especially helpful when bucket watering.
- consider trenching... I like to run a trench or two through my plot and use that for watering with 5-gal buckets. Just pour the water in the trench and plant the plants on the edges and you'll quickly water your plants in a manner that allows the water to soak in where it is needed by the roots.
5) Remember our facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/PlattsburghCommunityGarden/
- I recommend starting there if you have something you need to communicate to the group.
6) Seedlings: If you have extra seedlings you've either started or purchased but don't have room for, please place them in their containers next to the shed by the straw. PLEASE water them (everyone), if you are at the garden and notice they need some love. These will be adopted by other gardeners. We have a seedling swap on June 8th at which time we'll probably get some donations from local farms and/or stores, as that is when they start to give them away.
7) pests - remember that row-cover is your best defense against flea beetles and cucumber beetles, both of which will be a problem for us. I recommend you cover from the start.
8) Our next work day is next Saturday the 25th. There are some projects that need to be completed, so we would appreciate your attendance. Note that we will probably be beginning our hose system construction then and may need to do some additional fund raising... we'll keep you posted.
Good Gardening Everyone!!!
Doug
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