Good Gardens = Good Neighbors

In the Mending Wall, the poet Robert Frost's neighbor says to him, "Good fences make good neighbors." I thought about that line and decided to try a new one. "Good gardens make good neighbors." Last summer Mary Kay kept on bringing home fresh vegetables shared by good neighbors. I sat in the house and once in a while ventured out to mow the lawn. This spring I decided to join in with the neighbors and raise some vegetables for ourselves. With a bountiful harvest we hope to also be sharing with our neighbors. Already this spring I have visited with more good neighbors than all the previous years combined. I have recorded movies of Cait and Jessie picking lettuce and Becky planting blueberries. I have offer of a trade of Bok Choy for Swiss Chard. Now if I only knew what Bok Choy is. People have told me to come and get volunteer Tommy Toe tomatoes and extra squash plants. The good neighbors are enthused about their yards filling up with vegetables. Yes, "good gardens are making good neighbors" and we are just getting started in late April.

Requests for Plants, seeds, gardening tips, extra plants

Looking for eggplant sets ready to plant .

keithalc06@yahoo.com

Send info on plants to me and also send me requests and I will post them.

If you have extra of any plants let us know. I will post the information here.

Bag Gardening with Doreen

I took Jodie's idea of bag gardening and did a little twist:

I've got some asparagus and strawberry plants to install at the farm, but my ground is not yet ready for them. Unfortunately the plants don't know that and needed to be in soil asap. So I took a couple bags of soil I had on-hand,laid each on the site where these plants will be permanently installed and then followed Jodie's directions on bag gardening.

I followed up with liberally covering each bag garden with some grass clippings (actually I just pulled grass and clover out by hand until l had enough). The decomposing greens will: provide nitrogen to the plants (approximately 5% according to studies), act as a mulch on the soil, and help protect the plastic from harmful UV rays (to help decrease breakdown/leaching). The weight of the bag on the site will help further break down the compost underneath (I hope).

Now, my goal is to either cut away the plastic to allow the plants further growth into the bed underneath or gently remove and transfer each plant to the permanent site at the end of the season .

Thanks to Jodie for bringing this idea to other gardeners!

Also, I tried to find information on the leaching aspect of the bags and didn't have much luck. One site suggested that the plastic leaches lead as it decomposes, but didn't provide useful details. The question would be whether the lead goes into the soil or the plant (neither a great option) and how valid a concern this may be.

I'll let you know how it goes and please share any useful tips you may discover along the way!

Take care --
doreen

Early Harvests

I have already harvested one batch of spinach that I planted in the fall as an experiment. It stayed dormant most of the winter and then began growing in late February. My spinach has already been eaten in an omelette with gouda cheese from Zimmeramn's.
Becky

People Who Will Share Gardening Experience

People who offered to share gardening experience from the re-skilling workshop March 11,2009 and the Spring Kickoff for the Edible Yard Project on March 22, 2009.
Name Phone Email Type of Experience
Sean Clark 985-3591 Anything and everything
Patty and Paul Ponder 859- 925-9033 We have a big farm garden.
Dave Kennedy leafforlife@yahoo.com Organic gardening
Pat Brunner 986-4534 Container gardening
Paul and Pat Smithson 606-985-1267 General vegetable gardening
Hank Pinkerton 859-421-8892 viamedia@att.net Soil improvement,
Fruit and flowering tree pruning
Donna Wellman 859-985-5386 farm@grinningplanet.com Plants, seed, row cover, etc.
Cait McClanahan 859-986-9926 Bed preparation, seed starting
Betty Sarafin 859-985-2817 blsarafin@hotmail.com Gardening
Ann Bajwa 756-3431 Container gardening
Becky Roselli 985-9490 mrroselli@yahoo.com General gardening
Doreen Parsley 986-2379 parsleyd@gmail.com General gardening
Keith Gilbertson keithalc06@yahoo.com General gardening

If you would like to be added to the list email info to keithalc06@yahoo.com

How to Keep Cats out of your Garden

The first morning after I planted spinach a bunch of cat tracks appeared in my seed bed. I rushed to the back yard and got a little section of fence. Since then no cat tracks have appeared. I also read that citrus peels keep the felines at bay. I need to eat some more oranges and lemons. So far no cat tracks have shown up near the orange peels. I also barked at the cat and told him to git!!.

Please send more suggestions that work!

Tomatoes:How Early do you dare put them in the ground?

I took a chance and put out four tomato plants on the day before Good Friday April 9th. Now I will have to watch the weather forecast very carefully until early May. But maybe I will have some ripe maters by the 4th of July. Tell us when you plant your tomatoes and when you get the first ripe ones. Send proof to gardensberea@gmail.com . Keith