|
|
|
Meeting Recaps + Information>
Winterizing Our Garden - Meeting Minutes
October 9, 2008
MEMORANDUM
To: Community Garden Members & Friends
From: Dave and Wendy Watson-Hallowell
Re: Meeting Recap from 10/8/2008
Date: 10/9/2008
Greetings! Our meeting this month focused on getting the garden ready for winter and we were blessed with a wonderful guest speaker Cheryl Rogowski from our CSA, Rogowski Farms. Cheryl and others in the room had a wealth of knowledge to share and we made great strides in identifying what needs to be done in the next 8 weeks to ensure that 2009 is an even better year than 2008.
We were also very glad to see Wendy Webb there – Wendy took a fall walking back up the hill from the garden on some slick grass and dislocated her shoulder! A special warning to all – please take care on that hill!!! It is steep and between the dew and black walnuts on the ground, it can be challenging so please be careful!! Next month we will talk about the possibility of a safer path to the garden.
One of the issues our garden and most in NJ and NY experienced this year was the tomato blight. In addition to this we had reports of grubs, aphids, potato beetles and Japanese beetles. These problems will not go away on their own and we must take action to eliminate them now or look forward to seeing them again next year! Some of the suggestions were:
• Solarization of the Soil. Cheryl suggested we place clear plastic over each of the plots and use the sun to cook off the fungus, pests and blight. Since some garden members may have put infected debris from their plots in our compost piles, these will also be solarized but with black plastic instead. Cheryl has a compost accelerator that we will use to raise the temperature in these piles and better clean the compost. Please do not add anything else to the compost pile this year, but instead, take it with you (black bag to the garbage would be best).
• Rotate your crops. Even within small plots, the need to rotate is important both for the soil and for future harvest. If you plant tomatoes in the same place in your plot, they may succumb to the same blight as last year if any remains in the soil.
• Disease Resistant Plants. Look for plants that have a proven resistance to insects, blight and fungus. Plants are listed in catalogues with these characteristics – Cheryl had several suggestions on where to purchase these varieties including Silver Heights Farm and High Mowing Seed Company – both organic.
• Floating Row Covers. Many plants, especially eggplant were attacked by bugs. Floating row covers (lightweight fabric covers placed over the plants when they are susceptible to insects) can be used in the Spring as our tender plants begin to develop. Once the flowers come out however, you need to pull them back so the bees can pollinate them. This material is available from a variety of vendors – Wendy Webb also shared that sheer curtains do a good job too so if anyone has any old ones laying around, don’t throw them out, bring them over to the garden!
Steps to Prepare our Garden for the Winter
Step 1. The first thing that needs to happen is all plots need to be cleared. When clearing your plot, PLEASE bring a black plastic bag so you can take the debris with you and throw it away in your woods or someplace where the bugs and or blight won’t affect any gardening activity. Once you have cleared your plot, turn it over with a spade or tiller. Even if you are not going to come back to the garden next year, we ask that all members take this step before the first weekend in November.
Step 2. Spread manure over each plot about 4 inches thick. Then cover with newspaper (NY Times is perfect as they use soy based ink and recycled paper) and over that, place a generous cover of straw. SWM will have a pile of manure in place by in the next couple of weeks and will also provide the straw and the newspaper.
Step 3. We will be “solarizing” each plot as described above. SWM will provide the plastic and you can secure it with either stakes or rocks around your plot. The tighter the better!
Step 4. Test the soil. Cheryl stressed the importance of knowing what the soil needs so we can better ‘feed it’ in 2009. We will get the soil tested before the end of October.
All this needs to happen in the next 6 weeks – before Thanksgiving – yikes! We have already started arranging for the manure and Dave will be ordering the plastic and straw in the next week.
Thanks in advance for your help in getting your plot cleared and we hope you can join us for the big Gardening Days on Saturday November 22 and Sunday November 23 from 10a-3p when we can winterize our plots together. We’ll make it fun and bring food and drinks for all the dedicated gardeners!
Our last meeting for the year is on Wednesday, November 12th at 7:00pm. The topic will be planning our garden for 2009. This includes what we will plant in our community garden and how to manage that together along with any other improvements you think would be helpful. Your input and ideas are critical!
Please let us know if we missed anything or got something wrong and thanks in advance for your help with the garden – we hope to see you at the Garden Clean up Day and at our next meeting!
Happy Veggies!
Dave and Wendy
|
|
