Garden Notes

This was a great week in the garden! We were able to put the finishing touches on the new shed! Now we have one shed for the east side of the garden and one shed for the west side of the garden. This will make it more convenient for our gardeners. They will not have to trek all the way across the garden to get tools and supplies. We were able to do a little clean up also, stacking the pallets and concrete blocks and picking up trash. Some of the dead plants were taken to the compost bins ready for composting.
This week we expect to receive the new chipper/shredder, which means there will a lot of shredding going on next Saturday. We will be doing more harvesting and believe it or not there will be some planting going on also. There are still vegetables that you can plant for a spring harvest! If you have taken a garden bed and would like to plant seeds for spring harvest, come on out Saturday from 9a to 12noon.
In the coming weeks we will begin the installation of the water lines to the beds. If you would like to be a part of the installation let us know. We will have the trenches done by a private company and will be putting the pipes in ourselves. So if you ever wanted to know how to put in a water line come on out. We have a list of volunteers and there is room for more! After we get the water line in we will begin the garden path that will run throughout the garden, making it more accessible to those in wheel chairs and walkers. This spring we hope to have ‘accessible’ beds for those that are in wheel chairs and walkers. So as you can see it maybe winter but the garden is still a busy and growing place.
We would like to thank all the new gardeners that have signed up for the spring season! We welcome you and we will do our best to help make your gardening experience a great one. If there is anyone that is thinking about gardening this spring feel free to contact me or Nancy or one of the other gardeners. We would love to have you join the garden party!
The tip of the week is about protecting your plants. I know I may have mentioned this before but thought since the weather is turning colder we would revisit how to protect your plants. Smaller plants you can use a can or a milk jug with the top cut off it. Simply cover the plant when the temps get below freezing. For larger plants and beds you may need to use a sheet or plant fabric. By the way, gentlemen another helpful tip: be sure you ask your wife before you use the sheets! Sometimes they get upset when you use the wrong sheets. When using the sheets, make sure you try to keep the fabric from touching the plants. The frost can wick trough the fabric and ‘burn’ your plants. You can use stakes or sticks to keep the fabric off the plants.
So let’s go play in the dirt! It’s fun!

Willie Redmon
Harvesting Hope Community Garden is a ministry of First Christian Church, Arlington.