Announcements

Fertilizing and Watering Practices in Raised Bed Gardens

There is a great luxury with raised beds – good soil, no red clay, fewer weeds, and easy to cultivate soil. But it does come at a bit of a price…when it is windy and/or with limited rain the beds dry out quicker than row gardens requiring more frequent watering. It is best to water more deeply and at the plant base in this way you should not have to water daily unless it is brutally hot. Also when it is very hot test the temperature of your water coming out of the hose before placing on your plants – don’t put hot water on your plants- BUT while you are waiting for it to cool you can use the hot water on weeds near your bed and try to do them in! Also fertilizer washes through quicker in most cases and we recommend about once a month to fertilize during the growing season. One good practice is side-dressing where you move 3-5 inches away from your plant stem and make a very shallow line and place fertilizer there and water in. This helps keep it away from the stem where it might burn the stem and roots. By this time it is a good practice to have a mulch around your vegetables too to keep the moisture in and the weeds down.

Our Response to Unkempt Plots

Every gardener signed the garden's guidelines which included the policy on unkempt plots. Going forward, on every Wednesday, we will harvest all very ripe fruits and vegetables from gardener's plots and donate them to the pantries. This will prevent food waste and should also cut down on critters and insect infestations in the garden. If you do not want your ripe vegetables harvested by us, please be sure to pick them prior to each Wednesday. Any questions or concerns, please contact Debbie.