Typically in winter gardeners reflect on what they grew the previous season...what worked, what didn't? Of course in a community garden, some variables are beyond one's control like the size and location of a garden plot and sometimes the soil conditions are less than desirable. The soil at the BC Garden is now very nutrient dense and as composting continues, will only become more fertile.
Gardeners ask questions like: Which varieties produced well and under what conditions? Were the types of staking and plant supports adequate for the plants I grew? How well did I keep on growing successional plants like radishes, lettuce and herbs all season long? Did I grow food crops I really like eating or was I introduced to new vegetables that I now like to eat? Did I utilize the space I had to the utmost, or did I choose to grow too many plants for my space or too great a variety of plants for my space? Did I adequately thin plants like beets, carrots and radishes so each one had enough room to grow? How can I make better use of my limited size garden plot? Maybe I want to extend the growing season by planting early veggies like peas and onions and late crops like kale and collards? Carrots and spinach were more challenging to grow than I had imagined, why might that be? Maybe I could team up with a garden friend to grow tall, bushy plants like pole beans and tomatoes in one plot and root crops that have shorter growth like carrots and onions in the other...
I suggest keeping a notebook to record what you grew, what worked and what you'd like to do differently.
Here are my top three suggestions to help plan for next year:
Gardeners ask questions like: Which varieties produced well and under what conditions? Were the types of staking and plant supports adequate for the plants I grew? How well did I keep on growing successional plants like radishes, lettuce and herbs all season long? Did I grow food crops I really like eating or was I introduced to new vegetables that I now like to eat? Did I utilize the space I had to the utmost, or did I choose to grow too many plants for my space or too great a variety of plants for my space? Did I adequately thin plants like beets, carrots and radishes so each one had enough room to grow? How can I make better use of my limited size garden plot? Maybe I want to extend the growing season by planting early veggies like peas and onions and late crops like kale and collards? Carrots and spinach were more challenging to grow than I had imagined, why might that be? Maybe I could team up with a garden friend to grow tall, bushy plants like pole beans and tomatoes in one plot and root crops that have shorter growth like carrots and onions in the other...
I suggest keeping a notebook to record what you grew, what worked and what you'd like to do differently.
Here are my top three suggestions to help plan for next year:
1) Order as many garden catalogs as you can stand
and fantasize about the veggies and flowers you’d like to fill your plot with.
Winter is when gardeners reflect on what they planted the previous
season and plan for making a better garden or focused type of garden the next year. You can learn much by reading seed catalogs including that there are hundreds of varieties of seed for one type of vegetable that do well in different kinds of climates, under a range of conditions. One seed catalog might sell dozens of those varieties. Some varieties of beans need to grow over 80 days before harvesting, while others require around 60. If you have time for the bean that takes longer to mature, fine, if not, go for the quick producer. The broccoli variety that several of you planted (from transplant) from Silver Heights Farm was Piracicaba Broccoli, a variety that is heat tolerant, needs less space of 1 square foot (as compared with 1.5 square feet for most varieties) and produces lots of side shoots that stay sweet. Cecile's broccoli flowered in early December and those blossoms were as sweet as can be.
Below is a long list of seed houses, which offer online catalogs and hard copies of their catalog upon request. Browsing with a mouse is nothing in comparison to thumbing through colorful pages of produce, so definitely order the paper version.
Below is a long list of seed houses, which offer online catalogs and hard copies of their catalog upon request. Browsing with a mouse is nothing in comparison to thumbing through colorful pages of produce, so definitely order the paper version.
2) There’s some free/low cost gardening workshops to take
this winter at the BBG, including these:
Letting nature do the work with Permaculture-- Free
Street Tree Care-- Free
Houseplants 101
Edibles on the Edge
Cool spring Greens
3) Snuggle up with a gardening book. Here are a few of my favorites:
My Garden Book
-----Jamaica Kincaid
This Organic Life -----Joan Dye Gussow
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle ------Barbara Kingsolver
Then there’s plenty of books on urban farming. Many gardeners this year asked me about container gardening, practical for gardening in the tiniest of spaces where you can grow carrots, herbs, onions, garlic, lettuce and cherry tomatoes as well as flowers and ornamental plants:
Farm City
----Novella Carpenter
Urban Farming: Sustainable living in… ---- Thomas Fox
Bountiful Container
----- McGee and Stuckey
***Whether you have or haven't take a wild food foraging tour with "Wildman" Steve Brill, I recommend downloading his app on edible wild plants.
Once the myshoprite experience survey has been completed you will have the chance to enter the shoprite survey for a $500 ShopRite gift card.
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