Dear Gardeners,
We seem to be having a very good year with the peas and kale and carrots coming in now. I've seen green tomatoes and peppers on some of the plants and my beets are starting to swell. The rains have been great for settling in the transplants and for growing weeds. At least the weeds are pulling easily with the soft soil but we are also seeing a lot of insects in the gardens. This morning, I saw four kinds of butterflies and a couple of moths (check your cabbages for caterpillars). We also have squash bugs coming out and Sandra sent along a good reference for squash pests: See
https://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/summaries/summary.php?pub=138
She also mentions mounding up the dirt at the base of squash plants to help since eggs of squash borers are laid right at the base of the plant.
We are going to have two workdays this weekend starting a project to repair the path along the odd 700 plots in Eagle Heights which is eroding. We will also be preparing a flower bed up by the Eagle Heights shed. The workdays will be Saturday, 6/20 from 9 am to noon and  Sunday, 6/21, from 2 pm to 5 pm. If you would like to work one of these opportunities, please reply and tell me which one and I will get you more information.
The gardens are a very busy place now with people needing tools so please don't hoard the tools and carts but return them to the shed each time you leave the gardens. There is also a lot of wildlife in the gardens with mink sightings, toads all over, the cranes visiting singly (hopefully while the other sits a nest) and even a turtle seen munching strawberries. An active ecosystem is really valuable to keep the insect and rodent pests in check.
Enjoy the butterflies as you work!
Gretel, Garden Registrar