From the Gardens Registrar: Coffee Grounds; Planting Garlic; Closing Day for the Gardens and Other Dates to Remember; This Weekend’sWorkday

Hello Gardeners,

COFFEE GROUNDS – One of our gardeners has started making deliveries of coffee grounds to both gardens, and he will continue to do so for the next few weeks, until the weather becomes too nasty. Coffee grounds are a nice soil amendment, so please take some for your plots while the supply lasts. (This is strictly first come-first served.) He’ll be leaving them in old cart beds, near the garden sheds. Coffee grounds contain nitrogen and useful minerals. You can add them to your own compost pile, or to your soil, make “tea” with them to use as a liquid fertilizer, or sprinkle them around plants that are subject to damage from slugs.

IS IT TOO LATE TO PLANT GARLIC? – In case you wanted to plant garlic this fall, and never got around to it, it’s not too late to try it. You can actually plant bulbs up until the ground freezes. The ideal is to plant early enough that the bulbs sprout and grow roots, but not so early that there’s any growth above the soil. Depending on what the weather does from here, there’s still a good chance that your garlic will produce some roots before winter. Once the ground freezes, the garlic will go dormant. And then in spring, as soon as the ground starts to thaw, the garlic will resume growing. Once you’ve planted, it’s a good idea to mulch the garlic bed.

CLOSING DAY -– Closing Day for the Gardens this year will be Sunday, December 3. On that date, we could really use a few warmly-dressed volunteers to help our staff members put away the carts and tools for the winter.  No, it does not count as a workday. The Put-Away Event will be 10am – Noon at Eagle Heights, and 12:30 – 1:30 at University Houses. Please drop by and help, even for just a few minutes. Yes, we will leave a few carts and tools out of storage for the winter at both gardens, for the few people who still have work left to do in their plots.

UPCOMING DATES TO REMEMBER –

December 1      Deadline for paying the no-workday fee if you have not done a workday.

December 3      Closing Day for both gardens.

December 15    2018 Application will be available on our website, and also at the Community Center

February 15      Deadline for returning gardeners to renew their plots

March 24         Opening Day for 2018 (or around that date, anyway.)

April 7             Seed Fair at Eagle Heights Community Center

I will send out reminder emails about these dates and deadlines.

WORKDAY – This weekend’s workday will be at Eagle Heights on Sunday, November 19, from 1pm – 4pm. The task will be finishing up the fruit tree maintenance for the season. The crew may be hauling dead trees to where they can be chipped, and they will also be filling tree tubes with gravel, and mulching as needed. Here’s the link to sign up:  https://doodle.com/poll/sdmvuz9hqemh4sni  The forecast at this point is for cool temperatures, but no precipitation. Please dress warmly, and bring gloves and drinking water. If weather permits, we will schedule one final workday next weekend.

Happy gardening,

Kathryn