From the Gardens Registrar: Drive Slowly at University Houses; What to Plant Now; A Few Words on Lettuce; Fences; Warm Weather Plant Sale; Thefts

Hello Gardeners,

SLOW DOWN! – One of the residents at University Houses has complained to the Housing Office about people driving their cars very fast on the drive that goes to the parking lot for the University Houses Gardens. If you drive your car to this garden, please remember that this is a residential area, with many children playing outside.  SLOW DOWN AND DRIVE CAREFULLY.

WHAT TO PLANT NOW – It is planting time for most vegetables in our gardens – peas, lettuce, cabbages and their relatives, spinach, chard, greens, root crops, and so on. But it is still too early to plant beans and squash - we may have another frost or two before we’re completely through with cold weather. Also, the soil is still cool – beans won’t germinate in cold soil. Tomato plants should not be planted outside until the middle of the month – and watch the weather forecasts carefully before you plant them. Peppers and eggplants like really warm weather, so some people don’t plant them out until June.

ABOUT LETTUCE – Lettuce is in the Aster Family, and there are at least five types – iceberg, Batavian, bibb, romaine, and leaf. Generally, the darker the lettuce, the more nutrition it has. Lettuce is a good source of Vitamins A and K. It’s one of the easiest vegetables to grow, especially leaf lettuce. This web site has some good information on different types, and how to grow them: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/lettuce/different-lettuce-types.htm

FENCES – The American poet Robert Frost is famous for having written that “Good fences make good neighbors.” Frost was a very good poet, but not an Eagle Heights gardener. We would love it if nobody here had fences. Fences are a regular source of conflicts between gardeners.

Do you have a fence around your plot? If so, please finish reading this, and then run right out to your plot to look at your fence. Is the fence right on your boundary line? If it is, it’s in the wrong place. All fences must be at least six inches inside your plot – on all four sides of your plot, including the side next to the path. Remember – your garden neighbors need access to their plots and to water. If you don’t like to garden without a fence, make sure it’s in the right place, keep it in good repair so it doesn’t lean over or collapse on your neighbor’s plants, and keep it weeded.

WARM WEATHER PLANT SALE: Garden to Be will return to Eagle Heights for the second plant sale of the season on Sunday, May 20, from 11am – 2pm. Plants to be sold will include tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, basils, cucumbers, zucchini, some squashes/pumpkins, melons, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, lettuces, and parsley. I’ll get you a more complete list closer to the date.

THEFTS – It’s gardening time again, and that means people happily working in their plots, getting into disputes with their neighbors, violating rules right and left, and stealing things! When will it be winter again? No, seriously, a few thefts have already been reported to me. I do appreciate people letting me know when this happens, although all I can do is tell people I’m sorry. But I do want to remind all gardeners that we are subject to theft, of equipment, plants, and vegetables. I am convinced that the perpetrators are mostly not fellow gardeners. Having people steal your stuff is annoying, if not infuriating, but it is a fact of life in a community garden.

Happy Gardening,

Kathryn