From the Gardens Registrar: What to Plant Now; Tools and Carts in Plots; Volunteers Needed for Greenhouse Project; Thistles; Cowbirds; Garden Plots Available; Workday Saturday June 30 at Eagle Heights

Hello Gardeners,

WHAT TO PLANT NOW – If you’re a new gardener just getting started here, or if you’ve picked your spring vegetables and have space to fill, there are still vegetables you can plant now – beans, chard, and cucumbers, for instance.  Melon, squash, and pumpkin seeds can still be planted - late June is about the end of the planting period for those, since they generally take around 100 days to produce ripe fruit. It’s still not too late to put tomato, pepper, and eggplant plants in the ground, if you can still find plants. Herbs and flowers, of course, can be planted just about any time.

TOOLS AND CARTS IN PLOTS – A reminder: both of our gardens have hundreds of gardeners. We have a lot of tools and carts, but we don’t have one of each for every gardener. So don’t keep tools and carts in your plot. You have to   s  h  a  r  e  them (you learned this in childhood, right?). Please be considerate.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR GREENHOUSE PROJECT – We are going to rent space at the Walnut Street Greenhouses in order to start seeds for fall vegetable plants. The plants will need daily watering – we are looking for one or two volunteers to help with this. We would especially like to find someone who already has their own project going in the greenhouse, or has had one recently, so that they are already familiar with the facility, and have had the required orientation. Please contact me if you’re interested. Volunteers will get workday credit.

CANADA THISTLES – Another reminder – the thistles are starting to bloom in the gardens now. Check your plot – if you have any, get them pulled up, cut at the roots with a hoe, or at least cut down before they form seeds. You don’t want these spreading in your plot, and you definitely don’t want them spreading to your neighbors’ plots. Don’t wait – deal with them now.

COWBIRDS – If you’ve been digging in your garden lately, and noticed a small brown bird hopping around quite close to you, you may have been visited by a brown-headed cowbird. We have lots of them in the gardens, and they are not at all shy. They’ll come investigate when digging is going on, in hopes of finding seeds and insects to eat. Their song has a very unusual liquid sound. They have an unpleasant approach to child-rearing: they lay their eggs in other birds’ nests, and make the other birds raise them. Here’s more information on cowbirds:  https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Brown-headed_Cowbird/overview

GARDEN PLOTS AVAILABLE – Our waiting list for plots is practically gone now, and plots are continuing to open up – if you have a friend who would like a plot, please encourage them to fill out an application. After July 1, plots will be half-price. If you have a half-plot, and would consider adding another half-plot, contact me. Bear in mind that the plots opening up now are generally pretty weedy.

WORKDAY SATURDAY MORNING AT EAGLE HEIGHTS – We will have a workday this Saturday morning, June 30, from 8am – 11am, at Eagle Heights. Meet at the shed. Tasks will include removing thistles from the 700 path and comfrey from the 800-900 path. This will require only a small group of volunteers, so if you try to sign up on Doodle, and you can’t, then the workday is already full. Here’s the link: https://doodle.com/poll/pch8hnakbdnq3wzq Be sure to bring a hat, gloves, and a water bottle. Long sleeves would be good, if you can stand them.

Happy Gardening,  

Kathryn