From the Gardens Registrar: Winterization; Lasagna Gardening; Gardening is Good for Us!; More on Sweet Potato Harvests; Workday This Saturday at EH

Hello Gardeners,

WINTERIZATION – The water is now turned off for the season in both gardens. The hoses and hose reels at University Houses Gardens have been collected and put into storage. The last day for the portable toilets at both locations will be November 6, so if you have to go, you better go before then. We will probably continue to hold workdays into November, depending on the weather. We haven’t set a closing date yet this year, but last year, we closed the gardens the beginning of December. Closing Day is the day when we put most of the tools and carts into the sheds for the winter, but we always leave a few outside, for those who are still working in their gardens.

LASAGNA GARDENING – If you’d like to try something new in your garden plot next year, you might consider a lasagna garden. Lasagna gardens aren’t gardens with tomatoes, basil, and cheese (though that sounds really good) – they are gardens that are layered. (It’s also called “Sheet Composting”) Fall is probably the best time to start this type of garden. You can start by clearing and hauling away weeds – or else you can just knock the weeds down and leave them in the plot – they’ll get covered up and will add nutrients to the soil as they decay. You then cover each bed with cardboard, and then layers of other materials – leaf mulch, newspapers, compost, straw, woodchips, coffee grounds, whatever you have.  Then leave it for the winter. In the spring, the layers will still be there, but your plants will quickly feed on the nutrients and decompose the layers, while the cardboard will keep out a lot of the weeds. You can plant right into the layers – you don’t have to dig up a lasagna garden. It’s less work for the gardener, and also it’s better for the microbes that improve our soil – they can be damaged by digging. My lasagna garden is now in its fourth year – it’s been reasonably productive, and very easy to take care of. As usual, I’m going to add more newspaper and leaves to it this fall. Here are some instructions: https://www.thespruce.com/how-to-make-a-lasagna-garden-2539877

WHY GARDENING MAKES US HAPPY – Speaking of microbes, this article explains one of the reasons that digging in the dirt makes people happy: https://modernfarmer.com/2014/08/dirt-make-us-happy-getting-hands-ground-better-prozac/

SWEET POTATO HARVESTS – I heard from a few more gardeners who planted sweet potatoes, in the ground (not in containers), and who got bumper crops. It’s good to know these were successful for some of our gardeners.

WORKDAY THIS SATURDAY – We’ll have a workday this Saturday morning, October 26, from 9am – Noon, at Eagle Heights. The task will be finishing the reorganization of the bricks and other construction materials we’ve been acquiring. Gloves are strongly recommended. Here’s the link to sign up: https://doodle.com/poll/miryfqdzxhkkavrm The current weather forecast looks good, but if it rains, the workday will be cancelled.

Happy gardening,

Kathryn