From the Gardens Registrar: The Usual Coronavirus Reminder; Warm Weather Plant Delivery – Volunteers Needed; Gardens Are Full; Seeds Are Being Liberated; What To Plant Now

Hello Gardeners,

CORONAVIRUS  – Please continue social distancing and washing your hands with soap and water. Bring your own tools if possible; otherwise, wash tool and cart handles before and after you use them, and/or use garden gloves. And don’t come to the gardens if you’re feeling sick. I know, yadda yadda yadda, but this pandemic is still far from over, and we want everybody in our gardens to be safe.

WARM WEATHER PLANT DELIVERY – If you have ordered warm-weather plants (such as tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, etc.) from Garden to Be, your plants will be delivered on Sunday, May 17.  Pick-up, near the Eagle Heights shed, will be from 9am – 11am. (Your receipt from Scott may contain different times or dates, but please ignore that – there is some wrong information going out from his computer system, and he can’t change it. The correct times are 9am – 11am.)  Please come pick up your plants, or get a friend to do it for you - there will be a great many plants and we will not be able to hold any past 11:00. Any plants not picked up by that time will be delivered to garden plots. And if you haven’t ordered yet, I believe Scott has taken down the link – he told me he was running out of plants to sell.

WARM WEATHER PLANT DELIVERY VOLUNTEERS NEEDED – We are going to need 3 more volunteers to help with the plant delivery and distribution. Volunteers must report by 8am to help unload the truck, organize the plants, and assist gardeners to pick them up. We will keep up our social distancing, but I recommend that volunteers wear masks. You will also need to be able to stay until 11am. This constitutes a work day. Please let me know if you’re interested.

GARDENS ARE FULL – Both Eagle Heights and University Houses Gardens are full now. We have started a waiting list for plots. Since every plot now has a gardener, do not assume that any plot that looks neglected to you is empty or abandoned. As always, nobody should go into anybody else’s plot without permission, or take anything from anybody else’s plot.

Also, if you have realized that you will not be able to take care of your garden this year and want to give it up, please let me know as soon as possible. I may still be able to get you a refund, and also, there will probably be somebody who would be delighted to take over your garden.

SEEDS ARE COMING! – We now have permission to bring our garden seeds out of the Community Center to donate to gardeners. The seeds will start to appear at the share shelves at both gardens this Friday, and will continue to be brought until they are used up, or gardeners seem to lose interest. We have a lot of seeds! Flowers, lettuce, radishes, beans, peas, cucumbers, summer and winter squash, pumpkins, and melons. We do not have any more spinach, chard, kale, herbs, or greens. And it is now too late to start tomatoes, peppers, or eggplants from seed, so we won’t give those out.

WHAT TO PLANT NOW – Although we have had some warm, summer-like weather, it is too early to plant out tomatoes, or any plants that can be damaged by frost. It is also too early to plant beans – they are not likely to germinate if the soil is cooler than 60 degrees. However, you can still plant cool-weather vegetables, such as lettuce, radishes, beets, turnips, peas, cabbage family members, etc. We can expect frost at night a few times in the next couple of weeks, but it will probably be safe to plant tomato plants by May 15. Keep an eye on the weather forecasts, and be prepared to cover your tomatoes if the temperatures might dip. After May 15, it should be safe to plant beans, cucumbers, and squash, though these will grow faster and better when the temperatures get higher.

Happy Gardening, and Stay Safe,  

Kathryn