From the Registrar: IMPORTANT! WEED PILE DISASTER:

Hello Gardeners,

WEED PILE DISASTER This morning, the Village of Shorewood picked up a load from our weed pile intending to take it to the organic County Q landfill, where they can leave weeds for free. But they were not able to deliver it because they found it full of dirt, boards, tomato cages, and other debris that is not weeds. Therefore, they will take this load to a regular landfill, and we will have to pay to have it dumped. 

A reminder: the weed pile is for weeds only, and nothing else. Weeds can be recycled – and that’s what happens when people use the pile correctly. Throw trash in the dumpster, not the weed pile. Also, please remove as much dirt as you can from the weeds before taking them to the weed pile. This is serious: if we continue to get the wrong stuff in the pile, we will have to discontinue providing this service to the gardeners.

TOO MANY VEGETABLES? As hard as we work, sometimes our plants die or don’t produce very much. On the other hand, when our vegetables are thriving, we can have another kind of problem – too much of a good thing. Our joy at picking the first tender barely-formed crops turns to horror at finding yet another giant squash hiding under the leaves. Eventually, we may get tired of trying to keep up.

But please don’t stop. You can donate vegetables to people who will appreciate them, and you can also preserve them for later. 

In past years, volunteers have collected excess produce from both gardens, and taken it to a food pantry. Due to problems with theft and wilted vegetables, we will not have organized food collections this year, except for a garden-wide food drive we are planning for September. But we encourage gardeners to make donations on their own, as many of our gardeners already do, thus ensuring that produce goes directly from the gardens to the pantry in the shortest time. 

The St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry, 2033 Fish Hatchery Road in Madison, serves households from all across Dane County, and welcomes food contributions, including good quality fresh garden produce, from 9 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 9 a.m. until noon on Saturday. http://www.svdpmadison.org/need-assistance/food-pantry/

You can also preserve vegetables so they last longer. There are many ways to do this. I like the speed and convenience of making refrigerator pickles. Here’s a quick and easy recipe for refrigerator dilly beans: http://mnfoodassociation.org/recipe/refrigerator-dilly-beans

THISTLES AGAIN I am noticing that even some generally well- tended plots have some Canada thistles blooming in them, especially in corners. This is one of the most noxious weeds we have. These thistles are not good for anything except for spreading into other people’s gardens – dig them out now. 

WORKDAYS – No workdays this week. It’s going to be way too hot.

Happy gardening, everyone, but please be careful with the weed pile!

Kathryn