From the Gardens Registrar: The Garden Arbor; Companion Planting; Who’s Your Garden Buddy?; Workday Will Be Announced Separately

Hello Gardeners,

THE GARDEN ARBOR – The planting and maintenance of the Garden Arbor at Eagle Heights is all done by volunteers. It’s a great deal of work to keep it looking lovely. It’s beautiful now, and it has been beautiful since the first spring bulbs began to bloom. So, thank you very much to the Arbor volunteers. 

FLOWERS – Which leads me to thank everyone who grows flowers on their plots. Some people may feel it’s frivolous to take space away from vegetables. But flowers are not only pretty, they also attract bees and other pollinating insects. So everybody’s vegetables are more productive when there are flowers around.

COMPANION PLANTING – Which leads me to the subject of companion planting. This is an approach to garden planning in which plants that “like” each other are planted together. And plants that “don’t like” each other are planted away from each other. There’s a great deal of mythology involved, and not many scientific studies. But plants definitely influence each other in a number of ways. Herbs and flowers with strong scents, such as dill and marigolds, can deter some insect pests. Plants such as radishes can act as trap crops, by attracting insects such as flea beetles, which can help keep them away from your other vegetables. Tall plants can provide shade to smaller plants that don’t do well in full sun. This is a big subject, and there’s lots to know, plus a lot of theories that sound wonderful but may be nonsense. But it’s worth trying out different combinations of plants together and observing what happens. Here’s a link to a common-sense approach, which includes a chart to experiment with: http://www.vegetable-gardening-with-lorraine.com/companion-planting.html

WHO’S YOUR GARDEN BUDDY? – In the summer, human beings often take vacations. But plants, whether vegetables or weeds, work tirelessly every day to grow and reproduce. Some gardeners seem to expect, when they go out of town for a month, that their garden will go into some kind of hibernation. However, this does not happen. If you leave your garden for a long time, you will find tall weeds when you return, and possibly, nothing else. If it’s been hot and dry, your vegetables may be dead. You can avoid unpleasant surprises by making a deal with your friends who also have gardens, so that when one person is out of town, there is somebody else to check on that person’s garden, and do a little watering, weeding, and picking if necessary. This is particularly important once our vegetables are really producing, because produce that doesn’t get picked will just rot and attract animals. 

WORKDAY – Our garden workers are still trying to figure out what the weather is going to do this weekend, so the workday will be announced separately.

Happy gardening,

Kathryn