More Bounty From Fellow Gardeners

I just wanted to let everyone know that Kathy over at the Liberty Springside Community Garden is donating a flat of leeks to us this year. So great - especially since we got a late start with our alliums. I'll bring them to our workday on 5/2 so we can get them in the ground ASAP.

Also wanted to pass along that Liberty Community Services is still looking for someone to coordinate that garden now that Tom has left ... If you know of anyone who may be interested in the position, let me know and I'll send you the contact info.

More Seeds Donated

I just picked up the seeds that we requested from the New Haven Land Trust. For your records, they are:

• Carrot - Scarlet Nantes
• Cucumber - Marketmore 76
• Melon - Delicious 51
• Watermelon - Sugar Baby
• Winter squash - Waltham Butternut and Burgess Buttercup

Digging In

Thanks to everyone who came out yesterday to help out with April chores. Here are some of the day's major accomplishments:

• The front flower garden near the gate is now cleared (and it looks great from the street!)
  
• Four types of potatoes have been started in the barrels: Sangre, Purple Majesty, Yukon Gold, and Desiree
• The bamboo trellis along the fence is strung and ready for climbing veggies
  
• One of the raised beds is planted up with greens
• We've made a plan for our compost delivery in early May and have begun considering placement for new garden beds

Our next meet up will be our first "Working Monday" on May 2nd. Looking forward to seeing everyone there...

Prepping for Sunday 4/17

Just a quick note to help everyone prepare for our Sunday workday.

Some of the April chores we can tackle this weekend (if time and weather permit) are:

• Get organized for May workdays - I'll bring some items to get the inside of the tool shed set up. Let's also rough out some ideas for what needs to get done next month and firm up dates/times to do them.
• Stake out beds/paths in main garden - We're hoping for compost and wood chip deliveries next month, so we'll need to mark the areas where we plan to use those resources.
  
• String twine for pea shoots to climb - The bamboo is in place, we just need to string up some twine between them.
  
• Start potatoes in barrels - Ashley ordered potatoes from NOFA, and we'll be using some of those 55 gallon drums that we got from Kerry Karlson last year to help us grow a lot of potatoes in a small space. (For anyone who is unfamiliar with this growing method, click here to read an article about it from Mother Earth News).
  
• Direct sow first plantings of carrots and beets in beds - we should be able to seed any cool weather crops now. If you have any favorites you want to add to the garden, bring them with you.
  
• Transplant lettuce, onions, bok choi, and chard to beds - If they have some of their true leaves, the greens and onions we planted last month will be ready to go into the ground now.
  

Supplies we'll need on Sunday:

• Compost and prepped potatoes (Ashley to bring)
  
• Twine (Kanani to bring)
• Hardened off transplants (Emily to bring)
  
• Remay to cover transplants (Kanani to bring)
• Cool weather seeds to direct sow (Emily and Kanani to bring some)
• Combination lock, contact list, notebook, etc. for the shed (Kanani to bring)

And a quick list of other things you might want to bring with you:

• Water
• Raincoat, just in case
  
• Gloves and your favorite hand tools for planting/transplanting
• Scissors or a knife
  
• A trash bag to carry out any waste
• Extra tools/supplies you have laying around that might help us get things done -- twine, stakes, tape measure, short stakes/mallets

Are there other projects you want to attack on Sunday? Things you want to discuss? Let us know.