More Photos From Our November Work Day

A few more photos of our work day, pinched from the Public Allies Connecticut Make A Difference Day album on Facebook.

November Work Day

A special thank you to the Americorp Public Allies who came out to our garden as part of their service day. We were one of several lucky New Haven groups to have their participation this year, along with City Seed, Common Ground, and the Ronald McDonald House. (Learn more about the Public Allies program here.)

With all of the extra hands on site, we got a lot of work done, including some additional site cleanup, tree pruning and removal, construction of wire containers for leaf mold and composting, and garlic and bulb planting.

Two of our handiest-members-with-tools also took on the task of building raised beds out of reclaimed lumber from a barn in Northford (which we purchased from Urbanminers - thanks for the free delivery Joe!) and a small tool shed so we can keep some of our stuff on site next year.

Extra thanks to members Josh and Larry for going back to the garden on Sunday to finish the building projects.

Wood Chips Are Here

I heard that a huge pile of wood chips was unexpectedly dropped off by the New Haven Parks Department yesterday. Thanks to Kate and Ashley for getting them out of the parking lot on such short notice so we stay on good terms with our neighbors.

Raised Beds Needed For Roots and Shoots

Our soil test showed that there is a marginal level of lead on our garden site - its not high enough to get freaked out about, but we still want to play it safe. Since lead accumulates in leaf and root tissues but not in the fruiting bodies of plants, we've decided to grow all of our leafy greens and root veggies in raised beds with imported compost from off site.

This means the area that we sheet mulched will be reserved for tomatoes, peas, beans, squash, and other fruiting plants. Maybe some berries?

Our sheet mulched area is in the sunniest part of the garden, so our roots and shoots will just have to make due with some part sun and dappled shade closer to the apple tree.

Kate, Ashley, and I met at the garden recently to take some measurements and brainstorm some ideas. Depending on how much materials and compost we can fit into our budget, we'll hopefully be able to set aside about 150 square feet of raised beds.

For more on lead in garden soils, go to this link.

Getting To Know You

It was so nice to meet some new folks at the potluck over the weekend. We had a lot of great suggestions from Janis based on her experiences with other community gardens - namely to keep the project manageable with a small group of committed members and an efficient design of the garden space. And I really liked Barbara's suggestion to donate part of the harvest to a food pantry and to support our neighbors (like Common Ground) in our seed purchases, etc.

For those of you who couldn't make it, but still want to get involved in the planning for next year - please email me, I'd love to hear from you.

Kate, Ashley, and I will be meeting soon to put together a membership application for 2011. Look for it in your inboxes in the coming weeks.

Fall Is A Great Time To Sheet Mulch New Gardens

Thanks to all of the Master Gardener volunteers who came out to help us sheet mulch over the weekend.



Sheet mulching is an alternative to digging new garden beds. Essentially, it is composting in place, and it's a technique often used in permaculture design because it minimizes soil disturbance. We started by clearing the brush from the site. Then, we put down a few inches of free horse manure from a farm in Bethany. Next, we put down a weed barrier of soaked cardboard (no color or gloss) that we got from D'Aniello's Amity Bicycles.

The whole thing will be covered with a layer of wood chips from the New Haven Parks Department (hopefully, weed free), and left to smother the ground and decompose over winter.

For more info on sheet mulching, visit this site.

(Awesome photos of all our hard workers thanks to Kate)