Lots of updates

You'll be receiving this information in the mail but I felt the need to utilize these other outlets as well to reach everyone as efficiently and effectively as I can.

Dear Gardeners,
Just a few reminders as we head through July and into August.

• The community garden pays for the water we use, please make sure you mulch and turn the water off at the source: spigot or hydrant depending on your location.
• Please be considerate about the hoses, do not drag the house into other people’s plots, and you may consider installing short sturdy corner posts to prevent a hose coming into your garden.
• The hoses have been generously donated and repaired by your fellow gardeners, if you can repair them when they have leaks or replace them that would be a very generous gift to your community!
• Please remember this is an organic garden in that there should be no synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides.
• Please donate you Plant a Row for the Hungry or any additional produce to the food shelf:
The Goodhue County Food Shelf in First Lutheran Church at 615 West 5th St. in Red Wing. The Food Shelf entrance is on the West Avenue side and there is a canopy above the stairway that has “FOOD SHELF” written on it. The Food Shelf is open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4 to 6 p.m. and Fridays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• The next gardening class is on Canning, held in conjunction with the Farmer’s Market, on Fourth Street on August 8th at 9:00 am.
• There is a meeting for anyone interested in working on water improvements at the Spring Creek Garden, we are particularly in need of someone with some pex plumbing experience, if you or someone you know is a plumber please encourage them to join us, even if they are not a gardener, I’m sure we could get some fresh produce for them in exchange for their community service. Wednesday, July 22, at 7pm at Caribou Coffee.
• I have heard a few sparse reports of some vandalism or mischief, my best suggestion is to just be present, talk to your other gardeners, find out when few people are gardening, if you can make it during that time great. Also, greet on lookers, and let anyone you see know how to get involved next year, give out our email or website; exclusion is often a big reason for vandalism, even among teens.
• We will have a harvest gathering in Sept./Oct. and more information will come out soon about cover crops for the winter, I’m working on getting a pea and oat blend that will be available at the Harvest gathering for a nominal additional charge just to cover the seed, this particular blend has many benefits, more to come on winterizing later.
• Finally, it has been a particularly dry summer and a lot of water has been used or leaked and we are trying to create a permanent solution for the water at Spring Creek, so whether you are at Spring Creek or Bluff Garden I am asking you to consider donating some additional funds, I am hoping that the $20 or $30 plot rental was affordable and you would kindly make a donation this year, I would like to recommend $5 per single/$10 per double, this is purely a request for donation you may choose not to do this at this time for whatever reason(s).
I had hoped to keep this short, I hope you were able to bear with me, and please do not hesitate to contact me with questions or concerns, that’s how I stay informed about what your needs are.
Happy Harvesting!
Becky Alsop: Garden Coordinator
515 Stanley Street, Red Wing, MN 55066,
651-380-5173, rwcommgarden@gmail.com rwcommgardens.org

Extending the Season

Mark your calender now. July 8th at the Red Wing Library from 6:30 to
7:30 P.M., learn how to enjoy more produce from you garden over an
extended growing season. Hank Brummer will show you some simple and
inexpensive ways to extend the growing season.

Water Available, etc.

First off, there is now water at both gardens, please remember to turn off the water and relieve the pressure before leaving the garden or specifically ask the other person to get it if you were both using it or double check it! If the hose ruptures and we get a leak or water spill there is a good chance we will lose our water privileges, as 1) we can't afford a big bill and 2) the city will be mad and we'll hear about it, and 3) it's just plain bad to waste water like that. : )

At the Spring Creek garden, there is a lock on the water spigot, it's a typical combination lock, the comb is 11-33-27. The combination is written on the outside of the corner post nearest the hydrant. It is also written on the left post (from inside the garden) of the gate on the west side of the garden. Please only turn the spigot 1/2 turn as more than that will weaken the hose eventually causing a rupture--see above.

More wood chips should be arriving at Spring Creek soon please work on mulching paths when you can.

Bluff gardeners, those who have mulched their paths it looks great, those who haven't please mulch the paths as soon as you can, we should get rid of those piles asap.

Please, use up the compost, the piles should not be out there this long.

One more thing, Ann from Falconer Vinyards has FREE starts: tomato and pepper plants, as well as basil, both sweet and Thai. The majority of the tomatoes are beefsteak (almost 100 extras), there are a few cherry as well. Peppers are green and sweet yellow banana. Contact her if you're interested at 388-8849

Sorry if I sound snippy, I'm not at all, just trying to get you the info in as short of an email as I can, I know we all get inundated with emails and info regularly.

A huge thanks to many of you who are just stepping in there and improving the garden for all!

Let me draw your attention to the group discussion site another time, many are using it and I think that's a fantastic way for you to interact with each other! Those who haven't joined may want to consider it. http://groups.google.com/group/rwcommgarden?pli=1

Garden Plot update

At the Spring Creek garden plots 8, 9, and 10 are taken, plots 1, 4, and 7 are for single plot gardeners.

If you have or do not have garden preferences shoot me an email or leave me a voice mail, it will help me get through the list faster, and I will be sending out confirmation to everyone as soon as I get all the plots matched with their gardener.

I made no progress on the Bluff garden plots tonight, however, Sargent's Nursery did, and I hear it looks great, nice dark soil. They should be able to get the tilling done tomorrow, from what I hear. Yay!

I will tackle the lottery plot assignment list tomorrow again.

Plot Lottery

Garden Maps, open "plot lottery.xls" file file at the group discussion website.
I will be posting filled garden plots here as they come in.

Herb Class

Join Amy Olson, Goodhue County master gardener, for a presentation and slide show on growing, preserving and using herbs. She will discuss many common herbs and unusual herbs, as well as they're culinary, medicinal and cosmetic uses. May 13th RW Public Library Foot Room, 6:30 - 7:30

Garden News in Brief

Expansion approved at Spring Creek, tentative work date, May 2nd.

Awaiting final City Council approval for Bluff Garden

Work Dates to be announced SOON!

Compost class scheduled.

Join MG Paul Schaefer on Tuesday, April 14th, from 6:30 to 7:30 in the Library Community Room

Master gardener Paul Schaefer has offered to teach a class on composting at home. Composting is a great way to get rid of a lot of kitchen and some household waste rather than throwing them into the trash and it’s a nutritious food for all plants, indoor plants and out door flower or vegetable beds. Another great way to use the compost is to mix it with water and use it as a nutrient rich liquid plant food.

It's Garden Sign-up time

New contracts are on the site. Garden contracts are coming in fast so if you're interested get yours in soon.

A few brief answers to your most frequently asked questions:

Work days are not yet scheduled we'll need to wait until weather and work plays out a little more. There will be other opportunities if you cannot make them when they are announced.

If you send in a contract and the funds and receive confirmation that there is a plot available for you then you have a plot, there's no lottery. The lottery is for selecting your specific plot location. I would rather not use the lottery system, as last year everyone was just so accomadating and friendly the gardeners were just able to pick there plot after the work day. However, if it appears this open fairness won't work we will fall back on a lottery, or we may do a combination. People who have worked before or on that work day will choose their plots in a fair open way and others will be chosen based on that lottery system. Please remember I'm not a professional garden coordinator . . . is there a job like this? . . . I will try to do my best to be as fair and as accomodating to everyone as is reasonably possible.

Bluff Garden

As many of you know, we were approved by the City Council, THANK YOU! to add a second Community Garden location. Sargent's Nursery will be donating much of the initial soil prep. However, there will still be a lot to do, installing fence posts and fencing, etc. The work day will be scheduled as we get closer to the opening of the garden as it is so weather dependent. If you will not be able to make the work day when it is scheduled I just ask that you contact me, the garden coordinator and we'll discuss some other garden work that can be done throughout the season at another time. Having said that, the work days are great opportunities to meet other gardeners and the work needs to be done to open the garden to planting, so I strongly encourage everyone who can make it to be there. We will have a work day at the Spring Creek garden as well, we'll raise the fence, and hopefully install a better watering system (keep those fingers crossed, everyone). I will try to plan the work days on seperate days and I encourage you to come to the one at the garden you will be gardening at to meet your neighbors but either one would be fine, as I said, the work simply needs to be done.

Sorry for the long bit of news, but I think everyone has been wondering about this.

Garden Planning

I hope everyone has the planting bug and is thinking about their layouts and seeds. Here are some resources for you or some things to keep in mind.

The following is a short list of some resources for seed starts, you are not required to grow heirloom or heritage or organic seeds, however, these resources may provide some of this for those interested.

Hilsgen Family Farm is a local grower who sells heirloom and open pollinated varieties of tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and herbs $2.00/6-pack. To purchase contact Cindy at 715-448-2050.

Seed Savers in Decorah, Iowa may be an internet resource for heritage seeds http://www.seedsavers.org

If you have funds or materials to contribute please contact the garden coordinator (see contact info below).

For information on how to donate your extra garden produce to the "Plant a Row for the Hungry" program and the Red Wing Food Shelf, please see our PAR flier.

Welcome to Red Wing Community Garden

Our second event of the season is a gardening class taught by Master gardeners Amy Olson and Kathy Hinzmann. They will be discussing starting seeds indoors and companion planting with herbs.

We'll meet in the basement of the RW Public Library, enter on 3rd Street, from 6:30-7:30 on Tuesday, March 3rd.

There will also be garden contracts available and other garden information.