Kitchen Garden Update - April 9

This Saturday, Marcelo and I met at the garden and started placing new soil in the beds. Lenore joined us for a while and fixed the Kitchen Garden sign. Iris joined us a bit later and tidied up the tool corner. We were then joined by Mark, followed by Sam. We finished filling the beds and removing some of the bad soil we had placed in the center of the garden.


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What's next
Kickoff gathering next Saturday, April 16: we'd like all gardeners to attend (whether you have a family plot or would like to garden in the communal area). Please make an effort to attend as we will go over the garden rules, sign the garden release form, and plan our activities for the year. We'll have copies of the garden rules (just slight modification to last year's rules) and release form, but feel free to read them ahead of time. It looks like the weather should be nice, but if this changes, we can still meet inside South Church in fellowship hall.

If you have a family plot: Please remember to bring the $30 contribution (checks should be made out to Roots & Wings). As mentioned, we have filled the beds and you're welcome to start using your assigned plot as soon as you sign the release form; also feel free to add more soil if you'd like. We will procure plants and seeds for the communal areas of the garden and you're welcome to use any leftovers. Also some of us have started seed inside and we encourage sharing any leftover seedlings and seeds. Otherwise, feel free to bring any plants you'd like to grow this year, but please remember they should be organic. A good and reliable local source is Sprain Brook Nursery (448 Underhill Rd, Scarsdale, NY 10583; Phone: 914-723-2382).

If you don't have a plot and would like to have one, you can get on our waiting list for the next available one. But in the meantime, please join us on Saturdays to garden together. It's a fun and rewarding activity and we can really use your help in the communal plots whose harvest will be mostly going to the South Church food pantry. You would still need to sign the release form.

Please sign up for special projects: There's a number of activities and we would like to enlist one or two people to help with each. Please let us know if you're interested in any of these:

• Compost management: to help us make sure scraps are placed in the appropriate bin, mixed with browns, monitor compost temperature, help turning the pile, etc.
• Tool box organization. Our tool box is quite a mess and would benefit from some tidying up.
• Soil recuperation/remediation: Help Marcelo manage the "bad soil" pile to try to turn it into good quality soil we can use in future seasons (adding manure, cover crops, etc.).
• Irrigation subcommittee: We are considering installing some sort of irrigation system to reduce the work load (sprinkler, drip irrigation) and could use your help in planning, designing and scoping this out.

See you at the garden!