Hannah News & Activity

2020 Wareham Community Garden Spring Update

Hi Everyone,

It is so good to see so many of you have already gotten started in your plots this spring! For those of you that have not, don’t worry – it is still early yet and you have plenty of time!

We have several new gardeners joining us this year and many many returning familiar faces, welcome to you all!

I want to cover a few items briefly, and appreciate your attention to reading this whole POST!
COVID-19:

I have sent two emails regarding a very important set of guidelines and rules for keeping the garden open this year. PLEASE, if you have not done so already, read them AND respond to tell me that you have read them.

Most importantly:

  1. Do not come to the garden if you have any symptoms of COVID-19
  2. COMMUNITY TOOLS: There will be NO sharing of tools in the garden this year. We have removed the common tools and ask that you all bring your own tools. It is also critical that you take your tools home with you at the end of each day. I do not want this to be a barrier for anyone, therefore, *if you do not have your own tools, please let us know and we will work something out for you. 
  3. NO personal tools left in plots, please!: there are a number of plots that have tools left in them. Please take your tools home with you. We can not have people sharing tools right now.
  4. Social Distancing: please maintain a minimum of 6′ from others at all times. 
  5. “At Risk” Gardeners: We have several gardeners who have indicated that they are a high risk of complications if they were to contract COVID-19. We will be determining a way to schedule times for them to garden and feel safe. Please keep your eye on your email and respond to messages regarding this topic. 

Plot fee payment: The fee is still just $35 per plot. If you have two plots, that’s $70. If you have three, that’s $105, etc. Please make check payable to: Wareham Community Garden and send to: PO Box 185, Wareham MA 02571.

Garden Waiver:  If you have not done so in the past, please sign the attached waiver and return it to us at the same address above. ALL gardeners must sign this waiver. It is required by A.D. Makepeace, the generous patrons that own the property on which we garden. I am attaching the waiver. If you are new or if you know you have not yet signed this in the past, PLEASE sign is and return back to us. We are keeping track and so does Makepeace.
Your plot location (2020 PLOT MAP): I am attaching the most current map of the garden. For new gardeners, if you need help using this map to find your plot for the first time, please let me know and I will walk you through it. Some of you returning gardeners have also asked to be moved to different plots, your new assignments are also on this map. If you see your name in a location that we haven’t discussed, please let me know ASAP! 🙂 

Gardening Resources:

  1. mulching hay: We will provide mulch hay again this year and are purchasing one bale per plot. If you have two plots, you get two bales of hay, etc. Please use this mulch to help control weeds and conserve water. 
  2. composted cow manure: We are thrilled to be able to provide composted cow manure again this year. We have one pile in the garden already, and one being delivered later this week. Please feel free to use as much as you need for your plots. 
  3. WEBSITE!!! We have a new and updated website this year and a new Steering Committee member, Carl Schulz, who is our webmaster! We are very excited and will be keeping it updated with all sorts of current and helpful information. Including: helpful “how to” information.
  4. Discussion Forum: We have added an online discussion forum so everyone that wants to can keep in touch with other gardeners, share information, ask questions, etc. You should have all received an invitation to join that forum this evening. You may also join the forum by visiting our website here. 
  5. Composting bins: We have composting bins. Easy Peasey HOW TO instructions are posted on our website. The basics are: 1.) NO weeds that have gone to seed, 2.) NO plant material that is diseased, 3.) break large stems up into small pieces, 4.) when you add material, toss a few handfuls of the hay or leaves that are piled beside the compost bins on top of what you added
  6. General Garden Guidelines: I am also attaching our standard set of guidelines for gardening. Please remember we do not allow pets in the garden. Your fellow gardeners may be allergic to, or afraid of pets (no matter how nice your pet is) and they are paying to use this space just like you are. Also, even if you pick up #2, dog urine is even more damaging to plants and can’t be ‘picked up’. So please, leave your dogs at home. 

If you have any questions about the garden, please don’t hesitate to ask us! If you need help, if you can’t get to your plot for a while and need some coverage… let us know! 

Thanks for reading, enjoy the garden and welcome to spring!
kind regards,

Hannah

Carl Schulz Gardening Techniques

Gardening show on the radio

For several years I’ve enjoyed listening to an excellent gardening show
on the radio.  It is a nationally syndicated show produced at the Rodale
Institute Radio Studio in Bethlehem, PA. The host is Mike McGrath who is
the former Editor-in-Chief of Organic Gardening magazine.  The show is
touted as a “weekly dose of chemical-free horticultural hijinks” and is
full of valuable information on all topics related to growing
things—lawns, ornamental bushes and trees, vegetables, etc.  The show
is titled “You Bet Your Garden,” and current as well as past episodes
can be viewed online at wlvt.org.

I just watched Episode 79 where the central question had to do with the
difference between tomato blight and wilt and how to prevent them.  The
live show is a call-in where people can ask their own questions, ending
with a focus on the question or topic of the week.  McGrath is
knowledgeable, entertaining, and informative.  I have learned a ton from
tuning in.

Anne

Carl Schulz Tips & Techniques

Mulch for your garden

The WCC will again be providing each gardener with one bale of mulch hay.  We should have a delivery within a few weeks if all goes as planned.  For those of you who are new to gardening or to the benefits of mulching, I’d like to relate my own introduction to the subject.  In the late 1960s, I picked up a book titled How to Have a Green Thumb without an Aching Back (1955) authored by Ruth Stout.  Another– Gardening Without Work:  For the Aging, the Busy, and the Indolent (1961),– solidified her reputation as “the mother of mulch”  and was among the dozen books she authored promoting the method.  Stout was born in 1884 and died at age 96 having spent many years practicing what she preached — a no-till method of gardening that today is recommended by many experts.  Stout’s writing is enormously entertaining, informative and practical.  She promoted a technique of deep mulching that is labor-saving, soil-improving, water-conserving and permanent, using any vegetable matter that rots!  But she was quite insistent that the very best mulching material anyone could use was spoiled hay.  (Lucky Us!)  She had her critics, of course.  As stated in an article about Stout’s methods in homestead.org, “Basic and boiled down to its essence, the Stout method is no till, no dig, no water, no weed, & no composting–but not no work!”

Stout’s mulching method lends itself especially well to small garden plots such as we have in the WCC, eliminating the need for roto-tilling.  I noticed that several of Stout’s books have been reprinted and are available for purchase.   And of course, there are many more recently published books on the subject.  But I have a soft spot in my heart for this eccentric, opinionated lady who even in her 90s could be seen tossing sections of hay bales about her garden.

Submitted by:  Anne Kirschmann

Update: Another link to Ruth Stout’s mulching technique: https://www.goveganic.net/article182.html 

Carl Schulz Gardening Techniques, News and Updates

Mulch for your garden

The WCC will again be providing each gardener with one bale of mulch hay.  We should have a delivery within a few weeks if all goes as planned.  For those of you who are new to gardening or to the benefits of mulching, I’d like to relate my own introduction to the subject.  In the late 1960s, I picked up a book titled How to Have a Green Thumb without an Aching Back (1955) authored by Ruth Stout.  Another– Gardening Without Work:  For the Aging, the Busy, and the Indolent (1961),– solidified her reputation as “the mother of mulch”  and was among the dozen books she authored promoting the method.  Stout was born in 1884 and died at age 96 having spent many years practicing what she preached — a no-till method of gardening that today is recommended by many experts.  Stout’s writing is enormously entertaining, informative and practical.  She promoted a technique of deep mulching that is labor-saving, soil-improving, water-conserving and permanent, using any vegetable matter that rots!  But she was quite insistent that the very best mulching material anyone could use was spoiled hay.  (Lucky Us!)  She had her critics, of course.  As stated in an article about Stout’s methods in homestead.org, “Basic and boiled down to its essence, the Stout method is no till, no dig, no water, no weed, & no composting–but not no work!”

 Stout’s mulching method lends itself especially well to small garden plots such as we have in the WCC, eliminating the need for roto-tilling.  I noticed that several of Stout’s books have been reprinted and are available for purchase.   And of course, there are many more recently published books on the subject.  But I have a soft spot in my heart for this eccentric, opinionated lady who even in her 90s could be seen tossing sections of hay bales about her garden.

Submitted by:  Anne Kirschmann

2020-04-15 CAS3 Update: Another link to Ruth Stout’s mulching technique: https://www.goveganic.net/article182.html 

Carl Schulz News and Updates

New York Times article about community gardening features the COVID-19 guidelines that Hannah wrote

The New York Times interviewed Hannah about the guidelines she wrote for the community garden and the article they wrote was published – you can read it here.

Hannah noted “It’s incredible – I made the guidelines a public document for anyone to access through Google Drive – I’ve had people from all over the country contact me telling me they’ve used them to justify keeping their gardens open to their towns and municipalities… now, there is a group of us looking at how to help turn unused school gardens this year into community gardens – it’s crazy how things like this begin to spiral.

We can’t thank Makepeace enough for providing this space to us and for the space’s long history of growing food for its surrounding community. That’s a big deal, heavy and wonderful at the same time!”