Carl Schulz Gardening Techniques, Tips & Techniques

Spring peas and greens

With a fresh coating of snow on the ground, and St. Patrick’s Day around the corner, I am starting to think about planting my spring garden.

I plant my peas, greens, and radish from seed They come up relatively quickly and seem to like the cooler growing season at this time of year.

I begin with snow peas which I start around St. Patrick’s Day, March 17. Last year I think I started the following week. Many people prefer sugar snap peas, which work just as well. Starting now you should have peas in June. I don’t worry about snow at this time of year as my plants have survived late snow falls. And if all else fails you can replant.

I also don’t worry about watering until the plants are well up. We get plenty of rain at this time of year!

For me, the most important thing is to make sure the soil is well composted. I use the community garden compost and my own backyard and kitchen compost, I also use a little wood ash or lime to sweeten the soil and a little bone meal. I prefer to add the compost in the fall but will turn it in anytime before planting.

I begin my greens, again from seed, around Patriots’ Day which is April 18 this year. In addition to compost I work a little blood meal into the soil before planting. I think there is a lot of flexibility in terms of start times depending on when you want to harvest. I plant salad greens, mixes of asian greens, arugula and leafing lettuce. I hope to have several cuttings of the salad greens before early June when I pull them and use the space for summer plants, tomatoes, peppers, beans etc. If you start early enough, you can also do successive plantings every couple of weeks.
I also plant spinach around the same time and cut some of it early for salad greens and let some grow out for fuller plants. Often, I will do a second seeding for later, fuller plants.
I start radishes early in April and try to do a couple of successive seedings since they come up so quickly.

Finally, I start bibb heading lettuce from seed in early to mid May in order to have some greens after I’ve pulled the earlier plants. I order my seeds from Johnny’s Selected Seeds in Maine but any brand will work. My greens mixes are called Ovation, and the lettuce mix is Allstar Gourmet.
Hope this helps. For me it’s trial and error, and talking to people (my sister and Jim) who know a lot more than me.


Andy Costello

Lisa Guyot Basic Information, Tips & Techniques

Update on Composting

Good Day Fellow Gardeners! 


I hope this post finds you all well. I wanted to send a note to update everyone about the new compost system. First and foremost, I am pleased to announce that we should have some of our own compost ready for the fall. I will update you as the season progresses. 

Please be aware that as you enter the composting area you will notice there are several bins that are zip-tied shut. These bins are closed as they are in the final stages of decomposing. Soon the bins will be labeled to eliminate confusion. Once they are labeled there will be a bin labeled green (i.e. fresh plant material) and another will be labeled brown (i.e. any dry plant material). We ask that you put your green material in the green bin and your brown material in the brown material. As materials become available members of the composting committee will layer it using a ratio of 3 parts brown to 1 part green in one of the bins. Right now the composting committee consists of Roger and I. We will be turning the bins once again in late July or early August if anyone would like to assist, please let me know (email: lguyot@uppercapetech.org).


If you would like to contribute materials from your garden or from your home, below are some materials that would be beneficial to our composting efforts. 
– grass clippings from lawns that are grown organically and are free of weed seeds- fruits and vegetables, free of oils- coffee grinds, filters are ok- weeds that have not gone to seed- hay and/or straw- egg shells- brown leaves


Please no animal products or oils.

***When adding materials from your yard or from your garden plot to our compost bins, please be very cautious to not add materials that may contain noxious weeds, like bittersweet or mugwort.***
I will keep you updated when the compost is ready. Thanks for helping our community garden to be such a huge success.


For more information and composting “how-tos”, please read this blogpost on our website! https://warehamcommunitygarden.org/reminder-about-guidelines-for-composting/
Warmest Regards,
Lisa GuyotWCG Steering Committee member

The Secret Gardener Tips & Techniques

It’s April and the gardening season begins in earnest! Time to prepare the beds if you haven’t already done so

The seeds you started in Feb/March can be transplanted into the garden this month.

Onions and their relatives can be either transplanted and / or direct sown early on as can lettuce and other hardy greens. Peas, beets, spinach, carrots, turnips and radishes can be direct sown throughout the month. Potatoes can go in mid month. The first week of the month is not too late to start tomatoes, peppers and eggplants planted out in late May. Late April is the time to start cucumbers and squash and melons to be transplanted into the garden a month later. Cabbages, broccoli,kale, etc…can be started inside anytime and direct sown mid-month on.

If you have a cold frame it can be put to good use to move the plants you have started in the house to the frame opening up space to start more tender vegetables and to harden off more cold tolerant vegetables before they are transplanted into the ground.

Hannah Gardening Techniques, Tips & Techniques

Vegetable and Fruit Gardeners Message: FRUITS event next Tuesday 7pm

Hi Everyone,
I want to share with you a wonderful (FREE) opportunity to learn more about vegetable and fruit gardening. Jen Boudrie, who is with the Mass Department of Agricutlural Resources (MDAR), has organized a monthly webinar series where she brings in experts to give a talk on some gardening related topic. Upcoming is a talk on growing fruits, last month the topic was seed starting. 

In addition to the monthly expert series, Jen hosts a weekly Tuesday evening meetup for anyone interested in talking about gardening. 


Both of these are free and open to the public and so I want to share this opportunity with you. If you are interested in attending the lecture on Fruits OR if you are interested in joining in Jen’s weekly Vegetable Gardening discussion group, please email her at the address below.

Happy Gardening!
Hannah

——————–

Hope you can join FRUITS! I’ll email the zoom link on March 9 beforehand.The Zoom “waiting room” will open at 6:45pm. Jen B


Perennial fruits can offer home harvests year after year.  Learn about fruits for your home garden!

FRUITS:  Planting, Pruning, Management

More and more gardeners are growing fruit for home harvest:  strawberries in June, blueberries in July, blackberries in August, and raspberries in the fall.  Blueberries are among the most popular fruits to grow in the home garden; they are well suited to New England soil.  Grapesare one of the most universally enjoyed fruits; many new varieties have excellent taste and are winter hardy.  These fruits and others will be discussed.  Specific topics can include planting recommendations, pruning, soil requirements, key pests and their management, selecting varieties, and resources.  Please send your fruit interests or questions in advance to jenboudrie@gmail.com.


Sonia Schloemann is a Fruit Specialist with UMass Extension who has been working with commercial fruit growers and teaching master gardeners for over 30 years and recently retired.  She has a master’s degree from UMass in Plant and Soil Sciences.  The focus of her work has been on sustainable fruit production practices and integrated Pest Management (IPM).

Tuesday, 7-8pm ESTMarch 9, 2021

FREE.  Registration not required. Email jenboudrie@gmail.com to get the Zoom link.Host:  The Veg/Fruit GroupCE credit 1 hour for Mass Master Gardeners (pending approval)