Hi folks,
The 2012 Community Garden is now officially open! The water is now on (although we need a good rainfall first), the plot signs are now up, and the tiller has arrived.
2012 participants will be getting an email in the morning with the map.
There are a few spots available, so if you know anyone at Lafayette that would like a spot, spread the word!
Here’s a summary of which crops to plant early, and which ones not to plant until after your last spring frost date:
Very early spring (as soon as the ground can be worked)
Onions
peas
spinach
Early spring
lettuce
beets
carrots
radishes
dill
cilantro
cabbage
broccoli
celery
kale
potatoes
After last frost date
beans
corn
melons
cucumbers
squash
tomatoes
peppers
pumpkins
eggplant
basil
Read more: http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/How-to-Find-Average-Last-Spring-Frost-Date.aspx?page=2#ixzz1ocbPCoiE
The first shipment of our 2012 seed order for the student farm from the great folks of High Mowing Organic
Brian Peacock ’12 installed a sign today designed by Society of Environmental Engineers and Scientists (SEES) students.
We will be purchasing a brand new tiller for the community gardeners in the next couple weeks. Stay tuned for an email with further instruction, but no need to rent one this year!
We are getting a: Troy-Bilt 208 cc 16″ Rear-Tine Tiller.
Stay tuned for an email with more info!
Hey folks,
Let’s face it, it’s been warm this winter and we may be able to plant early this year without problems. Our usual average early crop planting date is around March 17th when we can start early crops without the threat of freezing our seedlings, but it may be sooner this year. Why not give it a try?
Here’s a few tips for starting your season off right:
1.) Find a good source of seeds and plants. Cheap seeds can often result in lower quality plants and produce which have a higher threat of disease, cracking, or pest susceptibility. A list of organic seed companies are in a previous post below. These are trusted companies with high quality organic seeds. For plants, buy them from a trusted retailer and make sure each one is healthy and strong. If you buy and plant a diseased or pest-infested plant, you may have problems all season long. Talk to the retailer about their sanitation methods and how to pick a healthy plant.
2) Sterilize your tools, planters, stakes, etc. I can’t stress the importance of sterilization enough!! If you want to prevent disease spreading: clean everything that touched last year’s soil that will be touching this year’s soil. Wooden stakes especially harbor disease from year to year. Because of how wet things were last fall, this is particularly important this year.
3.) Prepare your soil. Now is the time to prepare your soil even if you’re not planting yet. Spread some organic compost and let it sit until you are ready to till or plant.
Note to 2012 Community gardeners: we will be purchasing a new tiller this year for you to use. I will send an email with more info soon.
4) Start Seeds indoors. Have you ever tried it? Now’s your chance. Here’s an article from Organic Gardening.
5) When to plant what?? Overwhelmed by all the veggies and when to start it all indoors or out? This is a great, quick resource I use all the time by Mother Earth News: What to Plant When.
If YOU have any questions, or would like to write on a certain topic, send me an email and we can add a post.
Hi Folks!
To learn more about it, browse around our website or contact Jenn Bell, Garden Manager at bellj@lafayette.edu and (610) 330-5754.
If you would like to participate, send your check and form to Jenn Bell in Van Wickle Hall ASAP. Spaces are filling quickly and they are given on a first come, first served basis!
Note: There are two sizes of garden spaces this year: (10×40) or (20×40, like in the past)
Look forward to seeing you at the garden!
What: Beginner Gardening Series
When: Tuesday Night, February 21, through April 10, 2012
Where: Easton Area Community Center 901 Washington Street
Free Classes will be held on Tuesday nights from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Schedule: Dinner 6:30 to 7:00
Class 7:00 to 8:00
Questions and discussion 8:00 to 8:30
Class Schedule: classes are taught by Penn State Master Gardeners
Planning where to put your garden is the first step to success, do you have good sun exposure and access to water? This class will teach the basics of design and planning.
Compost adds beneficial microbes and enriches the soil. Everyone can make their own compost. Here’s how!
Preparing your garden soil is the first step in successful vegetable gardening. Learn how to test your soil and understand the results.
Buying plants for your garden can be costly, learn how to start your own plants from seed and how to care for and transplant them successfully to your garden
Your plants are in and your garden is flourishing, but wait, what is that little yellow and black striped bug on the cucumbers? This class will tell you how to check for bug problems before they get out of hand and what to do about them.
How to keep going over the long haul and still enjoy the fruits of your labors.
You don’t need to have a big space to grow a garden, learn how to successfully use containers. Flowers attract beneficial insects to the garden and add diversity, beauty and color.
Why: Community and backyard gardens are a way to get involved with your community, live healthier, and create a better environment.
You don’t need to know how to be a gardener to do it. People of all levels of experience are welcome, and that includes kids.
The West Ward Neighborhood Partnership is offering classes to teach people the basics of gardening. If you want to start gardening, but don’t know how, these classes will help you get started.
Sign up now by calling or emailing Sophia Feller,
Urban Agriculture Coordinator 610-515-0891 or sfeller@caclv.org to register. Childcare will be provided. Registration is limited with priority given to West Ward residents.
Don’t delay – Sign up today!
Hey folks, today I have a guest post to share, written by a fellow gardener, Sam G.
There is no doubt that a community garden or student farm has different requirements for care than a large commercial operation. That being said, there are several problems such as pests that impact both small operations and large scale agricultural concerns equally. However the solutions that many commercial concerns have used for their pest problems are not only harmful to the environment but also would be far too dangerous to use by those who are tending to a smaller plot of land.
With that in mind let’s examine some of the healthier and saner options for pest control that are well within the reach of any sized farming or gardening operation. Here’s a list of some of the non-toxic pest control options that can protect and enhance a community garden or farm.
#1 Think About Prevention First
#2 If Repellents Don’t Work, Use A Natural Solution
#3 Encourage The Predators Of Pests
Author Bio
Sam Gerald is an amateur gardener who is concerned with the role pesticides play in today’s agricultural scene. He advocates for using natural and organic solutions to pest control problems whenever it is feasible. Click the following link to learn more about some of his favorite natural and organic pest control products.
Picture of squash bug eggs on under side of winter squash leaf. When you see these, squish them!
Today, I’m back to work rejuvenated and excited about the new season even more than before! Here is a quick recap about the 2012 conference:
Intro: The Pennsylvania Association of Sustainable Agriculture 2012 Farming for the Future conference was a great experience. Farmers, community organizers, business
owners, educators, and so many people that are interested in sustainable agriculture and food came together to learn and interact. There were 2 days of pre-conference tracks and
2 full days of conference workshops and speakers.
Here is a quick breakdown on the events I attended:
1) Pre-Conference Track on Tractors:
This was a great experience to learn a little introduction to tractors. This class was taught in the Penn State Ag Arena by three Penn State employees. First, we learned about
pre-operation checks, safety, and equipment maintenance. Next, we discussed how to buy equipment: used or new, and what to look for. We then learned a bit about operations and how to hitch and unhitch attachments and got a chance to try driving. This was my first
experience driving a tractor and I drove the New Holland TC45 with loader… great fun!
2.) Next on Thurs night, I attended some social events including the Young & Beginning
Farmer Mixer, Cheese tasting, and live music. This was a great chance to network, catch up with old friends, and meet lots of people doing sustainable agriculture across PA and the north east.
3.) On Wednesday, the real conference began. I took a morning yoga class and then was off to workshop #1. I went to Oilseeds for Food and Fuel taught by Doug Shaufler from Penn State Farm operations. I am interested in feasibility of a potential research operation in making oil for food. We learned about the processing of oils including seed cleaning,
prep, pressing and extraction, filtration, and processing.
4.) Next was a keynote speaker, but I missed the chance to get a seat! It was standing room only, so I took this time to talk with many vendors, visit the auction, and do some
seed swapping. The next presentation I went to was by a local Lehigh Valley farmer, Tom Murtha. He talked about his successful heirloom tomato growing technique called grafting that he uses in his very successful high tunnels.
5.) Next, there were breakout discussion sessions. I went to one called “Building a Regional Staple Food System” because, again, I’m interested in potential research projects for the College. What I learned from this discussion is that this is a very important
aspect of local farming today that is missing in our region: staple foods play a major part of our diets, but are not available locally. We have many fruit and veggie producers in the area, but there are no local or sustainable grain, bean, or oil nearby that I know of. This is
something that is very possible and very necessary to have a local food system, but requires some larger equipment such as a combine and processing equipment.
6.) The next presentation I went to was by Homer Walden from Sunnyside Farm. I’m familiar with this farm and farmer because I went to a PASA Innovative Farm workshop held at his farm last fall (see picture from previous post). This talk was on Drip
Irrigation and Rain Barrels, we have always had large-scale rain barrels at the community garden and student farm, but drip irrigation is something new we will be doing this year at the student farm.
7.) The next morning, I again attended yoga and then headed to the first workshop of the day, called Designing a Sustainable Fruit Production System on your diversified farm by Lou Lego at Elderberry Pond Farm. This had some great information and tips on growing a mix of fruit and veggies with an emphasis on what
varieties have worked best (including disease resistant varieties that both taste great and grow successfully for the organic grower). Also, he covered what specific varieties of apples are good for what uses.
8.) Next was the PASA awards and Keynote speaker, Shannon Hayes. She was an unbelievable woman who is famous for her books on radical homesteading and two farm fresh cook books: remind us all that simplicity helps us realize what’s important in life.
9.) Next, I attended a workshop on Efficient Human-Powered Vegetable Production by Kenneth Mulder, the Farm Manager at Green Mountain College in VT. This gave me a whole new appreciation for what we do at the Lafayette student farm! We
are also human powered!! With the exception of yearly tillage and an occasional weedwacking, we use hand tools such as the wheel hoe, hand implements, and reel mower to control our weeds. They do 1.5 acres (we do 1) of completely human-powered: no tilling
except when breaking new ground. This is very inspiring! This talk also gave me tons of good tips on efficiency and useful tools for our operation.
10.) The final presentation I went to (tear, so sad!) is on diagnosing pest and disease problems in vegetables by two folks from Penn State. This was an unfortunately depressing note to end on, haha! It focused on all the possible problems that can be experienced, and we organic growers felt like we had seen it all!! I learned a lot of great
tips for dealing with problems and found the #1 most important thing to be SANITATION. Anything that was at your garden (stakes, organic matter, string, fence, etc) last year has the potential for harboring disease. Clean it thoroughly or use new.
Conclusion:
As you can imagine, I’m a little overwhelmed by all of this wonderful information, but really pumped to put it to action. It was so hard to choose which workshops to attend
because I wanted to be at several each time slot. If you are interested in any of the topics listed and want more information, please leave a comment here with your contact info and I will get you more info. For this post, I wanted to write just a
sentence or two about each topic, but some topics I have several pages of information I can share!
Jenn driving a tractor at PASA 2012, photo from PASA website
Hello everyone!
I (Jenn, farm manager) as well as many local Lehigh Valley farmers and food enthusiasts, are off to the 21st Annual Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture Conference at Penn State this week! I will be there from Wednesday through Saturday including an all day pre-conference track on Beginners Tractor Operation and Maintenance.
This is an all-around exciting opportunity for folks in PA and all over the Northeast to get together and share insight and information about sustainable agriculture. The schedule includes two days of pre-conference tracks (Wed-Thurs) and two days of regular conference schedule (Fri-Sat). This includes time for discussion, socializing, and fun, but mostly two non-stop intensive days of workshops on various topics pertaining to food and sustainable ag. Here is the 2012 PASA Conference Schedule.
I will be posting more info about the tracks that I attend and what I learn soon. Happy February!
PS. To all 2011 Community Gardeners, keep an eye on your inboxes. An email will be coming very soon!
Here is a picture taken by the PASA folks at an Innovative Farmers PASA workshop in October 2011 at Sunnyside Farm in Dover, PA. Homer the owner is in the center pointing and Jenn is on the right side.