We have all 43 plots reserved this year.  Thanks to all the Lafayette faculty, staff, students, and their friends and family that are a part of the community this year! It’s going to be a great year!  Apply early for your spot next year.  We may add an additional row of plots next year if needed to accommodate everyone.

Watering hoses are NOT ALLOWED at the garden!

Apparently word is not getting out to many users of the garden by email, and folks do not seem to understand that we have a very limited supply of water. Since June 15 we have had only 0.15 inches of rain – our rainwater tanks will empty quickly when people are hosing down their plots with little regard for the drought or the needs of other gardeners. We have already run out of water once and it will probably happen again.

Use a watering can and apply no more than you need. Mulch will also help reduce soil evaporation and thereby cut down on your need to water frequently.

Ok folks,
Sorry for the delay! The shed is READY.

Here’s the deal…

We could make a long list of rules and such for keeping things in the shed, but instead I’m just gonna ask that you please just be considerate!! 🙂  There is a small amount of space for all of us to share, so try to limit what you keep inside.   I would recommend writing your name on your tools, ect. that you choose to keep in there.

One thing: Please do not use anything that does not belong to you unless you have permission.

Community Gardeners will have access to 2 walls of the shed: 

When looking inside the door, the short and long walls to your left are available for your use.

The combination to the lock will be sent to you via email.  You can start using it today!

Also, we will be painting the outside of the shed.  If you’re wondering about this interesting choice of color for the floor…we bought high quality (but oddly-colored) paint 70% off.  We will be painting the outside of the shed this color as a base and then painting brown on top.  We’ll be doing this next week so beware of the bright green shed!  This will only be temporary, I promise! 🙂

Here is a picture of a “hornworm” that we found yesterday munching on our potato plants (Jodie Frey found one last week on one of her tomatoes). Hornworms feed on plants of the nightshade family (tobacco, tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplant), and are the larvae of several large sphinx moth species, aka hawk moths.

Thankfully, still no sign of late blight that we can find – see front page story in the Morning Call today – it sounds truly devastating

3-inch caterpillar of the Carolina Sphinx (a "hornworm")

Hi all, returned to our garden patch after a week at the beach – wow, how things change! We are about to be inundated with cucumbers, beans, squash, tomatoes, etc etc. Any of you growing potatoes need to keep an eye out for Colorado potato beetles (Google it for pics) – we found some little ones muching away on ours, which we destroyed by squashing or clipping off the infested parts and bagging them. No sign of the late blight though

Finally, there are a few plots that are about waist-high in weeds – please hack these down before they go to seed – see the terms and conditions of your plot agreement

Dave the Enforcer Brandes