garden news-spring has arrived

GARDEN NEWS-SPRING HAS ARRIVED

we have increased our production in our community gardens this last year by about 2000 lbs so that in 2024 we produced and donated over 7000 lbs of fresh produce ie veggies and fruits to those in need

we donate to the organic soup kitchen which produces nutrient rich soups for cancer patients elderly poor and others in need
those who cant afford the soups are given them free
we donate a lot of produce to them like kale swiss chard leeks onions broccoli cabbage tomatoes peppers herbs sweet peas beans squash and malabar spinach to name a few

we also give to a halfway house for men a halfway house for women a homeless shelter and several food pantries
these fresh food donations are more important now that federal funds are being cut to food pantries

this spring we will be planting tomatoes bell peppers jalapeno peppers poblano peppers and several other hotter peppers several beans squash like zucchini yellow squash 8 ball squash tatume squash trumpet squash malabar squash carrots herbs chayote squash green beans fava beans my favorite christmas lima beans kale lettuce swiss chard collard tree greens and others

the secret sauce to our increased production is the improvement of the soil

we add about 4 inches of either purchased bulk organic compost or the compost we make ourselves
usually the best compost to use is the compost you make yourself
we add an organic fertilizer a 444 ratio one
we do not till our beds but use instead a broad fork to work the soil
when we prep the beds we dig a shovel deep trench along the side of the bed and put that soil up on our beds
after digging the trench we fill it in with a thick layer of mulch
the trench works like a slow compost pile so that in 6 months much of it is broken down into compost which we then dig out 6 months later and put on our beds
we keep the walkways heavily mulch to limit weeds and hold moisture in the soil
we probably will not get any more rain for 6-8 months or more

we rake the beds smooth and add 3 drip tapes about 8 inches apart with drip holes every 6 inches 
the beds are 3 feet wide
later we will heavy mulch the beds with straw to hold moisture and suppress weeds

doing all this produces a rich garden soil that has helped us increase our food production

we use some of our grant money or donations folks make to us to buy 15 yards of the organic compost each year at a cost of around $1500
this compost plus the compost we make is enough to make all this produce grow so well

we use about 40-60 hours of volunteers each week to keep all this going

financially we have fundraisers like plant sales a christmas tree lot sale a fall harvest celebration event an end of the year online fund raiser via seedmoney.org
many of you have made donations to our cause
thanks

we do a fall harvest classes for over 500 elementary students 
this costs us around $4000 a year 

we also do a free easter egg hunt for the community 

several times during the year we do educational classes for a small donation
eg
i did a 2 hour class where i talked about how i garden in my 400 square foot garden
it was well attended and they had lots of questions

we have an upcoming 2 hour tour of several large local greenhouses that grows lots of different plants and veggies
the owner is one of our biggest supporters and is on our committee

I am the volunteer garden manager and am also the chair of the committee that runs the gardens

we had a lecture on how to to do a worm composter that was well attended
we had a lecture on how to dye using natural dyes
we had an artist teach an art class in our garden
sometimes the master gardeners program uses our garden for their classes
all these events are usually well attended

i recently got my last cataract removed 
if you have ever had that done you know how brilliant and bright and colorful everything is afterwards 

the next day after my surgery i went to the garden early as the sun was arising and had just hit the mountains in the distant

I stood just inside the garden and took off my bernie sunglasses and looked back towards the mountains in the distance with it wispy cloud then like a panoramic video i slowly turned in a circle taking in gradually all the colors and lights and sounds of the garden
my moment of zen this week

yes
spring has arrived
im pumped and ready to get going with this spring planting

tomatoes here i come

the organicgreen doctor