Wednesday, April 25, 2012

5th Graders to Pull Garlic Mustard on May 1st!


Hello Gardeners,

Just wanted to give you a heads up that there will be some elementary school kids in the back of the garden on May 1st. Mrs. Erickson's 5th grade class from Thoreau will be coming to pull garlic mustard from Cousins Field and our garden (yea!). This is the same class that monitors Froggy Pond, I believe.

Thanks,
Kitty

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Backyard Birds and Bees, May 10th @7:30 @HWCC

 Hello  Cousins Gardeners,

More fun programs being offered by our friends at Garden for Life. Hope you can make one of them. There are many tips below, as well. Be sure to scroll down!

Kitty


Backyard Birds and Bees with Tom and Edie Sisson on  Th May 10, 7:30 PM at Harvey Wheeler Community Center,
If you have ever thought of raising chickens  or keeping bees, then don't miss our May program! 

Tom and Edit Sisson started Thoreau Country Farm as a family project 40 years ago and evolved into a farm business, selling honey and wholesale eggs or hatching eggs for classroom use. Edie oversees about 100 layers and also teaches at Drumlin Farm. (She brought 'Clucky the Chicken' to meet children at the Getting to Green program in 2011!) They also have a small garden for their own consumption. Tom has kept hives for 70 years, and is acknowledged as the 'bee whisperer' of Concord! He manages about 6 bee hives now. Space is limited: Please RSVP by May  5; a wait list will be started. 

Find out more: "When it comes down to it, beekeeping is far less work and far less dangerous that most people would expect",  (http://www.wickedlocal.com/concord/news/x112678806/Hive-king-Sisson-sticks-with-beekeeping-hobby#ixzz1sOWWHWBw)

Member Tips
Thanks to our members for the following tips. (If you know of an event or workshop of interest, let me know and I will forward to members!)
Emily Wheeler forwarded this  link to a food program on PBS that sounds up our alley: http://www.foodforward.tv 

Lori Pazaris forwarded this notice of a Habitat Gardening lecture coming up next week on Thursday, 4/26/12, Maynard Public Library, 77 Nason St, Maynard, MA, 7:00 pm, lecturer: Ellen Walther Sousa; sponsored by Maynard Community Gardeners; free and open to the public; light refreshments provided.

Learn how to landscape your property as a natural “habitat garden,” providing food, shelter and housing for many birds, pollinators, and other “friendly” forms of wildlife. Ms. Sousa’s gorgeous slides of real New England habitat gardens illustrate gardening techniques that promote and sustain biodiversity, greatly benefiting our surrounding environment.

Ellen Walther Sousa is a writer, teacher, and garden coach living in Worcester Hills on a small farm registered with the National Wildlife Federation as a Certified Wildlife Habitat. She has a certificate in Native Plant Horticulture & Design from New England Wild Flower Society, a BA in English from Clark University, and is certified as a Master Habitat Naturalist from Windstar Wildlife Institute. Her new book The Green Garden (2011, Bunker Hill Publishing) has received great reviews so far! She writes and speaks regularly about habitat gardening in New England. 

Mary Lynn Benson forwarded this interesting lecture "How Can we Feed a Growing World and Sustain the Planet" on Tuesday, May 1, at 4:30 p.m., at MIT sponsored by the Union of Concerned Scientists:

12th Annual Henry Kendall Memorial Lecture:

How Can We Feed A Growing World and Sustain the Planet
When: Tuesday, May 1, 4:30-5:30 p.m.
Where: Wong Auditorium, Tang Center-Building E51, Room 115, MIT, 70 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02139.
A reception will immediately follow the lecture. Please check the MIT website for event details.
This year's talk will be given by Professor Jonathan Foley, director of the Institute on the Environment (IonE) at the University of Minnesota. Foley will discuss how increasing population and wealth, along with changing patterns of diet and consumption, are placing unprecedented demands on the world's agriculture and natural resources. He will discuss possible solutions that could double the world's food production while greatly reducing the environmental impacts of agriculture.
The Henry Kendall Memorial Lecture Series honors the memory of Professor Henry Kendall (1926-1999), who was the J.A. Stratton professor of physics at MIT. Kendall received the Nobel Prize in 1990 for research that provided the first experimental evidence for quarks. A founding member of the Union of Concerned Scientists in 1969, he served as its chair for 25 years. 


Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Red Wiggler Kits and Open Discussion 4/12 from 7:30-9pm at HWCC

Hello Cousins Field Community Gardeners,


Please consider yourself a friend of the Garden for Life group below and see Debbie's invite below. Hope you can make it!


Kitty



GARDEN/LIFE friends and members:

LAST CALL for Red Wiggler kits and Open Discussion to share what we know about gardening basics on THURSDAY APRIL 12 from 7:30 -9 PM.  Enid Boasberg and Emily Wheeler will facilitate the meeting and Ray Pourali will be there to deliver red wiggler kits and talk about vermi-culture. For more info on related events and the Film Screening/Discussion of Greenhorns on Friday April 13, go to www.concordfood.ning.com.

Open Discussion: Share info about the Concord Food Assessment, Seed Library and other food initiatives. Bring your questions!...no matter how basic. Here are some member questions: I'm short on time: What are the easiest veggies to grow? How long does it take for seeds to germinate?  How close should rows be planted? What is square foot gardening? How do I build raised beds? Where do I get good compost? When should I prune?

Vermi-culture
Ray Pourali, Green Planet vermi-culture expert, will bring the kits (about 1/2 lb) and compost tea for pick up on April 12Place your order: youwillrememberit@gmail.com directly or at the meeting. In order to judge how many kits you will need to create a working compost heap... let him know roughly how many lbs of material you expect to recycle (compost) and if you have an outdoor or indoor compost.

See you on Thursday, April 12 at 7:30 PM at Harvey Wheeler Community Center.

Happy gardening
Debbie Barr

HOW TO PLACE YOUR RED WIGGLER ORDER
What are red wigglers?? What can I compost? If compost smells...what am I doing wrong? By popular demand, join our group order for red wigglers from Ray Pourali, environmental engineer by day and Green Planet Vermi-culture guru all the time! (scroll down for ordering information). Red wigglers are great at making compost out of kitchen and garden scraps. I plan to get two kits (they last well into the fall outside but do not over winter). He also provides a handout on vermi-composting.

Ray will deliver the kits (about 1/2 lb) and compost tea for pick up on April 12PLEASE EMAIL HIM DIRECTLY to place your order: youwillrememberit@gmail.comIn order to judge how many kits you will need to create a working compost heap... let him know roughly how many lbs of material you expect to recycle (compost) and if you have an outdoor or indoor compost.

Ray says: I have exactly what you need to start a new compost bin, or to boost an existing one.  The key is the micro-organisms that go along with the worms. I will increase the worm quantity based on the expected available "food" scraps for the worms.

By using a compost bin, you will have a great control over the population and general well being of the worms. Please let me know if you need any help with making your compost bin.  I have tried a few designs and can share the info with you.  The total cost for having a very good compost bin is $9, compost tea $5. Please let me know if you have any questions and I will be glad to provide all the information you may need. 

All packages include care instructions and I provide long term support to ensure you have a successful experience. Looking forward to hear back from you, 

Cheers,  Ray

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

April/Early May Garlic Mustard Pull

Hello Gardeners,
Garlic Mustard Plant

I forgot to mention that April/early May is the time that nasty Garlic Mustard comes out. The best defense against this invasive is to get rid of it when the soil is relatively moist - grasp low and firmly on the plant and tug it gently until the main root loosens from the soil and the entire plant pulls out. As long as there aren't any flowers you can just drop it where it is. If there are flowers already, get rid of it by disposing in the trash.

Please be on the lookout for it during our Clean Up Days and beyond, in the rear of the garden behind the raspberries as well as on the perimeter for this nasty stuff. Here's a link so you know what it looks like: Plant Conservation Alliance Fact Sheet.

Thanks!

Monday, April 2, 2012

Two Dates for Spring Garden Clean Up

3 girls holding umbrellas

Credit to FCIT for use of this image.



Hello Gardeners,

April has started out pretty much as we suspected, blustery and cool but there's some nice sun out during the day time hours. With this thought, its time to think about our Spring Cleanup! I had mentioned in our Feb. meeting that the clean up date would be: April 14th with the 15th as a rain date. It sounded good at the time, however, it's also the start of school vacation week and we're going away! So, in light of this, Tracy and I have decided to hold two cleanup dates:

Sat. April 7th (Kitty will be there from 2-4pm)
Sat. April 14th (Tracy will be there from 9-11am)
Rain date, April 15th

We hope you can make either one of these dates to clean up your garden plot and if you are in the berry co-ops, please ask the coordinators how you can help them (Margaret G. - Raspberries, Barbara P. - Blueberries).

Frank C. has not been able to do much clean up this year due to his knee operation, so if your plot is already quite clear of rocks and other debris (including black plastic and wood chips), please help others. This will help the Town employees when they come to do the rototilling (date TBD).


Please wear gloves and bring large plastic trash bags for debris.  If you cannot participate on these dates, please plan to visit your plot between now and then to clear it of any rocks and debris. Please dispose of all rocks in the back of the garden in the rock pile. Do not place in paths or in the perimeter as this will interfere with weed clearing and mowing later in the season. Anything not removed by April 14th will be disposed of that day.

If you are a new gardener, we'll be contacting you in a separate email about plot locations soon!

Thanks for every one's help and see you this weekend (or next)!

Kitty & Tracy
Cousins Field Community Garden Co-Coordinators