Tuesday, March 26, 2013
 
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Community garden group provides information at annual kickoff meeting

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[March 26, 2013]  Saturday morning, Rachel Smith and Kathy Vinyard hosted the annual community garden kickoff day at the Lincoln Public Library. The open house-style meeting in the Pegram Room brought in a nice crowd of local gardeners.

Bruce Huskins and Tim Smith were on hand to field questions about gardening, and each of the three community gardens in the city had representatives who spoke about last year's experiences.

Rachel Smith opened the meeting by talking about the lot improvements that had been done last year. The Madison Street gardens had been fenced to give them greater curb appeal.

She said there is going to be a project this year with local schoolchildren to decorate birdhouses for all the gardens. She said that thus far two schools had requested 48 birdhouses, so she anticipated there would be plenty to go in all the gardens.

The main project for this year is to add fencing to the Logan Street garden area.

Smith also announced there would be a drawing for two free Madison Street plots.

Scott Jackson is on the board at the Logan County Housing Authority and offered comments on the gardens there.

He said there were 22 plots last year. This year they are going to expand that by five, making a total of 27 spaces available for those interested. During his talk the question came up: "Are the plats at the housing authority reserved for residents there?" The answer is, no. The plots are available to anyone who wishes to rent one. It was also noted that in all the gardens, returning gardeners get first options on the plots; then what is left over is offered to new gardeners.

Bruce Huskins is the manager of the Madison Street garden. The role of the manager is, among other things, to make sure the gardens are maintained according to the rules of the garden group.

Huskins reported that there are still plots available at the Madison Street garden.

He also talked about a small problem he had last year. He said it wasn't something he wanted to see happen, but a gardener had let a plot go to weeds. Huskins said he requested that the gardener clean it up and that didn't happen. So, Huskins mowed it down. Huskins said the gardener in question wasn't too happy about it, but the lesson served its purpose. The next time he suggested a gardener clean up a plot, the gardener did.

Huskins shared that in his plot last year, he had a bumper crop of pumpkins blossoms. He said he planted 25 plants and ended up harvesting enough blossoms to take them to the Farmers' Market in Latham Park. He reported that selling them at $2 per dozen, he sold $750 worth of blossoms last year.

Vinyard commented on Huskins, saying that he has done a remarkable job at the Madison Street garden. That lot was originally the site of a derelict house that was torn down by the city. Because the city had to claim the property to demolish it, the lot is now owned by the city.

Smith said this was one of the side goals of creating the community garden project: to clean up lots and save them from being neighborhood eyesores.

Tim Smith is the manager at the Logan Street garden. Rachel Smith said Tim is a great leader and a good neighbor at the garden. She noted her own garden might not have made it through the summer had Tim not devoted time to keeping it watered for her.

Tim offered special appreciation to Illinois American Water, who contributed a lot to the garden water bill. He said that without their contributions, there wouldn't have been much of a garden anywhere.

Also in attendance on Saturday were Doug Fink and Vickie Hum, co-managers of the Farmers' Market in Latham Park.

Rachel Smith explained that many gardeners had the mistaken notion that what they didn't use for themselves they had to give away, but that isn't true.

Fink and Hum worked last year to encourage growers to bring their produce to the market, and said they wanted to encourage them all to do so again this year.

Questions turned for a short while to the market managers, as folks wanted to know more about how to go about selling their produce at the market.

Fink said this year the market will be on Wednesday mornings, a change from previous years when it was in the evening, and also on Saturday mornings as before. On both days the hours will be from 8 a.m. to noon. Opening day will be May 11, and the market will run through October.

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To sell at the market, gardeners must fulfill the county board requirement of proof of insurance in the form of a homeowners policy or a renters policy. There is also a one-time fee of $20 for setting up in the park. This money goes to advertising and promotion of the market.

A guest asked if she had to come every week if she signed up. And the answer was, no. Gardeners are welcome to come once a week, or periodically, whatever suits their needs and coincides with the crops.

Huskins and Smith also offered some gardening tips. With last year being so very hot, Smith did a lot of watering at night, when temperatures are cooler. He told the group that worked out well, but he offered a word of caution. When watering at night, do not apply the water to the plant, Smith said. Instead soak the ground.

Huskins told folks that when planting tomatoes, one should plant them deep. He said he's even seen people dig trenches and lay the plants down in the trench. He said the main idea is to get the roots deep because that is where the best moisture will be.

It was also shared that when raising peppers, gardeners need to have two plants. A single plant will not pollinate itself, so there need to be two. It was also noted that they should be planted fairly close together, again in order to get that pollination.

Rachel Smith contributed that adding bee-attracting flowers such as marigolds will help with the pollination of certain plants. In addition, marigolds help deter bugs.

Tim Smith shared that Wal-Mart and Big R are going to give seeds to the garden project again this year. He said he wanted to express appreciation to them, and of course to Illinois American Water, who will once again this year contribute to the water bills at the gardens.

In other thoughts that came up during the meeting, Jackson mentioned that in some of the plots on College Street, the gardeners had planted only a couple of plants. He suggested that folks who only want a plant or two find someone to share a plot with.

A guest in the audience said he had seen last year's produce going to waste because the gardener was out of town. He said he felt bad letting it all rot, but would have felt like he was stealing it had he harvested it. He wondered if there was some way the gardeners could communicate when they have extra produce that others can have.

The group talked about putting up stakes in the plots, perhaps red, yellow and green, with green meaning take all you want; yellow saying don't take it all, but you can have some; and red saying do not harvest.

The group touched on a few other topics, including having a community picnic so gardeners could get to know each other better.

As the meeting drew to a close, Rachel Smith noted that of all the thanks that had been issued, there was still one left: a big thanks to the city of Lincoln. The city provides the spring tilling of the gardens, which makes it much easier for gardeners without access to that type of equipment to have a garden.

Anyone who is interested in renting a plot for this year can contact Kathy Vinyard at City Hall. Vinyard said she is not there every day, but folks can stop by the building and safety office for more information and to drop off their applications.

It was also noted that fencing day at the Logan Street garden will be April 20. Anyone who wishes to help with the project is invited to be at the garden at 10 a.m.

[By NILA SMITH]

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