We're Putting on Our Winter Clothes

 Treads, or pathways between growing beds, have been cleaned out.

 Old plant materials--vines, stalks, and so on--have been removed.

 Oats have been planted as a cover crop.

Cover crops add nitrogen to the soil and crowd out weeds.

2011 Garden Outcomes

We've had three positive Community Garden outcomes this year. First, important infrastructure has been added: a water line, raised beds, and tons of mulch were laid down to assure long range soil and water integrity. Second, a children's garden was added which provided recreational and learning activities for our "Little Sprouts" and which enhanced the beauty and value of church property. Third, 3 community garden activist groups from Springfield, Kansas City, and Harrison toured the garden to learn how to plan and start their own organizational gardens.

One negative outcome this year was terrible production: with the exception of an early potato crop and leeks and onions, hardly anything we planted was successful. This was due to extremely poor growing conditions--an exceedingly wet spring and an exceptionally dry summer--and bad planting decisions: next year we'll have to be more thoughtful about what we plant, and when.

Current Activities

We have nearly finished cleaning out the pathways (treads) between the growing beds and will, over the next few weeks, begin to fill them with wood chip mulch. Be sure to watch as the big pile of chips in the back yard begins to diminish. We have planted oats as our cover crop. Oats planted in our two raised beds have jumped up and look pretty; the oats planted in the main garden beds may or may not do much jumping. It is expected to get down into the low 20s tonight (October 19th) and the soil will have to get consistently warmer to produce. Keep your fingers crossed. In any case, our fall clean-up is mostly done except for picking the last (green) tomatoes, and some stray okra, beans, and peppers.

Planned Activities

Leaves will be falling soon. These leaves will be raked into piles and carried on tarps over to the garden and used as mulch. If you are able to rake leaves we will be glad to have your help.

We are also considering adding a greenhouse to the small shed on our back lot. This will allow us to start growing plants from seeds and will also provide another dimension of learning for the Little Sprouts. If we go ahead with this it will begin sometime after Christmas.

Last year we added a 10'x25' bed adjacent to and north of the Children's Garden and grew (successfully) crook necked squash on it. We will probably add another same-sized bed to this area if we can stretch our mulch far enough.

We have been working on a small prayer garden and will finish it over the winter. 

What We Need

We ask for your continued prayers for the garden and for your gardeners, especially for those shepherding our Little Spouts. We will be grateful for the donation of bales of straw. Straw can be found at Wal-Mart for about $4.89 a bale; we will be glad to pick them up if you prefer to simply donate the money needed for this purpose. We will be very glad to receive donations of used lumber suitable for building picket fences: 4x4s, 2x4s, and 1' material that can be milled into pickets are especially needed. If someone wants to donate a picnic table we will be very grateful.

Thank You!

We are so grateful to our church leaders for supporting our community and children's garden efforts and thank them! We are grateful to the entirety of our Church Family for your support! And, we are especially grateful to the Stice and Hudspeth families for their faithful and on-going labor "in the vineyard." To everyone, thank you so much!