Hello fellow gardeners and welcome to the Pleasant Grove West Stake Community Garden!
1. Get your plot assignment by sending request to pgwsgardencommittee.com. There will be several watering cans and garden tools for loan up by the pump house. Please be sure to return them there after each use so others may also benefit from them. There are also several hose bibs on the West side of the garden. Please try to limit any spillage there as they tend to turn muddy quickly when all 400+ of us use them regularly. Place the end of the hose toward the fence when done with them please.
2. Plan your garden for the maximum efficiency and usage of space. There will be no ground cover used in the Stake Garden 2016 season.
3. Start planting your cool season crops. These will include: Peas, Onions, Broccoli and other Brassicas, Potatoes, most other root crops.
4. Pay for and obtain your irrigation equipment and set them up. You may buy your own lines and drip systems elsewhere if you choose. Make sure you leave your main valve OFF when you first set it up. Once the water is up and running you may then adjust it to your own desired flow rate. Visit your plot daily for the next few days to ensure that you have it adjusted well.
5. Start weeding. Weeding is best accomplished when you start early in the season and never let up. It is not acceptable to use chemical herbicides on your plot.
6. After Mother's Day is generally when you can expect the frosts to stop so plant your warm season vegetables after that unless you have methods to protect your tender vegetables.
7. Keep weeding. You might want to reach across to the next plot and pull a few that are within reach there as well.
8. Respect your own and other people's garden as well. Do not be tempted to harvest from their hard work. Please also teach your children to stay out of them as well.
9. It's wonderful and instructive to see how other people do their gardens and how they occasionally decorate them too. If you choose to decorate your garden please remember that occasionally, small brightly colored objects appear like toys to small children and they may come up missing. Please do not consider this malevolence. It's usually only a small child that doesn't know any better yet.
10. A note on pesticides:
Most garden members do not have a lot of knowledge about chemical pesticides. It is therefore a much better idea to use "organic" or "natural" methods to control unwanted insects on your own small plot. Lady bugs are inexpensive and will munch aphids all day long and will have little bitty baby lady bugs to continue doing so all season long. Potato Beetles are easily picked off by hand. Squash bugs are easily deterred early in their season with diatomaceous earth. Nematodes are like charity: They will cover a multitude of "sinful" earth dwelling pests. Bees still need to pollinate your flowers no matter what other nasty insects are around them. Give the bees a break, they've been having a tough time lately.
11. There are several members of the Gardening Committee that are happy to help you if you have concerns or you just need some know-how. Gardening Committe member are generally available on Saturdays from 8 am to 10 am.
12. The garden will shut down this fall a couple of weeks into October. After the killing frost it is expected that ALL garden members come to their plots and clear off equipment and get it ready to be plowed under in the coming week or so. Emails will be sent pinpointing that date when the season arrives.
13. May the Spirit of the Lord be with you as you learn more about taking care of his Earth and coaxing into productivity. May you bear much fruit this year.
