weekend garden report

Here’s a report from Bill Wrin, our resident garden expert:

My son, Jordan, and I went to the garden today. We planted five and a half beds of corn. The seed went way farther than I expected. Each of the beds with the new corn seed are labeled. Four of the beds have two rows each (traditional type rows) and the other bed and a half have been planted using the square foot method.

We brought about a dozen heaping wheelbarrow fulls of wood chip mulch from the big pile near the parking lot. The mulch is spread between the corn beds. There is tons more mulch left in the pile. It’s awesome that someone was willing to bring us the wood chips.

Tasks for volunteers would be to bring the mulch from the pile to the garden and spread it between the beds. Wagons and or wheelbarrows are almost required for this task. Shovels may be good to pick up the chips but I used a good garden fork.

Another task is to wait for the soil to dry after rain and chop it up around each plant to create what is called a “dust mulch. ”  This can be done using a hoe or hand cultivator.

Of course removal of any weeds near the plants is what every one probably already knows that needs to be done in the garden. There aren’t really many weeds that need attention yet.

When the soil is just right is when we need to make new beds. Today it may have been too wet and it is raining again… We’ll get it done but it may take a while. Next time it rains we will be able to get right into the mulched beds for tending.

Talk to you soon,

Bill