July Work Days: Can you help July 1, 10 or 19?

We are officially in summer! The garden looks plentiful with the help of the constant rains and bursts of sunshine. Unfortunately, the weeds have also loved the water and sun.

Please help out at one or more of the garden work days. RSVP by commenting below, e-mailing 3437garden@gmail.com or calling (612) 5-MULCH-5.

Tuesday, July 1, 6pm--Jenny is the lead
Thursday, July 10, 6pm--Barb is the lead
Saturday, July 19, 10am--Adabell is the lead

We will be working on weeding the community plots, pathway, and the area nearest the street. See you there!

Estamos en verano oficialmente! El jardín esta lleno de plantas gracias al sol y y la cantidad de lluvia. Es una pena que los jujos tambien encanta la lluvia y el sol.

Por favor ayuda durante un día de trabajo en el jardín, o mas días so podes. Sí podes venír deje una mensaje abajo, manda un email a 3437garden@gmail.com, o llama 612-5-MULCH-5.

Martes, el 1 de Julio, a las 6 de la tarde--Jenny se va a dirigir el grupo.
Jueves, el 10 de Julio, a las 6 de la tarde-- Barb se va a dirigir el grupo.
Sabado, el 19 de Julio, a las 10 de la mañana-- Adabell se va a dirigir el grupo.

Vamos a limpiar los jujos en las parcelas, la camina, y al lado de la calle.

Introducing Our Compost Bin

Thank you to the volunteers that helped build the compost bin a few weeks ago. It looks amazing! You brought your tools and your teamwork and we made a lovely addition to our garden. The Apple Valley Home Depot helped us out by discounting the materials and cutting everything for us. The wood is cedar which should make it last several years. We used the instructions on Organic Gardening to make it happen.

Now that we have this beautiful compost bin, let me tell you how you can use it. 
Composting is the process where organic wastes (grasses, leaves, food scraps and garden debris) are converted into a highly desirable, soil-like material. For any compost system, you need to add the right ingredients. We need 5 ingredients for good compost:

1. Bin (done!)
2. Carbon source or "browns" (dead leaves, straw, paper, etc.)
3. Nitrogen source or "greens" (food leftovers, plants, coffee grounds, etc.) 
4. Air--we need to turn the pile occasionally 
5. Water--usually the water from the greens is enough but in dry times we may have to water it down
6. Microbes--our little helpers that break down all the organic stuff. They will appear naturally.

The three bin system works just like having three separate compost bins. You fill up one section. While the material in the first section is decomposing, you fill up the second section. 

As a garden member, you can bring leftovers and other other food scraps from home to add to the compost bin, but please follow this list. Every time you add a handful of greens, add 2-3 handfuls of browns. 

Here is more information on backyard composting. Here is a great printable Yes/No list. 

Why compost? 

About 1/3 of our trash is made up of items we could compost. Currently, we send them to a landfill where they don't decompose properly or to an incinerator where they are burned. Making compost reduces the amount of trash we send off and creates a valuable resource for our garden.  

What you can do

• Bring your leftovers, banana peels and apple cores to the compost bin
• Add in any garden plants and weeds (without seeds!)
• If you have dried leaves at home, please bring a bag or two to the garden. Put them next to the compost pile. When you add in greens, add some leaves too. 
• Turn the pile with a rake or shovel

June Work Days: Help Needed this Wednesday

Our garden is looking amazing! I'm hungry just thinking about all the lettuce, beans and radishes popping up. If you still need plants, you are welcome to take the plants from the back plots behind the shed. More seeds packets have been placed in the shoe box in the shed including beans and cucumbers. Help yourself!

We are not doing the normal 2nd Tuesday and Saturday work days in June. Instead we picked days that garden leads will definitely be available. Here are our scheduled days:

Wednesday, June 4, 6pm

Tuesday, June 17, 6pm

June 4 Work Day 
We need help building our new compost bin this Wednesday. All skills levels are welcome. We will
clean out the area needed and build a 3 bin system. Please come by to help. We need 6-10 gardeners.

Please RSVP by emailing 3237garden@gmail.com or calling 612-5-MULCH-5.