Planning the Community Patch - Plans and Journals

Excited as I am to get working in a garden, it is too cold and the soil is not anywhere near warm enough. Besides the Park District will not officially let us in before April 1, so I have another day before I can legally get in, but truthfully I will be surprised if we can get in before Easter (April 20, 2014).  There have just not been enough warm sunny days followed by warm nights to break up the ice in the soil so it can be prepared and staked and marked.  At least the snow is off the ground now!

So for now I content myself with planning.  However, having a good plan and way to record your information is vital to overall success in any garden space, but especially a small space like this one.  For that reason I recommend drawing out a plan and keeping records in a journal.

Draw a Plan

Now I don’t want to choose the plants just yet, but it is always a good idea to draw a plan of your garden even if only to get a feel for how it will look and force you to think about placement and plants needs and spacing.

At this point I do not need a fancy diagram, just a general outline of the space and how I want it look.  I can work and rework placement of tomatoes, sage, basil, etc. with this diagram and a couple of books that tell me plant specifics.  Then I can rework the design if I mistakenly planted the taller Lovage in front of the low growing thyme.

The books I suggest are as follows:  For herbs I generally use Rodale’s Encyclopedia of Herbs edited by Claire Kowalchik and William Hylton (Rodale Press: Emmaus, PA, 1987) and Park’s Success with Herbs by Gertrude Foster and Rosemary Louden (Geo. W. Park Seed Co: Greenwood South Carolina, 1980.) 

For  vegetables, I checked out my local library and found two great resources.  The Beginners Guide to Growing Heirloom Vegetables by Marie Iannotti (Timber Press: Portland, OR, 2011) and Seed Starter by Maureen Heffernan (Macmillan Publishing: New York, NY, 1997.) 

Keep a Garden Journal

Keep a journal of your activities in the garden. Record a list of the varieties of vegetables grown. Record seeding and planting dates, insect and disease problems, weather and harvest dates and yields. This information will be valuable as you plan future gardens. 

 I have kept journals for my herb garden for years, noting the plants, the yield and the diseases, if any, my plants experienced.  For this garden I decided to use both a journal and a file box.  For those who want to craft a journal, I found this great template that you can download and print.  It even has instructions for how many copies of each page you should make. 

For the file box I wanted a card for each plant or seed that I am planting.  The seed packet or plant information will be stapled to the back and the details of growth I will write on front.  I can then carry the box to the Patch with me and write as I work. I will keep pencils and blank cards in the plastic file box and carry it along with my tools at the garden when I work.

Planning the Community Patch - Location and Tools

I choose my plot in the lottery on Thursday -- Plot #72.  My guess is I will be hauling water a distance for this location, but I wanted the most sun and the least possibility of competition with trees and the plots on this side of the garden were going to give me that.

That reminded me of something I read on University of Illinois Cooperative Extension website about prepping to garden, so I went to find the article and here are some details that I I found useful and that I will also be implementing on this garden plot.

Location

Choosing a location for your garden is the most important step in the garden planning process. Vegetables need at least 6-8 hours of sunlight for best growth. Leafy vegetables like spinach and lettuce will grow with less sunlight. Herbs need the same amount of light so to grow both together is a good plan.  Select a location as far away as possible from trees and shrubs. The roots of nearby trees and shrubs will rob your vegetables of needed nutrients and water. Good soil with good drainage is needed. Try to have your soil tested if you are unsure of its makeup.  The UofI has a list of possible places you can send a soil sample for testing.  Check them out. 

I do a quick soil test by scooping out a shovel full of soil, about 3 inches below the surface, just a hand shovel depth full.  Place it in a jar 2/3 full of distilled water.  Shake vigorously and allow it to settle.  When it settles (this takes about 24 hours) you will have a visual representation of the makeup of your soil.  A loamy soil will have large heavy items that will settle to the bottom; medium weight aggregate that will settle next; sand that will settle out sometimes with the medium weight; then fine particles which will settle last.  Organic materials will stay floating near or on the top of the water.  

You should strive for an equal mix of the bottom two layers and a thin layer of silt or clay at the top.  If you have too much large heavy matter, then you have rocky soil that will lose moisture quickly.  If you have a high volume of fine particles you will have a clay soil that will retain moisture and have very few pockets of air.  Plants will struggle in that type of soil. Organic matter means the soil is alive and will have more nutrients. A professional soil test is going to help you with those more invisible items in the soil like nutrients and pH levels.  With the results of these two tests you can augment the soil as needed.

Basic Tools

You need to have a selection of basic tools to work your garden.  Fancy is not really required and you can use salvaged and recycled materials for some of the items you need.  For more info on tools, check out the Villa Park Men's Garden Club Website.

1. Hoe: Great for weeding, covering seeds and chopping up the soil.
2. Rake: Used to prepare the seedbed and to break-up large clods of soil. And smooth the mulch, especially after a heavy rain.  Mulch is kinda mobile.
3. Spade: Used to dig up the garden in preparation for planting and for adding organic matter to the soil. 
4. Trowel: Used for digging holes for transplants and breaking up the soil around plants. 
5. Ruler: You can get a school tool plastic ruler or you can cut or mark items you will use around the garden.  I have my rake marked at 6 inch intervals so I can lay it next to a row of plants and get proper spacing without having to carry a ruler too. 
6. Labels:  Each plant should have a label with the name of the vegetable and the date seeded or planted on it.  You can use tongue depressors, popsicle sticks, cut strips of plastic milk cartons, or .  You can also buy metal markers, but something disposable is less work and you don’t have to store it during the winter.  You can write on them with a Sharpie Marker.

What can you do in a Community Plot?

We have just signed up for a community plot in Elmhurst.  They are located in Golden Meadows Park, not far from East End Park and near the Union Pacific Rail Road tracks.

This will be the season to prove just what can be grown in a 20 x 20 plot and what you can do with it.  We are going to plant a combination of herbs and vegetables and perhaps a few flowers.

We have a Kickstarter you can donate to that will provide you with some of the bounty from this garden even if you do not live nearby.  For details check this out.

We will post hear at least weekly with progress, recipes, ideas to try and facts about the work in the garden.

We will also share what we learn, not only here but in public programs and through community events.  We may even have a naming contest for out little patch.

So check back often to see what the Community Patch is up to.

Next week I will provide more details about myself, my hubby and the plot once we get to choose its location!

community garden plots courtesy of the Elmhurst Park District