Starting the Community Garden in 2015

Last year the weather and problems in the soil made the success of our garden less than stellar.  We realized that the soil itself has not experienced proper crop rotation which resulted in more diseases in the soil, especially fungus which is not killed by cold weather.  The cold spring slowed plant growth and caused an increase in the bug population resulting in more of the problems associated with those bugs including other diseases.  And then we had heavy rain and flooding late in the season that ended the tomato plants producing the anything,

I also made several mistakes including not removing the lettuce crops once the weather got warm.  They crowded and took over a number of other plants.  And planting a couple of plants too soon or too late exposing them to soil and weather problems. We scouted the community gardens last year and chose this year’s location by the fact no one grew anything in it last year.  It at the end of the garden, farthest from the water source which should be a frustration later, but we think we have a better chance of not exposing ourselves to crop failure like last year.

Mustard seeds

That scruffy patch in the center below the bean trellis is salad greens going to seed.

The plants that did the best last year were the herbs, but when the season ended and I pulled the plants I liked, they were all so entrenched in the soil that the root shock and the quick winter we experienced resulted in them not making it when repotted them.  This year some of them will be planted inside large buried plastic containers to make pulling them out at the end of the season easier.

This year we are also going to experiment with several growing methods that may allow us to work around the fact that the garden spaces have soil issues.  It is possible that this is the last year for this location and that next year the gardens will be relocated salving this problem but if not these experiments may help others grow more here.

The Design

This is the preliminary plan for the garden.  It is on the end so I have three open sides rather than two like last year.  I have decided to place three beds along these edges which will be easy to reach and weed without having to walk or kneel in the paths.

I may change the layout and place the tomatoes on the interior as they are more easily weeded with a hoe and can be reached from narrow paths.

The new experimental methods

Planting in a soil bag

I found this on the internet for people who don’t have time to remove sod or do not have much yard to work with or a very poor soil.  But buy a bag of soil, lay it on the ground and cut a rectangular hole from the top and plant directly into the soil.  It is good for items liking a more shallow planting soil, like lettuce and greens and a couple other plants.

Straw Bale Gardening

Another method I want to try is straw bale gardening.  It is said to work very well for tomatoes and so we are going to try at least two bales and plant tomatoes in them. The bales are set on the ground and you create a soil in a hole in the bale by adding compost and soil.  The straw breaks down adding organic matter to the soil as the plant roots burrow into it.

thyme bed in August 2014

Containers on the soil and raised beds

Last year I experimented with a raised bed in the garden, but I filled it with soil from the garden that I dug out of the paths.  Although it did fine planted with thyme, the thyme did not exactly flourish as it probably should have.  So this year I plan to create at least one raised bed and fill it with sterile soil I bring in. I think I will also experiment with large recycled containers that I am going to get at garage sales and such and place those in the garden.  I plan to look for at least one wash tub deep enough to grow root parsley and carrots and radishes in.

This year it is again cold.  Way too cold to plant even if we could get an early start.  The garden opens on May 1, but I think we may wait until at least the 24^th to plant anything.  The Men’s Garden Club of Villa Park is having their annual plant sale, themed Heirlooms and Herbs, just before Mother’s Day, so we will be getting most of our plants at that sale on May 8 & 9 The following weekend I am in Geneva for Gardenology where I will have my herb creations for sale and will be presenting programs on herbs.

That left May 17 as the soonest day to start planting, however heavy rain on the 16^th and more rain expected on the 17^th made me leery to compress the soil, so I am going to wait until Memorial Day Weekend.  I remember a year we had frost on Memorial Day after I planted all my herbs that Saturday.  Could this year be like that??