RGCF Monthly Garden Guide

This month’s topic list

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• Two FREE garden workshops:

1. Dealing with garden insects and squash bugs WITHOUT chemicals

2. Dig your hands in the dirt: Planting your vegetable garden

• March 2010 month-by-month gardening tips

• Share the Harvest: Now at the Community Garden

• Coming soon: Rototiller, gas weed trimmer

• Community Garden Tidbits

Dig you hands in the dirt: Planting your vegetable garden

Dig your hands in the Dirt: A FREE workshop for RGCF members..

What is the proper way to transplant a seedling? How should I lay out my garden? Should I plant in rows or use a different strategy?

Get answers to these questions from workshop leader, Joran Viers.  He is the Bernalillio County Extension agent and helps coordinate NMSU research and demonstration projects, including planned studies on biological control of leafhoppers and organic chile production.  Come with questions and leave with answers to dig in your garden and get going right away.

Saturday, March 20 -  10 am

Location: RGCF Barn & Greenhouse area on Los Poblanos Open Space – 1701 Montano Road NW

Directions: Take Montano Rd NW, 1.1 miles west of Fourth St. and 1.5 miles east of Coors Blvd. Barn is north of Montano Road. Turn north at the intersection of Montano Road and Tierra Viva.

Parking: Park in the big gravel parking lot to your left as you drive onto Tierra Viva and walk to barn.

Cost:   $5   (FREE to members of Harwood, RGCF, Gardeners’ Guild or the Action Buzz Garden)

Contact Wade Patterson for more details (505) 242-6367.

Dealing with garden insects and squash bugs WITHOUT chemicals

Are there any organic ways to control squash bugs? Find out!

Will planting zucchini after the Fourth of July keep squash bugs at bay? The answer may surprise you.

Tess Grasswitz, Integrated Pest Management Specialist at NMSU’s Los Lunas Ag Science Center spent the summer raising generation after generation of squash bugs and documenting their nasty habits. Tess is also looking into native predators of squash bugs (and other pest insects) in New Mexico, and what can be done to support these allies of organic farmers.

Tess will talk about her findings and provide a general overview of the principles of Integrated Pest Management in organic production. Bring your questions and come find out how to live in harmony with Mother Nature.

Saturday, March 27 – 1:30 p.m.

Please R.S.V.P. to garden@riograndefarm.org

Location:  Los Ranchos de Albuquerque Village Hall, 6817 Rio Grande Blvd. NW (between Chavez Road and Los Ranchitos Road).  Note: Chavez Road is the same as Osuna but changes its name when you cross Fourth Street.

Parking:  Watch for the tall clock on the east side of the road.  Park in the Village Hall parking lot (just north of the fire station) and enter the building through the north door.

Cost:  FREE to RGCF Members

March Tips: Month-by-Month Garden Planning

From John Cretti’s book: Month-by-Month Gardening in New Mexico

• Make plans for getting your garden row ready.  Now is a good time to add soil amendments.  Mushroom Compost (available in bags) is a good overall amendment to add to your soil.  You can dig them in or wait until we get our rototiller to make it easier.
• Also consider adding in some minerals like Greensand, Rock Phosphate, Cottonseed Meal, Alfalfa Meal or Bat Guano. This will ensure your plants have the nutrients they need to grow.  Check your local nurseries.
• Around St. Patrick’s Day is a good time to plant your garden peas outdoors.  Some say that’s a little early so you may want to wait until early April to be safe.
• The middle of March is also a good time to start planting some seeds indoors.  Try eggplant and peppers. Be sure to check the seed chart for NM for best results.
• Spinach, Swiss chard, endive and leaf lettuces can be planted indoors in late March for later transplanting outdoors.

Share the Harvest: Now at the Community Garden

You're invited to share your extra produce with local food banks.

On Saturday, February 27 during our Orientation and Potluck, community gardeners heard two short presentations from Yvonne Scott, representing Plant-A-Row for the Hungry.  The second presentation was given by Jamie Deuel from the Rio Grande Food Project.

Launched in 1995, Plant a Row for the Hungry (PAR) is a public service campaign of the Garden Writers Association (GWA).  Its goal is to help to feed the hungry by establishing PAR networks in every state and province in North America.  In 1999, Home & Garden Television (HGTV) joined with GWA as a national media sponsor of PAR.  PAR has recorded over 8,000,000 pounds in donations. Yvonne, who incidentally was a past President of the Board at RGCF, has been instrumental in getting local Albuquerque inspiring people to donate excess garden produce to area food banks.

Jamie talked about the Rio Grande Food Project. The twenty year old non-profit’s mission is to feed hungry New Mexicans. Last year the Food Project served 206 tons of food to 25,000 hungry children, youth, adults and elderly. The pantry draws people from across the metro area and beyond.

The gardeners present that day decided to collectively help take care of our four education rows at the Community Garden and to donate a good portion of it to the Rio Grande Food Project through the Plant-A-Row for the Hungry program.

If you’d like to volunteer a little time in those rows (Rows 106 to 109) as our way of giving back to the community, e-mail me at garden@riograndefarm.org.  You can also choose to participate on an individual level by donating a small portion of your produce from your own row.  I  have Plant-A-Row for the Hungry row markers for your own rows as well as our education rows plus brochures so ask me about those.

Rototiller and Gas-powered Weed Trimmer coming soon!

This year the Community Garden will be getting a re-conditioned Troy-bilt Pony rototiller to help us till up our rows.  This will make getting your row ready a lot easier.  This is the best time of year to find a good used one so if you hear of one or know of someone who might be selling theirs, let us know.  You’ll get an e-mail from the farm as soon as we have it available.

Everyone that wants to use the tiller will have to be trained but we’ll do our best to have it available (always under supervision) on some weekends, evenings and weekdays.

CAUTION: If you’ve put straw over your rows for the winter, you will need to rake it aside before using the tiller, as it can bind the machine.  After the soil is tilled, you can then go back and dig in your straw.

We’ll also be getting a gas-powered weed trimmer to keep our garden paths (the eight paths our irrigation team needs to use) and to clean up the area along the big white irrigation pipe.

Garden Tidbits

Free garden seeds

Irrigation water news

Our compost piles are growing

Row cover at local nurseries

Free NO GMO buttons

Free garden seeds

RGCF Gardeners helping sort seeds.

Last fall Botanical Interests generously donated many of the seeds leftover from the 2009 to the Community Garden.  Botanical Interests seeds come from Colorado so their climate is very similar to ours.  Not only that but their seeds are also either organic or non-genetically modified.  That means the plants that grow from these seeds are healthy and viable…just the way Mother Nature intended.

These seeds are free to RGCF Community Garden members.  They are located inside the seed closet on the north side of the shed at the garden.  Take what you need for your row(s).  Just remember that we have lots of gardeners so take only what you can actually use in your row.

Irrigation water news

Our tanks were almost empty. But an Open Space water tank truck came to the rescue.

Open Space (which is the division of the City of Albuquerque that is responsible for the land the farm contracts) has generously sent one of their water tank trucks over to the Community Garden to fill up our water tanks so that we have a little water in the interim before the ditches are running.  We’re very grateful for that help. There are watering cans in the tool shed if you need to give your garlic a drink.

It looks like the irrigation water has been turned on but will be quickly turned off so that all of the acequias (ditches) can be cleaned out before the season starts.  The official start of the season may be around the third or fourth week of March.  You’ll get an e-mail when it will be turned on for the season.

Any gardeners who will be involved with irrigation and tank filling will NOT have to start their tasks or training until they receive that notice.

Our compost piles are growing

Once our south compost, this is now our middle compost

Next time you walk through the Community Garden be sure to notice our latest additions.  We now have three compost bins.  One is near the shade structure (the north compost).  One is near the oval water tanks (the middle compost).  The latest and newest is near the big 700-gallon round tank (the south compost.

Whenever you pull weeds this year (providing they don’t have seed heads on them), you can place them in the nearest compost bin.  We’re doing all the recycling we can to keep our rows healthy.

We have also added two areas where we are aging some healthy horse manure that will eventually be added to the compost piles to enrich them with lots of nutrients and beneficial soil organisms.

CAUTION: Do NOT add any of the manure from those piles (watch for the yellow signs) to your rows as the manure is still “hot”.  That means the ammonia has not mellowed enough to be helpful yet.  Plus there will be salts and pathogens that will damage your crops.

We’ll let you know when the compost is safe and ready to use on your rows.  It will be a few months but eventually, it will be helpful to all of us.

We’re bringing in loads of manure on Saturdays so I’ll be asking for help unloading it from time to time.  It’s great exercise and isn’t nearly as smelly as you’d imagine.

Row cover at local nurseries

Last month we talked about getting row covers for any cool season crops that you plant before our average last frost date of May 8.  Some gardeners have let me know that you can purchase some locally at both Osuna Nursery as well as at Jericho Nursery.

Free NO GMO buttons

Two of our gardeners have offered to give us some free NO GMO buttons to wear.  As you may know, we are big supporters of  Non-GMO seeds.  GMO (genetically-modified organisms) are seeds that have been genetically altered to not produce viable seeds.  There are some big seed companies who want to have a monopoly on seeds to sell to farmers and gardeners preventing us from benefitting from one of Nature’s most generous support systems.

If you’d like to have one, they will be in an envelope hanging on the door to the tool shed.  Wear them proudly!  Many thanks to Kathryn Turnipseed and Tam Saimons.  Stop by Rows 77-80 to thank them!