Hello fellow gardeners,
It's heating up out there, and the yield is starting to show. Great job on a great looking garden.
GET WATERING
With this heat, it's a good idea to plan on visiting the garden every 2 to 3 days to soak your soil. Brian Minter was on CBC's BC Today program last week and imparted the wisdom of early morning watering as the best time of the day to feed your plants. Second best (and perhaps more realistic) is to water during the cooler evening hours. Watering during the hottest midday hours can scald your leaves and fail to penetrate those deeper layers in the soil where you want your roots to dig.
WATERING FAVOURS
If you're going to be out of town for more than a couple days, here are the three best ways to keep your plants happy and well-watered:
1. Ask a friend or family member.
2. Post a request (with your bed numbers) on the Facebook Group.
3. Make use of one of the Please Water signs. These should be returned to the garden shed when they're no longer needed. Let's try and help out our garden neighbours who've placed the cedar signs on their beds.
SPARE NOZZLE
Soon the nozzles will start to wear a bit from over-use. If you're comfortable doing so, feel free to trade out that busted nozzle with the brand new one we have stashed in the tool shed. Let me know in a message so I can get another spare in there.
And be sure to get in touch if the system's either leaking or not working properly. Hoses and nozzles are the number one thing that breaks/malfunctions during a gardening season.
UNUSED BEDS
We have an enormous wait list for the garden and the season for growing is upon us; if you haven't made use of your bed(s) yet, you will receive an email checking in to see if you're still interested in being a part of the garden. Folks on our wait list will have priority on the beds that come available.
GARDEN TIPS: HOW TO HARVEST VEGGIES
Here are two great videos from a couple Youtube faves. Watch the Michigan Gardener's video on his 'cut and come again' approach to salad greens. In a similar vein, I appreciate what Abundant City's Rebecca Cuttler has to show us about harvesting and water conservation. Maybe bringing your salad spinner to the garden isn't such a crazy idea.
