WHAT’S NEW IN THE GARDEN?
Within the next few weeks, we will be preparing for our fall/winter season. This preparation consists of a variety of tasks, including cleaning out garden beds, refreshing soil, mulching beds, and planting new frost tolerant plants or seeds.
When cleaning out our beds, we initially determine whether our garden beds contain annual or perennial plants. If plants are annual, we will remove and compost them to make way for our fall garden. As the nights cool to the 30’s most annual plants will not survive. Perennial plants that are not frost hardy will die back during the winter but emerge in the spring when the soil temperature warms. Perennial plants that are frost hardy should be protected by woodchips or removed from the soil and put into a pot if they need to be kept in a greenhouse for the winter. Our initial frost date here in zone 9 is anticipated to be November 6th (https://www.almanac.com/gardening/frostdates).
WHAT’S NEW AT THE GARDEN?
This weekend we held a BBQ and food giveaway from harvested community bed plants and vegetables donated from our subscriber beds. This event was so much fun for all involved that we plan to have them more regularly. Please watch Facebook for event notifications.
Our landscape continues to change. We have expanded, allowing greater public interaction with our garden space through creating four additional subscriber beds and adding additional trees and plants to our zen garden. If you would like to subscribe to a bed for the fall/winter growing season or would like to sponsor someone else to use a bed, please contact us to determine availability at communitygarden.ridgecrest@gmail.com. To donate for additional plants and structure at the garden, scan one of the QR codes at the bottom of this newsletter.
During October, we had consecutive weekends with volunteer days. We appreciate so much those that have taken the time to further the dream of the community garden through their involvement and support. Thank you!
Tip Top Arborists has sponsored the Ridgecrest Community Garden with woodchip drop-offs to assist us with winter gardening and raising money to pay our garden expenses. We are offering woodchips for a donation of any amount of $5 or more. Follow these simple steps when needing woodchips.
1) Donate desired amount through Holistic Divine Innovations at this link https://www.holisticdivineinnovations.org/donations or scan one of the QR codes below to support
2) Send Ridgecrest Community Garden a message on Facebook to designate how many bags are needed
3) Community member will be given instructions and address for pickup in the response. Woodchips are at a separate location from the garden due to space constraints.
GARDEN EVENTS AND HOURS
November events will begin November 12th with cleaning out community beds and adding additional soil and mulch.
November 19th, we will be planting and adding seeds to the community garden beds along with conducting a plant swap for those that would like to participate.
Open hours for November and December will be 9AM to 4PM on Saturdays and Sundays. The gates will be unlocked and the garden open to the public during that time. Feel free to come and enjoy the peace and tranquility of the garden or volunteer your time. For those coming to volunteer during open hours, there will be a to-do list of tasks we would love help with posted just inside the gate on the Zen Garden side.
If you would like to talk with a garden representative, please email us at communitygarden.ridgecrest@gmail.com to schedule a time to meet with a rep. With the exception of published events and requested meetings there will not be a community garden member on duty during the winter season. Thank you, again, for your love and support.
Zen out, Ridgecrest :-)
