Dundee Community Garden this week

Hello Dundee Community Gardeners,

Thanks to everyone who came to the Ice Cream Social last Sunday-- the weather cooperated later in the afternoon and it was a big success.


Many of you have vegetables that are ready to be harvested from your plots. Don't forget to harvest and eat what you've grown! See Rebecca Reagan's excellent list of timely garden tips below for harvesting and other information.


We harvested over 6 pounds of beet tops, radishes, kale, chard, and lettuce from the community plots this week, which we dropped off at Together Inc.'s food pantry on Tuesday. And we just got the sweet potatoes planted this week. Watch for regular harvest nights to start up soon!


Mowing-- thanks to Mary Lincoln and Jeff Beierman for doing such a good job keeping up on the mowing. As mentioned in the gardening tips below, please make sure to keep your vining plants INSIDE your 4x10 garden plot, so that the mowers can get through.

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Other gardening news:

Garden Member Amanda Leet is starting a community garden at her workplace, Norris Middle School. If you have plants (flowers or vegetables), tools, gardening supplies, or time and expertise that you can donate, she can use it! Contact Amanda at 208-7735, or aleet@mail.unomaha.edu, if you can help her out!

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Rebecca's Tips for the Garden:

For a continuous harvest, cut large outer leaves of leafy greens (such as lettuce, spinach, chard, collards, kale, etc.) and let the inner leaves continue to grow. This way, you harvest just what you need for a single serving and the rest stays fresh in the garden.

Now is the time to cage or stake tomatoes. Good support keeps the vines growing vertically instead of sprawling all over the ground. Plants not only take up less space, but are less susceptible to pests and diseases. Tomato plants can become quite large, so plan on adequate support.

Mulching is extremely beneficial for your garden. It traps moisture in the soil, so you don't have to water as often. In addition, it suppresses weeds---you won't have to weed as often (that sounds good to me). For tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants, it is especially helpful. The mulch will cut down on common problems (diseases) associated with this group of plants. Grass clippings are usually easy to use and are probably the easiest to obtain. In addition to being good for the plants, grass clippings can be good for the soil, since they add organic matter as they slowly decompose.

Vining crops, such as cucumbers, melons, and vining squash will need support to keep them out of the mowing areas. These crops can be quite large and will take up quite a bit of ground. Getting them off the ground and onto a support will cut down on diseases and save space.