musings from madison: Our Garden

When we first moved up here to Madison, some friends of ours introduced us to the university's community garden called Eagle Heights Community Garden (EHCG for short). It is an anomily of sorts. I wish I could say that EHCG was the first to start this back-to-grass-roots, I'm-gonna-go-green, home gardening craze...but I can't. It is actually a holdover from the 1960's gardening/back-to-basics wave. It was started in 1962 as a community garden to allow families and neighbors of the University of Wisconsin to grow vegetables. Fast-forward to spring of 2009 and now Ruthie and I have plot number #906. We have been busy planning and working the garden for the last 6 weeks. This garden will be an ever evolving project this season, so keep checking on garden updates in the months to come.
The weather here is much different than what we are used to in the South. OK, it's down right cold. Things do not really get warmed up until June first. In fact we had a frost warning this past Saturday night so it has been recommended that June 1st is the planting date for warm season crops (like tomatoes, peppers, squash), because it has been known to snow and frost until that date. Since I work in the UW Botany department, I have access to some awesome growth chambers. This one below, uses a metal halide lamp. It is pretty much a sun lamp, in fact there is a warning on the outside of the chamber to minimize exposure to this lamp because it can cause a sun-burn! The plants love it as you can see.

Two weeks later....

The tomatoes grew by leaps and bounds in two weeks. In fact I had to move them to 4 flats (from the original two) to give them maximum growing room. Memorial day weekend we will be planting our tomatoes, peppers, squash, and green beans.

Here is plot # 906, our plot. The dimensions are 25 feet x 25 feet. We have 4 large raised beds 4 feet by 22 feet. I worked up the beds a lot this spring. Since space is limited, raised beds maximize the growing space. They also prevent us from stepping around the plants and compacting the soil, as well as less stooping while planting and weeding. I worked in about 2 inches of compost and you can see how it blackens the soil.

I also bought row cover for the cauliflower and the broccoli (and later in the season brussel sprouts). I hooped the row cover and it will be permanently on these plants the whole season. The reason is because this is an organic garden and spraying for insects is not allowed. Row cover is light spun polyester that allows water and sunlight to easily in, but prevents insects from reaching the plants. Thus the row cover acts as a physical barrier to prevent the bugs from reaching the plants.

Here is a picture of the cauliflower and broccoli underneath the "tent" enjoying the bug free environment.

Our swiss chard is just starting to germinate below.

Chemical fertilizer is not allowed in the community gardens. Compost, manure, composted manure, soybean meal, cottonseed meal, fish meal, and fish emulsion are all sources of nitrogen that are allowed in the gardens. I plan on using soybean meal as my main fertilizer. Soybean meal has a N-P-K content of 7-2-1 which makes it an excellent source of nitrogen. It is also $12.50 for 50 lb bag at our local feed co-op. Soybean meal can prevent seeds from germinating, so I plan on only using it as a side-dressing to growing plants. I use fish emulsion for young seedlings and watering in transplants (a tip I got from my brother-in-law, Drew. thanks buddy). As far as compost goes, the University dumps all of the picked-up leaves next to the gardens. After 2-3 years, it turns into this black gold and it is free for the taking. There is so much compost available that the gardens will never run out. I plan on adding 2 inches of compost to each bed both in the spring and fall.