St. Alban’s Gardens Meeting
February 27, 2010
Minutes
The Master Gardeners’ Board has approved providing classes on gardening at St. Alban’s. They suggest 6 weeks of classes, 1 to 1 ½ hours each, on evenings or weekends. We are to be responsible for publicity. Topics proposed:
a. Cold frames, seed starts, heirloom seeds
b. Preparing soil (amendments, pH, fertilizer and composting)
c. Raised bed gardening
d. Transplanting and store-bought seeds
e. Pruning and supporting plants
f. Enjoying your hard work and harvesting your bounty
Bob announced a new class of Master Gardeners starts on March 10. There will be 10 sessions, 2 hours each, once a month. They will be held in the pavilion at Polk County Fairgrounds.
We will want to notify those who attend our classes that the
Extension is having a meeting at CMH near the end of March. It will be 3 hours and is free.
We will again invite the Extension office to teach a canning class in June at St. Alban’s.
We are considering cold frames. These could be built during a workshop to provide hands-on learning for those interested. We will arrange this later.
We currently need cotton burr mulch, rice hulls and peat moss to add to the raised beds and for the planting tubs. Ernst volunteers to obtain these from C & C, Quarles or elsewhere.
We need a lot of mulch. Pat will check on wood shavings.
Bob will stop by Public Works and Empire to see if they have wood chips available for our use.
The raised beds will be turned when we add the filler.
A suggestion is made that we use one or two of the raised beds for growing flowers to use on the altar. This is well received and flowers mentioned were zinnias, cosmos and glads. We should plant them in succession to extend the growing season as long as possible. We will discuss this further.
We will reserve two raised beds for groups. Romain will speak with House of Hope to see if they are interested.
The remaining beds will be used for demonstration planting, including the ones for flowers.
Vegetables we choose to grow: beets, carrots, garlic, lettuce, onions, peas, jalapeno peppers, sweet peppers, potatoes, radishes, spinach, squash (butternut and acorn), sweet potatoes and patio tomatoes.
Susie will supply carrots, lettuce and sweet potatoes. Bob will supply tomatoes and jalapeno peppers. Sicklers will provide onions. Cathy Carleton will provide sweet peppers and potatoes.
NOTE: We will hold a vegetable/flower seed exchange on Sunday, March 7 after church. Anyone interested in sharing extra seeds or getting seeds you may not have is welcome to attend. St. Alban’s gardeners will also be available to anyone who has questions or needs gardening advice. Watering methods will be demonstrated for anyone who is interested.
NOTICE TO GARDENERS: A planting schedule showing windows of time for planting various vegetables will be distributed Sunday, March 7. Members of the garden project are asked to volunteer for what they would like to plant. Look for Romain to sign up for this after church.
ALSO: If you can water and weed one hour per week please let Cathy Carleton know which day(s) you prefer by March 7. Have a first and second choice available and a schedule will be set up with every effort to accommodate everyone. If you need to be out of town or are ill please notify someone so we can arrange to have the work done in your absence.
IMPORTANT: A clipboard will be in the tool shed being built by Ernst. Work done in the gardens, including watering and weeding, must be recorded so we can know what remains to be done. Please follow through on this.
Submitted by,
Cathy Carleton
