RE: Community Garden

H* A*

Comrades:

Don knows his business!

 In NYC at the Clinton Community Garden we're a group of  maniac week-end
gardeners with well worn library cards, bad backs and a history of making
more than a few classic mistakes. When I share my advice it's the voice of
rueful experience ( "Gee, I guess it isn't too smart to stick a fork in a
light socket. Mom, my hair used to be all curly, how come it's  sticking up
straight?)
It's a real pleasure to have a professional in our little happy internet
garden group.

Adam

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Dboek@aol.com [SMTP:Dboek@aol.com]
> Sent:	Friday, February 18, 2000 2:26 PM
> To:	Rshtn1fn@bellsouth.net; community_garden-admin@mallorn.com;
> community_garden@mallorn.com
> Cc:	drushton@bellsouth.net
> Subject:	Re:  [cg] Community Garden
> 
> Hi, Birmingham,
> As always, listen to Adam! I'd add that you might be especially wise to 
> rotate where you grow your brassicas (like collards, cabbage,
> broccoli...). 
> Here, we can grow them in the early spring and the fall, but not in the 
> summer (like Birmingham, I reckon?). This makes a rotation a little more 
> complicated, but still easy to manage. I leave at least two years before 
> replanting brassicas in a bed (some recommend 4 years, but my space is 
> limited). Try the cooperative extension there for veggie recommendations 
> (they are usually listed under county government). I use a very simple 
> 'quadrant system' personally, which works well enough. Aside from
> brassicas, 
> I generally don't repeat the same crop in the same place for two years in
> a 
> row, and leave it at that. I'm not superpicky about some things (lettuce
> and 
> flowers I stick in everywhere as intercrops, I'll grow legumes (peas, 
> blackeyes, crowders, beans) right and left). But rotation is a good
> practice, 
> not just because of plant diseases but because different crops use
> different 
> nutrients and thus you don't deplete your soil. Last thought, I include a 
> soil building crop in my rotation one year in 4 or so, either a cool
> weather 
> type (annual rye, crimson clover (beautiful)) or warm (buckwheat). This 
> builds soil health. 
> 
> I work with home composting and school gardens both. About kids and
> manures, 
> just be prudent but not paranoid. Washing hands is very very important, as
> 
> Adam says. If manure has been composted properly using a 'hot' system, it 
> should be reasonably safe. I don't think I'd let young kids (less than 11
> or 
> 12, say-that's arbitrary) work closely with raw manures, especially moist 
> ones, or with dusty manures (frequently the case with poultry manures) 
> regardless of age. Be cautious, though-an outbreak of Legionnaire's
> disease 
> in Australia recently was traced to a batch of poorly processed
> _commercial_  
> compost, and many of those infected were gardeners. Know your supplier (or
> do 
> it right by doing the research and doing it yourself).
> 
> Don Boekelheide
> Charlotte NC USA
> 
> In a message dated 2/18/00 1:16:17 PM, Rshtn1fn@bellsouth.net wrote:
> 
> >We have had a community garden for the past several years in a public 
> >housing community in Birmingham, AL.   We have recently read that
> rotating 
> >the planting of vegetables is very beneficial.  What are your thoughts on
> 
> >this subject of rotating?  In particular, how many years should you wait 
> >before it is necessary to change the location of planting of the 
> >vegetables?
> >
> >What are your thoughts on the safety of kids handling manure in working
> in 
> >the garden?
> 
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