Weeds!

Sometimes it's difficult to identify the weeds in our gardens. The University of Minnesota has a great resource called "Is this plant a weed?". The website walks you through weed identification. Otherwise the University also has a site with more general information about gardening and weeds. Hopefully in the near future we will be adding pictures of weeds to the blog for easy identification.

Notes from July Garden Meeting

The July meeting was today (the second Monday of the month) at 7PM and we discussed several topics.

1. Another reminder that the Falcon Heights Ice Cream Social will take place on Thursday, July 30 from 6-8PM. All gardeners are encouraged to stop by and share their gardens with the community.

2. We are still looking for community service projects. Some suggestions included taking pictures of weeds and sending them to me so I can upload them to the blog. Another is being responsible for watering the flowers in the common areas. Also, more wood chips are needed for the dirt paths around the compost bins. If anyone would like to volunteer for these tasks or has ideas for other tasks, please contact Jean.

3. The potluck is coming up soon and if anyone has any suggestions, ideas, or questions, please contact Jean or bring up at the next meeting.

4. We also discussed a tentative closing date for the garden. The optimal timing seems to be mid-October. If anyone has a different suggestion, please contact Jean or bring up at the next meeting.

5. The compost bins aren't decomposing as quickly as we hoped. If anyone has any grass clippings, adding them to the compost bins would help move things along. Otherwise, sterilized manure from the hardware store was also suggested as a way to speed up the decomposition.

6. The community garden list serv was forwarded to all garden members a couple of weeks ago. This is a great source of information about all things 'garden'. This might be a good place to start if you have any questions about your garden.

7. One gardener suggested a book about gardening in small spaces. If interested the book is called "All New Square Foot Gardening" and it was written by Mel Bartholomew. Is is available on Amazon.com.

Please plan to attend the next meeting on Monday, August 10 at 7PM. Just meet at the garden!

Japanese Beetles Found in Garden

Several gardeners have noticed Japanese beetles feeding in their plots. Above is a picture of a Japanese beetle that I took in my plot (plot 3). I have observed the beetles in our bush beans and the damage caused by adults is usually visible as leaf skeletonization. Japanese beetles attack a wide variety of hosts, but certain plants do repel them and planting such plants is once organic way to manage the pest. If you only have a few beetles in your plot, the best way to manage them is likely by hand picking and either squishing them or dropping them in soapy water. Below are links to some web pages that provide more information on managing Japanese beetles organically:

http://www.emmitsburg.net/gardens/articles/frederick/2004/controling_j_beetles.htm

http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/DG7664.html (See the "Cultural Control" section for organic solutions)

The garden is in bloom!

Jim G. (Plot 1) was kind enough to share some beautiful pictures of the garden with me. I have posted a few here. Thanks Jim!

Also, a reminder that the monthly garden meeting will be one week from tomorrow, on Monday, July 13 at 7PM. All gardeners are encouraged to attend, just meet at the garden!

Green everywhere!

After a slow, cool spring, the garden is really shaping up. All the plots are green with a multitude of vegetables, fruits, and herbs and flowers. All our hard work is really starting to pay off!