Do you want an Earth Source Gardens Plot in 2010?

How do we expand the variety, availability, & affordability of local foods produced by sustainable methods? Create a community garden program which empowers individuals to produce and consume good clean food, and to have fun while learning from educational events!

Welcome to an innovative community garden project!

In partnership with Harvest Farm & Preserve, New Pioneer has created a prototype community garden called Earth Source Gardens. The Co-op offered individual / household garden plots to thirty members in 2009. The gardeners paid $25, agreed to garden using sustainable methods, to plant annuals, and to share tools, water, compost, and mulch.

The Co-op provided fencing materials, and several truckloads of mulch and compost. Co-op Education and Member Services Coordinator Theresa Carbrey and Co-op member Roxane Mitten conceptualized the educational Co-op garden plots; Theresa oversees the administration of the project as part of her work with the Co-op community.

Julie Decker and Doug and Linda Paul of local non-profit Harvest Farm
& Preserve (www.harvestpreserve.org) agreed to lease an acre of land for the garden for a single dollar.  The site, near the corner of N. Scott Boulevard and Rochester Avenue, was formerly a cow pasture. Harvest Farm agreed to plow and disk the land, to mow, and to put up fencing. They have also provided water and straw.

Co-op Demonstration Plots 2009

The Co-op hosted seven demonstration plots. Look for the plots marked with a New Pioneer Food Co-op logo. As you enter the gardens, the first four plots to the right demonstrated various ideas in gardening.

Plot #1: We planted birdhouse gourds, a variety of “indeterminate” tomatoes, and herbs around a bird bath. We hope to attract birds to the garden.

Plot #2: Here we had (front to back) the annual fruits: sunberries, huckleberries, ground cherries, and tomatillos, as well as culinary herbs for Italian and Mexican menus.

Plot #3: We had flowers for hummingbirds and handsome eggplants, peppers, and Brussels sprouts.

Plot #4: We grew heat-hardy spinach substitutes, strawberry spinach and New Zealand spinach, in a “grid” planting formation. In the same area colorful rainbow chard is appealing. The onions, raised from seed and also planted in a grid have done well in the long, cool spring.

At the back of plot #4, there was an unusual planting: the “three sisters”, a Native American cropping method, inter-planting corn, beans, and squash.

Plots #1-4: Along the back of Co-op demo plots 1-4 were a trellis fashioned from recycled gazebo parts and fencing. It supported decorative gourds, French green beans, and two varieties of cukes. Sunflowers graced the back side of the trellis.

Plot #5: In the first bed to the left we had wooden pallets used to make a compost pile. Worm composting (in the raised bin) produced excellent fertilizer, and helped recycle kitchen scraps. This bin was set up to produce worm compost “teas” for liquid feeding. At the rear of this bed we planted Yukon Gold potatoes and Jerusalem artichokes.

Plots #6-7: We planted squash and pumpkins. Let’s see if we can outwit the borers, often a pest of these crops.

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