How Chatfield is like the White House
In case you haven’t heard, the Obamas have decided to reinstate the victory garden on the White House lawn! This has not been done since Eleanor Roosevelt’s garden that was planted during WWII. Click here If you would like to read more about this exciting event.
Also, there is a movement to join the Obamas in committing to growing your own organic victory garden. You can sign up here.
Our trial organic vegetable garden is underway here at Chatfield. I’ve been busy incorporating composted alpaca manure (donated by a local alpaca farmer), rabbit-proofing the surrounding fence with chicken wire dug down into a 1’ deep trench and filled with rock, and have built 15 raised beds and the seeding has begun! Spinach, radishes, and a spicy salad mix are already in the ground and reaping the benefits of the recent moisture. They’re covered in a white floating row cover and are nicely tucked into their beds. Mike Bone and Katy are getting some of the transplants started very soon and we’ll have lettuces, kales, broccoli and cabbages to put in the ground very soon. In total I’m planting 15 types of veggies with different varieties including standard hybrids, heirlooms, and some (like a variegated eggplant) just for fun!
The plan for this year’s veggies is to donate them to potential contributors to our future CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) efforts.
April 9, 2009 at 8:42 am
Do you have any information on how to start a community garden?
April 9, 2009 at 11:24 am
Robert, I actually performed an intensive study on CSA’s on the Colorado Front Range in which I compared their practices to develop suggestions for starting a CSA in this area. I would be happy to share my findings with you if you are interested. Just to be clear, a CSA is different from a “Community Garden”. The main difference is that community gardens are usually a collection of plots that members of the community can use for their own gardening purposes. A CSA is usually run by the farmer and volunteers are welcome to help out but most of the actual gardening/farming is done by a hired hand.
April 9, 2009 at 11:32 am
Robert, if you are interested in starting a community garden in the Denver area, I would recommend contacting Denver Urban Gardens (dug.org). They help groups get community gardens going. If you are not in the Denver area, DUG might be able to recommend a resource in your area.