Garden harvest

One good thing about Indian Summers is the harvest! Go Vestal school gardeners. 

Back to School And back in the garden.

The diehard gardeners of Vestal having been coming out to help cleanup and harvest food.  Official clubs will start soon.  Thank you green thumbs for all your hard work! 

Companion Planting : Tomatoes & Carrots

Vestal Community Gardener Caitlin Clark's advice for Companion Planting: Tomatoes & Carrots

Companion planting is a wonderful way of gardening that incorporates beneficial plants with unlikely partners who not only keep pests away, but also increases pollination, a must for any garden.

Tomatoes are a delicious and popular plant with a number of edible companion plants: cucumber, carrot, chives, onion, garlic, nasturtium and parsley. Marigold is a favorite companion flower for tomatoes, but opinion is divided about how beneficial the flower really is.

Did you know that all plants of the brassica family such as kale, cabbage and broccoli (and more!) actually repel tomatoes and shouldn’t be grown together? It’s okay if they’re in your plot, just keep them apart. Tomatoes also dislike growing near potatoes and fennel. Keep corn and tomatoes at a distance because they both attract the same pest and together they’re too much of a good thing for the corn earworm a.k.a. tomato fruitworm.

Asparagus and tomatoes are great friends and will enjoy being grown together as they both deter each other’s pests (nematodes and asparagus beetle).

If you’re planning to grow carrots near your tomatoes, go ahead and plant some onions or leeks nearby. All of these are friendly with each other. The onions and leeks repel the carrot fly and a number of tomato pests; rosemary and sage will also deter the carrot fly. Bush beans, pole beans, peas and lettuce are also beneficial to carrots.

Resources: Carrots Love Tomatoes by Louise Riotte, http://www.zenfulneps.com/CompanionPlants/, http://www.tomatodirt.com/companion-plants.html

Photo Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/colemama/9473457079

Second Annual Spring Fling Saturday, May 17th from 11-3

Our second annual Spring Fling will happen Saturday, May 17th from 11-3.  We will have Strawberries, Raspberries, mint and garden signs for sale.  There will also be many craft stations and games to play including: mini frisbee disc golf, hay bail treasure hunt, paint-a-pot, and sack races. 

We hope to see you there. 

Vestal Community Garden Orientation April 19th 1-2

Things are beginning to grow in the garden. Always a good sign that spring is here. Various plots in the  community garden have been assigned to new gardeners. Welcome new gardeners. 

There will be an orientation for new gardeners (and anyone else interested) on Saturday April 19th from 1-2 pm followed by a work party from 2-3:30. Anyone interested can join us to discuss plans for the Produce for People plots at the work party.

A load of wood chips has been delivered and we now have a pile for general use. Please use them for covering the pathways around your plot.

Getting ready for Spring planting!

Come rain or shine the garden club at VESTAL was out digging up the dirt getting the garden plots ready for spring planting. Look at all these hard workers!