Introduction
by Catherine Haug
St Patrick’s Episcopal Church is planning a community garden as a mission project for the Ferndale (and larger) community. The initial plots will not be ready for planting until next year (2010), as there are many issues to be resolved first.
Please contact Catherine if you are interested in volunteering to get this project off the ground.
The initial planting area will be tilled and planted with deer-deterrent potatoes, pumpkins and some type of cover crop in 2009, to ready the soil for the next years’ plots. Fund-raising events are planned for the fall harvest, to include a potato festival and a pumpkin patch for Halloween.
Watch for a notice in May, 2010, when the community will be invited to mark and prepare garden plots for planting. There will also be volunteer opportunities in 2009, to ready the land, fencing and irrigation for next year’s plots.
Vision for St Patrick’s Community Garden: Ways to Save Money & Make Friends
by Michelle Patterson, Community Garden Committee chairperson
- Folks without land at home can rent plots to grow food & flowers;
- Workers from the same company or club can plant vegetables or fruits, then give the harvest to charity;
- Tithe a portion of your bounty to the Bigfork Area Food Bank;
- Students can start crops with teacher-mentors, to nourish them while participating in summer recreation programs;
- An organization can start a summer camp at the garden;
- Garden can include fruit tress (in future), pumpkin patch, and crops that people don’t normally grow at home;
- Melons, raspberries, strawberries will catch a child’s interest;
- Create elevated beds for people who still want to garden but find it difficult to do so from a kneeling position;
- Senior organizations might be interested in mentoring children to plant & garden;
- As you gain experience, pass along what you’ve learned about doing things: mentor a gardening novice;
- Create a bird and butterfly garden;
- Include native flowering plants to lure native pollinators, and to encourage people to test at home;
- Include a gazebo in the landscaping, for picnicking and guest presentations from knowledgeable gardeners on subjects like: rainwater catchment, deterring pests ecologically, or composting;
- Landscape the garden using permaculture principles.
Links
by Catherine Haug
If you know of other great web sites on these topics, please send the link to Catherine.
About Community Gardens
- ESP’s page of Gardening Files and Links
- American Community Gardening Association
- Community Gardens – GardenWeb
- Community Garden DOs and DON’Ts – Square Food Gardening (pdf file, 188 KB)
About Native Plants
- USDA Brochure: Montana Native Plants for Pollinator-Friendly Plantings, April 2005 (pdf file, 840 KB)
- NRCS: Creating Native Landscapes in the Northern Great Plains and Rocky Mountains (www.mt.nrcs.usda.gov/technical/ecs/plants/xeriscp/)
- Native Plant Network (www.nativeplantnetwork.org)
- Montana Native Plant Society (mtnativeplants.org/)
- Landscaping with Native Plants in the Flathead Valley (brochure), (mtnativeplants.org/content/index/29)