News

2025 Registration and winter trimming and weeding

Please remember that garden registration is due by the end of this month (January). Payment can be made by check or money order and mailed to the post office box with your registration form or you can make the payment through Zelle to grow@mhcommunitygarden.org ($125 per plot). Registration forms must be printed and mailed in, however. You received an email in mid-December with the registration information. Please check your spam folder if you don’t see it and make sure we have an email that works for you. Be sure to read the Bylaws and the Garden Policies documents to be fully informed regarding MHCG policies and suggestions.

Also, you have probably noticed the grasses and weeds starting to grow at the garden ALREADY!  If there are plants in your wood chip pathway, please remove them ASAP.  Remember to trim all plants from your plot to the wooden plot edge and don’t let them hang over into the pathway. Remember that the MHCG is a year-round garden and make plans to be at the garden to maintain your plot to keep the garden looking good year-round. Also, be sure to get started with the general weeding in January anywhere you see weeds growing. A hula hoe works well to disturb the growth of weeds in the gray and gold fines areas.

Thanks to everyone who just removed weeds, put down cardboard, and put wood chips on top of the cardboard in the pathways.  Many areas of the garden look much better!  There are still bags of cover crop seed in the shed (one baggie per plot) if you still have bare soil and need to plant something.

Planning for 2025 Gardening at the Morgan Hill Community Garden!

1. Registration materials will go out in a few weeks, In the meantime, the opportunity to have multiple plots or to change plots is now available, before registration documents are sent out. Reply to this email ASAP and by December 15 to let us know if you wish to have an additional plot or to move plots so we will know how many people we need to place in plots before new registration documents are sent out. (Maximum number of plots is three.)
2. There are open plots throughout the garden for those who wish to change their plot number or to get one of these plots for an additional plot per Garden Policies 2025. Plot changes will be made based on the date and time of your response to this email with a December 15 deadline for the request. Wait list people are placed first.
3. Gardeners who have multiple plots already have been allowed to keep those plots. Reply to this email if you want to give up any of your plots. Those we have already received information about are listed below as being open.
4. Currently, as far as we know at this time, these plots are open and available for new 2025 gardeners:
   ADA raised plots- none
   Regular plots 13, 14, 25, 28, 29, 34, 44, 45, 46, 50, 59, 60, 69, 71, 73, 74, 99, 100, 101, 102.

*The cost will be $125.00 for each of your plots and will be yours to use for 2025.

If interested in getting an additional plot or to change your plot location, reply to this email by December 15. Requests will be taken in the order of emails received until those plots are filled. You must specify which additional plot number you are asking to receive. If your information is not complete, your request will be placed at the bottom of the request list after those that are fully complete, to process this promptly. Registration documents and payment is not required until an email is sent out from MHCG with those documents and instructions later in the month of December.

2025 registration forms and information will go out after December 15 and registration for plot numbers assigned will be due by January 31, 2025.

Happy winter gardening! Remember to maintain plots throughout the winter and be sure to convert from summer plants to winter gardening plants. There should be no bare soil or weeds in your plot. Please cover with cover crop (in the shed), winter crops, straw, or mulch.

Winter Gardening– Just a reminder that gardening is required year-round at MHCG. Please be making your plans for winter work. If you do not have crops in mind, you can also use cover crop seed to grow the cover crop plants and nourish your soils over the winter. Please have no bare dirt in your garden plot over the winter. That encourages weed growth. There are small bags of cover crop seed in bags in the shed. There is enough seed in the little bag for an entire plot, so please take only one bag per plot and spread it out sparingly. Be sure to tend to weeding throughout the winter and spring months in your plots and in the wood, and gray fines pathways around your plots. You can also cover your bare dirt with straw or fine, leavy wood chips (not the wood chips we are using for the pathways.)

COVER CROP SEED IN THE SHED
There are now packets of cover crop seed in the shed. Instructions for how to use the seed is included in the packet. Please take only one bag per plot so there will be plenty for all gardeners.

The cover crop is available for you to use along with your own winter crop seeds or seedlings. Please do not leave summer plants in the garden over winter and do not leave your plot with bare soil for weeds to grow in. The plots should be well maintained all fall and winter, as well as in spring and summer. Also remember to maintain the wood and gravel pathways around your plots.

SEASONAL CHANGE
Remember to work your plot through the fall and winter. Please do not leave any bare soil. You can plant crops or cover crop. (We will be getting cover crop seed for the garden.) You can also cover your bare soil with mulch or straw. Please don’t let weeds start to grown in your plot or in the pathways around your plot, or in the main gravel pathways around the plots. We had a big weeding job this year in the spring and we don’t want that to happen again!

GOPHER TRAPS!
We seem to be winning the war with gophers and squirrels (as much as is possible). We have let Got Gophers know when we hear there is a problem area. Please email the garden email if you need to report a problem with pests in your plot and the details. Unfortunately, the rabbits and birds will always be there. All sorts of critters come out at night.

GARDEN MEMBERS INTERNAL FACEBOOK PAGE
We are in the process of setting up an internal MHCG Facebook page for garden plot owners only to share gardening, questions, photos, and recipes. That way we can share garden activities and ideas within our own group. If you want to give it a try, here is a link-
https://fb.me/g/60GisCthm/upcoMRmg.

GARDEN VEGETABLES TAKEN FROM PLOTS
Please remember that there is no taking of vegetables from another gardener’s plots or the small demonstration plots. There have been a couple of incidents of melons and other items taken from plots.

CARDBOARD
We are in need of lots of cardboard, especially large pieces for pathway repair. Cardboard can be piled up on the east side of the garden with the cinderblocks on top so it doesn’t blow away. Also, you can use the cardboard in your own walkway. There are various pathways with weeds growing up in them. Place cardboard on top of the weeds, and then cover the pathways with wood chips. (Look at the piles of woodchips around the garden for the largest wood chip side and not real leafy.)

GRANT
For our next grant, one item to include is the value of how much produce is produced by the garden. This is the value of the food, but not that we actually sell food. Please be collecting that information for the next grant writing. We easily produce the dollar amount they were asking for, but need input from all gardeners. You can email info@mhcommunitygarden.org with your value estimate at any time. This can be food you consume yourself with your family and friends, and food that you donate to others.