MAY WORK DAYS COMING UP!
May 4th: 11am to 3 pm
May 11th: 10 am to 2 pm
All garden members needed!
Reminder: A minimum of six hours of work day time (not in one’s plot, but in the garden as a whole) is required each year. It’s a fun day with other gardeners, so please pick some days you can attend. Just come, no RSVP is required. Check your Garden Policies document for work day options.

UPCOMING GARDENING CLASSES
May 4th: 10-11 am
The garden topic for May 4, 10-11 am, will be “Three Sisters Gardening”, presented by Jenny Redfern, a Master Gardener since 2013 and an original member of the MHCG. You will learn how Native Americans grew certain crops together to support each other and to gain better nutrition. Participants will learn how to choose the right seeds and plants, how to organize the planting space, and will help plant one of the demonstration plots that will be harvested in the fall.

June 1st: 10-11 am
Sue Villanueva will discuss “Tomatoes”. Sue is an expert on growing tomatoes with years of experience. Come and learn about being a successful tomato grower and get your tomato questions answered.

The classes are free and all MHCG members and community members are welcome.

GARDEN CLEAN-UP:
Please remember to also remove all plant growth in the pathways around your plot and between you and your neighboring plot. You can also place cardboard between the plots and add mulch on top of the cardboard if there are a lot of plants growing to prevent future weeds and volunteer plants from growing in the pathways. Use the good mulch (large pieces, not leafy) that is located at the big gate area. (The new piles may be placed somewhere else in the future, but that is where it is located now). The mulch out in the field is often very leafy and not the best for walkways, but great for inside the plot. There are piles of cardboard by the inside parking area.

MHCG needs all gardeners to pick a day (or more) to come to a work day and help control the spring weeds. Many weeds are still easy enough to pull by hand after the rains, and we have some hula hoes. If you have a hoe of your own you would like to use, please bring that so we will have plenty. If we wait until closer to summer the soil will be so hard that we cannot do the work easily.                                                        
Reminder- A minimum of SIX hours of work day time per year is required of every plot owner and there is so much that needs to be done. Many gardeners come much more than the six hours because we have a nice time together on work days.

IN PLOT COMPOSTING:
It is now time to be at the garden planning your next season crops, tending the soil, etc. Please attend to all weeds and please compost old plants in your own plot. You can see examples what some gardeners have done in plots 15, 21, 22, 30, 37, 49, 57, 59, 70, 78, 80, and 89. This is an ever-changing activity, so you might find in-plot composting in some of these or other plots as the time goes on.

TIME TO PLAN AND PLANT SPRING AND SUMMER GARDENS:
Now that it’s spring, this is a good time to get out to the garden and make your plot look great! We look forward to seeing you all at the garden!

PESTS: A few gardeners have been bothered by pests. The garden board is looking for volunteers to help the board members with pest control. Please reply to this email if you can help on that committee. We need a crew to attend to this. We are out in an open country field, so MHCG cannot guarantee that there won’t be pests like squirrels and rabbits. (Even a deer was spotted once!) But we all need to take measured to control pests in a variety of way.

Some initial ideas for all are:
You can use some of the roll of deer netting that is located by the little shed to cover plants, and use little baskets or large water bottles inverted to cover your new plants while they are starting to grow. If you find something that helps, please share your knowledge with the garden members.

Some critters do not like to eat onions or garlic, so you can plant those in your plot. Some do not like to eat cover crop, so you can have patches of cover crop in your plot. There currently is some seed in the shed.

Gophers tend to show up in plots with a lot of bare dirt. Keep your plot well planted (even through the winter) and use mulch to cover the bare soil.

Actively work in your plot regularly year-round. Sometimes they get scared away from noise and vibrations.