WCCG CELEBRATES NATIONAL COMMUNITY GARDEN DAY

On Sunday, August 24, 2008, National Community Garden Day, many of our gardeners gathered for a potluck supper to celebrate our accomplishments at the Washington County Community Garden.





It appears that these avid gardeners are accomplished cooks as well. The dishes brought to the potluck featured produce from the gardens and included salsas, beet pickles, cucumber soup, veggie salads, tomato and bread salad, zucchini cake, beet cake, grilled zucchini and eggplant parmesan among others.

We toured each other's gardens.

Robin introduced many gardeners to the tomatillo:

Megan picked a tomato and showed us her "bean house":

At the end of the evening, having enjoyed each other's company and bounty, we decided to have a potluck again next year, and are considering an opening gathering as well.

We who tend tend the Washington County Community Gardens invite you to visit, or better yet, to join us. If you are interested in participating in our program, drop an email to:
communitygarden@ozaukee.co.wi.us with 2009 Garden Plot in the subject line and someone will get back to you.

"Tasteful Table"

One of the teenagers who works at the garden was asked to decorate our picnic table which was badly in need of a "makeover". Thanks, Dru!

Summer in the Gardens

After the June deluges, a dry summer settled in at the gardens. Nature did not provide showers from the sky, so gardeners resorted to water hauled from tanks via buckets and watering cans. Careful tending of plants and diligent weeding resulted in some wonderful flower and veggie crops.

Radish Harvest

What a great harvest!
Heidi and Chris planted their radish crop in sand, thus allowing the roots to develop into picture-perfect globes!

KUDOS to Robin, landlord of four plots, for creating the ultimate arbor, trellis,
and fencing using tree and shrub cuttings.

What a wonderful garden-friendly work of art for all to enjoy. Thanks, Robin.

Welcome to the Washington County Community Garden
(aka WCCG) located in West Bend, Wisconsin.

The Community Garden site is a project of the Ozaukee County Master Gardener Volunteers.

This is the second year of the program which provides rental gardens to people who do not have adequate gardening spaces at their homes. We have rented 48 plots for the 2008 growing season, over double the 21 rentals in 2007. In addition to private individuals, our gardeners include a 4-H club, a Brownie troop and NOVA Services, an agency which works with teens.

Visit this blog on a regular basis and share in our gardening adventures during 2008.

Maybe May isn't a time to plant . . .

Our gardens are located on the edge of the USDA Cold Hardiness Zone 4a /5b, with our last median killing Spring frost somewhere between May 3 and 16. The long, cold winter of 2007-2008 was quite the season for us as we recorded nearly 100 inches of snow. Thus, when the snow finally melted, the plots were staked, water tanks installed, and the straw delivered, we could hardly wait to get out the trowels, hoes, and seeds.
Our Opening Day, May 3 was not the sunny and warm one we had hoped for, but we bundled up and got the work done anyway!




Once the plots were ready, temperatures moderated and many of us yielded to the temptation to plant. Seed crops, such as lettuces, peas, chard, spinach, and onion plants can withstand lower temperatures, but tomatoes, peppers and annuals are not as hardy. Thus, when the weather report forecast a colder than normal night, most gardeners were found scurrying around finding covers for their tender plants. The most inventive gardener managed to create a low-level "greenhouse" consisting of plastic sheeting stapled to wooden stakes.

Gardeners are life-long learners, and I, for one, learn so much from my fellow community gardeners, an admittedly eclectic bunch of enthusiastic soil tillers!

Each plot is a reflection of its tenant, one of whom has put up a bird house:

Other gardeners go to "new heights" to install a tomato trellis:


Square foot gardening, bales and cardboard are featured in these plots:

The Brownie Troop has planted a Pizza Garden:

Many of the gardeners recycle leaves, straw, and chemical-free yard waste. Such re-cycling has greatly improved our soil from last year to the extent that we now have earthworms, a rarity during 2007.

Here are some examples of the ways in which gardeners are re-cycling this year:

Red Twig Dogwood cuttings used for edging and pea vines:


Branches are used for pole beans: