Garlic Planting Event - Saturday October 4th 10am-11am

News from Chris Clay, our Garden Coordinator:

Garlic Planting Event - 
Saturday October 4th 10am-11am

The Friends of Franklin Community Gardens will be running a class on how to plant garlic this coming Saturday at the garden, and we will have garlic available for purchase.  We'll cover planting it this fall, and what you'll need to do in the spring through harvesting it in the summer.  If you've never grown your own garlic, I highly recommend trying it.  Home grown garlic far exceeds what you'll find in stores, and once you start you can replant what you've grown easily year to year. (Shallots will also be available.)
Organic Garlic sourced locally from Powisset Farm in Dover.
Organic Shallots, also local, from Grateful Farm in Franklin.

End of Season King St. Work Day - Saturday October 18th 9am to Noon

If you haven't volunteered for your work day yet this year, this is your last chance and it should be a blast.  Last year we went out with a bang with our largest turnout of the season.  It was a great event, and we hope to duplicate it this year.  Come meet your fellow gardeners as we put the garden to bed.


Ending the 2014 Growing Season

For many the growing season is over, if your garden is finished please clear it out and place the remains in the compost bin.  For those of you with late season gardens you're free to continue growing as long as you need, but water will be turned of near the end of October as the threat of freeze looms.  If you are planning on overwintering any plants such as parsley, strawberry, etc these are all allowed and do not need to be cleared.  If you have any questions let us know.

New Beds for the 2015 Season


Thanks to a grant from the YMCA and Healthy Futures we will be adding two additional beds to the community garden for the 2015 season.  If you know of anyone who is interested in joining the garden next year let them know that we are currently taking gardeners for the waitlist. The only requirement is that they must be a Franklin resident.  The can join it by sending us an e-mail at franklincommunitygardens@gmail.com with their name, address, and phone number.

Summer Sprouts July 13th and 14th, 9am to 11am

Please join us on July 13th and 14th, from 9am to 11am, at the King St. Memorial Garden for child focused gardening events. Grown-up children welcome as well!  Attendees can make their own pots and plant green beans in them to take home.  We will also be planting green beans in the garden itself.  These beans will then be available for children to harvest at events on September 7th and 8th, when the beans are mature.

We will also be giving tours of the garden to help children identify the plants that grow the fruits and vegetables that they love, or refuse, to eat.  This is an excellent opportunity to have your children learn about where their food comes from, and eat something they've grown from seed.  In the short time since the garden was founded we've had numerous parents comment on the difference growing their own vegetables made in their children's eating habits.  This is an opportunity for the community at large to join in the fun, so please tell your friends!

Spring Garden Celebration!

Spring is just around the corner, and as Saint Patrick's Day approaches, so too does our first major garden event of the year.

Spring Garden Celebration 2013

@ King Street Memorial Community Garden

On Sunday March 17th, from 9am until Noon we'll be in the garden hosting some special events to kick off the growing season!

- Raised Bed Construction Demonstration - We'll be building four new raised beds in the garden.  Come along to lend a hand and learn what you need to build one of your own for home.

- Seed Exchange - Bring your excess seeds and exchange them with other gardeners for those you need.

- Winter Sowing - Learn how to create your own mini-greenhouse out of a milk jug to give your seeds a head start on the season.

- Pea Planting - We'll be running a pea planting demonstration in the Food Pantry bed. Yes, you can plant seeds in March!

The Franklin Community Garden Committee has been hard at work preparing for the garden's third season as we work to add new beds, and bring in new members from the wait list.  We're looking for some new committee members to help us to continue this great community project. 

our page:

http://town.franklin.ma.us/Pages/FranklinMA_BComm/garden

 If you are interested in becoming a committee member please contact us via the gardenmail link on the sidebar for additional information.

See You At The Garden!

June Garden News

Hello Gardeners!

The weather has been cooperating beautifully with an excellent mix of rainy weather and sunny weather, and the garden is looking fantastic.  As a reminder, if you're still setting transplants it is best to do this on an overcast day, or if you must on a sunny day do it in the evening.  Transplants can wilt very easily on hot sunny days.  Transplants also need water daily in hot sunny weather, once their roots establish after around two weeks they can go much longer without water.

June Garden Pests

We're not the only ones enjoying the gardens, the garden pest are invading and enjoying the fruits of our hard labors.  When I was in the garden yesterday I didn't see any beds that needed immediate control, but there are some of the baddies to be on the lookout for.  An important concept in organic gardening is pest thresholds.  We don't need our plants to be completely devoid of pests, having some is in fact totally fine.  A small amount of pests leaves room for predators to move in and establish themselves in the garden to do the controlling for us.  Sometimes, however, the pests pass a threshold where they will seriously impact plant output.  At that point we employ controls.

Aphids
Cutworms
Cabbage Loopers
Wireworms
Flea Beetles
Cucumber Beetles

Pest Control Presentation
Time: Saturday June 16th 9am-11am
Location: King St. Memorial Garden

We'll be covering various organic pest control methods in the garden this coming Saturday.  If you have any questions about what to do it'll be a great opportunity to learn how to identify pest at threshold levels, and what to do about them.  After the presentation we'll be working on general garden maintenance as well so please join in!

Dogs in the Garden

We've had reports of dogs being brought into the garden and urinating on the beds.  If you have a dog please leave them outside the garden when you visit!  All it takes is a larger dog jumping into a bed once to ruin months of work for a fellow gardener.  Thank you!

Call for Members

The Franklin Community Garden Committee is looking for new members as the first year terms for our current committee are coming to a close and due to life needs some of our members must move on.  If you're interested in becoming more involved in the garden this is a great opportunity to help play a larger role.  If you're interested simply reply to this e-mail and we'll contact you with additional details.

Garden Maintenance and Red-Flags

The Garden Committee has decided to institute a new system for the garden this year where we'll be visiting the garden and flagging beds as a way to quickly communicate areas that need addressing.  We'll also be flagging areas in the garden at large that need work.  If you have a flag please address the issue and deposit the flag back in the shed for future use.  If you forget your key you can place the flags outside the shed entrance.

Flag Types:

Harvest - This is simply a reminder flag that the flagged crop is ready for harvest.  This does not mean you need to remove the plants!  We understand that many new gardeners don't always know when something is ready to pick.  I flagged a number of lettuce and spinach crops this weekend as ready to harvest.  With our hot weather some spinach has already gone to seed and the lettuce will soon follow so pick it while it is in its prime.  Remember with lettuce you don't need to harvest the whole plant, although you can for ease.  You can simply pick the outer leaves which will be replaced as the plant continues to grow.  If you are unclear what a flag is referring to please send an e-mail to franklincommunitygardens@gmail.com for clarification.  If you can send a picture it'll speed the process.

Weed - An area in your bed or around your bed needs to be weeded.  In another week or two some spinach will be flagged with weed instead of harvest as once they've gone fully to seed they will be weeds effectively. If you have a weed flag please address it as soon as possible.

Weed & Woodchip - There are areas of the garden that need to be weeded and then have woodchips dumped on top for additional suppression.  If you have some time please help keep the garden looking great!

Red Triangle Award

The Friends of Franklin Community Gardens was honored with the Red Triangle Award from the Hockomock Area YMCA for its work in bringing Franklin its first community garden.

Empty Beds

We've had a few gardeners fail to plant for a number of reasons.  These beds are being re-assigned to new gardeners who should be taking over soon!

Happy Gardening!

Chris Clay
King St. Garden Coordinator
and The Franklin Community Gardens Committee

Don't Bug Me! 6/16/12

Curious about what's been eating its way through your garden?  


Bring your questions to the Franklin Community Garden at the King Street Memorial Park on Saturday, June 16 at 9 AM, where garden coordinator Chris Clay will be discussing common garden pests and the safe, earth-friendly methods you can use to deal with them.  


The King Street Memorial Garden is an organic garden.


This event is free and open to the public.

cutworm larva

And We Are One.

Happy Birthday to King Street Memorial Community Garden!

Thank you to all of our gardeners, supporters,

Friends, partners, and volunteers!

How awesome are those teeny iced peas and carrots?  

Cake from Whole Foods Bellingham

{so good....}

We're already rolling up the sleeves for another epic year.

Thank you, again!

May Educational and Event Calendar

The latest GardenMail:

Hello Gardeners,

Every indication shows that we've passed the last of the cold weather, and have entered into prime gardening time.  The average last frost date for Franklin Massachusetts is May 1st, and the extended forecast shows pleasant weather in our future.  If you haven't had a chance to get down to the garden an prepare your bed now is a good time.  We have early weeds that are starting to go to seed, so get them pulled now before they spread the next generation into your bed and your neighbors!  Remember that you are responsible for weeding your bed and the area around it!

When you visit the garden you may also notice a new structure in it, we now have a garden shed with tools in it thanks to a generous grant from the Franklin Rotary!  The shed has a keyed lock on the front, and you can obtain your key to the lock at the Recreation department.  Please be sure to lock the shed after you leave, and return any tools you've borrowed.   If you'd like to further suppress weeds in your area feel free to take woodchips from the large pile and add them on top of any weed hotspots.  The wheelbarrow and tools in the shed makes moving them easy, and there are gardening gloves in the shed to aid handling.

The water seems to be running slowly, but hasn't been officially turned on.  We're in contact with the town to have to water turned on fully as soon as possible.

We have a number of gardening events coming up in May!

May 12th: 9:30 am to 11:30 am - An Introduction to Gardening and Garden Planning at the YMCA 45 Forge Hill Road Franklin, MA
May 19th: 9:00 am to 11:00 am - A Tomato Planting & Support Demonstration at the King St. Memorial Garden
May 28th: 11:00 am to 1:00 pm - King St. Memorial Garden 1st Anniversary Celebration at the King St. Memorial Garden

We hope to see you there!

The Franklin Community Garden Committee

Additional Event Info

An Introduction to Gardening and Garden Planning
Hosted By: Chris Clay, Friends of Franklin Community Gardens, and the YMCA
May 12th: 9:00 am to 11:00 am
YMCA 45 Forge Hill Road Franklin, MA

This class will give you a basic introduction to gardening and what you need to do to have a successful harvest.  We'll also go over the basics of planning out what you'll be putting in your garden throughout the growing season, and have materials on hand to help you plan your garden for this year.  All those who attend will also be able to pickup some free seeds, and meet fellow gardeners.

A Tomato Planting & Support Demonstration
Hosted By: Chris Clay and Friends of Franklin Community Gardens
May 19th: 9:00 am to 11:00 am
King St. Memorial Community Garden

Tomatoes are the most popular vegetable among home gardeners, and with good reason.  The flavor of a tomato fresh off the vine is something you simply cannot find at the supermarket.  They also happen to be my favorite vegetable, and in this presentation I'll go over the tips and tricks for successful tomato growing I've collected.  I'll also cover additional information on tomato varieties, how to prune tomatoes, and setup proper support structures for optimal tomato health.

King St. Memorial Garden 1st Anniversary Celebration
Hosted By: The Friends of Franklin Community Gardens and the Franklin Community Garden Committee
May 28th: 11:00 am to 1:00 pm
King St. Memorial Community Garden

On May 28th, 2011 the King St. Memorial Community Garden official opened for gardening.  Join us as we celebrate the our first successful first year of gardening, and the many years to come.  There will be seedlings on hand for sale to support The Friends of Franklin Community Gardens efforts to continue to expand on the garden, and other events and activities.  Drop by to share a story, a piece of cake, or just the view.

Thank You, Chris!!!