Ridgecrest Community Garden has had its challenges this summer, such as pests and maintaining adequate soil moisture, which were exacerbated in June with high temperatures that dried soil, grew weeds, hatched pests, and introduced diseases. To combat this, we plan to add additional wood chips to increase water retention in the soil, suppress weeds and reduce soil borne diseases. If you are interested in spreading woodchips throughout the community garden with us, please join us on 9 July at 6AM at the Ridgecrest Community Garden (231 W. Haloid St.) for a work morning.
In our community garden, we are using flowers to attract pollinators, but we are also using them to provide structure and shade in the garden. Our tallest sunflower is over twelve feet tall now and the vegetables are appreciating the shade it’s sunflower and morning glory buddies provide. The morning glories are using the sunflower’s strong stocks to climb up and show off their beautiful flowers.
Container gardening becomes a challenge during the heat of the summer. Just because a plant is said to like “full sun” does not mean that it can handle the desert’s “full sun”. Full sun is normally defined as 6 to 8 hours of sunlight per day, so find an area that has at least six hours of sunlight in the summer, but no more than eight and you should have great results with your full sun plants. Container soil dries at different rates depending on the material of the container, size of drainage holes, etc. If you see problems with your container plants such as wilting or yellowing leaves, we recommend experimenting with how quickly the soil dries out in the container to assure that plants do not have prolonged periods of dryness or become sodden for extended periods if drainage holes are not present or insufficient to promote drainage. Prolonged periods of sodden roots introduce root rot, but insufficient water will kill the plant just as surely. A soil moisture meter may be a huge help.
Unforeseen delays have postponed work from commencing on the Herbal Zen Garden. In the meantime, we are continuing our crowdfunding campaign to complete the unfunded pieces. You can donate using the link below. At this link, you can see the plans, donate for specific items or to give a general donation https://www.holisticdivineinnovations.org/crowd-funding.
If you are interested in contributing or volunteer opportunities, you can email us at communitygarden.ridgecrest@gmail.com. If you are a subscriber and would like to see your bed featured in a future newsletter, along with an interview on your “why” for gardening, please send a message via Facebook messenger to Ridgecrest Community Garden.
Zen out, Ridgecrest 😊