Thank you to the Kiwanis Club of Silverton for donating two wonderful blueberry plants for our Silverton center. I can't get over how beautiful blueberries are in bloom and the kids are, of course, really excited to have blueberries growing in our garden.
The end of April means that we can really get started planting now, our main limitation at this point will just be space. Beets, carrots, potatoes, herbs, chard, spinach, radishes, lettuce, and edible flowers such as borage and nasturiums are all okay to sow outdoors at this point and we've got them all germinating already.
We have also have master gardeners come to some of our centers to give a presentation on basic gardening for the teachers. I think they went great! Many of the teachers are so enthusiastic about gardening and just had some questions on the basics like when & how to plant and water. This gave them a way to get some questions answered for free, thanks to the Master Gardener Program. Thank you to Elaine Smith of Marion County and Beret Halverson of Clackamas for your wonderful presentations! At these presentations I gave out packets of seeds and little packets of fertilizer I mixed for the teachers. For those who might want to make this organic fertilizer again on your own, here is the blend that I used:
5 parts Alfalfa/Linseed meal
5 parts Soft Rock phosphate
5 parts Mineral Mix (from Naomi's Organic Farm Supply)
4 parts Lime
1 part Kelp meal
I think this is a good basic organic blend that, mixed with some compost and soil, will help anyone get started. If you are really serious about wanting to establish a garden at your home or school I would consider getting a soil analysis to know precisely what nutrients your land will need to be productive. Information on how to take a soil sample and where to get it tested can be found here:
http://smallfarms.oregonstate.edu/soil-testing
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