Raytown Community Garden

Hello everyone!

Raytown Community Garden is planning for next spring, and with the expanding project we’re going to need a bigger team. We’re looking for one or two people to invest some time along with us in this community project. No gardening experience is required, only an interest in sustainable living, local eating, and community. There are just a few, simple requirements:

• minimum one year commitment

• available one Saturday morning/afternoon a month

• willing to drive to Raytown

• commitment of 6-8 hours a week

Even though we will need a serious commitment, this project is fun and super laid-back. Aside from actual hands-on garden work, you’ll be a part of making decisions about the garden, helping plan events, and coordinating activities. Here are just a few benefits:

• free organic veggies

• learning about sustainable living and growing

• opportunities to teach classes on a variety of subjects

• meeting people within the local food community

• learning the fundamentals of how to start and maintain a community garden

• great resumé addition

If you’re interested, email us at raytowncommunitygarden@gmail.com. Thanks!

Diana, Rachel and Megan

it’s been almost two months since the last blog update (bad!) and local growers and eaters are seeing and feeling the end of the summer season. for raytown community garden, we’re jotting notes of all we learned in this first year and what we’ll definitely do differently next year. for starters, we’re switching up the format of the garden. instead of being member-based, we’re shifting our emphasis to teaching classes and offering consultations to people who want to start gardens in their own yards. (we’ll have more updates on that later.)
but, as always, it’s the little things that make a difference. here are a few mistakes we made — those who are planning on starting their own gardens, take note!

1. trellis, trellis, trellis!
this year, we had neither the resources nor the foresight to plan trellising for the tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and squash. our squash plants ended up being, well, a little too healthy, and we ended up with a squash jungle, rapidly taking over, weaving its curlicue tentacles onto the vines of our cucumbers, peeking its spiky fingers all the way to the opposite side of the garden. next year we’ll have a very special, very trellised spot reserved for our butternuts and pattypans.

2. find an efficient labeling method.
when starting your own seeds, labeling is important (understatement). we knew this, but we didn’t know that the rain would wash off the plastic labels of almost all our seedlings, leaving us to continually ask, “brussel sprout or broccoli?” while planting. trying to upgrade, we switched to popsicle sticks and permanent marker, but rain, watering, and soil eroded the wood, resulting in the same problem. with your home garden, it may not be such a huge problem — it could even be fun harvesting your mystery plants — but when trying to seed save and sell produce, knowing varieties is pretty crucial.

3. keep up with planting dates.
uh, this one seems pretty obvious. but our mantra of, “we have plenty of time to get those beet seeds in!” quickly caught up with us. make a calendar, and mark definite deadlines of what needs to be in the ground and when. organization!

pattypan & pumpkin

sweet potato plants

corn & squash

grasshopper friend

jungle+weed patch=future food forest

for a few weeks, we attempted to have a small farm stand on-site, but we didn’t have the bountiful produce or the draw to make it worthwhile to keep it up. next spring we’ll be selling produce at a farmer’s market, yet to be determined, so we’ll keep everyone updated on that.

It’s been over a month since we last posted pictures, and things have changed quite dramatically! We now have a vegetable-bearing jungle on our hands and it’s been pretty exciting to see the jumanji-like transformation. Thanks to Diana for the lovely photos taken at our work day last saturday.

harvest!

harvested cabbage

monster squash plants

I just got back from seeing Food Inc., a really insightful look into our national and global food system and why being in control of what we eat is so important. Essentially, it explains our motivation behind starting a project like Raytown Community Garden. If you have the time, please go see it! It’s playing at the Tivoli and the Leawood Theater.

Also, this Saturday, Raytown Community Garden will be at the Raw Bliss Fest. This is going to be big and a lot of fun. You can find more info about it here. Hope to see you there!