Starting Seeds for Fall, Yay!

New babies a'comin' in the garden

Silently sleeping seeds soak in Alabama's soil. Soon, bird song and sun shine shall stir surprises within... so shoots and roots will slip and slither simultaneously deep towards earth's heart-center, and high by sky's face.

UA Students and alumni gathered this morning in the organic garden to clear the beds and rows of all the plants that are in the wrong place at the wrong time (also known as weeds).

We left the oregano, tomatoes, chives, and peppers to jive, but introduced the garden to broccoli, mustard green, collard, chard, rainbow chard, turnip, radish, onion, okra, kohlrabi, and pumpkin.














photo taken march 2009. Beth Hataway holding seeds for the Spring community garden at the Arboretum



All of the newcomers (except the pumpkins) are starting from seed today. Kids planted pumpkins while participating in a weekend children's garden workshop at the arboretum. The pumpkins in the children's garden had to be thinned, so we gladly transplanted some of the seedlings into the Community Organic Garden.






The Fall batch of tomatoes are getting bigger, but some have rough/dry marks on them; student volunteers are researching possible causes of the observed symptoms and will report their findings.

photo taken summer 2009, green tomato




This weekend, we'll need to work together to:
-integrate some compost into the soil
-plant winter squash
-Collect recycled newspaper from the UA libraries for mulching
-Collect pine straw from the arboretum for mulching
-mulch the garden rows and beds











photo taken Spring 2009, mulching with recycled newspaper from the University of Alabama libraries
















photo taken Spring 2009, rows are mulched over with pine-straw and drip irrigation system is installed. carrots grow in the foreground with melons and mustard greens in the background


MARK YOUR CALENDAR:

The pumpkin patch will be wonderfully festive come the Half-Hundred Celebration on Halloween, when Ultra Runner Nick Sella will run 50 miles and dedicate all pledges to the Friends of the Arboretum! All are invited to partake in this FUN-draising celebration at the arboretum on October 31st. Dress up in wild costume to entertain kids as they trick-or-treat!

Now is the time to dig in! To find out more about how you can contribute to the UA Community Organic Garden, email us with your questions and a tentative schedule of hours/week you are available! See you in the garden ~

Students for Sustainability
sustain@ua.edu