Communication Forum for the Community Garden
Perfect timing! The rainy season is still upon us and due to the excellent work of Alberto and his brother, we now are now able to collect rainwater for the dry season. This project has been in the works for a while, and thanks to them, is finally completed.
It is so hot and rainy in the summer that it is hard on plants and people to be in the garden. There are plants that thrive in this climate that you can grow during the hot, humid summer months.
Easy to germinate and grow, there are many varieties of okra. Cook in soups or eat it raw. Just remember to pick it before it gets too big and tough. Plant heirloom varieties and save the seeds for next summer! Clemson spineless is an reliable heirloom okra.
An easy summer favorite, sweet potatoes do not need a lot of attention. They may take 3 or 4 months depending on the variety. Use lots of compost and fertilize lightly once or twice. Some good choices are Beauregard and Centennial which are vining types of sweet potato.
There are many varieties of spinach vegetables that you can grow in the South Florida heat such as Malabar, sissoo, longevity and Okinawa spinach. Other heat tolerant greens include chaya, katuk, moringa and galanga. These plants need very little care during the hot, humid summer but will provide nutritious food for your summer enjoyment!
Sunn Hemp, black velvet beans and buckwheat are excellent crops to grow to improve your soil and add biomass to areas of your garden that will not be growing plants over the summer. Their benefits include fighting root knot nematodes, fixing nitrogen, and as they are cut and drop crops, they will add organic matter to improve your soil for the next season.
Pictures say a thousand words…here are some photos taken this year in the garden and Food Forest.
Our gardens are full of beautiful plants that we fertilize, water and nurture. Spending time in our gardens also brings our attention to the many living organisms, both large and small, that benefit from our efforts to make plants grow. Birds, bees, and butterflies are the pollinators we love to attract with flowering bushes and nectar plants. There are also earthworms, lizards, beneficial insects – all part of an ecosystem you created in your own backyard!
Since you have created it, go the next step and certify it! By doing so you support the National Wildlife Federation and can be a model for others in your neighborhood. Everyone wants to save the earth, and doing this one thing you can show kindness and respect to the world and the life it holds. More information is included below.
To certify, click on this link: https://www.nwf.org/CERTIFY
For info about Florida Friendly Landscaping, go here: https://ffl.ifas.ufl.edu/about-ffl/landscape-recognition/
Read more: Wildlife Habitat Certification
Join us on March 4th at Riverside Park! You can register at:
https://www.coralsprings.gov/Events-directory/Sustainability-Events/Waterway-Clean-Up
This time of year the garden always looks lovely and the vegetables are being harvested. We will having a volunteer workday on Sunday, February 5th from 9-12. Please join us as we weed, water, mulch and celebrate the garden together!
Sweet potatoes are a great choice for a South Florida garden. They are easy to grow, and both the tuber and the leaves are nutritious. Sweet potatoes are a heat loving vegetable so they are perfect for growing in the hot summer months. Here in South Florida you can grow them year long. They take about 4 months before they are ready to harvest. Once harvested, sweet potatoes need to be cured by resting in a dark place with good air flow. This allows the tuber to develop the sweetness it is known for. Try them, you’ll like them!
A few tips:
1-they grow well in loose organic soil – raised beds are perfect
2-only need 1 inch of water a week – don’t overwater
3-you can fertilize lightly
A huge thanks to all the folks who came to our first work day on Saturday, October 1st. The storm had knocked down a lot of banana trees and a very tall strawberry tree in the Food Forest. We chopped and dragged a lot of debris to the parking lot for pick up. Phew! Hard work! With help from the Rotary and friends we were able to remove the big tree as well. Volunteers also worked in the garden chopping up the black velvet beans and weeding. Most gardeners were able to spend a bit of time working in their boxes to prepare for the garden season. Thanks to all! We love our volunteers!
Three students from Coral Glades High School spent some time in the garden on Labor Day weekend weeding and mulching a section of the Food Forest. They are members of the Save What’s Left Club at the High School. The club is focused on environmental activism and community service through events like beach cleanups, garden maintenance and garbage removal. The club also recycles trash into new items through arts and crafts. Thank you Peyton, Gabby and Ciara for your dedication to our community and for helping out in the garden!
We love our volunteers!
Years ago, a couple of gardeners planted coontie in the pollinator section of the Community Garden. It is the host plant for the Atala butterfly which is a Species of Extreme Concern in Florida. We saw a few last year, but this year we had a population explosion! There were a couple of hundred! Caterpillars ate the coontie until it almost disappeared! The remarkable thing about them is the eggs hatch at the same time, the caterpillars make their cocoons at the same time, and the butterflies emerge with in a few days of each other. It was beautiful to watch them floating in the garden and Food Forest. The Ackee trees were flowering at the time and the Atala butterflies covered the trees for a couple of days.
Rotary Community Garden and Food Forest of Coral Springs 