It’s time to sign up for a garden plot and enjoy all the benefits of growing your own vegetables and flowers. The gardens are located just north of Ahrens Park on Hungary Road and are divided into an organic section and a conventional one.
A pump well provides a water supply. The cost is $5 for a 20-foot by 20-foot plot. No new 20-foot by 40-foot plots will be issued this year until all requests for plots have been met. Last year’s gardeners wishing to reserve the same plots need to make their $5 or $10 payment by May 1. After that date, plots will be assigned to new gardeners. New gardeners interested in reserving a plot should email bluebirds987@sbcglobal.net or call Jim Glenney at 860-653-6179.
The gardens are usually ready for planting by the end of April. If you pay for a plot but fail to get started by June 1, that plot will be given to someone else. Getting started means you have either started planting or cleared your plot of weeds. There are a few common sense rules to follow. Not everyone wants to listen to your radio, keep it low. Don’t plant so close to the pathways that your crop spreads into it making passage more difficult. Help keep the pathways clear. Avoid using cheap weed block; it deteriorates quickly and is difficult to pull up in the fall. It often ends up being chopped up in other plots in the spring. Better options are leaves, grass, straw, newspapers, woodshavings and cardboard. The use of chemicals in conventional gardens is discouraged, but not outlawed.
Make checks payable to Granby Community Gardens and mail them to Jim Glenney, 33 Glen Road, Granby Ct. 06035 All plots need to be cleaned up by the end of the season, usually the end of October. If you are growing a fall crop continue with that, but clean up the rest. Volunteers will be needed to help stake out the plots once the garden has been plowed. We have been fortunate to have a great group of volunteers. Expect a call. Thanks in advance.
Management of the gardens is undergoing a change this season. Stay tuned.