Plant A Row For The Hungry: Tomato Plant Lasagna

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Tomato Plant Lasagna

Hi Team!

Bill's Saturday's Team mulched about 2/3's of the tomatoes using 4 sheets of newspapers under 2 cubic yards of compost. They spread grass clippings among the onions. The tomato rows sure look pretty!

Bill and I discussed utilizing the area where the lettuce is. I figure within two weeks we'll have the lettuce harvested. My thinking is we can start right away planting more squash or get the eggplants in next to the lettuce row and get a jump start on the them. Of course we haven't got the rest of plot 562 tilled yet and with more rain scheduled for tonight, we might be delayed some more and we haven't even started on plot 352,across the road, yet.
Please give me some feedback on the idea of planting by the lettuce and should we put in more squash or put in the eggplant. I have the eggplant in my backyard or I can get the squash from Bonnie's.

Jeff, I would like your Monday's to finish mulching the tomatoes. Please ask them to bring newspaper (we ran out Saturday) and buckets to move the compost. Also, for all teams, and this will be continous throughout the season, if they're able, to bring bags of grass clippings from lawns that have not been sprayed with herbicides recently.

You know those plastic bags from the grocery stores that the green people are complaining about? We can use them to transport the harvest to the Food Bank. So, ask your teams to save them up for us and we can get least one more use out of them.

Happy Mother's Day!
Tom

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Plant A Row for the Hungry

Plant-A-Row for the Hungry (PAR) was started in 2005 with the objective of providing fresh, wholesome produce to the Memphis Area Food Bank. This is one of the premier projects of the Memphis Area Master Gardeners Association (MAMG). Master Gardeners provide the manpower and funding of this worthwhile endeavor at the Shelby Farms community gardens.

Four Master Gardeners, Bill Colvard, Al Cook, Gene Mangiante and Tom Mashour donated their plots that they have in their names to the PAR project.

Last year, 2007, with four teams of volunteers, Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, each team working 2 hours in the morning,on a little less than 7500 Sq. Ft. of land, raised and delivered to the Food Bank, nearly 8,000 lbs (4 tons) of fresh produce. Within 1 hour of harvesting, the produce arrived at the Food Bank.

We met with Susan Sanford, the Director of Food Bank, in late fall to plan the following year's garden. We want her input as to what the Food Bank can use the following year. Last year we planted and harvested, in varying quantities, broccoli, cabbage, red and white potatoes, beets, tomatoes, squash, beans, okra, cucumbers, eggplant and sweet potatoes. This year, we will be adding additional items like bell, sweet banana and jalapeno peppers, romaine lettuce and various varieties of tomatoes and other previously grown items, researching which variety will do best at PAR.

We have received support from companies in our community. Hall's Garden Supply has provided us with lime, fertilizer, and various seeds. The Memphis Botanic Garden gave to us tomato pepper and eggplant seedlings. Mulch Works is donating cubic yards of finish compost. Bonnie Nurseries has volunteered to provide us with all the plants we need from their inventory.

Though the needed rain has set us our timetable back, we still feel that we will have a great year, now that we have about 10,000 sq. ft. to work with.

If you would like to communicate to any member of PAR, please leave you questions/comments here.

Plant A Row For The Hungry

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Tomato Plant Lasagna

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Plant A Row for the Hungry

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