The Garfield Gardener THE NEWSLETTER OF GARFIELD PARK MASTER GARDENER ASSOCIATION
March 2018 Next Meeting
March 14 5:00 p.m. GPMGA Board to meet at Pure in Fountain Square 6:30 p.m. Topic: Selecting and Building Raised Beds for Planting Speaker: Steve Mayer, Purdue Extension—Marion County April 11 Topic: Herbs Speaker: Shirley Ulicni, Master Gardener May 9 June 13 July 11 August 8 September 12 October 10 November 14 December 12
Meetings occur the second Wednesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. at Garfield Park unless otherwise noted. Purdue University is an equal opportunity / equal access / affirmative action university. If you require an accommodation or special assistance to attend these programs due to a disability, please contact Steve Mayer at 317.275.9290. Some accommodations may require 2 weeks notice. Newsletter Editor: Oren Cooley pastpfct@aol.com Learn more at: www.IndyGPMGA.com
President’s Letter Greeting Gardeners, The first day of spring is March 20th and it’s just around the corner. Hopefully, everyone was able to attend the Spring Garden Clinic in February. This year, Kevin Allison from the Marion County Soil and Water Conservation District of Indianapolis was one of the guest speakers. His workshop was regarding Healthy Soil. We will discuss this topic further at our next Garfield Park MG meeting when Steve Mayer presents the topic of Selecting and Building Raised Beds for Planting. To create the healthy garden, we must first start with the soil. The soil health system aims to mimic nature in the way we grow food. This ecological system incorporates 4 core soil health principles. These 4 principles are Minimize Soil/Ground Disturbance, Maximize Soil Coverage, Maximize Biodiversity within the Soil, and Provide Continuous Living Roots within the Soil. This system can create a recipe for regenerating soil health. Growers will achieve maximum soil health benefits when all 4 principles are in practice. When growers are practitioners of the 4 principles of soil health, there are many positive results. Soil health benefits people and the land. Some of the key improvements can include increased plant health, increased soil organic matter, and enhanced and diversified soil biology as well as reduced weed and pest pressure. Conservation practices are methods growers can use to put the 4 principles into action on the ground. These practices are also often referred to as conservation cropping techniques, conservation farming or soil health management systems. The results of soil health practices can vary based on soils, climate, weed pressure and other factors in the garden. Conservation practices are a suite of strategies that regenerate soil health and can include cover crops, mulching, no-till/low-till and nutrient management as well as native plantings beneficial for insects and pollinators. You can find all of the information listed above at their website at http:// marionswcd.org. All of us can apply these 4 principles when we’re out in our gardens this spring. Hope to see everyone at our March meeting!
—Carrie Alumbaugh GPMGA President