The First Mennonite Church youth group and Karla Stolzus-Detweiler came out to lay mulch paths on Saturday. Thank you so much for all your work. The paths look great, and you did major combat against the weeds. There were also some of Art & Ecology students out constructing trellises and refurbishing the sign, and gardeners mulching beds, a preemptive strike against the weeds.

Iowa Planting Guide

Early Rose Potato, sprouted. photo by Matthias Karlsson

The ISU extension has put out a nice, easy-to-read planting guide, downloadable as a PDF.

Here are some items you can plant right now (mid-April):
beets
broccoli
cabbage transplants
cauliflower
onion sets
spinach
sprouted potatoes
Swiss chard
turnips

Art & Ecology students at the MOCG workday

We are very lucky to have students from Sarah Kanouse's Art and Ecology class at the University of Iowa working on a service learning project at the garden site. Many hands really do make light work, and we are grateful for the energy and time they spent helping tidy up the garden site on April 2nd. The students came out in force and helped rake leaves, trimmed trees back so that we can mow, picked up trash and detritus, and gave us a huge assist with the rabbit fence. They will be designing and installing signage and plantings on the east side of the garden. Stay tuned to see the results of their work.

Spring Kick-off Meet'n'Greet this Saturday (4/9)

Do you like to dig in the dirt? Grow flowers? Eat vegetables? Meet new people?
You can do all that, right here in our neighborhood. Come find out more.


MOCG Meet'n'Greet
Saturday, April 9th, 1-3 p.m. (raindate 4/16)
815 Orchard St. (located on the lot next to Dental Ceramics)

This is a great time to scope out the garden site, meet some of the current gardeners, and sign up for a plot ($10 for a 10'x10' plot). We will also have a brief demonstration on how to make a very easy raised keyhole garden bed.

Next events: 4/14 Roosevelt Family night, plant starters, 4/30 seed and starter swap.