We had a great time with all our friends who stopped by ACE Hardware (at Oak Hill) this weekend -- thank you Anne and Dan for inviting us to be at your annual garden party! And it was great to share a table with the Scarborough Garden Club and the Cumberland County Master Gardeners. We gave a way a lot of seeds, soil test kits, and some planting advice, too!

Spring snow on our newly planted spinach!  No worries...it's a hardy early crop!

It's time to ready the garden for the coming season of planting and harvesting!

Jane and Becky are all smiles as Dennis from Jordan's Farm drops a dump truck's worth of rich organic compost in front of the garden. Now we have to shift and spread it. Can you help?

Helping hands are needed at the Community Garden on Saturday, April 23rd to shovel and spread compost, set cold crop seedlings into the ground (lettuce, chard, etc.), and make plant markers (fun for kids!). Meet at the garden at St. Nick's at 9:30. Bring gloves, shovels and sturdy rakes. This will be the second growing season for the Community Garden which grows organic veggies and herbs for the food pantry. 

Today Dennis from Jordan's Farm delivered 6 yards of organic compost "surf & turf" which is locally produced. This, along with the soil amendments put in last fall, will set us up for a great growing season. A few days earlier Chris roto-tilled the seaweed and shredded leaves which were put on as we put the garden to bed last fall. Look what he found: a beet and a carrot! And Jane spied the first garlic scapes coming through.

There is another community garden sprouting in Scarborough! At the "Garden of Eaten" (located at St. Max on the Black Point Road), there are eight large raised beds (10' X 12') and 50 kiddie plots (2' X 4') available for parishioners at St. Maximilian Kolbe, St. John & Holy Cross, and St. Bartholomew. One plot will also be set aside for growing produce for the South Portland Food Cupboard and/or Scarborough Food Pantry. >>Learn more here... 

We are looking for a few helping hands for two workdays at two community garden locations, one at St. Max and one at St. Nick's: 

  WHEN:     8:30 a.m. Saturday, April 2nd 
  WHERE:  St. Max, 150 Black Point Road (Directions)
  BRING:     shovel, gloves, water  (if you can, a wheelbarrow is also helpful!) 


  WHEN:      9:30 a.m. Saturday, April 23rd  
  WHERE:   St. Nick's, 350 US Route One (Directions) 
  BRING:      shovel, gloves, water

Both events are rain or shine. Both will be moving lots of compost/earth into the gardens to help ready them for the growing season ahead. Pictured here: the new garden at St. Max!