Community Garden Intern

Hello Community Gardeners!

My name is Stephanie Stiglmeier, and I will be the Community Garden intern for 2014. After taking a tour with Jen yesterday and meeting all of the staff, I cannot be more excited to work with ya'll.

A little bit about myself: I come from a German family, and my father's family owns a German sausage factory in Wheeling. I graduated from Glenbrook South in 2012, and I currently attend Mississippi State University as a Horticulture major. I am also a hobbyist beekeeper and an avid outdoors-woman. Some of my areas of interest relating to horticulture are: fruit, nut, and vegetable production; organics & homeopathic medicines; landscape design; land/habitat conservation; sustainability; and plant breeding. Some of my other hobbies and interests include hiking, camping, and spending time with my large family.  

I am very outgoing, personable, and polite; so please feel free to ask any questions! I am here to help ya'll, and I'm also here to learn whatever ya'll can teach me. I have a lot of resources available to me through my university, so if I don't know the answer to one of your questions I can get you the information through those resources.

Looking forward to a productive summer and meeting all of ya'll!


Stephanie Stiglmeier
Community Garden Intern 2014

A few reminders

As more people get into the garden, please keep the following in mind:

1. No walking on someone else's plot or putting your tools or supplies on someone else's plot.
2. Please remind your guests that there is no parking in the circle drive.
3. All trash goes in a trash bin -- not the compost bins, either the wire ones along the side fences or the thick plastic one on the south fence.
4. No string allowed along the walkways. String between plots is fine.
5. Keep your supplies in your plot, not on the walkway.

String along the walkway will get caught by the weed wacker

All things MOWING

With all the rain we've been getting, it's no surprise the grass is growing by leaps and bounds. At this point in the season, we're usually still mowing just once a week in the garden, but with the schedule of rain, and the amount of it, we're already at our twice per week schedule.

So here's what you need to know:

1. The garden is closed on Wednesdays (10-11:30am) and Sundays (9:30-11am) to everyone -- visitors and community gardeners -- for mowing. The garden is closed during those times whether or not you see someone in the garden mowing. If the garden will be open at that time, I'll post it on the blog the night before. Otherwise, no one is allowed in the garden during those times.
2. The garden walkways are mowed and weed-whipped twice a week. Andres, our assistant farmer, is usually the staff handling this chore.
3. To keep things running smoothly, please keep your supplies out of the walkways. Be extra careful with hand tools -- they're easy to lose in the grass. 

We have to be this strict because of our experience in our first year. At that time, we just put out the rule that if mowing was happening, no one could be in the garden. Unfortunately, gardeners habitually ignored that rule, creating safety issues and slowing down the chore. So now we close the garden completely during mowing times.

So why Wednesdays and Sundays? We looked for a schedule that will be even across the week, and one that fit with staffing schedules, day-wise.

So why at those times in the morning? Staff officially begin chores at 9am. The chores include milking and feeding the animals. Once those chores are accomplished, mowing can be started. 

Actually, to get the time on Sunday morning made a little earlier, I've begun doing the milking on Sundays. Come see me handle Lily in the milking parlor!

So why close the garden for 90 minutes when it doesn't take that long to mow/weed whip? Well, we need to keep the schedule with a little wiggle room, in case staff needs to handle an issue or other chores during that time as well.

If you have any questions about mowing and the times the garden is closed, please email or call me.

Mud and puddles and ick, oh my

Yup, you're seeing that right -- we got over 3" of precipitation in the garden this past week. We're going to need some warm, dry weather to get the garden back into planting mode!

If you're interested in seeing how our spring stacks up weather-wise, check out the blog by our state climatologist, Jim Angel. According to Jim, the first half of May was both wetter and warmer on average, with average statewide precipitation 18% above the usual. Check out his blog here. 

During this muddy time, it's probably best to keep off the soil -- your plot and anyone else's plot. 

Let's try this again

Looks like it's going to be a beautiful day today, although it's starting a little chilly. I'm headed out to the garden in an hour to check out the mud -- my guess is it's still pretty wet. (We did, after all, have snow yesterday. It didn't stick, but I watched it come down, mixed with the rain, with awe.)

It's not good for the soil to work with it when it's wet, sadly. I'm waiting at least a few days -- until a fist-full of soil barely clumps in my hand, rather than staying as a ball -- before I work in the demo plot.

If you'd like straw -- let me know, drop off $9.50 for a full bale, $6 for a half, and I'll drop the straw in your plot the following day.

If you'd like a t-shirt -- email or text me the size (Adult S through Adult XL), and I'll put the shirt(s) at the front desk for you. To pick them up, you'll need to drop off $8 per shirt in an envelope with my name on it.