Connellsville Community Gardens - September Update

September Harvest!
September brought in a vast harvest from the Connellsville Community Gardens. Unfortunately, I wasn’t there for most of the harvesting festivities but I came home to find a mound of brightly colored peppers and squash. The weather in September has turned colder with plenty of rain. Because of the rain, we will soon be pulling the bean plants to dry indoors before we harvest our gorgeous variety of dry beans.
Last weekend, at the Mother Earth News Fair at Seven Springs, I got the chance to thank a few Seed Savers Exchange staff in person for the seed donations! Earlier in the year, I applied for a seed donation through their Herman’s Garden Seed Donation program and it was granted. Because of that, we were able to grow an amazing variety of plants and still have seed left-over as well as seed freshly saved for next year’s gardens. The SSE staff enjoyed hearing about our Bean Bike and Youth Action Crew adventures.
Fall for the Connellsville Community Gardens also means pot-luck time! We are planning a thank-you potluck for all of our garden volunteers as well as the volunteers for our other events. I am looking forward to cooking with the squash, beans, peppers, and herbs we are still harvesting from the Armory plot garden and 3rd St. gardens.
October will be focused on preparing the beds for cold weather. This will mean turning over the existing plants to compost and planting cover crops which will preserve and enhance soil fertility until next year’s planting. We are also beginning to plan garden lay-outs and plant placement for next year! If you would like to be involved in this planning process, learn about saving seeds, or volunteer in the garden next season – e-mail me at sca.maadams@gmail.com!

-Maggie Adams