Greetings! I am the new community garden intern at ECHO Florida! I am super excited to learn more about community gardens, but before I really make changes in our demonstration area here in Fort Myers, I would love to hear from the community about what community gardening practices are working well!
I am interested in making our garden here more productive, with higher yield on the same amount of space. What practices are worth demonstrating here for consulting and educational purposes?
Hi Sarah, welcome to ECHO, I am Bonnie Jean Clancy an ECHO docent and I work with community gardens in Fort Myers; would love to sit down and talk.
Lauren has done a Wonderful job with the community garden site in her internship; I especially like the sensory garden which inspires kids and the colorful signs. Let’s get together
Hello Sarah,
I work with Hope United in developing a small garden at La Mer Frappee, Haiti that helps with the feeding program for the school children and staff. On my last visit to La Mer Frappee I did a soil test and found that the pH is off the chart too high. Some crops tolerate the high pH, okra, epinards, beans. In the absence of sulphur, I have recommended using a lot of compost. I think this will work but I have not yet gotten everyone involved on board.
I think in general, the use of a lot of compost added to the soil will increase vegetable production. I am interested to hear what you find out.
Jim Weber