Meridian Co-Op Gardeners-KLEINER PARK

03/21/2025

We were happy to see our rhubarb plants coming back to life. They are heavy feeders and require a large amount of nutrients from the soil to produce their large leaves and delicious stalks. In the spring we side dress each plant with compost to help them thrive.

03/20/2025

Happy First Day of Spring!

Today we were helping Treasure Valley Community Gardening Cooperative and Snake River Seeds by dropping off to the Cherry Lane and Pinnacle Libraries in Meridian. Each library received a box of about 100 seed packets. Snake River donates thousands of packets to nonprofit schools and community gardens, seed libraries and so much more. “They hope these seeds will help support the lives of those in need and share the joy and history that their seeds hold.”

Wendy at Cherry Lane let us take her picture with the card catalog that holds their seed library. Scott and Brittany shared their set up. Everyone was excited for the seed donations. Be sure to check out these seed libraries. Take what you can use, donate seeds if you have extras.
Let’s grow more food this gardening season!

03/20/2025

I love a great single page pdf that has needed information in one place. Here is one for optimum air and soil temperatures when planting vegetable seeds.

03/20/2025

How are your pepper babies doing? We have hundreds growing for the community garden. Most are putting on their first and second set of true leaves. We are excited about the colors and varieties we are growing this year. Do you have a favorite or unusual pepper that you are growing?

There is still plenty of time to start pepper seeds inside under lights and on a heat mat.

03/18/2025

We had some great help today knocking out early projects. We planted spinach, arugula and lettuce in newly amended raised beds. We had JPH Tree Services helping with the fruit trees. A few gardeners helped with adding trellis panels between the arches, cleaning up in the pollinator garden, and general clean up. Ada County Sheriffs Detail helped with weeding and moved compost and rocks for us.

03/18/2025

It was time to unwrap the dahlias. We hope to have them eye up and start growing so we can pot them up before planting them in the garden. We have better luck waking up the dahlias early in hopes of having earlier blooms. Quite a few have already eyed up.

In the fall after digging up the dahlias tubers and dividing them we wrapped most in plastic wrap. These were stored in plastic totes in an unheated garage on an inside wall. The hope is to keep them between 40-50°F for about 5 months. This winter was a mild enough without too many extreme temperatures (too cold or too warm). We were pleased with about a 90% success rate. The ones that had rotted probably were not dry enough when wrapped in the fall. We also stored some in cedar shavings and were about 50% successful. Half were shriveled up (too dry) and the other half just fine. Storing dahlias is one of the biggest challenge dahlia growers have.

03/17/2025

There is still plenty of time to plant seeds indoors. Keep checking your favorite planting guide. We are about 8 weeks out from the average last frost date. Today I planted a tray of Prized Pac Choi and some absolutely gorgeous looking Italian Red of Florence bunching scallions.

03/17/2025

The root systems of the soil blocked plants are incredibly long and healthy. Plsnts do not become root bound in soil blocks. I also tried a handful of air pruning six packs for potting up along with larger blocks. I find the 3/4” mini soil blocks are great for germinating alot of seeds in a small space. We do use traditional cell trays for seeds like tomatoes, peppers and eggplant because of the different varieties that we grow.

03/16/2025

The City of Boise and Boise State would appreciate your participation.

The City of Boise and Boise State are partnering to learn more about Community Gardens in our area. Please share the survey linked here, and share widely!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdi8WxLLmsU4MdM6x0ywSptDNdixBwVcb0-1yoxrMbjcZFSmw/viewform

The survey is open all: those that already utilize a community garden, and those who do not. The survey should take about 5 minutes to complete and will be open through March 25th.
The results will help drive action in our community.
Thank you for your participation!

03/16/2025

Seed libraries at the Cherry Lane and Pinnacle Libraries in Meridian will be open on March 20th. The Eagle Library in Eagle, and the Hillcrest Library in Boise also have seed libraries. We have a little free book library at the Kleiner Park garden which also has seeds.
We have given away more than 500 packets of seeds in the last month.
These are a great way to find seeds for your garden and a place to share seeds you might have but won’t be using.

Please note, most seed packets have more seeds than a small garden needs. Most of these seeds can be saved for another year or two if stored properly.

03/16/2025

It’s time to start thinking about pruning your raspberries and blackberries. I worked on the blackberries at my house last week. Pruning not only helps keep the plants healthy but hopefully gives a bumper crop. It’s important to use clean and sharp tools. I learned to do this clean up pruning from a friend who grew them to sell. I like doing it in the spring although some people will do it at the end of the summer and then just prune the long tips off in the spring.

Blackberries only produce fruit on canes that are two years old, so once a cane has produced berries, it will never produce berries again. Cutting these spent canes off the blackberry bush will encourage the plant to produce more first year canes. Before and after pictures. Once finished I added some vermicompost for fertilizer.

Here is a great video from Laura and Garden Answer.

03/15/2025

March winter sowing efforts have been completed with the addition of 11 more jugs, containing parsley, chives, rhubarb, lettuce, shiso, spinach mustard, lemon balm, and clary sage. Jugs planted earlier have already begun germinating. Pac choi, shown in the picture, will be one of the first things planted in the garden next month. Other jugs germinating include marigolds, kohlrabi, Maltese cross, and kale.

03/14/2025

According to the USDA Economic Research Service Nov. 2024 and Civil Eats Sept. 2024 there are many reasons people are considering community gardens.

“For many households in our area, food is the second-highest monthly bill. Demand for food assistance in parts of US has doubled after Covid-19. Food pantries in the U.S. are stretched to the limits. Inflation and a cut in SNAP benefits have led more to seek assistance. According to Feeding America the food insecurity rate in Ada County is 9.1%, or 36,850 food insecure people. Not everyone has access to space to grow their own food, or the time to cultivate a full garden. Community gardens can be part of filling the gap.”

The Kleiner Park Community Garden currently has a full roster, but we are hapoy to add your name to our waiting list. There is now a garden at Discovery Park that is hoping to fill their roster. They have a membership meeting coming up on
March 22 at 12:30 pm at the Pinnacle Library.

There are a handful of other gardens throughout the Treasure Valley. Im happy to help connect you with one that might be a good fit. See links in the comments.

03/14/2025

The potato questions are starting to show up. The type of potato you choose to grow (early, mid-season or late) will affect when you need to plant it, and how long it will take to grow. In Idaho you need to purchase seed potatoes that have been certified disease free. Many start planting mid-March (through mid May) if the ground is workable and not too wet. Consistent soil temperatures of 40°F and above are best for potato growth. Current soil temps are around 40-50°F depending on time of day.

One year we planted chitted potatoes out early (mid March). We had a cold and wet spring that year and those potato pieces froze and rotted (we couldn’t find any sign of them). We hope to be planting out our potatoes early April. Fun fact: a few years ago we planted small blue fingerling potatoes in July that were harvested in October. They did great.

03/14/2025

March, although still chilly, is really the BIG beginning month of the gardening year. This is the month that seed starting ramps up in earnest. There are seeds to sow inside and outside. It’s also time to bring dahlia tubers out of storage and start waking them up.

This next week we are starting tomatoes, tomatillos, pac choi, bittermelon, and zinnias. These will be seeded indoors in trays, placed on heat mats and under lights. Also, we will direct sow zinnias into the garden in May. Outside next week, a few of us will begin preparing beds for planting by raking and leveling as needed. We hope to direct sow arugula, kale, lettuce, and spinach.

03/13/2025

Just a reminder.

Swing by and see us in the next couple days! Lots of succulents and house plants that have a little more growth since we had to reschedule from snow in February 🌿