WELCOME
The Larkspur California Community Garden provides Larkspur residents space in 73 small garden plots, a tool shed, a compost area and a communal orchard. This Organic garden,
located in Piper Park was established in 1982.
If you are interested in joining the garden community and if you live in Larkspur or Greenbrae, contact and sign up with the Larkspur Recreation Department.
See the Contact Us page for details.
The Larkspur California Community Garden provides Larkspur residents space in 73 small garden plots, a tool shed, a compost area and a communal orchard. This Organic garden,
located in Piper Park was established in 1982.
If you are interested in joining the garden community and if you live in Larkspur or Greenbrae, contact and sign up with the Larkspur Recreation Department.
See the Contact Us page for details.
Greeting Gardeners! September, 2021
Our Community in action is very apparent.
Everywhere you turn in our garden, you meet someone who is lending a hand with a special garden need or in helping another gardener with watering, just sharing a story or holding open the front gate for another with a wheelbarrow.
We like each other and it shows.
It also shows in your lush and bountiful gardens and your generous amounts of donations to our Food Bank for those in need.
I thank all of you who have already helped in so many ways this year as Rose Committee enthusiasts, Color gardeners, Orchard helpers, Food Bank deliverers, Food Bank Garden caretakers, Compost volunteers, tool - garden painters, weekly weeders and waterers.
For the first time, in 39 years, we have been able to get ahead of some Fall clean-up maintenance tasks with your continued efforts throughout the year
Please notice how good your Community garden looks.
Yet, the question remains….What about our Garden Workday ?
We have all been hoping that this year would bring us back to a more normal, in person, garden meeting, workday with potluck..
Yet, once more, Covid protocols, have us continuing what we did last year.
Here is the plan:
Instead of a Workday, we are again setting aside a clearly defined Garden Work Time (GWT) in which all garden projects will be completed. (As always, all gardeners are expected to participate per Garden Rule # 4).
Our GWT will begin Saturday, September 18th and end Saturday,October 23th.
This allows time for each gardener to help and be a part of our community and yet maintain safety protocols and social distancing.
How it works:
Just as at our Garden Workday meetings during normal times, each gardener volunteers for a task. This year is similar yet slightly different:
Each gardener is invited to choose an area of participation.
Each gardener is responsible for contacting an Area Coordinator to be assigned a specific task. (see below)
Each gardener is also responsible for reporting to the Area Coordinator once the task is completed.
The Area Coordinator will assist by communicating, to each volunteer, the specific task to be done.
This can be done by email, text, telephone or in person. Which ever is most effective in each case.
Please ask any questions so there will be no misunderstandings.
Each Area Coordinator has a limited number of available openings.
Once these are filled they can not take any additional help. First come / first served. If your chosen area has no slots left, you will need to choose a different area.
The sooner everything gets done, the better. Please don’t wait until the last minute.
If by October 9th, you have not chosen a task, one will be assigned to you.
Garden Tasks Area Coordinators:
Orchard. Katherine Jones - winter pruning, Orchard care guidance available.
Compost. Paul DaSilva - all things compost. Please apply.
West side fence. Stephen Conner - special instuctions required.
Maple (Fig) Tree Garden. Margaret Conner - deadhead and prune as needed. Inquire within.
Food Bank gardens Pat Burns - one-time end of season clean-up.
Tool Shed Stephen Conner - needs one-time clean-up. Ask for details.
Tool- garden Painters Stephen Conner - request specific directions.
Rose Committee Jill Hutchinson - could use 2-3 additional volunteers to help on an ongoing basis.
Front Gardens Stephen Conner - deadhead and clean-up.- be sure to wear gloves.
During these five weeks of Garden Work Time (GWT), all gardeners are also required to complete these FOUR tasks within their own gardens:
1- Weed both your garden and aisles and keep all plants in your borders - (and, if desired, take this opportunity to do that postponed garden overhaul - to renew your garden design, feed your soil and plant a September/Fall garden).
2- Check for faucet leaks and any damage to wooden hose posts and borders and report needed repairs to your Garden Coordinator. (Repairs done by Public Works. (We replace our broken hoses).
3- Disconnect all watering systems from no later than October 22. (to avoid freezing problems during the winter. Any remaining plants can now be hand watered.)
4-Harvest and REMOVE all remaining TOMATO PLANTS. 🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅
(garden rule #4 a. "In order to prevent any widespread tomato disease within our Community Garden, and for the good of the entire garden, It is necessary and required of all gardeners to harvest and remove all tomato plants from their gardens prior to the Fall Workday gathering.” — This year, no later than October 22, 2021.
Tomatoes ripen at night when warm. The nights turn colder after October. Plants left in the garden are forgotten and will attract over-wintering diseases, insects, and rats to your garden.
There are always green tomatoes left on the vine in the fall. Don’t panic. Your tomato plants aren’t meant to last forever, so be thankful for the crop you've gotten.
Some tomatoes will ripen at home. Green fried tomatoes are delicious. Please place all tomato debris in dumpster, - not in the compost.
Color Gardeners,-please include winterizing of your Color Garden as an additional responsibility.
Thank you in advance:
Your monetary donations have allowed us to buy needed paint, brushes, hose washers, straw, wheelbarrow wheels and tools.
If you would still like to donate this year, you can see me in person, or if you prefer, cash or check in an envelope, with my name on it--left in our garden mailbox (notify me by email).
All donations are welcome and greatly appreciated.
If you will be leaving our garden community, we "Thank you for ‘growing' with us.”
Please return the garden to us in the same way you received it, even better.
Completely clean your plot of everything, all weeds, all plants, stepping stones, tomato cages, wood, debris, etc... You may either accomplish this yourself or pay someone to complete it before you leave.
Do not leave anything in the tool shed. (Garden rule #3)
Thank you to everyone for making our garden look so beautiful and for helping us build our Community..
Call if you have questions.
See you in the garden,
Stephen
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GreetingS Gardeners! January 10, 2021
Welcome to our 39th year of organic growing at The Larkspur Community Garden.
We hope you are well and safe at this time.
I am writing to let you know that access to the Community Garden is still approved during the COVID-19 event with these stipulations to all of our gardeners:
1. Gardeners may use the garden at their own risk.
2. All who come to the Community Garden need to Wear a Mask.
3. Please bring disinfectant wipes/hand sanitizer. Please use on your hands after entry/exit and after using Community Garden tools. Please continue to take appropriate precautions.
4. Please maintain social distance. Say “Hello” to each other and be safe.
5. Please only bring members of your family to the garden. Please don’t bring friends or neighbors.
6. Please be patient and kind. Folks may be a bit on edge. It’s going to be weird out there for a bit longer and we all need to take care of ourselves and each other.
Enjoy getting your hands into the soil and tend your Garden plot.
We look forward to seeing you.
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This year our focus will again be to keep plants within our garden borders. (alyssum, calendula, nasturtium, artichoke, zucchini, vines, roses, zinnias, geraniums, etc..) Realize how large your plants will grow and plant them accordingly. If they are planted too close to the garden’s edge they will grow over the border. *** If needed, transplant them further into your garden so you won’t have to keep cutting them back just as they grow and start to look good. Give them a wide berth to grow. Both they and you will be happier.
Please use this time to keep your aisles “weed-free”.
Remember to organically feed the soil. Use deep mulch so you rarely need to water or weed.
Check and report any faucet leaks and any damage to hose posts and wooden borders.
Thank you to everyone for making our garden look so beautiful.
See you in the Garden!
Stephen Conner, Coordinator, Larkspur Community garden
At this time visitors, friends or neighbors are not allowed to tour the garden. Only gardeners and members of their immediate families.
Organic gardeners feed the soil and not the plant.
The soil serves as the reservoir for water and the vital nutrients that the plant requires for growth.
In an Organic garden the soil is the foundation of a healthy eco system.
The soil serves as the reservoir for water and the vital nutrients that the plant requires for growth.
In an Organic garden the soil is the foundation of a healthy eco system.
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"BARE- BONES-MINIMUM" OF GARDEN PARTICIPATION
The Larkspur Community garden is a community of gardeners who grow organically.
Good stewardship is a requirement for every single garden.
The following is a list of the bare-bone minimum of garden participation.
: should not reseed or spread
The Larkspur Community garden is a community of gardeners who grow organically.
Good stewardship is a requirement for every single garden.
The following is a list of the bare-bone minimum of garden participation.
- Every gardener has the responsibility of preparing their garden plot for Spring planting and again for Winter clean-up; and the weeding of their aisles prior to our March and October workday gathering.
- As a gardener you need to show that you are making some sort of an effort to be present at your garden and cultivate and care for your plants."Failure to care for your plot will result in termination of your lease."
- A garden plot: needs to be developed and used.
- Regular garden maintenance is necessary.
- Weeds need to be kept in check.
- Weeds : should not choke other plants
: should not reseed or spread
- Invasive plants require vigilant maintenance
- Unchecked plants are offensive, dangerous and a nuisance to everyone else.
- You need to be concerned about everyone else.
- You don't own your garden plot, you just lease it with the understanding that it will be gardened, used, weeded, pruned as necessary, watered and cared for, (hopefully with loving hearts, hands and enthusiasm). The appearance of your garden effects the community.
- It is not fair not to use it. We have a waiting list of hopeful gardeners who want your plot.
- We strive together to grow as community as we continue to enjoy our garden as much as we can. We all can creatively grow organically, therapeutically reduce stress and renew ourselves through recreation in the soil. We endeavor to do this more easily together than alone and share more abundantly as community than as individuals.
