April 2025

Hello Community Gardeners!

If you are receiving this email then you have either volunteered with us in the past, would like to volunteer in the future, or are just interested in the goings-on at the Ridgewood Community Garden. Either way, welcome to the April 2024 RCG newsletter. Below you will find our garden dates for April, information on volunteering, and some upcoming events.

April is the time in zone 7b (our growing zone) when things really get going in the garden and we get to put our hands back in the soil. With our last frost in the first week of April, we are able to start sowing cold tolerant veggies like our spring greens, peas, radishes, and potatoes that all thrive during spring’s cool nights and warm days. The crocus in the garden bloomed in the third week of March and we are already seeing the first green sprouts of many of our perennial flowers popping up alongside those reliable spring tulips, and a few pesky weeds also. This month, we can expect to see the apple trees and strawberries blossom, and we will harvest our first sprigs of asparagus.

During open hours this month we will focus on repairing and replenishing our raised beds after many months of winter wear. We will fertilize the trees in the orchard, spread cover crop on our ground plots, and incorporate compost into our raised beds. We will also spend time cutting back old stems in our ground beds and pulling the first of the spring weeds while we make way for new growth. We welcome you back to the garden this month and hope to see you on a Sunday morning soon!

Ridgewood Community Garden is open to all levels of gardeners whether you come once a season, once a month, or every week, we welcome you to the garden and to share in our community! There is no need to become a member to participate in what we’re doing at the garden.

UPCOMING GARDENING DATES

Hours TBD. Always check our Instagram or Facebook for weather updates and exact hours.

Sunday March 30th - Bed repairs/Soil refreshing: Rain predicted, but weather permitting we will work on repairing loose or rotting boards in our raised beds. All beds will get fresh compost and fertilizer incorporated so they are ready for plantings. Fertilizing the orchard and asparagus.

Sunday April 6th - Bed repairs/Potato and cool weather vegetable Planting. Continue repairing damaged beds, uncover strawberries and fertilize, fertilize berry patch and hydrangeas, plant potatoes and cool weather veggies. Clean up and weed flower beds.

Sunday April 13th - Spring Cleaning/Trellis building. General clean up in the garden for ground plots, flower beds, and misc. tasks. Installation of arch trellis.

Sunday April 20th - Earth Day at the garden. Composting workshop. Volunteers will learn about the process of composting, from kitchen scraps to finished compost.

Sunday April 27th - TBD

BECOMING A RCG MEMBER

If you are interested in fulfilling the requirements for becoming a member this season, or completed the requirements last season, please let us know via email or at open hours and we can send you the full list of requirements. Please consider that membership requires a minimum commitment of 30 hours a season (March-December), participation in monthly meetings, and yearly dues. If this sounds like too much, all are always welcome as volunteers!

If you would like to be more involved, but can’t become a member, consider joining one of our working groups: the Social Media Team, Watering Team, Compost Crew, Event Planning Group, and Design & Build Team. Joining a committee is a way to get more involved at the garden during and outside of our open hours without necessarily becoming a full member and is something we are trying to get up and running this summer. The best way to get more involved is to come to open hours and learn more, or join our Discord.

LOVE VOLUNTEERING WITH US? JOIN OUR OPEN COLLECTIVE TO BECOME A SUPPORTER!