Garden Work Days

 It is time to get our Community Garden ready for the growing season. We have two volunteer workdays scheduled each month. Please join us! While we work, Sarah or other gardeners, can answer your gardening questions and offer suggestions about what to plant and do in your own gardens. 

March 24, 10:00 - 12:00 We will work on weeding common areas/paths and clearing out abandoned garden plots for new gardeners. 

April 13, 10:00 - 12:00 We will work on getting the harvest donation garden plots ready for planting and work on weeding paths. 

April 27, 10:00 Garden Kick-Off Party! Come celebrate the garden and get ready for summer gardening. Everyone is invited. We will have refreshments, a plant and seed giveaway, and Sarah will give a short talk on how to set your garden up for success and then allow lots of time to answer your gardening questions. 

Other workdays this spring into summer will be spent spreading wood chips on our paths and replacing rotten wood plot edging. Check back for updates. 

NOTE: Workdays will be postponed if there is steady rain, the ground is frozen, or if there is extreme heat or poor air quality. Please dress for the weather and wear sturdy closed-toe shoes. 

Summer dreaming!

Spring will be here in a few months; it is time to plan for your garden!

 Registration for garden plots is open! If you live in the Hector Campbell Neighborhood, or in another Milwaukie neighborhood and want to garden with us, please go to our Rent a Garden Page and fill out the registration form. 

Check out or Calendar Page for dates of upcoming workdays (starting in February) for opportunities to volunteer. And save the date for our Garden Kick-Off Party on April 27th. 

Look what you can grow in a community garden!

Getting ready for spring!

 Spring is just around the corner! It is time to start planning for the growing season. Registration for the 2023 growing season is open, go to the Rent a Garden page for more information and sign up via the RENT A GARDEN link on that page. Returning gardeners should register by February 1st. We will start assigning plots to new gardeners in mid-February, with preference to gardeners living in the Hector Campbell neighborhood.

Last year the Master Gardeners recorded monthly gardening webinars, the recordings are available here: Growing Oregon Gardeners: Level Up Series 2022
Topics range from seed starting to pest control - lots of great things to learn about over winter. 

Peas and cabbage from a few springs ago

Garden work days will start up in February, we will update the calendar soon. 

We are back!

 After a long time not able to access this website, we've figured out the problem and are getting updates ready to load. Just in time for spring gardening!

Harvesting winter greens and making plans for spring

We are busy harvesting winter greens, sowing seeds for spring, and making plans for summer. The mild winter has worked in our favor, we have already donated 20 pounds of greens and herbs to Esther's Pantry this year!

Radicchio, fennel, and spigarello harvested from the Campbell Community Garden in late February.

FYI: Garden plots are all full for the year, anyone who registers now will be placed on the waiting list.

When can we plant tomatoes?

Will it ever warm up? It is still too cool to plant tomatoes and other warm weather crops outdoors, tomatoes need night time temperatures that are consistently over 50° and soil temperatures over 60° Peppers would like it even warmer!

Until it warms up I recommend moving tomatoes from  4" pots into a gallon sized pots, then to a 2 gallon pot. Setting them in the sun each day (or sheltering them from rain and hail) and moving them inside at night. Once the weather has warmed, dig a deep hole, remove the lower branches and leaves and plant the tomato deeply, allowing the stem/trunk to sprout roots. The video below was taken 4 years ago, since then I've perfected my tomato growing method, now I train them onto a trellis instead of staking them; however you choose to grow them. be sure to use a very sturdy support.

Trellised Tomatoes.
Each plant is pruned to 2 to 3 main stems that are tied to the cattle panel trellis.

Spring Plans

Counting down the days to spring! It is too wet and muddy to do much gardening now, but the weather is great for planning.

We plan to grow 2,000 pounds of herbs, veggies, and greens to give to Esther's Food Pantry this year, so far we have given them 19 pounds of winter squash and cabbage so only 1,981 pounds to go! How do we plan to grow that much? By planning what and when we grow it. Our goal is to have another crop ready to plant as soon as an earlier crop declines. As our overwintering kale and cabbage is harvested we are planting snap peas and after snap peas we will plant pole beans and cucumbers, then we will cover that plot with plastic covered hoops and grow lettuce, chard, and carrots over the fall and winter.

This is the first year that the garden doesn't have a big project in the year's plan. We just finished hooking up our rainwater harvesting tank and our perennial herb garden was completed last fall. This years plans include building a trellis to shade our classroom/bench area, and acquire a pop-up canopy to shelter volunteers from sun and rain during volunteer and educational events.

This tank will hold 275 gallons of rainwater. It will take about 8 inches of heavy rain to fill it. It isn't big enough to use for summer watering, however we have several garden plots covered with plastic or cloth in the winter and this water will really come in handy. 

Thanks to all of our supporters who help to make the Campbell Community Garden Great!