the T and i have been perusing the seed catalogs for a couple of months ago, and have devised a little plan to ease our gardening needs and at the same time decrease the amount of square footage i'll have to mow during the summer...we're in the process of securing a community garden plot (probably the one on arrowhead, as there's a waiting list for the one near our place.) for foodstuffs that don't require a lot of maintenance (i.e., corn, root veggies, potatoes, gourds, melons and the like), and keeping the rest (tomatoes, legumes, herbs, etc) closer to home...this in effect will allow us to maximize space (face it, a cuke plant takes up a LOT of room that could otherwise be used for something a little more substantial) while keeping our higher maintenance plants closer to home.

we're also exploring seed saving, canning, pickling, and are going to be procuring a chest freezer to store the fatted cow we purchase from Litchke this summer.

In the mean, I'll be improving our drainage and r-u-n-n-o-f-t that we get from the rains into barrels to conserve water for the garden, and developing a compost bin/pile/container to recycle food scraps and the like...however, if you don't own your house, this might be a little more difficult.

For those of you interested in community gardening, call the Duluth Community Garden Program office at 722-4583 or email us at [email protected] with your complete contact information and which garden(s) you prefer.

The biggest problem the Duluth Community Garden Program faces right now is deer. It's heartbreaking. We provide land, resources, tools, seeds and transplants at very little cost. The gardeners themselves then provide many hours of hard work. All of that can disappear in a moment. 

We have sixteen sites throughout Duluth, and let me tell you, the deer problem didn't exist until the last few years. Now, in a depressed economy, when the demand for our services is growing steadily, I'm trying to find funds in the form of sponsorships for all of those gardens... while struggling to meet our general operating expenses.

If you can, PLEASE HELP!

You can grow a lot of food on a 400 square food plot if you're not sharing it with critters. We hope to provide fencing and a water source at each garden as soon as we can. but we can't do it without support from the community.

Contact the DCGP for more information or check out our website, www.duluthcommunitygarden.org.

i know someone who grows corn, right on the lake, but it is not for beginners. 

also, proper, tall (and underground) fencing is all that's required to keep away the non-bug critters. human thieves, on the other hand... i know someone who had a large portion of their garden stolen at the community gardens by the zoo last year.

I'm hoping to see who is interested in swapping veggies, et cetera and then I'll contact people about who grows what. I'm more than willing to tailor what I grow to fill in gaps that other people might not grow.

Barrett, how tall did you make your deer fence that they got through?

I put up a 6' fence and it worked. I pounded 8' long 2"x2"s down about 2' into the ground, spaced about 4' apart. I trenched out an outline of the fence and put up 3' metal poultry cloth and buried the bottom 6 or 8." I over-lapped a plastic raspberry netting with the poultry cloth to achieve the 6' height. I also ran some electric fence wire across the top for rigidity- no electricity at this point. For insects and small children, I find that if you squish a couple and leave their bodies around the perimeter, it keeps the rest from trying to come in a steal your bounty.

I live near the lake, past Lester river and I have a very healthy deer population, I see deer in my yard every day. I do not fence. I do use "predator tape." It's holographic mylar tape (you can get it at Gordy's) that you hang by long strips from poles in the garden. The deer don't like the sound it makes when a breeze hits it. They also don't like when the breeze causes it to touch them. I space  bamboo poles about 3' apart all through my garden. You then hang a strip of the tape from a piece of string tied to the pole. The tape then swivels and snaps in the wind. I also use "Liquid Fence" which you must regularly apply. It's natural and very stinky when you spray it. I grow in two 30x50 gardens and lose very little to the deer. I grow enough for them to swipe a little...they sometimes nibble peas or lettuce on the outer edges of the garden, but generally leave it alone. My experience with fencing is that they knock it down..and it's expensive to maintain.