Garden in a Box: "Small Space Gardening"

Are you short on space? Many kinds of vegetables can be easily grown in containers by following a few basic guidelines. What to grow and what can you grow it in was the topic of conversation in our second Garden in a Box Learning Event, "Small Space Gardening." Garden in a Box is a collaborative project by the Piscataquis Regional Food Center (PRFC) and the University of Maine Cooperative Extension Piscataquis County Office. Garden in a Box aims to bring gardening know-how and enthusiasm to people with limited mobility, small space, or lack of resources.

In "Small Space Gardening," speaker Laurie Bowen mentions several UMaine Extension Bulletins, including:

• Bulletin #2761, Gardening in Small Spaces

• Bulletin #2762, Growing Vegetables in Container Gardens

• Bulletin #2281, Know Your Soil: Lead in the Soil

• Bulletin #2283, Tips for Purchasing Soil for Gardens and Landscape Projects

• Bulletin #2442, Vegetable Gardens and Septic Fields Don’t Mix

• Also, learn more about One Tomato here!

PRFC and the Extension piloted “GBox” in 2021 with 16 community members and four UMaine Master Gardener Volunteers who served as “Garden Coaches” to the participants. From March to October, the Coaches supported their Gardeners with phone calls, texts, and home visits. In addition, participants received a Garden in a Box Resource Binder filled with Cooperative Extension gardening publications, tips, a monthly calendar, and a journal to keep track of their container garden. We also supplied each Gardener with their choice of locally-sourced seedlings, a 15-gallon cloth growing container, potting soil, and gardening tools.

Because enrollment is limited and our 2022 program is officially full, we have started to offer a series of FREE public workshops at Thompson Free Library in Dover-Foxcroft. In our first session, Laurie offered up "Tips and Tricks" to save time and energy in the garden (view recording here!). She provided helpful suggestions for how to plan your day in the garden, modify your tools, and maximize gardening efforts!

Mark your calendar for our next Garden in a Box program:

What's Wrong with my Vegetable Plant? May 25, 2022, 6 pm at Thompson Free Library, Dover-Foxcroft This demonstration will offer an overview of cultural practices to prevent disease in your garden, how to diagnose a disease problem, common vegetable plant diseases, how to submit your plant to the diagnostic lab, and much more!

Learn more about Garden in a Box here!