ASUM Community Garden Orientation
Hello and welcome to the ASUM Community Garden!
The ASUM Community Garden is one of the oldest community gardens in Missoula. This garden started before the inception of Garden City Harvest! Open to all community members, this garden is also a part of the Associated Students of the University of Montana (ASUM), included in their bylaws and used by students, faculty, alumni and community members. ASUM Gardeners say: “This garden is a steal—good soil, high fences, and free water!” (For more information on the other nine community gardens, click here.) Please read all of the important information below or watch the video tour (link below), so you are familiar with your garden’s amenities and resources. We hope that with an understanding of all the pieces that make up this garden site, you will help us care for it and keep it functioning and thriving for the benefit of everyone.
Important House Keeping Items:
Always lock the sheds and gates and make sure to double check when leaving the garden (spin the numbers and give it a little yank to make sure it is indeed locked).
Always close the gates even when inside the garden to keep adventurous deer and dogs out.
Communicate with your garden neighbors! Here is the link to the private gardener Facebook group. This is a great way to communicate with fellow gardeners and stay up to date with other happenings or updates in the garden.
For issues or inquiries, contact the Community Garden Staff or the ASUM Leadership Committee (contact info in the shed).
GARDEN SHED AND TOOLS
The first few things you’ll notice upon arriving at the garden are two garden sheds and a kiosk. Please feel free to park in front of the kiosk or pull off the dirt road along the southside of the garden. The sheds and gate combinations are in the orientation email you just received. Inside the sheds, you’ll find communal garden tools, wheelbarrows, a lawn mower, and hoses for your use at the garden.
On the door of the green shed is contact information for Garden City Harvest staff and your garden’s leadership committee (amazing fellow gardeners who volunteer their time to help you and Garden City Harvest staff!) A first aid kit, important safety information, and other important documents will be inside the green shed. Feel free to look inside and use both sheds, just make sure to put the tools back wherever you found them. On the shelves inside the shed, you’ll find resources on gardening, a recipe card box to log your three service hours, and free seeds.
This photo is the information kiosk where flyers about upcoming garden events or other important notices will be posted. Often, the leadership committee will write tasks that need done at the garden that can go towards your three service hours.
Remember, as mentioned in the contract, all gardeners are required to fill at least three hours helping to maintain the greater community garden and communal areas.
Make sure to read the “Communal Areas” section at the bottom of the blog for more ideas on how to fill these hours…
HOSES AND WATER
ASUM Garden is the only garden with overhead and automatic sprinkler system (what a luxury!). Two ASUM gardeners donate their time to help keep the sprinklers in good working order and adjust the sprinkler controller as the weather changes throughout the season - Thank you Paul and Phyllis! Each plot in the garden is different and therefore has different watering needs. Because it’s easier to add more water than take it out of the soil, the sprinkler system is set to keep plants alive (minimal water). We cannot stress enough that although there is an automated irrigation system, all gardeners are responsible for making sure their plants receive appropriate amounts of water. Spigots and garden hoses are distributed throughout the garden along the grass pathways for supplemental hand watering. These are communal and shared among all gardeners. When done with the hose, please coil it up at the base of the spigot, so it is not a tripping hazard. Also, release the water pressure in the hose by opening the hose nozzle after turning off the water at the spigot. This will help our hoses last longer because water that sits in a hose will expand in the heat and cause the hose material to break down faster.
Soil amendments
Compost
Pictured below is the “house” compost system. This is for vegetable scraps from your garden and kitchen. DO NOT ADD WEEDS, FIBROUS PLANT STALKS, ANIMAL PRODUCTS, PAPER PRODUCTS, TRASH OR COMMERCIAL-GRADE COMPOSTABLE ITEMS. These items will not break down in our simple bin system.
All inputs start at the farthest left bin and are turned (moved with a digging fork or shovel) to the next bin as they break down to make room for fresh scraps! The decomposed compost in the farthest right bin is good to use in your garden - help yourself! Keep in mind, this compost system doesn’t break down on its own. It requires time, water, and attention. If the compost starts to smell, it either doesn't have enough carbon (straw) or it needs to be turned (which gives it oxygen and reduces the smell). During the hot summer months, the compost needs to be watered frequently (every day or every other day.)
Manure
Garden City Harvest brings in composted manure every spring for community gardeners to help supplement their garden soil. Each garden plot is allotted two 5-gallon buckets of manure each spring. Gardeners are also encouraged to build their own soil by bringing in other amendments as long as it does not have chemicals, biosolids (treated sewage), or synthetic fertilizers. Read Garden City Harvest's Sustainable Growing Guidelines for more information.
Straw
Also note the stacked straw bales near the weed pile or kiosk. These are for community gardener use as well. We recommend you use straw only for mulching garlic and overwintering crops. Unfortunately, due to rising prices of straw and diminishing local sources, Garden City Harvest cannot provide every gardener with straw and ask those who have the means to purchase your own straw in the fall. If you do use the straw we provide, please limit your use to 1/2 bale per plot. We also strongly encourage you to use leaves if you have them available as they are a great mulch for your overwintering soil. Straw can be found at Ace Hardware, Murdochs, CHS Mountain West Co-op, and local nurseries.
Please place used straw that you rake off your plot next to the compost bins to be mixed in with the vegetable scraps.
WEED PILE
Weeds must be separated from other garden waste and placed in designated weed pile, between the kiosk and compost bins. DO NOT put weeds in the house compost system! Stalky plants (i.e. sunflower, kale or brussels sprout stalks that take a long time to decompose) also go in the designated weed pile.
Please take the time to separate your house-compostable garden materials from the weeds and stalks, and absolutely no dumping of personal home yard or garden waste is allowed. Also, please do not add straw, soil, potted plants, plastic, or any other yard waste to the weed pile. As you’ll see, we are limited in space and capacity and not the local compost facility. Garden City Harvest staff tractors the weed piles once a year to help it decompose on site. Help yourself to any past year’s composted weed piles, which are the large piles of soil around the parking area. It makes great compost for your garden!
ROCK PILE
Our garden soil is full of rocks from glacial Lake Missoula. Please put all rocks that you pull out of your garden plot in the designated rock pile outside the main gates. DO NOT THROW ROCKS IN THE PATHWAYS. It destroys our lawn mowers and is a hazard for those mowing or weed whacking.
COMMUNAL AREAS
There are several other communal areas and resources in the garden that will benefit you and your garden. Additionally, the ASUM Garden is located on University of Montana’s property, so it is important to be respectful tenants and neighbors. Here’s a list of things that all community gardeners are collectively responsible for, so please do your part and chip in those three hours (or more)!
Tool shed: Help us keep it clean and tidy. Occasionally, it will need to be reorganized.
Trash: The rule is pack it in and pack it out, but inevitably trash ends up blowing around the garden. Spend a couple minutes helping us pick up trash around the garden site.
Mowing: Gardeners are encouraged to use the lawn mower in the shed to keep the main grass pathways trimmed. Always wear closed-toed shoes and protective eye wear.
Rocks: It’s simple but picking up rocks in the garden pathways is a huge help so the lawn mower or weed whackers don’t hit any.
Compost: When the compost gets stinky or full, move each pile to the right (See the Compost section above for more info).
Need more ideas? Contact your leadership committee - contact info in the shed!
The community raspberry patch is delicious! Thank you to those gardeners who lovingly tend it for all of us to enjoy!
Community picnic area and sand box. There will be a hand washing sink as well, which will be moved down closer to the parking area.
MOST WANTED WEEDS
Weeding is a fundamental part of gardening and should be done weekly. If you keep up with it using a hoop (hula) hoe, it should take no more than an hour a week to keep your plot clear of most weeds. If you choose to weed less often, the task will get exponentially more difficult, and you will be on your hands and knees digging out weeds. Keep your eyes out for notices about weeds throughout the growing season. Watch the video tutorials and look at the photos below for weeding tips, and if you have any questions about weeds, please ask!
While there are many garden weeds, we have three problem plants on the site - quack grass, bindweed, and shaggy soldier. Quackgrass and bindweed should be placed in the weed pile, after you make sure to shake out any clumps of dirt. Shaggy soldier is so invasive that it should be removed from the garden entirely and thrown out.
Quackgrass
Quackgrass is a perennial grass with white, wire like roots and should be added to the weed pile. Use a digging fork to loosen the soil and make it easier to pull out the roots. Make sure you shake out any clumps of dirt.
The white, wiry roots of quackgrass
Bindweed
Bindweed is a perennial that is very sneaky. We want you to be able to ID it before it flowers and weed it out. It has arrow-shaped leaves, white flowers, and vines around anything nearby. Put bindweed in the weed pile.
Shaggy Soldier
Shaggy soldier is warm weather weed that has small white and yellow flowers. Keep up with it, as it can overrun a plot - each flower releases thousands of seeds!
