News and Veiws from Circle A Garden

Hello everyone,

Wow!! We finally got snow this last week..over a foot!! We were happy to see the moisture..Della and I had been talking about how to water the garlic and perennial plants without freezing up the valves on our drip system when it started snowing..for about three days straight..It is melting fast though this week..we have been sunny and in the 50's..feels like spring is on it's way!! We were thinking we were going to miss out on mud season this year!! .. Looks like we might get another storm later in the week though..
Everything is growing well in the propagation house..we now have onions, leeks, shallots, artichokes, celery, pansies, tomatoes for the high tunnel, cabbages, more lettuce, chinese cabbage,and radichio, all pricked up.. and have started eggplant and peppers for the high tunnel..tomatoes for the low tunnel..broccoli and cauliflower..celeriac..more greens and lettuce  for the high tunnel..they are starting to come up and will be ready to prick up in the next couple of weeks.
The high tunnel is starting to look green again..we can look down the beds and actually see things growing now..peas, carrots, turnips, green garlic and shallots, beets, spinach are all up and startining to grow..we have transplanted the chard, kale, bok choi,spring onions, collards, mizuna, lettuce, chinese cabbage and more!! All are looking happy despite the cold nights we had last week {we were down to 7 degrees} I think everything has grown at least an inch since Monday with all this nice warm sunshine!!

I am going to try to set up monthly workdays again this season. If these work days don't fit into your schedule, we can set up other times as well. We can also set up special sessions geared toward children as well.
Workdays for March will be Saturday March 20 and Wednesday March 24 10:00 am-3:00pm
projects for these days will be preparing beds outdoors for onions, leeks, shallots, peas, favas, and lentils. If they weather is bad we will work on the beds in the low tunnel..
Workdays for April will be Wednesday April 14 and Sunday April 18 10:00 am- 3:00 pm
projects for these days will be getting more beds ready for planting and getting potatoes planted

We will do the potluck lunch again for these  workdays..we will make a big pot of soup or chile..not sure just what yet ..Please let me know if you can make either of these days so I have an idea of how much soup to make..Come for the day or just a few hours..we will plan on eating around noon

Anticipated veggie pickup start date will be Saturday April 3  9:00 am - noon
It looks like we will be able to start veggie pickup in 4 weeks!! It is a bit hard to judge just what we will have available this first week but looks like we should have spinach, leeks, chard, kale, assorted other greens, green garlic and green shallots, and chives from the high tunnel {depending on what the weather does we may also have radishes, turnips, and salad greens..peas, beets, and carrots may need a couple more weeks} We should  have a few herbs and new zealand spinach from Della's greenhouse..and also a few things from storage;mainly garlic and shallots..

Farm tour..Saturday April 3  10:30 am - noonish..come see how the garden is growing..although we won't have much planted outdoors yet, the greenhouses and high tunnel will be bursting at the seams!!

We need your help.. Our anticipated start date for veggie pickup is in 4 weeks..we are hoping for a full membership this season {50-60 members}..Please talk us up with your friends, families, and co-workers..I can tell folks all about what and how we grow our veggies, but it is your enthusiasm that bring in the most new members!! Please let me know if you have anyone who sould like a tour or needs more information about our CSA..we can set up additional tours here in March.

Note: ...Please let me know if you need a partner. I will add it to this newsletter to see if we can hook you up with someone....
 we have an Ouray group forming..they would like a couple more folks from up that way to share pickup.

Returning members from 2009 will need to use this link;
circleagarden.com/members/returning   It should give you a place to type in your e-mail address {the one you used this season} It will send you an e-mail with a secure link that you can use to complete the signup process..{this verifies that you own the e-mail address}.. for those of you who are sharing..use the e-mail address of the primary user{should be whoever did the signup for this season}..If you have any problems please let me know..I did a test run and it looks like it all works, but..I am very new to all this and ....who knows when my little netherspere gremlin will pop up!!

New members will need to go to the website {www.circleagarden.com} and use the member signup.


Looking forward to spring!! Four weeks and counting down to first veggie pickup of the season!!


All of us at Circle A Garden