Mark Your Calendars
On Saturday, Sept. 12, Mulberry Fields hosted its first Mulberry Brew Crew an opportunity to bring your own mug and enjoy some of our fresh coffee while meeting your neighbors. We will do it all over again every month, on the second Saturday.
The Changing Season
As the summer ends, so does the growing season. A number of gardeners replanted a second mid-summer crop that will produce in mid-fall. But for others, it’s time to clean out the beds, discard debris or infested plants add either compost and plant a fall garden or prepare the plot for winter.
In 1999 when the garden began Atlanta was in growing zone 7B. But with a warming climate and more buildings and concrete, the city has trapped more heat, and Atlanta is now in growing zone 8B.
This has meant changing what we plant and when we plant. In late September, gardeners can plant broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and collards, as well as root crops like carrots, beets and turnips and leafy greens.
Garden Friends and Foes
The mosquito buckets have worked well this year. And we have learned a lot about managing and caring of this mosquito control system, making it more comfortable in the garden. We learned, for example, that during periods of plentiful and frequent rain, we have serviced the buckets more frequently, emptying excess water and adding another BTI dunk about every two to three weeks. While during hot and dry times the buckets can be serviced once a month.
And adding to our success ridding the garden of pesky mosquitos, several neighbors around the garden are also using the same bucket method to control mosquitos, which has added to its effectiveness of our buckets.
The honeybees, lady bugs and butterflies thank us for using this non-toxic mosquito control method.
We also have noticed a huge decrease in fire ants this year, likely due to the construction project last year in the green space that also disrupted ant nests deep in the ground.
All the while, native plants around the garden are attracting more pollinators.
Garden Rentals
Mulberry is now open for birthday parties or small school field trips. All the rental information is on our website https://www.friendsmulberryfields.org/.
Coming Improvements
The Friends of Mulberry Fields crew has formed a new committee exploring options for capital improvements in the garden. The options we are considering for the upcoming year include building a gazebo, installing a composting toilet and upgrading the fencing around the animal pens to increase safety for the animals our guests.
Let’s Visit
Come by our booth in October at the Candler Park Festival to talk about all that we offer. And Mulberry Fields is open to visitors anytime between sunrise and sunset every day.