Garden talk: Springfield, South Hadley garden experts share tips

This is the first in a three-part gardening series featuring master gardeners and other experienced plant people in Western Massachusetts. Each month this summer, you’ll meet different experts, learn about their gardening lives and get advice on everything from pest control to haircuts for lavender. A big part of gardening is community — people sharing tricks, trowels, plants and a general love of gardening —and these stories are an extension of that ethos.

In this month’s column, our greenery gurus have both vegetable and flower growing tips. For starters, check out suggestions from four master gardeners who manage the Full Circle Food Pantry Garden in South Hadley. If flowers are your focus, read tips for starting a pollinator garden (big or small, in the ground or in a container) from master gardener Beate Bolen who cares for plantings in Springfield’s Forest Park. She’ll explain how easy it is to join her and many others in our region in the national effort to create pollinator pathways.

Full Circle Food Pantry Garden

Meet the four co-managers of the Full Circle Food Pantry Garden:

• Elizabeth Carmichael, Master Gardener. She manages the harvests and deliveries to the Food Pantry and designs the hardscapes in the garden.
• Margery Gerard, Master Gardener. Her duties include garden planning, including companion planting, succession planting, crop rotation, timing of planting and coordination of daily work activity.
• JoAnne Palmer, Master Gardener. She specializes in soil testing and pest management.
• Sue Kelsey, Master Gardener, Sue specializes in soil testing, organizes composting and cover cropping at the garden.

Q. What exactly is the Full Circle Food Pantry Garden?

Group answer: The Full Circle Garden, a project of the Western Massachusetts Master Gardeners Association, was started in 2011 by a community member working in coordination with the opening of the Neighbors Helping Neighbors Food Pantry in South Hadley/Granby. The mission is to provide fresh, high quality, organically grown vegetables to feed pantry clients.

Q: What’s happening in the Full Circle Garden this month?

Group answer: In mid-June, we are harvesting cool weather crops such as spinach, garlic scapes, pak choi, peas, baby turnips, lettuce, radish, celery and perennial herbs. We’re planting green beans, squash, cucumbers and eggplant in their place. We’re also monitoring for insect pests, including aphids, flea beetles, cucumber beetles, squash bugs, squash borers, slugs, and taking action such as covering cabbage, eggplant and squash with insect barriers to exclude pests. We’re also removing suckers on tomatoes and monitoring them for disease, especially tomato blights that can decimate plants quickly.

Q: What are your gardening tips for readers?

Elizabeth Carmichael: For tomatoes, plant in uncompacted soil, and not too closely. Twining and trellising of plants allows for space and air circulation between plants and leads to better plant health. Don’t plant them too early. Make sure soil temperature is at least 70 degrees. We use a soil thermometer which is not expensive and can be found at a garden store. Tomatoes take 70-80 days to mature so best to get them in once the soil is warm enough and nights are above 50 degrees.

Margery Gerard: Mulch plants with good clean straw to prevent disease spores from splashing up from the soil onto the plants, to suppress weeds and to retain moisture. We use chopped heated straw. It has no seeds in it and is easy to spread. Sanitize your garden regularly by removing weeds and dead or diseased plant parts to reduce disease and insect infestation.

JoAnne Palmer: Monitor plants every few days for diseases and insect pests. We recommend the book “Good Bug, Bad Bug” by Jessica Walliser for help in identifying different stages of pests and recommendations for organic treatments. You can still have a vegetable garden even though you don’t have lots of space by growing plants in pots. Look for seeds specifically to grow plants in containers.

Sue Kelsey: The summer months are a great time to start composting. Layer your compost with approximately 4-6 inches of brown (carbon) matter – dead leaves, stems, straw, wood chips, paper scraps, 2 inches of green (nitrogen) matter — kitchen waste, garden and lawn clippings, and 1 inch of soil. Mix your layers together and water the pile so it feels like a wet sponge.

With climate change, be aware that we have more extreme weather now. Pay attention to weather and be flexible to make changes in the garden. You may need to change your planting schedule or watering schedule due to temperature fluctuations (we planted later this year due to the cool, rainy May) and the reality that rain now comes in big rainstorms rather that full days of gentle rain. Don’t site your garden in a place where water can accumulate during a large rainstorm. We use a simple, inexpensive water meter to check the moisture in the soil at the root level, so we don’t under or over water.

Q: What’s something about your garden that might surprise readers?

Group answer: Gradually, through incremental changes, we’ve increased our yield of vegetables to over 3,000 pounds in 2024. We grew 23 different kinds of vegetables that were selected after feedback from the pantry manager. Almost 2,000 volunteer hours were spent by 31 individuals working in the garden. We also grow and send flower bouquets to brighten the day for some of the clients.

To learn more about master gardeners and the Full Circle Food Pantry Garden, visit the Western Massachusetts Master Gardener Association at www.wmmga.org

Beate Bolen: Springfield Conservation Committee

Meet Beate Bolen, a Master Gardener and co-chair of the Springfield Garden Club Conservation Committee whose members plan and care for rock and pollinator gardens in Forest Park. Beate also designed, installed and helps maintain — with the help of her dedicated Conservation Committee team — the gardens around Dr. Seuss’ (Theodore Seuss Geisel) childhood home in Springfield. Both the rock and Dr. Seuss gardens have received statewide civic garden projects and awards.

Q: Why do you garden?

Bolen: I love the process, and the results. And I feel it is my small way to repair the world. I believe in thinking globally, acting locally. The civic projects are a concrete way to make the world more beautiful, and particularly with our emphasis on planting native plants that are pollinator friendly, to help restore an environment that encourages and nourishes our native pollinators.

Q: Could you share a little about your personal garden?

Bolen: My own garden is primarily a perennial garden, with a goal of having something blooming 10 months of the year. I like to plant once and enjoy for many years, though I will also add the instant gratification of summer annuals. I have introduced, where I can, native plants in an effort to add to pollinator pathways — public and private pesticide-free corridors of native plants that provide nutrition and habitat for pollinators including birds, bees, beetles, moths, flies, moths and bats.

Q: How can readers be part of a pollinator pathway?

Bolen: Dedicate a small space (or large if you have space and resources) to create a pollinator friendly spot. Even the smallest green spaces, like flower boxes and curb strips, can be part of a pathway. The goal is to, one by one, create a city, county and state-wide corridor of native plants to bring back our native pollinators.

Chose native plants, avoid pesticides, and watch the butterflies and bees find those special spots. The reason we encourage native plants is that they thrive in our climate and setting. They evolved here, along with our native pollinators. By reintroducing them, you’ll attract those pollinators. A bonus is that many natives are hardier and more drought tolerant than plants we import from other parts of the country or world.

Here are a few native plants you might choose for a summer-to-fall pollinator garden:

• Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa), a beautiful orange milkweed that is a host for monarchs;
• Wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa), which blooms with purple, pink or white blossoms that attract bees;
• Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), which is dependable, drought tolerant and has beautiful bloom;
• Blazing star (Liatris spicata), which sends up a tall stalk that is covered with tiny purple flowers throughout the summer.

Bolen also recommended sources like the Native Plant Trust, Pollinator Partnership, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst for more information on planting pollinator gardens.

Q: Thanks, Beate. Is there anything you’d like to add?

Bolen: The introduction of many nonnative plants and the widespread use of pesticides has dramatically impacted the pollinator populations over the past 30 years. Though those nonnative plants are pretty, they are generally not attractive to the pollinators that evolved here.

We all love our birds, but those birds need insects and seeds to feed their young. As our pollinator populations declined, so have our bird populations. Birds won’t come to a place they can’t feed their young. Pollinators are essential because they facilitate the reproduction of many plants, including many food crops. Without pollinators, a significant portion of the world’s food supply would be jeopardized. Pollinators are a key part of the food web, supporting various other species that rely on plants for food and shelter.

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