Dishing the Dirt: March 2025 Newsletter

Phew!!! We did it my friends!!! Happy Spring!!!

Just when the winter drearies looked like they were never going to end, the crocuses began to bloom! As I write this, I can see sunny daffodils in addition to those crocuses; robins chase each other throughout the day, and nighttime brings the serenade of spring peepers. Hooray for Spring!

Hooray, also, for all the exciting things that have been happening at the garden! At the beginning of the month, and with the help of several wonderful volunteers, the greenhouse plastic was put on, AND has successfully withstood 40+mph wind gusts! The greenhouse is now filled with baby lettuces, spinach, kale, and green onions! We should be able to pick - and donate - in a few weeks!

But that’s just the beginning! Rows and rows of strawberry and asparagus plants were planted last week! We will not have a harvest from these plants this year - they take extra time to get established - but we can look forward to bountiful yields in the years to come. In the coming week, we will be planting blackberry and raspberry bushes, as well as cherry trees. Again, we must wait awhile for these to produce, but then, oh boy!

We have completed the carrot beds. They will be planted soon and then we can harvest loads of long, straight carrots, thanks to the deep beds filled with rock-free soil enhanced with mushroom compost.

In the coming weeks, we will be planting potatoes, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, as well as more lettuce, spinach, kale, and onions. Our volunteers have been anxiously waiting for the opportunity to begin planting. The time is here!!! I will send an email to everyone who has signed up to volunteer at the garden. If you are interested, please go to our website and fill out the volunteer page.

A BIG thank you to Nick Works Trees, from Worton, who donated loads of wood chips to the garden. They will be used to help suppress those ever-vigilant weeds! Thank you also to The Home Depot of Middletown, DE who donated fencing in order to keep the deer out of the garden, and to Costco-Newark location, who gave us a gift card with which we were able to purchase two heavy-duty water hoses. We are also grateful for the generous contributions from Dependable Pest Management of Chestertown, and from several individual donors. We couldn’t do it without you!

On a more serious note, this month, I was invited to attend a symposium which focused on hunger and food security here on the Eastern Shore. There were a lot of people who attended and there was a lot of information shared. I came away with two main thoughts. First, hunger is a complex issue. There is not just one cause, and as such, there is not just one solution. Sandy’s Garden is one of many ways to address this problem. But it is an important one. For any number of reasons, people are hungry. And they deserve to eat fresh, healthy food. The second thought that I came away with, is that there are a lot of people who care. In uncertain and sometimes scary times such as these, it is important to remember that there are many good people in this world. They truly care about others, will work hard, and are willing to give of their time, talent, and treasure to help people in need. And that is wonderful news.

On that note, I will close. So many wonderful things! Spring is here! Plants are growing! April is just around the corner which means we will be welcoming the bees and the chicks! Hooray! Keep your ears open for more information about a fun, interactive event coming soon involving those little fluff balls!

Isn’t it wonderful how there is always something to look forward to, and always something to be thankful for.

And I am very thankful.