The backyard at the Community Arts and Media Project is not only great for bike workshops, but also for gardening! Each year, residents and neighbors plant a variety of crops, native plants, and flowers, along with corn, squash, strawberries, raspberries, cherry tomatoes, big tomatoes, kale, collard greens, sage, basil, sunflowers, and lots more! All of our garden is organic which means there are no chemicals used. For pest control, we have brought in ladybugs and mantises which are great for your garden. They are predator insects which mean that they eat aphids and japanese beetles, both which love to attack your plants. There is a large compost pile that provides fresh dirt and great soil for the garden. A compost pile is a mixture of old plants, leaves, and food scraps such as orange peels, egg shells, and coffee grinds (no meat or breads!). When all those are mixed together, and you add air and water, you get an organic dirt that has lots of minerals for your garden. It also attracts worms which help your compost decompose and are good to add to your garden.

Also check out this local project: http://www.westcornercommunity.blogspot.com/

We're working on new compost bins. Here are some collected notes:

• G6957 How to Build a Compost Bin
• Building Bins and Boxes for Yard Waste Compost
  
• How to Make a Rotating Barrel Composter
• Free rain-compost barrels from your local car wash! - Frugal
• P1782 Composting: Nature's Way To Recycle

Native Plants

One of our new goals at CAMP is to plant trees, flowers, and other plants native to Missouri. We have a small area designated for this and hope that it can grow. If you have a lot of knowledge, or are interested in getting involved with the native project you should contact us, preferably via email at garden(AT)stlcamp.org. Plants that are native to the area that we live in are more hardy (they need less work) and will survive better. They will also bring in more native wildlife such as birds and insects.

 

 

 

Pictures

You can see more pictures here.

We've grown stalks of corn that are over 5 feet tall!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunflowers bring in lots of bees which are great for plants.

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the native trees in the garden.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Strawberry plants come back twice a year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some kind of lily.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is one of the native plants that was in the garden.