No-till Community Garden at Wendemuth Meadow
25 Bates St., North Brookfield
Practice regenerative gardening with very little weeding all summer long!
- Price: $30 for a 10′ x 10′ plot. Some areas have fencing good to trellis peas and beans. Plot locations determined on a first-come, first-served basis.
- What’s provided: Compost, mulch and organic fertilizer. Plus plenty of gravity-fed water.
- What you can plant: any veggies you’d like! Tomatoes, zucchini, beans, leafy greens, carrots, and peppers grow wonderfully in strawbales. Squash will be grown separately by EQLT and shared with all garden members.
As the saying goes… “You are what you eat!”
*Eleven plots are available for the 2022 season.
Why No-till?
Tilling damages soil health and contributes to climate change.
- Soil microbes, including bacteria and fungi, help store the excess carbon absorbed by plants through photosynthesis.
- When soil is tilled, CO2 releases into the atmosphere.
Carbon loss reduces soil’s ability to retain water and disrupts microbial activity, which decreases soil fertility.
Benefits of No-till Gardening:
Increased carbon and organic matter improves soil health
Healthier and more productive plants
Decreased need for water and fertilizer
Source: Grassroots Carbon
Source: USDA
Learn More about growing in Strawbales
Vegetables in the community garden are grown in straw bales topped with compost (organic matter used as fertilizer).
These straw bales undergo a special conditioning process to kick-start their decomposition. The straw and added fertilizer feed the plants, turning the straw into compost by the end of the season.
The composted straw adds a new layer of organic matter, building up the soil carbon for when seeds can be sown in the ground in the future.