Our Future

Did you ever walk in a forest and wonder how the trees grew so large without fertilizer and irrigation?  This is a task I urge you to do.  The future of our existence and our children and grandchildren depend upon it.   The world and its plants will somehow continue without us.  They have the ability to adapt and believe it or not to feed themselves and store water, but do we have the ability to feed ourselves, protect the atmosphere, and conserve the water we need for ourselves and our children?
We do, if we learn from the plants.
A tree grows and pulls up nutrients from deep in the ground.  In the winter the leaves drop, the cold kills the green vegetation growing in the shade of the tree, their roots covered with fungus.  The micro organisms in the earth turn the waste on the ground into humus, a powerful fertilizer with the capacity to store great quantities of water.  The mighty tree shades the soil and conserves water, it absorbs CO2 and turns it into leaves.  The leaves drop the carbon to the soil where microbes and fungi turn it into humus.  A powerful way to sequester carbon.
Can we grow beautiful plants with organic fertilizer?  Yes, and it is very much a better alternative to commercial fertilizer, but it still has a carbon footprint.  By using leaves and paper and cardboard we can build humus and reduce our carbon footprint.  By mulching with green plant material we can add the nitrogen needed to improve the soil and by mulching with old wood chips or straw we can retain moisture in the soil as well as protect the microbes and fungi necessary to complete the cycle.
Tilling the soil will provide the plants with an immediate release of nutrients, similar to turning a compost pile and adding air.  The process of breaking down the soil structure increases decomposition and releases nutrients, but it inhibits the formation of humus, and the growth of fungi.  Scientists are only just beginning to learn the role and importance of fungi in the soil.
There are projects all over the world where people are greening the deserts using the principles of regenerative gardening gleaned from watching the trees and learning from nature so we can use these principles to save our future and the future of our children.

Highlights of 2019

The Greenhouse has had a bountiful year.  The Spring Sale was hugely successful and we have about 130 members.  Many of these are new members.  

The membership program is at the core of our success. Every year we teach gardeners how to be successful at growing their own gardens though hands on activities inside the greenhouse and in our own outside garden. 


There were two focuses this year.  We grew most of our plants from seeds this year.  We learned about the individual needs of each seedling in order to germinate.  We kept logs of how many seeds were started, how long the average germination period was, what the temperature  needs were, whether they needed light or darkness,  and any other specific needs such as stratification.  Members were responsible for making decisions about planting depth and the best location in the greenhouse for germination.




Another focus this year was broadening our understanding of regenerative gardening.  We have been trying methods of natural pest control, no till gardening, worm towers and soil building.  We hatched three praying mantis ootheca (egg sacs).  It was astounding to watch the nymphs cascade down from the casing and scurry around the greenhouse.

 

We had a lot of community involvement this year. Students from the high school helped us prep our garden beds. Another student created a worm tower presentation for the Science Fair.  We had an Open House for Earth Day Open to the public and we taught a lesson on growing micro greens at home at the Oak Bluffs Council on Aging.

Yearly Fund Raiser

Our volunteers have madly been planting, flowers and vegetables to delight your senses and fill your tummies.  Please stop and help us have another successful year of growing.

You are invited to an Open House at The Greenhouse,

114 New York Avenue

on Sunday, April 14, to celebrate Spring.

From 12:30-3:30

Spring flowers are blooming and that means the greenhouse is warm and green.  We have plenty of greens to pick and flowers to take home.  Our alyssum and pansies are outside hardening off and waiting to find a home.  We also have some perennial flowers and butterfly bush for those of us who can't wait to start planting.
Have you been learning about permaculture?  Come see our worm tower and the amazing plants that it has produced.  It is an old plastic tub and uses waste PVC for the tower. It makes an easy way to compost food waste like melon rinds and also composts paper and leaves.  The happy worms travel from the tower to the soil and fertilize the plants.

Come Celebrate

 

After a successful spring and summer season the greenhouse is greeting the fall with a pig roast fund raiser. We are inviting the community to join us. There will be good food and a silent auction. The greenhouse has much to celebrate.  We have a new poly roof, one new fan and 140 members. 



Annual Spring Plant Sale

This past winter, the greenhouse crew was working hard to put together a bonanza of flowers and vegetables for our Vineyard Gardens.  Membership has been actively starting cuttings and seedlings and the greenhouse is bursting with color.  There are hanging baskets of every color, and  pots of flowers and greenery for window boxes.  Kale, lettuce, and tatsoi are hardened off and ready to plant and of course there are tomatoes.  There are 40 varieties of tomatoes this year.  We have heirloom and hybrid, determinate and indeterminate.  We have red, yellow, orange, and purple and of course everybody's favorite cherry tomato, Sungold.



Geraniums a greenhouse favorite are selling fast.

Fall Festivities

The Greenhouse is celebrating fall with a Pig Roast Dinner.

The pig was donated by Scapegoats Goatscaping and being prepared by Chef Deon.  This is truly a cooperative event that help us fundraise for a new roof.  The greenhouse is growing plenty of lettuce and other greens for a sample of our bountiful Greenhouse salads. 

We are also asking local community members to provide music and items for a silent auction.

Members are setting up and waiting tables.  Interested?  email: diane_sylvia2000@yahoo.com