Salt Lake County Extension Master Gardener volunteers have been busy weeding, harvesting and maintaining the Meals Plus Harvest Garden at Wheeler Farm. In its second year, the garden is thriving despite the challenges it has faced in 2015. A wet spring, above average temperatures in June and broken irrigation lines have created a few setbacks, but despite these, the garden is looking great and producing delicious, nutritious vegetables & herbs for Meals on Wheels clients in Salt Lake County.
The produce harvested from this garden is donated as part of the Meals Plus Program, a partnership with Salt Lake County Aging and Adult Services and other local non-profits, which provides fresh produce to homebound seniors. The Meals Plus Program was recently highlighted in this Salt Lake Tribute article on combating food insecurity in Utah.
Along with harvesting and weeding we’ve also had some fun trellis projects going on in the garden. Our hard working garden mangers have helped Master Gardeners install t-posts and concrete wiring to create supports for our tomatoes and squash. Below is a garden update written by one of our amazing mangers detailing their accomplishments:
We had a HUGE day in the garden! We completed as many projects as our supplies would allow and harvested enough to fill four full coolers. Both rolls of wire mesh were used– adding support to 3 1/2 rows. We also gathered rocks and placed them around all the irrigation connections to (hopefully) prevent damage. All the irrigation lines are now pulled as straight as possible with emitters pointing towards the plants and securely staked.
The garden is beautiful and we have so many exciting fruits and vegetables coming on in the next few weeks…..and all of the volunteers work so hard.”
Check out the garden plan below to find out what types of vegetables and herbs are growing at the USU Extension harvest garden in 2015.
A HUGE THANKS to the generous, local nurseries and seed companies that have donated to make this garden possible!
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