Green thumbs: Residents turn out for gardening talk

Feb 11, 2021

There may be snow on the ground, but Dartmouth is already getting set for planting season.

Nearly 100 people turned out to learn about raised bed gardening during a virtual presentation hosted by the Friends of the Dartmouth Libraries on Feb. 11.

Garden coach and raised bed horticulturist Kate Donovan of Blackstone Valley Veggie Gardens led the talk, touching on topics like how to construct beds, make soil, and maintain pest-free organic plants.

“It’s just amazing — there’s such a huge interest in this,” noted Friends of the Dartmouth Libraries President Marcy Wintrub before the lecture, which lasted over an hour.

During the lecture Donovan drew from years of experience keeping several of her own raised beds, discussing new techniques and tips she has discovered or learned from friends and followers.

“I am absolutely delighted to be here,” Donovan said before launching into the lecture. “I think my whole purpose in life is to try to get people to grow more, to be more sustainable.”

An almost 15-year cancer survivor, Donovan said that one of the things doctors told her to keep her in good health was to “eat simply.”

“I guess they call it clean eating, where you eat things without a whole lot of different ingredients in them,” she explained. “So I started gardening.”

Not only does Donovan enjoy the exercise and “almost spiritual” experience of gardening — “You just become one with the Earth,” she said — she also finds it fascinating.

“It’s just amazing how you can take one little tiny tomato seed and grow a huge seven-foot plant with 40-50 tomatoes on it,” she said with a smile. “So I fell in love with gardening, and like to share that with people.”

According to Donovan, gardening in raised beds is “so much easier” than gardening in the ground because it reduces weed growth, pests, and erosion, provides good drainage, and keeps the soil from getting compacted. 

It also keeps plants warmer, increasing the length of time food can be grown. 

“You get maybe an extra week,” she noted, adding with a laugh, “I’m harvesting nine months out of the year, and I’m not that talented.”

With so much interest, the questions flowed thick and fast at the end of the presentation.

Some asked about what can and can’t be included in compost, when to start planting, and how to turn the soil.

Others asked about a perennial Dartmouth gardener’s problem: Deer.

“Deer require a six-foot fence,” Donovan said, explaining that some people choose to double up fences to keep critters out. 

Among the other items that can be used to deter animals include large whirligigs, motion-activated sprinklers — “That would certainly scare the heck out of a deer,” she said — and even vibrating electronic stakes that frighten off tunnellers like moles, voles, and groundhogs.

Scents to put off most prey animals are also fairly widely available, Donovan noted.

“They have granulated carnivore urine, believe it or not,” she said with a laugh. “I don’t know how they harvest it — I don’t ask!”

Anyone interested in learning more about raised bed gardening can visit Donovan’s website at blackstonevalleyveggiegardens.com.