“To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves.” - Mahatma Gandhi
Today a very small percentage of the world remains unaffected by human activity.
And although Fishers Island is a VERY small portion of the world, we believe in doing our part to responsibly live and garden on it, and in doing so hopefully inspire other minds to do like wise.
Our Current Gardening Practices…
As we grow and develop, our methods for working in the garden will be fine tuned, as well as the available information we can put out for the community. Currently we are striving for sustainability, and as positive ecological impact as possible. We will not permit the use of any synthetic soil additives, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, etc. We want to encourage everyone to use natural and ideally organic products to aid in their gardening success. We will be comprising a list of suitable products to help gardeners make the switch from the more easily available synthetic options to healthier more ecologically sound alternatives.
We all dislike mosquito and tick bites, for your own health we encourage you to find a bug spray that is made of natural oils and ingredients. We also ask that you apply your bug spray; natural or otherwise, prior to your arrival at the garden. Please do not spray anything in the garden before you’ve confirmed that it is not harmful to plants or animals.
As far as planting goes, gardeners are required to use only organic or heirloom varieties in the garden. If planting varieties that have a tendency to spread like mad, we ask that you be responsible and limit their ability to spread. That means snipping flowers/seed heads and runners before they’ve had a chance to spread. We would like to encourage gardeners to be mindful of their water usage, for example not watering if it’s supposed to rain later that day. Biodiversity is also encouraged; planting a wide variety of plants rather than just one or two types. We are huge fans of companion planting, as well as planting varieties that benefit our local pollinators.
In Consideration of your fellow gardeners, plants, and pollinators, please refrain from smoking in all its forms within the garden and its immediate surroundings. If you must smoke, please do so at a distance; downwind.
If you are unsure at all about anything pertaining to the garden, we encourage you to reach out to us via email. We will do our best to help.
fishersislandcommunitygarden@gmail.com