Garden information
The Littleton Pea Patch has been a beloved corner of the City of Littleton’s community garden for more than 40 years. We are a plot tended by trained volunteers in the Arapahoe County Master Gardener program, science-backed gardeners who love getting their hands in the soil and sharing what they know.
Since 2011, our plot has had a single mission: grow the best possible food and donate it freely to local food banks. Along the way, we have built lasting friendships with our fellow Pea Patch gardeners and with the community we serve.
What we grow
Everything in the Pea Patch is organically grown because we believe good food should be safe for everyone who eats it. Our volunteers plant and tend a wide variety of vegetables and herbs throughout the season, harvesting regularly to keep produce as fresh as possible for donation.
- Kale and Swiss chard
- Tomatoes and peppers
- Cucumbers, zucchini and summer squash
- Carrots and other root vegetables
- Rhubarb
- Fresh herbs including basil, tarragon and dill
Who we feed
Every pound we grow goes directly to food banks serving families across our community. Since 2011, we have donated over 25,000 pounds of fresh, organic produce, food that might otherwise be hard to access for neighbors facing food insecurity. We partner with local food banks who distribute produce quickly, ensuring it arrives fresh and nutritious. Our volunteers make regular deliveries throughout the growing season each summer.
Our food bank partners
- Parish Pantry at St. Mary’s Catholic Church
- A long-standing partner in our mission to combat food insecurity, Parish Pantry in Littleton, staffed entirely by volunteers, opens its doors every Monday to provide a steady supply of groceries for neighbors right here in our community.
- Life Center Littleton
- Based on South Datura Street in Littleton, the Life Center is a full community resource center serving neighbors facing hardship. Their food bank provides emergency support for individuals and families in short-term need, as well as long-term assistance for seniors, people with disabilities and those managing chronic illness – all in a warm, welcoming environment.
- Backpack Society
- Backpack Society exists for one reason: to make sure no child in our community goes hungry over weekends and school breaks. This 100% volunteer-run nonprofit partners with more than 70 schools across the Littleton, Douglas County and Englewood school districts. During the school year, they help send kids home on Fridays with a bag of six meals and snacks so they can come back to school on Monday ready to learn.
Pea Patch Dispatch
Donation pick ups on Tuesdays and Thursdays by 10:00 AM and Sundays by 1:00 PM.
August 8 – Mark Your Calendar
Gardens of Distinction Tour – 8:00 am to 2:00 pm
Join the Arapahoe County Extension for a fun, self-guided tour of eight distinctive demonstration gardens tended by Arapahoe County Master Gardener volunteers. It is guaranteed to inspire your green thumb. Explore any or all of the gardens at your own pace, engage with passionate Master Gardeners and discover unique learning opportunities at every garden stop.
At each garden, receive a free gift and enter a drawing for a grand prize worth $300. Each garden you visit increases your chances of winning.
Register today to receive the tour guide and map, then get ready for an enriching day!
DON’T MISS POLLINATORS GALORE!
Left, bumble bee pollinating a coneflower. Photo: feitzfotos from Pixabay. Right, swallowtail butterfly visiting lilac blossoms. Photo: mbc-16 from Pixabay
There’s more to pollinators than butterflies and bees. Join the Master Gardeners at the Pea Patch August 8 at 10:00 am for an informative talk about the pollinators you see (and maybe some you’ve missed) visiting the Pea Patch Garden and why they’re essential to our gardening success. See you there!
When To Pick Your Garden Goodies
You’ve dug and prepared the soil, you’ve planted the seeds, you’ve watered and fertilized and now, finally, you can enjoy the fruits of your labor. But it can be tricky to know the optimal time to harvest those veggies and the best way to store them. Utah State University has terrific info ensuring you get maximum bliss from your garden.
Mulching the Vegetable Garden
It’s no news to anyone that it has been a hot, dry summer so far. There are many benefits to mulching your vegetable garden: reduces water evaporation, stabilizes soil moisture, helps prevent weeds and, in some cases, extends the growing season. But, when it comes to the vegetable garden, not all mulches are created equal. Let’s sort the good from the not so great.
Grass clippings make a terrific mulch but only in thin layers up to 1/4” thick. Existing clippings should be dry before adding more. Don’t use clippings that have been treated with herbicides or pesticides in the last month. A couple sheets of newspaper under clippings help prevent weeds. Don’t use more than a couple sheets of newspaper or a nitrogen imbalance in the soil can occur.
Certified weed-free straw, compost, leaf mold and even coconut coir are great options and can be tilled into the soil in the fall as an amendment. Carefully check the source of any straw before you purchase to ensure it doesn’t come from a field that was treated with herbicides, which could carry over into your garden. Be sure to rinse coconut coir before use to remove any salts that might impact your plants.
Left, grass clippings used as mulch on top of newspaper (only a couple sheets thick). New clippings should only be applied after existing clippings have dried. Right, tomatoes growing in black plastic mulch. Photos: CSU Extension.
Black, colored or clear plastic — used commercially in tomato, pepper, melon and strawberry production — is worth a thought for use with these crops in your own garden. Put the plastic on the growing bed early in the season to start the soil warming, allowing for earlier growth. Plants must go in early so their growth shades the plastic before summer heat. Otherwise, the plastic can be too hot for the plants and must be removed. Plastic also controls weeds and reduces the need for irrigation. But be careful, because there’s no surface evaporation of water, it can be easy to overwater.
Wood or bark chips shouldn’t be used in the garden as they interfere with future garden prep and take years to decompose in our Colorado soils. Best to limit their use to paths between raised beds.
Want to learn more about soil amendments besides compost? Garden Buzz newsletter has just the article for you. Not a subscriber? Sign up here to get the Garden Buzz sent directly to your inbox.
Tomatoes Really Don’t Like HOT Weather
Tomatoes have the reputation as being heat lovers probably because they don’t do well in spring cold. While they like it warmer, our summers can actually be too hot for them. In temperatures over 95 degrees, fruits don’t grow as well — and we can have plenty days over 95 degrees in July and August, even June this year.
You might also notice flowers dropping off the plants. Again, high temperatures with drying winds are the culprit. Unpollinated flowers will dry out and fall off the plants.
As if that isn’t bad enough, your tomato fruits might have cracks in them, strange yellow patches, black spots on the bottom or even cat facing.
What to do? Make sure you’re giving your plants even, consistent water throughout the season. Mulching over the root zone, not against the plant stem, will help retain the moisture.
This short video from Extension discusses several problems including insects you might find afflicting your tomatoes along with best practices for growing glorious tomatoes in your garden.