After an extended fall gardening season here in Columbia and Boone County, the weather has finally cooled down. We hope you found time to harvest those final peppers, green tomatoes and sweet potatoes before the frost and to clean up your garden for the winter.

If you’ve gardened at one of our community gardens this year, here are some closing notes to think about:

• Let your garden leader know whether you’re planning to return next year. This will help leaders know what plots will be available for newcomers.
• Clean up your plot. If you need tips on how to put your garden to bed for the winter, consult your garden leader.
• Consider making a year-end donation to the CGC to help with maintaining your community garden next year. We’re a very small, all-volunteer non-profit, and even small contributions help us fund water, mulch, tools and more to support community gardening in Columbia. You can donate here.

Finally, we’d also like to note that member gardens both expanded and contracted this year. Many of our gardens added plots and welcomed more people than ever, including Ash St., Ann St., D.H. Crum, Broadway Christian and Unite 4 Health. Additionally, we welcomed the Harrisburg Schools Outdoor Classroom and the West Middle School garden as member gardens in 2016. On a sad note, however, the Benton-Stephens Community Garden on Windsor shut down after 9 years of use. Many gardeners shared warm memories about how much the garden meant to them. We know they cherished the community space the garden provided, and we thank land owner Mark Stevenson for the many years of use.