Quimper Grange Food Bank Garden
aka "Jo's Garden"
Quimper Grange is proud to partner with Food Bank Growers!
The Food Bank Growers network grows, gathers, and gives away nutritionally-dense fruits and vegetables to build healthy, vibrant communities, improve food security, and decrease food waste for our Jefferson County neighbors. See FoodBankGrowers.org for more info
The Quimper Grange Food Bank Garden was started in 2013 by Jo Yount and other volunteers. The intended use was to grow food to donated to the local Food Bank. The original intentions are still being upheld today. Volunteer gardeners meet twice a week to harvest a diverse assortment of berries and vegetables throughout the entire year. We are able to do this thanks to the three hoop houses that keep the soil and air warm even in the coldest of times.
November 2025 Garden Notes
Summer Sunflowers side-by-side (Before)
Fall garden beds put to sleep, layered with leaves & compost, and seeded with more field peas. (After)
“The beauty of autumn is that it reminds us that even the most beautiful things have to end, and it’s okay.” - Anita Kućma
Fava beans coming up between beet greens, ready to harvest for luscious growing tips
Fall pollinator garden
Putting the Grange garden to ‘bed’ for the winter takes as much care as tending it during the warmer months. It’s yet another joyful time in the garden, with people pulling weeds, planting new food crops to grow over the winter, and replacing existing covers with more substantial frost-resistant ones. We delight in seeing the newly-planted cover crops emerging, some now ready to harvest for winter greens! We also delight in these crops, as we don’t need to tend them as often, very handy in the winter months!
Cover crop provides the soil much-needed protection from the heavy rains and freezing temperatures. Some of the cover crops (like fava beans and field peas) can be continually harvested for their tasty and nutritious greens throughout the winter. Other cover crops, like the rye/vetch mix we use, and crimson clover, will add ‘green manure’ when it’s time to terminate it in the spring. All the cover crops will be chopped in weeks before planting next year; some, including the vetch, peas & fava, will add nitrogen to the soil though their rhizobia bacteria, which fixes atmospheric nitrogen into a form plants can use.
We are still transplanting some veggies outdoors: many pac chois, mustards and lettuces and spinach; those will be covered and harvested this winter and some will provide a nice early start in the spring. Inside the hoop houses we’ve got more carrots, snow peas, more Asian greens, turnips, and a large bed of braising greens.
We are having to do battle with the cutworm again, this time inside one of our hoop houses. They are chowing down on our beautiful spinach that were started in September. To mitigate these cutworms, we are treating part with DE (diatomaceous earth) and part with Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis), an OMRI supported natural biological pesticide. No worries, completely safe to use. Luckily these treatments won’t wash out because the plantings are under cover. It will be interesting to see which is more effective.
Another pest we just discovered was a nasty vole (or two) that has invaded several of our beds. We will first try citrus rinds buried in the soil, then will move on if that doesn’t work. Any suggestions are more than welcome!
This is also a great time to do some indoor chores. Supportive frames are being built inside our greenhouse to support the crates in which we’re growing more food. Tools are being oiled and stored. Fans are being mounted to keep the air flowing in the hoop houses. And we are packaging up a lot of seeds to distribute at a later date.
What's Happening in October
We had such a successful time at the Farm Tour! Our garden was at peak performance with bright orange Kabocha squash, towering heads of sunflowers, and tomatoes of all colors.
Now, a sigh of relief. The push is over and time to ease into planting cover crops and chopping down our tired veggie vines. We're saving seeds from beans and tomatoes, the easiest and most predictable seeds to save. These have been carefully selected for flavor and vigor, and will be dried and stored for next year. Of note, two of our cherry tomatoes, Snowberry and Pink Honeydrop were voted favorites at a recent WSU Seed Saving workshop at our local Oatsplanter Farm.
Irrigation will be turned off to our outside beds sometime this month, pending weather patterns. Hand watering will still be appropriate in some areas, especially new starts, but then our rain showers will take care of the rest.
As the cooler weather sets in, volunteer activity will wane, and that's OK. Volunteers, just like our soil, need a time to rest and replenish their energy. We cancel garden hours in bad weather and just catch up the next time.
Self Care for the Autumn Gardener
Dress in layers, and be outdoors as much as possible. Scuffle through fallen leaves. Walk in the rain. Experience the beauty of our northwest storms from the warmth & safety of the indoors, or the excitement of being outdoors in it.
After a summer of companionship and social activity, lets not isolate ourselves. Reach out. Gather in small groups. Play games.
Go listen to live music. Cook for others.
Above all, stay healthy :)
In April 2025, the Port Townsend Food Co-Op issued a grant through the Farmer's Fund to create an All-Access garden bed area. This bed serves those who are no longer able to kneel, squat, or sit on the ground. This wonderful addition allows people to stand, sit in a chair, and has three bays that are easily accessible by wheelchair.
This area is now complete with rubber matting installed from the front gate to the beds! We welcome people of all abilities to help us tend this, and other parts of our garden.
Exciting News!
One of five raised beds funded by the Noon PT Rotary Club. This enhanced our winter growing by getting the roots up out of this boggy area of the garden! February 2024.
Friends of Jo and George Yount gather to dedicate the bench to the vision Jo had back at the beginning, to create a garden in which to grow food to feed the community. Her vision stands today as the Quimper Grange Food Bank Garden, or "Jo's Garden" as it's fondly known as, harvests throughout the year to supply our local food bank with fresh produce. The trellis and bench were lovingly crafted and donated to the Garden by Community Boat Project.
Believe it or not...
Hoop houses (in back of image) protect and warm our winter harvest. This is a mid-February harvest for the food bank!
Volunteers
