Redden Gardens

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Get Involved

  • Join us at Redden Gardens

    We want to welcome everyone to the Redden Garden's community vegetable gardens.
    We have opportunities for you to rent a 4 x 8 raised bed garden. You provide the plants. We will provide the tools and water. Shovels, hoes, buckets and other tools are available for you to borrow from our tool shed. Contact us or check the sign-up sheet on the inside of the building to make sure a time slot is available.

  • Start Your Garden

    Now that you have decided to start your garden you have some decisions to make. The most important thing is what plants do you want to grow. We recommend looking for low-maintenance and upward-growing plants. An upward-growing plant lets you take advantage of the space above your garden.

    .You may be interested in reading Home Vegetable Gardening in Kentucky http://www2.ca.uky.edu/agcomm/pubs/id/id128/id128.pdf This is one of many free publications from the University of Kentucky Agricultural Extension Service. Here you can find a lot of helpful information like how to get three seasons out of your garden and information about potential plants you might want to grow.

    You can also find a list of recommended cultivars for Kentucky gardens. http://www2.ca.uky.edu/agcomm/pubs/id/id133/id133.pdf

  • How To Care For Your Garden

  • Water properly
  • Clear the weeds
  • Protect it from pests
  • Plants that grow like tomatoes should be staked
  • Keep an eye on the weather
  • Water properly
  • Clear the weeds
    		•
  • Protect it from pests
  • Get to know and learn from the other gardeners
  • Read the linked publications from the agriculture extension office
  • Learn more about pests at http://entomology.ca.uky.edu/vegetable
  • If you need disease identification for your garden don't worry your UK cooperative extension office will do it for free. Just follow these instructions. https://plantpathology.ca.uky.edu/files/ppfs-gen-09.pdf

  • Surprising Health Benefits of Gardening

    Gardening can boost your immune system:
    When you are out-side gardening in the sunlight, your body absorbs vitamin D. There are many benefits to vitamin D like slowing cancer cell growth, increasing the strength of your bones and helping reduce inflammation, but most people have low levels.

    Gardening may protect your memory:
    The exercise you get while gardening can help protect your memory. Korean researchers conducted a study where subjects being treated for dementia spent 20 minutes a day planting and raking vegetable gardens. They found the gardeners had more nerve growth factors than the people that did not participate.

    Link to study

    Gardening improves hand dexterity and strength
    Gardening requires you to make precise hand movements. This gives you the benefit of helping to build your hand strength and dexterity. This becomes very important as you get older. Some doctors recommend rehab programs involving gardening tasks for stroke patients who have issues with their hands.

    Gardening may help with chronic pain
    Some people have chronic pain in their joints. The pain causes them to move less so they get stiff. After they get stiff, they are less likely to move, resulting in more pain. Planting and watering a small garden will help you move and improve the symptoms. If the pain is arthritis, gardening can increase the range of motion and decrease some of the swelling.

    Gardening exposes you to dirt and may also expose you to good bacteria
    Studies show that strains of bacteria found in some garden dirt can stimulate the brain to release serotonin. Link to study. Serotonin is a chemical that can help reduce depression.

  • Why Garden?

    Gardening reduces stress:
    Gardening helps people to slow down and relax in nature. It gives you a chance to focus on something else and put your mind to work on a goal or a certain task. In a study gardening was found to be even more stress-relieving than reading. Link to study

    Gardening burns calories and strengthens your heart:
    Gardening combines activity and exposure to nature and sunlight. The daily dose of digging, planting, and weeding is great exercise. It can help improve flexibility, strengthen your heart, and burn calories to lose weight.

    Gardening can encourage creativity -
    Gardening can let you exercise your creative muscles. You can design a layout to maximize space or you could try planting by color. You can create handmade garden signs and vegetable trellises.

    Gardening can improve your nutrition
    Growing your food can help you eat healthier You'll get fresh produce and you will know the full story of how it was grown and got to you.

    Gardening can build self-esteem.
    It always feels good to accomplish new tasks, and if you can grow a garden, what can't you do?

  • Benefits of a Community Garden

    Bring people together and improve the community:
    Community Gardens allow for the building of relationships and a sense of community among those who participate. Gardens encourage investment in a common goal, thus bringing people together. You get to know your neighbors, learn to look out for each other, and enjoy the added benefits of building new friendships and partnerships within the community. Also community gardens in urban areas have a positive correlation with decreased crime rates.

    Improve nutrition in the community:
    Community gardens help reduce the problems of food deserts, where nutritious food is difficult to get. This helps reduce the over-reliance on fast food and convenience stores. It also helps those wih food security issues. A garden people can walk to helps those who struggle with hunger.

    Growing and eating fresh produce is associated with
    Community gardens improve the health of the community because growing fresh produce is associated with better self-esteem, general health, reduced stress, and improved resilience. Also kids who grow vegetables themselves are more likely to eat them now and as adults.

    Community Gardens generate local environmental benefits, such as
    Converting a vacant lot into a garden can help restore degraded soil. This will safe guard the soil for growing food. It will also help restore soil quality and fertility. This yields benefits such as increased carbon sequestration, reduced storm-water runoff, and improved water holding capacity.

    Other environmental benefits.
    Eating locally grown food reduces your carbon footprint. Improving a lot with the right conditions help bees, pollinator plants, and the general look of the neighborhood.