What's growing in the Garden? June 2010

This summer has been very hot and dry. We have had less rain than we would normally have had, and the rain we did get came all at once last Thursday! We have a limited number of veggies growing this year, but some of the perennial herb type plants are establishing themselves well in the garden. 

Meg Shelton of Shelton Herb Farm generously donated many of the plants that have done well this summer. Below are a variety of peppers including bell and a sweet white variety.

  

This is one of my favorite new peppers, it is called the Numex Twilight variety and as you can see it makes peppers that turn different colors from light purple to fiery red. They can be eaten anytime after they turn purple, but they are so beautiful I have been leaving them on until they turn red. They are super spicy though, so be careful!

Our milkweed plants are still thriving, although instead of attracting butterfly and moth larva, all we have been seeing are many aphids. I figure they are food for something also and I have not done much to eradicate them, I hope it will attract lizards (which we have seen a couple) and ladybugs (also a few). The plants are very resilient and even after letting go of one batch of seeds, new shoots have started coming up at the bottom and I think we will get a second blooming. 

One of my favorite plants, the Vitex agnus-castes is doing incrediably well. This native of the Mediterranean loves our sandy soil and the hot summer. It has more than doubled in size this season and continues to flower and bear fruit. The only plant that I have seen more bees and butterflies on than this gem has been the catnip. She has been providing great shade for the plants recently planted around her base.

Below are three of the plants who live under the Vitex shrub. 

The St. Johnswort  on topwas planted in the shade of the Vitex shrub. The one below and to the left was planted in a more exposed location. Notice the greener color and stronger looking St. J's in the top photo. The one growing more exposed is browner, smaller and not thriving as much. 

  

You can see from these pictures that the Stinging Nettle (on the left) and the Motherwort (on the right) are both becoming well established in the garden. If you look closely in the bottom of the picture of the nettle, you can see the baby plants that have come up (run) from the main plant. That is an excellent sign that the plant is established and will continue to spread and flourish. The Motherwort will do the same in the future.

Our watermelons have so far been our best summer vegetable. Here is the biggest one that was unfortunately harvested too soon. But you can see from the size of the patch that we have several more watermelons on the way. I think we have a total of 5 as of this post. Not super, but way more than the 0 we had last year!

Finally, but not least, this is our new Fig Tree! I am very excited about this addition to the garden. Meg thinks it is a cross between the brown turkey variety and the celeste variety. The fig is doing really well and has new growth! We will have to wait a few years for it to start producing, but this is definitely a start!

Castle Street Community Garden Day May 2, 2010

We had our first big (big coming from the "single serving garden") harvest today!

We harvested almost 6 pounds of kale, a pound of peas, red chard, 3 strawberries, lettuce, chamomile, and potatoes (they were very small, but the plants had died back). 

It was also Toni's birthday! The picture below shows Toni and Ethan planting Toni's birthday Jewel Nasturtium. It is a variegated variety with white and green leaves. We planted it in the Children's Garden to add some bright color to the thriving greens they have growing this season.

Steve, Chris and Angelica weeding, harvesting and watering.

Our cabbages (just cabbage?) are coming up nicely, although were you see the empty looking spots are places were plants have unexpectedly died. There is a suspicious whole towards the back corner of this garden that looks like somebody's home, but I have yet to identify the culprit. I think this somebody is also responsible for the disappearance of the sunflowers we planted in the back of the garden. The plants were completely gone and where each one had been was a small hole. The investigation continues. 

We had an amazing number of cucumber volunteers. The rows are ones we planted from starts, but in the front of the picture are those that came up of their own volition. We have started thinning them out by digging up the bigger ones and transplanting them. We could tell they were cucumbers by the distinctive taste of the shoots when we first pulled a few up. We have some other volunteers and I am not sure how many are "true" squash or cucumbers. We may have some "squashumbermelons" to taste test in a few months.

We also harvested some red chard today and most of the plants are looking strong. This was not a bed that we filled with topsoil, we used horse manure, cardboard, compost and sand. I think the size difference is based on uneven nutrient distribution. We had a similar pattern in other beds. The solution? More is more when it comes to natural soil amendments.

We have started meeting later in the afternoon to escape the heat and to enjoy the longer days. Come see us Sundays from 5:30- 7:30 at Castle Street Community Gardens, 317 Castle Street.