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.

Castle Street Community Garden Day April 11, 2010

We had another fabulous day in the garden! We had a good turnout and got a bunch of plants in the ground. We planted tomatoes, sunflowers, calendula,  and cilantro. 

It was a good day for planting. It was also a good day for harvesting. Below is a photo of Toni and Ethan harvesting one of out looooong anticipated cabbage. We planted these cabbage back in the fall and for a possible variety of reasons they never really thrived. They looked like they were going to go to seed and not get much bigger so we decided to harvest one of them. I'll post an update on the others next week.

It was one tough cabbage! My snips are also very loved, and so are very dull. I have not yet mastered the skill of blade sharpening. My efforts have the disappointing effect of making the blade more dull rather than sharp.

Regardless, Ethan met with success and held up his hard earned trophy- a tasty (hopefully) naturally grown, community nurtured head of cabbage. Good job Ethan!

Here is one our community supporters - Stefan Hartmann, owner of Black River Organic Farm. Stefan has helped all of the gardens I am involved with -- CSCG, Tidal Creek Community Garden and The New Hanover High School Garden-- with an abundance of seedlings. Not only did he bring by plants on Sunday, but also a parasite that preys on aphids that was hitchhiking with the plants!

Thanks Stefan!

 

That jug of brown water in the right hand picture is a gallon of compost tea available at Progressive Gardens located on Oleander Drive. Bring your own container and get a free gallon of this probiotic garden tea. It helps to replenish the microorganism populations in the soil. The microorganisms are beneficial to plants and soil health in many ways. 

Chris is working hard!

Tom and Angelica were kept busy planting tomatoes. We planted several heirloom varieties that even have exotic names. I can't wait to see what "purple zebra" looks like. Other on the roster include pink beauties, a white tomato, black grape and some others whose names I will get up soon.

Here are a few shots of the garden, late afternoon on Sunday.

Angelica took these two, I couldn't decide which one I liked better. That is mullein in the foreground with broccoli and collards gone to seed in the background and catnip peeking in from the left hand side.

This is Vitex, also known as Chaste Tree. This is a very fast growing shrub I am excited to have for it's medicinal properties and also because it provides a nice filtered shade for some of the herbs. I expect it to grow fast enough to be able to shade the herb garden this year. 

The much anticipated asparagus  has sprouted! We have four of ten crowns coming up! It's hard to see in this picture, but the asparagus is the green plant with a ring of darker soil (compost) around it. As it grows we will fill in the trench. There won't be any to harvest for a couple of years, but the beginning looks promising! 

We did have one casualty - a snapped stem, so please be careful not to walk in the trench! I hope that crown will send up more spears, like the other three plants are doing.

Some more pictures of the garden. Enjoy!