A NEW YEAR IS COMING

Now that the garden has been put to bed for the year Bev & Dave Norman are preparing to hand over the running of this community garden to a new team of coordinators. Our goal of harvesting 5,000 lbs. of fresh produce for The Salvation Army Food Pantry was exceeded so we can say it has been a wonderful harvest. Our sincere thanks to all of the garden members for their hard work and dedication to make it possible to provide healthy food for people in need within our community. Our best wishes to everyone for a happy and healthy holiday season and new year.

Please watch this space for more blog info which will come to you from the new garden team.

All the best,

Bev & Dave

Benefits of Irrigation

Once the hard work of digging trenches was done the irrigation went in quickly as did the planting up of all the rows. A few weeks later the garden began to florish and continues to grow rapidly. As of July 8th The Salvation Army food pantry has been blessed with over 69 lbs. of kale, 9 lbs. of lettuce, 16 lbs. of cabbage, 23 lbs. of spinich, 13 lbs. of peas, 4 lbs. of radishes and a small variety of other veggies from the garden. The harvest is only just begun so watch this space.

Workday Progress

The expansion of our community garden has brought extra challenges this year but good team work has made it possible for much progress to be made. As the sweltering heat of summer keeps me indoors this afternoon I can finally take the time to sort through the photos taken so far this year. It is wonderful to see the progress of our garden through these photos. May through June was a very busy time tilling the soil, adding composts, planting out seedlings and seeds. Keeping up with the weeding, as always, is a huge ongoing task. The results of everyone's hard work is more than words can say so I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

June 6th

Miranda is ready to help!


This Saturday the children and their parents had a productive day in the garden. We pulled a lot of weeds, replaced plants that didn't make it for one reason or the other, and sowed replacement carrot seeds. The previously hot weather didn't give them a chance to sprout before drying out earlier. Now with the cooler weather we are able to hoping to get the carrots to spout before it heats up and drys out.

The little children gardens are well on there way to being productive. Ben's garden already has mature radishes in it.

The Sunflower house is a foot and a half tall and the morning glory seeds have sprouted. The Bean Tunnel is off to a good start also. We planted the gourd starts out this weekend.I brought some birdhouse gourds and one luffa gourd to try and Angela brought a snake gourd that she and the kids grew at home. It will be interesting to try these new types of gourds.

The strawberries are ripening, but we haven't been fast enough to beat the slugs to them...yet.

It will be a challenge to stay ahead of the weeds this year with all the rain and warm temperature. Now is the time to stay attentive and not let them get too much of a foot hold or the weeds will be knee high before we know it.

Beyond the Children's Garden, the little corner of the garden that I spend most of my time, progress is speeding on. The Food Pantry rows appear to be mostly full, the Market Garden is already producing herbs and flowers, and many of the Personal Rows are being filled up with plants. Some gardeners are even harvesting already. I have seen kale, spinach, strawberries harvested amongst the bounty. It looks like the peas are getting close, the chives, dill, and fennel are also ready. We are going to have a very productive garden this year.

Here a few gardeners take a hard earned short break before continuing on with the task of installing the watering system in the new section of the garden.

Market Garden - Salvia and Yarrow used for the floral market

Let The Planting Begin!

What fabulous weather we had for our workday last Saturday. Although some folks don't believe in tilling the soil, this Oregon clay we are blessed with does need a bit of help from the tiller along with lots of added compost. The number of bent and broken garden tools we have is proof that this clay soil needs all the help we can give it. If the soil is broken up enough to work with a garden fork without bending it, just imagine how much happier our plants will be spreading their roots down into the soil.

Our Annual Plant Sale

Our annual plant sale was a huge
success! Thousands of plants were
grown for both the garden and the plant sale. Leading up to the May 9th sale we had some bad weather but on the day it was perfect.

Now that the plant sale is finished we can concentrate more on completing the new garden expansion, issuing more personal rows and food pantry rows then a whole lot of planting will start happening. We will also be automating our garden watering system and expanding it into the new section.
Happy Gardening!

Garden Expansion and Kids Lesson

The beginning of the new expansion



The Gardeners began the labor intensive task of digging out the rows of the new section. We had may heroes to help accomplish this project. Lots of blisters, sore backs and arms.


Ben already planted his little garden. Lots of radishes and turnips. The other children are waiting for the watering system to be installed.



Here Marina and Kyle are getting a lesson on tropism.


The whole group absorbing the lesson. We later went inside and Kyle showed us a book he had created around a Jr Master Gardener activity. He had 25 bean seeded that he planted and each day he took one out of its pot and examined, photographed, and recorded how the seed sprouted.


The bean tunnel being planted.

How we Built the Bean Tunnel Addition

This Sunday we extended our Bean Tunnel from last year and we had plenty of help. Now it is double the size. When I asked the kids last fall what they would change about the garden a longer bean tunnel was on the top of their list. Now it will go all the way up to the Sunflower House. Last year there was a 6 foot gap between them. We planted flowers and herbs there.



Here is how we put it together.

We started with a 50 in x 16 ft cattle panel that we bought at our local farm store, Wilco Farm Store.


Here Miranda and Stacy are making sure that the 2x4 are lined up so that when it gets folded it will be in the center.


Then the 2x4's are clamped in tight so the won't shift.


and then the folding begins. It takes a little extra effort.


And even some more effort.


Now Stacy and Ben are repositioning the braces to make a fold back to match the other panel already made last year.



After the fold is completed they flipped it over and repeated the process. Then bent it one more time on each side to make sure the sides would be parallel when installed in the garden.


Kyle put the finial touches in the top with a large hammer. Then it was installed in garden using 5 ft T-post so that it won't blow over when the plants grow and the wind blows. We used cable ties to tie it to the post and to last years tunnel. Now we have 8 feet of tunnel. It feels so much nicer. I can't wait to have the runner beans and gourds growing all over it. Last years Bean Tunnel.

Jr Master Gardener Lesson - Leaf and Seed sort

Saturday April 4th's Lesson - Leaf and Seed Sort


Today the Jr. Master Gardeners learned the hows and whys of sorting monocot and dicot seeds and leaves. First they learned why scientist sort them in the first place. They decided it is easier to figure out what they are if they are put in some sort of order. They learned that most plants in the our community garden are in two main groups: monocots and dicots. The veins in monocot leaves all go the same direction, dicots go all different directions. Then they went out into the garden to find some examples of both kinds of leaves.


They also learned how to tell the difference from a seed that has just sent out it's first leaves. Monocot plants only have one seed leaf, where as dicots have two seed leaves. Here the kids are documenting their findings.

Next they worked on had a fund raising project. A couple weeks before a few of the kids had gotten together to color eggshells. Now they are filling them with dirt and planting some hens and chick plants in them. They then sold them for a dollar a egg to help raise money to fill the food pantry selves. I heard they sold out quickly. Next year we hope to do more.

Planting the eggs and showing off the first dollar made.

Here the Jr. Gardeners are posing with their newly planted eggs next to the food pantry shelves.

The gardeners were busy today. They also feed the worms in the new worm bin.

Toward the end of their time together the Jr. Master Gardeners shared what they learned and made with the community gardeners who had stopped gardening long enough to have a coffee break.

The next meeting is Saturday April 18th. They will be studying the "Power of Seeds". Can a seed really flip a coin?

Master Gardener Daryll Alt gives "How to Build a Worm Bin" Workshop

This Saturday Daryll Alt came down to the garden a lead a workshop on building a worm bin. We learned a lot about earth worms and red worms. Such as composting using a worm bin or box is a great way to recycle food wastes like coffee grounds, tea bags, vegetable debris, and rotting fruit and rinds. By letting worms eat our vegetable and fruit waste we will end up with great fertilizer, the worm castings.

Other facts learned - Worms come in all different sizes. Each worm has five pairs of hearts. A worm can grow a new head or tail if some of its segments are nipped off. Worms breath through their skin. They don't have teeth. They can't be too wet or too dry. Worms don't like fats of meat. They are vegetarian. Strict Vegetarians, maybe even vegans.


DO FEED THEM:
Vegetable scraps
Fruit rinds & peels
Coffee grounds & filters
Tea grounds & bags

Breads & other grains

DON’T FEED THEM:
Meat or fish
Dairy products (cheese, etc.)
Butter or cooking oils
Oily foods
Pet waste




The box that Daryll so graciously made for us to grow worms in is approximately a 2' x 4' wooden box. He saved the drilling of the holes for the kids to help out with when we installed it.




We decided to put the worm box out by the Children's Garden in the shade of the sunflower house. The temperature will hopefully be easier to maintain. Red worms ideal temperature is between 55 - 77 degrees. Bedding temperatures in the high 80's can be fatal to our little red wiggly friends.


After putting the box in place we added "bedding". We started with crumpled and shredded paper. It was raining pretty hard so we didn't worry about wetting it down before putting it in the box.
The kids really seemed to enjoy this process. We did water it down just in case the rain wasn't sufficient. It is now a light and fluffy, soggy bed of paper.


To the paper bedding we added plant debris and old sunflower stems. Also fresh kale trimmings.

Then in went the worms!

Here is a close up of the worms. You still have to look closely to see them.

Finally we put a layer of straw on the top to hopefully warm up our little friends. As you can probably see we are still in the cold part of the year. But we have had a few sunny days and the promise of spring and warmer weather is lifting our spirits.


Here are a few links to worm bin plans and care of worms in worm boxes or bins.

http://www.co.whatcom.wa.us/publicworks/pdf/solidwaste/worm.pdf
http://extension.oregonstate.edu/news/story.php?S_No=35&storyType=garde
http://whatcom.wsu.edu/ag/compost/Redwormsedit.htm

Now all that is left is to make sure we take care of them. We will have to feed our worms slowly at first, and increase the rate after a few weeks. We will have to check the moisture and bedding to make sure they have plenty and hopefully in three to four months we will have that legendary "Black Gold".

Thank you so much Daryll!