McMinnville Community Garden

2011-04-25T21:39:00.000-07:00

Things are "popping" at the garden, and we're getting ready for our big plant sale on May 7th (from 10 to 3). The greenhouse is full, and we're borrowing a little 6x8 pop-up greenhouse to handle the overflow. As you can imagine, the pottin-up team and the watering team have been quite busy. We're excited to have such a good start on our baby plants, despite the cool and often gloomy spring.

This year, we have lots of vegetables again, but with a new emphasis on heirloom tomatoes. Come to the sale and try a new variety (or six!) this year. We have some very tasty old-fashioned-flavored types that will make your growing adventure even more rewarding. See below for a complete list, with the number of days to maturity from transplant into the garden and short descriptions.

For new gardeners who are just entering into the tomato-growing adventure, we are offering two demonstrations on varieties, planting techniques, fertilization, and staking options. The mini classes will be held at 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM by the tool shed.

2011 TOMATOES

Ace 55 (80) Low-acid tomato with good yields of large fruit.

Beefsteak (96) Heirloom with huge tomatoes, sometimes reaching two pounds.

Black Krim (70) Beautiful dark purple-black fruit with rich, old-fashioned flavor and a hint of smokiness.

Box Car Willie (80) Indeterminate red slicer; beautiful and delicious. Very prolific over a long season.

Brandy Boy (78) Large pink fruit with soft texture and thin skin. Potato-leaf vines, high yielding; cross between the famous Brandywine and Better Boy, resulting in earlier maturity and bigger yields, with nearly as good a flavor.

Celebrity (80) Medium-large red fruit; reliable producer.

Cherokee Purple (85) Large dusky rose-purple fruit. Delicious mild flavor.

Druzba (90) Large red fruits with fine flavor. Bulgarian heirloom; tolerates heat and moisture.

Fantastic (85) Lives up to its name, with uniform beautiful fruit and old-fashioned flavor.

Golden Treasure (70) One of the best storage tomatoes around – delicious golden fruit.

Italian Ice (65) Ivory-white cherry tomato with very mild sweet flavor.

Jake's Awesome (?) Seeds saved from a garden gift from Jake; the variety is a mystery, but the flavor was AWESOME.

Jaune Flammee (80) Indeterminate heirloom from France; excellent flavor with a hint of smokiness; productive; golden/orange with redder inside.

Opalka (85) Heirloom from Poland. Phenomenal set of fruit; excellent fresh, used in sauces or dried.

Oregon Spring (80) Large red oval slicing tomato; "incredible" productivity.

Pik Red (70) Industry standard hybrid; large firm fruit that holds well on bushy plants; good old-fashioned flavor & reliable yields

Pineapple (90) Yellow heirloom; large beefsteak with red streaks. Nice fruity flavor.

Principe Borghese (75) Determinate Italian heirloom; small oval fruit with excellent flavor and prolific yields; great for drying or fresh eating; hold well on the vine.

Roma (76) Clusters of elongated mild flavored fruit with little juice; great for canning.

San Marzano (90) Heavy-yielding, used for fresh eating, preserves, canning, paste, and sauces. Little juice and mild flavor.

Stupice (60) Czechoslovakian heirloom; cold-tolerant potato-leaf vines; abundance of sweet tomato flavor that starts early and keeps going.

Sun Gold (65) Indeterminate hybrid golden cherry. Does well in cool seasons; loads of sweet fruit. Holds well on the vine.

Super Sweet 100 (65) Red cherry, with good balance of sweetness and full tomato flavor.

Taxi (70) Medium yellow, heavy yielder over short season. Mild & acid-free.

Thessaloniki (68) Greek heirloom, with smooth red medium-sized fruit. Pleasant mild flavor, holds well.

Window Box Roma (70) Determinate red hybrid; develops yield after yield of elongated fruit that hold well. Work well in planters.

Orientation done; garden volunteers gearing up for successful 2011

2011-03-21T18:58:00.000-07:00

The McMinnville Community Garden held its annual orientation for new personal row gardeners on Saturday, March 19. The garden is welcoming back a solid core of regular personal row gardeners and several enthusiastic newcomers.

Garden volunteers are gearing up for a successful 2011. We are awaiting, of course, for the garden to dry out so that we can access the rows that are currently waterlogged.

We'll be fixing the deer fence, weeding, moving the herb boxes, putting up shelving in the interior of the new tool shed and, hopefully, erecting a donated greenhouse structure in the near future.

Stay tuned as the McMinnville Community Garden continues its work of growing healthy food for needy families in Yamhill County.

In addition, our row sponsorship fundraiser (see post below) is getting off to a great start. We have received several sponsorships, including $100 from the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and commitments from other local individuals, companies and organizations. We'll be updating the row sponsors as donations arrive. Thank you to all who have donated or committed to a row sponsorship! Your donations will help us offset the expenses incurred to grow healthy food for the Salvation Army Food Pantry.

Community Garden seeks Food Pantry row sponsors

2011-02-28T19:55:00.000-08:00

The McMinnville Community Garden @ The Salvation Army, 1950 S.W. Second St., McMinnville, is starting a new spring fundraising campaign in seeking local businesses and/or individuals to sponsor a Food Pantry row for $50 per row.

In 2010, Community Garden volunteers donated more than 2,500 hours and grew more than 5,000 pounds of fresh produce for local families and other food share organizations in Yamhill County on the plot of land next to the Salvation Army building. There are approximately 40 Food Pantry rows in the garden available for sponsorship. Food grown in these rows goes directly into the Salvation Army’s Food Pantry, which feeds needy families in our communities.

The Community Garden Steering Committee is seeking those interested in sponsoring a row for $50 to send a check to The Salvation Army, 1950 S.W. Second St., McMinnville, OR 97128. Food Pantry row sponsorships will help garden volunteers fund the work of the garden, from purchasing supplies and tools, paying for water and possibly making more expensive purchases, such as buying a new tiller. A tax-deductible donation will help feed those in need in Yamhill County.

For more information, contact Community Garden Publicity Coordinator Dean Rhodes at 503-883-3397 or dean.rhodes@comcast.net or Fundraising Coordinator Amy Desmond at 503-857-0881.

2011 Gardening Season

2011-02-21T16:29:00.000-08:00

We are about to burst into the 2011 gardening season. I was just at the garden today and a wonderful surprise greeted me, daffodils. I know we are expecting snow later this week, but the fever has begun!

WELCOME NEW GARDEN SEASON.

Mulching with Wool

2010-09-18T22:42:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning

In an effort to help cut down on the weeding we are looking at different kinds of mulches. Daryll Alt a Yamhill County Master Gardener Volunteer and local small farmer came out to the garden this Saturday to share with us how to use waste form the wool shearing process as a mulch. He and his wife Kim raise sheep among other things on their small acreage outside of Amity.

Daryll started out by introducing us to the properties of the wool.
It lies down thick and blocks the light and it breaks down slowly. It helps hold the moisture in the soil during the dry months to cut down on watering and the parts of the wool being used are considered waste, so by using it we keep it out of the land fill. (Daryll uses wool on the farm as mulch also)

Here we are concentrating on the pathways between the beds.

After raking back the mostly decomposed straw from the pathway onto the rows Daryll is laying a thick layer of wool down in the rows to suppress the weeds. The wool should last 3-4 years before needing to be replaced. The cardboard or newspaper we will have to replace next year.

Then he put down a layer of straw. The straw will be replace as needed. The only potential draw back to the wool is that it can be hard to get a wheelbarrow over it. We are hopeful that the rains will help pack it down.

Most of the rest of the morning was spent preparing for next Saturdays work party by cutting up cardboard and continuing to weed. The Slow Foods of Yamhill County will be out to help us put several layers of cardboard or newspaper in the paths and then cover them with straw.

While we were learning about mulching with wool Miranda learned how to spin wool onto yarn from Kim Alt. She loved it!

Thank you so much Daryll and Kim!

2010-09-13T19:29:00.000-07:00

Our harvest is in full swing at the garden. This is one of the busiest times of the year. Harvesting, cleaning out the garden, preparing for winter. So much to do.

Basil from our herb garden.

Community Section

Some of our valuable vulunteers

Sunflowers from the flower garden

Personal rows

News Register Article of the Vandalism at the Garden

2010-08-25T18:06:00.000-07:00

Vandals ravage community garden

Published: August 25, 2010

Vandals ravage community garden
By NICOLE MONTESANO
Of the News-Register
Vandals destroyed food from several crops Sunday night at the McMinnville Community Garden, smashing some items, stealing others and engaging in apparent food fights. In some cases, crops were pulled up and left lying on the ground.

"Tomatoes, peppers, squash, carrots, raspberries, pumpkins, watermelons and cantaloupe were picked and either thrown around and smashed or taken," children's garden coordinator Janet Gahr said in a statement to police. "Most of the produce was brought to the back of the garden and smashed."

The gates were found closed. Garden organizers are speculating that the vandals may have crawled underneath the mesh deer fence. They are seeking help to keep it from happening again, and are asking neighbors to call police if they see unsupervised teen-agers in the garden.
A large portion of the food from the garden is donated to the Salvation Army's food pantry. Families that sign up grow food both for themselves and for the food pantry, and volunteers help with the donation crops.

According to garden organizers Dean and Patricia Rhodes, the garden donated more than 5,000 pounds of produce to The Salvation Army food pantry in 2009.

"We are all volunteers who livethroughout Yamhill County," Patricia Rhodes said. "We do not have the funds to hire a security guard or to install security devices at the garden. For those who committed this act of vandalism, you need to know that you have taken food out of the mouths of hungry people in Yamhill County. We are asking that you understand your actions and not do it again."

The vandals picked a giant pumpkin that a member was growing for seed. They apparently intended to take it with them, but left it under the edge of the fence around the garden, possibly finding it too heavy.
Gahr said she found the mess Monday morning, when she went to put stems in the compost pile after cutting flowers for her florist shop, Incahoots, which buys flowers from the garden.

"I was kind of discouraged," she said. "They destroyed a lot of watermelons that the kids had been growing for the food pantry. I was just in shock when I saw it."

She said the vandals apparently took some melons with them. But Gahr said some medium-sized melons remain on the vine and she has hopes they will mature in time.

Carrots one of the children was growing for the state fair were pulled up and left lying near the compost area. Significant damage was done to watermelon and canteloupe vines.

"We found tomatoes and peppers spewed about everywhere, so I think they were having a fight," Gahr said. "Having a bit of fun at our expense." One pepper plant was pulled out of the ground.
However, Gahr said the garden should still enjoy a bountiful harvest.

"There was a lot more than they could take," she said. "It's just more discouraging than anything, I think."

For more information about the garden, call Patricia Rhodes at 503-883-1735.

Lots of New Stuff

2010-08-23T06:08:00.000-07:00

The garden is looking even better, and is much more comfortable for people and birds!

Thanks to our wonderful Volunteers

Amy and John D have found all sorts of wonderful things for the garden. Two lovely benches were added for the gardeners to rest. They put them up along the bean row so there is even a little shade. Amy is always finding little (and big) things for the garden. She is a jewel!

Brett S. had made beautiful bird houses and put them around the garden. The houses were full of birds within a week of being put up.

Angela D made a large bird bath in her row for the birds. The sound of the birds is so delightful!

The volunteers at the garden do so much more than just grow food for the needy. We are very fortunate! What a great year. Thank you wonderful volunteers.

If you would like to be part of this wonderful Community Garden Experience, please let us know.

2010-08-15T07:16:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful garden season we are having. The garden is growing, vegetables and fruits are getting big (or have already been picked) Volunteers are working hard, and we are starting to plan for next year. This has been an extraordinary year at the garden. So many wonderful things have happened.

The key to this years garden ~ Our wonderful VOLUNTEERS! Thank you everyone for all your hard work, and for all the fun you have brought to the garden.

What a Blessing

2010-05-22T15:04:00.000-07:00

I was emotionally moved by some of the volunteers I met in the garden today. A family of four came out to help; a mom, a dad, and two kids (a girl and a boy). Ordinary so far it seems. What impressed me so much was that they were so willing to give their help to us. This family had come down from Lake Oswego for one purpose, to help at our Community Garden. They have no connections here and will probably never be back, but we were blessed with them for today. They found out about the Community Garden when their daughter was looking for colleges to attend this coming fall. Linfield was on their list. Patricia, one of our fearless garden leaders, was at a Linfield event where she was in a booth showcasing the McMinnville Community Garden when she met the daughter of this family. She convinced her to come down and volunteer at the garden. Although Linfield was not the choice of college,our garden was.

With the rain pouring down by the buckets full and the temperatures lower than usual for this time of year, this family got up, got dressed and came down to McMinnville to muck around in the mud. They helped us pull weeds, lay down straw and whatever else they were asked to do. I didn’t hear a complaint from any of them. They just steadily, together, completed the tasks that were given to them. They were still busily laying down straw on the slippery pathways when I left with my daughter to escape the miserably weather. What a family outing!

It is people like this that make our garden such an awesome place. When I am out in the garden volunteering I always feel I am part of a group of people that truly do want to make a positive difference in the world. It renews my faith in our garden, our community, our world. We are so blessed!

Thank you to all my fellow volunteers that come out to "help the hungry grow healthy".

Janet

Annual Plant Sale

2010-05-02T20:25:00.000-07:00

We are having our Annual Plant Sale this coming Saturday. We will have lots of great plants to choose from.

Annual Plant Sale

Saturday May 8

10:00 am - 3:00 pm

1950 S.W. Second St., McMinnville

This is our major fund raiser of the year. Thank you for helping us provide fresh produce to those in need here in Yamhill County.

May 1, 2010

2010-05-01T20:54:00.000-07:00

This morning The Groovy Growing Gardeners met in the Salvation Army's Meeting room to discuss their garden plans. The kids learned about spacing of the plants in their garden boxes. They had to make some tough choices on what they where going to grow. They also discussed when they would be planting seeds or plant start out in their garden boxes. They discovered that each type of plant has it's own needs that have to be met. Some need to be started earlier inside and then transplanted out and some are best to direct sow. Vegetables are not all grown the same.

With all the rain we have been having they also learned why you shouldn't step in the row even when weeding. The soils we have here in the Willamette Valley are made up of a good percentage of clay. Even with the little bit of pressure from stepping in the rows to weed the soil packs down the soil very tight and makes nice clods that won't break up easy. We did manage to get a fair amount of weeding done. The 2 rows that the children are going to be planting with watermelons and cantaloupe in for the Food Pantry are weeded. Now we need to get some compost put on the row and wait for the rains to stop so we can cultivate it.

Here is a picture of what the Food Pantry rows looked like before we started weeding.

Here the kids are getting the work done. We finished weeding these two Food Pantry rows and some around the new picnic table. The season is starting!

Thank you for the Tools!

2010-04-17T21:55:00.000-07:00

Thank you for the tools for the Children's Garden!

We received several hand tools and small sized gardening tools from some generous Master Gardeners. Yamhill County Master Gardeners Association also generously donated the funds for us to purchase a picnic table and an umbrella to facilitate the Jr Master Gardeners' meetings in the garden.
Thank you again,

The "Groovy Growing Gardeners"
Jr Master Gardeners' Club

Welcome to the 2010 Gardening Season.

2010-03-16T15:40:00.000-07:00

The 2010 Salvation Army Community Garden is shaping up for a successful growing season. Seedlings are growing in the greenhouse, the spring plant sale is being planned, and compost is ready to be worked into the garden rows.

The 2010 Garden Orientation Session is scheduled for 10am Saturday March 20 at The Salvation Army Community Garden. All Gardeners need to attend an orientation session. During this session we will:

1) Review the vision & mission of the Garden
2) Discuss operating policies and guidelines of the Community Garden
3) Have a preview of seeds, plants, and cash crops that will be available
this year
4) You will be assigned your Personal Row
5) You will receive information on general garden work times
6) You will hear about Garden Teams for which you may want to volunteer
7) We will review The Salvation Army (TSA) Child Safety & Protection Policy
8) You will meet the other Community Gardeners

First Part of Easter Egg Fund Raiser

2010-03-05T19:18:00.000-08:00

Well, here we are already into March and the Groovy Growing Gardeners, the Jr Master Gardener club at the garden are starting 2010 out strong. We have already met to start planning out what each gardener is going to grow in their garden boxes. They even went home with some seeds to start.

Tonight we met at my house for the first part of a fund-raising project. We colored the eggs that we will be planting in a couple of weeks.

Here they are busy at work coloring the eggs.

Yes, being creative is messy!

True Green Thumbs!

- Janet -

The Salvation Army Christmas Blessing Project

2009-12-06T16:16:00.000-08:00

Many helpers are needed for the 2009 Christmas Salvation Army (TSA) food box and gift assembly & distribution days. Work crews will begin on Wednesday December 16 at 10:00 AM at the National Guard Armory (out by the airport).
Crews will work December 16 - 21, excluding Sunday December 20, from 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM. Distribution days (families come to pick up their food box and gift bags) will occur on December 22 & 23 from 8:30 AM - 6:30 PM.

The Armory can be cool so dress in layers. Wear good walking shoes. Please adhere to your own your physical limits & abilities. Some work tasks are heavy, but there are lots of light-duty tasks available also.

Please call The Salvation Army office at 503-472-1009 to let them know if you would like to
schedule a specific volunteer time for your family or Small Group.

A NEW YEAR IS COMING

2009-11-06T18:42:00.000-08:00

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

2009-07-21T16:54:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-21T16:12:00.000-07:00

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.

Field Trip to the Gahr Farm

2009-06-30T22:42:00.000-07:00

Gahr Farm Reserve

Finding the water source.

Horizontal well drilling rig. Mr. Gahr developed most of his wells with this machine.

Old tank that supplied the farm for many decades.

Tree house in the woods.

Kids exploring the wetlands. The water from the hill drains into the wetlands before it goes into the stream near by Muddy Creek.

June 6th

2009-06-07T21:11:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-05-20T18:03:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-13T19:51:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-02T22:03:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-20T08:13:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-05T20:23:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-29T19:14:00.000-07:00

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!

Construction of the Chidren's Garden Raised Bed Plots

2009-03-14T21:12:00.000-07:00

Well, finally the big day arrived. The day we planned to construct the borders of the Children's garden raised bed garden plots. My husband worked out his schedule at the shop so he could help us today. The lumber was bought,cut to size, loaded in the truck and all things were in place. Thank you Brian for all of that.

The day before it was nice out. Really nice. The sun was out and there was a very soft gentle breeze. It felt like spring. Today is another story. We were slammed back into winter. The rain was coming down, the wind was starting to blow and it was cold and miserable. We were even tempted to call off the work day, but we didn't, and now that it is all done I'm so glad we didn't give into the that temptation.

Here is Brian and Angela soaking wet in the middle of the work day.
Miranda and Roselynn helped by potting up volunteer sunflowers plants that were found out in the row where last summers sunflower house was. These two are getting really good at starting plants. We are going to have a good start on the sunflower house now. What a wonderful thing the greenhouse is. They really didn't want to go out in the cold and wet and it's nice and dry in there.

Lane doing his part in the construction. He is helping put together the last box. Lucky for him the rain had let up a bit.
The construction almost done. Just one more bed left to install. Can you see all that mud? Yuck!
The last bed was finished before we went home. Now the garden is ready for the kid's to plant and the Community Garden now has nine three feet by four feet garden plots that are available for it's youngest gardeners.

Future plans include adding to the bean tunnel, a small raspberry patch and a worm bin.

Jr Master Gardeners Hard at Work

2009-02-08T00:45:00.000-08:00

Variable Planting Medium - Jr Master Gardener Project

Well here they are:

Miranda, Roselynn, and Lane posing with there "Variable Planting Medium Project" after it was completed. This project started two weeks ago and involved finding three different types of materials to plant bean seeds in. One that they thought would be a good place to plant the beans, one they didn't think was so good (so,so), and one they didn't think the bean seeds would like(bad).

Roselynn's results:
Bean row soil hypothesis- good ------ results- didn't grow

garden compost hypothesis- so- so ----- results- 2 sprouts - good

bark hypothesis- bad ------ results- grew

Lane's results:
bark hypothesis- good ------ results- so, so

pea row soil hypothesis-so, so ------ results- nothing, soil smelly and couldn't find bean seed

rocks hypothesis- bad ------ results- grew

Miranda's results:
commercial compost hypothesis- good ------ results- grew

bark dust hypothesis-so, so ------ results- grew

rock hypothesis- bad ------ results- didn't grow, it rotted - water it too much

when they were finished they presented their results to the rest of the gardener's during coffee break.

Propagation Lesson
Then they were out to the greenhouse to make little gallon jug greenhouse of their own to take home. They started house plant cutting in them. Miranda is holding on to hers.

Roselynn was so excited about planting that she and Miranda potted up some strawberries from her mother's row and some orange seeds I had brought for them to try. We are hoping they will grow so we can sell them at the Flea Market this May.

These kids will soon be ready for their own garden plots!

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

2009-01-27T17:38:00.000-08:00

We are now accepting applications for Personal Row Gardeners and General Gardeners at the Community Garden. As of today, Jan. 27th, we only have 6 personal rows left to take this garden season so contact us real soon if you are interested in taking a row. The cost is $15. /row for the year and includes plants, seeds, fertilizer, compost, water and gardening advise from Master Gardener volunteers. We encourage low income families to join us too (contact us for a special discount ). When all the personal rows are taken we will put names on a back up list to contact if any of our row gardeners happen to leave and give up their row during the season.

We can always use more general gardeners. A general gardener does not have their own row to grow their own food in but instead they help with general gardening which includes weeding, planting, maintaining, and harvesting food pantry rows to help feed people in need. This is a very important part of what we do at our community garden.

The Children's program at our garden has been growing well and lots of fun activities have been added to help teach the children about gardening. A Jr. Master Gardener/4-H program has been established for the children too. We're looking for a reliable volunteer assistant to help with our Children's Garden program. Please contact Janet or Bev if you are interested in applying for this.

If you wish to participate in the community garden you will be asked to attend an Orientation meeting on Saturday, March 21st at 10:30 in the lunch room at The Salvation Army in McMinnville. Garden rules and membership forms will be available at that time. If you have any questions you can contact us by e-mail at : mac.community.garden@comcast.net

Happy Gardening!

A NEW GARDENING YEAR

2009-01-20T10:59:00.000-08:00

A cold but sunny day greated us for our first workday of the year on Saturday, Jnauary 17, 2009. The handful of gardeners who braved the cold morning air quickly began weeding around the Food Pantry winter garden rows. Although still a bit soggy, at least the water that flooded between the rows a week earlier had dried up so that knee high boots where not required.

Our much welcomed new fiberglass greenhouse is a wonderful refuge on a cold and windy day. Janet and Bev were checking that all the plants that have been overwintering in the greenhouse had enough water and they began the task of weeding the pots too. The kale plants inside are certainly doing a lot better then the ones outside. Slugs have enjoyed the outside plants a bit too much.

We are looking forward to helping the gardeners learn more about starting seeds off early in the greenhouse so we can have a headstart on plants to put out in the rows in a few months after the weather warms up enough for them. I'm so excited and can hardly wait for Spring. Spring and Summer time are of course my favorite time of the year. Although the rest I've had over this winter was also much appreciated. Winter is the time we gardeners plan and organize things for the new gardening year and dream of the bounty of fruit, vegetables and flowers we will grow as soon as the weather warms up. How exciting!

Happy gardening,

Garden Angel

First Work Day of 2009

2009-01-18T21:12:00.000-08:00

The Sun was shining and the sky was blue, but the first work day of 2009 was definitely cold. The wind was blowing and keeping us cooled off. Miranda found refuge in the new greenhouse. Bev and I found her a few pots that needed to be weeded.

Miranda and Bev are checking out the new rose plants Bev rescued from being almost ran over out in front by the parking lot. Somehow from one pot she ended up with three. It's so nice having the greenhouse. Thank you to the G. E. N. E. (Garden Enhanced Nutrion Education) Grant. The rest of the gardeners continued on about the business of getting the garden rows ready for the upcoming season. I already want to plant, but it's only January. Winter has just begun.

2008-11-11T10:41:00.000-08:00

Well folks those sunny days of summer with flowers blooming and veggies growing faster than we could harvest them are over, at least for this season. 2008 has been a FANTASTIC year at the McMinnville Community Garden. I contribute our success to a great bunch of dedicated gardeners and lots of donations and hands on volunteering from many wonderful people and organizations in our community. The Salvation Army Food Pantry has benefited from nearly 3,000 pounds of fresh produce from the Community Garden plus lots of additional donations were very generously provided from personal gardens throughout the county. Helping the hungry grow healthy is certainly what we all accomplished this year. On the top of my thankful list this Thanksgiving shall be: I am very thankful for each and every person and organization who has helped the hungry grow healthy through the McMinnville Community Garden at The Salvation Army!!

Our summer crops may be over for the season, however, the winter crops are in, have been covered with horticulture fleece to keep them warm, and we expect to have some fresh veggies ready for harvest by January or February 2009. The crops include; autumn Romaine lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and kale. Thankfully winter gardening is a lot less labor intense so the time we save is spent on planning for next year. I sincerely hope that we continue our success next year and that we can encourage more communities to start community gardens.

Blessings to everyone this holiday season ,

Garden Angel (aka Bev)

OUR NEW GREENHOUSE

2008-09-20T15:45:00.000-07:00

The arrival of our new greenhouse on Friday was very exciting! It came on a flat bed truck and only took two guys to move it onto the prepared gravel base. John did a great job preparing the gravel base with a little advise and direction from Dave.

The greenhouse also came with wood staging and a nice tray which is used for putting compost in for potting up seeds and small plants. What a difference this will make to our ability to prolong the growing season and to getting a head start in the spring. We will be planning some group greenhouse training, especially on how to start seeds early in the spring then potting them on into larger pots when big enough before planting out after the frosts have stopped.

Our Saturday workday was a very busy one with lots of strong guys who helped move the weighing counter into its new position then the deer fencing was replaced and more gravel raked around the sink and entrance areas. What a big difference lots of helping hands make to the garden. Thank you to everyone who helped today!! Our community garden is looking good and producing a lot. Over 2,000 lbs. of produce has been harvested for The Salvation Army Food Pantry so far this year. It's a good thing we have had an abundance of produce this year as the number of people needing to use the food pantry has increased a lot too.

The children had some fun in the garden today too as we moved the weighing counter two resident frogs hopped out and the kids chased them until they caught them in their bug box. Yes, I will confess that I caught one of the little froggies for the kids to inspect, but I also made them promise to release them back into the garden when they finished with them, which they did. Miranda loves playing with the garden wildlife but she is also very good about freeing them after a little while so they don't get too stressed out. A cute salamander slithered out from under the counter too and the kids tried to catch him but he wasn't having that so he was last seen burrowing into the ground to hide from them.

Speaking of wildlife it might be a good time to point out that Woody (aka Snowflake) the resident cat thought the greenhouse was a new home for him. However, he was promptly escorted out of the greenhouse and told he was never to set paw in it again. The reason the cat is not welcome in the greenhouse is that he would no doubt find it to be a useful toilet stop in all that gravel and we sure do not want to experience that. So please KEEP THE CAT out of the greenhouse. He needs to be reminded from time to time that his function in the garden is a mouser and that requires him to stay outside keeping a watchful eye at all times.

The sweetpeas having died back enough were pulled up today and composted. A couple of areas were also prepared for planting garlic next Tuesday. Also on Tuesday we shall pot on some self set little tomato plants and dill which we will over winter in the greenhouse. The dill should last all winter but the tomato plants will die off around December or January depending on how cold the winter gets. Speaking of weather -- it sure has suddenly cooled down this week which is a sure sign of fall arriving. Although it is sad to see the end of such a wonderful summer I think we can all look back with pride on the tremendous progress we have made in the garden. To help us in this reflection I plan to have a couple of posters filled with photos taken throughout the year to share with all the gardeners at our Harvest Supper pot luck. We've invited some special guests to the potluck and it should be a very enjoyable evening. I hope to see everyone there.

cheers,
Bev

2008-09-12T08:25:00.000-07:00

Harvesting Time

I hope everyone is loving this hot weather we've been having. The garden was blazing yesterday. I don't often come when the Salvation Army is open so I decided to check and see if there was anything needing harvesting. I went to the food bank shelves to see what was there
and saw that we had plenty of tomatoes and giant scallop squash and some lemon cucumbers.

Next I checked to see what was ready for picking. Mostly I found a good quantity of green zucchinis ready and green cucumbers. So I picked and weighed them and then set them in the boxes, trying to arrange them nicely.

There were some yellow squashes that were fairly bruised up but not really "bad" yet so I wasn't sure if I should yank them. I left them for now. I did remove some very questionable semi-shriveled tomatoes.

After finishing up with the food pantry harvesting I decided to see what was ripe in my own row. My beans have been enjoying this warm dry weather and I was able to harvest a large quantity of them. I love growing dry storage beans because I get to shell them. Some people find this part of harvesting tedious, but not me. I find it soothing to crack open those dried pods and nudge out the beautiful beans that look like painted pottery. I now have a large bowl of dry beans that I grew myself. So far I think I've grown enough to make six pots of bean and vegetable soup.

I still have some tomatoes to harvest but I wasn't ready for them yesterday. I've been canning tomatoes and tomatillo salsa. If I have enough I may can some of the tomatoes from my row: diced tomatoes come in handy during the winter for casseroles and soups.

Can you believe it's already getting close to the time to plant shallots and garlic? In my home garden I'm going to plant favas in a week or two for an early spring harvest.

Oh! One last thing- I noticed that the leeks are getting quite fat- when do we harvest those? I didn't want to touch them without asking first but they are looking ready to me.

Enjoy the sunshine everyone!

Saturday September 6th

2008-09-10T00:00:00.000-07:00

I had to share these pictures of our tomatoes. These are just a few of what we picked being weighted. They are beautiful this year.

Angela picked this odd tomato in the Food Pantry Rows. There were a couple that look like this.

Today we tried to corral the kiddos into a activity with out much success. They were too busy having fun to get them together. We decided to dig the potatoes but most of them were rotten. The row evidently gets too much water for potatoes. The ones on the top of the soil under the straw were fine but if they were in the soil they rotted. The kids of course were totally unexcited about rotten potatoes. Oh well, maybe next year. I received a few ideas on how to hill up the rows so they aren't so wet.

Sunflowers in the Sunflower House. The little yellow finches are loving all the free seeds.

Bean Tunnel progress - Yes this is the bean tunnel. I know you can't really see the beans anymore. The birdhouse gourds have taken over. It is so pretty. Now all we need to do is to wait until the stems shrivel up. Then they will be ready to be cut the gourds from the vines. After that they need to be cured for several months. Then the gourds will be ready to make into fun projects. It looks like we will have a lot to dry for a project next spring.

2008-09-08T08:06:00.000-07:00

Shelling Beans

This dry shelling bean is called "Jacob's Cattle" and is an heirloom variety. It almost doesn't look real to me, prettier than money, and good for the soup pot!

The beans were so pretty I had to show them to Angela, Janet, and their girls.

It's strangely satisfying to crack open the dried pods and let the hard shiny beans fall into the bowl, everyone helped because it was so much fun.

I finally managed to get my butt down to the community garden on a work day. I came around 11:15am looking to put in some work for the last two hours of the scheduled group gathering. As it turns out, nearly everyone was packing up to leave. Harvesting had been done, weeding had been done. When I asked if there was anything particular anyone wanted done no one thought so. Looking around I have to say that the garden is pretty shiny this week! Janet and Angela were busy organizing a children's garden activity so I stuck my nose in my own row to see if any more beans were ready to shell.

I gathered another half pound of them and we shelled them sitting in partial shade, chatting as we worked. Can you imagine a time when you would have had to grow all your own storage beans? How much space would a family need to grow enough beans to get them through a year? (I hope to be able to answer that question once I'm done harvesting.) I am constantly struck by how much people take food for granted. I think it's safe to say that food gardeners, such as ourselves, are one of the few modern group of people who don't do this. When you have to nurture a bell pepper for two months to taste it's sweet peppery juice you know that food doesn't fall from the grocery store heaven.

What I am always wondering about is how people discovered that you could dry beans in the first place and then reconstitute them? It must have been hunger that drove someone to find a way to eat the hard shiny dried beans left in the pods after the summer slid by and autumn crept up. Did they try to eat them without cooking them first? How far back have people known about storing and using dried beans. These are questions that anthropology should be able to answer which is why I've always thought that would be a great career.

I hope you all had a great weekend and are enjoying this warm weather.

2008-09-02T23:13:00.000-07:00

Saturday August 30

The garden was full of activity. I came by a little late about 11:00 or so. Helen was there with her daughter and she and Miranda quickly went off to play. I tried to get them to help with the harvest but a frog and a butterfly distracted them and off they went to find a way to make a fairy house. Even the frightening bumble bees didn't keep them from the sunflower house. It is so over grown now that only kids are comfortable climbing through the foliage to get to the center of the house. They seem to have a lot of fun in there. Giggles and excitement admit from it's core. I'm sure its a great place of inspiration for fairy houses.

The white pumpkin continues to grow. Jack has informed me that it is in fact a squash. I'm still not sure. It certainly looks like a pumpkin. What do you think?

We have the old compost pile moved and the ground is cleared to make way for the new greenhouse which is scheduled to arrive mid September. Jack, John, Dean and Angela did an amazing amount of dirt hauling and sifting to accomplish this bare bit of ground. Thanks for keeping at it Jack and John.

Look our friends the frogs are making a come back. I haven't seen them most for most of the hottest part of the summer. Now that we have had a few rains they're back.

2008-08-28T09:47:00.000-07:00

Bees, Flowers, Fruit, and Deadly Nightshade!
the community garden has it all

A great loss of honey bees is a major concern for all people though few people understand their importance to humans as well as gardeners do. Without bees we lose a huge percentage of our pollinating insect population. Some wasps pollinate, but we really rely on the bees to do the bulk of the work. That's why it's always such a relief to me to see them in the garden.

Until I moved back to Oregon as an adult, I never had a single run-in with deadly nightshade. Because my mother is an herbalist and I share her interest, I was familiar with the power and the dangers of the Solanaceae family of plants which include: Brugmansia, eggplant, potatoes, deadly nightshade, tomatoes, peppers, Physalis, mandrake, and peppers. That's a huge and very important family of plants! It's really no wonder that so many people in the 1600's were suspicious of eating tomatoes which bear a striking resemblance to its cousin, deadly nightshade, that can kill you.

In fact, I had a charming little tomato volunteer the first year I moved here. It looked just like a tiny wild tomato. I popped one red berry open and the seeds looked like miniatures and the fruit actually smelled a little like tomatoes too. However, being the kind of person who doesn't randomly pop new plants in my mouth, I did a little research and discovered that my tomato volunteer was a deadly nightshade plant. YIKES!

I weeded out my whole personal row yesterday (I'm sure you're all relieved!!) and found several nightshade plants growing amongst my beans. I kept them separate from the weeds for the compost pile-but- where do I put them? I left them on the counter because I didn't know where the regular trash was. So if anyone can tell me, I'd appreciate it. I didn't intend to leave a mess but I also didn't wish to leave them anywhere where they'd get further mixed up in the garden.

In my garden here at home I've got no ripe tomatoes...but look at these from my personal row!!! It couldn't be more perfect timing because this week we have no money for tomatoes. I know just what to do with so many tomatoes: cherry tomatoes baked with ricotta cheese, lots of salads, and fresh salsa with the romas. Summer has its perks!

Cosmos are one of my favorite flowers. I love how they exuberantly throw themselves all over the place with tons of blooms and sweet faces. The white ones and the deep magenta ones are my favorites. I have some in my home garden and they always cheer me up. These here are in Jack's row.

The whole garden is looking wonderful.

I worked hard on my own row. I know that no one here likes an untidy garden. My own gardening style is much less tidy. I would like to point out that I never did any trellising for my beans because all of them claimed to be bush beans. Well, they're not! All of them are vining like crazy and reaching for every one else's row. I have lots of stakes here at home that I keep meaning to bring with me but stakes are hard to carry on my scooter.

I am growing all shelling beans which means they need to mature and then dry on the vine. I noticed that I have some drying pods and now I'm concerned about the rain we've been having. This must be the trickiest part of growing shelling beans for drying here in the Pacific Northwest. I wonder if my beans are going to get enough dry weather to complete maturing and drying before the fall rains?

I think it's pretty amazing what every one has growing in their rows. It's clear that a 30' row can grow an awful lot of produce. So many people think you need a huge yard to produce food. This isn't true. The community garden is proof. I can't wait to see how many beans I get out of the approximate 10' of space I devoted to it. How many bean soups will I be able to make?

I'll just have to wait and see.

Pickles, Raspberries and Rain

2008-08-24T22:30:00.000-07:00

This Sunday brings pickles, raspberries and rain.

I started out this Sunday in the garden by trying to finish a pickling session I started at home earlier in the day. I wanted to pick a bunch of cucumbers from my row so that I could finish up the pickling for this year, but unfortunately there weren't that many out there. I found enough to do four more quarts. I still have about five more quarts to fill the pantry with dill pickles for the year.

I like my pickles dilled ,nothing sweet. They are simple to make and fairly cheap. I just make a brine with cider vinegar, pickling salt and water. Bring it to a boil and pour over cold packed cucumbers. I like to also stuff each jar with a garlic clove, a chili pepper and a head of dill. Top that with a sterilized lid and cap and process. In about a week or so we have pickles. YUM!

*I went down to the garden a second time about 5:00pm or so to finish the watering the other two zones that I hadn't finished earlier. I thought I would tie back the raspberry canes while I waited for the watering to be done. I got one side half way done when I ran into a very cute light green froggy. I wanted so much to get a picture of him. I ran to the car grabbed my camera and went back to the row to find the frog. He was there just where I had left him. So I tried to take his picture. My battery was dead. I couldn't even get the camera to open. So you will just have to trust me he was really cute. About this time a little rain was starting to come down. So went to put the camera back and then get back the business of tying up the raspberry canes. The rain by this time was increasingly coming down. I finished of the first side of the raspberry row and started to come back on the second row but, by this time The rain was coming down by the bucket fulls. I kept going over to the tool shed for cover thinking that it would let up soon. Back and forth I went. The zones were almost completely watered when I finally realized that the rain was not going to stop and it was only coming down harder and harder. "Why am I watering?'' I asked myself and finally quit. I left the garden this evening having finished my watering chore, scratched-up from the raspberry cane, soaked to the skin and with a feeling of uselessness. Maybe my skin benefited from the long exposure to the rain. It does feel somewhat softer now and the raspberries were very delicious rinse by the rain.

Happy rain day,

Janet

*It had been a warm, dry day up to this point.

Pumkins, Gourds and Potatoes

2008-08-18T13:39:00.000-07:00

Sunday August 17th -

Miranda and I went to the garden to participate in an activity in the Children's Garden and water. Miranda and Zac and Coralyn were the only ones that showed for it, so Heidi and I decided to save the program that she worked on for another day. It looks like a fun one .... lots of dirt and worms.... that sort of thing. I"ll keep you posted on when we reschedule. The kids did some harvesting today and put their names in pumpkins for later. Below I took some pictures.

Miranda's was done last week or the week before that. It is already scaring over. As it grows we're thinking that the lettering will grow also. We are going to watch it.
Here are Zac and Coralyn's pumpkins. They scratched designs in their pumpkins today. We just used the pointy end of a wooden skewer to etch the pumpkins. In the past I've also used a nail.
Here is the infamous "Woody" or "Snowflake". The kids love the garden cat. As far as I can tell he lives out here. I've heard that he catches mice or moles or some kind of rodents. That makes him useful in my opinion.

We also found a few potatoes hiding under the straw. They are looking nice. In a week or two we are going to have to get the kids out here to dig them up.

The Bean Tunnel is being taken over by the birdhouse gourds and just in time. The scarlet runner beans are just now giving up. I really like this combo. The frame is holding up with out a problem also. I could have left a bit more room at the base of the row so that the tunnel passage was wider. I have to keep after the gourd plants or we won't have room to pass through.

Gourds hiding in the tunnel.

Look at this awesome pumpkin growing at the end of one of the gardener's personal row. Wow!

Saturday August 9

2008-08-09T22:05:00.000-07:00

Miranda in the Bean tunnel you can't see the wire supports anymore and the bird's nest gourd plants are beginning to take over from the runner beans. It's a pretty combination with the earlier red from the runner beans and the later white flowers of the gourds.
Here is the Sunflower House. It's become a jungle. The kids and adults have been known to find refuge in the middle of it on the hot days. We also have a resident cat "Woody" or "Snowflake", depending on which kid you talk to, who lives in there most of the time. He has surprised me on several occasions when I have gone around the corner though the sunflowers.

Jack the Compost Man teaching Miranda how to play in the dirt with the help of John of course. It's hard to tell if she convinced that they are doing the sifting right.

Dave the Bean Picker. I think this is what he will be doing for several weeks now.

2008-08-06T20:50:00.000-07:00

Wednesday Watering

Have I said recently how gorgeous the garden is looking these past couple of weeks? While I wither into a nasty tempered raisin when the weather is "beautiful" out, this is not true for the rest of the flora and fauna here in our town. Don't worry, I don't resent the heat. Long ago, after my first season of home grown tomatoes refused to blush and color up until I was sweating like crazy under a blistering insufferable summer heat wave I made peace with the seasons. All of them. I know that all gardens and all good things to eat benefit from some really good solid scorching weeks of sun.

Have you seen the runner beans? (Well now you have, they are pictured above) Today I picked 4.5 lbs of fat beans for the food pantry. I work on Wednesdays now so I had to come after work in the late afternoon. Have I told you yet how hot it was? 4pm is not the ideal time for work of any kind, especially the kind that puts you under the sun's microscope.

Even so, I couldn't help but feel excited by all the bounty I saw everywhere. Raspberries are forming in tight green clusters. Marigolds are sending their summer smell all over the garden like a blanket of memories for me. Personal rows are bursting with beans of all colors and Jack's beets are unbelievable! Every one's tomatoes are plumping up and look so tidy- except for mine since I seem to be incapable of staking tomatoes before they sprawl. Once they sprawl it's too late. My own beans (for drying) are doing really well. In case you were wondering, I didn't stake those because they were all supposed to be bush beans. Bush beans don't need staking. In spite of the claims to the contrary, my beans are curling and vining and seeking purchase but finding only themselves and- ahem!- some of your plants for support.

The last two times I've watered I've spent a few minutes in the relative shade of the sunflowers on the paint splattered bench set there for taking a load off. Last week it was so quiet that I could hear every single bumble and honey bee clocking time with the flowers. I looked up to see towering sunflowers set against the very blue sky and it seemed to me that the only thing that could have made it a more perfect moment is if I was sitting on a giant ice cube. The next time you visit the garden, take a break and just sit there under the canopy of smiling flowers and let all your worries go.

Photos from the last weeks in July

2008-08-04T00:02:00.000-07:00

I found these photos in my camera. I thought I would share them.

This is what the Three Friends garden looked like back in mid July. There are potatoes planted in front of it in the row. I think we well be harvesting them next week or so. If we can find them under the squash vines.
This is the corn in my row again during the last half of July. I think I planted this part of the row three times, so I have some that actually sprputed from an earlier seed planting, some corn seedling from my generous row neighbor, and corn that Dave seeded for me in his green house and I planted out the seedling.
.....and this is the corn from my neighbors row. This picture was taken at the same time the previous one of my row was. Look how much taller the corn is. I'm not sure what variety she planted but I do know she started her seed in those little peat pellets in a tray earlier at home and then planted them out when they were four inches or so. It seems to me to be the way to do it.
Here is another picture of Miranda in the Sunflower House. It is quite a bit taller then her now.

2008-07-25T08:48:00.000-07:00

Wednesdays At The Garden

All I have been able to manage so far is to come every Wednesday to water the garden and weed while I'm there. Sometimes I have two hours and sometimes only one. Often I'm alone there, which I don't mind. Sometimes I get to chat with other gardeners which I also enjoy. This dragonfly was enjoying his flight around the lush vegetation. I have to admit that he just about took my breath away- I've never seen a red one before!

Patricia and her daughter harvested quite a lot from their personal row! They generously shared their zucchini with me since I didn't grow any.

I got to have a long chat with the man named Deb too. We talked about all kinds of things including Vespas, gardens, museums, and Johnny Cash.

The garden is looking fabulous! Every part of it is busting out with flowers, vegetables, vining beans, and happy bugs like ladybugs and dragonflies.

It's such a calm place to be. I look forward to my Wednesday time there.

Master Gardener's Tour of our Garden

2008-07-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

Saturday, July 19th, the garden hosted a tour of our garden for the Yamhill County Master Gardeners. Those that attended were also treated to view two to two other gardens in the neighborhood. One of them being Dave and Bev's where we all gathered for a potluck snack.

Heidi and Matt helped entertain the garden guest with their music. Miranda also played a few tunes on the piano.

Saturday Work Day in Mid - July

2008-07-15T23:01:00.000-07:00

The Amazing Sunflower House.

The kids in the sunflower house. Look how tall it is. We have all been amazed at how fast these sunflowers have grown. I planted morning glory vines at the base of the sunflowers but I can hardly find them. I think they are getting too much shade from there "supports".
The bean tunnel is growing also and the bird house gourd plants we put at the corners are starting to really grow. They may catch up with the beans soon.

The Three Friends Garden

Thank you again Dave. Now the corn is finally growing. It looks like the squash is well on it's way to covering and shading the earth. I did get the beans sown a few days ago. I hope that the corn can keep up. If not I have plans for a twig trellis to support the beans.

A Little Bit of Fun at the Garden.

The kids cooling off on a hot July Saturday. I think the plants were suppose to be getting the watered. They may have hit a few.

2008-07-05T22:35:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from last Saturday and Sunday in the Children's Garden. June 28th and 29th.

Our first sunflower bloom. This Sunflower House is going to be amazing. I hold on to a tiny bit of hope that we may have a Three Friend's garden also. Dave when he came back from Europe started a few little corn plants in his green house. I just couldn't get them to start from seed in the garden. We talked about it and can't really decide why, but I like the "crow has been eating the seeds" theory. The only ones that seemed to come up were the seeds I planted by the child's pinwheel.
Here is Miranda posing in the Bean Tunnel. Coralyn's magic beans are continuing to grow. We have some nice looking little lettuces planted in front of the beans.

Finally, Miranda in the Sunflower House. It's now over her head. I can't believe how fast it's growing.

The rest of the garden is growing also. Now we just need to keep up with the weeds.

Janet

Bev and Dave are Back!!!!

2008-06-21T21:24:00.000-07:00

Whoopee! Dave and Bev are back from a much deserved vacation. We missed them when they where gone and are glad to have them back. We did keep the garden weeded and continued to plant and do what gardeners do. Thanks to all of you that helped out. I believe Bev was impressed by the sweet peas. Here she and Miranda pick some to sell.

Miranda snapped a candid picture of Suzanne as she toils over her assigned rows.

The Children's Garden continues to grow. Here is how our potatoes are growing.

Miranda is posing in the Sunflower House. She does most of her writing and drawing here already. The straw is quite comfortable when it's dry.

I had her stand by the sunflowers to measure how high they have grow since last time we took a photo. On June 7th they were below her knees. Now they are up to her belly.
Miranda standing in the Bean Tunnel. I hope that in couple of weeks the beans will also be up past her belly. This warmer weather sure helps.
Here is an over view of the Children's Garden. Except for the corn in the Three Friends Garden the garden is growing great. We have a few weeds that will need to be attended to before the get out of hand and I'll have to figure out what to do about the corn. Other wise things a growing quite well.

Later in the afternoon.....

Jack, Patrica and Dean, and I attended the Winter Gardening Talk the Public Library by Casey and Katie Kulla of Oakhill Organics. It was very interesting. I may try a few of their ideas out.

Janet

Gardening Lesson

2008-06-21T18:44:00.000-07:00

A lesson in gardening from Miranda. This is what she worked on while out in the garden today. Pay extra attention to the life cycles of Sunflowers, caret(carrots), lettchish (lettuce). We also like at the bottom the descriptive drawings of Tall, Big, Stringy, Straight, Weeds and Plant Bugs.

This week at the Garden June 14 - June 18

2008-06-19T22:20:00.000-07:00

Saturday Miranda brought out a friend to help in the garden. Her friend helped me plant flowers.........

while Miranda wrote poetry in the beginnings of the sunflower house.

We planted lots of flowers and watered them in. You can see that the sunflowers are really starting to grow. If you look closely you may even be able to see the morning glory plants.

On Tuesday Coralyn and Zachary planted four pumpkins and helped their mom Heidi weeded the Children's Garden.

I've all but given up on the corn. Maybe a few sunflowers for the beans to grow up would be nice? I'm not too sure what to do. "Frog where are you? I (*Toad) need help. One of the sisters, corn, isn't wanting to come to our garden. It's suppose to be corn, beans, and squash."

Today, Thursday, I brought three flats of tomato plants and eight foxglove bouquets down to the Master Gardener's booth at the Farmer's Market. We sold about a third of the tomato plants and all but one of the foxglove bouquets. It was suggested by the Master Gardener's that we sell our flowers and plants down there again next week. If any of you gardeners would like to help me with that please let me know. I'll be in the garden Saturday.

Also, remember the winter garden talk at the Library. It's this Saturday form 2- 4.

Janet

Artichokes

2008-06-08T21:25:00.000-07:00

The other day a few of us at the garden had a discussion about artichokes. There were questions about cardoons and which artichoke varieties were tastiest. I just happen to have a couple of plants so I was sharing about the two varieties I have out in the back garden at our house. I just couldn't remember the varieties I planted 15 years ago or so but here are some pictures. Hopefully this will help illustrate the two different varieties.

I believe this variety is Green Globe. It taste is ok and produces a lot of artichokes.

This is the other one I have and I unfortunately can't remember the variety name. It taste so good and comes on a bit earlier.

Both of these are big plants and require a lot of room to grow. Most years I need to stake them with large stakes or they will fall over and take out large parts of the plant off in the process.

I just learned from a local CSA farmer that cardoons are good winter vegetables. She said that Nick's Italian Restaurant on third street has a way of fixing the blanched winter stems. I'm going to try to make it to her talk at the Library later this month and see if I can find out more about this recipe and winter gardening in general.

Here is the information about the talk at the McMinnville Public Library.

Plan Your Fall and Winter Vegetable Garden
Saturday June 21, 2 – 4 p.m.
Join Casey and Katie Kulla of Oakhill Organics as they share insights into cold season gardening including selecting cold hardy varieties, transplanting timing, and tips for winter gardening success.

Janet

Progress on our beautiful Community Garden

2008-06-08T20:46:00.000-07:00

Garden Volunteers hard at work staking tomatoes. We have a lot of tomatoes again this year.

These beautiful foxglove plants surround the front of the garden and have created a colorful entrance to the garden.

Hannah tending the sweet peas.
Josie and Hannah planning their next move. " What should we plant next?" What ever it was I'm sure it will be stunning.
Dave, look your beans are growing. They have reached the strings. They may be a few 1/2 way up the strings by the time you guys come back from your vacation.
Orla stringing the beans and planting mystery peppers in the Food Pantry rows while other gardeners tend to their rows.
The "Boys" fixing up a new compost bin. Jack got lots of help from John and Deb. I think they all worked too hard this day. Deb must have been camera shy I missed him in all of the photos.

We continue to plant the rows. String the beans. Patch the water system. Build compost bins. Plant flowers. And what ever else needs to be done.

Children's Garden Update

2008-06-08T20:16:00.000-07:00

Here is Miranda standing next to a few sunflowers helping to measure them. They all look healthy and seem to have taken to the transplanting quite nicely. A few cooler days let them settle in to they're new patch of earth.

Coralyn's Magic Beans have emerged and have just started to grow. The kiss for each one was the trick.

The corn in the Three Friends Garden hasn't come up yet. We will have to continue to wait and see if they are going to make it.
I feel a little like "Toad" from the story book Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel. I've planted the seeds. "Now seeds, start growing". I've checked them several times but I haven't shouted like Toad yet. "NOW SEEDS, START GROWING", because I've read the book and I know that Frog says shouting may frighten the poor seeds and then they will be afraid to grow. Maybe I need to read them stories , sing them song , read them poems and play them music. It seemed to have worked in the end for Toad.

2008-06-07T09:00:00.000-07:00

Garden Update

In spite of the fact that I am a practically invisible force at the garden, I've been there a couple of times this past week and I must say that things are growing very well, the beds are filling out, and the weeds haven't taken over yet. Luckily for me, I didn't have to water this past Wednesday because the rain did the job for me. I came to the garden to make sure the ground was moist enough and had a look around. I would like to say that you all have been doing lots of work...great job on stringing up the beans. I know that Dave wanted to be sure that this job wasn't forgotten.

It's Saturday morning and as usual, I will not be able to come to the work day today. I seem only able to come when no one's there. Saturdays are difficult for me. Today I will be applying for a job at Safeway instead of having a great time gardening with all of you.

The Wednesday before last when I came to water the garden, I did some weeding, and I harvested the chamomile buds to dry at home for tea. I trimmed them down after harvesting a good amount of buds and so they should fill out again and in a month or two may have a whole new batch of flowers for picking. They were covered in thrips so I had to wash the harvest several times. I never eat bugs if I don't have to. However, my washing was successful and I now have a jar of dried sweet smelling tea to drink when I need to feel calm.

Bev says it's fine to harvest them (the food pantry doesn't need them) so if a second crop develops and anyone is interested in drying some for themselves- don't be shy! Chamomile is mild, sweet, and there is no risk of harming yourself consuming them. If you want to harvest some but are not sure about how to do that, just ask me and I'll be glad to answer any questions you have.

It was really nice to spend an hour and a half in the calm of the garden. I love working with others as well, chatting the time away while working, but equally valuable to me is the meditative quiet that one can find in a deserted garden. I've been a very stressed out person lately and as is always the case I find my heart rate slows down, my mind empties out it's garbage, and I feel peaceful when bent over a big patch of fertile soil with my fingers digging into the cool earth.

If any of my row team-mates have any questions for me about what to do when at the garden, or need to know when the heck I'll be there, please feel free to e-mail me at: angelinadotwilliamsonatverizondotnet.

Have a great week-end everyone!!

2008-05-25T08:05:00.000-07:00

Saturday 24 Workday

Seeds are one of the most important things us humans have learned to cultivate and harvest. Without them, I'm afraid most of us humans would starve to death. One of the things I love best about gardening is planting seeds. The main reason is that it seems so impossible that these beet seeds, that look like fossilized bits of wood, will ever develop into anything edible that when they do, it always feels like a minor miracle.

The truth is that I love planting vegetables from transplants that other people have grown up in a nursery because I feel so much more certain that they will progress properly onto my dinner plate by the end of summer...it doesn't require as much patience. I'm not as patient as I'd like to be. Some things can't be planted as transplants and this saves me from complete and utter laziness. If I want to have home grown beets, and I do!, then I have to plant them from seed. It's good for me to have to cultivate some patience.

And then, as I said, there is that greater sense of achievement and of wonder that I could put something so unpromising in the ground and end up pulling deep red jewels out of the soil a couple of months later. Doesn't everyone need these exercises in patience?

These particular beet seeds were planted in a food pantry row.

The community garden is full of gorgeous blossoms right now: chives, chamomile, comfrey, foxgloves, delphiniums, and sweet peas are all busted out in full glory. Lovely, lovely to walk around and see what's opened up.

Can you believe the broccoli is already forming small flower heads? When did that happen? (Presumably while I wasn't looking).

These are comfrey blossoms. Comfrey is an important herb that has earned itself a little obscurity in recent years by being misused by humans. It used to be widely used internally for it's incredible healing properties but it can make you very sick if you take too much of it or take it for too long so it is no longer recommended that you ingest it. However, it is still a very useful herb. I asked Bev what it's doing in the community garden (because I rarely see it outside of my own or my herbalist mother's gardens) and she said they will be using it for compost tea.

That is an excellent use for it and it made me so happy to hear that the community garden is making use of this wonderful herb. If you steep the leaves in water and then feed your garden with the resulting tea, it will give all your plants a really nice nutrient boost. You can also feed the leaves into your compost bin but you must be careful not to add it in thick layers or you will end up with a nasty slimy mess.

There is still a great way to use comfrey safely for personal use as well: dry the leaves or roots (roots are best) and make a tea out of it to add to your bath. (Don't drink it!) Take about two tablespoons of the dried root and steep in boiling hot water for ten minutes, then dump the resulting tea in your bath. Why would you do such a thing? Because comfrey is great for healing and soothing and smoothing skin.

If you haven't made your appearance at the garden yet this season, it's time to do so...look at how much is going on. It's really filling out and it's only the end of May. I'm so excited to see what it will look like in another couple of weeks.

I finally caught Jack working!

Jack is so much fun to tease because he's so good natured...but he's put in so much hard work in the garden already while I have been frittering away my time in Scotland that I have a lot of catching up to do.

That was a great work day. I hope to be there on this Tuesday as well and hope to see some of you there!

News from the Children's Garden

2008-05-24T22:45:00.000-07:00

One Happy Kid

Here is Miranda "Helping" plant the Children's Garden. She is so happy playing in the mud. We have had several baths this week end.

This week the Bean Tunnel was planted with "magic" beans (scarlet runners). Coralyn was so certain that the were magic because of their size that we had her kiss each one before she and her mom Heidi planted them. I'm sure they will grow as magically as Jack's beans did. We also planted a couple of Gourds that Angela grew at the corners of the bean tunnel Saturday. Now the Bean Tunnel is well on it's way.

The corn in the Three Friends Garden is now in the earth and we will wait a couple of weeks until they are four to six inches high and then plant the the second friend Bean. Then the third friend squash will be next. Our Three Friends Garden is based on the Native American Three Sisters planting method. It is said that Corn, Beans and Squash have a very close friendship. The Corn grows tall like a pole so that the Bean can have a support to climb up. The Bean helps by fixing nitrogen in the soil and lastly the Squash helps her companions by shading the earth with her large leaves so that the weeds have no where to grow and the ground stays moist.

Also Peppers and Cucumber plants were put in there rows. Carrots and onions are seeded side by side. Another companion planting sort of, it's suppose to be chives, but we have so many out in the garden. I will need to find some oregano for the cucumbers. I have read that the scent is supposed to confuse the cucumber beetles. It's worth a try. We certainly have plenty of cucumber beetles in garden to try out the theory on.

This one is a "good guy". A Ladybug resting on a baby sunflower.

Pictures Miranda Took

2008-05-24T21:39:00.000-07:00

New little pepper plants.

Gardeners hard at work.

Bean row. Little beans coming up.

Pear birdhouse in bean tunnel.

David and Janet (mom)

Birdhouse on corner pole in children's garden.

Janet (mom) in our row.

Growing Fast

2008-05-23T17:06:00.000-07:00

We harvested one little broccoli spear on Tuesday and more to come soon! It is amazing to watch the rate of new growth on the vegetables and flowers this month. Last week's hot weather really gave them a burst of energy. Don't despair with the rain we are now having as we need that too and it sure saves on the water bills.

Our garden is a labor of love tended by gardeners who want to grow fresh food for people in need within our community and for their own families.

Here are three of our hard working gardeners taking a moment to rest and admire their accomplishments of the day. From left is Dave, Janet & Jack. They are part of the committee that plans and organizes our garden. We sure do appreciate all their hard work.

First Cutting of Market Flowers

2008-05-20T16:35:00.000-07:00

These flowers are beautiful. We harvested them to sale to Incahoots. 10 stems of Delphinium and about 30 stems of Foxglove. Don from the Sage Restaurant also came down to day and harvested his first herbs. He said they would be having a fennel soup as a lunch special today. Yummy!

The Flea Market

2008-05-18T21:26:00.000-07:00

Why do they call junk sales Flea Markets? We didn't sell any fleas. At least I hope not. What we did sell was lots of plants. David and the Master Gardener's grew a few too many tomatoes and such and decided to sell them to help pay the water bill for the garden this year. We received a large amount of golden chain trees and annual flowers(beautiful verbenas) plants from the Yamhill County OSU Master Gardeners and some strawberry plants from a very nice man who was resetting his strawberry beds. David and the community gardeners grew all the rest. We sold a lot. We actually met our goal of paying for the water. There was also lots of "junk", Miranda says "it's"stuff" not junk mom", that we sold also.

Miranda had talked me into letting her have a booth so that she should could make some money. Why she wants money I not sure. She has quite a bit for a 6 year old. About a year or so ago she had decided that she wanted to buy some "property". Our little lot in the city was too small for her aspirations. If I remember right she wanted a carnival complete with a Ferris wheel and other rides. There were other desires also such as a Zoo, skyscraper, some sort of under ground building(like the bat cave on "Batman" and many more which of course we had to disappoint the poor child and say no to. So, she came to the conclusion that she need to purchase some "property" and went about acquiring money to do so. She even opened up a savings account. I haven't heard much talk of moving out lately to her own place but it may still be in the back of her mind. She does, although, always seem to want to make some money by selling items. She is the daughter of retailers so she must come by it honestly.

The result of this sell was that Miranda actually got rid of some of her "stuff" that she was done with. Although she isn't going to be moving out of the house soon, she did learn some very valuable lessons today. Such as, how to clean out your stuff, how to stick with something once you committed to it (it was close to 90 degrees), and that giving to others makes you feel good. She donated 1/2 of what she made to the Community Garden and Salvation Army. Also that 8:30 - 4:00 is a really long time. I am very proud for her. She just amazes me more and more each day. What a kid. It's such a gift to be her mom.

I would like to thank all of you that helped out in the scorching heat to make our fund raiser such a great success. It was a lot of work for some of you and because of you we have great start towards our goal of self sufficiency this year. We have also learned a lesson or two with this sell and hope to make it some what easier the next time we attempt it. Like not so many hours and were plenty of sun screen!

If you know anyone that need vegetable starts we still have some. They will be for sale at the garden on Tuesday and Saturday mornings this week.

I hope to see everyone out in the garden next Saturday.

Janet

Beginings of the Bean Tunnel

2008-05-11T22:25:00.001-07:00

After much thought and research I finally decided on the bean tunnel structure. I was having a hard time coming up with a structure that would be tall enough for children of all ages to be able experience it. I came across this idea somewhere from a Goggle search. It appeared to be sturdy and fairly easy to make. Which in the end it was.

Here is how we made it:

We started with a ridged cattle fencing that we bought from Wilco Farm Store. Brian clamped two 2x4 together at the bend point.

Then the three of us bent it over them. Well, mostly Brian.

It was fairly easy to make and I think it looks great. It will look even better with beans and gourds climbing all over it. I'm getting excited about planting the rest of the garden. In the back ground you can almost see the fresh straw we put down yesterday in the sunflower house.

Janet

A great Mother's Day gift

2008-05-10T23:11:00.000-07:00

I was starting to feel the pressure of the planting season. Miranda and I went down this Saturday and began to form the beds to accommodate the Sunflower house for the new Children's Garden. Miranda again surprised me with her energy and her new found enthusiasm for gardening. It may be short lived but I'm loving every moment. What a great Mother's Day gift! It feels so good to share with my child something that is in the very core of who I am. I love to garden. I love the way the soil and the plants that grow in it leave me in such awe of nature. I always am left feeling completely grounded(no pun intended).

We started the Children's Garden today! We cleared out part of one row to make way for the floor of the Sunflower House. Miranda particularly liked leveling the dirt out after I got rid of the majority of soil from the remaining row. She said she liked to see how flat she could make it. Maybe she will be an excavator when she grows up? After we finished excavating the floor we put down several layers of newspaper to hopefully block the weeds. Then topped it with straw. A special thanks to Kathy for helping out. We were on such a roll that we decided to transplant some of the volunteer sunflowers to the edges of the house. They will help form the wall along with the morning glories. Now we need to put more compost on the remaining rows and finish putting newspaper and straw in the pathways.

The garden is looking beautiful. I was able to cut some of the first cut flowers for Incahoots today. Four gorgeous stems of delphinium. Just what we needed at the shop for the Mother's Day rush.
The flower beds were being readied and planted with annual flowers and more volunteer sunflowers were rescued then transplanted.
All the remaining rows have been cleared of weeds and the planting has begun. I saw a whole row of tomatoes going in and I think squash. ? The broccoli and cauliflower that was planted in previous weeks is growing like mad.
David and Jack finished the center bean row by putting up the wires for the strings and installing the drip irrigation. The water in on and the irrigation system is working.

Wow a lot happened today. High fives to everyone.

Janet

2008-05-08T08:56:00.000-07:00

The Planting Season Begins
Saturday Work Day, May 3

Jewel and Hanna plant sweet peas while Jack looks on.
Now Jack, what is it they say about idle hands?
Ha ha, I'm just kidding you!

Personal rows were assigned and people are getting to know their rows and planting their first seeds!

Naturally I couldn't make it to the most important work day of the season: the real opening of the season this past Saturday May 3rd. As it happens I was hunting for supplies for my upcoming trip. I have to say that I would have much preferred to have been bent over my own personal row in the community garden with the rest of you. I hear that the turnout was really great which bodes well for this fresh year of gardening together.

I managed to come for a bit of weeding on Tuesday and was impressed with how good the garden is already looking. It was such a hairy mess of grass and weeds in March and now it is so trim; filling up with wonderful plantings such as the sweet peas, herbs, and neat rows full of seeds.

Bev told me that there are 22 members this year compared with about 8 or 9 members last year- what a phenomenal change! Does this mean that everyone will keep on top of weeding? (That was a completely non subtle hint, in case you didn't catch it.) I really can't wait to see what everyone is going to grow. I am going to grow some potatoes for both me and the food bank, some shelling beans, tomatoes, and beets.

I know that weeding isn't every one's favorite activity but I want to say that although it can be murder on the back, I really enjoy it. One of the best things about it is that it's a little like getting to watch a National Geographic program on insects while you're freeing the soil of plants that you don't wish to grow. If I can find a really good insect field guide for our region I will bring it to keep in the new shed. While weeding on Tuesday I got to know one of the younger members of the garden named Ariel with whom I enjoyed a lively chat about all the insects we were unearthing. Amongst them were some little slugs which she had no trouble picking up with her bare hands, cucumber beetles, those queer black spiders that are so abundant right now on the ground, giant earth worms, grubs, and one rather large beetle.

Weeding nearly always puts me in either a philosophical state of mind in which I contemplate all manner of issues humans tend to grapple with, or I revert to the part of kid-hood that I actually enjoyed (I didn't enjoy being a kid much) which was: excitedly digging in the dirt and finding treasures of all kinds...like bits of bottles, coins, bottle caps, that sort of thing, or intently watching the life of insects unfold before my eyes.

A word to the wise: if you hear a milk-curdling scream coming from my little corner of the garden it means I've unearthed a potato bug. If such a thing occurs, either pay me no mind, or if you notice that I have passed out- do break out the smelling salts for me. Thank you. I have come to deeply appreciate the roll that insects play on the planet but that doesn't mean I want to get up close and personal with an insect whose legs are so meaty you could almost slather them with BBQ sauce and pop them on the grill.

Have a great time in the garden while I'm gone...I look forward to seeing you all out there when I get back!

Sneeking down on Sunday

2008-05-04T20:25:00.000-07:00

Well, Angela and I "sneaked" down to the garden this sunny Sunday afternoon. We let the girls play and we pulled a few more weeds and readied her row for planting. She got one of the rows which had a winter crop of kale in it so it missed the clean-up and the rototiller. It wasn't too bad though and we added a bunch of mushroom compost to it. Then Miranda and Roselyn helped by digging it in. I was actually having a bit of trouble getting Miranda to stop digging. I don't think that has ever happened. She may make a gardener yet. I just need to exercise lots of patience and not push her into it. I'll just keep bringing her. One of these days it may happen.

I would also like to welcome all of you the garden this season and thank Angelina for helping out with the blog. If any other gardeners would like to join Bev (gardenangel), Angelina, or myself in the posting to this blog I would welcome it. Just let me know.

Janet

2008-05-04T10:09:00.000-07:00

Tuesday Work Day
(Let me introduce myself...)

Janet has kindly asked me to contribute to this blog. Most likely you don't know me yet because my presence has been notably invisible since I signed up to hoe a row and to volunteer here. The reason I haven't been around is that I had a very sudden (and happy) move to an old farmhouse here in Mac. Now that the move is done I will be participating a lot more on work days.

Right after my trip to Scotland this coming week.

I did make it to the last Tuesday work day and I will make it this Tuesday as well.

Since you don't know me well I should probably tell you a little bit about myself. My name is Angelina. I am a writer, mother, urban homesteader, and gardener. I am silly, serious, love irreverent humor, and drinking beer. I have just finished taking the Master Gardening classes this winter and am starting to do my "pay back" hours. I don't personally care for the term "pay back" as it sounds too much like doing community service work in payment for crimes committed. I prefer to think of it just as my volunteer hours. While I did learn a lot in the program, I honestly think there is no better gardening class than just doing it. Trying different methods and seeing what works for yourself.

The botany sections were pretty amazing though, I must confess.

Throughout the program it was impressed on us that we should choose to do our volunteer hours in events and programs that best suit our interests. Although I realize how important the plant sales are to the Master Gardening program, I have a lot of anxieties that make working such busy events a nightmare for me. So I didn't do the plant sale. My mother asked me if I was ashamed to show my face there when everyone else was working at the sale. I adore my mother and have learned not to be hooked by such guilt inducing tactics.

What my passion is, is gardening. Not perennials, natives, or shrubs...but food. Food, herbs, and flowers for cutting. That is my passion. My other passion is inspiring others to grow their own too. This is why I have decided that I will focus all my volunteer hours to the community garden (and the help desk when required). When I found out about this community garden I got really spazzy excited! There is nothing more fundamental to humans than growing, eating, and sharing food. It used to be that almost all families tended at least a small patch of their own. Not as a hobby, but as a necessary supplement to an often otherwise poor diet.

Now the majority of us have lost the knowledge or the space to garden and there's never been a more important time to help people rediscover how empowering it is to step outside your door and pick something for dinner that is so fresh the sap is still running from the stem. I want to be a part of a garden that invites everyone to participate. I want to be a part of this garden because it will not only expand my own growing capabilities but because this garden helps to feed the community. I want to be a part of this garden because it's fantastic to meet with others who feel as I do and chat while wrestling with the grass-weeds and meet the local frogs.

Last Tuesday I came to the work day late and stayed late too. In the end it was just me and the croaking frogs and that gorgeous Oregon spring sky full of shifting clouds that periodically dump rain and then shine a bright sun on the work you're doing. The community garden is a wonderful spot in which to enjoy our rich (clay) soil and even when I'm working alone, I can feel the community of you who have been putting your back into it long before I arrived.

I look forward to many hours of ~~cursing~~ pulling the weeds and chatting with everyone as the season progresses. Thanks for letting me be part of this group!

A bit under the weather

2008-05-03T21:21:00.000-07:00

As I write this I'm feeling the effects of the nasty cold I seem to have caught. I'm sorry I didn't contribute much to the garden today. I couldn't keep myself away though, so I did go down eventually(after 11:00am) I missed those of you that are early birds. I am glad I did make it, as there was so much activity in the garden. The rows were assigned, folks were planting things, and digging in the dirt. I saw lots of plants in many of the rows. Unfortunately in my fogginess of of this cold thing I have I forgot to bring Miranda's camera so I didn't get any pictures today. Take it from me, the garden looks great. Now, let's all pray we don't have a late frost. Fingers crossed. I'm the daughter of a local old timer so I usually don't plant until Memorial Day. I know, I will miss out on all the cabbage and broccoli and my row won't be harvest able until almost August. I must confess though I am tempted to plant some carrots soon and I do have lettuce and onions already going at home. My dad (the old timer,I hope he doesn't mind me calling him that) actually bought some tomatoes last week. No doubt for his green house. He likes to grow them in there in gallon pots then transplant them out later. Wouldn't that be nice to have a green house. Oh yeah, then someone would have to look after it. Maybe not. Well, anyway I do hope for nice weather. Maybe an old dog like me can be taught few new tricks.

Happy Gardening,
Janet

The Last Saturday of April

2008-04-26T21:38:00.000-07:00

Today was again quite beautiful out in the garden. The sun decided to come out and shine on us while we struggled to clear a very stubborn row full of grass and weeds. We won! There were six of us plus a few little ones. Miranda busied herself with painting a birdhouse, several rocks, and various pieces of wood she found near by, while we were fighting the weeds in the near by rows. Later Heidi showed up with Coralyn and her friend. The girls were lured into the garden by a frog that needed to be relocated to another spot in the garden with more vegetation. They soon found a rather large earth worm. It was longer than Coralyn's boot. She could wrap it around her wrist a couple of times. They decided to keep it in a bucket for a while. Miranda freed it after the younger girls went home,to go back to the earth to do what worms do. Eat dirt and poop. We still have about three food pantry rows left to clear and three of the children's garden rows left to tidy up.

This is a picture of the daffodils Miranda planted last fall and the bird house she painted for the garden.

Gate open

2008-04-22T18:37:00.000-07:00

I found the gate open this morning when I was out for a walk. I couldn't tell that anything was harmed. We don't have much planted thank goodness or the deer may have helped themselves. I did close it up tight so all should be well now.

Janet

Kale Harvest

2008-04-20T17:47:00.000-07:00

Rain or shine it's garden time

THE ROOF GOES ON

2008-04-20T17:29:00.000-07:00

April 19,2008

Early Saturday morning the Covenant Church crew started putting the roof on the new shed. It is looking good.

Later that day Bev & Dave went to Habitat's ReStore to find a much needed floor cabinet for the inside of the shed and a double sink unit for washing veggies outside. Are we getting organized or what?

Bev

A COLD SATURDAY

2008-04-20T17:18:00.000-07:00

DODGING SNOWFLAKES
These gardeners are a tough bunch who aren't about to let a few snow flakes stop them from making progress. Hanna, Jewel & Susan are preparing the new raised herb beds and potting on the surplus of herbs we plan to sell at next month's flea market. You go girls!

A Snowy Saturday in April

2008-04-19T22:09:00.000-07:00

*This is a picture taken from my back deck. Can you believe it's April 19th?

Boy what a contrast from last week. Sunny and warm just seven days ago. It's kind of hard to believe. We found ourselves gardening with the snow coming down around us. Burrr..... wet and cold. I personally didn't have much time to put in this week. I think it was a good day to wimp-out though. Did I already say burrrrr? Anyway with the help of Martha and Linny we did manage to clear the better part of one row. Still plenty more to go. I hope that the weather will be better next week. Martha has plans to finish it later in the week. More power to you girl.

Think Spring,
Janet

2008-04-15T17:55:00.000-07:00

15th April 2008 - Thank you so much Brian, Janet and Miranda for the wonderful new herb beds! Thank you Jack for the beautifully tilled beds. Things are really taking shape at the garden thanks to all your hard work. Dave, Jack & I (Bev) did gardened today . Jack filled one herb bed with compost and while I was raking it in I found a little salamander. He must have been hibernating so I tucked him safely into one corner of the herb garden, under some soil, so he could go back to sleep. Jack put compost on more beds while Dave and I harvested 14 1/2 lbs. of kale. We took 6 lbs. of kale to St. Vincent de Paul food pantry and they gladly received it and some receipes.

It stayed dry for us today but a cold wind was blowing. I hope the weather will improve soon.

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone for workday on Saturday the 19th.

Cheers,

Bev

aka

A Busy Sunday

2008-04-13T17:28:00.000-07:00

Brian, Miranda and I went down today to rebuild the old compost bins into a new herb bed, and guess who we ran into down there. Jack. He was just loading up his rather large tiller into the back of his pickup. He had just finished tilling the rows that were ready. Wow, does it ever look nice.
Brian cut down the bins and reconstructed them into a new herb bed. Miranda and I did what we could to help. The beds will still need quite a bit more soil before we will be able to plant them with herbs.
Janet

2008-04-13T15:39:00.000-07:00

4/12/08 -- We had a wonderful garden orientation meeting today with lots of new and renewing garden members. It is going to be an exciting year at the Community Garden because we have lots of dedicated gardeners who want to learn and make this garden a success. My sincere thanks to everyone for all your hard work and dedication. Let's enjoy transforming this garden, have some fun while watching it evolve and grow lots of fresh produce for our food pantry!

New Shed

2008-04-13T15:19:00.000-07:00

4/12/08 -- Our new shed is nearly complete except for the roof and a few inside additions. Next Saturday we hope to get the deer fencing and straw bails moved to finish off the garden entrance.

A Sunny Saturday in April - What a Gift

2008-04-12T23:52:00.000-07:00

Today was our first official work day of the season. What a beautiful way to start. The sun was shinning brightly and we had so many gardeners out, new and old. Miranda with the help of Linny caught a little green tree frog. She held it in a container for a while then decided to release it after our orientation meeting.
The meeting went well. Lots of questions were answered and folks now have a good idea what the garden is all about. Thank you David.
After the meeting about eight of us stayed and cleared a few more rows. There was a good amount of grass taken out and we found quite a few large earthworms. We still have eight to ten more rows to finish preparing so we can plant in them. David planted some broccoli plants(I think) out in one of the first rows for the food pantry. Miranda helped him water them in.
All in all it was a great day,
Janet

The Garden Shed

2008-04-07T20:18:00.000-07:00

April 5, 2008 - The first frog of the year appeared at the community garden. We disturbed his slumber when we were digging the rows. He was rescued and given safety under a patch of parsley.

April 6, 2008
At last our new garden shed is up. Well, almost up, minus the roof but it should be complete soon. A huge thanks goes to all the guys from Covenant Church who so generously donated their time and talents to complete this project.

cheers,
Bev

April 5, 2008

2008-04-05T21:43:00.000-07:00

Today was a wet work day. Six people besides my self, Hanna, Jack, David, Bev, Suzann, and Heidi, showed up to help clear three more rows. We are more then half way done now, but still feeling the pressure of spring on it's way. There is a lot to do these next few months. In this picture if you look very close you can see Dave saving a few onions. Bev added some kale from the garden to the Salvation Army food pantry. Jack and Dave also dug up some chives and reset them in gallon pots to later sale at the market.

Janet

A few pictures from 4/5/08

2008-04-05T21:40:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more picture I took while out in the garden today.
Next Saturday is an orientation for the new gardeners. We are hopeful all will show up.

Janet