photos of our community garden

Slide show - 53 photos of our garden plots

Its fall, the season is over and most of our garden plots are looking pretty raggedy. Some still going strong, some have already been put away for winter, some just look neglected. We usually have a fair amount of plots that get overgrown with weeds.

That's mine in the lower right. Still pretty full of food crops. Dahlias and nasturtiums are doing well too.

community garden meeting

We have an "Input Meeting" scheduled for our Community Garden tomorrow evening. We'll discuss what's most important for a community garden to provide, how do we give all gardeners a voice, and how do get things done. Our Garden management gets plenty of input about what gardeners want the Gardens to provide, but fewer ideas on HOW to get it done.

I don't know if these are common issues for community gardens. I'm curious about the experience of other community gardeners.

Our Community Garden is unique for our area as we're large (148 plots covering 2 acres) with a diverse mix of gardeners (since we have no residency requirement). We have a wonderful multicultural mix of all sorts of gardening styles and gardener personalities.

How is your Community Garden managed? Do all gardeners have a voice? What services does the garden management provide to gardeners?

today's harvest

Ahh, the greens in the garden are super now. I picked red and green lettuce today for our salad, escarole frisee too. And so many peppers! (Peter Piper picked a peck ...)

My spring broc's are still producing tons of side shoots - they get smaller and smaller, but still yummy. (Fall broc's are coming.)

I stir-fried a mix of bok choy and mini broc-sprouts for dinner tonight in bacon fat with garlic. I also made pork fried rice, with egg, Thai hot pepper and lots of onions. Fresh garlic in both. We added a chilled Chardonnay. It was a nice Monday evening dinner.

thyme for fall

On the first full day of fall, here are photos of my thyme. Gnome is doing a super job of tending it!!!

My mom gave me this variety from her garden. It's very winter hardy and has grown for years for her (northern MA). It encroaches on her lawn as a nice low mat, good for waking on, with pretty white blooms for the bees.



In my garden, I have to pick it often to keep it from overgrowing the young blueberry bush next to it. It sprawls past my fence and over the stone walkway. I grab handfuls for marinades, salads and garnishes. Thyme goes with everything!

Judy, my plot neighbor at the community garden, asked about thyme and I look forward to bringing her some. I'll also plant some in my plot. I wonder if it could be a ground cover for my paths? I'm imagining walking on it as I tend my vegetables. Ahh!

I also have another thymely story. (What's the symbol for a terrible pun?) We drove to upstate NY yesterday and stopped (in the middle of a much too long drive), at a rest area (McDonald's and all) to walk Skippy. In back lawn, they had the most beautiful patch of thyme. Of all places!! At least 50 by 50 ft. A low, dense thyme, very fragrant. It was in full bloom with deep beautiful purple flowers tended by honey bees. I have never seen deep purple blooms on thyme! I used one of Skippy's little waste bags and took a piece for my garden. I'm looking forward to another variety.

dahlia

downy woodpecker on late summer sunflowers

Skippy

I haven't been taking many photos of Skippy this summer.  I don't know why - he's as cute as ever. And always very good company. Here are a few photos from the past month. A bit of salt water, a bit of fresh water. And lots of gardening.

today's harvest

my september garden plot

fast growing greens

Lettuce and escarole on September 6
 The same plot, two weeks before - Aug 23


We've had perfect weather for the fall seedlings. It's amazing how fast they're growing. Next week I'll apply another dose of my new fish fertilizer to keep them growing. Since they sent the fertilizer to me free, I am doing a little advertising for them. You can order this fertilizer here: Fish Rich.

today's harvest

Lots of bounty today!

Tons of cukes. I am going to look back at all the great cuke recipes I collected a month ago. Maybe try some cucumber gazpacho and some pickles. A bunch of these cukes are overgrown. The yellow ones are overgrown North Carolina pickling cukes. They are best picked smaller when they are creamy white. They still taste good when they are big and yellow, not at all bitter - just a bit seedy.

I am continually surprised by my broccoli this year. I think I already wrote this, but it seems once a week I am picking more side shoots. This variety is Diplomat.

And, I am a chicken and afraid the squirrels will get at my tomatoes, so I am still picking them as soon as they show a hint of color. I have been watching that giant one, and couldn't resist picking it today even though its not yet coloring up.

The carrots don't look so good because they were sown in seed cells than transplanted. One of my learning experiences this year. I have a crop growing in the garden now that was sown in the garden directly and I am looking forward to some nice long, "unfurcated" roots.

And my celery is terrible, tough and bitter tasting, though it smells wonderful. It's the first year I've grown celery. The stalks are small and the crowns hollow. I found a very nice article (Mother Earth News: Celery Can Be a Cinch) and will book mark it for advice for trying again next year. I think my biggest problem was likely not feeding it and not giving it enough water.

I have 6 little eggplants in the middle of the photo, 3 Tiger and 3 Black King. I have a recipe I'm looking forward to trying with these tonight.

another toad!

I came across another toad in my garden today. A very small one. Big Oracle Toad has company!

planting seeds for winter my cold frame

Today I planted a full tray of seeds. Several varieties of lettuce, as well as escarole, spinach, arugula and broccoli. These are plants that will fill my cold frame during the winter. Since the light level gets too low for plants to grow by about November 10 here, I would like to have these plants pretty much full grown by then. That is about 8 weeks or 50 days from now.

I planted the seeds in seed cells and will grow them indoors under lights for a few weeks. My cold fame is still very full with summer plants - cucumbers, tomatoes, and eggplants. I suspect these summer plants will peter out by the end of September and then by mid Oct I can plant the cold frame with the greens.

Labor Day red sauce

A fitting tribute to a super summer growing season, I made a big pot of red sauce today from my tomatoes! It's the first time in years that I've had enough tomatoes to do this. It included a mix of San Marzano Gigante, New Girl, Brandywine and Purple Calabash tomatoes. I added some of my onions and peppers. Also oregano, thyme and chives.

We had some of the fresh sauce on pasta tonight and it is fantastic!!!

I will freeze the rest.

I have been picking my tomatoes as soon as they turn a bit red and keeping them in a wooden box that I found at a local wine store. Today I used all of the red tomatoes, then washed and replaced the green ones to continue ripening.

freshly dug potatoes

My husband and I dug potatoes today. 20 lbs - a good haul. Mostly Burbank Russets. A few Green Mountains and Adirondack Reds.

I start digging potatoes, as we need them, a couple weeks after they flower (mid July). I plant the early Reds, Fingerlings, and Butterballs at the front of the bed. I start digging here and then gradually move to the back of the bed to where I planted the keeper potatoes, the Russets and Green Mountains.

My Russet tubers are small - as usual. I plant them close together (about 9 inches). With a small space, I like to squeeze in as much as I can. If I spaced the seed potatoes more, I'd have bigger potatoes, but I'm not sure if the total yield (weight) would be more. I figure that this year I got 40 lbs of potatoes from 35 square feet (a 10 x 3.5 foot bed, with six 3.5 ft rows).

I've found that small baked potatoes are really nice. Perfect for a single serving. They bake up fluffy inside and crisp skin outside. Ahhh....