Tuesday, January 15, 2013

What We Done Did





Eric Waller Mount Washington Community Vegetable Garden
2012 Log of workdays and events

Sunday, Jan 8
Garden expansion begun.
Covered area with corrugated rolls of cardboard. Placed mushroom composte on top.

February – On-line crop survey of membership

Feb 28 – Larry’s presentation Basics of Vegetable Gardening at Springwell

Sun, March 18
Original 10 beds were prepared for planting (cut back clover, covered with composte,             turned the earth, re-mounded beds and cleaned edges)
The new garden area received a second layer of mulch.
The tree line along the garden was cleared of undergrowth and dead branches.
Harvested Spinach and Swiss chard.

Sun Mar 25
Planted broccoli, arugula, kale, buttercrunch lettuce, romaine lettuce, cauliflower, red leaf lettuce, beets and cabbage – a total of 700 plants
Extensive trench dug to successfully bury the water hoses
Work begun to move fresh wood chips onto the garden paths
Spinach was harvested

Apr 8 – Larry and Meaghan planted Swiss chard and donated cilantro plants and removed dead leaves from cabbage and kale plants

Apr 13 – Shane and Larry staked out 12 new rows on site and applied lime

Sat Apr 14
Teams of “tillers, shovelers, and bed builders” created the 12 new garden beds in the expanded garden area.  Soil was collected from the pile on the edge of the woods; the decomposed sod that was removed last year when creating the original garden. A wheelbarrow brigade transported the earth to add to the composte to form the new beds.  Spinach was harvested.

Sat Apr 21
Installed metal fence posts around the perimeter of the new garden.  Cement was poured to secure wooden gateposts for two gates with thanks to Hugh Pocock's leadership. Two water towers were installed with rotating sprinklers, thanks to Daniel Jacoby.  Free wood chips were delivered to the garden this week from AAA Tree Service and work was begun covering the garden paths with the chips.  Spinach was harvested.  The plan was to have a consecutive workday on Sunday, April 22, but we were rained out and the work postponed to the following weekend.

Sat Apr 28
Weed whacking was done around the entire perimeter of the garden and a now experienced crew made short work of moving the entire pile of wood chips onto the garden walkways.  The new beds were raked. Horseradish plants and green bean seeds were planted.  Wiring was run along the tops of the fence posts and fencing was strung and secured to encompass the expanded garden.  Our first crop of arugula was harvested along with more spinach.  
 
Sunday May 6th
Orange ribbons were placed on the new fencing and refreshed on the existing fencing to help protect unobservant animals from running into the fencing.
The beds were raked and flattened in preparation of planting. 
A wire fence was installed in the cucumber bed for the plants to grow on. Cucumber seeds were planted.
Carrot seeds, turnip seeds, radish seeds, beet seeds, fava beans, and derby beans were planted as well as tiny leek plants. 
An abundant harvest was reaped consisting of butter crunch lettuce, red leaf lettuce, arugula, kale, and beets.  
We made our first donation of the year, spinach and a bit of broccoli, to Our Daily Bread. Many thanks to Catherine Washburn for making this delivery.
The beds were each labeled with crop markers made from metal window-blind slats that Allen Bush donated.

May 8
Larry and Hugh constructed two garden gates in Larry’s backyard.

Saturday May 12th
Cylburn Arboretum Annual Market Day. No workday

Sunday May 20th
Worked on fixing parts of the fence, trimming the grass in the new garden and around the fence and mending the hose.

Planted: Tomatoes, Peppers, Eggplants, Herbs, Rhubarb
Harvested: Broccoli, Lettuce, Arugula, Beets, Kale, Swiss Chard, Peas

Saturday May 26th No workday. Nothing to harvest but 4 members showed for bug patrol and a fifth to take care of watering as well as Larry, of course.  We did not pick off bugs, but planted some radishes near the cucumbers, which may repel the cucumber beetles.  We also sprayed with an organic spray and waited for some diatomaceous earth, which unfortunately did not arrive.

May 30
Larry sprayed the cucumbers with organic Pyretheum and this miraculously seems to have put an end to the cucumber beetles.

Sunday June 3rd  
Placed paper and woodchips at end of garden to cover the grass and allow squashes to grow, spread out, and climb the fence
Dusted with diatomaceous earth (donated by Robin Klein - thank you very much!) and sprayed with Pyrethum to combat cucumber bugs
Planted more cucumber and squash seeds to replace lost crops
Planted tomatoes
Harvested kale, garlic (some as big as tennis balls), Swiss chard, broccoli, peas, and cauliflower 

Sat June 9th
Weeded
Dug up flagstones (pavers) in the park and installed them by the garden gates - for easier opening and closing as well as for beautification
Cleaned up area where the wood chip pile sat
Utilized remaining composte as we planted chard and more tomatoes
Took out the peas - the first(and hopefully last) crop failure of the season
Fixed fence
Applied BT (a biological control for caterpillars; white butterflies are laying their eggs in our cabbages and broccoli)
Sprayed Pyrethum again on cucumbers and squashes

June 16
We have switched over to BT to dust the cold crops from pyrethrum. Last Monday was the first dusting. If there looks like the damage continues we will dust again.

Wayne and Robin did a thorough inspection this week and found:
        - tomatoes all look great/ no bugs!
         -swiss chard has areas where leaves are drying up but no evidence of bugs   
            -both the green and purple cabbages are being attacked by some type of insect-            sprayed with pyrethrum
          -squash all look healthy with no signs of bugs
           -sprayed eggplant, beans & radishes for tiny white insects that look like some type of                         aphid.
            - the white moths that were laying their eggs seem to be gone
 We were careful to inspect under leaves as well and pulled some weeds too. The most recent spraying was on Friday so there may be no need to spray on Sunday

Sunday June 17th, Father’s Day
Finished harvesting and taking up the cabbages and planting Swiss Chard in their place
Weeded and mulched Kale and Swiss Chard
Finished laying flagstones
Thinned Winter Squash
Cleaned-up the lawn area where we have stored the mulch and wood chips
Harvested:  Cabbage, Kale, Swiss Chard, Broccoli, Radishes, Herbs

June 22
Larry called me this afternoon and told me that there was zucchini ready to be picked and asked if I could go to the garden and do a quick harvest. I went up to the garden before the rain came and harvested zucchini, yellow squash and basil. There is enough for each family to have two or so depending on the size plus a couple sprigs of basil. All the produce is in buckets under the table in the middle of the garden. If you go and there is nothing left take a look at the plants; I may have missed a few zucchini/yellow squash (look for sizes equivalent to a hot dog bun) and the basil is bountiful. Other than that there is not enough to harvest until next week. -MC

Saturday June 23rd   No workday

June 27
Larry said to spray the cold crops (kale and swiss chard) and the beans with the pyrethrum to the tops and undersides of the leaves. 

Sunday July 1st
Harvested cabbage, more zucchini & summer squash, turnips, radishes, Swiss chard, kale and herbs and beans! Finished installing the flagstones, weeding and mulching the kale and chard and mowing the grass. Cleaned-up the area that we have been using for the compost and wood-chips. Many thanks to Robin for taking the initiative to go to the garden every week and inspect our crops for insects and spray/dust when needed.

July 3 – midweek harvest of zucchini, yellow squash, green beans

July 5 – 7:00am due to heat; harvested beans, zucchini, summer squash, herbs.

July 7 – Robin wrote: Was at the garden yesterday evening and saw lots of beetles . I will spray for them today

July 10 – Evening harvest of fava beans, bush beans, zucchini, yellow squash, eggplants, cucumbers.

July 11 -   7:30pm group harvested beans

July 13 – Robin wrote: The plants that have NOT needed spraying are: butternut squash, herbs, eggplant, tomatoes, carrots, beets. The bug problems have mainly affected the kale, cabbage, cucumbers, beans and zuccini squash. The spray that we are using is Pyrethrum, which is made from chrysanthemums.

July 18 – Robin wrote: Wayne and I inspected the garden last evening . I sprayed eggplants, beans, and squash . Wayne mowed the grass. There is a new type of beetle, the first to bother the eggplants. Looks like a cross between a tick and a stink bug but moves faster than a stink bug.

Sun July 15 - Planted a seedling bed and weeded. Harvested:  Cabbages, Zucchini's, Summer Squash, Eggplants, Chard, Kale, Cucumbers, Herbs and you guessed it...BEANS!

Sun July 22 – no workday; cancelled

July 24 – Garden judging by Charm City in the morning
Work-eve starting earlier at 7pm. Weeding, spraying the kale for harlequins and harvesting. Harvest of green peppers, zucchini and yellow squash.

July 28 – Charm City BikeTour of EWMWCVG 

Sunday July 29 – Harvest of kale, chard, cabbages, zucchini, yellow squash, beans, eggplants, herbs, some tomatoes, peppers

Sat Aug 4 – Harvested

Aug 9 -  Mid-week harvest

Sun Aug 12 - Rehabed the kale bed, harvested many tomatoes, swiss chard, transplanted lettuce from the seed bed, more bean picking!

Sat Aug 18 - Harvested tons of yummy tomatoes, eggplants, chard, peppers, squash

Aug 22 – mid week harvest of tomatoes

Sun Aug 26 – Wood chips were delivered and paths replenished. Harvested: tomatoes, chard, peppers, eggplants etc etc. Took out the old bean rows and planted spinach. 

Sat Sep 1, Labor Day Weekend - picked tomatoes and some leeks and other yummy delights. Spread mulch and rehabed some beds to put down cover crops.  Spread wood chips.

Sun Sep 9 – Covered grass in garden with paper and wood chips. Harvested tomatoes.

Sat Sep 15 – Planted garlic. Transplanted some kale and lettuce. Laid down newspaper and wood chips.

Sun Sep 23 – Laid more wood chips. Harvested and pruned tomatoes. Harvested squash and took up some of their vines to plant a cover crop. Harvested peppers and eggplants.

Sat Sep 29 – Cut down tomato plants. Cleared beds.

Sun Oct 7 – Harvested last of peppers, eggplants, cherry tomatoes, green beans and leeks.  Pulled up the eggplants, peppers and squash and planted clover. Planted clover in the tomato beds

Sat Oct 13 – Seeded the mushroom composte area on the park lawn. Still have chard, some butternut squash, green beans, leeks, herbs and a nice crop of late spinach, lettuces and mustard greens coming in. 

Sun Oct 21 - Pulled up the squash, harvested mustard greens, lettuces, chard and herbs.

Sun Nov 11 – 2nd Annual End-of-Season, Wasn’t It All Terrific, Get Together at Debra Roter’s home

Sat Nov 17 - Harvested the lettuces, spinach, and turnips

Sun Dec 16 – Community clean-up of tree area along edge of garden
                         Leadership meeting; Larry, Meaghan, and Naomi

Jan 13, 2013 – Organizational meeting of entire 2013 membership









No comments:

Post a Comment