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
Workday, Sunday, June 2, 2013
Planted
turnip seeds, radish seeds, beet seeds, and arugula seeds. Meaghan
brought heirloom Mizuma seeds which are an Oriental or Mustard Green.
These were interplanted among the leeks. Future plantings of Mizuma
will interplanted in the broccoli and Swiss chard beds. Fava beans were
planted a month ago but it doesn't look like they all germinated. More
were ordered and arrived from Italy, and we'll be filling in bald spots
during the next few weeks. 
Thanks to all who came out this morning to work. We finally enjoyed some warm weather and accomplished quite a lot:
Holes were drilled in oak logs and shitake and Italian oyster mushroom "plugs" were inserted into the holes.
Larry
is working with the landscape architect who helped develop the master
plan for Northwest Park in order to get approval for planting additional
crops outside the fenced garden. It looks likely that will happen once
they receive a sketch from us, drawn to scale. Once we receive approval, we will then have to run it by
the M.W. Improvement Association as well. 
Our membership has
now grown to 55 households in this, our third year! Today we began to
prepare our 21 beds for planting. Beds were weeded and mushroom compost
was piled onto existing beds which were then turned and tilled. The
edges of the beds were delineated and neatened with flat shovels. While
we made a lot of headway, there was only one tiller and work will
continue next Saturday, March 23.
Extensive trench dug to successfully bury the water hoses
