Wednesday in the Garden

Yen tends to her Stem Lettuce (Celtuce) and
Fava Beans in their newly upgraded raised bed

Carole is back in the garden. Her report on today’s happenings:   It was dreary at first, but the heavens did not open up on us! It was perfect for planting; not hot, not buggy, and the ground is moist. Peggy brought a lovely array of pepper plants. I hope they were all rehomed. I rescued two!!

Mike built and installed the replacement for another deteriorated raised bed.  Yen and Louie were busily weeding, planting, and pruning in the two recently rebuilt raised beds. Steve is building a patio to display container gardens. Glenn put up the signs indicating that the water at the garden is not to be drunk. It's in two languages; no excuse for accidentally drinking non-potable water from our irrigation array!  Our garden is irrigated with water collected from the roof of the Extension building and stored in a large underground tank which is a re-purposed gasoline storage tank.  

Larry's memorial redbud is alive! No blooms yet, but new leaves are coming on. Phew!  

The vandals were active again. Two nearly full cans of paint were emptied and distributed around the VegShed, compost bins, large container pots, and the ground. I have the lids with formulae and will replace them. Not to be stored in the shed, however. As Mark observed, we have created a habitat. Organisms will populate a habitat. Be careful about what you leave in the VegShed. Do not assume that it will remain there.

Next workday, Wednesday, March 23, be prepared to help take the banana plants down, both the upper mat and the one in the Food Forest which is a dwarf variety.  Janis has marked the stalks that produced this year and they will be taken to the ground. We’ll prune the dead leaves on others and then determine what other pruning needs to be done to thin the mat.  

Bring machetes, loppers, saws (not chain saws), and energy. The stalks and dead leaves will have to be cut into smaller bits to be composted or left around the banana plants as mulch to nourish new growth.  Who knows, the occasion might call for banana bread, banana pudding, or some banana concoction as yet unidentified. Watch this space...

Perennial pollinator plants are
so easy.  They just come 
up when they are ready. 
Dead material damaged by
winter cold was removed
over the last few weeks.  

When the Golden Trumpet tree
Tabeboula chrysotricha  blooms in our
garden we know it’s spring.  

A bed of carrots in the 4-H garden. 
The kids love to pull carrots.  

Jen and Louie decided these are
shelling peas in Glenn’s garden. 
Not filled out yet and too tough
to be sugar snaps.  

The pea pods should be full
enough for grazing and 
harvesting next week. 

The pea blooms promise we’ll
have many more pods to
harvest. 

A perfect little cabbage in the Edible
Forest Garden.  Yes we do plant
some annuals there.  But the mystery
is why this is such a perfect specimen
when an identical plant a few feet away is 
destroyed by bugs and disease. 

Time to harvest these collards as they 
are ready to bolt. Container grown, 
they cover the black plastic crate 
which houses them.  Lined with
a cardboard box and filled with
garden mix, a perfect home 
for one big plant.  

Glenn and Steve survey the 
container patio in progress

Steve lays the final paver

Our first container
for the patio.  Native 
Pollinator plants in a
Beautiful pot.  Thank
You Jen!