Houston Community Garden

July 3rd, 2012

Hello everyone,

It is HOT out there with no immediate end in sight and no guarantee of rain (Saturday looks like our best shot). I could use as much help as I can getting the garden some water every day. Especially the 4X4 square foot boxes, which tend to dry out a bit quicker than the larger boxes in the ground.

Obviously, early am (like between 6 and 9 am) and late evening will work best. Cardy Lewison and I watered this morning, Roger two days ago, Deb Stilin and girls before that...but it's very thirsty.

The water tank looks almost empty so I'm hoping we get our water fill soon (Houston Fire Department--our new best friends!

I will try to get out tomorrow evening, but am looking for anyone who is willing to stop out and water over the next week, or two. UGH!

Please let me know if you think you can take an hour or so to water one day!

Thursday's work and harvest day will be cut short. After looking today, I think we'll only have a handful of zucchini to pick on Thursday, so it should be a relatively quick grab, I hope.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!

Stay cool!

Audrey

hello friends!

The garden seems to be doing well, despite some unknown insect critter that is enjoying the beans and pepper and basil (and other plant) leaves. (Theresa Mc Mannimon is going to come out on Thursday to do some detective work with me.)

This Thursday will begin the Thursday work/harvest days from 3 pm until 5-6 pm. We'll have peas, lettuce and some radishes ready to harvest for the food shelf. Probably a handful of kale as well. We'll cut the scapes off the garlic,too, so stop by to claim some for stir frys or salads! We have a pretty thin selection for this early summer harvest, but things will definitely pick up in July once we harvest garlic and the cucumbers and beans start producing! If the weather cooperates this will be the year of the tomato and pepper, as we have LOTS of them planted!

I noticed that some kids have found the garden and wrote some inappropriate things in the log book. Nothing looked damaged or missing, but we have to keep a close eye on things in case they get more brave this summer. Please make sure the shed is locked after you've visited. One of my biggest concerns is that the gate will be left open (I've arrived to see it open twice already) and the rabbits (who greeted me two days ago) will invite themselves to a smorgashborg at our expense.

Hope to see you all soon!

Audrey

Houston Community Garden update

May 24, 2012

Hello Garden Friends!

May has been a very busy month, so I wanted to take a few minutes to update you on the the happenings at the garden:

Laurel Oein and Roger Meyer did a tremendous amount of work early on in spring, removing all the spools we had been using for the old water tank and “tables” around the garden. The garden looks so much nicer without them cluttering up the perimeter!

They also built a wonderful little open door shack for the log book and information about the garden. We still need to put another coat of paint on it and hang up all the garden info, but it is such a welcome addition! I hope that it will provide better communication between the garden and visitors and volunteers!

On May 12th, a handful of cub scouts spent several hours, planting two apple trees (yeah!!!) and staining the benches. We also attached some spindle/posts to each box and are in the process of numbering each box for better identification and to provide information about what is in each box! Thanks much to Tricia Runningen and her dad, Terry Angst, who created the little number panels for us to attach to the wooden posts.

On May 14th, 36 2nd graders from Houston Elementary ventured out to the garden to plant, plant, plant....and eat watermelon. (Which tasted sooo good after working in the hot sun!) Many thanks to Matt Schutte and Heather Martin for using their classrooms to grow the tomatoes and peppers we planted, and to Kelsey Solum, Cardy Lewison, Deb Stilin and Joan Redig for helping out with the kiddos and planting that day. WHAT WE PLANTED: Lots of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, carrots,watermelon, cantaloupe, butternut squash, radishes, basil, cabbage, lettuce, strawberry sweet corn, peas and beans.

On May 17th, Brenda Polhman taught a class on composting to a small but very interested group of folks. We made a visit out to the garden to check out our very own composting pile. Brenda was impressed.

This past Tuesday, Cardy Lewison and I planted the sweet potatoes in the last two empty beds. These are my big experiment this year, so I have no great expectations. They didn’t look like much when I received the slips in the mail on Monday, but they supposedly come back with vigor. We’ll see!

We continue to improve the garden with each visit, it seems. Roger has been so reliable in keeping the garden mowed so that it looks nice, and I can’t thank Steve Skifton and the Houston Fire Department enough for keeping us in water. We really couldn’t exist without them, especially when is it as dry as it is.

Marilyn Frauenkron-Bayer has kept our herb garden looking beautiful and the Forget-Me-Not Garden Club, (at the suggestion of Jean Collette), has donated $100 toward the purchase/building of a new picnic table for the garden! Thank You!!! We hope to have that up in the next several weeks, probably completed by the Money Creek Livewires 4H group. The table will be a valuable addition to the garden and allow more space for visitors to sit, help the volunteers as they count and weigh harvest. I’m sure Kelsey will appreciate the extra sitting space with the kids gardening class this summer... and we always need places for the kids to sit and save seeds in September when the 3rd graders come back for a visit.

Whew! (I hope I haven’t missed anyone!)

Looking ahead:

*Lots of garden classes and activities!

*We are still in need of folks who can commit to stopping by to water when it’s dry and help harvest for food shelf (especially in July and August).

*Watch for “Pop-up” garden COOKING programs this summer with Kelsey Solum (and possibly me). We plan to watch what is ready to harvest and plan a seasonal cooking class using what is ready. There would probably be only a week or so notice for any of these, so keep your eyes and ears open!

What’s ready to Harvest:

*With the early spring, Garlic may be ready before the usual July timeframe. We’re watching it!

*We don’t have much lettuce this year (as the school starters didn’t take as well as I would have hoped and Featherstone didn’t have any extras to offer us), so our past bounty of early crops won’t be as plentiful. If it’s not storming this afternoon (Thursday) I plan to harvest a couple dozen radishes and a bit of argula and lettuce that’s ready and take it to the food shelf. In June, we’ll begin regular work days on Thursdays from 3 - 6 pm and take what is available to the food shelf.

I realize this is a dense little note, but please pass this on to anyone you think would be interested in helping out with the garden or who may just want to keep up with all our busy-ness.

Have a happy, healthy, sun-filled weekend!

Audrey

Matt Schutte's 2nd grade class from Houston Elementary spent the day on May 14th planting seeds and the starter plants they nurtured at school!  From director Audrey Alfson, "Thanks to Matt Schutte and Heather Martin for bring the kids, and Kelsey Solum, Cardy Lewison, Deb Tom Stilin II, Joan Redig for helping out! Except for the sweet potatoes, the garden is planted! Now to keep it watered during our warm week!"8)

Saturday May 11th, the Cub Scouts helped along with volunteers plant trees at the garden!  Karla Kinstler was there to offer her expertise and help.  Mayer Connie Edwards was helping the kids with garden planting.  Thank you to everyone who helped out.  We have garden markers going up to number each bed. This will help people log which beds have been watered, weeded, or havested:)