Okra

I learned today that I made several mistakes when planting and growing the okra. I bought the plant when it was a good 6 inches tall, from Lowes. Here is a resource I should have checked first. It had several vertical stems, and I assumed it was a single plant. In reality, it was several plants, and I should have separated them to a foot apart or thinned to just one before planting. Also, Okra should have a very large tap root (up to 5 feet!). This just isn't possible in our raised bed, because it is about a foot deep, and protected underneath by chicken wire (for the burrowing creatures) and a weed block cloth.

We did get one large pod out of the plant. Bettie said that if I had harvested it when it was young and small, it would have done well to thicken a good soup. Instead, I let it grow large, and thus inedible. Well we live and we learn. The one pod can be let to dry, and we can preserve the seeds for planting somewhere suitable next season. They apparently grow better from seed than by transplant anyhow.

Eggplant

The recipe I used to cook the eggplant is Eggplant Caponata.

I left out the black pepper and capers, because I don't really care for either one. If you missed the dish this time, don't fret. We will have plenty of eggplant in the future.

Bearing Fruit

Today's garden cleanup was quite successful. Big thanks to Yolanda and John for helping out. We cleared away most of the pallets and pulled errant grass from the beds. We also planted some carrot, beets, and green beans. Storm clouds cut us short of fixing the fence this time.

The compost barrel (the blue one next to the shed) is full and needs to be allowed to finish up. We will still rotate the barrel every few days to mix air into the compost, but please don't add any more material. There will be a new container for us to put kitchen scraps in the meantime.

The eggplant is bearing its first fruit! It looks quite tasty and ready to harvest for this Sunday's shared luncheon. Stir fry sounds pretty good, don't you think?

What Is Where?

I've received many questions regarding the layout of the garden. What is growing where? How are we watering everything? Well here is our current layout, not showing the various junk that needs to be cleared out (Friday, Aug 19th, 3pm). Click the image to enlarge.

Eggplant, Japanese

Tomato, Heirloom Tiger Stripe

Pepper, Orange

Pepper, Red

Okra

Citronella

Leeks

Marigold, Orange and Yellow

Flower (I keep forgetting to check the tag!) Pink

Mulberry

Banana

Cantaloupe

Pumpkin, Early Sugar

The pump is not working, because it needs to be primed each time it is used or the motor will burn out. Essentially a one-way valve needs to be installed in the hose, as close as possible to the water source. Since we can put it on a timer, that would be essential. It is an inexpensive part that will require some tools for cutting and resealing. However, my big concern is that I don't know whether the water in the pond/stream is safe to put on our edibles. I've been told that people who live along this water let their kids fish and swim in it. I'm not sure if that means it is safe. I've also heard that we can send a sample to the water utility and they will test it. I just have to get around to that. Meanwhile, it has been raining plenty. If it hasn't rained in a few days we only need two or three pails of water carried from the faucet outside the church. Alternatively, with as much rain as we get, we might set up a rain collection system.

Quick Note

The garden cleanup will be Friday afternoon at 3pm, weather permitting. We need to trim the grass, pull a few weeds, clear out the old pallets, fix the fence, and possibly plant some more seedlings.

I have lots of updates and photos to upload, as the garden is built and growing quite nicely!

Our Garden Grows!

The weather cooperated again today, and I moved two loads of patio stones. I was sore and tired of dodging mosquitos to get the stones, so then I did some other work in the garden. I will get one more load of stones tomorrow, to give us a final 5-stone deep (about a foot) raised bed. I want it deep enough for carrots, and tall enough for people to sit on it and garden.

I went to dig up the compost heap and pile some nutrient-rich awesomeness into the nearly complete bed. Lo and behold, the compost was in use! Some of our stray cantaloupe seeds from the last couple weeks decided to sprout up and take residence. They were clustered in the center of the heap, where all the good stuff is. Well I decided to respect the interdependent web of existence, value the inherent worth and dignity of the melon vines, and envision a future with free cantaloupe every Sunday.

I cleared the covering leaves from the heap and carefully dug up 2 wheelbarrows of pretty good compost from around the plants. Then I transplanted the smaller plants a little further from the center to give them all plenty of room, and put back the covering leaves. I marked a larger area with some bamboo poles and added more leaves to compost for future melon plantings. The entire area is now our Melon Patch! I hope all the gardening will be this effortless.

Besides the cantaloupes, there are a few things that were already growing in the garden.

The mulberry tree.

This sad little banana plant.

Whatever this and this are. (Someone told me, and I forgot)

A whole bed of something that appeared with the rain. Possibly a weed, but maybe an herb? (I decided it was a weed, and pulled most of them)

Aspirations and Inspirations

I started going to the local Unitarian Universalist church earlier this year, and found a really nice community. The large community garden, however, had fallen into disuse. So I've spent the last few months formulating a plan and creating compost. I am, by no means, a skilled gardener, so this is all a huge learning experience for me.

There are large patio stones that were left in a pile when the stones were replaced with a recycled wood patio (or so I am told by reliable sources). The sandy soil here is (apparently) awful for gardening, with lots of parasitic nematodes and burrowing critters of all sorts. Today I started to build the raised bed out of those patio stones. It may not do my stone mason heritage proud, but I am pleased with the progress.

First I laid down some old chicken wire, and then a weed cloth over top. I made sure the patio stones covered at least 2 inches of the wire and cloth and held it down well. I'd say the stones are about 2 inches thick, and I plan to stack them 5 high. This way, those of us with bad knees or backs can sit and help plant, weed, and harvest if we would like.

first layer of stones

Next, I plan to utilize Square Foot Gardening techniques. I will need to get seeds, peat moss, and coarse vermiculite. Planting will start soon, and following these guidelines. I plan to start from seeds directly in the bed, because I have no idea where I would store seedlings in the meantime.

There are many challenges ahead, which I will detail in later posts, but I am up for it.