On Monday, I stopped by to transplant some collards and kale
(while simultaneously thinning two rows of them) in anticipation of the
forecasted rain. On Tuesday, I stopped
by to side dress a few plants with fertilizer and prune some daisies and also
finally recycled the stack of plant trays that had collected at the SACG and in
my garage by returning them to Lowe’s on East Broad Street. Celess was busy cleaning out her plot and
doing her chores. On Wednesday, the
forecasted rain passed us by and so I stopped by to weed. Our charming WEP volunteer Chris was supposed to come
help as well, but he did not (either because he changed his mind or was
reassigned).
On Friday, I stopped by to meet with Frank and add another
coat of varnish to our fading front gate sign. Neal stopped by to water his
crops. After I left, Curt or Charlie
stopped by to weed their plot and harvest most of their early Spring crops.
Yesterday, our new WEP volunteer, Jason, beat me to the
Garden. I asked him to weed under the
benches, and along the alley. Instead, he
started pulling large weeds from the food pantry plot (because Sabrina didn’t
do her chores this week until this morning).
He couldn’t help himself. I
redirected him to mowing and cleaning out the weeds and overgrown raspberry
bushes, weeding around our rain cisterns and weeding Mari’s plot. After six hours, he had mowed our lawn and half
of the vacant lot next door, had
cleaned up the south/East Main Street side of the Garden and part of the west
side and had made some progress weeding Mari’s plot. The vining weeds on that side of the Garden tends to blur our fence and looks from the street as though we are covered in kudzu. (Sadly, Jason inadvertently pruned our back rose bushes because they looked dead. He did not realize they were a security feature to keep ne'er-do-wells from trespassing). He
also asked me if we had to pay to harvest rain water. He had recently moved here from Nevada and in
those dry states, riparian law (i.e., water law) is much different than here in
the Midwest. No one there has the right to
harvest rain water and you have to get permission and pay for a permit because
by harvesting rain water you are preventing it from reaching a stream and going
downstream. Good thing we don’t live
there. I sent him home with a bag of
kale.
Lea and Zion stopped by to weed her plot, harvest and to
plant some kale. She also helped me out
by weeding the raised beds next door. Neal
stopped by again on his way to a charity golf outing and we discussed the
merits of Epsom salt and where to purchase it.
Apparently, there was a run on Epsom salts at CVS and they only had
perfumed varieties remaining. Epsom
salts help tomatoes avoid blossom end rot when we have alternating wet and dry
spells. Rayna stopped by to weed and
thin her plot. Barb and Frank stopped by
to fill their raised beds with compost from home. I have included a picture of their
construction project. Krystle stopped by
to weed, water and harvest. She also
helped me to thin the overgrown oregano plants in our herb garden.
I watered the new kale and collard transplants and the neighbor and next door raised beds. I picked up and returned the lawn mower. Then I turned to deadheading and pruning the
center flower bed and southern flower bed. I also saved a bunch of daisy seed
heads for next year. I occasionally helped Jason. I staked some tomatoes and then mulched some
tomatoes with straw. I made our first
food pantry harvest of the season, weighed it and dropped it off at the LLS food
pantry Champion and Frebis. I also did some light weeding and harvesting in
my own plot before calling it a day.
Barb was still tending the flower plots across the street
when I left. She and Frank then returned
to do some planting and to mow the block watch lots.
DeShawn and Tim stopped by to water their plot. DeShawn asked for J’ayanna’s bed since she has
moved to Mississippi, but I told them that she had partnered with other girls
who are still here. He then wanted to
buy a plot but he’s six years too young and all the plots are taken. Besides, he refused to get involved in April
or May, so June is a little late to belatedly get the gardening bug;-) They grabbed some strawberries and hit the
basketball court. Micayla and Mihala
stopped by to water and then left.
Micayla came back with Kristin (aka Shae) to water, but then walked
through one of the food pantry plots to hunt some black raspberries, stood on a
cabbage seedling and have been banned from the Garden for the next week for
violating one of our cardinal rules. But
But But . . .
Ms. Anthony stopped by and told me about her efforts to
improve their building for a new tenant.
We also talked about a book drive to re-stock the SACG’s free little
library since we’re low on books again.
She also told me that she’s had great success in discouraging groundhogs
with a repellent she bought at Dill’s a few years ago.
I finally remembered to bring refreshments with me on
Wednesday and Saturday, but none of the gardeners or volunteers wanted any. The boys, on the other hand, were willing to
eat me out of house and home.
Next week, I’ll continue pruning and deadheading daisies as
they end their useful life and harvest many more black raspberries. I hope to save some bachelor button seeds. Hopefully, Jason will return and continue
cleaning up the outer edges of the Garden before trimming the brush across the
street in the Block Watch lot. We will
also continue to mulch with straw and tying up our tomatoes. I’m a little skeptical that it will rain much
this week, so we’ll probably also be watering again.
Our gardening issue of the week has to do with the white
milk that leaks from lettuce when it is cut. It’s supposed to get very hot (i.e., above 85
degrees) almost every day next week and lettuce grows best under 65
degrees. When it gets hot, lettuce
tends to bolt (i.e., forms stems, flowers and goes to seed). This is why it is
a good idea to plant lettuce where it can be shaded by taller plants or
structures, like tomatoes and cucumber trellis, etc. You
can also plant more heat resistant varieties, like oak leaf or red lettuces in
the Spring and save the other varieties for the Fall. Contrary to popular belief, the white milk is
not a sign of heat distress or that the lettuce is inedible. Lettuce gets its name from the latin word for
that white milk. It’s perfectly normal,
but it is the cause of bitterness in lettuce. Instead of focusing on the white milk, pay
attention when the leaves get dull and the plant bolts. At that point, the lettuce is probably not
very good.
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