Closing Out Our Dry September With Radishes

We are still puttering around in the Garden as an extremely dry September draws to a close at the Stoddart Avenue Community Garden and we face another heat wave to start October.  We received about 1.6 inches of rain for the entire month and only about an inch if you exclude September 1.  And, at a time when we should be expecting our first frost, we are preparing for another heat wave.  But, happily, Fall weather will be arriving later this week, although there is no frost danger in our forecast for at least the next two weeks.  


Last week was to be the annual Capital  Crusader’s Day of Service and 13 Capital University students showed up to help us water, weed, clean out the cabbage patch, plant radishes, pick up neighborhood litter, ferret out the secret entrances of the neighbor’s marauding groundhog and clean up our compost bins. As soon as I had given them the history of the SACG and started making work assignments, it started to sprinkle.  

No worries, I said, it won’t rain.  The weather forecast from just 30 minutes ago said it would dissipate before reaching Franklin County. It will sprinkle for five minutes and then just pass us by.  We aren’t lucky enough to get any rain.  I had already brought over the lawn mower for our community service volunteer (who was raking into piles the diseased cherry leaves) and unlocked our water hydrants.  However, when it looked as though we were in danger of having a wet t-shirt contest, I sent them back to their cars for what I thought would be a brief shower.  I had not brought a rain coat with me. I checked the weather radar and saw that it was going to pour for 2 hours, so I gave them the option of calling it a day or returning in two hours.  They chose the latter.  I locked up the Garden and the hydrants, returned the lawn mower and went home and shampooed carpets.


I returned at noon for our weekly food pantry harvest, but no one else did.  One of them called and said that they would come back at a later time.  I’m here every Saturday, I told her.    Another student contacted me about returning this week and three of them came back yesterday to help us out for two hours.   (She explained that they waited until 11:45 and then left (because it stopped raining at 11:30).  Oops).  I had them water our food pantry plots, then clean out the cabbage patch and plant radishes.   Simon’s girls came by to help (or distract them). 

We had two community service volunteers yesterday. They spent the first hour cleaning up the compost bins (by bagging the weeds that our neighbor had put there last month). Then, one raked the cherry tree leaves and mowed our lawn and the orchard lot. The other watered the strawberry patch and blueberry bushes and then helped me to harvest tomatoes for our weekly food pantry harvest.  She found the groundhog munching away (to prepare for his winter hibernation) inside our neighbor’s hoop house.  As I was packing up I discovered that no one watered the fruit trees.  Sigh.    Both of our rain cisterns were empty when I left yesterday.


Amy had been there, too.  She bagged the cherry tree leaves on Wednesday that got left behind when  it started to rain last Saturday.  She also tidied up the dying flower beds.   Simon's wife, Erica, came yesterday too and is always a great help in picking cherry tomatoes for our weekly food pantry donation while Simon waters their raised bed.  Then, they both weeded the paths (which was Simon’s monthly chore).    He had not anticipated how much food they would have to harvest, so he didn’t bring a bag to hold their produce.  He did, however, bring their own watering can (since the volunteers have a tendency to use all five of our watering cans and I’m typically using the two that I bring with me each week).  

On my way back from Faith Mission for our weekly produce donation, I stopped by the community pocket garden off Ohio Avenue (between Main and Broad).  There was a group of fellows hanging out under the enclosure at the back of the Garden.  As I drove back there to mock them,  I discovered that enclosure also doubles as their shed.  


They were eating a lot of pizza and gave me a piece since I looked like I had also spent the morning gardening (with my hat and sweat). They had spent the morning cleaning up their community garden for an art show today and a community movie night this evening.    That pizza hit the spot and meant that I did not need to make lunch.  (The pizza was from Bexley Pizza Plus, so I told them that owner Brad and his wife are also community gardeners and that back in the day, the SACG used to barter basil for free pizza for our volunteers.  One year, we provided Brad with 16 pounds of basil, but then I stupidly let too many sunflowers grow near the herb garden and it shaded out the basil).   I congratulated them on the fine weather that they would be having.  

I also swung by Old First Presbyterian Church and the Four Seasons City Farm garden there so that I could mock Daniel, but I didn’t see anyone still working.  He was probably at the "big garden" off Carpenter. 

Closing Out Our Dry September With Radishes

We are still puttering around in the Garden as an extremely dry September draws to a close at the Stoddart Avenue Community Garden and we face another heat wave to start October.  We received about 1.6 inches of rain for the entire month and only about an inch if you exclude September 1.  And, at a time when we should be expecting our first frost, we are preparing for another heat wave.  But, happily, Fall weather will be arriving later this week, although there is no frost danger in our forecast for at least the next two weeks.  


Last week was to be the annual Capital  Crusader’s Day of Service and 13 Capital University students showed up to help us water, weed, clean out the cabbage patch, plant radishes, pick up neighborhood litter, ferret out the secret entrances of the neighbor’s marauding groundhog and clean up our compost bins. As soon as I had given them the history of the SACG and started making work assignments, it started to sprinkle.  

No worries, I said, it won’t rain.  The weather forecast from just 30 minutes ago said it would dissipate before reaching Franklin County. It will sprinkle for five minutes and then just pass us by.  We aren’t lucky enough to get any rain.  I had already brought over the lawn mower for our community service volunteer (who was raking into piles the diseased cherry leaves) and unlocked our water hydrants.  However, when it looked as though we were in danger of having a wet t-shirt contest, I sent them back to their cars for what I thought would be a brief shower.  I had not brought a rain coat with me. I checked the weather radar and saw that it was going to pour for 2 hours, so I gave them the option of calling it a day or returning in two hours.  They chose the latter.  I locked up the Garden and the hydrants, returned the lawn mower and went home and shampooed carpets.


I returned at noon for our weekly food pantry harvest, but no one else did.  One of them called and said that they would come back at a later time.  I’m here every Saturday, I told her.    Another student contacted me about returning this week and three of them came back yesterday to help us out for two hours.   (She explained that they waited until 11:45 and then left (because it stopped raining at 11:30).  Oops).  I had them water our food pantry plots, then clean out the cabbage patch and plant radishes.   Simon’s girls came by to help (or distract them). 

We had two community service volunteers yesterday. They spent the first hour cleaning up the compost bins (by bagging the weeds that our neighbor had put there last month). Then, one raked the cherry tree leaves and mowed our lawn and the orchard lot. The other watered the strawberry patch and blueberry bushes and then helped me to harvest tomatoes for our weekly food pantry harvest.  She found the groundhog munching away (to prepare for his winter hibernation) inside our neighbor’s hoop house.  As I was packing up I discovered that no one watered the fruit trees.  Sigh.    Both of our rain cisterns were empty when I left yesterday.


Amy had been there, too.  She bagged the cherry tree leaves on Wednesday that got left behind when  it started to rain last Saturday.  She also tidied up the dying flower beds.   Simon's wife, Erica, came yesterday too and is always a great help in picking cherry tomatoes for our weekly food pantry donation while Simon waters their raised bed.  Then, they both weeded the paths (which was Simon’s monthly chore).    He had not anticipated how much food they would have to harvest, so he didn’t bring a bag to hold their produce.  He did, however, bring their own watering can (since the volunteers have a tendency to use all five of our watering cans and I’m typically using the two that I bring with me each week).  

On my way back from Faith Mission for our weekly produce donation, I stopped by the community pocket garden off Ohio Avenue (between Main and Broad).  There was a group of fellows hanging out under the enclosure at the back of the Garden.  As I drove back there to mock them,  I discovered that enclosure also doubles as their shed.  


They were eating a lot of pizza and gave me a piece since I looked like I had also spent the morning gardening (with my hat and sweat). They had spent the morning cleaning up their community garden for an art show today and a community movie night this evening.    That pizza hit the spot and meant that I did not need to make lunch.  (The pizza was from Bexley Pizza Plus, so I told them that owner Brad and his wife are also community gardeners and that back in the day, the SACG used to barter basil for free pizza for our volunteers.  One year, we provided Brad with 16 pounds of basil, but then I stupidly let too many sunflowers grow near the herb garden and it shaded out the basil).   I congratulated them on the fine weather that they would be having.  

I also swung by Old First Presbyterian Church and the Four Seasons City Farm garden there so that I could mock Daniel, but I didn’t see anyone still working.  He was probably at the "big garden" off Carpenter. 

Children of the Corn

We survived the heat wave this week at the Stoddart Avenue Community Garden and have a few gallons left in our rain cisterns.  I do not expect any more rain until October, truth be told.  The neighborhood kids came by yesterday "to help."

I put them to work picking grapes for our weekly  Faith Mission donation.  They ate most of them and donated three grapes.  I then tasked them with helping John tidy his plot so that he could transplant some turnips that I had thinned earlier.  Then, I had them weed the cucumber patch so that we could plant some radish seeds that I've had in the shed since 2013.

Once they finished their work, I turned them loose in our corn patch.  They played hide and seek and enjoyed running up and down the rows.  It's only 150 square feet, so Lynds is not facing any real competition. But it's nearby and free.

They found a few leftover ears, so I gave one to John and they took the rest home.

Children of the Corn

We survived the heat wave this week at the Stoddart Avenue Community Garden and have a few gallons left in our rain cisterns.  I do not expect any more rain until October, truth be told.  The neighborhood kids came by yesterday "to help."

I put them to work picking grapes for our weekly  Faith Mission donation.  They ate most of them and donated three grapes.  I then tasked them with helping John tidy his plot so that he could transplant some turnips that I had thinned earlier.  Then, I had them weed the cucumber patch so that we could plant some radish seeds that I've had in the shed since 2013.

Once they finished their work, I turned them loose in our corn patch.  They played hide and seek and enjoyed running up and down the rows.  It's only 150 square feet, so Lynds is not facing any real competition. But it's nearby and free.

They found a few leftover ears, so I gave one to John and they took the rest home.

Buckeyes Help Kick Off the SACG's Fall Season

This dry and hot summer has been exhausting at the Stoddart Avenue Community Garden.  We never would have made it this long without our newly installed running water though, courtesy of a federal grant through the Mid-Ohio Food Bank.  Also, because watering each of our plants by hand takes so much time, we have been very fortunate to have assistance from community service volunteers from the Franklin County Environmental Court.  They mow our lawn, pick up neighborhood litter, water our plants, and weed around the Garden, etc.   We have also been blessed with a return visit from Ohio State University students through the Pay It Forward program.

The dry and hot summer has made gardening challenging, but we have also suffered from extensive groundhog damage and two-legged thieves who stole almost all of our cabbages, pulled up much of our kale and collards and took a week’s worth of heirloom tomatoes.   Kimball Farms next door did not plant this season and so the groundhog and thieves that usually feed over there have returned to the SACG.  The thieves built a staircase out of our cinder block compost bins and then used the empty rain barrel to destroy raspberry bushes so that they could climb over our fence.  Sigh.   They broke our gate on their way out.

We have continued to make weekly food pantry donations and are only slightly behind last year’s pace.  Weirdly, we have not been able to grow any winter squashes to save our lives.  I am completely mystified.  We had only 2 delicatta squashes in the co-op plot and I had only one acorn and one butternut in my plot.  Usually, we have dozens of winter squashes.  Not this year.  I’m wondering if it is the new fertilizer that I started using . . . . . .



Our melon crop did better this year than in years  past.  Straders every year donates lots of melon and cucumber seedlings, so I planted a bunch in a food pantry plot and they have done great, as have the basil seedlings. 


We are having a bumper grape crop because I completely failed to in any way prune the grape vines last year.  This means that we will have a miserable crop next year, although I intend to prune them way back this fall and recommend that they be pruned again in the Spring.  They started turning ripe a few weeks ago.  The neighborhood kids like to pick them and we have taken some to Faith Mission.


Our corn crop has done really well this year.  I staggered the plantings so that we could extend the season.  The last couple weeks have not been impressive, but I suspect that is because they were not getting enough water.  The ears were really small the last week.   Not even worth cooking.


Yesterday, we had a bumper cherry tomato crop.  Simon’s four young daughters and his better half helped me to fill a bag to take to Faith Mission.


The groundhog every week comes and chews on the sweet potato vines in the food pantry plots and sometimes my or Simon’s plot.  I put bird netting over them, but that did not help much.  I expect that this will result in some very puny sweet potatoes next month because the vines have never been able to grow much.  They regenerate after every groundhog “pruning,’ but they have never gotten very long, like last year’s bumper sweet potato crop.

The groundhog also loves to chomp down on my kale and to eat half of a tomato on our vines, particularly my heirloom tomatoes.  Grr.   One of our gardeners brought her dog into the Garden and it chased the critter out of Phil’s plot.   We’d trap it, but we don’t have anyone to check the traps every day until it is captured.

This year’s OSU group was one of the best that we’ve ever had.  They came three weeks ago and I split them into four teams.  The first team watered all of the food pantry plots, the strawberry patch, the blueberries, the fruit orchard, and the neighbor beds and then began harvesting peppers, etc.  They took a few peppers from Simon’s plot (which we returned to him) and a few tomatoes from mine and Charlie’s plot, but otherwise did a good job.   One guy mowed our lot, the orchard lot, the Block Watch lot, the Urban Connections lot and the UC backyard.  I let him harvest our tomatoes.  One team weeded the dill and mint forest and then planted beets and turnips.   One team weeded along the alley, picked up neighborhood litter and reorganized our shed.  One team weeded the west chain link fence and then harvested a row of potatoes and planted five rows of lettuce.  They were amazing.


Even better, they called this week and wanted to return this month or next.  I asked them to come  after our typical first frost because they could help me to harvest and clear out the food pantry tomatoes, pack up the tomato cages and trellises and cut back the corn stalks, etc. No one ever wants to help me clean out the Garden once it starts to get cold and bleak.  An OSU sorority came one year and we wreaked devastation on the dying plants.  I am psyched.


In two weeks, Capital University students will be coming to help weed, water, mow and plant radishes.  We are not finished at the SACG by a longshot.  

Buckeyes Help Kick Off the SACG's Fall Season

This dry and hot summer has been exhausting at the Stoddart Avenue Community Garden.  We never would have made it this long without our newly installed running water though, courtesy of a federal grant through the Mid-Ohio Food Bank.  Also, because watering each of our plants by hand takes so much time, we have been very fortunate to have assistance from community service volunteers from the Franklin County Environmental Court.  They mow our lawn, pick up neighborhood litter, water our plants, and weed around the Garden, etc.   We have also been blessed with a return visit from Ohio State University students through the Pay It Forward program.

The dry and hot summer has made gardening challenging, but we have also suffered from extensive groundhog damage and two-legged thieves who stole almost all of our cabbages, pulled up much of our kale and collards and took a week’s worth of heirloom tomatoes.   Kimball Farms next door did not plant this season and so the groundhog and thieves that usually feed over there have returned to the SACG.  The thieves built a staircase out of our cinder block compost bins and then used the empty rain barrel to destroy raspberry bushes so that they could climb over our fence.  Sigh.   They broke our gate on their way out.

We have continued to make weekly food pantry donations and are only slightly behind last year’s pace.  Weirdly, we have not been able to grow any winter squashes to save our lives.  I am completely mystified.  We had only 2 delicatta squashes in the co-op plot and I had only one acorn and one butternut in my plot.  Usually, we have dozens of winter squashes.  Not this year.  I’m wondering if it is the new fertilizer that I started using . . . . . .



Our melon crop did better this year than in years  past.  Straders every year donates lots of melon and cucumber seedlings, so I planted a bunch in a food pantry plot and they have done great, as have the basil seedlings. 


We are having a bumper grape crop because I completely failed to in any way prune the grape vines last year.  This means that we will have a miserable crop next year, although I intend to prune them way back this fall and recommend that they be pruned again in the Spring.  They started turning ripe a few weeks ago.  The neighborhood kids like to pick them and we have taken some to Faith Mission.


Our corn crop has done really well this year.  I staggered the plantings so that we could extend the season.  The last couple weeks have not been impressive, but I suspect that is because they were not getting enough water.  The ears were really small the last week.   Not even worth cooking.


Yesterday, we had a bumper cherry tomato crop.  Simon’s four young daughters and his better half helped me to fill a bag to take to Faith Mission.


The groundhog every week comes and chews on the sweet potato vines in the food pantry plots and sometimes my or Simon’s plot.  I put bird netting over them, but that did not help much.  I expect that this will result in some very puny sweet potatoes next month because the vines have never been able to grow much.  They regenerate after every groundhog “pruning,’ but they have never gotten very long, like last year’s bumper sweet potato crop.

The groundhog also loves to chomp down on my kale and to eat half of a tomato on our vines, particularly my heirloom tomatoes.  Grr.   One of our gardeners brought her dog into the Garden and it chased the critter out of Phil’s plot.   We’d trap it, but we don’t have anyone to check the traps every day until it is captured.

This year’s OSU group was one of the best that we’ve ever had.  They came three weeks ago and I split them into four teams.  The first team watered all of the food pantry plots, the strawberry patch, the blueberries, the fruit orchard, and the neighbor beds and then began harvesting peppers, etc.  They took a few peppers from Simon’s plot (which we returned to him) and a few tomatoes from mine and Charlie’s plot, but otherwise did a good job.   One guy mowed our lot, the orchard lot, the Block Watch lot, the Urban Connections lot and the UC backyard.  I let him harvest our tomatoes.  One team weeded the dill and mint forest and then planted beets and turnips.   One team weeded along the alley, picked up neighborhood litter and reorganized our shed.  One team weeded the west chain link fence and then harvested a row of potatoes and planted five rows of lettuce.  They were amazing.


Even better, they called this week and wanted to return this month or next.  I asked them to come  after our typical first frost because they could help me to harvest and clear out the food pantry tomatoes, pack up the tomato cages and trellises and cut back the corn stalks, etc. No one ever wants to help me clean out the Garden once it starts to get cold and bleak.  An OSU sorority came one year and we wreaked devastation on the dying plants.  I am psyched.


In two weeks, Capital University students will be coming to help weed, water, mow and plant radishes.  We are not finished at the SACG by a longshot.