Cleaning Up and Preparing for Next Year

Letting Lettuce Go to Seed

As the days get shorter and Fall arrives, we are cleaning out our plots and preparing for next year.  First, we are suffering through another mini-drought at the Stoddart Avenue Community Garden.  We’ve only received about a half inch of rain so far this month.  This has made starting off our Fall crops (like lettuce, turnips, bok choy, spinach and beets) a challenge.  Lea realized on Saturday that she would have to start over and there are only so many things (like Black Seeded Simpson lettuce and bok choy which have a chance of sprouting and ripening before the hard frosts come and we close for the year).  Despite the drought, I’ve been grateful for my yard-long beans because they keep producing no matter the weather.  The drought isn’t the only negative factor on our harvests, though.  Our food pantry harvests have been a bit disappointing since our regular thieves have been cleaning out our (heavy) tomatoes and peppers as they ripen.

Lettuce seed pods

Saving Seeds.  I’ve been doing what I can to save seeds.  With my many bean varieties, that’s relatively easy (although our over abundant stink bug population has been attacking the beans in Susan and my plot with some ferocity).  I spent last Saturday saving cosmos seeds.  Next weekend, I’ll try to save some sunflower and marigold seeds.  One year, I even managed to save some kale and petunia seeds.  Every year I think I will save lettuce seeds, but I never do (except for arugula).  However, this year, I finally found time to save some lettuce seeds.  Krystle planted some romaine lettuce in her plot before she returned to Denver and she let it go to seed.   I transplanted some romaine from my plot into my raised beds at home and let them go to seed, too.  So, when the plants flowered and then dried out, I was able to harvest romaine lettuce seeds to use next Spring.  I even showed Lea how to do it and have included some pictures. (The seeds are on the bottom of the dandelion-like fuzz) and inside the seed pods).  

Lettuce seeds from seed pod

Of course, I don’t like to leave things to chance and so I grabbed a few seed packets at the GCGC meeting earlier this month and last week visited Franklin Park Conservatory, which also has some free seeds to donate to area community gardens.  It’s nice to get our seeds in the Fall because then I can decide over the winter what I need to buy before I have to start seeds (for peppers, tomatoes, etc. ) in March and April.   The kids always want to plant carrots and sweet potatoes and, after that, it’s a negotiation with me trying to get them to grow something different and nutritious.

Crusader Day of Service.    Keep Columbus Beautiful has been a wonderful supporter of the Stoddart Avenue neighborhood and the SACG.  They’ve also donated some seeds to us in the past, and a few weeks ago, let me know how I could arrange for some Capital University college students to travel a mile to our garden to help out.  So, we are looking forward to 10 Cap students coming on Saturday for the Crusader Day of Service.  I will have several projects waiting for them, including cleaning up our compost bins and turning the compost, picking up litter around the neighborhood, watering everything twice (since we’re not expecting any more rain for the rest of the month), tidying the stake storage area (as we gradually pull out all of the tomatoes and their stakes), pulling some spent tomatoes and transplanting some collard greens, etc. from raised beds in their place), pruning sunflowers, and weeding flower beds, etc.  I’ve brought home our gloves to launder them before they start working on Saturday.

Coin envelopes work great to store seeds

Visitors.  While I was running around trying to water everything twice on Saturday, a man walked into the Garden, explained that he was stranded in town (from Mississippi) until Monday and was looking for some work.  I explained that I couldn’t pay him, but we had lots of work.  He said he didn’t care.  Leon raked up the rotting tomatoes in Krystle’s plot and cut out the overgrown and dying cosmos from the food pantry plot.  I suggested that he grab a book out of our library to help him pass the time and told him how Faith Mission offers three free meals a day/seven days a week and gave him some breakfast bars and a few stray tomatoes (since I hadn’t started harvesting yet).  I had a gallon of drinking water in my car, but no cups.  So, he said he would run to the corner store and buy his own bottle or cup and return.  However, he never came back.  He was a big help anyway.   Happy travels Leon; I hope you came back for a book.

Bexley Farmer’s Market.   I’ve been stopping by the Bexley Farmer’s Market on Thursdays to grab some fresh fruit, organic cheese and giant eggplants, zucchinis and poblano peppers, which have been a great bargain.   I baked some zucchini bread last week and am considering Martha Stewart’s chocolate zucchini cupcakes for this afternoon. . . . . I’ve also been enjoying at least once per week zucchini macaroni (with sautéed grated zucchini tossed with garlic and olive oil and mixed with cottage cheese and pasta).   I’ve also been having grilled eggplant sandwiches and stuffed eggplant. 

I’ve also checked out two Rick Bayless cookbooks from the Bexley Library to expand my weekly cuisine beyond American, Cajun, French, Asian and Italian.   There is more to Mexican food, after all, than tacos and burritos.   So, I’ve started drying poblano peppers (including red ones) along with my herbs to make ancho peppers to use in recipes that I hope to try this Fall.   I’ve already enjoyed several recipes with roasted poblanos and freeze a variety of peppers from my own garden (including Serrano, jalapeno, pasilla and cayenne).    Because our cool Fall has wrecked havoc on our tomato crop, I broke down in a moment of weakness and purchased a half peck of roma tomatoes from Smith’s Farm Market on Winchester Pike for $7 so that I could (when the cold front moves in) roast them all for soups, pasta sauce and a few Bayless recipes. 

The inside of a year-old butternut squash

While at the Market on Thursday, a woman asked how long the butternut squashes would keep.  I told her truthfully that I still had a butternut squash in my root cellar from last Fall.   (I should have donated it and it’s been a yoke of guilt around my neck every time I walk into that room).  She said her experience was that its interior would dry out after a few months.  The Rhoads Farms guy said it would keep at least a few months.  So, yesterday, I decided to check out my year-old squash.  It was certainly lighter than the one I harvested about 10 days ago.  I skinned it without any problem and then cut it into quarters.  The seed area had certainly dried out more than usual, and I decided not to cook with the bottom half (although I probably could have done so).  With the top half, I made a Rick Bayless squash soup recipe with roasted tomato and jalapeno salsa and the squash cooked up just fine.  I hope my year old sweet potatoes work out as well when I try another Bayless recipe with them later this week.   

This all being said, all winter squashes are not equal.  Acorn and delicatta squashes do not keep for more than a few months because they get moldy.   However, unlike butternut squashes, you can eat the rind of those winter squashes.

For grins and giggles, I'm thinking of starting a waging pool.  I have a giant butternut squash growing in the flower bed in front of my plot.  It's not ripe yet.  It's only a matter of time before someone steals it.  I'm thinking that for $10, you can bet on the week that the squash gets stolen.  Winner gets to keep half of the money (with the rest going to the Garden).  If no one steals it before we close for the season (or a hard frost kills the rest of the plant), the Garden gets all of the money wagered and I decide the fate of the squash.  I'm not really serious, but you might as well know how warped and twisted I have become on the subject of produce thefts.

Cleaning Up and Preparing for Next Year

Letting Lettuce Go to Seed

As the days get shorter and Fall arrives, we are cleaning out our plots and preparing for next year.  First, we are suffering through another mini-drought at the Stoddart Avenue Community Garden.  We’ve only received about a half inch of rain so far this month.  This has made starting off our Fall crops (like lettuce, turnips, bok choy, spinach and beets) a challenge.  Lea realized on Saturday that she would have to start over and there are only so many things (like Black Seeded Simpson lettuce and bok choy which have a chance of sprouting and ripening before the hard frosts come and we close for the year).  Despite the drought, I’ve been grateful for my yard-long beans because they keep producing no matter the weather.  The drought isn’t the only negative factor on our harvests, though.  Our food pantry harvests have been a bit disappointing since our regular thieves have been cleaning out our (heavy) tomatoes and peppers as they ripen.

Lettuce seed pods

Saving Seeds.  I’ve been doing what I can to save seeds.  With my many bean varieties, that’s relatively easy (although our over abundant stink bug population has been attacking the beans in Susan and my plot with some ferocity).  I spent last Saturday saving cosmos seeds.  Next weekend, I’ll try to save some sunflower and marigold seeds.  One year, I even managed to save some kale and petunia seeds.  Every year I think I will save lettuce seeds, but I never do (except for arugula).  However, this year, I finally found time to save some lettuce seeds.  Krystle planted some romaine lettuce in her plot before she returned to Denver and she let it go to seed.   I transplanted some romaine from my plot into my raised beds at home and let them go to seed, too.  So, when the plants flowered and then dried out, I was able to harvest romaine lettuce seeds to use next Spring.  I even showed Lea how to do it and have included some pictures. (The seeds are on the bottom of the dandelion-like fuzz) and inside the seed pods).  

Lettuce seeds from seed pod

Of course, I don’t like to leave things to chance and so I grabbed a few seed packets at the GCGC meeting earlier this month and last week visited Franklin Park Conservatory, which also has some free seeds to donate to area community gardens.  It’s nice to get our seeds in the Fall because then I can decide over the winter what I need to buy before I have to start seeds (for peppers, tomatoes, etc. ) in March and April.   The kids always want to plant carrots and sweet potatoes and, after that, it’s a negotiation with me trying to get them to grow something different and nutritious.

Crusader Day of Service.    Keep Columbus Beautiful has been a wonderful supporter of the Stoddart Avenue neighborhood and the SACG.  They’ve also donated some seeds to us in the past, and a few weeks ago, let me know how I could arrange for some Capital University college students to travel a mile to our garden to help out.  So, we are looking forward to 10 Cap students coming on Saturday for the Crusader Day of Service.  I will have several projects waiting for them, including cleaning up our compost bins and turning the compost, picking up litter around the neighborhood, watering everything twice (since we’re not expecting any more rain for the rest of the month), tidying the stake storage area (as we gradually pull out all of the tomatoes and their stakes), pulling some spent tomatoes and transplanting some collard greens, etc. from raised beds in their place), pruning sunflowers, and weeding flower beds, etc.  I’ve brought home our gloves to launder them before they start working on Saturday.

Coin envelopes work great to store seeds

Visitors.  While I was running around trying to water everything twice on Saturday, a man walked into the Garden, explained that he was stranded in town (from Mississippi) until Monday and was looking for some work.  I explained that I couldn’t pay him, but we had lots of work.  He said he didn’t care.  Leon raked up the rotting tomatoes in Krystle’s plot and cut out the overgrown and dying cosmos from the food pantry plot.  I suggested that he grab a book out of our library to help him pass the time and told him how Faith Mission offers three free meals a day/seven days a week and gave him some breakfast bars and a few stray tomatoes (since I hadn’t started harvesting yet).  I had a gallon of drinking water in my car, but no cups.  So, he said he would run to the corner store and buy his own bottle or cup and return.  However, he never came back.  He was a big help anyway.   Happy travels Leon; I hope you came back for a book.

Bexley Farmer’s Market.   I’ve been stopping by the Bexley Farmer’s Market on Thursdays to grab some fresh fruit, organic cheese and giant eggplants, zucchinis and poblano peppers, which have been a great bargain.   I baked some zucchini bread last week and am considering Martha Stewart’s chocolate zucchini cupcakes for this afternoon. . . . . I’ve also been enjoying at least once per week zucchini macaroni (with sautéed grated zucchini tossed with garlic and olive oil and mixed with cottage cheese and pasta).   I’ve also been having grilled eggplant sandwiches and stuffed eggplant. 

I’ve also checked out two Rick Bayless cookbooks from the Bexley Library to expand my weekly cuisine beyond American, Cajun, French, Asian and Italian.   There is more to Mexican food, after all, than tacos and burritos.   So, I’ve started drying poblano peppers (including red ones) along with my herbs to make ancho peppers to use in recipes that I hope to try this Fall.   I’ve already enjoyed several recipes with roasted poblanos and freeze a variety of peppers from my own garden (including Serrano, jalapeno, pasilla and cayenne).    Because our cool Fall has wrecked havoc on our tomato crop, I broke down in a moment of weakness and purchased a half peck of roma tomatoes from Smith’s Farm Market on Winchester Pike for $7 so that I could (when the cold front moves in) roast them all for soups, pasta sauce and a few Bayless recipes. 

The inside of a year-old butternut squash

While at the Market on Thursday, a woman asked how long the butternut squashes would keep.  I told her truthfully that I still had a butternut squash in my root cellar from last Fall.   (I should have donated it and it’s been a yoke of guilt around my neck every time I walk into that room).  She said her experience was that its interior would dry out after a few months.  The Rhoads Farms guy said it would keep at least a few months.  So, yesterday, I decided to check out my year-old squash.  It was certainly lighter than the one I harvested about 10 days ago.  I skinned it without any problem and then cut it into quarters.  The seed area had certainly dried out more than usual, and I decided not to cook with the bottom half (although I probably could have done so).  With the top half, I made a Rick Bayless squash soup recipe with roasted tomato and jalapeno salsa and the squash cooked up just fine.  I hope my year old sweet potatoes work out as well when I try another Bayless recipe with them later this week.   

This all being said, all winter squashes are not equal.  Acorn and delicatta squashes do not keep for more than a few months because they get moldy.   However, unlike butternut squashes, you can eat the rind of those winter squashes.

For grins and giggles, I'm thinking of starting a waging pool.  I have a giant butternut squash growing in the flower bed in front of my plot.  It's not ripe yet.  It's only a matter of time before someone steals it.  I'm thinking that for $10, you can bet on the week that the squash gets stolen.  Winner gets to keep half of the money (with the rest going to the Garden).  If no one steals it before we close for the season (or a hard frost kills the rest of the plant), the Garden gets all of the money wagered and I decide the fate of the squash.  I'm not really serious, but you might as well know how warped and twisted I have become on the subject of produce thefts.

T-7 to SACG’s Opening Day

Although it may not look like it now, the weather forecast is showing sunshine and blue skies for the Stoddart Avenue Community Garden’s Opening Day next Saturday, April 12, 2014.   That’s just one week from today.  We still have 2 plots left for new gardeners (and six raised beds).   We always have gardeners show up unexpectedly on Opening Day and a few people always seem to drop out or not show up.  So, it’s all good.  (If no one takes the plots, one will be dedicated to growing food for pantries/shelters and the other for the neighborhood kids).   Although Opening Day is not for another week, that does not mean that it’s been entirely quiet at the SACG.

Whole Foods Marketon Lane Avenue in Upper Arlington will be donating refreshments for our Opening Day volunteers this year, so we will be sure to eat well.   Even better, they are coming at the end of our work day to conduct a cooking/healthy eating demonstration (which means more free food and samples).

Sabrina at work turning compost

I stopped by the SACG last week to get the lay of the land and see what work needed to be done.  Believe it or not, there is spinach growing that the boys planted last Fall.  I also ordered and checked on our wood chips and made some arrangements for our opening day.  Our 2013 volunteer-of-the year, Sabrina, then unexpectedly reached out and reported that she would be returning to garden with us this year after all.  However, she and her family had planned to spend the weekend learning about earthships near Yellow-Springs and she wanted to get a jump on satisfying her work equity (instead of waiting for our make-up day on April 26).  So, she showed up this morning at 9 a. m.  and began the arduous task of turning the compost in our three bins.   That’s tough work, so it’s a good thing that it’s a little nippy.  She also wanted to clean up the beds.

She also helped me to repair the downspout and hook up the big rain tank.  I would have liked to have hooked it up before the three inches of rain we just received, but we are supposed to get more rain on Monday.  Hopefully, it will be enough to fill the tank before our Opening Day.  Then, we measured and marked off plots on the south side of the Garden.  We had to spread out the plots on that side last year when Beth & Mike left and no one wanted such a large plot.  That turned out to be too much work for some of our gardeners.  So, Sabrina and I marked them off to fit her in on the south side.  She had hoped to start planting this weekend, but the ground is too wet and cold.   She’s very glad that we will not be tilling the Garden this year because she thinks it’s too hard on the ground. We found a worm while moving some of the border stones.

Sprouting potatoes

I also conducted a brief inspection of the Garden to identify work projects for next weekend.  I then ran to Dill’s Greenhouse (off I-33 just north of Canal Winchester) to pick up some supplies, like seed potatoes (red, Yukon gold and Kennebec) and onion sets (red, white, yellow and Vandalia).  In my opinion, Dill’s always has the best bargain on seed potatoes and onion sets.  A half-peck of seed potatoes is $3.99.   Two cups of onion sets are just $1.29.    I’ll spread out the potatoes in a single layer in a shallow box lid and put them in a sunny and unheated room in the basement.   They will begin spouting in short order.  Then, I cut them in halves or thirds and wait a day for them to harden off before I plant them in a trench.    A half-peck is way more than I can grow for myself, so I always have enough to share with other gardeners.  Sabrina is going to pick up some purple seed potatoes from Lowes to exchange with me.

Dill’s is also having a perennial flower sale this week and had lots of cold-season crops (like cabbage) for sale.  Their perennial sale is 10 for $10 for 4 inch pots.  Of course, the monster perennial sale will be next weekend at DeMonye’s Greenhouse (near the airport).  I’ll go on Friday morning to get the best selection.  They will have a crazy number of varieties to choose from, including popular herbs like thyme and lavender, and a ton of flowers.  A full flat will be $15.99. 

2009 Opening Day Volunteers

Half Price Books is also donating children’s books this Wednesday to replenish our free little library at the northeast corner of our lot.

We will have our work cut out for us next Saturday at the SACG starting at 9:30 a.m..  Many hands make light work.  This is what we have to complete: 



2010 Opening Day Volunteers

               1) Spread wood chips (donated by the City of Columbus) on our paths, around the fence rows and in the space between the Garden and the alley aka Cherry Street (to keep down weeds).   If Krystle can help, I’ll pick up extra wheel barrows, rakes and shovels from the Tool Library on Thursday so that we’ll have capacity for capacity for extra volunteers.   It would be good if someone can maintain our half-moon stone patterns near our gates.

               2) Repair the fence in the northwest corner of the Garden and reinforce the fence around the Garden.  Again, if Krystle can help (with her hubby’s truck), we’ll pick the fence up on Thursday.

               3) Repair and reinforce some of the raised beds.

2011 Opening Day Volunteers

               4) Transplant raspberry bushes along the fence line.

               5) Clean out the flower beds and neighbor plot.

               6)  Hook up the smaller rain tank;

               7) Pick up litter around the Garden and in the neighborhood (i.e., along Stoddart, along the north side of East Main Street and in the alleys).

               8) Possibly mow the grass.

               9) Prune our rose bushes

2012 Opening Day Volunteers

               10) Plant some perennial flowers that I will inevitably pick up at DeMonye’s.

               11)  Possibly plant some cold crops (like kale, collard greens and cabbage) in the neighbor plot.

               12) Repair/replace the rain barrel by the shed.

               13) Smooth out the wood chip pile;

               14) Possibly start cleaning out our own plots.

               15) General tidying of the Garden area before the weeds and grass obscure everything.

 Be there or be square.  The more the merrier.

T-7 to SACG’s Opening Day

Although it may not look like it now, the weather forecast is showing sunshine and blue skies for the Stoddart Avenue Community Garden’s Opening Day next Saturday, April 12, 2014.   That’s just one week from today.  We still have 2 plots left for new gardeners (and six raised beds).   We always have gardeners show up unexpectedly on Opening Day and a few people always seem to drop out or not show up.  So, it’s all good.  (If no one takes the plots, one will be dedicated to growing food for pantries/shelters and the other for the neighborhood kids).   Although Opening Day is not for another week, that does not mean that it’s been entirely quiet at the SACG.

Whole Foods Market on Lane Avenue in Upper Arlington will be donating refreshments for our Opening Day volunteers this year, so we will be sure to eat well.   Even better, they are coming at the end of our work day to conduct a cooking/healthy eating demonstration (which means more free food and samples).

Sabrina at work turning compost

I stopped by the SACG last week to get the lay of the land and see what work needed to be done.  Believe it or not, there is spinach growing that the boys planted last Fall.  I also ordered and checked on our wood chips and made some arrangements for our opening day.  Our 2013 volunteer-of-the year, Sabrina, then unexpectedly reached out and reported that she would be returning to garden with us this year after all.  However, she and her family had planned to spend the weekend learning about earthships near Yellow-Springs and she wanted to get a jump on satisfying her work equity (instead of waiting for our make-up day on April 26).  So, she showed up this morning at 9 a. m.  and began the arduous task of turning the compost in our three bins.   That’s tough work, so it’s a good thing that it’s a little nippy.  She also wanted to clean up the beds.

She also helped me to repair the downspout and hook up the big rain tank.  I would have liked to have hooked it up before the three inches of rain we just received, but we are supposed to get more rain on Monday.  Hopefully, it will be enough to fill the tank before our Opening Day.  Then, we measured and marked off plots on the south side of the Garden.  We had to spread out the plots on that side last year when Beth & Mike left and no one wanted such a large plot.  That turned out to be too much work for some of our gardeners.  So, Sabrina and I marked them off to fit her in on the south side.  She had hoped to start planting this weekend, but the ground is too wet and cold.   She’s very glad that we will not be tilling the Garden this year because she thinks it’s too hard on the ground. We found a worm while moving some of the border stones.

Sprouting potatoes

I also conducted a brief inspection of the Garden to identify work projects for next weekend.  I then ran to Dill’s Greenhouse (off I-33 just north of Canal Winchester) to pick up some supplies, like seed potatoes (red, Yukon gold and Kennebec) and onion sets (red, white, yellow and Vandalia).  In my opinion, Dill’s always has the best bargain on seed potatoes and onion sets.  A half-peck of seed potatoes is $3.99.   Two cups of onion sets are just $1.29.    I’ll spread out the potatoes in a single layer in a shallow box lid and put them in a sunny and unheated room in the basement.   They will begin spouting in short order.  Then, I cut them in halves or thirds and wait a day for them to harden off before I plant them in a trench.    A half-peck is way more than I can grow for myself, so I always have enough to share with other gardeners.  Sabrina is going to pick up some purple seed potatoes from Lowes to exchange with me.

Dill’s is also having a perennial flower sale this week and had lots of cold-season crops (like cabbage) for sale.  Their perennial sale is 10 for $10 for 4 inch pots.  Of course, the monster perennial sale will be next weekend at DeMonye’s Greenhouse (near the airport).  I’ll go on Friday morning to get the best selection.  They will have a crazy number of varieties to choose from, including popular herbs like thyme and lavender, and a ton of flowers.  A full flat will be $15.99. 

2009 Opening Day Volunteers

Half Price Books is also donating children’s books this Wednesday to replenish our free little library at the northeast corner of our lot.

We will have our work cut out for us next Saturday at the SACG starting at 9:30 a.m..  Many hands make light work.  This is what we have to complete: 



2010 Opening Day Volunteers

               1) Spread wood chips (donated by the City of Columbus) on our paths, around the fence rows and in the space between the Garden and the alley aka Cherry Street (to keep down weeds).   If Krystle can help, I’ll pick up extra wheel barrows, rakes and shovels from the Tool Library on Thursday so that we’ll have capacity for capacity for extra volunteers.   It would be good if someone can maintain our half-moon stone patterns near our gates.

               2) Repair the fence in the northwest corner of the Garden and reinforce the fence around the Garden.  Again, if Krystle can help (with her hubby’s truck), we’ll pick the fence up on Thursday.

               3) Repair and reinforce some of the raised beds.

2011 Opening Day Volunteers

               4) Transplant raspberry bushes along the fence line.

               5) Clean out the flower beds and neighbor plot.

               6)  Hook up the smaller rain tank;

               7) Pick up litter around the Garden and in the neighborhood (i.e., along Stoddart, along the north side of East Main Street and in the alleys).

               8) Possibly mow the grass.

               9) Prune our rose bushes

2012 Opening Day Volunteers

               10) Plant some perennial flowers that I will inevitably pick up at DeMonye’s.

               11)  Possibly plant some cold crops (like kale, collard greens and cabbage) in the neighbor plot.

               12) Repair/replace the rain barrel by the shed.

               13) Smooth out the wood chip pile;

               14) Possibly start cleaning out our own plots.

               15) General tidying of the Garden area before the weeds and grass obscure everything.

 Be there or be square.  The more the merrier.

Bugs and Other Urchins

This week at the Stoddart Avenue Community Garden was notable for our interactions with ants, worms, bugs, mildew and other urchins.  There was also a water fight and music.

To start with, for the first time ever, a couple of plants were eaten almost to oblivion by tomato hornworms.  I had initially attributed the damage to vandalism, but then noticed overnight damage to the tomato plant next to my patio.  Upon closer examination, I found a five-inch caterpillar (that looks remarkably like the hookah-smoking caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland) resting upside down on a stem (where it had been feasting on the one and only tomato on that plant).  I’ve managed to avoid this problem in the past because I typically plant basil plants between tomatoes (and this deters these pests).   Not this year.   I ran to my garage to find a spray that had been there since I bought the house in 1998.  It did nothing.  I generously sprinkled sevin.  That provoked a reaction, but all it did was encourage the caterpillar to leave the plant and start crawling to the fence.   So, I grabbed a couple tablespoons of Neem oil and dishwashing soap, mixed it with 32 ounces of water in a spray bottle and attacked the caterpillar.  It suffered horribly before ultimately imploding and melting. (Notice the frass on the picture above on the leaf just below the caterpillar.  This is often how you can best find them because their coloring allows them to blend into the plant).

I took my spray bottle to the SACG and hunted caterpillar, but only found one (and it was not the giant tomato hornworm).  I killed it anyway because it was feasting on fennel.  I then turned to hunting squash bugs and their eggs.  Sabrina and I had found quite a few on Friday – particularly in the boys’ plot.  There were several mating couples (a sight you cannot un-see no matter how much you try) that we squashed.  Many leaves were torn off because of the number and central location of seeds which were laid.  I’ve attached a picture with five clusters of eggs.  (Can you find them all?)   Most leaves only have one cluster that you can tear off without killing or removing the entire leaf.  We may have to start pulling all of the summer squash plants out, but we’re trying to save the winter squash plants as long as we can.  When Cassie came on Saturday, we found many squash bug eggs in her plot on her spaghetti and other winter squash plants.  I found a few more egg clusters on the zucchini leaves in my plot along with about five adults.  My neem oil concoction came in very handy, then, because it kills adults and nymphs.  Sabrina has even found egg clusters on her corn stalks – those pesky buggers.

On Thursday, I finally began the process of mulching our flower beds.  I picked up one bag of the mulch that had become an ants’ nest.  I didn’t notice the ant attack until there were hundreds all over my legs, into my socks and up into my shorts.   Then, almost in unison, they began biting me all over my legs and feet.  I really began dancing then and had to squash them where they were.  Of course, that’s when Stoddart neighbor and former SACG gardener, Jeannie, decided to stop by.    I’m trying to maintain my dignity while taking off my shoes, shaking my socks, squashing and slapping ants and examining the cuffs on my shorts.  Quite a picture.  She advised me to not wear those clothes back into my house.  I didn’t.   However, after chatting with her about some vandalism on her car and neighborhood kids, I continued mulching until sundown.   There are welts all over my legs (particularly my upper thigh), so I won’t be wearing shorts again for a while.

On Wednesday morning, I walked over to the St. Vincent de Paul food pantry to donate some zucchini and delicatta squash.  While there, I ran into Marge and the Shady Lane Garden leader (near Hamilton and Livingston).  Marge liberated my zucchini to make zucchini bread for their open house on Saturday.  She showed me their new sprinkler system and also gave me children’s books to take back to the SACG.  She gets books donated to her every week by the Christ the King church members.  

Marge also told me about her bane this year: squirrels.  They’ve eaten half of her tomatoes and all of her peaches.  (I share her pain; the neighborhood kids ate all of our peaches before they even ripened.  Squirrels also eat about half of the tomatoes in my backyard).  Of course, we have no squirrels at the SACG, so I suggested that she start trapping them.  That did not seem to appeal to her.   I took the other gardener back to my house for tomato, basil and sweet potato seedlings and then over to the SACG for some vegetable seeds.  He admired our raspberry hedge and I encouraged him to return to dig up some seedlings that are growing around where our fence used to be.  The bane of his garden is deer.

On Wednesday night, a few of us enjoyed a wonderful, free concert by ProMusica at Franklin Park Conservatory.   There had been a threat of rain, but we dodged it.  We sat immediately to the left of the orchestra.   The Conservatory is beautifully lit up at night with different colors.  In this picture, it was blue.   There is another free concert this Wednesday as well.

On Thursday, we held the second annual water shoot-out at the GC Corral.  Last year, former neighbor and gardener, Tevon, had attacked me with his high-powered water gun.  Little did he know that I own such a gun myself.  (I am, after all, the fun aunt).  I then defended myself adequately for the rest of the summer against similar sneak attacks.  So, earlier this week, Micayla challenged me to a water duel; I demurred until Thursday.  All of the kids were told to bring their own guns.  However, kids today apparently do not own water guns, which I think is un-American.   It’s a rite of passage to run around your own neighborhood avoiding water attacks from your friends and enemies.  Luckily, I had three “antique” water guns (with no pumping capacity) that I could loan.  Cathy, Hope and Ben came and inflicted much wet damage with spray bottles.  A new neighbor grandmother came by with a regular water bottle to just pour on the kids.  Everyone got wet, unless you were unarmed and called out “sanctuary.”  After we ran out of water and returned to Garden, a neighbor supplied a few kids with some water balloons, but they didn’t last long.  (I wish there had been more pictures of the battle, but I cannot take pictures while I'm shooting or running. And, I had forgotten to switch my camera exposure from night (when I was at the ProMusica Concert on Wednesday) to day.  The rest of the pictures are streaked with sunlight).

The kids have again almost cleaned me out of books.  I had to start rationing them and reminding them to return the books they already have before taking more.  It’s time for me to restock from the Urban Connections basement library.

The boys’ plot has become an interesting display of politics.  Four boys initially helped plant, but only DeShaun has somewhat regularly tended it.   He’s been sharing his produce with other kids.  Now, a few of the original boys have returned and want to share in the harvest.  DeShaun is not happy about this and I cannot blame him.   I’m sympathetic to DeShaun on this, but for this week, I let the other boys have a few tomatoes and one zucchini.  I’m not sure that this will continue since they still aren’t helping with the work . . .

Sabrina has continued her weed-pulling frenzy.  She came to the Garden almost daily and moved from the alley to the west fence.  She’s been digging out the roots of the pervasive morning glory weeds, while leaving raspberry seedlings.  Zephyr is not quite as excited to spend his time this way.  She keeps him entertained by announcing the discovery of the occasional centipede and letting Zephyr scare them away (to protect his mother) by screaming at them.

Because it was supposed to rain AGAIN on Saturday morning, I conducted our food pantry harvest on Friday, but finished too late to take it to LSS.  So, SVDP got it again.  We had 15 pounds of tomatoes, so that should make up for what the squirrels ate this week at the SVDP.  As they do at the LSS pantry, the clients waiting in line got excited when they saw the bags of collards and kale I brought. Two different Stoddart neighbors stopped by yesterday asking for greens, too.

Answer: 5 Clusters of Squash Bug Eggs Are Highlighted

Yesterday, I focused on harvesting beans and pruning strawberries.  Then, lo and behold, Rayna stopped by.  We haven’t seen her since opening day because she’s been busy getting her masters in special education.  However, she completed her last final exam on Friday and hopes to spend more time at the Garden on weekends. She misses having fresh food and wants her old plot back next year.  Of course, I gave her a work assignment:  planting flowers in our flower beds.  Lowe’s had large containers of black-eyed susans and coreopsis on sale for $3/each.

The rest of my weekend is being spent making and canning pasta sauces and pickles.  I only have 2 dozen of mason jars left and will have to buy more.  I already ran out of lids last week and had to stop at three places before finding them.  Newsflash:  Lowe’s is no longer selling mason jar supplies.  Neither is the Kroger’s on East Main Street.  I found an adequate supply at the Broad Street Kroger’s and imagine that Wal-Mart still has some, too.

Finally, we continue to struggle with our melon harvest.  We found a nice melon in Hope’s plot and I recommended picking it because the nearby tendrils were brown (and it looked brown on the outside).   However, it was not ripe.  Cassie had already picked two of hers before I could stop her yesterday.  I’m still waiting on the verdict.   I don’t even grow them because I never seem to get the timing right.

Bugs and Other Urchins

This week at the Stoddart Avenue Community Garden was notable for our interactions with ants, worms, bugs, mildew and other urchins.  There was also a water fight and music.

To start with, for the first time ever, a couple of plants were eaten almost to oblivion by tomato hornworms.  I had initially attributed the damage to vandalism, but then noticed overnight damage to the tomato plant next to my patio.  Upon closer examination, I found a five-inch caterpillar (that looks remarkably like the hookah-smoking caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland) resting upside down on a stem (where it had been feasting on the one and only tomato on that plant).  I’ve managed to avoid this problem in the past because I typically plant basil plants between tomatoes (and this deters these pests).   Not this year.   I ran to my garage to find a spray that had been there since I bought the house in 1998.  It did nothing.  I generously sprinkled sevin.  That provoked a reaction, but all it did was encourage the caterpillar to leave the plant and start crawling to the fence.   So, I grabbed a couple tablespoons of Neem oil and dishwashing soap, mixed it with 32 ounces of water in a spray bottle and attacked the caterpillar.  It suffered horribly before ultimately imploding and melting. (Notice the frass on the picture above on the leaf just below the caterpillar.  This is often how you can best find them because their coloring allows them to blend into the plant).

I took my spray bottle to the SACG and hunted caterpillar, but only found one (and it was not the giant tomato hornworm).  I killed it anyway because it was feasting on fennel.  I then turned to hunting squash bugs and their eggs.  Sabrina and I had found quite a few on Friday – particularly in the boys’ plot.  There were several mating couples (a sight you cannot un-see no matter how much you try) that we squashed.  Many leaves were torn off because of the number and central location of seeds which were laid.  I’ve attached a picture with five clusters of eggs.  (Can you find them all?)   Most leaves only have one cluster that you can tear off without killing or removing the entire leaf.  We may have to start pulling all of the summer squash plants out, but we’re trying to save the winter squash plants as long as we can.  When Cassie came on Saturday, we found many squash bug eggs in her plot on her spaghetti and other winter squash plants.  I found a few more egg clusters on the zucchini leaves in my plot along with about five adults.  My neem oil concoction came in very handy, then, because it kills adults and nymphs.  Sabrina has even found egg clusters on her corn stalks – those pesky buggers.

On Thursday, I finally began the process of mulching our flower beds.  I picked up one bag of the mulch that had become an ants’ nest.  I didn’t notice the ant attack until there were hundreds all over my legs, into my socks and up into my shorts.   Then, almost in unison, they began biting me all over my legs and feet.  I really began dancing then and had to squash them where they were.  Of course, that’s when Stoddart neighbor and former SACG gardener, Jeannie, decided to stop by.    I’m trying to maintain my dignity while taking off my shoes, shaking my socks, squashing and slapping ants and examining the cuffs on my shorts.  Quite a picture.  She advised me to not wear those clothes back into my house.  I didn’t.   However, after chatting with her about some vandalism on her car and neighborhood kids, I continued mulching until sundown.   There are welts all over my legs (particularly my upper thigh), so I won’t be wearing shorts again for a while.

On Wednesday morning, I walked over to the St. Vincent de Paul food pantry to donate some zucchini and delicatta squash.  While there, I ran into Marge and the Shady Lane Garden leader (near Hamilton and Livingston).  Marge liberated my zucchini to make zucchini bread for their open house on Saturday.  She showed me their new sprinkler system and also gave me children’s books to take back to the SACG.  She gets books donated to her every week by the Christ the King church members.  

Marge also told me about her bane this year: squirrels.  They’ve eaten half of her tomatoes and all of her peaches.  (I share her pain; the neighborhood kids ate all of our peaches before they even ripened.  Squirrels also eat about half of the tomatoes in my backyard).  Of course, we have no squirrels at the SACG, so I suggested that she start trapping them.  That did not seem to appeal to her.   I took the other gardener back to my house for tomato, basil and sweet potato seedlings and then over to the SACG for some vegetable seeds.  He admired our raspberry hedge and I encouraged him to return to dig up some seedlings that are growing around where our fence used to be.  The bane of his garden is deer.

On Wednesday night, a few of us enjoyed a wonderful, free concert by ProMusica at Franklin Park Conservatory.   There had been a threat of rain, but we dodged it.  We sat immediately to the left of the orchestra.   The Conservatory is beautifully lit up at night with different colors.  In this picture, it was blue.   There is another free concert this Wednesday as well.

On Thursday, we held the second annual water shoot-out at the GC Corral.  Last year, former neighbor and gardener, Tevon, had attacked me with his high-powered water gun.  Little did he know that I own such a gun myself.  (I am, after all, the fun aunt).  I then defended myself adequately for the rest of the summer against similar sneak attacks.  So, earlier this week, Micayla challenged me to a water duel; I demurred until Thursday.  All of the kids were told to bring their own guns.  However, kids today apparently do not own water guns, which I think is un-American.   It’s a rite of passage to run around your own neighborhood avoiding water attacks from your friends and enemies.  Luckily, I had three “antique” water guns (with no pumping capacity) that I could loan.  Cathy, Hope and Ben came and inflicted much wet damage with spray bottles.  A new neighbor grandmother came by with a regular water bottle to just pour on the kids.  Everyone got wet, unless you were unarmed and called out “sanctuary.”  After we ran out of water and returned to Garden, a neighbor supplied a few kids with some water balloons, but they didn’t last long.  (I wish there had been more pictures of the battle, but I cannot take pictures while I'm shooting or running. And, I had forgotten to switch my camera exposure from night (when I was at the ProMusica Concert on Wednesday) to day.  The rest of the pictures are streaked with sunlight).

The kids have again almost cleaned me out of books.  I had to start rationing them and reminding them to return the books they already have before taking more.  It’s time for me to restock from the Urban Connections basement library.

The boys’ plot has become an interesting display of politics.  Four boys initially helped plant, but only DeShaun has somewhat regularly tended it.   He’s been sharing his produce with other kids.  Now, a few of the original boys have returned and want to share in the harvest.  DeShaun is not happy about this and I cannot blame him.   I’m sympathetic to DeShaun on this, but for this week, I let the other boys have a few tomatoes and one zucchini.  I’m not sure that this will continue since they still aren’t helping with the work . . .

Sabrina has continued her weed-pulling frenzy.  She came to the Garden almost daily and moved from the alley to the west fence.  She’s been digging out the roots of the pervasive morning glory weeds, while leaving raspberry seedlings.  Zephyr is not quite as excited to spend his time this way.  She keeps him entertained by announcing the discovery of the occasional centipede and letting Zephyr scare them away (to protect his mother) by screaming at them.

Because it was supposed to rain AGAIN on Saturday morning, I conducted our food pantry harvest on Friday, but finished too late to take it to LSS.  So, SVDP got it again.  We had 15 pounds of tomatoes, so that should make up for what the squirrels ate this week at the SVDP.  As they do at the LSS pantry, the clients waiting in line got excited when they saw the bags of collards and kale I brought. Two different Stoddart neighbors stopped by yesterday asking for greens, too.

Answer: 5 Clusters of Squash Bug Eggs Are Highlighted

Yesterday, I focused on harvesting beans and pruning strawberries.  Then, lo and behold, Rayna stopped by.  We haven’t seen her since opening day because she’s been busy getting her masters in special education.  However, she completed her last final exam on Friday and hopes to spend more time at the Garden on weekends. She misses having fresh food and wants her old plot back next year.  Of course, I gave her a work assignment:  planting flowers in our flower beds.  Lowe’s had large containers of black-eyed susans and coreopsis on sale for $3/each.

The rest of my weekend is being spent making and canning pasta sauces and pickles.  I only have 2 dozen of mason jars left and will have to buy more.  I already ran out of lids last week and had to stop at three places before finding them.  Newsflash:  Lowe’s is no longer selling mason jar supplies.  Neither is the Kroger’s on East Main Street.  I found an adequate supply at the Broad Street Kroger’s and imagine that Wal-Mart still has some, too.

Finally, we continue to struggle with our melon harvest.  We found a nice melon in Hope’s plot and I recommended picking it because the nearby tendrils were brown (and it looked brown on the outside).   However, it was not ripe.  Cassie had already picked two of hers before I could stop her yesterday.  I’m still waiting on the verdict.   I don’t even grow them because I never seem to get the timing right.