Preparing for Local Foods Week

It’s Local Foods Week in Central Ohio and the Stoddart Avenue Community Garden will be participating on Saturday morning by opening our gates for visits and questions by visitors and by holding a bake sale.    I attended a presentation on Good Agricultural Practices at this month’s GCGC meeting last week.  Also, we have new locks and new tools for our shed.

OSU Extension is coordinating a celebration of Local Foods Week in Central Ohio.    Part of this celebrationinvolves a no-charge tour of area community gardens on Saturday, August 15 from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m., including

·        the SACG,

·         the Peace and Plenty CG behind New Life Church in Whitehall at 4295 East Broad Street,

·        St. Vincent de Paul pantry garden at Wellesley and Livingston just east of Bexley,

·        Highland Youth Garden in the Hilltop,

·        Awarak Garden on North Fourth,

·        Charles Madison Nabrit Memorial Garden on Brentnell,  and

·        Bibleway SKIP Gardens in the Hilltop. 

This would be a good time to see the wide-variety of styles of area community gardens.  Also, the SACG will be holding a bake-sale to feed our tourists.  This will include Cathy’s famous strawberry cupcakes and some chocolate zucchini muffins.

Last week, I attended the monthly GCGC meeting at Christ the King Catholic Church near Bexley.   While there, I unexpectedly ran into an old friend from my Appalachian high school who was now living near German Village and starting a community garden in her neighborhood.  Her brother taught me to drive in reverse with a stick shift.  It’s a small world.  Marge and Paula had been very busy hosting the GCGC meeting and supplied a hearty buffet, including shredded barbeque chicken.  They had already put in a full day of work by hosting a funeral wake earlier in the afternoon.  The meeting program was OSU Extension’s Mike Hogan talking about Good Agricultural Practices – i.e., growing food in a healthy way so as not to make people sick from, for example, listeria.  He had a powerpoint, handouts and quick pacing.   Of course, he never answered my question about how to sanitize our cistern tank water.  Sigh.  However, he impressed on everyone the importance of washing our hands and our produce before we eat it.

We have had a lot of activity at the SACG since the beginning of the month.   Our hero of the week is Ken Turner.  Ken is an area landlord who has never gardened with us.  He saw my plea for help with our recurring thefts on NextDoor and volunteered to help.  He suggested that we add several locks to our shed to make it more time consuming to break in.  He even donated and installed a monster lock this week.    It was a complicated operation, but I’m sleeping better knowing that it is on our shed.

Also, Bill Dawson from Franklin Park Conservatory emailed me about an area gardener wanting to donate some new hand tools – like the ones we had stolen.  Hope Phillips donated brand new tools (still in their clam shell packaging) to replenish our shed because all of our hand tools had been stolen last month. 

Ezra is still volunteering at the SACG as part of the Work Experience Program and making my life easier.  He spent all of last Wednesday and most of Saturday watering our food pantry and neighbor plots.  The water pressure on our big cistern is ridiculously low (even though it is full). We can’t afford to empty it at this time of year to inspect and repair it, so we have to stand forever waiting for our watering cans to fill up.   So, Ezra figured out on his own that to make the best use of his time, he would weed our path while waiting for me to refill my watering cans.  However, he lost his mind during the last 45 minutes of his shift.  He began putting the weeds into our trash can “because it was easier.”  Sigh.    Cathy’s husband, Jason, fixed our lawn mower, so Ezra was also able to mow our lawn this week (so that we won’t look too shaggy for the Local Foods Week tour.

My visitor du jour on Saturday was Mike from Four Season City Farm.   They have several community gardens.  The one on Linwood was getting a late start for the season and needed a water source.  The City and Tool Library have run out of funds to purchase a new community garden rain cistern, so he had stopped by to see if we could help.  I loaned him the rain barrel which we have used to harvest water off of our shed.   Because the shed is so tiny, it takes forever to fill.   We almost never use it to water our plants.  Instead, it seems to be perpetually empty because the area homeless use it as a water source for drinking and bathing.   Although it was far smaller than he needed, he returned a few hours later to accept our offer.   I explained that we will need it to be returned when he has found another alternative.

The neighborhood boys have never returned to tend their plot after planting.  Some of the girls have occasionally watered it and picked a few of the ripe tomatoes.  The girls have been pretty good about tending their plots this year, although one group let their plot get so weedy that it choked out their carrots and then they picked their peppers seedlings along with the weeds.  This last week, they mysteriously came in and picked an armload of greens with which to make a salad.

Saturday was a long day.  I arrived at the SACG around 8:45 to find Ezra had already arrived.  I put him to work mowing our lawn while I watered my plot.  I also saved seeds from two arugula plants, pulled bind weed from the fence, transplanted pepper plants, hunt squash bug eggs, and pruned weed trees that were growing up in our fence line before I started harvesting (which seems to take me 1.5 to 2 hours). The pole beans continue to hide in unusual places, which can make it difficult to find all of them.   I finally got out of the Garden after 2 p.m.  Because it was so late, I took our weekly donation to Faith Mission.

Rayna stopped by to harvest and perform some light weeding.  She had a lot to get done before she starts her new job on Monday.  I hadn’t realized that school was starting this week, which seems so early compared to when I was a kid.  We never started before August 21.   Neal also stopped by to harvest and planned to return.  Amy had planned to stop by, but her husband was injured during Pelotonia and ended up in Grant Hospital.   He was released later in the day.

Although I have yet to lay eyes on him, our possum is still helping himself to tomatoes in my plot.  I found several half-eaten tomatoes.  This always makes me sad.  

The aerial photo is the Google maps picture of the SACG, which seems to have been taken last September or October (based on what is there and not there).     We also have a few sun flowers.  We usually have LOTS of sunflowers and we usually have TALL sunflowers.  However, with our cloudy summer, our sunflowers are stunted and some of them did not make it into June.  Our eggplants are also suffering.   I have a few Asian eggplants doing ok at home, but only one of my Asian eggplants have produced at the SACG and none of the Mediterranean plants.   

This week will probably focus on weeding because we received almost an inch of rain yesterday.  I imagine that last night's rain also exploded some tomatoes and caused our beans to triple in size.   I also hope to start planting our fall crops.

Preparing for Local Foods Week

It’s Local Foods Week in Central Ohio and the Stoddart Avenue Community Garden will be participating on Saturday morning by opening our gates for visits and questions by visitors and by holding a bake sale.    I attended a presentation on Good Agricultural Practices at this month’s GCGC meeting last week.  Also, we have new locks and new tools for our shed.

OSU Extension is coordinating a celebration of Local Foods Week in Central Ohio.    Part of this celebration involves a no-charge tour of area community gardens on Saturday, August 15 from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m., including

·        the SACG,

·         the Peace and Plenty CG behind New Life Church in Whitehall at 4295 East Broad Street,

·        St. Vincent de Paul pantry garden at Wellesley and Livingston just east of Bexley,

·        Highland Youth Garden in the Hilltop,

·        Awarak Garden on North Fourth,

·        Charles Madison Nabrit Memorial Garden on Brentnell,  and

·        Bibleway SKIP Gardens in the Hilltop. 

This would be a good time to see the wide-variety of styles of area community gardens.  Also, the SACG will be holding a bake-sale to feed our tourists.  This will include Cathy’s famous strawberry cupcakes and some chocolate zucchini muffins.

Last week, I attended the monthly GCGC meeting at Christ the King Catholic Church near Bexley.   While there, I unexpectedly ran into an old friend from my Appalachian high school who was now living near German Village and starting a community garden in her neighborhood.  Her brother taught me to drive in reverse with a stick shift.  It’s a small world.  Marge and Paula had been very busy hosting the GCGC meeting and supplied a hearty buffet, including shredded barbeque chicken.  They had already put in a full day of work by hosting a funeral wake earlier in the afternoon.  The meeting program was OSU Extension’s Mike Hogan talking about Good Agricultural Practices – i.e., growing food in a healthy way so as not to make people sick from, for example, listeria.  He had a powerpoint, handouts and quick pacing.   Of course, he never answered my question about how to sanitize our cistern tank water.  Sigh.  However, he impressed on everyone the importance of washing our hands and our produce before we eat it.

We have had a lot of activity at the SACG since the beginning of the month.   Our hero of the week is Ken Turner.  Ken is an area landlord who has never gardened with us.  He saw my plea for help with our recurring thefts on NextDoor and volunteered to help.  He suggested that we add several locks to our shed to make it more time consuming to break in.  He even donated and installed a monster lock this week.    It was a complicated operation, but I’m sleeping better knowing that it is on our shed.

Also, Bill Dawson from Franklin Park Conservatory emailed me about an area gardener wanting to donate some new hand tools – like the ones we had stolen.  Hope Phillips donated brand new tools (still in their clam shell packaging) to replenish our shed because all of our hand tools had been stolen last month. 

Ezra is still volunteering at the SACG as part of the Work Experience Program and making my life easier.  He spent all of last Wednesday and most of Saturday watering our food pantry and neighbor plots.  The water pressure on our big cistern is ridiculously low (even though it is full). We can’t afford to empty it at this time of year to inspect and repair it, so we have to stand forever waiting for our watering cans to fill up.   So, Ezra figured out on his own that to make the best use of his time, he would weed our path while waiting for me to refill my watering cans.  However, he lost his mind during the last 45 minutes of his shift.  He began putting the weeds into our trash can “because it was easier.”  Sigh.    Cathy’s husband, Jason, fixed our lawn mower, so Ezra was also able to mow our lawn this week (so that we won’t look too shaggy for the Local Foods Week tour.

My visitor du jour on Saturday was Mike from Four Season City Farm.   They have several community gardens.  The one on Linwood was getting a late start for the season and needed a water source.  The City and Tool Library have run out of funds to purchase a new community garden rain cistern, so he had stopped by to see if we could help.  I loaned him the rain barrel which we have used to harvest water off of our shed.   Because the shed is so tiny, it takes forever to fill.   We almost never use it to water our plants.  Instead, it seems to be perpetually empty because the area homeless use it as a water source for drinking and bathing.   Although it was far smaller than he needed, he returned a few hours later to accept our offer.   I explained that we will need it to be returned when he has found another alternative.

The neighborhood boys have never returned to tend their plot after planting.  Some of the girls have occasionally watered it and picked a few of the ripe tomatoes.  The girls have been pretty good about tending their plots this year, although one group let their plot get so weedy that it choked out their carrots and then they picked their peppers seedlings along with the weeds.  This last week, they mysteriously came in and picked an armload of greens with which to make a salad.

Saturday was a long day.  I arrived at the SACG around 8:45 to find Ezra had already arrived.  I put him to work mowing our lawn while I watered my plot.  I also saved seeds from two arugula plants, pulled bind weed from the fence, transplanted pepper plants, hunt squash bug eggs, and pruned weed trees that were growing up in our fence line before I started harvesting (which seems to take me 1.5 to 2 hours). The pole beans continue to hide in unusual places, which can make it difficult to find all of them.   I finally got out of the Garden after 2 p.m.  Because it was so late, I took our weekly donation to Faith Mission.

Rayna stopped by to harvest and perform some light weeding.  She had a lot to get done before she starts her new job on Monday.  I hadn’t realized that school was starting this week, which seems so early compared to when I was a kid.  We never started before August 21.   Neal also stopped by to harvest and planned to return.  Amy had planned to stop by, but her husband was injured during Pelotonia and ended up in Grant Hospital.   He was released later in the day.

Although I have yet to lay eyes on him, our possum is still helping himself to tomatoes in my plot.  I found several half-eaten tomatoes.  This always makes me sad.  

The aerial photo is the Google maps picture of the SACG, which seems to have been taken last September or October (based on what is there and not there).     We also have a few sun flowers.  We usually have LOTS of sunflowers and we usually have TALL sunflowers.  However, with our cloudy summer, our sunflowers are stunted and some of them did not make it into June.  Our eggplants are also suffering.   I have a few Asian eggplants doing ok at home, but only one of my Asian eggplants have produced at the SACG and none of the Mediterranean plants.   

This week will probably focus on weeding because we received almost an inch of rain yesterday.  I imagine that last night's rain also exploded some tomatoes and caused our beans to triple in size.   I also hope to start planting our fall crops.

Don’t Bother Me; I’m Busy

We’ve had a number of visitors this summer.  And I don’t mean just the criminal variety.  However, they all seem to be oblivious to my schedule.  By noon, I’ve started harvesting for our weekly food pantry donation.   If you’ve ever been to the Stoddart Avenue Community Garden, you know that we have no shade of any kind.  The newly picked food sits in plastic bags in the sun.  Wilting. Believe me, I’m in a serious hurry to get all of the produce donations picked.  My own food picked.  Load of the car.  Get home to my first sugar fix in over four hours.  Wash my hands.  Weigh and record the bags.  And then over to the food pantry before everyone goes home. 

So, when people stop by to chat at noon, I’m glaring at the even the nicest people.  There’s landlord Kenny, who even offers me cold refreshments.  There’s the variety of church groups who stop by to invite me to their rallies and services.  (Every once in a while, one of those groups will offer me food or cold drinks).  Then, there’s Neal who shows up around 12:30 or 1 every week and seems oblivious to the fact I’m in a hurry every week.  He thinks that’s just how I am all of the time.  Sigh.  I’ve sent a few memos to the gardeners reminding them not to show up at noon expecting me to be their buddy and what I’m really thinking when they start chatting with me around noon.  The result:  everyone is avoiding the SACG on Saturday mornings.  Except Neal.   I've only seen Lea once since Earth Day.  I saw Tom yesterday, but haven't seen Sabrina or Zephyr since the baby was born in early June.   Not even Amy comes on Saturdays any more.  It's almost surreal.

This morning, I got there around 8:40 a.m. and didn't get out until 2.   I had been there yesterday from 8:45 until 11:20 because Ezra needed to get his WEP hours in by the end of the day and I needed to visit my father – out of town – to see how he was adjusting to being at home for the first time since Mother’s Day (when he had a severe stroke).   I harvested our food pantry potatoes this morning.   The russets were the most prolific, followed by nice-sized Yukon gold, but our red potatoes were rather puny.

I also noticed that our possum had returned.  He started off eating Rayna’s tomatoes a few weeks ago and this last week.   Yesterday morning, Frank set a trap in  Rayna’s plot.  However, by then the possum has moved to my plot.  You can see from the picture I took yesterday that he had eaten half of one of my tomatoes and bitten the other on Friday.  But this morning (Saturday), he had returned to finish the half-eaten tomato and nibbled on a zucchini.  Grrr.  He managed to avoid the trap.  Sigh.  Frank suggested that he would change the bait to tomatoes since the possum seemed to be so fond of them.

Mari’s zucchini had died from a squash borer attack.  I pulled her plant out of the ground and saw  the borer still in it squirming around.  Completely gross.  However, I took some pictures for you so that you can see the damage it causes and how to recognize it.  Two or three of my zucchini plants are dying the same death.  When Ezra came, I had him dig up the area where Mari’s zucchini plant had been to find any of the borer pupa so that we could ensure that it would not be there to hatch next Spring.    He also weeded her plot (but stepped on her pepper plant).  Then, he started watering the food pantry plots.  Yesterday, he weeded the south path.   Slowly but surely, he is developing the ability to work independently and demonstrate quality control. 

 

I installed a deadbolt lock on the shed.  A different landlord Ken convinced me that if we made the shed harder – and more time consuming – to break into, the thieves would probably leave us alone.  So, we’ll put on two heavy duty locks and let them know it will take twice as much time to break in.  And one of those locks will be bolt-cutter proof.    Frank inspected my handiwork and offered two suggestions of how he could improve upon it.  That’s why Frank is so invaluable. Then, he mowed the two block watch lots before heading off to his real job.  

Even though we received an inch of rain this week (which filled our big tank), I watered a little bit.  I planted some itty bitty sweet potato seedlings in the food pantry plot where the regular potatoes had been.  We’ll have to see if they survive and mature in time by the first frost.    Because we’re experiencing a significant El Nino, I’m counting on a late frost and mild Fall (unlike our last two).  So, I’m optimistic. 

Then I started harvesting.  The green beans took a while because they like to hide and have spread into the front flower bed.  Then, when I thought I had found them all, I found two more vines with beans that had snuck into the tomato trellises.   The bugs had not found those beans.   By the time I finally got to harvesting my own heirloom beans, Neal showed up carrying a large piece of wood.  I wondered what on earth he was going to put in his plot now.  Instead, he announced it was for me. 

After LeAndra had painted the rock in his plot, I suggested that she paint a sign for our neighbor plot.    We grow food in a plot outside our fence where anyone can help themselves. This includes tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, lettuce, kale, collards and broccoli.  I had also planted squash and cucumbers, but both plants died.   I publicize the plot in our Spring neighborhood newsletter and tell people about it if they stop by asking for food.   But, I often am questioned about how other people are supposed to know about it.  Most people don’t want to steal and won’t help themselves unless they are given specific permission.  So, we’ve needed a sign for this plot for six years now.

Neal asked me what the sign should say.  I hadn’t given it much thought.  I later emailed him some tongue-in-cheek suggestions.  While he and LeAndra rejected those possibilities, they started thinking of some of their own.  The sign is a lot bigger than I anticipated, but it’s very cheery.   I’m going to have to cover it in varnish to protect it from the elements.  Luckily, because I had been installing a new lock for the shed, I happened to have my drill with me today so that Neal could help me mount the sign on the bed.

Then it was back to harvesting.  By the time I got to the food pantry at 2:30, it was empty.  Even the volunteers had gone home.  Only the staff was there.  I knew that I was cutting it close.  I would have gone down to Faith Mission (which is open until 5), but Don had been so nice to me last week that I thought I owed it to him to bring more tomatoes.  According to him, no one has been donating tomatoes this year.  The rain has been hard on a lot of crops.  The corn is full of bugs and they had to discard a lot of it (as did Neal).  Tomatoes have not been fruiting or turning red.  However, I reminded him that last week was our second week of donating some tomatoes.  Maybe we weren’t donating as many as in the past, but we have had red tomatoes to donate.  I always grow about 16 different varieties every year in anticipation of every type of weather.  I grow Russian and Oregon tomatoes for cold weather.  Tomatoes for hot humid Florida weather.  Sioux tomatoes for dry and hot weather.  Ohio Belgian and other heirloom tomatoes for regular Ohio weather.  Etc.  Our roma tomatoes have loved this summer’s weather and have been completely unaffected by it.  I hear other gardens have been affected by blight, but so far the SACG has not.  

I've attached charts showing our food pantry donations through the end of July.  Today's harvest and donation is not reflected on these charts, though.

On Wednesday, Ezra was going to mow our lawn before it started raining.  I went to get the mower and found it was broken.  So, I only let him mow our little lot and emailed the handy folks about how we were going to have to fix it asap.  Help was promised.  No one showed up.  Kinda like some of the promises about trowels.  Several folks offered to help, but virtually none of it has materialized.

However, there has been something mysterious.  Last Saturday (or maybe Wednesday), a bunch of stuff showed up around our picnic table.  A strawberry planter.  A briefcase full of papers.  Some Vogue, Architectural Digest and Town and  Country magazines, pool toys and a children’s monopoly set.  No note.  No email.  Just there.   If people want to donate something, they really should let me know.   I have to leave stuff there in case the owner comes back.  Now everything is wet.  Some kids have been playing with the monopoly set, but they don’t put it away and the money is blowing around the neighborhood.  Really people.  What is a community garden going to do with a board game?  What are we going to do with pool toys?  There’s no pool within two miles of the Garden (that I know of anyway).  If they had let me know, I might have been able to find some of these things good homes.   But, when it’s just left there, I don’t have a lot of options.

Well, the last few weeks have been blissfully uneventful.  I’ve been watching the weather reports anxiously – just like old times.  The rain goes north.  It goes south.  It generally passes us by.  I curse at the weathermen who talk about 4 dry days in a row, when it was actually 10 at the SACG.  But right now, I’m good because we got our inch of rain this week and it’s not too hot or too cold. My rain barrels at home are full, too.    I just wish I had enough tomatoes to start canning.   

Don’t Bother Me; I’m Busy

We’ve had a number of visitors this summer.  And I don’t mean just the criminal variety.  However, they all seem to be oblivious to my schedule.  By noon, I’ve started harvesting for our weekly food pantry donation.   If you’ve ever been to the Stoddart Avenue Community Garden, you know that we have no shade of any kind.  The newly picked food sits in plastic bags in the sun.  Wilting. Believe me, I’m in a serious hurry to get all of the produce donations picked.  My own food picked.  Load of the car.  Get home to my first sugar fix in over four hours.  Wash my hands.  Weigh and record the bags.  And then over to the food pantry before everyone goes home. 

So, when people stop by to chat at noon, I’m glaring at the even the nicest people.  There’s landlord Kenny, who even offers me cold refreshments.  There’s the variety of church groups who stop by to invite me to their rallies and services.  (Every once in a while, one of those groups will offer me food or cold drinks).  Then, there’s Neal who shows up around 12:30 or 1 every week and seems oblivious to the fact I’m in a hurry every week.  He thinks that’s just how I am all of the time.  Sigh.  I’ve sent a few memos to the gardeners reminding them not to show up at noon expecting me to be their buddy and what I’m really thinking when they start chatting with me around noon.  The result:  everyone is avoiding the SACG on Saturday mornings.  Except Neal.   I've only seen Lea once since Earth Day.  I saw Tom yesterday, but haven't seen Sabrina or Zephyr since the baby was born in early June.   Not even Amy comes on Saturdays any more.  It's almost surreal.

This morning, I got there around 8:40 a.m. and didn't get out until 2.   I had been there yesterday from 8:45 until 11:20 because Ezra needed to get his WEP hours in by the end of the day and I needed to visit my father – out of town – to see how he was adjusting to being at home for the first time since Mother’s Day (when he had a severe stroke).   I harvested our food pantry potatoes this morning.   The russets were the most prolific, followed by nice-sized Yukon gold, but our red potatoes were rather puny.

I also noticed that our possum had returned.  He started off eating Rayna’s tomatoes a few weeks ago and this last week.   Yesterday morning, Frank set a trap in  Rayna’s plot.  However, by then the possum has moved to my plot.  You can see from the picture I took yesterday that he had eaten half of one of my tomatoes and bitten the other on Friday.  But this morning (Saturday), he had returned to finish the half-eaten tomato and nibbled on a zucchini.  Grrr.  He managed to avoid the trap.  Sigh.  Frank suggested that he would change the bait to tomatoes since the possum seemed to be so fond of them.

Mari’s zucchini had died from a squash borer attack.  I pulled her plant out of the ground and saw  the borer still in it squirming around.  Completely gross.  However, I took some pictures for you so that you can see the damage it causes and how to recognize it.  Two or three of my zucchini plants are dying the same death.  When Ezra came, I had him dig up the area where Mari’s zucchini plant had been to find any of the borer pupa so that we could ensure that it would not be there to hatch next Spring.    He also weeded her plot (but stepped on her pepper plant).  Then, he started watering the food pantry plots.  Yesterday, he weeded the south path.   Slowly but surely, he is developing the ability to work independently and demonstrate quality control. 

 

I installed a deadbolt lock on the shed.  A different landlord Ken convinced me that if we made the shed harder – and more time consuming – to break into, the thieves would probably leave us alone.  So, we’ll put on two heavy duty locks and let them know it will take twice as much time to break in.  And one of those locks will be bolt-cutter proof.    Frank inspected my handiwork and offered two suggestions of how he could improve upon it.  That’s why Frank is so invaluable. Then, he mowed the two block watch lots before heading off to his real job.  

Even though we received an inch of rain this week (which filled our big tank), I watered a little bit.  I planted some itty bitty sweet potato seedlings in the food pantry plot where the regular potatoes had been.  We’ll have to see if they survive and mature in time by the first frost.    Because we’re experiencing a significant El Nino, I’m counting on a late frost and mild Fall (unlike our last two).  So, I’m optimistic. 

Then I started harvesting.  The green beans took a while because they like to hide and have spread into the front flower bed.  Then, when I thought I had found them all, I found two more vines with beans that had snuck into the tomato trellises.   The bugs had not found those beans.   By the time I finally got to harvesting my own heirloom beans, Neal showed up carrying a large piece of wood.  I wondered what on earth he was going to put in his plot now.  Instead, he announced it was for me. 

After LeAndra had painted the rock in his plot, I suggested that she paint a sign for our neighbor plot.    We grow food in a plot outside our fence where anyone can help themselves. This includes tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, lettuce, kale, collards and broccoli.  I had also planted squash and cucumbers, but both plants died.   I publicize the plot in our Spring neighborhood newsletter and tell people about it if they stop by asking for food.   But, I often am questioned about how other people are supposed to know about it.  Most people don’t want to steal and won’t help themselves unless they are given specific permission.  So, we’ve needed a sign for this plot for six years now.

Neal asked me what the sign should say.  I hadn’t given it much thought.  I later emailed him some tongue-in-cheek suggestions.  While he and LeAndra rejected those possibilities, they started thinking of some of their own.  The sign is a lot bigger than I anticipated, but it’s very cheery.   I’m going to have to cover it in varnish to protect it from the elements.  Luckily, because I had been installing a new lock for the shed, I happened to have my drill with me today so that Neal could help me mount the sign on the bed.

Then it was back to harvesting.  By the time I got to the food pantry at 2:30, it was empty.  Even the volunteers had gone home.  Only the staff was there.  I knew that I was cutting it close.  I would have gone down to Faith Mission (which is open until 5), but Don had been so nice to me last week that I thought I owed it to him to bring more tomatoes.  According to him, no one has been donating tomatoes this year.  The rain has been hard on a lot of crops.  The corn is full of bugs and they had to discard a lot of it (as did Neal).  Tomatoes have not been fruiting or turning red.  However, I reminded him that last week was our second week of donating some tomatoes.  Maybe we weren’t donating as many as in the past, but we have had red tomatoes to donate.  I always grow about 16 different varieties every year in anticipation of every type of weather.  I grow Russian and Oregon tomatoes for cold weather.  Tomatoes for hot humid Florida weather.  Sioux tomatoes for dry and hot weather.  Ohio Belgian and other heirloom tomatoes for regular Ohio weather.  Etc.  Our roma tomatoes have loved this summer’s weather and have been completely unaffected by it.  I hear other gardens have been affected by blight, but so far the SACG has not.  

I've attached charts showing our food pantry donations through the end of July.  Today's harvest and donation is not reflected on these charts, though.

On Wednesday, Ezra was going to mow our lawn before it started raining.  I went to get the mower and found it was broken.  So, I only let him mow our little lot and emailed the handy folks about how we were going to have to fix it asap.  Help was promised.  No one showed up.  Kinda like some of the promises about trowels.  Several folks offered to help, but virtually none of it has materialized.

However, there has been something mysterious.  Last Saturday (or maybe Wednesday), a bunch of stuff showed up around our picnic table.  A strawberry planter.  A briefcase full of papers.  Some Vogue, Architectural Digest and Town and  Country magazines, pool toys and a children’s monopoly set.  No note.  No email.  Just there.   If people want to donate something, they really should let me know.   I have to leave stuff there in case the owner comes back.  Now everything is wet.  Some kids have been playing with the monopoly set, but they don’t put it away and the money is blowing around the neighborhood.  Really people.  What is a community garden going to do with a board game?  What are we going to do with pool toys?  There’s no pool within two miles of the Garden (that I know of anyway).  If they had let me know, I might have been able to find some of these things good homes.   But, when it’s just left there, I don’t have a lot of options.

Well, the last few weeks have been blissfully uneventful.  I’ve been watching the weather reports anxiously – just like old times.  The rain goes north.  It goes south.  It generally passes us by.  I curse at the weathermen who talk about 4 dry days in a row, when it was actually 10 at the SACG.  But right now, I’m good because we got our inch of rain this week and it’s not too hot or too cold. My rain barrels at home are full, too.    I just wish I had enough tomatoes to start canning.   

No One Promised Us a Rose Garden

Where to start . . . . The Stoddart Avenue Community Garden continues to be targeted by thieves.  Several members of the community have offered to help.  We finally have a reliable WEP volunteer.  Neal’s monument rock has gained some more color. The incessant rain has finally subsided and an El Nino is predicted for Fall and Winter.   Rayna’s tomatoes still are being targeted by a possum.  

The Crime.  As faithful readers know, the SACG has been targeted by thieves this year.  Typically, it doesn’t start until the end of August and is limited to our produce.  For years, I’ve asked for anyone to donate wildlife cameras to us so that we could photograph and catch the thieves.  I’ve done more research and they typically cost over $100, but I don’t know enough to select which one would be the best.  This year, the thefts started in April.  

·        They have climbed over our fence in three different places and at least thee different times and stolen the bags of mulch meant for our flower beds. (We had already mulched the orchard and they left behind the bag for our herb garden).   Franklin Park Conservatory ultimately donated some mulch to us to fill the gap.   We reinforced the fence and the berry brambles finally grew into other gaps and those thefts have stopped for now.  Frank also reinforced our front gate with hidden metal supports. 

·        They bashed the latch off our shed and stole all of our seeds, most of our gloves, some trowels and a few larger tools.  We found some of the seeds (and their container) germinated on the sidewalk a block away.  I bought new gloves from Straders and three new trowels from Lowe’s. I also added a much stronger latch.  Replacing the tools, latch and locks is all very expensive, especially when we typically only raise a little over $100/year in plot fees.  Our shed hadn’t been attacked since 2011. The new and improved latch is still there.

·        About eight days ago, the thieves brought heavy, duty tools to cut the lock off the shed and tried to cut the lock off our front gate.  I know from experience that the bolt cutter required to cut that lock must be almost as tall as me.  They stole all of our hand tools – all of our trowels, pruning shears, hedge clippers, and our only warren hoe.  I upgraded the lock and replaced the locks on the shed and front gate.  We need these tools because some of our gardeners and the neighborhood kids have never owned tools and don’t have access to them unless we provide them.  Many of the gardeners and all of the kids rely on the trowels to weed (instead of hoes).    While Amy, Barb and me can always bring our own tools from home, not all of our gardeners have that option.

This is too much for me.  I had been emailing the police without response.  I know the thefts have been at dawn.  I raised it on NextDoor and it was shared on the civic association’s facebook page.  I’ve heard from a former community gardener whose garden in Old Towne East closed last year because they could not continue after similar thefts.   However, we also received offers of support.

·        One of my gardeners solicited donations of used tools from her friends.

·        One of our former gardeners offered to buy us new tools.

·        A lady on Parsons Avenue offered to send us $10 after her social security check arrived.  (I graciously declined her generous offer).

·        An area landlord offered to provide us with used tools and to improve our lock.  He even stopped by to chat and inspect our new lock.

This week the police have suggested that we move our tools or move our shed to somewhere safer.  The officer even spoke with one of our neighbors.   I’m waiting to hear what my Board says about that.

Of course, I know that crime is not isolated to the Near East Side.  I have new neighbors in Bexley and, despite warnings from me and their mother, were robbed within six weeks of moving in.   (They've lived in Central Bexley for a few years and thought crime was just an unfounded rumor).  Their garage was locked up, but the thieves kicked in the locked door just to steal a bike and some change.   What I haven't had the heart to tell them is that the thieves will likely return  . . . . .

Behind every successful man stands a stronger woman . . .

The Calvary.  Aside from crime, my biggest burden is the lack of hands to help with everything that needs to be done each week.  We’ve had very bad luck with WEP volunteers.  However, at the beginning of July, we were assigned three new volunteers.  One came for two hours, was eaten by mosquitos and never returned.  One never showed up.  The third – Ezra – came the second week and has returned every Wednesday and Saturday since then.  We can certainly thank his mother for this since she drops him off and picks him up for every shift.    He mows our lawn, and the Block Watch lots, too.  He has weeded along the alley and trimmed raspberry brambles.  Last Saturday, he painted our shed (to cover the damage caused the thieves, etc.) and stained all of our platform raised beds.  Last night, he watered the plants in our food pantry plots, Stan’s plot, Mari’s plot, our blueberry bushes and our new trees.   I’m no longer exhausted and have had time to begin planting our second season crops.  Of course, one of these days, Ezra will get fed up with our backbreaking hot work and find a paying job and I'll go back to being the grumpy garden lady.

Garden Art.  You can see that LeAndra (Neal’s girlfriend) has been busy decorating the monument stone in his plot.  I’ve suggested that we could use her to paint a small sign for our neighbor plot letting folks know that they should help themselves to produce from that raised bed.

Rain, Rain  . . . . The rain has finally stopped.  But not in time to save our onion crop. Or our usual bumper crop of sunflowers.   Our tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and kale have suffered, but will recover.    The cooler temperatures this summer mean that Lea and Rayna have fresh cilantro in their plots.  (I am so jealous).   The second strongest El Nino in decades is predicted, which means a warmer and dryer than average Fall and Winter (for Ohio) and more rain for California.   Now that we’re finally reaching average summer temperatures, we might actually begin to see red tomatoes.   I’ve forgotten what they look or taste like.

Other Predators.  We don’t just suffer from two-legged predators.  We also get the occasional four legged variety.  With the destruction of the building next door, new neighbors and a repair of the sidewalk across the street, we’ve been saved from groundhogs.  However, possums live everywhere. And one has made itself at home in Rayna’s plot.  There’s little that is as disappointing as finding a half-eaten tomato still hanging from a plant.

Ray of Sunshine.  Last Friday, while I was still fuming from our theft, the Franklin Park Conservatory held its second (hopefully annual) community garden social party on its community garden campus.   The weather was wonderful and all of the rain fell west and south of the event.  We had wonderful pizza and salads and too much dessert.  It's always nice to kibbutz with other gardeners when I'm clean and relaxed.  

It's also always fun to razz Daniel for being a communist because he doesn't want to do anything to deter community garden thefts.  He actually talked about how cameras would create the impression of a police state.   Of course, what can we say about our crime when thieves are stealing stain glass windows right out of area churches.  However, I don't see lots of people with options (i.e., money) moving into high crime neighborhoods because they find it appealing to have items stolen out of their lawns, garages or sheds.  Those folks prefer safe neighborhoods like the one I grew up in.    It's my opinion that everyone deserves to live in a safe neighborhood, not just the rich who can afford it.  But's that's just my opinion.