October 7, 2013

,         Garden volunteers were exceptionally productive today, working like little beavers on a new dam. Vast areas were de-grassed and weed free. The old, overly mature kale and Portuguese cabbage were pulled, as were other various old spent plants. Several garden beds were dug and raked for planting. And it wasn't long before they were filled up with transplants from the greenhouse. These little plants have cardboard collars in place to protect them from cutworms. 

Cutworms collars made out of the center rolls from toilet paper
and paper towel rolls. They work! 

That stubborn bush that was growing in the garden has finally been defeated, and removed! Rock piles got transformed into bed boundary markers. New seeds were planted in the greenhouse. 

        A major task was the new keyhole garden for the tomatoes. Carl was a major player in its construction (thanks, Carl!), wiring the pallets together, getting the liner into place. Melina, a new volunteer, joined in and helped Carl with setting the wire cage in place, then filling in the garden with layers of biomass. Lots of volunteers helped with this project. Here's Sue J dancing while she stomps down the biomass.    :) 

This keyhole garden is a big one, so it took lots and lots of material to fill it. Luckily we had several piles of grass and weeds, that dang bush that got chopped out today, and two giant piles of banana debris that Allison and Michael had created when they renovated the banana patch. All that plus composted chicken litter, dirt, coconut husks, horse manure, small branches and twigs, and wood ash went into the fill. Now that it has been well watered, we need to wait a week or so for it to heat up, then settle. I figure that we will need to refill it at least two more times before it gets its soil cap. 

        The demonstration today was the making of the fruit fly baits. We repurposed yogurt containers for the traps.

 The poisoned bait was painted on the inside of the cups, then they were hung around the garden. These traps will help control both the male and female flies. 

         Harvest included sweet potatoes, peppers, cherry tomatoes, pipinola, spaghetti squash, kale, basil, Portuguese cabbage, and jicama. 

Some of the squash was damaged so we cut them open....preformed an autopsy! Oooooo. So what was the diagnosis? Pickleworm! Egads, that confirms that the buggers are back. 

           Announcements at lunch:

... Our very own in-house gourd artist, Sue J, won Best in Show at the local art show. Congrads!

... It's time to consider our onion and leek order. Unanimous vote was that we liked the varieties from last year but we need to have a lot more. 

... December 2nd the seed potatoes are due to be shipped. 

... Our Internet presence it being changed to a blog versus a standard website. Sue B can no longer maintain the website from her home but can work on a blog from there. Thus the change. For now the website will be kept alive though not updated. It will be used to direct our followers to the blog site. 

                www.kaucommunitygarden.blogspot.com

           Lunch:

... Kalua pork (local sourced)

... Portuguese cabbage (ours)

... Beets (ours)

... Pipinola in Italian sauce (pips, tomatoes, and herbs from our garden)

... Rice and millet - proved to be a winning combo

... Homemade Mac N Cheese

... Mixed salad

... Cake with butternut squash, might not sound good but it was!