October 21, 2013

Today was another whiz-bang day, getting lots accomplished. We were short a few of the regular volunteers (due to other commitments), but the group today seeks made up for then. 

First of all, garden report. People out there in cyber space want to know. ;)      

 Our white sugar cane plant had really grown up, having many large stalks ready for harvesting anytime we desire. When we do eventually harvest, we plan to use the end third of the stalk for propagation. This sugar cane variety is worth creating more. We have no idea what it's official name is, so we'll just refer to it as white sugar cane for now. 

The sweet potatoes have slowed down a bit. They seem to prefer drier weather, though just about every other veggie loves the rain we've been getting, one small patch is ready for diggin this week or next. The bigger patch looks like it needs a few more weeks. Speaking of sweet potatoes, we stole some soil from the sweet potato area to top off one of the keyhole gardens, and surprise, lots of baby sweet potato starts are sprouting there. Wow, the buggahs are hard to kill! 

Speaking of hard to kill, the grass is really tough. We now spray it several times with strong vinegar, then when it yellows, we cover it with cardboard and grass clippings. This is an area where we plan to build above ground garden beds. 

The volunteer tomato plants are full of young tomatoes. The big slicer types are fairly well tuckered out. There are a few tomatoes but not as many as before. Their cousins, the peppers, are still producing small sweet peppers. The eggplants are pau now. The spaghetti squash is almost pau, but we harvested two today. These are a mini variety. 

Still lots of kale, nice chard, and Chinese mustard. Plus the plants we think are collards are producing real well. The bok choy is ready for harvesting. It grows really well here. 

The orange tree is heavily producing now. This tree is great for juicing. We have no idea what variety it is, but the tree is quite large and very old. 

We are seeing a lot of pickleworm damage all of a sudden. They really head for the zucchini plants. All those small holes in the stem represents a pickleworm. They eventually eat the inside of the stem, killing the plant.

Keyhole update -- garden #1 is being topped off with dirt. I under estimated just how much dirt would be needed, so we still need one more load. Then it will be ready to plant. Garden #2 is gobbling lots of organic matter still in the filling process. It won't be ready for top dirt for a couple more weeks. 

Tabletop update -- the first one is a resounding success. The bok choy has been doing super. The newspaper wick is working so far. But to be honest, it hasn't been real dry lately, so how this design would work in a severe drought is yet to be tested. We plan to build the next one using discarded clothing in place of newspaper. Just a learning experiment. The clothing won't rot away as quickly as the newspaper. 

Fruit fly traps -- The male traps we put out last week have captured dozens and dozens of males. Rather disheartening to see how bad the fruit fly problem is here. But we shall forge on until we get them under control. 

Garden realignment -- Missy and the main gang have been forging ahead. We now have very visible row markers and nice aisleways. One of the volunteers donated more white pcv pipe to be used to marking the rows Thank you, thank you! The pipe works best if anything we've tried so far. As the aisle ways are established, we cover them in newspaper topped with grass clippings. That way no weeds or grass grow back, keeping the aisles neat and clear. 

Greenhouse update -- the greenhouse is bursting with plants and seeded trays. Lots of variety. Many of the larger plants are now outside, making room for newly seeded trays. Linda did a major clean up of the larger plants while Diane tackled the new stuff. 

Many of the volunteers, including Babbette, Marla, Leone, .............. Concentrated on the main garden. Grass was removed. Weeds pulled. Newspaper laid down in the aisles.  

Lots of garden beds got dug. More young veggies transplanted to the garden including an old fashion watermelon variety called Moon and Stars. Something very interesting to look at, all spotted and splotched. Major digging was accomplished today, getting a large area ready for planting.

Many buckets of dirt were transferred from the truck to the keyhole garden. Lots of cardboard was spread for grass killing and it was topped with grass clippings.

The ravenous caterpillars have been doing a lot if damage in the garden. Sue J successfully got the dipel sprayed, which should help safely kill the crawling monsters. Not only have they found the gourds, but they are also eating squash, zucchini plants, kale, broccoli, and bok choy. 

After three hours of work, the group retreated to the clubhouse for some socialization, info exchange, and lunch. Harvest was divide up and included pipinola, bok choy, peppers, cherry tomatoes, kale, spaghetti and zucchini squash, bok choy, oranges, and limes. 

Lunch: (just about everything from the garden or local sourced)

Beef stew 

Sautéed green beans 

Steamed squash and herbs

Chinese style mixed garden veggies

Brown rice (not local)

Macaroni and cheese (not local, but yummy!)

Cantaloupe (not local)

Homemade pineapple/coconut milk "ice cream". An incredibly delicious non dairy ice cream made by one of our talented volunteers.