October 2014

The garden is growing larger each week. We're gradually getting more and more beds derocked and planted. This means that we need a lot more mulching material. Since the county mulch is no longer available to us here in Ka'u, we are resorting to using grass clippings. Because the garden is growing in size, we need to upgrade the way we get clippings. No more push mowers. We have switched to using a lawn tractor. The garden group doesn't own one of these, but the owner of it generates clippings for the gardens. 

A large grassy area is needed to supply the clippings. By large, I mean acres. A neighboring macnut farm is allowing us to mow their grass. Those five acres are giving us plenty of clippings to use as mulch or to turn into compost. 

A lawn tractor can create lots and lots of clippings, far faster than a push mower. In fact, it's a mountain of clippings! 

In order to get the clippings back to the garden site, we load them into trashcans then truck them back. The trashcans makes it easier to bring the clippings right to the spot in the garden that they are needed. 

Above, there are more and more garden beds being created and planted. 

This is our first baby watermelon. Watermelons are very difficult to produce in Hawaii because of the fruit fly. But we hope to get a few before the flies find the garden. 

The pole beans are bushy now and about a foot tall. While waiting for the pole beans to grow, we planted radishes. The low plants along the front of the bean row are the radishes. 

Squash stem borer is another problem in the area. We are trying an experiment. Can we confuse the squash borer by hiding the vines under a grass mulch? 

Our harvests this month include a nice variety of veggies each week.