First Fruits

This week we were able to pick the first fruits of our garden. Actually though, I guess they were vegetables. On Tuesday Sara and her girls picked 2 squash. Last night we picked a zucchini. We let Katherine do the honors.

She pulled and pulled but it did not just snap off. Zucchini plants are actually quite prickly. She was about to pull the entire plant out of the ground so I stepped in and helped her pick it.

Isn't it a beauty. Now let's see if she will eat it.

While at the garden we took care of several other tasks. Katherine helped to "dead head" the flowers. She was pretty good at picking out which ones needed to be pinched off.

Sam also worked on building a trellis for our cucumbers, beans, okra, cantelope and egg plant.

Katherine was a great helper. Sally and Katherine also tied ribbon to the tomato cages to scare off the birds.

weekly update

Sunday I stopped by the garden to water before church. Sara was going to do it yesterday while she was there for the community work day but they were working on the irrigation system and had the water turned off. It had been a few days so the plants were looking a little parched but nothing had died.

Monday I took the girls to water in the morning and while I was there I planted a watermelon plant that we were going to take back but never did. It needed to go in the ground soon or it would die. How fun will that be to have a huge watermelon.

Wednesday and Thursday we had a lot of rain. The area near the garden has standing water. We will not need to water for a few days but I need to go by and see how the plants survived the downpour.

First produce

I went to the garden to water after Caroline was in bed. It was just one of those days that got away from me. It was nearing dusk so the lighting was not good plus I did not have my better camera with me. But, you can see that we have our first bell pepper and also our first squash. This is so exciting!

I planted bean and pea seeds last week and they are growing nicely as well. That is even more fun to see since most of our plants started out in our garden as plants, not seeds.

Corn Meal

Today I took the girls to the garden to mix in our corn meal around the tomato plants. Katherine helped me water and she dug in her area. I also sprayed with Sinosad again on the cucumber, zucchini and squash plants.

I was excited to see that the bean and pea plants that I planted from seed are already sprouting. It is fun for the kids to see things that start from seed since all of our other plants were transplanted. We also planted some radish seeds, not because we really want radishes but because I was told that the cucumber beetles or other pests like to eat radishes so they are sacrificed to save other plants.

treatment

Sara went to the garden and said that she did not see other cucumber beetles so what we did Sunday worked for now. We will continue to spray with Sinosad.

She did say that a neighboring garden had tomatoes with something wrong with them. Her suggestion was that we stay ahead of the game and mix corn meal with our soil around our tomato plants. Again, I am so glad she knows what she is doing. I would not have thought to look at neighbors plants, I would not have realized anything was wrong and I would not have known what to do.

Beans and Peas

Today I ran by the garden real quick to water and plant our bean and pea seeds. These are some of the only thing we are planting from seed this season.

our first pests

Sara called to tell me that there are cucumber beetles on our cucumber, squash and zucchini. Uh-Oh! They are all over the garden, not just our plot. So, our garden is only 2 days old and we are already challenged to rid ourselves of pests the organic way. Let the challenge begin.

We are going to begin with a 2 step treatment. First we are introducing beneficial nematodes to the soil. Apparently these microscopic worms that live in your soil. They eat the larvae of pests. So, they will not kill the cucumber beetles that we already have but they will prevent new ones from hatching on our plants. Second, we are spraying with a Green product with Sinosad. It is what was suggested to me instead of Neem oil by the expert at the nursery.

Sam went to spray these on the garden Sunday night after the sun went down because the nematodes can be killed by sunlight.

Katherine's garden

We designated 2 squares for each of the girls. So, after dinner we went to the garden so Katherine could plant her garden. She chose to plant flowers. We thought that if each kid had their own section of the garden they would maybe confine their digging, planting and picking to that area. We will see. Katherine also really enjoyed watering the garden.

Planting Day

Katherine at school and Caroline at a friends house I had 4 hours to plant the garden with Sara. It was hot and there was NO shade.
We are using the square foot gardening method. We have 112 s.f. to plan. Of course we got out a piece of graph paper and planned it all out. We planted eggplant, cucumber, cantaloupe, squash, zucchini, peppers, tomatoes, herbs, artichoke and kohlrabi along with some flowers for both beauty and to attract pollinators. We saved some space for plants we were not able to get yet and that need to be planted later.
First we laid all of the plants approximately where they needed to go.
Each plant was soaked in root stimulator before being placed in the ground. I have never done anything like this before and am so clueless. Luckily Sara is experienced and she is the one who thought to bring root stimulator.

It is pretty exciting.

Buying plants

Today I took the kids to Calloway's to buy plants for the garden. There was a pretty meager showing of vegetables. I was able to get some peppers, tomatoes and herbs - cilantro, oregano, basil, chives and curry. Hopefully Sara will be able to find more at some other stores.

Researching plants

Today Katherine was at MDO so Caroline and I went to a few different nurseries and stores to see what they had for the garden and to compare prices. Tomorrow we will buy plants to put in the garden on Thursday.

Our plot is ready

Well, our garden plot is now ready. Nana and Pops babysat the girls Friday night so that Sam and I could go out to the garden and work on things. Our task for the evening was to raise the bed. I am so glad my husband is handy. He secured the boards. I leveled out the dirt that was already in our plot and hauled our 7 bags of garden soil and 11 bags of compost to our site. It was obvious that we would need a lot more dirt.

So, the next weekend Sara borrowed her step dad's truck and picked up a cubic yard of soil. After church we dropped the kids off at Nana and Pops' house again and filled our bed with dirt. It looks pretty good. Now we just need to decide what to plant in the garden. It is 8' by 14' so there is a lot of space.

Sara

We found a family to join us in our community garden. Sara and Mike live close to us and the garden. They have 3 girls - 2 in elementary and a baby. The great thing is that Sara already knows a lot about gardens so not only will it help to divide the labor but she also has a clue what she is doing.

Our Community Garden

I found out that our area has a community garden. I thought it would be something fun and I heard that the waiting list was pretty long so I went ahead and got on it. I was shocked when a week later I received an email that a spot opened up. This is the second year of the garden and there are about 50 new plots this year. I took Sam and the kids to take a look. Apparently we missed the work day where everyone got everything ready so our plot is basically 4 unattached boards with a pile of dirt and a pip for a hose.
So, we have our work cut out for us. We think it will be a fun learning process as neither of us are really gardeners. It is an all organic garden and there are a lot of experienced gardeners that are a great resource out there.
I hope to find another family that will join us in this venture. Our plot is 8'X14" so that is a pretty big space. We mainly want another family to share in the watering responsibility but we also thought it would be fun to work together.
There is a bee area that is going to be built for pollinating the plants. That is pretty cool but it is really close to our garden so I hope we do not get any bee stings.