Buckeye Lake - Fence

We started on the fence tonight. Unfortunately we can't find the gate and the 4 x 4 post. Not sure if we took the gate back to Columbus or if we left it outside and someone else took it. If we end up replacing the post and gate its no big deal. The fence has been moved 3 times now and is a little bit bent. Dakota did a great job working on the fence to take out looks of the bends and make it look alot better. Brandon pounded in a number of the metal stakes with the  sledgehammer. Over time some of the stakes have bent from being put in and taken out. There is alot a number of roots from the trees in the yard we have to work around.

Northwold Garden

Tilled in between the rows this morning at the Northwold Garden. The soil is still less than perfect - mostly clay - hard in places and probably lacks nutrients. You've got to start somewhere so we are pushing forward. We've got over 100 tomatoes in the ground. In addition to tilling Penny and Jim worked to get some of the tomatoes stacked using a combination of paint sticks and other pieces of wood. The paint sticks are mostly to mark the smaller tomatoes until the grow a little bigger. We did see a couple of small green tomatoes as well. Can't wait until we start getting ripe tomatoes from this garden.

Epworth Veggie Garden - Cucumbers

The weeds have really gotten out of hand at the Epworth Veggie Garden. We've had rain, rain and more rain. Now that its starting to dry out and I have the tiller back it's time to get serious about the weeds. We started with the 3 rows of cucumbers. Its about time as we also harvested about 8 cucumbers this evening. Penny added some fertilizer to the cucumbers as well. She ran out of fertilizer so we'll need to pick up some more for the rest of the veggies in the garden.

Christian Assembly Garden

The garden is off to a good start. The watermelon has germinated (shown above). The soil is very much a work in progress. You've got to start somewhere. We will continue to add organic matter and condition the soil. A number of folks have been joining us on Thursday evening and it's s nice working with this group. They are "outreach" minded and willing to work hard to get this garden started. One thing we've found with this soil is that it dries out fast and the young plants need lots of water to survive the dry spells. During the week we have someone that checks on and waters the garden.

Maple Grove Garden - Chipmunk

We have a chipmunk that has been snacking on some veggies in the garden. We've noticed he has helped himself to some of the peas and it also appears he likes squash. We've got a "rabbit" fence around the garden, but I'm sure its not a problem to slip right though the squares. We I walked up to the garden he ran out and right into the gutter on the side of the garage. I hit the gutter with the handle of the hoe just to say hello! Our friend then ran next door. I sure hope he doesn't tell his friend, but I'm sure he's very happy with all the nice veggies. It will probably be a long summer. Any ideas on how to keep the chipmunks out of a garden? Maybe we'll try some hot sauce?

Takin' it to the Edge - Buckeye Lake

The veggies out at Buckeye Lake are looking good except for the pumpkins which will probably not make it. We added fertilizer and have had a decent amount of rain. Unfortunately this garden area still gets a bit of shade from all the trees in the yard, so it will be interesting to see what grows well in this space. We still need to add wood chips around the raised beds and also put up the fence.

Maple Grove Garden

Without a doubt the garden at Maple Grove is our best looking garden. The garden is well maintained and the plants look very healthy. I've learn to appreciate using a hoe thanks to Patty. Last week we fertilized right before some rain and you can really see how we the plants are responding. We're beginning to harvest some peas and continue to harvest a little bit of lettuce along. The tomatoes are off to a nice start as well as the beans. We planted 3 different color beans: green, yellow and purple. Our only pest at this time seems to be a chipmunk that has been nibbling on the lower peas.

Wood Chips

Since the gardens have been so muddy we've turned to some other tasks including spreading wood chips along the fence and around the paths. We started this year with quite a pile of wood chips, but after several truck loads to some different gardens and spreading chips around the Epworth Veggie Garden its time to ask someone to dump more. Of course its always much easier unloading the chips than loading them.

Epworth Veggie Garden - Harvest

I was finally able to get into the garden to harvest some lettuce. We've got a fairly good mix of different varieties including Paris Island Romaine and Buttercrunch. We will take this harvest down to the food pantry at Christian Assembly since its the weekend. Not sure how long we will be able to harvest our "spring" lettuce crop. As soon as the temperature gets above 90 the lettuce will get a bitter taste. We'll plant another round of lettuce in the fall. Lettuce has to be one of my favorite veggies.

Epworth Veggie Garden

We are still have issues at the Epworth Veggie Garden with standing water. Not only is it difficult to harvest, but the weeds are getting out of hand as well. I have worn rubber boots to harvest a little, but the main issue is the ground is like quicksand and if you are not careful you sink way down in the mud. The weeds are so out of control the best hope is to let the ground dry enough so we can bring the tiller in and get control of the garden again.

Maple Grove Garden

The garden at Maple Grove is looking good despite all the rain we've had over the past few days. The weeds are under control and the veggies are looking small, but ok. Peas should be ready to pick soon. One of the main tasks for this evening was to get some fertilizer around the plants. Hopefully the future will yield lots of veggies.

Christian Assembly

We  finally got some veggies planted at the Christian Assembly Garden. Tonight we planted tomatoes, beans, peppers, cucumbers and squash. A number of folks joined us to garden and it looks like we will be working a couple times a week in the near future to get this new garden up and running. We also made significant progress on getting up the fence. Now this place is finally looking like a garden.

 

Epworth Veggie Garden - Underwater

We've had what seems like non-stop rain in Columbus. Over the past few years weve struggled with drainage issues in the garden and have focused on amending the soil. Unfortunately, it looks like we still are having drainage issues. Many of the tomatoes are in standing water. if we don't have standing water in the garden we sink in the mud as we try to work.

Buckeye Lake - Planting

The rain held off this evening long enough for us to get some veggies planted. We planted veggies in 10 of the 12 raised beds and also planted a few things along the back fence. Some of the veggies we planted included: tomatoes, squash, pumpkins, peppers, carrots, onions and cucumbers. There are still a number of items that we need to do in the garden including adding wood chips, putting up the garden fence, adding soil to the other 2 raised beds and put back up the gate.