Sunday Morning Gardening

This morning we worked with a new bunch of young gardens. We brought out the smaller tools and planted a number of flowers including, black-eyed susan's, petunias and pansies. All the children got a chance to dig a hole and plant at least one flower. We were a little pressed for time because the kids sang some VBS songs and then we had to be back in church for communion. I believe the plant is to work in the garden about 1 Sunday a month and then in between we will keep the plants watered. The older gardening group will help with gardening tasks in between. We are all excited about this new garden and ministry!

Epworth Veggie Garden - Path Clean up

Over the past 6 years we have just been adding new wood chips on top of the old wood chips. Now we are see more and more weeds growing on the paths as the wood chips have broken down into more soil. Seems like it is a good time to remove the wood chips, put back down the weed fabric (which is still in good shape) and put in fresh wood chips. We will use the old partially composted chips in some of our composting operations.

Christian Assembly Garden

The plants are Christian Assembly Garden are looking good. We've got several folks who work on the garden during the week. Jim B. has worked during the day, tilling and fertilizing. Antonio comes and works almost every evening. The tomatoes, beans, zucchini, cabbage and cucumbers are looking great. Antonio has been "mounding" soil around the plants creating what is know as a camellon. He has a special tool called an azadones (sort of a short hoe with a curved blade) that he uses to remove the weeds and bring the soil up around the each plant. This technique bring the moist clay from down lower in the soil closer to the plants. You can really tell a different where this technique has been used in the garden.

Northwold Garden - Corn

The garden at Northwold is slowly coming along. Ever year it seems like we are able to plant in a larger area of the garden. One of the first crops were were able to plant this year was ornamental corn. The corn will be knee high by the 4th of July which is great. We'll see if we can keep the deer and raccoons away. I wish were were able to prepare more of the soil. Slowly, but surely we will be able to plant more on this lot.

Epworth Children's Garden

This evening we started on the area that will be the new Children's Garden at Epworth. The theme for this garden is "A place where kids can grow." Epworth's nursery group will use this garden on Sunday mornings planting flowers and veggies. The Lilly of the Valley plants will be removed along with some of the pavers. We will grow veggies in the area pictured above and flowers in the area around the corner.

Potato Farm - Pullin' Weeds

Since we've had a ton of rain the weeds are growing just as well as the plants. Today we went up to the "potato farm" to pull more weeds. Pulling weeds is hard work, but since we have so many weeds and the rows in some areas are close together it is a bit of a challenge today. We had about 13 folks pulling weeds which help. In some of the bare spots we planted some beans and of course we got to sample more of the smaller potatoes we uncovered.

Epworth Veggie Garden - Carrots and Lettuce

A quick check on some of the seeds planted a week or so ago. Looks like we have some carrots coming up as well as lettuce. I'll need to take some time to thin out the carrots soon. The lettuce I'll let grow as it is and probably just pull it out when it is ready and replant instead of cutting off the tops and letting the grow several times. If the temperature gets in the upper 80s or 90s the lettuce will become bitter.




















I also planted some lettuce in between the rows of tomatoes to utilize some of the empty garden space. We'll see how it works out when the tomatoes get a bit taller.

Buckeye Lake - Poison Ivy?

I'm a bit worried we have some poisonous plants in the garden. Last year a couple of us got into some and we just miserable for several days. I figured it was time to "suit up" and get rid of some of the weeds and vines. This evening the kids played outside of the garden and I came in with long sleeves and gloves to see if I could clean up the garden a bit. I didn't get everything out I wanted to, but it is a good start.

My Tomato

I had a few cement blocks left over from the other gardens so I had set them aside to figure out what plant I should grow inside this small area. Seemed like this would be a good spot for a single tomato plant. The other day as I was cleaning out the compost bin I can across this volunteer tomato. We've had plenty of volunteer tomato plants that have popped up in the garden. Almost all of them are from cherry tomatoes from previous years. I've learned that these cherry tomato volunteers (probably from a hybrid plant) do not produce very well. This volunteer plant looks like a Brandywine tomato plant. I can tell from the "potato" like leaves. I have high hopes for this tomato plant and look forward to what this plant will produce.

Epworth Veggie Garden - Cement Blocks

This afternoon we continued to work on the "cement gardens" at Epworth. We've got the cement block garden painted blue and planted cabbage in the center and roses from my secret pal at church in the holes of the cement blocks. We also added some topsoil to some of the wading pool gardens. Wood chips are being used around the pools and the blocks to not only make the area look better, but to also keep the temperature down. The container gardens will dry out much quicker than the main garden.

Northwold Garden

The corn is growing well at the Northwold garden. We still have lots of room to plant stuff. This year we've had such a wet spring that we have not gotten as much planted as we'd like. Looks good for the corn to be "knee high by the 4th of July."

Potatoes

We headed out to Delaware to pull some weeds at the "potato farm." With all the rain the weeds have been a challenge. This time of year weed issues are expected. We started to get a better system after an hour or two, but then came more rain. Hopefully we can get back up there and take care of the rest of the weeds. The potatoes are looking good. If we can work on getting rid of the weeds and the potato beetles we;ll be doing good.

Epworth Veggie Garden

This weekend we've worked hard to get the Epworth Veggie Garden back in shape. The majority of the week has been spent over at the Christian Assembly Garden planting as much as we could. The ground was dry enough today that I could run the tiller in between some of the rows to help with "weeding". Roni went and picked up a truck load of leaf compost and we placed this compost around the plants to slowly provide some nutrients and to help retain moisture. We also planted some lettuce and a couple of boxes of carrots. I'm happy to see the garden neat and colorful again.

Northwold Garden - Deer

It didn't take long for the deer to find our tomatoes. Looks like the lone deer has walked through both the cucumbers and tomato beds. Two tomato plants have the top chewed off and pulled out of the ground. We are going to try a few things to see if we can keep the deer out. One thing we are going to try is some Irish Spring soap. Another thing we will try is putting up some chicken wire. I'm hoping there are other things in the neighborhood that this deer will eat.

Epworth Veggie Garden - Weeds

This week we've had lots of sun and the weeds are growing well. After working at the Christian Assembly garden it was time to come back "home" to the Epworth Veggie Garden to take care of the weeds. I took some time to dig up as many thistles as possible. Around the tomato plants I tried a different technique. I actually used the hoe to remove the smaller weeds and then followed back over the area with the rake.

Christian Assembly Garden - Hot Days

We've had warm weather all week. It's been great for the plants to get some sun, but the young plants  get stressed easy in the heat. Each night when we plant, we've had to get out the hose to water the young plants. Penny put in some time this evening to help water at Christian Assembly. Roni has been watering at the Epworth Veggie Garden and the Northwold Garden.

Scotts Miracle Gro

Scotts has donated 4 pallets of soil for our garden at Christian Assembly. This will really help out the clay soil. I've been bring over a truck load almost every day and Penny will pick up some more bags on Friday. The plan for now is to place the soil around the plants and let it filter down to the roots as it rains. We will also add more soil in other areas and till that in at some point to amend the soil. Scotts is a big support of community gardens and we are blessed to get this donation of soil. This is good looking soil and it helps us see where we've planted.

Christian Assembly - Plants

With all the rain this spring we are running late getting plants in the ground at the Christian Assembly Garden. This week Antonio wants to get as many plants in the ground as possible. We started with tomatoes and then added cucumbers in between the tomatoes. We still have lots more garden space available. The plan is to add corn and beans soon.

Tomatoes and Peppers

Added more plants to a couple of gardens this evening. Over at the Northwold Garden, we planted 76 tomatoes. At the Epworth Veggie Garden, we added 4 rows of peppers. Grow baby grow!

Northwold Garden

We continued moving all the topsoil into the 4 raised beds. I never realized how much work it is to carry soil in a wheelbarrow. Several church members loaned us wheelbarrow and we had about 7 kids helping out with garden tasks. Some of the younger kids planted more ornamental corn and added rows of painted daisy and sunflowers. In the raised beds we were able to plant peppers and cucumbers. It feel good to get veggies in the ground at this garden. Still a long way to go, but we are making good progress.

Epworth Veggie Garden - Lettuce

Busy gardening day today. We started out at the Epworth Veggie Garden and harvested some lettuce. Since the weather is getting hot, we decided to harvest the majority of the lettuce and take out the broccoli plants. We will replace the lettuce with peppers. The lettuce went down to the food pantry at Christian Assembly - around 15 - 1 gallon bags. This was our first harvest of the season.

Northwold Garden - Topsoil

We brought in 16 cubic yards of topsoil/leaf compost for the raised beds at Northwold. Over the next couple of days we will move this soil into the raised beds. The idea is to fill the inside of the raised beds as well as the holes in the cement blocks with soil. Vegetables will be planted in the main area of the raised beds and hopefully we can plant short flowers in the holes. We began to till some additonal soil between the raised bed and the street. We'll plant more ornamental corn, some flowers, gourds and pumpkins. Still lots of work still to do, but every day this garden is looking better and better.

Water Fun - Buckeye Lake

Every once in a while we take a break from gardening just to have a little fun with something else. This evening at Water's Edge there was a bit of a water fight with the high tech squirt guns. We spent about 30 minutes playing with the rest of the group before getting back to a little bit of gardening.

In the garden, we spread some wood chips as well as water all the veggies. The garden is finally coming together, although I think we still need to add some flower and color.

Christian Assembly Garden - Plowed

A big day today for our garden at Christian Assembly. The garden has finally been plowed!!!!!! I am so excited. We are working with about 14,000 square ft. They will make a few more passes going the opposite direction on Wednesday morning. The plan is to gather on Friday evening and get some plants in the ground. Christian Assembly has a large food pantry that serves 5 zip codes and feed over 200 households per month. What a blessing to be able to provide fresh veggies to folks in the community.

Northwold Garden - Cement Blocks

Thankful for Brandon and Christian's  help today with the garden at Northwold. We brought in 314 cement blocks for the raised beds. Every week this garden is getting better. Unloading all these cement blocks was tough work, but it will all be worth it when we see tomatoes, peppers and other plants growing. I hope to order some topsoil/compost for delivery later on this week. We'll round up a gardening crew for Saturday to fill the beds with soil and to bring over more wood chips for the paths. Slowly, but surely we are going to turn this lot into a garden.

Huffman's Harvest

Today was our first gardening trip up to Delaware to work with the potatoes. All the rain this spring has made a trip up north difficult until this weekend. We pulled weeds close to the potato plants and planted a few more plant. There are 16 rows of potatoes and we should have a decent harvest if the weather cooperated.

We appreciate the hospitality of Mrs. Huffman and look forward to working more out at the "potato farm".