Ever-Green Gardening Ministries

Sunday Morning Gardening

2011-07-03T14:21:00.000-04:00

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

2011-07-01T21:21:00.000-04:00

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

2011-06-30T21:34:00.001-04:00

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

2011-06-27T21:44:00.001-04:00

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

2011-06-25T23:00:00.001-04:00

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

2011-06-25T22:45:00.000-04:00

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

2011-06-24T21:33:00.001-04:00

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?

2011-06-22T21:27:00.000-04:00

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

2011-06-20T21:51:00.000-04:00

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

2011-06-19T21:25:00.000-04:00

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

2011-06-18T20:29:00.002-04:00

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

2011-06-18T16:11:00.001-04:00

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

2011-06-12T23:07:00.000-04:00

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

2011-06-12T23:00:00.000-04:00

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

2011-06-11T22:05:00.000-04:00

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

2011-06-09T21:12:00.001-04:00

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

2011-06-08T21:05:00.001-04:00

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

2011-06-07T21:15:00.001-04:00

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

2011-06-05T21:54:00.000-04:00

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

2011-06-04T22:04:00.000-04:00

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

2011-06-04T21:50:00.002-04:00

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

2011-06-03T20:44:00.000-04:00

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

2011-06-01T21:38:00.000-04:00

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

2011-05-31T20:46:00.000-04:00

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

2011-05-30T22:02:00.000-04:00

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

2011-05-28T21:03:00.002-04:00

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".

Northwold Garden - Wood Chip

2011-05-27T21:53:00.001-04:00

This evening we brought over another two truck loads of wood chips. I hope this will prevent any grass from growing and give a nice look to the garden when we put in the raised beds. I must say unloading wood chips is much easier than loading them.

Yellow, Carrots and Peanuts

2011-05-25T22:12:00.000-04:00

Lots of gardening activities going on tonight at the garden at Buckeye Lake. First we brought over a bench from Columbus and Christian and Brandon spray painted the bench yellow. We'll probably need to all another coat or two, but it is a start.

Next, Penny and some of the kids prepared another raised bed and planted some carrots.

Finally, we planted some peanuts. Thanks to my dad for sending up some peanuts from Florida. I'm not sure if we will have a long enough garden season left for the peanuts to develop, but we're gonna try.

Northwold Garden - Corn and Wood Chips

2011-05-24T21:12:00.002-04:00

The ornamental corn we planted a couple of weeks ago at Northwold has germinated. We've got 5 rows of corn popping up so now we just have to hope none of the critters damage our crop. Penny and I brought over a couple of truck loads of wood chips. We want to cover the group with cardboard and then with wood chips to make sure the grass doesn't grow back. There is still so much work to do at the Northwold Garden and it seems we are so far behind this year with all the rain. We will continue to work on Northwold and hopefully get the raised beds and other crops in soon.

Iris - Epworth Veggie Garden

2011-05-23T20:18:00.000-04:00

The irises are now in full bloom. We have irises in two different areas up at Epworth. The irises above are along the daycare fence. A neighbor gave us irises a couple of year ago and last fall we divided the irises and replanted them along the daycare fence. The iris below were a gift from the McCoys. They are in the main garden and after the plants bloom we will divide them and move them to another spot somewhere around the church.

Veggies - Epworth Veggie Garden

2011-05-20T21:26:00.000-04:00

We finally got some veggies planted over at the Epworth Veggie Garden. It seems like it have rained and rained and rained and you get the picture. The ground was still a bit wet and muddy, but Penny and I planted 39 tomatoes, 24 zucchinis and 22 cucumbers. Can't wait to see what the future hold this season!

Another Seed Kit

2011-05-17T21:00:00.001-04:00

I am really having fun with these little grow kits. Penny's mom gave us a sunflower kit. I finally got around to starting the seeds. The packet must have had about 15 or so seeds. In addition to putting some seeds in the pot with the kit I also added some of the seeds to some other containers where seeds have not germinated. When the seeds have their true leaves I'll move them out into one of the gardens.

Northwold Work Day

2011-05-14T22:02:00.000-04:00

We worked all day today in the Northwold Garden. Gather the crew around 9AM and worked until about 5PM. We were able to remove the sod from about 4500 sq. feet. We are all tired, but it feels so good to have all that sod removed. Everyone did a great job and it was a real team effort!

One of the final tasks of the day was to plant some ornaments corn. We got in 5 rows and I'm hoping we will get some rain soon.

Epworth Veggie Garden - Tilling

2011-05-12T21:49:00.001-04:00

Its be a few days since we've had significant rain and the soil is finally dry enough to till! Tilling has to be one of my favorite activities in the garden. The thought is to till and prep the garden this evening and get the kids together this weekend to plant. We feel so far behind this spring with all the rain. It has just been too wet previously to till much. The garden is really starting to look better - nice color and not many weeds.

Buckeye Lake - More Plants

2011-05-11T21:42:00.000-04:00

We added more plants to the raised beds out at Buckeye Lake this evening. The kids did a great job pulling weeds and turning the soil. We planted broccoli, tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. Of course we had to do some watering as well. It feels good to have more plants in the ground and it appears the kids are begin to get back in the gardening groove.

Christian Assembly Garden

2011-05-09T21:34:00.001-04:00

We had a meeting this evening at Christian Assembly to discuss how to adjust expenses with our grant money (Rye, Libby, Susannah and Jim pictured above). We asked for and budgeted $4000 for the garden at Christian Assembly. We are receiving $1200 in cash and $1000 in materials from Scott's Miracle Gro. Since we've struggled to get the garden prepared this spring because of all the rain we decided to cut back the size of the garden a little and try to get up and running as soon as possible. We'll begin to meet each Tuesday night from 6 to 8PM. Jim is joining the gardening group this year along with Antonio. Should be a great year!

Northwold Production Garden

2011-05-07T20:32:00.000-04:00

Finally had a little bit of clear skies this afternoon, so I decided to cut the grass over at the Northwold Garden. Once again we are leasing this city lot. We'll need to build some raised beds for the edible veggies we grow. Took some measurements and it looks like we are going to build 4 raised beds - 6 ft. by 50ft with 3 ft wood chip paths in between the rows. We do have an area where we have removed the grass and tilled. We will probably grow some ornamental corn, pumpkins and possible some gourd in this area. While I was cutting the grass I noticed one of the neighbors was in a sticky situation. He has rented a bobcat and gotten it stuck in the mud. Roni and I lent him a hand along with one of the guys from MJ's next door. I'm hoping he will get done with the project at his house and come over and remove all the grass off the lot. Some how with the rain this afternoon, I'm doubting that will happen.

GCGC Meeting - May

2011-05-05T22:15:00.000-04:00

Penny and I attending the GCGC meeting (Greater Columbus Growing Coalition) at Barley's Smokehouse. Patrick had a presentation on Franklinton Gardens. They are doing some great things in Franklinton and have several site. Check them out on Facebook, at their website - http://www.franklintongardens.org/ and vote for them in the Pepsi Refresh Project. http://www.refresheverything.com/search/?q=Franklinton They are in the running for $50,000. The top 10 project based on total number of votes (a popularity contest) will be awarded $50,000. Please vote every day in the month of May for this great project!

The keynote speaker was Shari Plimpton from the Center for Innovative Food Technology (CIFT). She talked about food safety. You hear in the news all the time about recalls from contaminated food. We learned about some of the most common ways food can be contaminated and ways to prevent contamination. Of course using raw manure is never a good idea. The manure should be composted and aged at least 120 days before vegetables are grown in the soil. Another issue that was brought up was contamination from rain barrels. The water typically comes off a roof where the water might come into contact with bird poop. When using a rain barrel drip irrigation is a preferred method so the water does not come into direct contact with the plant leaves. Once again a ton of good gardening information from the GCGC meeting. Next month the GCGC will meet at Florentine Restaurant on Thursday evening, June 2nd. http://www.florentinerestaurant.com/

Buckeye Lake - Onions and Potatoes

2011-05-04T20:40:00.000-04:00

We have had so much rain over the past few weeks. The garden out at Buckeye Lake was too wet to do much work and there is mud all around. We did do a brief check on some of the boxes to see how the plants were doing. We planted two boxes with onions and two boxes with potatoes a couple of weeks ago. Looks like both the onions and potatoes are doing well. I'm just hoping we can do some major work in the garden soon. So many projects to do, but we need the weather to cooperate.

God's Gardeners

2011-05-02T20:11:00.000-04:00

Tonight we had another meeting for God's Gardeners at Epworth United Methodist Church. We had a small crowd, but lots of great ideas. Libby brought up the idea of someone calling in to the radio station 610 on Saturday mornings to promote our group. We continue to reach out to other church gardens to invite them to join us. Our goal is 200 church gardens in the city of Columbus in 2012 (the 200th anniversary of the city of Columbus). We will have a gathering on Saturday, August 20th at Peggy's garden on the hilltop.

Tomato Seedlings

2011-05-01T20:46:00.000-04:00

We've still got a few more weeks before we should plant tomatoes outside in the garden. Tonight I decided to take some of the older plants and transplant them into larger containers. I expected more roots, but the plants were not root bound. I figured in the new container I can plant the tomatoes deeper and they can develop roots from the stem. Just trying to keep as healthy as possible plants so when we do put these plants out in the garden they will be healthy and thrive. Not a bad life for the tomatoes so far under the grow lights and in the warm house.

Buckeye Lake

2011-04-27T20:34:00.000-04:00

Last fall we planted 3 fruit trees out at Water's Edge - Buckeye Lake. We planted one peach tree and two apple trees (one Granny Smith and one Red Delicious). The Granny Smith apple tree was damaged and had to be removed, but the Red Delicious tree is blooming (pictured above). We will need to replace the 2nd apple tree as this variety needs another tree for pollination. The peach tree (pictured below) still looks good. I'm hoping in a couple of years we will begin to have fruit on these trees. Hopefully the neighborhood kids will not damage the trees.

Shuffling seedlings

2011-04-26T21:08:00.002-04:00

On the grow racks, we have trays with plants of all different heights. Some were started weeks ago and some just days. It is important that the grow lights be at the right height above the seedlings. We want nice healthy stems. At this point in the growing season I needed to do some shuffling. In some places I'm turning the trays so that no plant is growing at an odd angle to the light.

Broccoli

2011-04-25T21:02:00.001-04:00

It continues to rain and rain and rain here in Columbus. The gardens are really too wet to plant most days, so the broccoli is just hanging out outside at the house waiting until we can work the ground over at Christian Assembly. The soil is far from ready for planting at Christian Assembly so we are just waiting for the right time. Its amazing how well some plants are looking and how some of the seedlings are just hanging on.

Garden License - Northwold

2011-04-23T20:49:00.001-04:00

We now officially have our garden license for the Northwold property. This is a City of Columbus land bank lot that we will use for the gardening season. The price has gone up from $1 to $10, but that is really not that bad. There are some different parts of the agreement this year. One of the biggest changes is that all food crops needs to be in raised beds with untreated wood and at least 12 inches of uncontaminated soil. We did have a lead test done on the lot and feel the soil is safe to grow veggies directly in the ground. We will comply and plant our veggies in raised beds and some flowers in some other areas on the lot. There is so much potential with this lot and we will use it as a type of "production garden" for now.

Zinnias and Pansies

2011-04-21T20:58:00.001-04:00

The flowers are looking good. We started some zinnias and painted daisies. Last year I started the zinnias way too early, put them outside when the temperature was too cold and lost all the zinnias. This year I've started the flowers a little bit later. Zinnias seem to grow fast based on last year experiment. This is the first year for the painted daisies so we will see how they do. I will be nice to have some color in the garden to go along with the veggies.

Cucumbers

2011-04-20T19:59:00.000-04:00

The cucumbers have finally gotten their true leaves. I'm always amazed at the whole process of starting seeds. A seed often looks so plan and simple and then give it the right conditions - some light (or darkness), moisture and a little warmth and before long you see the little miracle that was tucked inside.

Peppers

2011-04-19T20:43:00.001-04:00

We have several different varieties of peppers started including jalapenos, habaneros and bell peppers. I'm very concerned about the germination rate on the habanero peppers. Out of a packet of seeds (perhaps 40 seeds) I've only seen about 5 or 6 peppers germinate and it has been several weeks since the peppers were started. The other types of peppers have germinated slow as well, but the germination rate has been much better. Not sure if I need some type of heat mat or what might be the trick. For now I just keep making notes and starting more seeds. We've got another month or so before the soil will be warm enough to plant peppers in the ground.

Pumpkins

2011-04-18T20:37:00.001-04:00

The pumpkins are looking good. There weren't a ton of seeds in the packet and I only planted one packet each of the Baby Boo and Jack-Be-Little pumpkins. The germination rate has been outstanding and it just a matter of waiting until the weather is warm enough to plants these outside. I've really got my fingers crossed these pumpkins make it to harvest. I think the kids will love the mini pumpkins.

Palms for the Compost

2011-04-17T20:03:00.000-04:00

We celebrated Palm Sunday today at Epworth UMC. I though instead of the palms just get tossed in the trash, we'd collect the extras and take them out to the compost bins in the garden. I stripped the leaves from the stem in hope the leaves would decay and threw away the thicker stems. This make a perfect layer of green material. I shoveled some dirt over the leaves and there were some leaves in the next layers. It has been a while since the compost has been turned. I'm hoping as the weather warms the composting process will kick into high gear and we'll have nice compost for the fall.

Thistles

2011-04-16T21:11:00.000-04:00

We've always had a problem with thistles at the Epworth Veggie Garden. It seems like underground there is an endless network of roots that send even more thistles up when one is pulled. I decided it was a good time to get a jump on the thistles and since the ground was still a little too wet to till I'd dig as many thistles up as possible. The area on the south side of the garden (with the iris and daylillies) seemed to be the worst. I spent several hours digging and digging and digging. We'll see in a couple of month if I made much progress in the war against the thistles or if I just generated that many more new thistles underground.

The Dirty Dozen

2011-04-14T21:49:00.000-04:00

We are excited to be part of a group with the Growing to Green Program know as the 12 hub gardens or my favorite - "the dirty dozen". We are a diverse group of 12 gardens that will be working through out Columbus to help many other gardens. Tonight we had some pizza, Bill Dawson shared some various opportunities for volunteers to come to our garden, speaking opportunities and other garden group meetings. We worked with Barb to schedule some classes and then answered some question about our garden as well. Three much deserving gardens (located on the Hilltop, Franklinton and Linden) received some tools from the health department as art of a grant. As always its great to see and chat with our dirty dozen friends.

Takin' it to the Edge Garden - Potatoes

2011-04-13T21:57:00.000-04:00

Week #2 out at Buckeye Lake gardening. We had more gardeners this week. Everyone took at break at 7PM for an Easter egg hunt with the other kids and came back with lots of candy. We cut up some seed potatoes and planted 2 boxes with 3 different varieties or potatoes and another 2 boxes were planted with onions. There is still alot of work to do in the garden, but we will take it week by week. With all the rain the garden is still a bit muddy in places. There are sticks to pick up as well and some leaves that need to be raked and relocated. As always the garden is a work in progress, but it is always great to see all of the excited gardeners!

God's Gardeners

2011-04-12T22:08:00.001-04:00

Tonight we meet over at East Baptist Church with a group called God's Gardeners. The idea of the group is to bring together 200 church gardens for the 200th anniversary of Columbus in 2012. We already know a number of gardeners from other groups and its great to get together with other gardeners, especially this group where faith plays such a big part in gardening. I could listen all day about other gardens. The garden at East Baptist Church has a number of raised beds along with growing tables (sorry I didn't get any of those pictures). We also got a chance to see some of the seedlings that are being started in the church as well - tomatoes and peppers.

Seedling Update

2011-04-11T22:32:00.001-04:00

The seedlings are looking great. The "better half" of the broccoli is growing well again after a brief period of cold temperatures outside (upper 20's) a few weeks ago. I hope to have all the broccoli planted outside within the next week so I can use the larger containers to transplant some tomato plants. The tomato plants look good and some are tall enough for the level of the lights to be adjusted. Many tomato plants have several sets of true leaves. I've already used some liquid Miracle-Gro on the older plants with true leaves to give them a little extra nutrients. The pepper plants are slow, but still look ok. I have to remember to be patient. When the weather warms up outside it's easy to plant some plants, but if the soil temperature hasn't warmed up enough the plants will not grow. Also, if you put a tender plant out and the night temperature dips too much you can have serious frost damage. When I see my garden friends are various meeting I try to keep myself grounded and check in to make sure I am not making stupid moves like I have in past season. Keep the tomatoes inside until around the 3rd week or May or later. The peppers, cucumbers and pumpkins will need to go outside a little later as as well.

Seed Starting - Pumpkins

2011-04-10T20:26:00.000-04:00

Started some pumpkins this evening (along with Habanero peppers, cucumbers, zinnias and painted daisies). I love the mini pumpkins and I think the kids will really enjoy these if we can ever get them thru harvest. We tried some last year out at Buckeye Lake, but they were not watered regularly or care for like they needed. I will try to keep them inside until the soil temperature is warmed and the plants are stronger. I'll plant one variety at Buckeye Lake and I'm not sure where I'll plant the other variety.

Epworth Veggie Garden

2011-04-09T20:54:00.001-04:00

We had a busy day at the Epworth Veggie Garden. Since Easter is just a couple weeks away, we decided we should paint the poles Easter colors and add some pansies. We also planted some rosemary, broccoli and lettuce. I headed up to Kurtz Brothers to get a truck load of leaf compost. We added this compost around some of the plants and spread the rest out in the garden. I'll till this compost in when the soil is dry enough for me to till. This compost will slowly provide some additional nutrients to the soil and help break up the clay. We'll probably look at adding some nitrogen to the soil when we add the tomatoes and peppers.

Soil Tests - Part 2 - G.C.G.C

2011-04-07T21:32:00.000-04:00

Tonight at the G.C.G.C meeting (Greater Columbus Growing Coalition) Dr. Darrah from the CLC labs went over how to interpret a soil test. Our group had soil tests done on the Epworth Veggie Garden, Northwold city lot and Christian Assembly Garden. One of the interesting things I learned this evening was the fact that our soils has high amounts of Ca and very log Manganese. The soil at Epworth looks really good. We'll just add some nitrogen at the beginning of the season. Right now we are probably looking at some type of organic product like bloodmeal. The Christian Assembly Garden and Northwold lot will need some phosphorus. We will probably use bonemeal as the phosphorus source. One of the most interesting things I heard Dr. Darrah mention was not to worry about the pH levels of our soils unless we were growing potatoes or blueberries. We are still waiting the lead test on the soil at Northwold. Once we know this value we will decide if we will
plant directly in the soil or perhaps switch it up and build some raised beds. Either method is going to require a significant amount of soil and compost.

Removing Grass - Christian Assembly Garden

2011-04-07T16:51:00.001-04:00

We're excited about expanding the garden at Christian Assembly. The entire back half of the property will be used for gardening this year. The first step is to get as much grass and roots as possible off the gardening area. We called in a friend with a Bobcat and he spent several hours removing grass, taking out rocks, replacing rocky soil with better soil and regrading the area. Removing the grass always seems like one of the most difficult tasks. The plan at this point is to remove all the grass, bring in a tractor to plow as deep as possible and add as much topsoil and compost as we can afford. The garden will be a work in progress for a number of years, but a number of folks are investing their time, energy and money into this site.

We've got leaves and grass clippings we are collecting on the back parking lot for composting. Through out the year we will add to this in hopes of rebuilding the original soil and adding the soil back to the garden.

Buckeye Lake - Takin' it to the Edge Garden

2011-04-06T20:32:00.001-04:00

Tonight was our first night back out at Buckeye Lake - Water's Edge. I was anxious to show the kids the new gardening equipment. Seems like the most popular item was the gas can watering container. The kids love to water. We did start a few seeds in containers, but everyone seemed more interested in digging that starting seeds.

Broccoli

2011-04-05T08:24:00.001-04:00

Over the past couple of weeks I've set the broccoli plants outside to harden off. If the temperature was predicted to be below freezing I've brought the plants back inside. One evening the weather forecast was for temperatures in the mid-30's. I woke up the next morning to temperatures in the upper 20's and some of the broccoli plants looked really bad. Not only did we have plants with yellowish leaves with issues with not enough light previously, but now we have a decent portion of plants suffering from being exposed to the cold and too much water (rain). We brought these plants back in the house to dry out and hopefully they will recover. We'll see what happens.

Soil - Epworth Veggie Garden

2011-04-04T21:13:00.000-04:00

The picture above is from the Epworth Veggie Garden about a month ago. Most of the garden had standing water. One of the concerns was if soil microorganisms were about to survive these conditions. Once the soil dried a bit you could see cracks.

I was anxious to dig in the dirt a little to see if we had earthworms in the soil. Sure enough I found some worms. I'll get a truck load or two of leaf compost to add to the soil to help encourage more soil life. It seems like amending this clay soil is a constant battle. The soil is much better than 5 years ago.

Epworth Veggie Garden

2011-04-03T20:08:00.001-04:00

I just couldn't wait any longer to get some plants in the ground. The weather was nice today, its April and suppose to rain this evening. I planted a couple rows of broccoli and a couple of rows of lettuce up at the Epworth Veggie Garden. The broccoli plants look a little rough, but I hope they will be okay. There have been some issues while hardening off these plants.

Broccoli and Light

2011-04-02T18:57:00.000-04:00

So many different elements play a factor in healthy plants. Some of the basic needs are water and lights. If you are missing something you will eventually notice it in the plants. We have two grow racks with shelves, but not all the shelves have working grow lights. The though was just to get all the plants back in the "green room" when the temperature go below freezing. Some plants went on shelves without working grow lights and were there for about a week. Can you tell from the picture above with plants did not get enough light? I've got all the broccoli plants back outside since the weather has warmed up. I hope to get these planted in the ground within the next week if the weather cooperates.

Water

2011-04-01T21:52:00.003-04:00

I asked Penny to watch over and water the seeds on the racks this week while I was out of town. When I came home I found this sprayer in the "green room" by the racks. What a great idea! I love it! Just pump it up a little and go. No need to refill all the little spray bottles!

Back to the Grow Rack

2011-03-24T22:38:00.000-04:00

The weather has turned a little bit cooler here in Columbus. I had thought about planting some of the lettuce and broccoli if the soil dried out, but I'm kinda glad I didn't. The temperature is dropping below freezing a few night with the low projected to be around 23 degrees in a couple of nights. Penny and I brought back in all the broccoli and lettuce to hang out inside on the grow racks again. I'm hoping we can set them back outside some time next week so we can make room again for more trays of peppers, squash and pumpkin seeds. We'll see how the seed starting progresses over the next few weeks.

Peppers

2011-03-23T21:19:00.001-04:00

Some peppers have finally germinated! Earlier in the week, I was starting to question a number of things: 1) Did I start the peppers too late, 2) were the seeds ok, 3) was the potting soil too dry or too wet and 4) Why haven't I started more peppers if they are going to take this long to germinate. Turns out these peppers are germinating and its less than 14 days since I've planted these seeds. It's exciting to see a new type of plant germination. I hope this variety, Chinese Giant, will produce nice size peppers.

Little Tomatoes

2011-03-22T20:12:00.003-04:00

I'm excited to see some true leaves on the tomato plants. Now I really feel gardening season is right around the corner. The plan is to be patient and work on strong healthy plants. Keep the lights at the correct level so the plants grow straight solid stems. Transplant the seedlings into the correct size container to ensure strong roots, but don't transplant too much where it stresses out the plants. In the morning and in the evening the trays on the grow racks are checked to see if they need watering. Of course one of the first things I do when I come home is check to see if any additional plants have germinated. I guess until the weather warms up their will have to do for gardening for now.

Habanero Peppers

2011-03-20T22:03:00.000-04:00

I'm getting a bit nervous about the peppers germinating. It's been a week since I've planted to bell peppers and still no germination. I figured it was time to get some of the other peppers planted, so tonight I planted some Habaneros. A bit too hot for me, but I'm sure there will be folks who will enjoy them. Over the next few days we hope to plant more peppers - banana peppers, more bell peppers and jalapeno peppers. Last year it seemed like we got so many peppers out of a plant and the plants don't take too much space in the garden. We'll have to test some peppers in gardens where we have deer. Out at the Northwold garden (city lot) the pepper plants were chew almost to the ground.

Wood Chips

2011-03-19T20:36:00.000-04:00

This evening we began our first "real work" in the garden. We decide to bring a load of wood chips from Epworth over to Christian Assembly. Penny loaded the first truck load. Jim helped unload and load up a second load over at Christian Assembly. Toward the end of last year, Antonio left some piles of grass clippings and leaves at the garden. The plan for this year is to pile these items on the back of the parking lot at Christian Assembly so these resources will be available for the garden. We'll use the leaves and grass clipping to make our own compost. Lots of work still to be done, but its finally warm enough to start!

The Cement Zoo

2011-03-19T10:24:00.000-04:00

Last year we had the "gator" in the garden. Unfortunately, the gator was taken from my house over the winter, but a few other items have been acquired. The original goose was donated through the church giveaway. Then we found a friend for the goose. Today we got the bear and 2 lions. All of these items are really heavy so I'm hoping they won't be carried off. In a month or two, we'll begin to paint these and put them in the garden. I haven't decided exactly where each piece will go, but I look forward to adding some art and color to the garden.

Gardening with Kids

2011-03-18T20:48:00.001-04:00

Penny and I headed out to Lowes this afternoon just to buy a few bags of potting soil. Of course we ended up purchasing a little bit more. One of our goals this year is to teach kids how to garden and make sure they have plenty of opportunities to participate. I've seen some of this stuff the last couple of times I've been to Lowes and we just couldn't resist picking up some stuff. The kids love to water and I think this will be it a little more exciting for them. Its difficult for the younger kids - especially the elementary age to use regular size shovels and when they fill the watering cans up its hard for them to carry as well. Another purchase we still want to make is a small wheelbarrow that is kid friendly. We are also looking for a duffel bag to store all the kids equipment. We'd like to keep the gloves and tools in the bag and just haul the bag back and forth to the different gardens.

Tomatoes

2011-03-17T21:05:00.002-04:00

Finally, the tomatoes are starting to germinate. Seems like everyone enjoys a good beefsteak tomato. This year we are trying Burpee's SuperSteak Hybrid. Last year we grew Burpee's Porterhouse Tomatoes and they did ok and were a decent size. The one thing I didn't like about the Porterhouse tomatoes was they seemed to have a funny shape. It didn't seem like there were many seeds in each packet - perhaps 20 or maybe 30 seeds if you were lucky. We started 3 packs and are hopeful for a 90% + germination rate. Other varieties we started include Livingston Seed's Chocolate Tomato (cherry) and Gardener's Choice (cherry).

More Lettuce

2011-03-16T21:29:00.001-04:00

I planted additional lettuce seeds (Parris Island - Romaine) to fill up some of the trays. When I checked in on the plants this evening I was all excited that some had germinated. We planted a number of seeds back on Sat. Happy to see some stuff generating, but I'm really waiting (anxiously!) on some tomatoes to germinate! With the weather warming up each day, I'm starting to feel a little behind. Patience is a much needed skill at this point in time. The weather can change drastically and the last thing I want to do is put a tender seedling out into cold weather.

Roses, Roses and More Roses

2011-03-15T20:14:00.000-04:00

Still waiting on the roses to develop their first set of true leaves. These are the first roses I've ever grown from seeds so its quite a learn experience. I probably should thin the plants more. I'm not sure why I feel the need to hold on so to every little seedling. If I would thin more then the remaining seedlings would have a better chance of becoming healthier plants. Not really crazy about the pink pail, but its part of the entire experiment. The peat type mix is a little different as well. I'm use to working with potting soil. Its different trying to tell when to water. The package said specifically not to over water. I guess I should use the "digit test" - stick a finger in the mix and see if its dry.

Soil Test

2011-03-14T21:31:00.002-04:00

We finally got the soil samples together and Roni dropped them off at Local Matters today. We are having the soil tested at the CLC lab in Westerville. 3 different gardens are having their soil tested for this round. Epworth Veggie Garden and the Christian Assembly gardens are having a basic soil test done for Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potash. We are also having the soil test for lead at the Northwold (city leased lot) in additional to the basic soil test. We know there was a house at one time on the Northwold lot. I can't believe all the paperwork involved, but I'll sleep better having more inforomation on the soils - especially the lead level at the Northwold site.

Broccoli

2011-03-13T18:16:00.000-04:00

The broccoli plants are looking great and many of the seedlings are getting their second set of true leaves. I decided its time to transplant the bigger seedlings into their own container. Originally, I thinned the plants to out 6 seedlings in a 3 pack cell. The roots seem to be doing well and I'm hoping that with the bigger containers the plants will have plenty of room to develop. Perhaps towards next weekend I might add some liquid Miracle-Gro to the seedlings and also begin to harden them off. The goal is to have the broccoli plants in the ground around the 1st of April. I'm anxious to free up some grow rack space for tomatoes and peppers.

Garden Planning

2011-03-12T15:01:00.001-05:00

This morning we had a planning meeting over at Christian Assembly. We're all really excited about expanding the garden this year. We put together an estimated budget with some of the costs associated with needs for this garden and also the city property we hope to lease over on Northwold Road. Antonio has volunteered to take the lead on this garden and he has some great ideas. One of his ideas that I am referring to as "Antonio's mini garden" involves planting corn, tomatoes and cucumbers together. This group will have 2 posts on the end and then rope that runs between the posts to support the plants. You start with a group of 3 tomato plants, then a cucumber plant, a corn plant, another cucumber plant and then 3 more tomato plants. We're all excited to see how this mini gardens will work and how many veggies we can produce off this land.

Chives and Garlic - Epworth Veggie Garden

2011-03-10T20:10:00.001-05:00

Checked on some of the chives and garlics up at the Epworth Veggie Garden. The picture above shows a clump of chives that are beginning to sprout again. We have moved the chives back and forth in the garden. Last year we dug all the chives out of the garden and moved them on the parking lot into containers. Seems like the chives were spreading like crazy when they weren't contained. Also wanted to check on the garlic cloves that were planted last fall. It's encouraging to see all the new growth. Check out the garlic in the picture below.

March Floods

2011-03-05T17:13:00.001-05:00

Drove by the garden this morning and decided to take a few pictures of the standing water. I can come back in a couple of weeks and tell which areas of the garden need to be leveled or amended. Every year it seems we have a spot in the garden that tends to flood. We build up one area and create a problem in another area. We've added leaf compost and peat to the soil, but with the clay we have in this area we still have a ways to go. I can definitely say the soil is better than when we first started. Everyone is hoping for some sunshine and warmer weather soon. For now, we have seeds started inside and just wanting for the right time to get some of the cooler weather crops planted (broccoli, lettuce, peas and potatoes. For now it looks like maybe the first of April.

Greater Columbus Growing Coalition (G.C.G.C)

2011-03-03T21:22:00.002-05:00

Tonight, Penny and I attended the Greater Columbus Growing Coalition (G.C.G.C) meeting at Broad Street Presbyterian Church in Columbus. The G.C.G.C is a newly formed organization that focuses on bring folks together to promote Civic Agriculture. Civic Agriculture is bringing together people in the community who are focusing on growing food for the community. G.C.G.C has different types of members including community gardeners, individuals interested in helping people eat healthier and individuals marketing and selling locally grown food.

We had "social/networking" time before the meeting where we mingled and heard about the work others are doing in the community. Dr. Darrah from CLC testing labs talked about preparing soil samples for testing. My word of the week (from Dr. Darrah's presentation) is kriging. Kriging is a statistical technique for used to randomly select samples. This was demonstrated as walking in a zigzag pattern to collect soil samples in area. Dr. Darrah reminded everyone when we take soil samples to get a clean sample that does not contain mulch and other non-soil material. We should take a number of samples from about 3 to 6 inches and mix these samples in a bucket to get a sample to send in for testing.

Dr. Darrah also talked briefly about the way CLC test for nutrients. This was demonstrated with a pyramid chart showing the basic nutrients and also micro-nutrients. We also heard some about heavy metals and soil testing. One concern that many gardeners have with their soil is lead contamination. Dr. Darrah will be back at a future meeting to so over the results of soils test and explain how we should interpret the results. As always we get so much information from these meetings. It is always good to hang out with our gardening friends!

Lettuce - Romaine

2011-03-02T20:17:00.000-05:00

The second round of lettuce has now germinated. This tray is Romaine lettuce - Parris Island. Lettuce seems fairly easy to grow and germinates quickly compared to some other plants. We started this tray back on Sunday and this evening you can see lots of seeds have germinated. We'll have a few trays of lettuce seedlings to transplant in early April. Two different types of lettuce have been started so far - Buttercrunch and Parris Island (Romaine). We'll start some lettuce by sowing directly in the ground in early April when the soil temperature has warmed. I'm still trying to decide of I want to grow any "red leaf" lettuce. It seems like some folks aren't too sure about lettuce that is not green.

True Leaves - Broccoli

2011-03-01T19:56:00.001-05:00

The broccoli plants are looking good. When starting seeds its a big moment when you see the first signs of a plant pushing through the soil. The next exciting moment is when you see the true leaves of the plant emerge. Soon, I'll need to raise the lights a little above these trays. We want to make sure the lights are close enough when the stems are nice and strong and they plants don't get spindly. I'll wait for another pair of true leaves before I transplant the broccoli to a large container. The thought it to baby these plants inside a bit longer and perhaps early in April the weather will be such that we can plant these outside.

Lettuce

2011-02-27T19:19:00.000-05:00

The lettuce has been growing for several days now. The germinate has been fantastic. This afternoon I decided it was time to thin out the seedlings. Its so hard to pull little seedlings and toss them away. In a few weeks we should have nice lettuce plants ready to transplant. In each container we decided to thin down to about 2 or 3 plants. If I had been a bit more patience with the small seeds I could have started a couple more trays.

Roses

2011-02-25T19:19:00.001-05:00

Looks like almost all of the rose seeds germinated. I'm excited to see how these turn out. I'll then out the seedlings some and then wait until I see a set or two of true leaves and then transplant them into their own containers.

Garden Supplies

2011-02-23T21:27:00.003-05:00

We've been blessed over the past few years to receive either grant money or supplies from a number of organizations. Scott's Micracle-Gro has their headquarters not far from Columbus and has donated so much to community gardens in the Columbus area. We received a grant about 3 years ago from Scott's so when I have a choice in potting soil or fertilizer I try to put Miracle-Gro productions.

Livingston Seeds has given us seeds for several years now. Its nice to have almost any type of vegetable or flower seeds you need. Starting a number of veggies and flowers from seeds has saved our group lots of money and the germination rate from their seeds have been great as well. I encourage you to support these companies when you can. They've been great to our gardening group.

Roses from Seeds

2011-02-20T20:32:00.001-05:00

I received this gift of a Rose Grow Kit. I must admit I've never considered growing roses from seeds, only purchasing young plants from the nursery. Around Christmas time I've seen a similar kit from Buzzy Seeds where you can grow your own Christmas tree. All the materials came in a cute little pink pail. Just add water to the peat pellets, put the wet peat into the pail, add and cover the seeds and then gently water. Can't wait to see if I can really grow roses from these seeds. I'm beginning to get a little spring fever.

Pansy

2011-02-18T20:35:00.001-05:00

Started the pansy seeds back on January 29th. I read where the seeds need complete darkness and a cool temperature to germinate. Looks like one packet has finally germinated and is ready for the grow lights. The other packet of seeds (from Ferry Morse) have not germinated. Not sure if this is an indication of my skill level germinating pansy or perhaps a bad package of seeds.

Grow Racks

2011-02-13T21:00:00.001-05:00

Decided today that we needed to get atleast one of the grow racks up before we start any more seeds. All of the materials for the grow racks have been stored in my garage since last season. Roni is out of town so hopefully Penny and I can get this racks up today. I now feel like we are running behind getting some of the cooler weather plants started.

Not a Good Start

2011-02-12T20:50:00.001-05:00

We still have not gotten around to setting up the grow lights in the "green room" and now the broccoli has gotten spindly. Looks like we will need to start a new batch of broccoli seeds. Growing plants have so many lessons and hopefully we've learned something from this experience.

Broccoli

2011-02-01T20:43:00.000-05:00

Looks like the Broccoli is finally germinating. The package said 10 to 14 days, but it has only been 3 days. I guess we need to get up the grow rack soon!

Christian Assembly Garden - Sunflowers

2010-09-09T20:27:00.001-04:00

The sunflowers in the garden look great! Its nice to see them in the evening with the sun shining brightly in the background. This evening we could see bumble bees and honey bees flying all around the flowers. Libby mentioned growing sunflowers next year on all 4 sides of the garden. I think its a great idea as flowers add some much color to the garden.

Buckeye Lake

2010-09-08T21:48:00.000-04:00

Things are growing out at Buckeye Lake, but very slow. There's a number of factors at work. First, the garden is in a very shady area and sees limited sun. Another factor is that the garden is not watered regularly. The crew that goes out once a week will water, but unless there is a little bit of rain, that is probably all the water the plants see. Overall we continue to see a few tomatoes, some cucumbers and some small green peppers.

Maple Grove - Tomatoes

2010-09-07T21:52:00.000-04:00

The tomatoes are starting to wind down at the Maple Grove garden. Its been a great year as far as overall harvest and the garden has looked beautiful most all season. We've got a number of large tomatoes from both the Porterhouse and Brandywine tomatoes. I've tried to prune some of the lower limbs, but on most of the tomato plants the weigh of the tomatoes have bent and broken a number of limbs. Even with the heavy duty tomato cages, the large tomatoes have been difficult to maintain. We had just 1 cherry tomato plant this year and this plant has produced well over 1200 cherry tomatoes!

Epworth Veggie Garden

2010-09-06T14:02:00.001-04:00

Over the past few months we've had some church member donate a number of pots. Seems like in the spring time and early in the season we are transporting and giving away a number of plants. Having these recycled pots will help keep down some of our cost as we will be able to grow a number of plants from seeds next year and then transplant them into some large pots. Getting these pots cleaned up and organized was long over due. Just one of the many end of the year gardening projects coming up.

Epworth Veggie Garden - Pepper Plants

2010-09-05T13:58:00.001-04:00

We have 3 different types of peppers growing at the Epworth Veggie Garden. Above you see a banana pepper plant. We have 2 or 3 of these plants in the garden. We also have some bell pepper plants (see below). I'm guessing around 7 to 8 of these pepper plants.

We also got 3 or 4 jalapeno pepper plants that were a gift from the garden at Ascension Lutheran Church. We will probably have over 100 jalapeno peppers off these plants by the end of the season.

Seems like we get a decent amount of veggies out of these plants and they do not take up that much room in the garden. I think all of these peppers will be on the "keeper" list for next year.

Epworth Veggie Garden - More Tomato Hornworms

2010-09-04T21:53:00.000-04:00

Spent some time this evening over at the Epworth Veggie Garden. As I was tying up more tomato limbs I see more tomato horn worms. I try to scan the tomatoes for these nasty worms each day. If left uncontrolled they can really damage a plant. Not only will they chew up leaves, but will also damage the tomato themselves.

Northwold Garden - Tomato Worms

2010-09-04T13:56:00.000-04:00

We must have found 5 or more tomato horn worms down in "Tomato Town" at the Northwold garden. We've got over 100 tomato plants. The morning was spent tying up tomato limbs to keep them off the ground. As you are working with the tomato you can definitely see some issues. If you notice a few limbs that have been "chewed up" or tomatoes that look like they have a hole chew in them, you'll probably find a horn worm near by. Today the horn worms were even easier to spot because they all have these white larvae all over their bodies. My instinct was to destroy these worms, but upon further research I should have left these worms. The white larvae will actually feed on and kill the hornworm. Check out this link for more information http://www.vegedge.umn.edu/vegpest/hornworm.htm

Epworth Veggie Garden - Iris

2010-09-03T20:09:00.000-04:00

Above you see the Irises in full bloom from May of this year. The irises were a gift from a neighbor. When we got them, we just planted them right in the garden without dividing them. When they bloomed they were absolutely beautiful. This fall I decided it was time to divide the plants and give them a new home with more room to grow.

The roots were so so tangled and it took quite a bit of time to separate. I got out the water hose to remove some of the soil. Ended up planting them over by the fence next to the daycare playground.

Looking Back: Epworth Veggie Garden

2010-09-02T21:51:00.001-04:00

I thought it would be nice to reflect a little on the Epworth Veggie Garden through the years. We started the veggie garden about 5 or 6 years ago with a vision of growing corn on the church lawn and giving the harvest to the food pantry. That first year the garden was very simple. Most veggies were grown in rows and we did have a "primitive" version of square foot gardening. Not much color was found in that first garden, just lots of green. The next winter we connected with the Growing to Green Program down at Franklin Park Conservatory and things began to change. The next year was bigger, better and much more colorful. Looking back its so important to remember our roots and go back and revisit the original vision so gardening doesn't become just a bunch of hard work, but that we are accomplishing much more than jut growing some veggies.