A Cooperative Learning Project
Willy breeches…
Willy, freed…
Willy is a huge chunk of granite that surfaced in bed #1. The obsessive-compulsive gardeners wouldn’t leave it be to stifle anyone’s roots, so spent half the day digging and levering it out of the hole, moving it to a place of honor where it will provide a comfortable place of rest for the weary philosopher-gardener.
…when the Mountain of Mulch appears at Lalicata Landscape. Guy and Bobby have again donated a truckload of compost to get our garden started right.
April 9 was opening day for the 2011 season. (Opening was scheduled for April 2, but we got fooled by the April 1 snow.) We measured out the enlarged garden, planted 11 fence posts, and staked out the main paths through the center. Next week we plan to put up the fence, rototill, and start playing in the dirt…if it doesn’t snow again.
Saturday we harvested the second-season cabbage, started about two months ago. The heads were small, but there were heads! It was a bit of a gamble to try, but the extra motivation was to use the space to show visiting children what cabbage looked like. The small cabbage could have used a few more weeks to grow larger, but we had committed to returning the Garden back to the Park by November 1st this Pilot year, and so Saturday we harvested everything.
On the morning of Town Day, we harvested a sample of crops for the display table, and wanted to show off our potatoes. So we pulled the first plant from the remaining row, and were shocked to find an almost solid bunch of red bliss. These are the red potatoes that didn’t seem like they were ever going to sprout last spring, so we overplanted with russets. But apparently at least one of them grew, and this was what we found under a single plant, all bunched together just like the photo. Most were small, but two or three were a very respectable size. (If you look closely, you’ll see one russet that must have snuck in from an adjoining plant.)
The peak of the harvest is past, and yet we tried second plantings of some crops because we had the space, to see what would happen. With about a month to go, here’s their progress.
Cabbage & Cauliflower: large leaves, producing well, but no sign of heads yet.
Carrots: leafy fronds are doing well; no sign of poking out of the ground.
Beets: alive but struggling.
Spinach: mostly eaten by Something.
Peas: half-height, base leaves yellowing, no sign of peas.
Lettuce: looking good! Might harvest some next week.
Also, here’s an update on some first plantings:
Eggplant: *continues* to produce, though more slowly.
Beans: the bush beans produced another handful; the pole beans have disappointed.
Potatoes: we pulled a single plant to obtain some potatoes for display at Town Day. The number amidst the roots was extensive, and while mostly small-to-tiny, there was at least one big red one. From just one plant!
Squash: the tiny zucchini was accidently harvested; there’s still a medium yellow squash; and the pattipan has several small fruits (not to mention flowers) which it thinks it has time to make bigger — we’ll see.
The mildew is back to some extent on the squash, and worse, has jumped to the other side of the garden and covered the collard leaves.
The rest of the greens (kale, chard, arugula and other herbs) still doing well.
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