Weeding Wednesdays

Over the summer, the dandelions, spikies, and random fuzzy things have taken over parts of our lawn at First Unitarian Church. We need help to remove them in an environmentally friendly way. You don’t have to wait for a dandelion party, just come with your trusty weeding tool, at your convenience, and start weeding.

But if you prefer to weed in the company of others, we will be weeding weekly on Wednesdays (how about that alliteration). We will meet on the lawn in front of the church around 6 pm and weed 'til the sun sets or 'til we drop or 'til we run out of weeds, whichever comes first. If you would like to weed in the company of others (shall we call ourselves - The Dandelion Brigade?), please stop by the Environmental Ministry table on Sunday or send an email with your contact information to green@slcuu.org (or call Joan at 582-7783) and we will remind you by email each week about WEEDING WEDNESDAYS.

Or if your preference is for a solitary weeding experience –deep connection – just you and the dandelions and the cosmos, come by when it works for you … it is marvelously therapeutic. If you come by and weed solo, do send a quick email to green@slcuu.org to let us know.

September Watering Schedule - Updated

Here is the September watering schedule. The plan is to water for 30 min. each morning (unless it has rained over night) and to water in the evenings IF the temperature has gone above 85 degrees or if the soil is dry. Please do go to the garden on your evening(s) to check the soil - it does dry up very quickly.

Monday mornings: Jane
Monday evenings: Julie M.

Tuesday mornings: Allison
Tuesday evenings: Tim

Wednesday mornings: Joan
Wednesday evenings: Wendy

Thursday mornings: Allison
Thursday evenings: Wendy

Friday mornings: Tim
Friday evenings: Becky

Saturday mornings: Jane
Saturday evenings: Joan

Sunday mornings: Melanie
Sunday evenings: Julie M.

August in the Garden

Hot, but beautiful ... August in the garden ...

Watering Schedule - August

Volunteers: the following individuals have volunteered - we are seeking more volunteers to even out the workload as well as to fill the vacant slots – let Joan know which days/times you can cover:

Monday mornings: Jane (Aug 4, 11, 18); Allison (Aug 25)
Monday evenings: Julie M.

Tuesday mornings: Allison
Tuesday evenings: Joan (Aug 5, 12, 19); Wendy (Aug 26)

Wednesday mornings: Joan
Wednesday evenings: Melanie (Aug 6); Joan (Aug 13, 20); Wendy (Aug 27)

Thursday mornings: Allison
Thursday evenings: Melanie (Aug 7); Joan (Aug 14, 21); Wendy (Aug 28)

Friday mornings: Allison
Friday evenings: Melanie (Aug 8); Joan (Aug 15); Frank L (Aug 22, 29)

Saturday mornings: Jane (Aug 9, 16); Becky (Aug 23, 30)
Saturday evenings: Melanie (Aug 9); Rick (Aug 16); Cynthia (Aug 23), Melanie (Aug 30)

Sunday mornings: Jane (Aug 10); Joan (Aug 17, 24, 31)
Sunday evenings: Rick & Joan (Aug 10); Julie M (Aug 17, 24, 31)

Water Pressure Gadget Installed - Instructions

A new water pressure reducing gadget has been installed on the drip system at the spigot. It reduces water pressure – which is actually quite high and could be contributing to our watering costs. IF you do not appear to have water pressure, there are 2 things to check:

• make sure the MAIN valve on the spigot is turned ON

• lift the hose slightly and gently to allow the water to freely flow through the pressure control to the hose

Here is a picture of the water in the OFF position - flippers turned away from the center, main water valve horizontal to the ground. The black section is the water pressure gadget.

Goals and Challenges

At our first garden meetings (Fall and Winter 2007-2008), we identified three major goals: learning, community, and if we were very lucky, we’d also end up with some food. We have actually achieved all of these goals … and it’s only August! We have had some challenges along the way and the following summary is the result of a recent meeting to discuss and come up with some workable solutions:

Watering

Schedule: twice daily for 30 minutes per watering, preferably between 7-9 am and 7-9 pm.

Method: turn on the drip system – work in the garden for the 30 minute watering cycle – monitor the drip system for leaks and report leaks to Rick or Joan - hand water plants that are clearly in need of extra water -

Volunteers: the following individuals have volunteered - we are seeking more volunteers to even out the workload as well as to fill the vacant slots – let Joan know which days/times you can cover:

Monday mornings: Jane (Aug 4, 11, 18); Allison (Aug 25)
Monday evenings: Julie M.

Tuesday mornings: Allison
Tuesday evenings: Joan

Wednesday mornings: Joan
Wednesday evenings: Melanie (Aug 6); Joan (Aug 13, 20, 27)

Thursday mornings: Allison
Thursday evenings: Melanie (Aug 7); Joan (Aug 14); _______ (Aug 21); Joan (Aug 28)

Friday mornings: Allison
Friday evenings: Melanie (Aug 8); Joan (Aug 15); ________ (Aug 22, 29)

Saturday mornings: Jane (Aug 9, 16); Becky (Aug 23, 30)
Saturday evenings: Melanie (Aug 9); Rick (Aug 16); ______ (Aug 23, 30)

Sunday mornings: Jane (Aug 10); Joan (Aug 17, 24, 31)
Sunday evenings: Rick & Joan (Aug 10); Julie M (Aug 17, 24, 31)

Vegetables, Trees, and Water Bill
Not all of our vegetables and trees were thriving. Having enough water has been a major factor. The challenge has been that we have also had a huge increase in the water bill. Our goal is to divert water to the vegetables and trees that are doing well – therefore increasing the chances of their producing food. Here is what we decided:

For those who are able: please increase your pledge or send a donation to help with the cost of watering the garden – any amount would be helpful – checks should be sent to the church and made out to “First Unitarian Church” – please indicate in the note that your donation is to help with the costs of “watering the garden”.

Decisions on what to continue watering:
Pumpkins; Beans; Peppers; All Herbs; Zucchini; Carrots;
Cucumbers; Flowers; Tomatoes (all); Plum tree; Onions; Plant in the planter; Sunflowers; Pear tree; Apricot trees; Compost; Chard; Broccoli Rabe (raised bed)

Decisions on what to STOP watering (Allison has removed):
Broccoli; Radishes; Cantaloupe; Cabbage; Beets; Honey Dew

Additional Actions have also been taken:

• Disconnect drip system to the "STOP watering" vegetables – Rick and Allison
• Divert this water to the trees and the thriving vegetables – Rick and Allison
• Trellis the cucumbers using the tomato baskets – Allison
• Thin the carrots – Julie

With more actions in the works:

• Plant a new crop of peas in the fall – Andie
• Plant lavender between the trees - Andie

Harvesting Expectations:
Some of us had expected that if we worked in the garden, we would be rewarded with the food from the garden. Some saw the garden as becoming self-sufficient – selling our produce and herbs at church or perhaps at The People’s Market to cover garden expenses. Still others envisioned sharing our harvest with those either inside or outside our church who are hungry. However, what we have found is that the amount of food that our garden is producing is not (at least, not yet) sufficient to be worth driving it across town to the food distribution services. Here is the alternative approach we decided on – at least until/unless the bounty increases.

Harvesting Plan - what we decided:
If you work in the garden, you should be rewarded with the food from the garden. Harvest only what you can use or share with someone you know who needs help with meeting their food needs. For each item you harvest, set aside a can of food for donation to the food distribution service of your choice. Increase your donation to the food distribution service over and above the food donations you have made in previous years.

Harvesting and Giving Thanks

Harvesting

Saturday, July 12th was our first official harvesting day.

We harvested radishes, zucchini, broccoli, peas, basil, rosemary, lemon balm, chives, and parsley. We celebrated with bread, cheese, lemonade, water, and pasta salad - a veritable feast!

Watering

It looks like the drip system is firmly in place. If you have not already stopped watering the garden according to our previous schedule, please stop watering according to that schedule now - we will let the drip system do its work.

If you see a particular plant needing some extra water, please use the watering can or remove the nozzle on the hose and water the plant directly and deeply. The herbs on the south (grassy) side also still need watering.

Making these changes will help reduce the amount of water we are using for the garden.

Saying Thank You

For their many hours of work in the garden, I would like to acknowledge the following individuals: Allison, Rick, Margie, Julie x 2 (there are two Julie's), Melanie, Jane, Becky, and Sonia.

And thank you too, to all those who have donated plants, seeds, tools, expertise, advice, admiration, access, patience, and support: Hal, Layne, Bob x 2, Julie (yes another Julie), Cynthia, Russ, Judy x 2, Tim, Edgar, Frank, Brian x 2, Cindy, Sue, Clark, Susan, Debbie, Rawlins, Stephanie, Misty, Jen, Made, Alex, and you.

And for the idea and inspiration, we thank Wanda.

Flowers, Radishes, Herbs, Walkway, and Compost

Melanie and Allison worked in the garden together on Friday and accomplished a whole lot and got to know each other better in the process.

Melanie weeded the flower garden and then Melanie and Allison used some of the compost and the worm casings to fertilize the new flower seeds that Melanie planted. The flower seeds (Cosmos, Nasturtiums, Zinnias, Baby's Breath, Alyssum, and Marigold) were planted in rows to accommodate the drip lines, on both sides of each line, with the tallest growing plants in the back and the Alyssum close to the sidewalk. They may need hand watering until they get established.

We have a sprinkler can for hand watering but it doesn't have the sprinkling part - the spout is just open. So, if anyone has a sprinkler can and is willing to loan/give/share - please drop it by the garden - leave it behind the shed. Joan will put the can with the spout but no sprinkling part behind the shed. Perhaps someone can figure out a way to fix the spout.

Allison weeded and put compost around the veggies. Still needing to be done are the rows from the bush beans to the first row of carrots. Allison reports that it's pretty obvious where she left off. Allison also weeded and added compost and worm casings in the raised bed, the pumpkin and sunflower patch, and the herb bed.

Allison has suggested moving the bush beans to the end of the cabbage row, since they seem to be getting too much sun. This seems wise and might also allow us to transplant some of the cucumbers which are probably going to need more room. Let's go with this plan.

On Saturday, Allison was at the garden again with her husband and daughter. She worked on thinning the radishes, more weeding, more watering, and more straw. Joan spent some time in the garden on Saturday as well - turning the compost, admiring the fruits of our labor, adding stones and filler to the flagstones which Allison set.

Melanie wrote and Joan agrees: The garden looks so fantastic!

Garden Briefs

Here are a few reports in from the garden:

Rick reports that the drip system seems to be working and the hose seems to be holding steady now that it is buried. Rick also replaced the old leaky, holy hose with a great new one. PLEASE NOTE that the battery indicator on the TIMER (located to the north of the raised bed) will become solid green when the batteries become low. As long as it is flashing, then the batteries are good. If there is no light at all, the timer is not getting any power. On average with fresh batteries, if the timer is cycled twice per day, everyday, the batteries will last about 45 days - probably mid to late July. When you think of it, check the timer and report any problems to Rick.

Melanie reports that she did some weeding in the flower garden (sloping bed on the sidewalk side) on Sunday, and did see where some of the flower seeds were producing small plants. She is going to plant some more flower seeds in the sloping bed along the drip lines.

Allison reports that she did some work on the area near the compost bin (black plastic one) and put some stones down by the bench. She also weeded and put down some more straw.

Misty suggested we thin the radishes into two rows, and Allison is going to give that a try.

Stephanie has planted sunflowers along the east fence. Rick reported the following website about a sunflower-based bee counting and observing project that our children might be interested in:
http://www.greatsunflower.org/en/four-easy-steps-participate.

Hal reports that the bags of organic mulch were left by Ginger and her crew (who take care of the memorial garden). She said it would be fine for us to use the organic mulch in the vegetable garden.

An Alternative Plan

Either while we are waiting for a better solution or perhaps as the more permanent solution to our watering challenges – Rick has replaced the bubbling, bulging hoses (both the one used to manually water and the one connecting the drip system with the spigot) AND has buried the hose connecting the spigot and the drip system. The idea is to reduce the amount of heat and sunlight taking its toll on the hose. Not sure if this is Plan B or C or D or E … but it is certainly worth a try. Waterers … please continue your check of the watering … the system has been turned ON again and should be watering itself twice a day at approximately 7 am and 7 pm for 2 hours … do NOT turn it off … unless, of course, we have another geyser. Report any problems to Rick or Joan. And thank you all for your patience.

Blogged a Little Two Soon - Watering Still Needed

Well … it looks like I spoke (or perhaps blogged) a little too soon. After being on for a full day, the hose which connects the spigot to the drip system pipe started to bubble and leak … in preparation for bursting (which it hasn’t done yet – but is promising to). I will seek Layne’s expertise once again to see if he can help us – it looks (from my very inexperienced perspective) that we need a pipe (instead of a hose) to connect the spigot to the drip system.

SO, for the moment, the drip system is turned off. You may still start the drip system when you arrive and monitor it for 2 hours, then turn it off. But you will need to be prepared to take quick action to turn off the valve if the hose should burst (which I suspect it will). SO, WATERING is still needed – at least once a day, preferably twice daily. Please let me know if you are still doing/able to do watering on the previous schedule and/or if you are not on the schedule below but are able to help out with watering until we again have the drip system running.

- Monday evenings - Julie
- Tuesday mornings - Sonia
- Wednesday evenings - Joan

- Thursday evenings - Julie
- Fridays - Alison
- Saturday mornings - Jane
- Sunday mornings - Allison & Joan

Reply to Joan (jmg@csolutions.net) or blog the day(s) you are able to help with watering.

Thank you all for your patience.

Dripping Success!

Success in the garden is a drip system that is working and even on a timer. Rick has accomplished the impossible! We have a working drip system, which is watering the garden, the north sloping bed (flowers and tomatoes), the raised bed, and the pumpkin patch (including the sunflowers)!! It is even on a timer - set to drip for 2 morning hours (7-9 am) and 2 evening hours (7-9 pm) . Thank you, Rick, for your perseverance through digging up, repairing, replacing old with new where needed, mapping and laying out a new workable design, reconnecting the lines, and then adding in and setting the timer. Thank you for your dedication and tenacity!

Watering volunteers: please continue to go to the garden this week to monitor the drip system and make sure that it is indeed watering at the approximate times indicated and report any problems to Rick or Joan. By next week, we ought to be assured that the drip system is working properly. And VERY IMPORTANT - DO NOT turn off the main water valve and DO NOT turn off the valve that goes to the drip system - BOTH must remain ON in order for the drip system to work on the timer.

Hand watering of the herb bed may still be needed. The sprinklers on the grass side may be reaching them - but I am not certain how well. Waterers and weeders - please take a look at the herb bed each time you visit the garden. Water the herb bed if it looks dry. Report any problems to Joan.

Weeds continue to surface everywhere, but great progress has been made in covering areas with straw to reduce the amount of weeding required. One of our Julies (there are 2 Julies working in the garden, and a 3rd following its progress) has been weeding, planting, and spreading straw in the herb garden. Our herb bed now includes chives, sage, lavender, parsley, thyme, mint, basil and a number of flowering plants. It is truly (Julie) beautiful. Another Julie has been working on weeding the spaces between the flagstones - quite a job! [Have you noticed: our Utah flagstone yet?] Come by and admire Julie's work.

Allison planted the ashtray - this picture was taken at night - a work of art - for sure!

Stephanie planted sunflowers along the west fence behind the pumpkins. This should be fun as the season progresses. Our vegetables are growing - I have seen signs of edible items - have a look at the pictures below.

Thank you, thank you, one and all. Keep up the good work!
And, of course, work is still needed:

• Monitoring the drip system this week. Report problems to Rick or Joan.
• Checking the herb bed and watering if needed. Report problems to Joan.
• Weeding
• Garden, raised bed, pumpkin patch, herb bed
• Sidewalk - slope (both sides) and parking strip
• Dandelions from: house lawn, church lawn, RE lawn, garden lawn
• Seems like some celebration is also in order -- suggestions?
  

Drat!

Be careful when working in and around the west compost bin (next to the irises).

I am sorry to have to report that a rat has been spotted traveling between the west compost bin and the irises. Please be EXTRA careful if you work in that area. Better still - for now - just avoid that area in the garden.

If you have recommendations about how to get rid of the rat, especially an environmentally friendly, yet effective way, please let me know as soon as possible.

Garden safely.

Watering the Garden - Spigot Repair

The water spigot in the garden is in need of some serious repair – it broke in several places today creating a most impressive geyser. Fortunately, the weather forecaster says we are due for some rain – Tuesday and Wednesday. So, for the next few days, we will need to depend on Mother Nature for watering while Layne makes the needed repairs. Hopefully, by later in the week, we will be back to our regular watering schedule. I’ll let you know, when I know more.

Saturday in the Garden

Today was a great day for dandelion digging. And although a lot of dandelion digging time was spent, there are still LOTS of dandelions left. Come one and all … they’ll be there waiting for you on the lawn of the house between the garden and the church, as well as on the church lawn, the playground lawn and the garden lawn.

Rick has been working on the drip system (today he had some help from Brian). They are in need of about 4 hose clips – 1 inch in diameter. If you have any and are willing to donate them to the garden effort, please let me know.

Lots of weeding is still available in addition to dandelion weeding – garden weeding, flagstone weeding, and south side sloping bed weeding (we have now weeded the full north side of the sloping bed!! - of course, that means that that bed is ready for digging and flower planting).

Next Saturday, June 14^th is the first day of the Downtown Farmers’ Market – an event I never miss. So my gardening will again be in the afternoon on Saturday, around 1:00-3:00 pm. Hope you can join me there.

Signs of Spring

Margie and Rick have been very busy in the garden.

Margie has been putting up signs labeling the plants so that we know what is planted where. The signs are great.

Rick is working on the drip system. He has connected hoses to the water source and has laid out hose throughout the garden. Still remaining are connections to the raised bed, pumpkin patch, and the sidewalk flower and tomato bed plus a timer. But he is getting very, very close to having the drip system completely in place.

Thank you to ALL our great garden volunteers!

Dandelions -- They’re Everywhere … They’re Everywhere!

The dandelions are taking over the front lawn of the house between the garden and the church.

We have an opportunity to keep herbicides off the church lawns by weeding dandelions this weekend. Weather permitting, please join me on Saturday afternoon, June 7^th from 1:00 – 4:00 pm weeding dandelions. We will start on the house lawn and move south around the church property, including the CCNS/RE/playground lawn and ending with the garden lawn.

I know that some of you have dandelion recipes. Here is one source – but if you have dandelion cooking experience, please share your recipes with us on our blog. Note: I have never tried any of these, but there is always a first time. To the best of my knowledge, no herbicides or pesticides have been applied to our church lawns since before the winter snows this year. This is information I would personally want before cooking up any dandelion recipes. I will do my best to verify this information in time for our dandelion weeding effort.

Nurturing Ourselves and Our Garden

On Sunday we watered and weeded and planted tomatoes donated by Judy and flower seeds donated by Melanie.

Julie, Joan, and Jane (the three J's) did some weeding before the 10 am service. After the congregational meeting, Melanie, Joan, and Gene weeded grass from the northeast corner of the sloping area along 1300 East. Melanie made the job easier by having watered the area just before the 10 am service.

Melanie applied her fantastic liquid organic fertilizer (made from fermenting vegetable/fruit scraps and Dr. Earth's organic compost starter) to the already planted vegetable plants - testing the organic fertilizer produced by the apartment composter donated to Environmental Ministry. So, no need to fertilize again for awhile.

Melanie dug down 4-5 inches on the north side of the sloping plot on the west side of the fence to turn over the soil and rid it of left over weeds and rocks. She also created a rock ledge to try to keep the soil from eroding down the hillside, and another one to keep the water around the new tomato plants. Cynthia and Melanie then planted flower seeds (Cosmos Bright Lights Mix, Nasturtium - Double Dwarf Jewel Mix, Tithonia Torch, Marigold - Happy Days Mix; and Celosia - Forest Fire). They hand watered all the new tomato plants, and then hose watered the newly planted flower bed, and the whole garden.

Jane volunteered to water on Saturday mornings. Sonia will water on Tuesday mornings and possibly one other morning - Joan will update the schedule.

ATTENTION ALL WATERING VOLUNTEERS: Please water ALL the rows including the row next to the playground, the tilled rows on the grass (south) side of the garden area, AND the tomatoes and flowers planted in the sloping bed on the sidewalk side of the fence. Here is the watering schedule.

And just in case you now think that there isn't anything left to do, we still need:
- watering on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays
- weeding dandelions from the church lawn, house lawn, and RE lawn
- weeding grass from the rest of the sloping flower bed on the sidewalk side of the garden
- weeding the garden
- putting the weeded weeds and cut grass into the compost pile
- removing weeds from between the flagstone (garden walkway)
- planting some more herbs and/or flowers

See you in the garden -- and remember -- you don't need to be invited. Come work in the garden when YOU have the time, when YOU want to get "down to earth", when it works for YOU. And so you know, you will probably find Joan working in the garden on Saturdays and Sundays.

Sunday Gardening Anyone?

Tomorrow, Sunday, June 1^st at First Unitarian Church, we have service 10-11 am followed by our 2^nd Congregational Meeting (review and vote on the 2008-2009 budget and endowment disbursements). In between, there will be an opportunity to purchase take-away lunches provided by The Coming of Age Class – a final fundraiser before their upcoming Boston Trip.

Consider coming early and working in the garden before the 10 am service or staying late and working after the Congregational Meeting. There is LOTS of work to do:

- watering the garden – if you get there first

- weeding dandelions from the church lawn, house lawn, and RE lawn

- weeding grass from the sloping flower bed on the sidewalk side of the garden

- weeding the garden

- putting the weeded weeds and cut grass into the compost pile

- removing weeds from between the flagstone (garden walkway)

- planting some more herbs, tomatoes and/or flowers

Watering volunteers are also still needed: Sunday mornings, Wednesday mornings, and Saturday mornings are still available – until the drip system is in place and on a timer. Drop an email to Joan to volunteer.

And just so you know, you don’t have to wait for a call or an email to just come over to the garden and do some work. Come any time that works for you. The dandelions and other weeds will be waiting for you.

Weeding, Watering, and Planting

Thank you to all who worked on watering last week - with special kudos to Mother Nature, who took care of much of the work, and to Julie who signed up for two evenings a week! We are hoping to get back to the garden later today to work on the drip system. But watering volunteers are still needed until it is working and on a timer.

Last Monday's weeding party didn't happen the way we planned due to lots of rain. Joan did some weeding in the rain - which she actually quite enjoyed. It is much easier to get those weeds out from between the flagstone in the rain.

Margie worked some more in the garden this week - finishing up some planting and laying out straw. Allison planted tomatos. Several of us watered when Mother Nature took a break.

Rick and Joan weeded and mowed the parking strip on Saturday. It is looking good. Joan reclaimed the full width of the flagstone path in the garden area and planted some herbs (parsley, lavender, thyme, and shiso).

And a bit about shiso - called "ohba" at sushi bars! Flavor is curry-like - combination of cumin, cilantro, and/or parsley with a hint of cinnamon. Nice addition to mesclun salad mixes, especially good sprinkled over cucumbers, cabbage, or fish. Edible flowers. Fragrant tea.

Watering Update

Watering help is still needed until the drip system is fully in place and on a timer. Here is the watering plan so far. Please volunteer to keep the watering going … early mornings are best - evenings are next best … of course, Mother Nature has been stepping in and taking more than her share of turns lately. When she does, you may skip your watering turn.

Joan is working on getting some chalk for the chalkboard (located on the east side of the red shed) - once the chalk is there, if you water, write it on the chalkboard, so the other watering volunteers know when the garden was last watered. If you cannot take your turn and it is clear that Mother Nature is otherwise occupied, call Joan.

NOTE: All rows are now planted and need water including some little tomatoes right up against the posts on the north side, herbs and tomatoes on the grass side, pumpkins on the east side next to the playground fence, and tomatoes and flowers in the sloping beds west of the garden outside the fence. The raised beds need watering - but probably fewer times per week - let's try Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays for now.

- Monday evenings - Julie
- Tuesday mornings - Sonia
- Wednesday evenings (May 28 & June 4) - Becky
- Wednesdays ________________
- Thursday evenings - Julie
- Fridays - Alison
- Saturday mornings - Jane
- Sunday mornings - Allison & Joan

Reply to Joan (jmg@csolutions.net) or blog the day(s) you are able to help with watering.

Memorial Day - Garden Work Party - 8 am

Weather permitting, let’s gather on Memorial Day morning, Monday, May 26^th (8-10 am) in our First Unitarian Church garden to do some weeding (garden, curb strip, church lawn), rock removal, straw spreading, drip system repair, and any other work that is needed. Bring a snack to share and we’ll make it into a work party – to work, to admire all that has been done so far, to learn about the garden, and to share some time with one another. If you haven’t taken a look – be sure to check out our garden blog: http://gardenslcuu.blogspot.com.

Special thanks to all who have contributed time, work, and knowledge to our efforts so far including: Allison, Margie, Misty, Stephanie, Hal, Bob, Layne, Cindy, Rawlins, Clark, Tim, Melanie, Glory, Frank, Susan, Alex, Maddy, Becky, Bob (yes, two different Bobs), Rick, Julie, Ri, Mother Nature, and Wanda (for the idea and for her whispers), and all those whom I forgot to list this time!!

Come work with us, get involved, learn or share your knowledge, and have some fun! BTW – kids are welcome – especially kids who like to play in the playground, plant herbs, or pick dandelions.

See you in the garden,
Joan

What's Where in the Garden?

Margie reports that the garden is mostly planted. Here is a list of "what's where" starting at the East end (playground side) and working West (toward 1300 East):

• Pumpkins
• Table/Raised bed (zucchini, broccoli, strawberries)
• Cabbage
• Tomatoes
• Tomatoes
• Beans
• Peas
• Cucumbers
• Radishes
• Swiss Chard / Beets
• Carrots
• Carrots
• Carrots
• Onions
• Onions
• Tomatoes (not yet planted- supplied by Misty)
• Tomatoes (not yet planted- supplied by Misty)
• Cantaloupe
• Honeydew

Over the course of the next few days, Margie is going to laminate these words and attach them to the appropriate stakes, so everyone knows what's planted where.

Resource for Utah Vegetable Gardens

Frank sent this link to a very helpful pamphlet from USU's Extension Division: Home Vegetable Garden Variety Recommendations for Utah: http://extension.usu.edu/files/gardpubs/hg313.pdf. This pamphlet has many suggestions for Utah vegetable gardeners regarding what to plant and when. Frank has used this document many times and has found it very useful. Especially valuable, is the chart on the last page showing planting dates and the number of days required for the crop to mature and be ready for harvest.

To Do List

If you do one or more of the following items on this "TO DO LIST" or can commit to doing these, please blog or send email to Joan:

• Watering – while we wait for the drip system to be installed – we need daily watering – preferably morning or evening
• Weeding
• Dandelions from the church lawn
• Dandelions from the garden lawn
• Weeds from the garden
• All sorts of weeds from between the stones on the garden walk
• Grass and weeds from the herb garden – to make a clear differentiation between the perennial/herb strip and the lawn area
• Grass from the sloping beds outside the fence
• Rock removal
• Remove rocks from
• West end of the garden lawn
• Parking strip in front of the garden (just the stray rocks - leave the pavers in place)
  
• Move rocks to
• the north east – in front of the shed and in back of the plastic composter
• Parking strip – figure out how to mow it – perhaps a small push mower would do the trick if we are able to remove the rocks
• Straw - Move a small amount of the straw around the plants that have been planted (to keep the weeds from growing).

Much to Report

Allison has been watering by hand ALL WEEK to keep things growing ... she could use some help ... anyone able to water either early morning or in the evening ... this would be fabulous! Allison is also working on making a clear delineation between the lawn and the herb garden and has been coordinating efforts with Layne and Bob.

Layne repaired the spigot and the white pipe, mowed the garden lawn, and put the grass clippings into the compost pile. If you get a chance, check it out, it is cooking up a storm! Layne has added the garden lawn to his mowing schedule and will be putting the grass clippings into the compost on a regular basis. Our job is to keep the lawn free of debris.

Rick and Joan cleaned up the pile of trash and recyclables that had accumulated at the west end of the garden lawn. That is all cleared away. They also spread out the drip system (not connected yet) in an effort to see what we have and where it needs to go. The main hose for the drip system is connected to the white pipe up in the north east corner behind the raised bed. Rick is going to purchase a female-to-female connector so we can connect the hose to the pipe, and then we will get the drip system in its correct place. We are doing this all by “discovery” – so if anyone has any actual information about where the hose was laid originally, that would be very helpful.

Rick spread out one of the drip systems on the lawn side of the garden just to get an idea of the size and thinking that it might be needed for the herbs. BUT if the herbs are being watered by the sprinklers, we may not need to worry about that at all. We should hear from Layne about that this week. We will roll up the lawn drip system on Monday.

Margie did more tilling and planting on Sunday, preparing the area nearest the playground for pumpkin planting. Margie has been awesome – tilling, planting, and advising. We wouldn’t have gotten as far as we have without Margie’s help.

A separate list of more things to do will follow.

Garden Progress and Mother's Day Planting

Much progress has been made in our garden. The transformation is quite amazing. Margie has put in a whole lot of time with the tiller. Tilling the soil and retilling with compost. Margie also put the drip system back together - as much as she could. Layne repaired the water spigot and reconnected the water over to the north section of the garden. We went from straw, straw, straw. To clay, clay, clay. To beautifully tilled rows running north to south.

We still need to figure out where the water comes out on the north side, connect it to the drip system and then figure out how much more hose and connectors, etc. are needed to extend the drip system out to the banked area outside the garden fence.

But we will pause this weekend on Sunday, May 12th to do a little bit of planting. Tim has been growing some starters for us:

>3 Rainbow Heirloom Tomatoes >4 Brandywine Tomatoes >3 Cold Set Tomatoes >5 Bush green beans >2 Broccoli >2 Zucchini >2 Strawberries >1 Cayenne pepper

and we have some lettuce seeds which we can plant in the raised beds.

We will gather in the garden after 2nd service (around 12:20 pm or so). Please join us if you can.

And with planting commencing, but watering not yet figured out, we will need some watering volunteers, so think about when you might be able to come over and water to keep our plants growing.

Too Wet to Till - But Alternatives Available (TWTT - BAA )

April 26th is upon us, but it has rained in the past 4 days, so -- we will not be tilling the garden on Saturday, April 26th. But I do have some good news, Wasatch Community Gardens has a tiller which we can use as soon as the soil looks like it is tillable. But, there is no garden meeting, no garden tilling, and no garden party this weekend.

However, if you would like to do some garden-related work, here are some additional ideas/opportunities:

• help the CCNS Nursery School (housed in the RE Building during the week) -- their Landscape Committee will be doing some work in the church's playground area on Saturday morning, April 26th, 9-11 am or so
• pull out your dandelion weeding tool and weed the garden lawn, the church lawn, the house lawn, and/or the playground lawn - this is part of an effort to reduce the need for application of chemicals on the church's lawns
• rake some more straw off the garden - we cleared most of it, but not all - whatever is left, we plan to just till into the soil along with some compost - raked straw should either be bagged or placed up against the fence on the north side of the garden
• take a look at our garden blog [ http://gardenslcuu.blogspot.com/ ] and write an admiring and supportive comment or record any additional work you do in the garden
• start some tomato or pepper or other plants from seed in pots at home - we will need some "already started" plants when we are ready to plant -- if you need pots, there are a bunch behind the compost pile on the south side of the garden

What we still need:

• seeds and starters
• compost

One bit of disappointing news, our garden mailing list was a casualty of the church's move to a new web site. I will need to set up a new list - probably a Yahoo group. I will contact you with that information as soon as it is set up.

Straw, Straw, Straw

Three of us (Joan, Bob, and Bob's dog) worked on Saturday afternoon, clearing straw.


On the left is what the straw looked like at the beginning of April. When Bob and I started raking on Saturday, Becky had already made some marvelous straw piles which we were able to just bag. (Thank you, Becky!)


We raked and bagged 10 bags of straw (right). And unearthed a number of hoses and rocks, and a treasure or two!




And while it seemed like we bagged a lot of straw, there is more.

But we are hoping that what is left on top of the garden can be tilled into the soil. And that what is on the side of the garden can be used as ground cover to discourage the weeds.

Melanie's Magnificent Work (and some suggestions)

Melanie gardened for 3 hours this week and reported:

"I reclaimed the iris/tulip garden in the parking strip farthest north of the church- for which the neighbor next door was extremely grateful. "

"Learned some of the history of the garden. Hope to get more information both from CCNS and the church archives about which trees were planted as memorials for people. Just this one garden took a lot longer than I realized because it had to be done by hand because of the delicate tulip leaves, and also to pull out the grass. I did discover a lot of stones I used as a semi border."

"I also decided to "reclaim" the flagstone holding wall between the sidewalk and garden fence (photo is the "before" picture). I was in the process of this- and almost done- when my hand shovel broke. I took that as a sign that 3 hours was enough. Just as I was leaving I saw someone had left a big shovel against the shed, so I was able to reset even the 2 large flagstones that had meandered to the straight up position (by shoveling out a lot of dirt behind them). I didn't get to the rest of the parking strip. As I was leaving I also noticed that the garden just south of the church was in need of pruning the dead branches off the perennials- it was hard to see the spring bulbs blooming underneath them."

"I hated to leave the parking strip undone, so tonight I went back, and finished trimming the garden to the south of the church entry (south of Eliot Hall), and then reclaimed the other 2 gardens in the parking strip and raked the lawn. After 2 hours, and fading sunlight I was finally done! So- aside from weeding the garden in front of the fence- the "front" is done."

"I have a neighbor who has given me a ton of different kinds of seeds, some of them 1-2 years old- when you are ready let me know and I will bring them for you to look through for the garden. The garden in front of the garden fence, by the sidewalk, would be awesome planted in flowers. I would be willing at a later date to even weed the grass out of it if someone were to donate some flats of flowers for planting. (As long as I can water the area to make the grass easier to remove)."

"I brought lawn/leaf bags and rebagged some of the ones I had done on Sunday, and used the old clear trash bags to triple bag the rest- so they should be sturdy enough."

"This time I brought a broom to sweep off the sidewalk- if anyone is going to do more gardening in front of the garden fence a broom is most helpful."

"Hopes this allows the rest of you gardeners to focus on the garden behind the fence. "