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.