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.