The self-seeded annual is gorgeous!
Garlic and onion harvesting today @ 11am and 4pm. Fun for kids to pull out aromatic bulbs. Pls RSVP if you are interested so we can plan to social distance responsibly. Send a note to Cvearthlab@gmail.com, to me, or post a comment here. Thanks! -Denise
Garden winterization is overdue! Some gardeners will be outside this afternoon to clear, clean up and pack up the garden for the cold weather season. Feel free to pitch in! We’ll also be planting daffodil bulbs around the play area; probably around 130pm.
Do you have any pots in the raised bed area of the garden? We’re cleaning these out and storing them before it snows. Please note that any unclaimed pots and containers will be discarded after December 1st. Thanks!
As Fall rolls in and another garden season winds down, all residents are invited to celebrate the children’s educational garden on Saturday, Sept 20 from 5-7pm in the Garden (in the Children’s Play Area next to 230 Jay)! It’s a harvest potluck so please bring a dish or drink to share. You may use herbs from the garden. RSVPs due Sept. 18 to cvearthlab@gmail.com – please include what you plan to bring. (Rain Date is Sun Sept 21).
Harvest Potluck on 9.20.14!
We are going to harvest the last of the carrots and plant some leafy greens and fall veggies in the bed with the cold frame – that way we can extend our season a bit. Join us at 3pm in the garden today!
So I failed to plant anything before the 15th –just ran out of time! Poll results were pretty even — including some offline entries, mustard greens, beets, and lettuce/arugula seem to be winners. I was planning to try to plant all of those when we’re back in town September 2d, even though it’s a little late, and hope the cover we have for that bed can be successfully re-installed and extend our season by a few weeks. It’s always an experiment. Unless someone else has already done it, we’ll probably also pull out the petunias in the hanging pockets and replace with greens of some sort for the fall. Want to help or harvest/plant on (or before!) the 2d? Just let me know in the comments section — we’d welcome some new planters, if you’re interested!
Here’s a close up of the Egyptian walking onion baby bulbs that Benji’s science teacher gave us. They come from her sister’s garden upstate. Also known as tree onions, these perennials are described as “walking” because of the unique way they self-propagate. Instead of flowers, they produce onion seeds or “top sets” at the top of the plant. When the plants mature the heavy seeds cause the plant to fall over and re-root itself; the seeds seem to “walk” over to other parts of the plot. Of course I didn’t read any of this before I transplanted several bulbs into a large pot (former home to an unsuccessful small tomato seedling).
About 10 bulbs are sitting in a cup next to the garlic planter. Let’s figure out what to do with them! According to EgyptionaWalkingOnion.com, when new top sets are planted they will grow throughout the spring and summer and develop tall green leaves and bulb/root growth in the ground, but they will not develop top sets in their first year–just roots and leafstalks. This makes me think we might plant some onions in a place they can linger for a while. If we don’t pull out the bulb, they should regrow, develop top sets next year and then replant themselves. Maybe the garlic planter would make a good home? Only half of it seems to be producing anything; we can plant garlic somewhere else in the fall and perhaps use the planter for the onions? I’m open to ideas. -Denise
After we harvested half of the garlic crop in June, I dried the garlic for about 3 weeks. It’s ready to try! Let’s divvy it up after this evening’s harvest.
Mini-Garlic Harvest!
When: Sunday, June 16 6:30pm*
How: With shovels and our hands
Why: We need to pull out some of the garlic so it can dry for 2-4 weeks before it is consumed.
More details to come.
For more info, check out these posts RE garlic planting and growing.
*Typically, garlic is dried for 2-4 weeks before it is eaten, but we might want to do some sort of tasting tomorrow so we have something to compare with when we sample cured garlic in July.
Update: Here are some snaps from the actual harvest.
Arushi picked a winner
We used a shovel to lift the earth and protect the bulb
Nice garlic pull, Benji!
Its been less than one week since we planted seedlings on February 23rd, and we’re already seeing a lot of green Ansley and Warner’s tray is booming! “We have sprouts in each of our 16 cells in our sub-irrigated flat — flowers (new zinnias and old asters), heirloom tomatoes, yellow and tricolor cherry tomatoes, basil, cucumbers! The cucumbers are already looking leggy, they’re so big.” Over at Casa Maher-Dolan, we’ve got a whole lotta nothin in our tray, but growth in our sub-irrigated tomato and cucumber plants. How about everyone else? I’m thinking I may re-plant some herbs this weekend. -Denise
It’s year three for the garden! We’re on for a kid-friendly seed planting on Saturday, February 23, from 10-11am in the community room (if the weather is nice we’ll be outside).
Remember 2011 and 2012?
Plan is for anyone who is interested to plant a few seeds in sub-irrigated planters, which can be transplanted into the garden come April!
Shari, Deb, Allison, Denise and I got together to think about what went well over our last two seasons, and we’re thinking slightly less stuff in the beds, and slightly less crowded is the way to go. To that end, we’re focusing on tomatoes, cucumbers, Asian eggplants, basil, dill, and flowers (we have seeds for asters, sunflowers, four o’clocks, marigolds, cosmos, nasturtiums, wildflowers and morning glory) for our home-grown seedlings. We have — and are happy to share! — seeds for all of those except the cucumbers (which we don’t have yet); we could use some zinnia seeds, if anyone has them.
We’ll have some 2-liter soda bottles already cut in half from last year, but it’s probably best if you bring another, as well as a small bag of potting soil — feel free to share with a friend.
Assuming we are in the community room and not outside, we have to careful and clean up so we leave the place nicer than we find it for an afternoon reservation — I promised!!
Concord Village EarthLab 