What A Downpour This Morning!

Wow did it POUR this morning and early afternoon!  My rain gauge broke (actually I've purchased two this year and both have broke!) so I do not know how much rain we received, but I do know that there were some hard bursts in the storm!  So much so that a lot of the wood-chips that line the pathways in the garden washed away!

I'm going to have to rake up the remaining wood-chips so we have a path again!

When I left last night the whole path was in perfect order.  The fast downpour must have created a little river and washed everything away.  But, luckily, the plants are ok - which is the main point afterall!

Thankfully, the rain stopped just as I arrived at the garden.  There were only a few volunteers that were scared off by the rain, and I had 5 folks join me to continue the weeding fun.  A group of 3 sisters managed to remove more of the weeds from the zucchini rows.  These girls are awesome; this is their second summer to volunteer in the Victory Garden and I am beyond thankful for all their help!

Later that afternoon another young man arrived and together we finished all but one last side of the large zucchini weeds!  I am so happy that my zucchini plants are receiving full sunshine! 

I had another volunteer come out after the rain stopped, and we worked together to weed this short row (it is 50 feet) of Lemon Cucumbers. This row was not too bad, yet.  But I wanted to stay on top of the weeds here before they became unmanageable.  It is like triage out here sometimes; what area is the most important and who can help me weed this area right now?  The seeds for this row were donated from last years seeds, and therefore did not germinate too well, thus all the open spaces.  I do not have any more seeds to re-plant either, so this hap-hazard look will have to do.

I also had a couple come out this weekend and they worked on this row of beans.  They did manage to get about 2/3 of the way done over the weekend, and another volunteer and I finished the row this afternoon.  When I looked back on the garden this evening, as I left, I smiled; it is finally beginning to look like a garden is supposed to look, and not like a mess of overgrown weeds!

And I have all my wonderful garden volunteers to thank for that!  So THANK YOU to each and every one of you who help me!

After A Long Holiday Weekend

I hope everyone had a good weekend!  The days before and after the 4th of July are always a slow volunteer time in the Victory Garden, but the plants and weeds still grow.  If only we could convince them to take a day off! (grin)  I spent some time weeding the pumpkins today.  The poor plants are really full of weeds, but I did know that would be the case this year, as this is new space in the garden and new space is always full of weed-seeds that will grow.

Here is a row of pumpkins that has had little attention, and is need of some more TLC.  The rows to the right have been adopted, and therefore are nice and weed free!  I just need 30 groups/individuals to adopt my 30 rows and keep it all weed free.

And somewhere in here there are pumpkin plants.  It rained last night, and the ground was too wet to rototill, so I'm waiting for a dry day to till up the paths again.  I need to do this before the pumpkin plants are too big and I can not get the tiller in there.

I did have a volunteer come out today and together we made some great progress on the zucchini row!  We removed all the weeds on the one side of this row, and then I continued on to work on the other side. I only got about 30 feet in when another volunteer arrived and we harvested the peas together.

But things are looking like a garden again.  I am much happier, as are the garden plants!

Chilly Day!

It was 54 degrees this morning when I arrived at the garden!  I was thankful I had a sweatshirt stashed in my truck for just such occasions!   But it did make for great working weather, and my one volunteer and I made quick work of the remaining weeds in the cabbage row.  The entire row is now free of weeds, and we did the happy dance!  Literally, we were dancing with delight in the garden!

It looks so beautiful now!  My volunteer had to leave, but I still had some time, so I set to work pulling the weeds along the zucchini row.

I made good progress, and even had to remove my sweatshirt as the weather warmed up to 60 degrees.  I finished about 1/3 of the row, or about 50 feet.  (These rows are 150 feel long.)

I've still got a good amount to go, but this is a good start and soon the entire area will be free of weeds.  And as I've said before, these tall weeds are very satisfying to pull because you see such a huge difference and feel quite accomplished!

Tomorrow is Independence Day!  My family will have a float in the Brighton 4th of July Parade and we will celebrate with a large pot luck barbeque with family and friends.  I wish you and your loved ones a Happy 4th of July.  Thank you to all my wonderful volunteers.  I say it often, and I truly mean it.

Huge Storm Last Night!

 

There was a very large storm that ran through the area last night around 3:00 am.  We had 70 mph winds, and thunder, and 4 inches of rain!  Lots of homes and businesses were without power today, and some of my volunteers were at home dealing with storm related issues.  The garden, however, sustained little damage.  The sign blew down (I was able to reattach it no problem) and the portable toilet was blown 5' away from its original spot and turned a bit.  This just cracks me up!

I did have a few volunteers stop by, and we managed to finally finish weeding the pepper and eggplant row!  We seem to have been working on that row for at least two weeks, so I'm excited to finally finish weeding this row.  You may notice the stakes in the row and wonder about them; I use stakes to help support my peppers as they grow taller and heaver with fruit.  Soon I will gently tie the pepper plant to the stake and that will help prevent bending of the plant over to the ground.  It is best to put the stakes in the ground before the plants are too large so you do not disturb the roots and damage the plant.  I've found this simple staking act to be very helpful come September when the peppers are heavy with peppers.

We also weeded the very end of the tomatoes, where the landscape fabric ends.  The lack of fabric on the end means there are more weeds around the tomatoes, and it is therefore more difficult to weed.  (although, truth be told, I enjoy pulling large weeds; you can really see your progress.  I don't like the looks of them in my garden, and I never want them, but ....)

Next I need to tackle the big, thick, weeds along the edges of the zucchini and yellow squash rows.  We have landscape fabric along the entire row, so weeding this area has been a low priority, but it is now time to attack these weeds before they become waist high!

Slow, Hot, Day

Today was hot and humid!  A few volunteers canceled on me today due to the heat, and one went home early because it was just too hot to work outside for long.  I don't blame any of them as it was close to 90 outside, and very humid with no wind!  But, I did accomplish quite a bit of weeding in the pumpkins today. I have no photo to share.  Sorry.  I blame the heat for my forgetting to snap a quick photo.

My only volunteer of the evening helped pull all the weeds out of the end of the cabbage row. We have landscape fabric in the first half of this row, so the end of the row is more of a challenge to weed.  But it looks beautiful now.

The First Delivery to the Community

All the produce grown in the Victory Garden goes into Gleaners Community Food Bank, and from there out into the community.  We stock the shelves at the Shared Harvest Pantry, and we share with other food pantries in the community as well.  Some food pantries have a garden growing for them, but not all, so we like to ensure all pantries have some produce.  We also share with our partner agencies, take produce to special events, and then we deliver produce to some targeted areas where we know our low income residents are living or going to for services etc.

Today I took a small delivery to a local mobile home park.  While I was dropping of the produce a young boy asked if he could have some strawberries.  (He did not want the sugar snap peas)  His mother was very happy to have freshly harvested strawberries, and she even took a small container of peas home to try.  I call that a successful delivery!

2\42 Community Church & June Servefest

Today the garden hosted a group from 2\42 Community Church. This is usually an awesome bunch of volunteers, and we accomplish a great deal while having some fun at the same time.  The early birds were lucky and managed to help harvest strawberries and peas.  This is a job that most kids love, and luckily my first few cars to arrive were families with all too willing kids.

Next we set about tackling the weeds amongst the winter squash.  These rows have not been touch yet this season, and the weeds were large and thick.  Groups set up in the rows and began to liberate the weeds between my irrigation drip-tape.

I then had another eager volunteer run the rototiller and till up the weeds in the pathways.  (You can see him in red in the top right-hand side of this photo.)  You can also see, in the left foreground, where, last week, I used the hoe and cleared out some weeds.  However it started raining before I got too far on this row, and I was forced to stop.

By the end of our session the winter squash looked pretty good.  The volunteers had weeded around and between the squash plants, and the rototilling had taken care of most of the weeds in the walkways.

There was just one row that was not weeded completely, but we did manage to remove the weeds around the squash plants so that they could get a bit more sun. I'll have to have volunteers get to that row later.

While some were working on the squash, others were removing weeds in the tomato row. 

 

There were a few working on each side of the row and before long the entire row was free from weeds.

And just because it was (finally) a beautiful day, I thought I'd share some photos of the flowers maintained by the Brighton Garden Club.  They look so pretty right now, as they welcome everyone into the garden.

And Daisies - my favorite flower of all.  I'm glad these are here because they make me smile every time I pass them.

Finally, our new sign is up, and visible from US23!

Thank You Lake Trust Credit Union!

Lake Trust Credit Union contacted me a few weeks ago inquiring about making a donation to the Victory Garden.  Last May they had a group come out and help with early planting and garden set up.  In the course of the day the group learned about hunger in Livingston County, and how the Hunger Council and the Garden Network have worked to eliminate hunger and improve access to nutritious food throughout our county.  Lake Trust Credit Union believes in the mission of the Victory Garden, and their foundation presented Gleaners Community Food Bank with a check for $2,500 dollars for the Victory Garden!

We are so thankful for their support!  This donation will help the Victory Garden reach our goal of harvesting 12,000 pounds of produce this year. 

Pictured here, from right to left:  Keith Koppmeier, Director, Corporate Responsibility and Government Relations Lake Trust Credit Union; Bridget Green, Gleaners Community Food Bank; David Snodgrass, President & CEO Lake Trust Credit Union; Omari Taylor, Gleaners Community Food Bank; Rachelle Bonelli, Gleaners Community Food Bank; Kay Simmons, Gleaners Community Food Bank; Tracey Cholish, Gleaners Community Food Bank.

Rototilling Cucumbers and Melons

I do not usually work on Fridays, but today I went in for a few hours and rototilled in the Cucumber, Cantaloupe, and Watermelon rows.  They were a weedy mess, but today they are much better!  The volunteers were able to weed quite a few of the rows yesterday, and now the walkways are not so bad.

The Sun Came Out Today!

Today was a beautiful day in the garden, and we had a good turn out of volunteers to help us.  The 5th grade Girls Scout troop had about 6 girls come out and help today.  They harvested a bunch of strawberries and then helped us weed a bit.

Another family came out and help me finish the trellis for the pole beans.  It is finished just in time too, because those beans are really growing with the rain and sunshine!  We had to encourage a few plants to grab on to the trellis, but most sensed that support and began climbing with little encouragement from us!

The group from Excel came out today and continued working on their row.  We put us some stakes to support their pole beans, and added some stakes for their tomato and pepper plants too.  Their day was finished off by weeding. 

And finally, some hard core volunteers and I began weeding the cucumbers and cantaloupe plants.  I'm going to run the rototiller in the walkway tomorrow. 

Peppers and Eggplant Row

I had a volunteer come out this evening and help me with the peppers and eggplant row.  We're making some progress! And let me tell you it was wet!

Wash Day!

I feel like reciting the Nursery Rhyme Three Little Kittens!

I have a small number of tools and gloves to share with volunteers at the garden.  However, with all the rain we have had lately the gloves get very dirty, and basically gross.  So every few weeks I bring home the dirty, used gloves and wash them.  Today was that day.  I washed a few dozen pairs of gloves, and then hung them up to dry.

"Oh mother dear, we sadly fear, our mittens we have lost!"

"What! Lost your mittens!  Now you shall have no pie!"  (or purple beans!)

Rainy Tuesday

Look, that yellow amongst the green are flowers on this zucchini plant!  I guess that means we might have a zucchini soon!  That is the good news to report.

The bad news is that it has been raining so much that not many volunteers are coming out to play in the mud and rain!  (don't really blame them!)  The weeds are very happy and the few brave souls that are coming out are fighting off the weeds, but ...

If you look around there are an awful lot of weeds still growing.

Working on the pumpkins.  They are still weedy in some rows, but we're getting there.

But we got the trellis almost all the way up today, so our pole beans will have something to climb up now.

And our beans are looking really good - it helps when the row is adopted, because this means teams come out twice a week to work on the row.

This row of beans is adopted too, but no one has come out yet, so my regular volunteers are keeping on top of the weeds here.

And the eggplant and peppers are slowly becoming weed free.

Also, I received some flower pots the other day.  Now I have a little bit of decoration around the new shed!  I love it!