Thursday, August 26, 2010

The Fall Garden Begins

At the garden, we are all clearing out the (sadly) dying flowers and failing tomato plants to make way for new fall crops. Kaela has planted several different leafy greens (cabbage and kale) as well as some carrots. Elaine put in spinach, and on Wednesday she and I spent some time planting rows of beets and more carrots. We are lucky enough to have a great pile of compost to help get our plants off to a good start. Before planting, we cleared off the top layer of dirt, and worked a good amount of compost into the soil below. We then replaced the dirt cover and scattered the seeds in shallow trenches. While it has been done before, it’s best not to plant new seeds directly in compost because the intense amount of nutrients can overwhelm and kill the plant. After covering up the seed trenches with dirt, we packed down the soil to make sure the seeds have “soil contact.” Hopefully we’ll be seeing some new seedlings pop up in the next couple of weeks!

While the peppers and tomatoes have been less than prolific, our melon crop is turning out excellent! Yesterday I picked a huge watermelon from the garden. Taking it home, I had low expectations. But when I set it on the counter and stuck in my knife, the skin broke open with a crisp cracking sound to reveal a beautiful, red interior. I was overjoyed. And not only does it look great, it tastes amazing too! There are many more ripening on the vine, and hopefully they will be just as delicious as the one I am currently enjoying with my apartment-mates.



We are also very excited to have some new Hereford residents joining us at the garden. If you’re interested in helping out, or just coming by to see what we’re doing, we’d love to have you! You can find Elaine, Jim, or Nancy around the Hereford complex to find out more information.

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