Hi All,
Chilly weekend! Tod and I worked in the garage yesterday and we almost had to wear parkas…not really but man it was COLD! The garage looks great;)
Our weekend was not as busy as the week in the garden though! We are getting caught up on chores, organizing for the Plant Sale as well as planting seeds for the Plant Sale and getting our Compost Area up to full speed! Thank you to all who brought out the strawberry baskets, and Karen for bringing us some plastic berry containers to try! We could still use more strawberry baskets if you have them! We use them to keep the birds off the new seedlings. Also, we have room in the box shed for produce boxes that we use for deliveries. If you have them bring them on in. We can use the smaller produce boxes for the Plant Sale.
Kaleidoscope was back out for the first time this year! They helped to shred paper for our worms and compost bins and cleaned labels for the Plant Sale. We are going to need plenty of labels to help us keep track of everything we have planted. The crew also weeded the Worm Area as well as helped me to feed the worms. Toward the end of the shift a few of the crew took a walk with me to check the temperature on the compost bins and we took a walk around the garden to explore a bit. They had many questions as we walked through the garden. I think that will become part of our regular routine;)
There were a few things fixed around the garden. CW finished installing the treads on the Office steps and he also fixed out gutters on the Greenhouse and one on the Little Hoop House with slip knots so we can change it out to the hoses when the rain barrels are filled! AW and VT the week before last tried getting the tractor to start but it would not keep a charge. Brenda got a new battery for it last week so now we can use it for our Compost Area. JR made a new ramp for outside the trailer that holds the wheelbarrows…no more piece of bark! It is a true working ramp:) JR also oiled up some of the wheelbarrows, they were getting a bit squeaky and one was getting harder to push.
The Compost Area is getting lots of love to get it back to full working speed. Temperatures for the working bins are being checked every day we are in the garden. RB mowed the grassy weeds down the other day to feed the bins, Kaleidoscope’s weed pulling will help with the compost and everyone else who participated in weeding last week (outside of the bindweed pulling in the Orchard!!!) also contributed to feeding the compost bins. All that effort and Bin #4 & #1 were emptied and fresh greens were reloaded into both. AW & VT wood chipped the branches that are in the Compost Area to also add to the bins.
For the Plant Sale we got another 900 seeds started, mostly peppers. As mentioned above Kaleidoscope helped to clean the labels. The seed inventory continued thanks to KS and DW counted seeds for us during her time in the garden-both these chores helps us to find which seeds we are needing to order for both the Plant Sale and the garden. The potting shed-where we store all the containers for planting seedlings-was inventoried and organized (this also helps us with ordering new pots and flats if needed). In the Greenhouse the North Tunnel of Love was set up-the plastic covering was replaced!
Pruning is starting up in the Orchard. The guys have the ladders out and are hard at work figuring out which tree needs what. The Tuesday crew helped to weed out the bindweed I had mentioned earlier. It is growing all around the apple trees in the North West corner of the Orchard. As usual with bindweed, it is a never ending story so awe may be back out there again this week! Graham and Dean are both part of California Rare Fruit Growers and we have some information from them about a few scion exchanges. If anyone is interested drop me a line and I can get you the info!
We got all the bee equipment inventoried last week. The Eagle Scout who is working on the Bee Shed for us came out for more measurements, wanting to have that done by the end of April so we are all ready for our new Nucs! Plans for the Bee Area include a 5 foot expansion to the West with a new entrance for us to enter behind the bee hives once they are filled back up. We also need to get out there to cardboard and wood chip the area so it is easier to walk on. The East side of the Bee Area we eventually need to do some planting as well as install a water feature for the bees. Maybe the Native Plant Gals could help us out with that?
Oh, the Gopher traps! EU helped us out last week by setting a few. Bed N12 and in-between beds E01 & F01 had some gopher holes that needed traps installed and he did that for us! We are noticing a decline in gophers ever since EU and RM started taking the reins and committed to walking the garden to look for the gopher holes as well as coming out as soon as they are available to work on a gopher hole that a volunteer found! Go Guys!!!
We got new crates last year for harvesting and are sitting on a lot of older ones we are no longer using. Some we may end up using for the plant sale, some we used to organize the potting shed but there may be some we may need to find new homes for. If anyone knows of a new home for something like this do let us know!
In the garden beds PB cleaned up bed N12 of all the older leaves from the Portuguese kale and did some weeding. In beds F01 & B02, DP-he is a brand new volunteer, this was his second time out-pruned back all the powdery mildew covered leaves off the Redbor kale plants. Both beds look amazing and I cannot wait to see what they offer up to us in the coming weeks!
Harvesting of course, 154lbs for our food pantries! That is a good amount considering it is mostly leaves at this time of year:)
Thank you one and all for coming out to the garden and continuing this work with us for our community:)
