Happy Monday everyone,
I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and survived their first weeks back to school. I think these past two weeks have been our hottest ones this summer. Folks from Global Leadership Initiatives for Youth (GLIFY), National Charity League (NCL) and Workday braved the heat to come join us and help in the garden.
Over the last couple weeks, we harvested 1,205.9 pounds of fresh vegetables to share with our neighbors in need. We got to taste test cucumbers and three of our new melon varieties. Looking forward to trying a papaya dew melon.
Garden wide weeding was performed with weeds being pulled from at least 8,000 sq feet of beds and paths. We kept on working on removing swathes of Bermuda grass from the main East-West path. Whew! Thank you to all the folks who worked to get out the grass and the bind weed out by their very long roots. Thanks to the Saturday Zen pullers we can see the plants out in the new pumpkin patch and sunflower bed again! They look simply gorgeous.
Water issues in the garden have exacerbated the effect of the heat on a lot of the plants these past couple weeks. We discovered a leak in the main irrigation line. Possible earthquake damage to the joint? Many thanks to AC, MH, CH, JPH and RC for digging down three feet to find the leak and then repair it. That was a long hot day in the garden. Last week the well started acting up with the pressure dropping down to 0 on occasions. Folks at the well company think the heat may have been effecting the electronics in the well pump control box. They will be out for a service call this week. Fingers crossed for a quick inexpensive fix.
Our squash squash bug eradication program continued. Many thanks to ‘bug squad’ JS, ND, ID and CC for carrying on a relentless hunt for squash bug eggs, nymphs and adult through out all the squash beds. Keep up the good work bug hunters! The lovely lady bugs seem to have cleared most of the aphids from the broccoli bed!
Thanks also to AC and DS for diligently working to catch the gopher varmints who have wiped out half a zucchini bed. Looking forward to the day an owl family moves into our beautiful owl box, lovingly built and installed by AC.
Some of you may have noticed we have two new tables in the garden. One for washing produce and one for washing our hands. Thanks to SV, of Boy Scout Troop 888, Girl Scout JL, and their families for building them for us! No more bending over the tupperware tubs to wash the vegetables and fine french soap to wash our hands with. My back is happy just writing this sentence. Enjoy the fine french soap the JL’s mom brought out for us to wash our hands with. Thanks EL!
This past week was bittersweet as we said good bye to two of our interns, Mari and Jessica. These two ladies have given so much to the garden during their tenures here. We will miss their smiling faces and can do spirits but wish them both much success in their new endeavors. We were lucky to have them and hope they will be able to come by the garden often.
As always, I am indebted to all of you and send you all my sincere gratitude. Fertile GroundWorks could not do all we do without wonderful volunteers like you. You are all truly amazing human beings. THANK YOU!!! for enabling us to TEACH, GROW, and GIVE.
I do hope that you all will be able to come back and see how your efforts helped the garden to grow and change with the seasons.
Until next we meet, please do take care of yourselves.
Happy gardening everyone.
With sincere gratitude and hugs,
Brenda
