Permablitz: Community Implemented Sustainable Gardens

From Australia, a simple idea to promote the use of sustainable, home vegetable gardens. Permablitz organizes volunteers to plant a small, edible garden at someone's home in the span of one day. More information.

Tues, Sept. 29, 6pm - Garden clean up

It's time to get the garden ready for winter. We can use as many hands as we can get. If you are interested, we will likely head over to Max & Erma's afterwards to support a fundraising effort by the youth group.

Sept. 22 - Harvest report

The garden has continued to produce tomatoes, squash, and berries even though we have done only minimal maintenance. On Sunday, we picked up the remaining winter squash as well as a few left over peppers and summer squash. This will be shared with the youth group which now meets on Tuesday nights. In total:

-13 spaghetti squash
-5 summer squash
-4 pumpkins
-1 butternut squash
-2 pounds of peppers
-several large sunflower heads

That should pretty much wrap it up for the harvest. Our next job will be to get the garden ready for winter and next year.

Harvest Festival report

The Harvest Festival was a great success. The food and music were amazing and everyone had a good time. There was a small amount of beans, tomatoes, and raspberries left, so everyone got to tour the garden and take home a bag of fresh vegetables. It was a great opportunity for people from all three churches to share some time together.

The dishes celebrated the vegetables we grow in the garden: fresh salsa, tomato tart, green tomato pie, tomato jam, corn pudding, zucchini bread, cucumber and zucchini pickles, and lots more.

Local old-time musicians volunteered their time to provide a festive atmosphere for the proceedings. Their lively music was a big hit.


More pictures of the festival are including in the slide show below. As harvest season winds down, we'll be featuring more information on gardening and cooking, including many recipes featured in the potluck meal. So check back often. You can also receive updates via e-mail or through our RSS feed.

We will have some squash, cantaloupe, watermelon, and pumpkin on the way which will be shared with our neighbors. We'll have more information on plans for next year (including the opportunity for individual or family plots) very soon.

Thanks to everybody who helped out to make the day such a success.

First Annual Harvest Festival - Sunday, 30 August, 1pm

Everyone is invited to our first harvest festival to be held this Sunday at 1pm at Church of the Saviour (11239 Fancher Rd., Westerville) [map]. The afternoon will feature a potluck with recipes inspired by vegetables from the garden (and many made with vegetables harvested right here). There will also be live music and lots of games for the children.

It is a great opportunity to celebrate the garden and to spend time with our new friends. We will also be giving garden tours and handing out information about what we accomplished in our first year and what we hope to do in the future.

This event is free and open to the public. We look forward to seeing you there.

Aug 24 - Harvest Report

By now, the beans are done, the corn is done, and the zukes and summer squash are petering out. This was really the night of the tomato. We picked a whole wheelbarrow full of them: big beefsteaks, romas, and cherry tomatoes. We also had our first carrots and broccoli.

We picked the rest of the cucumbers and dug up the vines, which had been hit by a blight. Here are the stats:

• 30 bags of large tomatoes (6-8 tomatoes in each bag)
• 12 bags of cherry tomatoes (20+ tomatoes in each bag)
• 25 cucumbers
• 15 carrots
• 4 zucchini
• 20 peppers (assorted types)

Next week, we'll have more tomatoes and a few zukes and squash, but things will be winding down. We do have watermelon, cantaloupe, squash, and pumpkins to look forward to.

This harvest was again distributed to the Wednesday youth group and shared with the residents of Westerville Estates.

August 16 - Harvest report

It's a little late, but I wanted to catch up with the last couple of weeks. We had another great harvest on the 16th. Here's the tally:

• Beans - 17 1-lb bags
• Corn - 48 ears
  
• Cucumbers - 32
• Lettuce - 2 bags
  
• Onions - around 20
• Peppers - 16
• Summer Squash - 8
• Tomatoes - 14 bags of large and Roma tomatoes (approx 8-10 per bag)
• Cherry Tomatoes - 16 quart-sized bags
  
• Zucchini - 4

This harvest was shared with the Wednesday youth group who helped to distribute it to residents of Westerville Estates.

Group work night: Mon., Aug. 24 - 6:30pm

Taking a break from our usually Tuesday work nights. Please join us to pick some veggies and do other maintenance on the garden.

Another harvest

The group work night was highly successful. According to Judy S.-K., who dropped off the harvest at the Friends Who Share food pantry, we picked:

• 60 large tomatoes
• 5 qt bags filled with cherry tomatoes (mostly the yellow variety)
• 10 large zucchinis and summer squash
  
• 2 cucumbers
• 34 pounds of beans
• 1 head cauliflower

We picked so much that we are planning for another group work night next week (Tuesday, Aug. 18 at 6:30pm). This harvest will be shared with the youth group at Church of the Saviour who will help to distribute it to residents of Westerville Estates.

Two new problems have cropped up: powdery mildew and squash vine borers. The powdery mildew can weaken plants but rarely kills them. We'll be applying a diluted milk solution to the affected leaves. This has been shown to be as effective as synthetic fungicides. Hopefully, we'll see results soon.

The vine borers are more problematic. It appears that they have affected pretty much all of our pumpkin vines. There are ways to physically remove them, but I did not have much luck in digging them out. Next year, we'll plan ahead to prevent them from laying eggs in the first place.

Tues., Aug. 11, 6:30pm - Group Work Day

Everyone is invited to come help pick vegetables, weed, and do other routine maintenance on the garden. This harvest will be given to the Friends Who Share food pantry.

Garden pizza party

On Monday the children from the youth program came over to the garden for the morning. We had fun picking lots of different vegetables and tasting different herbs. Everyone got to take home a big bag of beans, tomatoes, and squash. We cut up the onions, peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes to make pizzas from scratch. The kids got to shape the dough for individual pizzas and then put on their own toppings. Yes, pepperoni was more popular than peppers, but everyone had a great time.

First harvest!

Beans! That's mainly what we got with our first harvest. Both the green and the blue bush beans produced prodigiously (with more on the way soon). We also got a couple of summer squash and and several radishes.

These vegetables will help to feed the kids at the summer youth program hosted by Church of the Saviour (and staffed with volunteers from all three churches). It's a great start to our harvest season.

Garden pests

We've been fortunate so far and have only suffered minimal damage from a few common garden pests.

First to hit were aphids and flea beetles. The aphids were actually being farmed by ants for a protein rich secretion called honeydew. These insects were easy to control with small doses of diatomaceous earth: and organic insecticide containing tiny particles that break down the exoskeletons of insects. This has to be used judiciously because it can kill pests as well as beneficial insects (and several ladybugs have been spotted around the garden).

Today, we found some striped cucumber beetles hanging out in a flower on a pumpkin vine.

Photo by wormwould

These can be deadly to plants and are hard to control since they can migrate in from other places. Fortunately, they had only reached a couple of plants and were easily picked off. A little more diatomaceous earth was dusted around the base of the plants to kill any larvae that might have been hanging around. If you happen to spot anymore, just go ahead and squish them.

We're doing our best to keep things organic, and so far we haven't used any chemical pesticides at all. A key to our strategy has been the application of beneficial insects; in particular, trichogramma: a tiny, parasitic wasp that attacks the eggs of several garden pests.

I'm sure there'll be more bugs in our future. Let's just hope they're the good kind.

What work is needed today....

We do not need to water - it is plenty muddy from the rains.   BUT newspaper (cardboard) needs to go down between the rows with straw on top as the weeds are now starting to grow as well.  There is lots of paper and straw available.  Bring cardboard if you have it.  

Free Meal and Organizational Meeting: Wed., July 1st - 6:30pm

Everyone is invited to a "Meet Your Neighbor" and "Garden Organization" meeting Wed., July 1st at 6:30 pm in the Westerville Estates Community Center (11050 Fancher Road, Westerville, Ohio 43084)

A free dinner will be provided with dishes inspired by the vegetables we are growing.

We will be discussing how best to manage the garden resources as well as planning for the future. If you are interested in helping to care for the garden, getting your own plot next year, or figuring out how best to share the produce this year, we hope you will join us for a meal and discussion.

For more information, contact Nick Poss.

What's growing in the garden?

Here are the latest pictures from the garden. Just about everything has germinated (except for some herbs). There are even a few tomatoes, peppers, and cauliflower fruiting out.

Wading pool gardening

From Ever-green Gardening Ministries comes a neat idea for a simple and cheap container garden: children's wading pools. Everything can be done for less than $20. A great way to create a garden for small spaces or places where the soil isn't suitable for growing vegetables.

Hard rains pushed beans out of lines.  Mulch helps to prevent this from happening.  We would like to put cardboard between rows, just like newspaper, so recycle boxes with us.  

We have the beginnings of cauliflower and banana peppers.

The tomatoes have a layer of newspaper to block the weeds and mulch of straw around the plants to help retain moisture.

The straw was delivered to use around the plants...just need a wire snip to cut the baling wire. A little mulch will hold moisture in around the plant and slow down weed growth. Give a direct, watering to the plant before mulching, It also prevents run off of the soil around the plant.

Your help is needed: watering, newspaper and mulch

The first sprouts are showing up in the garden: radishes, lettuce, and beans. The soil drains very fast and we need your help to make sure the garden is watered every day.


If you are interested in helping, contact Nick Poss at Church of the Saviour, Judy Sharpe-Kosmatka at Harlem Road, or Jean Schafer at New Albany. Even if you can't help out with the watering, we need donations of newspaper and mulch to help keep down the weeds and conserve water.


Upcoming plans: We hope to have rain barrels installed very soon to help with watering and the compost pile should be available this week. More on that soon.

Pictures from the first planting

An empty plot of dirt isn't much to look at, but it's a beautiful sight when it's filled with happy people and plants. In just a few hours our crew was able to fill up most of the 15000 sq. ft. (at least until we ran out of seedlings and seeds). The grape arbor is up and the raspberries will be coming in this week. More flowers and corn will also be added. It was great day to meet new friends and plan for the future. Thanks to everyone who helped out. If you are interested in getting involved, just contact the church offices at one of the three churches or send an e-mail to nickposs@gmail.com.

Cook for Good - Save money. Eat well. Do good.

The website Cook for Good has menus, recipes, and cooking tips about cooking efficient, healthy, and cheap food using fresh ingredients. Right now they're promoting a menu and cooking routine that results in meals for just $1.99.

First planting May 30th, 1pm

Everyone is invited to the inagural planting of the Three Sister Community Garden located at Church of the Saviour UMC (map). You may also join us for a potluck lunch at noon in celebration of Homecoming weekend at Church of the Saviour. We look forward to getting our hands dirty and making new friends. We are looking for donations, both monetary and otherwise so if you have any of the following please bring them along (to use for the day or donate):

• Rototillers (especially larger ones will be useful for evening out the soil)
• Shovels
• Rakes
• Gloves
• Other garden implements
• Scrap wood/trellacing
• Fencing

Please feel free to bring along any seeds, seedlings or plants you care to share with us. The 3S Garden Committee will be shopping for plants this Friday and plan to purchase at least some of the following:

• Tomatoes
• Berry plants
• Beans
• Asparagus
• Corn
• Herbs
• Zucchini
• Cucumber
• Melon
• Squash/pumpkin
• Grapes
• Greens
• Flowers

Don't forget to check with our website regularly. We'll be posting pictures, stories about the garden, updates about what is growing or available for harvest as well as a few recipes using produce from the garden.

You can keep track of updates on this website by e-mail or by subscribing to our RSS feed.

Hope to see you on Sunday.

Three Sisters Gardens

Welcome to our website. We've chosen the name Three Sisters for our community garden to reflect the loving support of the three churches who are sharing in this project. But the name also refers to an intercropping gardening technique in which crops grow along side each other. There are many variants, but plants like corn, squash, and beans are often used. This type of planting was common among Native American groups.

The different attributes of the crops benefit the entire group. The stalks of the corn supply support for the beans. The beans add nitrogen to the soil. The leaves of the squash keep down weeds and retain moisture in the soil. By growing together, the crops grow better. That's how we like to think of our community and church, too.