What needs done this week

Or if you are unfamiliar with the parlance of middle Ohio: What needs to be done this week.

Really, the biggest thing right now is mulching. Since no on has donated any straw, I think newspapers are our best bet. There is a small bag of them in the blue plastic bin by the front door of the church. If you can bring your own, even better. You can just tuck the pages in under the drip tape and weed barrier. My might want to avoid the row of beans that has not been mulched since I added some seeds that might not have come up yet.. Otherwise, the tomatoes and peppers, even though they already have straw, could use some newspaper to cover up the edges and in between plants.

There will be a work night Thursday. I'll be at church but will be inside if anyone has any questions.

Sunday will be more mulching, weeding, finishing the deer fence, and putting up the trellis for the tomatoes and beans.

Caution!: New fence and gate

The title might seem a little dramatic, but I really do encourage caution when approaching the garden. I have put up the first row of fishing line on the outer fence around the garden. The fishing line is very difficult to see until you get very close. The idea is that deer will bump into the fishing line and feel nervous about jumping over. There is also an inner fence with a visible row of twine which creates an optical problem for deer trying to figure out how far to jump. There were lots of deer prints visible last night, so I'm glad to get the fence started.

The only safe way to access the garden is the new gate which is on the the west end of the garden. It is really the old gate that provided access to the pea patch. The right side is a metal fence post and the left side is a wooden post that is attached with two pieces of twine to another metal fence post. To access the garden, simply untie the twine and lay the gate down.

Of course, it is very important to put the gate back up when you are finished. Just use a knot that is easy to untie for the next person. In this case below, I just used a bow knot.

As a bonus, here is a look at the new black plastic to keep the weeds off of the ends of the rows. While no one donated any new straw, I found an old mound of straw and borrowed some to create a little traction for walking on it. There is still a lot of mulching to do, but I'll save that for another post.

Sunday night work update

I worked from 6 until it was dark and was able to get a lot done:

• laid down black plastic over the unplanted ends of the rows
• used newspaper to mulch one of the rows of beans
• put up some of the fishing line fence
• took down the gate from the pea patch and set it up in the deer fence
• fertilized with Milorganite and Miracle Grow (not organic, but at least it's local)
• sprayed another coat of Liquid Fence
• stuffed my face with raspberries

There were some deer prints, so I really wanted to get most of the fence done. There is more to do this week for people who can come out on their own, but I'll post that later.

Work for this week (Thurs. and Sat.)

It's nice to see the buckwheat starting to sprout. We added it as a ground cover around the perimeter of the garden.

Here are the things we'll be working on the in garden. If you can't make it either of the nights, you are always welcome to come out on your own time to work as you please.

Thursday (6/23, 6pm):
I won't be out Thursday, but there are many things that we still hope to get done. The tomatoes and peppers are pretty well mulched with straw, but the beans need more mulch and mulch could also be better applied to fill in some of the space between the weed barrier and the plants. There is already grass sprouting up around many of the plants, so some judicious hoeing would really help. I've used up the straw that I brought and I have not heard of any donations, so you might need to bring a bale if you want to help. I'll post an update if anything changes.

Sunday (6/26, 6pm):

We'll be applying the fishing line to the deer fence, fertilizing, and adding black plastic to cover some of the parts of the garden we didn't use, including the parts of the rows that we didn't plant.

Our raspberries are really struggling so if anyone has any knowledge about growing them, it would be greatly appreciated.

Sunday night wrap-up

I worked alone in the garden for a few hours tonight and was able to accomplish a lot:

• set the rest of the posts for the second deer fence
• mulch the rest of the tomatoes, some peppers, and a few beans (all with the one bale of hay I brought)
• planted more pole beans
• stretched out some of the weed barrier
  
• applied another coat of Liquid Fence

The garden is of course very wet--it was drizzling for the first hour I was working--but it looks like most of the seedlings will make it. There will be more to do for Thursday and next Sunday, but I'll put up that information tomorrow.

No work tonight -- Work for Sunday

No work tonight -- too rainy. We will meet Sunday night. I won't be there until 7pm. If you show up early, the first task is to mulch the plants with hay. We'll also work on the deer fence and plant some more seeds.

Sunday work recap

To say the garden was muddy would be an understatement (note the boots below), but we were still able to get a lot of work done. Here's what we did:

• laid out weed control fabric
• planted a ring of buckwheat for groundcover
• put up the first of two deer fences
• added flower seeds (nasturtium and sunflowers)
• reapplied Liquid Fence deer repellant

Most of the seeds have sprouted, too, which is very exciting to see. Even with all of that done, there is still a lot to accomplish this Thursday. In particular, we need to add straw between the weed cover and add more straw to create a couple of paths at the ends of the garden. We'll also need to set up the 8' posts for the bean trellis and the outer deer fence. So if you do have even a little time on Thursday, we really hope you'll come out. I'll be there at 6pm but have to leave for a little bit for choir practice before I return.

Replanting the garden

For the first time we suffered some serious damage from deer. They ate most of the seedlings that were planted this Sat. Some hardy volunteers came out tonight to not only replant what was lost, but plant even more. They also worked to put in place some deer deterrents until we can work on a more permanent solution.

We've been fortunate to have some great volunteers who are willing to share not only their time, but also their expertise. Here is some advice on planting tomatoes and peppers from one of our garden mavens:

"Tomatoes and some peppers will form additional roots on their stem if the stem touches soil. So, if you have a leggy tomato seedling (which most are, by this time of year), the recommendation is to remove all but the top 3 or 4 branches/leaves and plant the tomato sideways in a trench with just the top 3 or 4 leaves above ground. This eventually gives the plant more root to gather nutrients and moisture.

Since 3 Sisters is so dry and the weather is so hot, I adjusted this technique and planted not only the rootball, but the first 6 to 9 inches of stem down into the ground. This got the rootball down into an area that still held some moisture and was cooler on the 90+ degree days.

The picture is of a couple of the tomato seedlings that we had to pull up because the deer had eaten them. Even only 3 days after being planted, you can see that roots are starting to form on the stem. The rootball has also started to loosen up and send out roots in all directions."

In the ground and underway

Thank you so much to everyone who showed up on Sat. to help get the garden planted. It has taken a lot of work and planning to get to this point, and your help is truly appreciated.

What do we have to look forward to?

• tomatoes
• peppers
• pole and bush beans
• butternut squash
• summer squash
• cucumber

Also, we had some ingenious volunteers work on the pump to get it to work without overheating and shutting down.

We'll start our regular schedule of maintenance next Sunday. After that, we'll have group work times Sunday and Thursday evenings. Volunteers are also welcome to come out at other times to help with things.

This Sunday we'll be finishing off planting some flowers, doing some more mulching, and laying down weed barrier.

Garden prep wrap-up

A big thank you to everyone who pitched in to get the garden ready for planting on Saturday. The rows were laid out and holes with compost were prepared for the tomatoes and peppers and other vegetables. The rest of the compost was spread along the rows for beans.

Word on the street is that hand held trowels would be helpful for the work on Sat. So if you have one or two, bring them along.

Garden prep work and planting

The garden was tilled on Tuesday night, so we are ready to plant.

Garden prep: Thursday, 2 June - 7pm

We need to get the irrigation hoses in place and mark off the rows. Then, we'll do some digging to get the compost into the ground for the seedlings. If you have a garden fork or a pitchfork, please bring it along.

Garden planting: Saturday, 4 June - 9am

We'll gather to get the seeds and seedlings in the ground and get the water running.

Hope you can make it.

First harvest: Peas and lettuce

The peas are ready to pick as is the lettuce. Some of the lettuce was used for the meal that is served as part of Wide Open, a worship service and dinner that is ministered by Galena United Methodist at Westerville Estates. The youth group, Souled Out, at Church of the Saviour will pick the peas and the rest of the lettuce to eat as part of their Sunday night meetings. Hopefully the rest of the garden will turn out this nice. It is a great way to start the summer.