Community Garden

Wednesday, July 29, 2009







Salutations!
It's hard to believe that the tiny lettuce seeds we started in the winter have given us their energy, gone to seed once more, and then been turned into new energy in the compost. As tomatoes and broccoli are ripening, our second crop of lettuce and other greens is already coming up!
Yesterday, Tuesday the 28th, we pulled up the old arugula and lettuce and also thinned the beets. We harvested beautifully multi-colored chard and some kale, as well as the last of the peas and some beets. We watered our gargantuan tomato plants and their pepper, broccoli, eggplant, and petunia sisters and brothers. The perennial and annual flowering plants around our new arbour garden and bordering one side of the green house are going strong - all except chamomile which has past its prime.
We were rockin' in the Simple Garden plot, creating three new raised beds and filling two of them with basil, parsley, and chard. Bordering the beds we planted some petunias for a bit of instant color and flowering plants purchased recently from Mother Earth Gardens - a few well known favorites like salvia and a shasta daisy as well as native perennials including tickseed and monkey's paw flower.
See you next Tuesday from 6-8 - and don't forget that August 11th from 6-8 will be our garden potluck!
Peace,
Esther

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Simple Garden Gets a Major Haircut

At our last Community Garden night, Tuesday the 14th, we dug in (literally) and pulled almost all the weeds from our Simple Garden plot. As many of you know, this plot is located on St. Kate's campus behind St. Mary residence hall and was started by a St. Kate's student as her senior honor's project. Over the years, the garden has been maintained by students, staff, faculty, and community members of St. Kate's. This year, those of us in connection with gardening energy at St. Kate's and Celeste's Dream decided a collaboration was the way to go to revitalize the Simple Garden plot, which was moving towards being a weed sanctuary. 
Thanks to the energetic troupe of gardeners that came this past Tuesday, we were able to make great headway on the plot, pulling everything from creeping charlie to flowering thistles to baby oaks. It was a hard night, indeed, but cool temps and a nice breeze kept bugs and foreheads drenched in sweat at bay. 
The following day, Wednesday the 15th, Pete Nipp, St. Kate's horticulturalist, graciously tilled the now weed-free sections of our garden. Except for the perennial herb section, most of the plot is tilled and ready to be planted. 
Speaking of plants, we have an exciting plan for our new space. Planting a nitrogen-fixing ground cover like red clover is a great way to get something useful growing in a section of the garden so that weeds cannot make a start. Late season crops like kale, chard, and beets will be planted along with annual and perennial-native flowers that will add beauty and invite beneficial insects to visit our space. 
If you are one of our gardeners and have some suggestions for the new plot, please leave them as comments or email us at celeste@csjstpaul.org
See you next Tuesday from 6-8 pm! We will meet first at the greenhouse behind the Carondelet Center and then disperse to the different plots. 
Peace, 
Esther

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Hurray for green, growing beings!
Last night, a small group of gardeners worked hard to cultivate the soil and remove the weeds that surrounded our large, strong crops. Growing in the garden are several varieties of tomatoes, broccoli, eggplant, peppers (hot and sweet), lettuces, dinosaur and red Russian kale, beets, peas, and a three sisters garden of corn, beans, and squash communities. We also have perennial herbs and flowers returning and some annual flowers to brighten our plots. In addition to weeding, we suckered tomatoes, a process which some of us found difficult, as it involves cutting off some unnecessary limbs and sometimes sacrificing potential tomatoes. Ultimately, however, we believe that suckering helps keeps the plants manageable and concentrates their energy on fruit production. Indeed, the tomato plants that we suckered last week were much taller than their unsuckered sisters when we checked things out yesterday.
Our harvest was plentiful! We took home bunches of kale and chard and about a pound of sweet and delicious pea pods.
Even though all the plants are in the ground and thriving, there is still more work to be done on the Simple Garden plot located behind St. Mary residence hall on St. Kate's campus. In that plot, we plan to plant some late season crops, such as greens and beets, as well as ground cover to prepare the soil for future plantings. First we must prep the soil, which is currently full of weeds, and so the more hands the better. See you Tuesday!
Peace,
Esther