On 19Nov10, Bruce and Mark planted all of the lettuces and salad mix greens that had been previously seeded in late October, and grown under lights in Mark’s garage. In bed B1, we put in approximately 33 rows of 4, oriented N-S. These plants were placed to the south of the peas in that bed. The lettuces were planted on the W side of the bed, and the salad mix greens in the center, and arugula (12 plants) on the E side. In bed B3, which had previously been direct seeded with Little Marvel peas (which did not germinate save one plant), Mark derocked and reformed the bed, then planted out about 6 additional salad mix greens, 12 pak choi, 36 chard (Bright Light, Italian Silver Rib, and Large White ribbed), and 7 spinach (6 Catalina and 1 Summer Perfection). In total, approximately 200 transplants were put in this day. On bed B3, only half of the bed is used. All lettuces and salad greens were spaced about 6 inches all around, and the chard/spinach were in 5 E-W rows, alternating plant spacing, with about 8 inches between plants in the rows.
Teaching garden, providing organic produce to feed the hungry of Livermore
Ron and Bruce prepared the Eastern 4 ft. of bed A5 (lightly cultivated and added in about a 1/2 inch cover of Home Depot steer manure compost mix and worked it into the top 2 to 3 inches) and planted it with 24 large leaf spinach seedlings. Seedling flat was planted by volunteers at Garden of Grace 10/27/10 and kept at Bruce's house. Flat was placed in full sun during daylight and moved to a covered place out doors at night. Nearly 100% germination was achieved. Nighttime temperatures during the germination and grow period were in the low 50s and mid to high 40's
Ron and Bruce also attached 4-pallets as dividers onto the the previously assembled compost bin back panel. An additional 9 pallets will be enough to complete a 5-bin compost frame (each bin 4'x4'x3.7') complete with removable bin front panels. This will allow us to compost all Open Heart Kitchen scraps with horse manure, leaves and grass from landscape maintenance, Carbon and green manure crops from garden, etc.
Update on bed B3: 5 days after planting the transplants (24Nov10), we had a week of freezing temps at night. Bruce and I covered beds B1 and B3 with row cover: B1 survived OK, with some leaf burn, but almost all of the chard and spinach in B3 was killed. The lettuces in B3 are OK.