Hi All,
Tod and I ended up going to Berkeley this weekend-the bees needed glycerin sponges to help with the mites and the Middle Hive still needs pollen to help them along. After that we spent at least 2 hours at the Ikea in Emeryville. The new van we bought for work we are also going to use for camping so Tod has been figuring out ways to keep it cleared out for work but then set it up with a bed and what not for camping! At Ikea he got some metal bars to use for our temporary bedding and I got a couple of things we “needed” for the house!
We had Kaiser join us in the garden last week! They were out on one of those extremely hot days and still helped us get a lot accomplished in the New Expansion. They helped Aditi add connectors to the main lines in beds S09-S16 and helped her to add irrigation lines to beds R01-R16. They were also out there with Brenda expanding tree holes and adding gopher protection mesh before planting 2 figs and a prune tree. Another part of the crew was helping Karina out in the pasture get ahead of the Star Thistle that started showing back up this year. The heat did start taking a toll though so they also helped us to pair the clean gloves that were done that morning, prep some stored garlic & onions for delivery to the pantries and organized the Box Shed!. All the trimmings from the garlic & onions they placed in Compost Bin #5. They also timed how fast a 5 gallon bucket will take to fill up so we can plan out the irrigation time for the trees they just planted!
ELM was also out and helped Kelly in the garden with taking off strawberry baskets on bed B05 so the seedlings can stretch and grow to full size. That also helped us in the afternoon shift to take those baskets and use them to cover the okra that was getting ravaged by birds! They continued their work with Kelly and helped him to find ground squirrel holes around the front of the garden so we can get them taken care of. Once the chores were done Kelly took them out to the Owl Box and they found an Owl pellet. Kelly broke it apart for them to examine the contents and they found a small skull inside! The contents are in the Office if you would like to see!
We had a nice size crew of BTC (Boys Team Charity) all out at the same time during one shift and it was a blast! Some of the boys helped Aditi & Brenda continue the irrigation work in the S beds, some helped Karina continue weeding out the pasture of the Star Thistle as well as starting the weeding out of the Big Hoop House and most of the moms joined me in getting some leftover plants in the ground as well as direct sowing some beet seeds into bed N10 and replacing some plants that did not make it.
Even with all that going on our crew of regular volunteers were still busy as ever!
CL has been helping out with getting cucumbers, bitter melons, opo and melons tied up off the ground and the plants are loving it! She did mention the other day that if there are any yellowing cucumbers on the vine to harvest it off so the plants won’t just start generating seed. That goes for any of our veggie plants that produce fruit, if anything is starting to go to seed always harvest it off so the energy can be redirected back into making fruit. If you are not sure what you are seeing grab one of the staff and we will help you figure it out! We are looking for help to keep the squash off the ground and also out of the paths. If anyone would be interested in taking that task on please let me know!
Leaks are happening, yup, even with the new irrigation. The critters are thirsty and are using the lines to stay hydrated. If you see a leak and know how to fix it please do so. If you see a leak and do not know how to fix it let us know and we will teach you how to fix them!
The last of our basil plants went in to the ground this past week. Bed M03 was direct sown with Lemon and Boston Pickling cucumbers. Corn was continued being sown in beds AB30 & Ab31. Watermelons were added in to a Sweet Passion melon bed which had some empty spots that needed filling. L01 cucumber bed needed a little bit of help so some Straight Eight cucumber seeds were sown into it and A17 was seeing the same with the Armenian cucumbers. Bed B13 we did not have any more seeds for National Pickling so Dragon’s Egg was sown instead! EL & DA all started some squash seeds for the corn beds. Once the corn starts growing we need to add both the squash plants and bean seeds to continue with the 3 Sisters.
The Berry Patch was weeded out and the blackberries were tied back. In the Orchard the apricot trees were trimmed back a bit. The CL grapes along the fence by the Worm Area had some bags tied over the bunches of grapes to protect them from the critters!
Weeding, our never-ending story! Bindweed stills abounds in the garden and volunteers were out unravelling it from our veggies plants! That is also something else we can do as we are harvesting on Tuesday and Wednesdays is unravelling the bindweed from the veggies plants as we see it. That will help our plants to thrive rather than concentrate on fending off a weed that is slowly twisting around them!
The new expansion had more trees planted into it. Bed R07 got a Black Republican cherry, S14 got a Dolgo Tree apple and S15 got 3 apple trees-Antonovka, Spitzenberg and (one of my favorites!) Macintosh! This is all part of the Tree Forest plan. Not only will it provide fruit for the pantries but it will also provide shade for the produce as well as our volunteers!
Burrow Busters will be back out this week. There are currently a lot of purple flags placed all around the garden and pasture. These are marking off the ground squirrel holes that are needing to be handled. If you see any that are not flagged please do grab a purple flag so it can get taken care of!
So much getting done in the garden and you all harvested 277.5# of produce for the local food pantries!
Thank you all for coming out to continue helping us with the garden!
Take care
Lori