Problems!

We've recently had a few reports of problems.

One Gardener said someone has been stealing her produce.

One Gardener says that another gardener dumps their garden debris in her garden and on the divider paths.

I've probably mentioned this, but since no one cleared off the divider paths they can't be mowed...there are chunks of concrete on them, and I'm not willing to submit my mower to that.

I'm disappointed by all of this, I had hoped our neighborhood was better than that.  

First tomato

The first tomato was actually over-ripe by a day or 2.  The elusive little bugger was way inside the plant, dead center.  Hard to get out, but worth it, because even though it was over-ripe, it was still good.  Roma, in case you were wondering. 

I washed it with water, sliced it, sprinkled some salt and pepper on it and ate it.  I chased it with some raw peas also picked today, about the 3rd (small) harvest of peas.

Overall, the gardens look good...except mine, of course.  Mine is still half crab grass, which looks terrible.  Luckily, it's at the end where only one other gardener has to look at.

my "bush" squash plants are both looking great, with a couple of squashes on each.  My peppers look good, all 5 are loaded with peppers, sadly the 4 that are not spicy hot are just little bells, so I hope they ripen to not green.

We got a nice rain last night and today, so everything will grow some more.  yay.  

More good news:  2 gardeners have mentioned mowing the grass at the garden, but one has an electric mower, and of course since there is no house, there's no power.  The other person has a new car and isn't willing to put her mower in it.  I understand that.  (What I don't understand is why she doesn't just push the thing over like I do.) (I guess I live a little closer) But the point is that they seem to care.  Thanks, ladies...I appreciate that.  maybe I'll mow this week...it looks pretty terrible.

Mid July update

Mid July, nothing much appears to be happening in the garden. 

But there is a lot of growing going on...my peas and squash are growing fast, the tomaters are looking good, there are blossoms on the peppers, and of course, the weeds are doing great.  There are a couple peppers on the pepper plant, as well.

Lori's garden is really amazing...all of her plants are growing like my weeds are, and she has no weeds.  She's put down sheets of newspaper, which must help somehow.  

I mulched with an old hay bale that I picked up when we cleaned up around the Hardee's and with shredded paper that Dick got from the Kasson bank.  I think the shredded paper works better than the sheets of paper, because it stays right where it's placed, unlike the sheets, which blow around and lift up.  But her garden looks 100% better than mine, so who am I to question?  

I will say that if I decide to participate in the garden next year there will be a schedule made out in advance:  I'm not going to be the only one mowing next year.  Mowing and trimming my lawn, trimming the ditch along Broadway, trimming the grassy area along 12th street AND tending the grass around the garden is getting old.

Yes, I'm lazy.

If you love to mow, please step forward to help.  I'll pay you with tomatoes, assuming some grow.

Late June update

I suppose a good bloggy writer would find a bloggy photographer and put in some pics of the gardens, but.......maybe later.

I recently returned from a 16 day vacation, coupled with the bad weather of May, early June was a terrible time to go on a vacation, garden-wise.  Motorcycle-wise, it was nearly perfect.  All the gardens look pretty good, except mine....mine is covered with grass, clover, and weeds...and not much is growing well except for those pests.  Oh, ok, the peppers and tomatoes are looking pretty good, and I could have harvested a pepper tonight, but I don't know if it's done yet.

Kim has really gotten the kids involved with the children's plot, they've got a lot of stuff planted and interest level seems to remain pretty high.  I wonder if she could turn them loose on my garden?

Right before I left, I planted a couple short rows of peas, some squash and tried to mulch with some hay.  The peas are growing, and looking pretty good, I hope it doesn't get too warm for them. 

I'm not sure what is going on with the squash, I think I've got a couple going, not real sure what it looks like at this stage.  :)

I delivered a water barrel to the garden tonight, and was surprised to hear coming from across the street a drum solo which could only have been inspired by Animal, from the Muppets.  What that guy lacks in skill, he makes up with cymbals. What a terrible thing to have to listen to every day or 2; I feel sorry for the neighbors.  Thankfully he stopped shortly after I arrived.  

I'm curious to see what the gardeners do with the water barrel.  It has 2 threaded bungs on the top, maybe 3", maybe a little smaller.  The bung can be altered to accept a smaller pipe fitting, which could of course be converted to hose thread.

There you go, a pic of my garden from early June, right after I put up the fence. The area from the bottom of the pic to the hay bale is pretty much solid grass; I may have to borrow Dick's little tiller to chew that up.

Garden update

Garden update:

Most of us have planted some stuff, only one hasn't.  One guy only has one row planted, same can be said for the kid's garden.

I think that is an unusual thing: the row of taters that they've planted.  Instead of planting them the traditional way of digging a small trench and putting the spuds in the dirt, they laid down a layer of cardboard, put down the eyes and covered them with shaved wood chips.  They didn't get any water for a few days, then got a few days of rain. I didn't see any growth activity there yet, and I'll see about a pic.

One family planted their plot in diagonal rows, looks great.  They found some large concrete chunks in the end:  I wonder if they're steps.  Dick says that they're silo staves.  Regardless, it's going to be a real PIA to remove them.

One lady has planted her plot with all plants instead of seeds, this is a great idea, because you know right away where stuff is, you don't forget where it is or what it is.  

The other lady has maybe 4 rows of something that run most of the length of her plot, obviously she used seeds, and originally marked the rows with chunks of concrete that she was supposed to gather up and relocate to to the rock pile.  She has since replaced the markers with bits of used wood trim which has nails in it but has not yet moved her rocks.

I've planted some stuff:  5 peppers, 2 Roma tomatoes, some bush buttercup squash, some peas, and the flowers are still there, looking yellow.  My zucchini plant has disappeared, which is sad because I gave all my spare seeds to my sister.

Lori has installed a fence to protect all her plants, so I put up my fence too.  I used 2 square wooden posts and 2 steel posts on the corners so I could get the fence sort of tight.  I used bamboo posts to hold it still and steady in the middle.  Instead of using twist ties or zip ties to fasten the fence to the bamboo, I wove the posts into the wire like I saw Lori do, I thought that was a great idea.  

The peas I planted said they'll grow to 5-6' tall and need some support...so I took 3 of those bamboos, and a chunk of wire and made a support.  I can add on to it if need be, may need more posts or more substantial posts.

I'll get you some pics, this is boring w/o pics. 

Craigslist ad provides some stuff...

Gardeners, I was looking at craigslist a week or so ago and saw an ad responding to an ad wanting containers for gardening.  They said they had lots of stuff, so I volunteered to take it off their hands.

Here's a partial list of what I hauled home, Pics to follow.

• 3 heart shaped hanging planter holders
• 3 baskets to hold a pot
• 2 hanging baskets
• several pots
• wind chimes, other hanging decorative items
• 2 sprinklers
• watering wand
• 3 hoes, all different styles
• dirt rake
• 4 stepping stones
• 3 tomato cages
• pick
• steel post driver
• some baskets, etc.

If you need some chunks of concrete block to elevate your rain barrel, let me know.  That section of wall has been unstable for several years, and the weekend wind took it down.  :(

We also got a couple of stick in the ground decorations and a rabbit with a brush on his belly to clean our shoes.

The rake is at the garden, along with the pitchfork that the neighbor to the west gave to us.  The pitchfork works really well for picking up the sod clods.

All of this stuff was free, did I mention that?  I think it will either make the garden look like a trailer park, or really dress it up nicely.  

Picking up and moving the sod clods is about as much fun as can be expected, running  a fork and wheelbarrow in the burning hot sun while the neighbors eat, drink and be merry on their deck, with occasional Buster the dog barking out some exclamations and punctuation's.  (I think he's a Chocolate Lab, but may be a Chesapeake Water Dog.)  (he's big and loud) What I meant to say is to go easy with it, don't work yourself to exhaustion, take your life alert button and remember your water bottle.  The handles of the rake and fork are kind of rough, so be sure to wear some good gloves....

Tilling the garden

This property has sat unused except for being mowed a few times a year for about 7 years, so the grass has lots of roots.  So Dick bought a TroyBilt tiller and measured off the plots and tilled each one several times.

He then raked the sod clods to the edges.  We'll shovel up and pile the grass in a pile and call it a compost heap to make more dirt for our garden plots.  

It is amazing the number of rocks and bricks that have been unearthed; actually the amount of stuff found will impress even my wife's mother in law. 

For example, I brought home an exhaust valve.

A neighbor to the garden, Brandon, has been over with his metal detector, but I don't know what treasures he's found.  I hope to get a list or a picture soon.

We'll use the rocks and bricks to hold up any barrel gardens or water barrels we have on site; reusing and repurposing things is a great way to recycle them. 

I've seen some glass and a battery, so I took a bucket over to contain the trash, and a bucket to hold the bricks and rocks while raking the sod clods.  Both are full of water right now, and some snow, probably.

Along the west neighbor's garage, there's some stinging/burning nettles...until we get those taken care of, do be careful, and esp keep your kids safe.  Vinegar is probably the best neutralizer for them.  

Speaking of snow, I'm tired of it and ready for spring and summer.  Are you?

Getting the garden started

The Sunnyside Neighborhood Association is located in Rochester, MN; bordered by 9th ST SE on the north, 12th St SE on the south, Broadway on the west and 3rd Ave on the east.  The Garden is on 10 1/4th St, between 212 and 220.  It is owned by Kevin Carr; he bought it several years ago, removed the house and all the junk with the intention of moving a house back onto the property, but the economy and housing market, etc didn't cooperate.

We have a website and a FB page.  I am the president of the SNA.  Mick King, motorcycle rider, bus driver, baker, massage therapist, mechanic, cook, photographer, woodworker, gardener, dog and cat lover.  I grew up on a farm and have had quite a variety of occupations.  This blog will stay focused on SNA and the garden, just poke around a little bit with Uncle Google to find my personal blog...if you dare.

In reality, the community garden got it's start about the same time as the entire neighborhood association...late fall, 2012.  I had been given a lot of winter squash and was really enjoying it.  I said to myself: "self, where could I put in a garden that would be nearby and convenient?"

I've known myself a long time, and if it is not convenient, I'll find lots of excuses to not tend it.  One night while driving home, I saw the sign (see second pic).  Lot for sale, call....

My imagination got to  work on the project, and brought it up at a "steering/core" meeting, when we were working on bylaws for the SNA.  Dick said he knew the guy and would call him to find out if he was agreeable to the idea...and he was.

At a neighborhood meeting, I brought it up, asked if anyone was interested, and thankfully they were; we currently have more interest than we have space.

Before tilling, April 23, 2013

After tilling, May 2, 2013 The neighbor to the East uses the driveway, apparently his snowplow driver did some plowing of the dirt as well.

Dick, of Dick's repair, went out and bought a slightly used tiller to grind up the sod, and really worked hard to get the 6 plots tilled up before a weeks worth of rain and snow set in, dumping about 15" of wet heavy snow on Rochester.

The plots measure approx 12'W and 20'L, cost to garden for the year is $20.

Some things I've been thinking about:

• encourage everyone to fence their plot to deter rabbits
• haul in some compost to fertilize the soil
• find/make "Shepard's hooks" to hang some baskets of flowers or other growing things
• make a sign
• put a gutter on the neighbor's garage to fill a rain barrel
• hang a thermometer and rain gauge
• garden plot esp for kids
• grow pumpkins for an autumn event
• place barrels for raised mini gardens for those that don't want/can't handle a full sized plot.

Here's who plans to do some gardening:

• Toni
• Jake and Stephanie
• Christine
• Lori
• Sandy
• me
• neighborhood kids

Feedback, questions, comments, suggestions, volunteering all welcome and encouraged.