Upcoming plantings

Beans!

The soil is starting to warm up. The communal garden will be planting the beans soon.

Currently, we're in the process of moving Barbara's bean trellis to the garden. Once it's in place, and if the weather continues to cooperate, we can plant the pole beans. We'll also be planting a few kinds of bush beans for a continuous bean harvest.

Check the blog again in the next few days for bean announcements.

Peas

The peas are poking through the ground. They'll be looking for some support to climb. If anyone has some garden sticks, we'd appreciate them. Please let Barbara, Nancy, or Cheryl know.

Watch for birds. They LOVE to eat the tender pea shoots when they first come up. If you notice birds in the pea patch, let Barbara or Nancy know. We'd have to cover the peas immediately. Maybe we'll be lucky - sometimes the birds don't find them.

Pumpkins and dry beans

The pumpkin patch needs a bit more time to solarize so that we're sure the edges of the sod are dead. If you're walking by, please check the pumpkin seedlings sitting beside the pumpkin patch. Make sure they're moist. If they're getting dry, simply dip the pots into the puddle for five minutes, then take them back out again.

In a couple of weeks, we'll remove the plastic, transplant the pumpkins, and plant the dry beans in the pumpkin patch. We'll also be adding some flower seeds.

Mulching

Mulching wasn't worth talking about in the muck and rain of May. But June is usually fairly dry. Unless we're planning to haul a lot of water onto our garden beds, we need to mulch.

Fortunately, we have lots of wood chips handy!

One benefit of mulching is that it prevents the soil from drying out. Another benefit is that it helps the clay soil to loosen up. A third benefit is that over the summer, the wood chips will dry out and become compost. So that's three benefits for the price of one-- and the wood chips were free to start with!

If you're looking for a job to do, please add mulch around the base of each tomato and pepper plant, about 1 foot in each direction. The larger cucumber and squash plants could use some mulch too.

In another week or so, we can mulch the broccoli and peas too. But we need to wait for all the seeds to come up first so that we know where everything is.

Tomato Got The Blues

Red-stemming

It should be called purple-stemming. The stem goes purple first. If you don't correct this problem in time, the undersides of the leaves turn purple. If you don't correct that problem in time, the whole plant turns purple. Like this.

Notice as well how the little leaves are pulling upward, instead of branching outward. That's another sign of stress.

Tomatoes need a lot of soil nutrients. If you grow your seedlings in a peat mix, with no real soil and no fertilizers, it will get red-stem.

The solution is to give the tomato a quick dose of liquid fertilizer. Then replant it in rich soil. In a few days, the purple will give way to green.

Small seedlings that get a bit of red-stemming survive just fine. But the longer they're red-stemmed, the lower their chances of producing a good crop of tomatoes.


Tomato Twist

Tomato leaves and branches twist when the plant it stressed. Sometimes peppers do this too.

The stress can be caused by cold temperatures. But it's often a sign of disease.

This tomato has some kind of blight. Note the spots on the leaves.

If your tomato starts doing the twist, pay close attention. It's trying to communicate that something's wrong.



Purple-leafed peppers

Peppers get red-stemming too. They take longer to show signs of poor soil than tomatoes do. If your pepper leaves turn purple, that's a sign that it's been grown in soil that's nutrient-poor.

Avoid giving peppers a big dose of fertilizer until they're flowering and fruiting. Otherwise you'll promote leaf growth and discourage fruit growth. Instead, repot it in real soil.

Leaf burn

Seedlings grown indoors or in greenhouses aren't used to the sun's harsh UV rays. Believe it or not, the seedlings will get sunburn.


Leaf sunburn looks like silvery patches, which soon turn crisp. The plant suffers because of the loss of leaves. It will recover, but your harvest will be delayed.

Always harden off seedlings before planting outside. The general pattern is a 1/2 hour of direct sunlight per day for 2 days, then 1 hour for 2 days, then 1 1/2 hours for 2 days, etc., until you reach a full day.

It takes about two weeks to harden off a seedling.

Communal Bed Planting Bee

Are you a member of the CPCG communal bed? We need you!

When: Saturday, May 21, 9:30 a.m.
Where: Communal bed
Why: Planting tomato, pepper, cucumber, squash, melon, groundcherry seedlings

Bring a handspade, a big spade, and sunscreen (because it WILL BE SUNNY [shaking fist at sky]!). A wheelbarrow might be handy for laying down wood chips on any new paths.

Drainage

Our drainage woes are receding, thanks to some excellent shovel work on the part of many members.

If you haven't yet, please add a ditch at the base of your bed and gulleys along the sides. If you're in a centre bed, chop a small gulley through the wood-chip paths so that the water can drain away. Standing water in a garden is not good.

Next year, we'll add more soil amendments to loosen the clay. This year, we have to be pioneers and work with what we've got.

Is that gasoline in the water?

Some observant members have noticed a gasoline-like film on top of the water in the gulleys. Is it gasoline?

Closer observation will show that it doesn't look quite like gasoline. It looks more like the greasy scum on the edge of standing-water ponds.

It's most likely a by-product of the compost, combined with the standing water. Think of it as a greasy tea that's been steeping for three weeks. Not good. Let's get those drainage ditches open and flowing.

Are we there yet?

The nights are above 10 degrees but not by much. Cool-weather seedlings/seeds should be planted by now. Tomatoes, peppers, and cucurbits can go out, but they'll be happier when it's warmer at night.

Avoid the temptation to plant snap beans. Only broad beans and purple-pod beans can be planted now, since they're the cold-hardiest of the beans. The next hardiest are the black-seeded beans (the black colour is a hardiness indicator). The least hardy are the pale-coloured beans.

Wait till the beginning of June. Beans needs soil of 15 degrees at night. After that, you can do successive plantings every two weeks until mid-August to get a continuous crop. By August consider seeding a purple-podded bean like Royal Burgundy in case September is cool.

What's up?

Seeds have been slow in germinating, due to the cool weather, but the rain has been very helpful. In the communal bed, the mesclun, kale, and swiss chard has sprouted. So have the peas and green onions. The carrots are just starting. No sign of the potatoes yet.

From the mouths of babes (well, almost)

Liz Neely's grade one/two class, from St. Thomas More School, visited our garden last week.  Not only did they enjoy exploring our new community space, but they chipped in and helped with planting the communal beds and spreading chips on the paths!  Here are their thoughts about their day in our garden:

“I liked when I was pushing the wheelbarrow full of wood chips.”  Teagan

“I liked carrying the grass.”  Dez

“I liked filling in the paths with wood chips.”  Isaac, Talen

“I liked when we were looking at the plants.”  Kimberly

“I liked putting the potatoes in the dirt.”  Audric

“I liked helping make the pumpkin patch.”  Kali, Brilyn

“I liked throwing the rabbit food onto the sod.”  Daniel

“I liked putting the worms on the orange sheet (tarp).”  Tyler

“I liked putting the potatoes in the holes.”  Brileigh

“I liked planting the broccoli.”  Andrew

“I liked planting the cabbage.”  Sophia

“I liked putting the wood chips in the pathway.”  Ricardo

Here comes the weekend!

Smoky barbecues, patio chairs, tall cold drinks – summer’s on its way as the May long weekend rolls in! The weather is supposed to cooperate, so take an hour or two to come down to the gardens and see what’s happening.

As you arrive, notice the tidy arrangement of water barrels along the wall of the church. We’re still fine-tuning the set-up to make watering easier. For now, feel free to fill watering cans from the creek at the edge of the site.

Family Plots

If you have one of the family plots, you’ll see that some members have started a ditch along one side and a drain-away gulley down to the end of the site. Getting that ditch to go all around the garden would be a good idea.

Also, if someone can think of a clever way to put a tube or pipe in the drain-away ditch, that would be helpful. It would be nice if we could cover up the ditches with sod to make mowing easier for the church.

Finally, think about drainage as you plan your plots. Make at least one gulley in your bed to help the clay soil release its water down to the ditch. Use the soil to hill up your bed so that you have a high, dry mounds.

Communal Bed

Thanks to the Grades 1 and 2 classes from St. Thomas More School, four-year-old Andrew Zhang, and a few adult volunteers, one-third of the communal bed was planted on Thursday. Not much has come up yet, but you can admire their handiwork. Everyone was good and muddy by the end of the afternoon, and we all know each other a little better!

Barbara will take over planning the remainder of the garden after she returns from England on Tuesday If you’re interested in helping out with planting tomatoes, peppers, ground cherries, melons, cucumbers, squash, and beans, that work will probably start late in the week. We’ll keep you posted.

If you have time to volunteer over the weekend, here are some tasks that need to be done:

·         Finish building the pumpkin patch: Cheryl, Deb, Bill, and 25 youngsters made a great start in hauling the sod over to the new pumpkin patch. They found that both wheelbarrows and sleds work well. The goal is to build it up to knee-high and get rid of the sold pile, so if you have some time to volunteer, this is an important job. Once the bed is built, we’ll decide if we need to solar-cook it with clear plastic to kill the sod over two weeks, or if we can plant the pumpkins right away.

·         Dig gulleys and mound soil in the empty beds: The south and centre beds of the communal gardens still have piles of compost that need to be raked, and they need some gulleys to drain off the water. There should be a gulley along each of the raised paths. If you have a shovel and can take on this task, that would be great. We may need to add more drainage later, but we have to plan where the paths go first. Keep in mind that the water drains toward the parking lot and toward the back of the lot.

Tomato Time?

According to http://www.theweathernetwork.com, night-time temperatures will be above 10 degrees from now until at least early June. So you can consider putting out your tomatoes, peppers, and cucurbits. A basic rule of thumb: If you have to wear gloves to go out at night, it’s too cold for tomatoes.

What does a distressed tomato look like?

·         New leaves are chartreuse: Instead of rich green, the youngest leaves are light green. This is a sign that the roots are too cold to absorb nutrients. The plant needs a dose of liquid fertilizer and something to warm the soil.

·         The leaves round upward like little canoes: Curling leaves is a reaction to the cold, kind of like shivering. Wrap the plant in clear plastic to make a mini greenhouse.

·         The stem turns red: Red-stemming means the plant can’t absorb minerals. Give liquid fertilizer till the stem turns green again.

Why are the lettuce and carrot beds covered?

Small seeds take a while to germinate. They have to stay moist the whole time. Covering seed beds with old towels or T-shirts helps prevent evaporation. After a week, we’ll remove the covers so that the rooted seeds can get sunlight.

Church Plant Sale

The Good Thief Church on Union Street is having a plant sale on Saturday, May 28. If you haven’t purchased all your veggies by then, you might want to check it out.


Nancy

Watch the weather, not the calendar

Some people plant all their vegetables on the May long weekend. This works for flowers, but it isn’t so great for vegetables.

Cool-weather vegetables go in the garden early April to early May (peas, spinach, lettuce, some brassicas, onions). These plants go in the ground as soon as the soil can be worked, provided you have good drainage.

Mid-weather vegetables go in the garden late April to late May (carrots, potatoes, some brassicas, late lettuces, most herbs). These plants need night-time temperatures steadily above 6 degrees, preferably closer to 10 degrees.

Hot-weather vegetables go in the garden late May to early June (tomatoes, peppers, beans, melons, squash). These plants need night-time temperatures steadily above 10 degrees, preferably closer to 15 degrees. Most of these plants get diseases or stop growing in cool soil.

So instead of looking at the calendar, look at http://www.theweathernetwork.com. Find the 14-day trend. It will show expected day-time highs and night-time lows for the next two weeks.

Since this has been a La Nina spring (cool and wet), spring is late. Don’t plan on putting tomatoes out on schedule this year.

If you’re a new gardener, you might want to consider getting a beginner’s gardening book out of the library and reading it cover to cover. It’s handy to know some basic techniques.

Nancy

Turn, turn, turn

Before you plant anything, turn your soil. Using a shovel, dig about 10-15 cm down and flip it over. Do this all over your bed. Then chop the chunks and rake it. This helps mix the compost into the top few cm of clay.

Then form your bed into mounds with water channels between them. This will help keep your plants’ roots from rotting in standing water. Clay isn’t great for gard ening, and CPCG will work on getting more soil amendments for next year. For this year, we have to work with what we’ve got.

Nancy

Where did all the compost go?

If you visit your community garden bed today, you might wonder where all your compost went. The lovely chocolate colour has given way to a slate-grey sludge. That slate-grey sludge is clay. Water doesn’t soak through clay, so it just sits on top. Your compost floated around in the rain, then sank down into the clay. You may not see any compost at all, or you might just see traces of it.

What it means is that you don’t have enough compost. So grab and shovel and get a couple more wheelbarrows-full for your plot before it’s gone.

Nancy

Drainage challenges

Today, the amount of rain exposed drainage problems in our new garden. Both beds were pools of water. Under the layers of topsoil and compost is a bed of clay on limestone. Since the site is so flat, the rain has no where to go.

Nancy dug a ditch around the communal bed today to give the water an exit from the garden bed. The ditch drains to the back of the site. We will have to take a look at the family plots. We may want to consider digging a ditch system there as well.

A new community digs in

 Many thanks to our community gardeners who came together, despite the constant downpour, and helped get our garden beds ready for planting. For more photos, check out our Picasa album.

Let's get started!

The rain and cool temperatures have created a perfect opportunity to get cool-weather plants into the ground.  

Nancy Mucklow has created a handy tip sheet for first-time gardeners. You'll find it linked in the Gardening Tips section of this blog.  She recommends planting your seeds and seedlings in blocks rather than rows to maximize your growing space. She also strongly recommends making row/block markers so that you can remember where the peas and beans are tucked into the soil.

The communal gardening team will be busy this week planting peas, snow peas, snap peas, cabbage and broccoli seedlings, spinach, kale, a variety of lettuces, green onions, potatoes and raspberries! Carrots will have to wait for the end of this cold snap.  If you're on this team, please contact Nancy to find out planting times.

Volunteers from the Enviro Club at St. Thomas More school will be helping us out with the planting. Thanks very much to the students and staff!

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Join the work bee on Saturday!

First, a big "THANK YOU" to Parker and his crew for an amazing job removing sod from our garden area! If anyone is in need of some strips of sod, please help yourself to the substantial pile at the back of the church property.

 

We need lots of help this Saturday to continue the garden preparations.  Three big piles of compost, topsoil and woodchips need to be distributed to all the garden plots so please bring a shovel, heavy rake and (if possible) a wheelbarrow.  If you don't have the tools yourself, we should have extras.  

 

The Saturday weather forecast is looking better and better but we'll be there rain or shine starting from 9:30.  If you don't have the time or strength for this labour, please stop by anyway to support the workers and see what's getting accomplished.  Children, friends, neighbours, picnics,... ALL are welcome.  

 

This is the day to choose your family plot or make suggestions for the communal beds.  We'll also be collecting membership fees (cash please) and signed membership agreements.  

 

Cheryl Fischer

Garden Site Coordinator

It's Official!

The Calvin Park Community Garden Steering Committee is delighted to announce that an agreement with Cookes-Portsmouth United Church was finalized this evening.  The church has generously agreed to host our garden on the expansive green space tucked behind their church.

 

The Committee would like to express it's gratitude to the Cookes-Portsmouth church family for supporting us in this endeavour.  May it bring our community closer together! 

Garage sale a great success!

The garage sale yesterday was a big success! The weather was perfect, we had a steady stream of interested buyers, and we raised $700 for our community garden! This money will be put to good use paying for insurance and soil and starting a tool shed fund.

This was truly a group effort. Thank you to all of you who contributed items and baked delicious treats for our bake sale. Thank you to Nancy, Barbara, Karen, Donna, Kim and Sarah for helping to sell yesterday. Thank you to Parker for the signs.

I would especially like to thank Barbara  Walker for her support before the sale, on the day of the sale, and for her donation of many lovely plants to our successful plant sale. A big thank you to Nancy Mucklow for her advice, fabulous pricing job and for being the earliest volunteer yesterday!

It was great to meet some of the other members of the Calvin Park Community Garden and I look forward to meeting more of you on Saturday May 16^th.

Great job!!

Joanna