Look deep into nature, and you will understand everything better Albert Einstein The threat of rain did not materialize, and we welcomed fellow MG's to our Open Garden on Tuesday. Our guests toured the Garden, asked questions, and joined us for 10 @ 10. They also enjoyed maple cookies provided by Darlene and blackcurrant jelly made by Lily. We had great presentations on our successes and failures for this year. We all have learned a lot this year--and we are always happy to share what we know. A huge thanks to our fellow garden volunteers for an amazing harvest festival. We shared our garden with hundreds of visitors! Our special attraction was the Children's garden. Thank you Sandy for making it so special! Schedule: October 17- Clean out sheds October 24- Joe will lead us with tool maintenance during 10 @ 10 October 31- Optional work day/ party at Maria Wortman's house at 12 noon Compost Central: Kristy Hardy We are coming to the end of the season and have one pile that is finished and will be sitting for a few weeks. It will be ready for gardeners in the spring. It is in bin #3 and was 100 degrees today. Marlowe worked on a large pile, moving from bin 5 to 4, adding greens from the garden clean-up and leaves from the leaf pile. Irma came and helped me with pile 1 moved to pile 2 that Larry had started a couple of weeks ago. We too added greens and browns. So next week we will probably add more to piles 2 and 4 and try to clean up as many greens as we can. We might need to put any leftover greens into a bin and keep it covered until spring. The goal will be to get the composting area neat and clean next week. Oh, and Marlowe's pile in bin 5 was 130 degrees this morning, so we were happy. Herb and Fragrance Garden: Kathy Tsai The Herb and Fragrance team was down by half today, due to illness and injury. Fortunately, this occurred as the season is winding down, so the work to be done is minimal. It was a short work day, as we primarily focused on some weeding and deadheading, before we put down a layer of leaf mulch, particularly in those areas of the garden that had bare soil. It seems that even the weeds are "winding down." Leaf mulch was also added along the fence line. Some cleanup of the spent flowers and foliage in the containers was done, as was our weekly cutting back of the African blue basil. The southernwood was also cut back to make it less unruly. Next week, we should have 75% of our team present; we wish Cindy Reillly a speedy recovery from her broken ankle, which will prevent her from being here presumably until next season. Butterfly Garden: Peggy Stanford As a result of the previous day rain and high humidity, our morning started out with very wet foliage. Weighted and leaning plants were trimmed from our paths. We discovered another Monarch chrysalis hiding in a clump of Canadian Golden Rod. We also had several Monarchs visit the garden today and many more during the Harvest Festival. Our Butterfly Garden is truly a "Way Station" this year. 100 Sq Ft Garden: Hope Dieckhans Today was Harvest Day! After looking lush and pretty for the festival over the weekend, the 100 sq ft garden was ready to give a plentiful yield of lettuce, kale, chili peppers, tomatillos, collards and chives. The vigorous plants were left to continue producing for one more week. Lettuce plants that had bolted and weeds were pulled. The crimson clover planted last week has sprouted! The garden is gearing up for fall! Children’s Garden: Sandy Chernin It did not seem like October in the garden today. With the heat, humidity, and the recent rain, it seemed more like summer than fall. It is hard to put the Children’s garden to bed when it is still going strong! So most plantings in Mr. MacGregor’s garden continue on: gourds that would benefit from more time ripening on the vine, peanuts that should stay underground until the plants’ foliage yellows, pepper plants that are still producing, cotton plants that continue to have beautiful pink flowers and ripening bolls of cotton and seeds. The cool weather plants are benefitting from the cool nights: a few radishes and some lettuce were picked for MANNA. So most efforts today were concentrated on the opposite end of the Children’s Garden – the no man’s land of dried up common milkweed and other weeds behind the tunnel covered with purple hyacinth bean vine. Yikes! Quite a mess! The hope is to finish weeding this area next week and cover with a layer of mulch. I would be remiss not to mention how much fun it was to be part of the Harvest Festival this past Saturday. Mr. MacGregor’s garden had an onslaught of approximately 200 visitors – a combination of adults and children. Photo opportunities were plentiful: sitting inside the cardinal vine teepee, crawling through the tunnel, standing next to Peter Rabbit. Inquisitive and engaged visitors seemed to be especially enthralled with how cotton and peanuts grow. And did I mention that we actually had peanuts to demonstrate? Excavation early in the day had uncovered some beautifully formed peanuts beneath the pegs! (All that time under row cover proved to be worthwhile). It took a young boy to point out to me that there was something unusual hanging from the rosemary in the fairy garden - a monarch chrysalis! Down low, and in the back of the pot, I likely would have never discovered it. A great day all around, with special thanks to Cat Kahn and Corinne Seguin for helping with tours of the garden! Therapeutic Horticulture Beds: Virginia White-Mahaffey The Therapeutic Horticulture beds reflect the benefits of the extended warm weather. Although some areas are finished producing for the year, other sections are still bursting with color. The remaining flowers routinely attract butterflies. In Bed 1 the flame-shaped celosia continue to bloom in great quantity in fierce shades of red. The Cut and Come Again zinnias are still blooming in small numbers. The few African blue basil plants offer terrific scent. The artemisia, however, has now reached flopping stage. In Bed 2 the vivid orange tithonium and the lavender’s foliage are thriving. In Bed 3 hundreds of still bright strawberry colored gomphrena blossoms greet visitors. The tall verbena bonariensis stalks delight passersby with their delightful purple tops. The white and copper chrysanthemums and very tall fennel offer reliable blooms. In Bed 4 the candle-shaped deep purple celosia and the vibrant gaillardia are blooming abundantly. In Bed 4.5 the pink gomphrena flowers dance in the slightest breeze; they are begging to be used in a TH project. Special Projects: The Carols Keyholes: Our tomato plants are still producing along with fish and green peppers. The lettuces and bok choy are also doing well. We were surprised to see a self-seeded pepper plant growing happily along side the compost basket in one of the keyholes. And speaking of self-seeded plants, a good crop of dill plants are growing along side of the front keyhole. Straw bales: Carol C dug up 4 more Adirondack Blue potatoes. The Ketchup and Fries plant has finished producing tomatoes and so the tomato stems were cut back. We will check for potatoes next week. Pallets: The nasturtiums are having a comeback with a few blooms and a return of a healthy green color. The lettuces are doing nicely as well as the herbs. Today's harvest included a good number of tomatoes, some peppers, and greens. Vegetable garden: Erica Smith, Robin Ritterhoff, Mary Anne Normile Today was all about harvesting crops that had been left to show off to visitors to the Harvest Festival, and continuing the gradual process of putting the vegetable garden to bed for the winter. We also reported on some of our notable successes to the “10@10,” among which were: —the new-to-us jalapeno “jalafuego,” a large, early and very productive and flavorful hybrid jalapeno; —large deliveries of produce from all vegetable-growing Derwood gardens to Manna, including a new single-day record August 6 of 216 pounds, of which just over half was tomatoes; —the successful summer lettuce crop achieved by growing summer and heat-resistant varieties like Muir, Summer Crisp, Concept, Buttercrunch, and others in the shaded salad tables; —the Three Sisters garden, made possible by the additional space opened up in the Annex garden, which demonstrates how corn, beans, and squash can be planted together; —the raised bed garden, which demonstrates how different types of raised beds can address problems like soil compaction and make vegetable gardening easier for people who have problem kneeling, stooping, or bending. Harvesting: Summer and winter squash; bok choy and komatsuna (cleared); kale, collards, Swiss chard, and mustard (partial harvest allowing plants to keep growing); lettuce; mouse melons, celery, sweet potato greens, loads of peppers, parsley, peas, pretzel beans (dried for shelling), okra, radishes, a single watermelon. Tending: cleared out several beds, including the Three Sisters garden, the bok choy bed, and komatsuna plants. Crimson clover cover crop seed planted a few weeks ago continues to put on size and fill in the areas where it was sown. The sugar snap and snow peas planted in mid-August in the annex garden to fill the trellis built for squash that did not survive is gloriously abundant and productive, and we hope for more harvests maybe through the end of the month. Over the next few weeks, beds will be amended with compost, and covered with newspaper and shredded leaves to keep winter weeds at bay. MANNA: Lily Bruch
Delivery today was 151 pounds. Total for the year so far is 1894! Wow! Great job everyone! That's a lot of food for the hungry!
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