If you trully love Nature, you will find beauty everywhere. Vincent Van Gogh Another beautiful garden day! Thank you all who keep showing up to work in this beautiful place. We appreciate your donation of your time, energy and enthusiasm to this garden! We had a dad and his two daughters show up at the garden today. They loved the garden and learned a lot about where our food comes from. Another couple came by who wanted to plant a new bed and wanted new ideas! They were thrilled! There are many visitors who come by during the weekend when we're there watering. Thank goodness there is no need to water this week as we are getting enough rain! Don't forget to put the encounters on your mg hours. Its important for the garden to capture those numbers. Garden Reports: Shade Garden: Susan Schick (meets Thursday mornings) Our hardy begonias (Begonia grandis) are beginning to bloom and the Shade Garden was cool and peaceful. The Shady Crew arrived with paint and brushes to tackle the back of the sheds. In no time the sheds looked (almost) new! We couldn't have had a better day to work! Thank you, Shady Crew! Herb and Fragrance Garden: Kathy Tsai The herb and fragrance team spent this week working on several projects. We began by cutting back hard on the Russian sage which had become too large for it's own good. It was shading too much of the lavendar. The lavendar, in turn, was thinned out and a lot of old wood was removed. In the same area, the tansy was tamed some. On the other side of the mulched path, the anise hyssop was cut back as it was almost covering our heirloom rose. Other plants were deadheaded and some were propped up with wire to open up the walkway. Apparently our rainy, humid summer has been good for the garden as so many plants have grown large and lush. As we were winding down from all the cutting, we were all fascinated watching a cicada killer wasp trying to get a cicada ( which was larger than the wasp) into its burrow in the ground. They are impressive insects to see. Compost Central: Lily Bruch We missed Kristy this week, but glad that Marlow and Larry were able to join us! Great to see you guys! A beautiful day at the garden! Children’s Report : Sandy Chernin Such a delightful morning to be at Derwood! I was joined by Amy, Audrey and Irma and we spent the time getting the garden in tip-top shape. In Mrs. MacGregor’s garden, we found that rabbits had nibbled the top of all three peanut plants. Although we would prefer for the garden to appear as simple and as visually appealing as possible (for children to view and enjoy), we decided to place the peanut plants under row cover. Hopefully this will deter the rabbits long enough to get some peanuts forming underground, to exhibit at the Fall Festival! Thank you Audrey and Irma for your help! Harvested were several yellow banana peppers, basil and a small container of Sun Gold tomatoes. Several green peppers should be ready to harvest next week. Radishes (Cherry Belle seeds planted last week) are vigorously popping up. The Detroit Dark Red Beets are making a slower showing. The lone tomato plant (suffering from some Septoria leaf spot) was gently trimmed of diseased branches. The remaining gourd plants are producing some great looking gourds, of mixed shapes and colors. These plants were also gently trimmed of some lower branches that were showing signs of powdery mildew. If I can get back to the garden this week, would like to try and milk/water spray treatment, as suggested by Erica and confirmed in some on-line exploration. Weeding and tidying was the focus in the Garden of Plants with Animal Names. It Is now easier to see each plant and identifying sign. The Turtlehead and Lion’s Ear plants are showing flower buds and should be in bloom soon. And hip hip hooray for the cardinal vine that has entirely (and finally) spread over the teepee. Several Master Gardeners came by to take a time out to sit inside. If you have not seen this, please stop by – it is a great photo opportunity! Butterfly Garden: Bobby Maxwell Today was very interesting. We saw several monarchs. Julie took picture of the wings of one of them. She said it was a male. The frogs were very entertaining. We fed them bugs. They were good at catching them, even the frog with one eye. Ginny and I did pruning of the butterfly bush, and many flower heads, cone flowers monardas , heliopsis and the hops vine. Julie pruned the mint bush and now we can walk by it. Much weeding was done by everyone. Thanks to Emma, who said she loved to pull weeds. Children's Therapeutic Horticulture: Ellen Meyerson The good weather made everyone enthusiastic about being in the garden. The students were very busy and happy harvesting vegetables for the Fair. They picked beets, green beans, onions and carrots. We did some more planting of fall crops - lettuce, spinach, carrots and beets. Even though we had probably had enough rain, the students were allowed to water the plants because it is one of their favorite activities. If you go to the Fair do stop by the 4H building to see the produce and the ribbons that they have won. Therapeutic Horticulture: Bob Loesche With all the nice rain, things continue to look good in the TH beds. Pretty much the same flowers remain available as the last couple of weeks, with the additions in Bed 4 of the Goldquelle rudbeckia and the celosia. We also had a friendly visit from a male monarch butterfly (see photo). Bed 1: Cut and Come Again zinnia continue to prosper; as I walked in this morning Sandy and Ginny both said that next year they will want more of these because they are consistent bloomers and have nice long stems that are easy to work with. Message received! The artemisia continue to look great, and Virginia's celosia are starting to flower. Bed 2: Not a lot here. The Queen Red Lime zinnia have some blooms, but in my humble opinion they're not terrific. The echinacea still have some blooms, although they have not responded to previous weeks' deadheading as vigorously as I would have hoped. There are still a few white achillea, and a handful of specimens with colored blossoms. Bed 3: This continues to be where the action is. The gomphrena, verbena, fennel, rudbeckia and pinwheel zinnia are flowering their little hearts out. There are ample flowers to use for projects. Adding to the fun, the garlic chives on the south edge of the bed are budding and should flower within the week. Bed 4: New this week are the terrific flowers on the Goldquelle rudbeckia (see photo) and celosia. The molucella are pretty much done. The gailliarda has finally come down to earth and slowed down, apparently because of a moderate case of mildew. I deadheaded and removed many of the stained leaves and I saw a lot of small new growth--the show may not yet be over. Also a modest supply of white achillia remain here. Bed 4 1/2: The pink gomphrena continue to go bonkers (I had to use that word again this week). Come use them. Small Fruits: Gail Ifshin and Ram Narola The thornless blackberry plant is providing us with its final berries of the season, and they are very sweet! We are still waiting on our few hardy kiwis to ripen, along with the figs. Other than that, we are keeping a close eye on our tender new persimmon tree. The established bushes and vines are busy producing new canes in preparation for next season. We weeded around the pawpaw trees – where all but one have flourished and doubled in size this summer. 100 Square Foot Garden: Hope Dieckhans We have lots of good news from our garden today :-) First, the leaning tower of pole beans remains “corrected” and stood straight and tall and full of beans this morning! Our harvest was plentiful; the pole beans were joined by baby beets that were plucked and washed, a “savory mix” of herbs were collected, large tomatoes and MANY tomatillos were picked. Oh and our little chili plants were replete with jalapeños! Anyone ready for some salsa verde? The BIG news of the day was that the “Mystery of the Many Puddles” was solved! The culprit: a puncture in the main line of the irrigation system along the path next to our garden. So, a gentle reminder to one and all: NEVER dig with pointy tools anywhere but within gardens. Anyway, thank you, Joe for discovering and taking care of the leak. Hopefully that part of the garden will dry out enough to plant a fall crop of brassicas next Tuesday. Finally, after weeding and tiding up the garden (so much mulch had “invaded” our garden), four lovely swiss chard plants and some butterflay spinach were planted to replace the beets. Hee, hee, we actually sprinkled the spinach seeds before saying goodbye to our very wet garden till next week. Edibles: Erica Smith, Robin Ritterhoff and Mary Anne Normile A lovely day to work in the garden - also a very busy and productive one. See Manna report for impressive poundage! Harvesting: squash (Tromboncino and 'Butta' zucchini), cucumbers, beans (so many beans in so many colors), corn, okra, leeks, basil, peppers, carrots, determinate tomatoes from raised beds, parsley, Swiss chard, salad table lettuce and Tokyo Bekana greens, lots of jalapeños from the impressively early & productive 'Jalafuego' plants in the annex - a new favorite variety, We were delighted that a Therapeutic Horticulture volunteer harvested many of the lovely cosmos planted in that annex bed to attract pollinators. Planting: - Kale, mustard, and collards in the former potato bed (thanks to Darlene for helping with tricky row cover placement) - Komatsuna, mustard and kale in the former garlic bed (thanks Anne, Mohamed, and Ellina) - Super Sugar Snaps, white snowpeas, and 'Masai' bush beans under the Annex trellis, with Mohamed's help -- Kale in an annex bed (thanks to Caroline for the seedlings) Tending: - Taffy & Mohamed conquered some impressively vigorous weeds alongside the Annex bed. Next week we hope to cover that area with paper & mulch to minimize weed return. --Margarita removed some basil leaves that may be the beginning of downy mildew on the Eleonora basil. Eleonora, while partially resistant to downy mildew, isn't immune, but when it is affected, it usually proceeds more slowly than on non-resistant varieties. We will keep an eye on the basil plants. --Pulled a few weeds, there are lots more to pull, and we will need a full weeding effort to get the garden in shape for our tomato tasting and open garden at the end of the month. --Removed some of the marigolds that were crowding the raised bed and gave them to appreciative new homes. --Leeks finished, parsley almost finished. - The sweet potatoes are not doing as well as expected, perhaps due to quality of raised bed soil. Barbara gave them some fertilizer. - Some of the Three Sisters corn came crashing down along with their bean vines, but still yielded well. - We've made a good start on fall planting and will continue both transplanting and direct seeding over the next couple of weeks. Watering: No need to water for a while, as the ground is very moist with all the rain we've had, and more is expected Friday. Cooler temperatures that we're enjoying also reduce the need for water. Joe has turned off the irrigation system for the time being. Thanks to all who have volunteered to water in between workdays - take a break!! MANNA: Robin Ritterhoff Our Manna donation today was 216 pounds, of which tomatoes were 112 lbs. (believe this is our largest delivery ever, will check my spreadsheet from prior years). Our YTD total is now 988 pounds-- yay us! Many thanks to Anne Kelley for providing extra muscle & car space. Our 216 lb delivery is the largest Derwood has ever donated in one day to Manna, surpassing our past record of 212 lbs on July 29, 2012. Thanks to the extra space we've got this season, favorable weather and our clever and dedicated gardeners, our year-to-date total of 988 lbs is way ahead of any of the second week of August totals of the past three years (2016: 724 lbs; 2015: 772 lbs; 2014: 933 lbs). Tomato Beds: Dan Ward and Joslyn Reed It was a pleasure to have Ying back in the tomato bed. Her help has been immeasurable. And a special thanks to Darlene and Claude for their contributions to the harvest. We finally got a full harvesting of tomatoes this week, and what a harvest it was. When the clamshells were last counted there were 30 full ones for Manna this week, plus several plastic bags. There are few later ripening varieties that have yet to begin turning color, but most have turned. We had the expected fungal diseases (primarily Septoria and Early Blight) and signs of birds feasting on the totally ripe ones. It's a good idea to pick tomatoes prior to them becoming fully ripe because birds have a fancy for them. As long as the tomatoes have started turning color from green (unless you have a green tomato variety) you can bring them inside and put them on your table or kitchen counter out of the sun. This week we also were able to compare the tomato plants under the shade cloth to those in the direct sun. It was quite remarkable. The plants under the shade cloth looked healthier, plus the quantities tomatoes was greater by more than 50%, and the general appearance of the fruit was remarkably better (i.e., no cracks, sun scald, or other blemishes). We didn't know what to expect. It will be interesting to observe the differences as the growing season moves along. But, so far, we do notice those differences. For those MG's growing tomatoes in your home garden it may be worth looking into this. We'll provide further information as time goes by. Special Projects: The Carols Special projects had a quiet but productive morning in the Demo Garden Tuesday. Keyhole Garden: Exciting times at the Keyhole! We harvested two heavy (5 lbs?) bags of tomatoes from the very productive Waratah and Bush Goliath dwarf tomato plants, 2 large green bell peppers and 2 eggplants for Manna this week. Kitchen scraps and dry leaves were added to the compost center and watered in. Bill came by with his teacherly style using the inquiry method to analyse damage being done to our prolific Waratah tomato plant. No frass but yes to the denuded stems. So it was logical that the show stopper tobacco (with a reddish brown horn) horn worm was discovered. Being in the process of being completely invaded by parasitic wasps, not yet hatched, we left the wasps to their task after sharing the sight with other MGs. Another hornworm was found in the same state in the annex. The straw bales produced a big handful of Cajun Belle red peppers, one eggplant, one rainbow tomato, and a few Indigo Blueberry tomatoes. The Sunset Runner beans are displaying their lovely pink flowers as they run up the trellis. All the tomatoes are producing but not nearly as robustly as last year's straw bale tomatoes. From the pallet vertical garden we continue to have Parsley, Nasturtiums, Strawberries and harvested 2 different kinds of basil. The purple basil planted 2 weeks ago is emerging and the radishes and 3 Mini Munch cucumbers are developing nicely.. Unfortunately the sole cucumber struggling on the long pocket side succumbed completely, just could not hang on. We have high hopes for those Mini Munch planted on the short pocket side. We also reseeded the coriander in one pocket. The volunteer red giant sunflower we moved in early summer is a great attraction to various bees and is lovely to boot. It was a delightful day with a lovely breeze in the garden, gardening and sharing with several very interested outside visitors. BUG REPORT: Darlene Nicholson Here is a quick ID of some bugs found at Derwood this week in order of their appearance. SEE BELOW Tomato Fruit worm (usually found coming out of a tomato) Helmeted squash bug nymph, and one very large Tobacco Hornworm covered with Braconid Wasps not yet emerged from their cocoons. The only beneficials in this group are the Braconid Wasps. Closing Comments: Lily, Bill and Susan
Such a busy place! Appreciate all the hard work that goes into this garden. Our harvest for the day was 216 pounds for the week! Wow! How many happy families are enjoying great food tonight? We were fed the last of the blackberries from the garden. Thanks Gail! Again, happy birthday to Darlene! We celebrated with cupcakes this week (Thank Cindy!) If you have a topic you would like to share with us for our 10 at 10, please contact either of us. We had so many tomatoes today, that we used a lot of the clam shells. If you have large ones, please bring them to the garden. We are also looking ahead for next year leadership positions. If you are not planning on continuing with your role as garden lead, please let us know so we can help recruit a replacement. We are also looking for new garden leadership. If this is something that you might be interested in doing, please let us know. Thanks all!
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