“A garden to walk in and immensity to dream in- -what more could he ask? A few flowers at his feet and above him the stars.” ― Victor Hugo, Les Misérables Another busy work day at Derwood Demo gardens. With the sunshine and rain, the garden is just beautiful. If you have not had a chance to visit, please take some time to admire the work of many. Garden Reports: Compost Central: Denny May 5-24 report The large bin of garden waste compost reached a temperature of 130 degrees on Tuesday, so we considered this bin ready to set aside for a month or so of final decomposition. Kristy Hardy turned the pile into a new bin without adding any new material to charge it up. We also turned the large bin of food waste compost (temperature 133 degrees) into an adjacent bin with no additional material added to the pile. In addition, we started new piles of food waste and garden waste in two big bins. The county Eco Bin with garden waste registered 114 degrees, so Susan Eisendrath turned and charged that bin. Susan E. and Susan Wexler also turned and charged the Eco Bin with food waste (temperature: 110 degrees). All turning and charging was accompanied by vibrant discussions about composting and a variety of other topics between the two Susans, Kristy Hardy, and Denny May. Therapeutic Horticulture beds: Bob Loesche The TH beds continued to thrive with some timely rain and slowly increasing temperatures. The Nigella is in bloom, and the Larkspur, Yarrow and Lavender are literally days away from doing so. All else looks healthy and robust even if not yet flowering. The zinnia seedlings appear to have firmly taken root, although it will be some weeks before we see flowers. The only iffy plant, I think, are the smallish Gomphrena plantings which are still alive but not yet thriving. Hopefully they will soon turn the corner. The Children’s Garden: Susan Kirby The Children’s garden crew has been busy planting, pruning and weeding during the recently returned warm and sunny weather. All the rain and cool weather did have a good effect on our animal-themed perennial bed. We have had a flush of pink, purple and blue blooms from the cranesbill, spiderwort and catnip. The cool weather also helped produce an early crop of Easter Egg radishes in our edible food boxes. Our edible growing space is small, and we were excited to make a contribution to Manna. This week we finished planting seeds for our new gourd trellises, the row of sunflowers along the fence, and hyacinth beans to cover our small tunnel (for those small enough to crawl through it). Now we wait for the young plants to appear and hope that the rabbits and chipmunks don’t find them first. Butterfly Garden: Peggy Stanford The Butterfly Garden Team was very busy this week,weeding, trimming, and planting more annuals. First we rescued our potted marigolds, drilling holes in bottom of one pot for drainage and replacing the "missing" one.We planted more zinnias, weeded area again and trimmed back the Spice Bush. In addition we moved the wood bench to make room for even more attracting annuals. Attached are photos of our three types of budding perennials ready to burst in to bloom within days.We are on a mission to make room for even more Butterfly attracting flowers and plants. Edibles: Erica Smith Our vegetable beds are loving this transition from rain into warm sunny weather, and everything is growing fast. Our irrigation system will be hooked up soon, but until then we need to watch the weather and get over to the garden to water if nature doesn't provide. Watering volunteers are always welcome - thanks to those who have stepped up so far! The spring plantings of brassicas are beginning to reach harvest potential. We're still waiting on heads of cabbage and flowers of broccoli and cauliflower, but we sent some lovely bok choy, Chinese cabbage, looseleaf Tronchuda cabbage, and kale to Manna today, along with lettuce and radishes. Much more to come, and then we'll be starting with the summer harvest. Toward that end we put in seeds or seedlings for cucumbers and squash today, on some well-constructed new bamboo trellises. We're also trying bitter gourd and climbing nasturtiums. Our tomatoes, peppers and other transplants from last week are settling in well, and we're seeing growth on direct seeded crops like beans. The deeper salad table had New Zealand spinach and Masai bush beans added, and we're still producing lettuce from the shallower one. Pests are slow to appear this year, though I did spot a cabbage white butterfly fluttering around the row-covered cabbages, getting frustrated, and we've found a few wireworms in the potato bed. Soon we will be looking out for Colorado potato beetles, squash vine borers, cucumber beetles and more - review your bug books! Garlic began producing scapes (edible flowering stems) ahead of schedule, which probably means an early harvest. Earlier this season I tried an experiment of seeding in mache, lettuce, and a mesclun mix under the garlic - which I don't think I'll repeat, not because they haven't grown well, but because they get mixed in with weeds and need to be sorted out. One interplanted crop at a time is enough! Next week we'll try to get in the last of the early summer seeds and transplants, including basil and melons. MANNA: Robin Ritterhoff 66 pounds of greens, spring onions, radishes, and herbs. Ms. Sunshine, the lady who usually registers Manna’s clients as they stand in line, was all smiles as she helped me weigh Derwood’s harvest and she praised the mustard in particular. That brings us to 114 pounds delivered this season. KEYHOLE: Robin Ritterhoff We harvested arugula & spring onions, taking the opportunity to fortify that section of the bed with a mix of top soil & compost. We also used that mix, plus some leaf mold & straw, to build up the level of the insulating perimeter of the bed, and replanted the marigolds (which had sunk below view), interspersing them with beans. We also planted two compact cucumbers and a couple of purple sweet potato slips. Bill gave us guidance on tomato support, which we put into action. We layered today’s addition of kitchen scraps to the central cone with plenty of fall leaves, which we hope will keep it from becoming anaerobic (and less stinky than last week!). BALES: Robin Ritterhoff We planted more vegetables, herbs & pollinator-attracting flowers in the bales and considered how best to provide the tomatoes with the support they will need – a project that will be completed next week, we hope. 100 Square foot Garden: Mary Anne Normile The garden was lush with green growth even after having harvested heavily last week. We harvested several Manna bags of collards, mustard greens, arugula, lettuce, Swiss chard, Russian and lacinato kale, and garlic chives. We planted a second tomatillo 'Gulliver' and several plants of 'Eleonora' basil. The tulle row cover is still doing its job--mostly--there were only one or two holes in collard leaves, appearing to be the work of a cabbage worm. A few flea beetles were visible through the netting, but no evidence of yet of their characteristic shot hole damage. The fine netting protects plants from most bugs, but the tiny flea beetle is able to make its way through. A tulle barrier we installed around the peas seemed to work, as there was no evidence of further rabbit damage. Broccoli plants are starting to develop heads. Last week's planting of bush beans had poor germination (so far), but the cosmos seed germinated. Bug Report:: Darlene Nicholson It's fascinating to discover that when we work in the garden, strange tiny life forms exist within steps or even inches of our eyes. Most do such a magnificent job of blending in with the environment, they go unnoticed by us, until we spot the damage! Working in the garden this sunny warm weekend brought out some very imaginatively designed critters. The next two images show a Tortoise Beetle from the top and then flipped over. Well, "Beam me up Scottie", this tiny turtle-like critter seeming like it was encased in a hard plastic shell, appears suited up for a trip to outer space. It is a Tortoise Beetle and from a human's perspective looks very much like a brown speck of dirt. Although these guys can be damaging to crops, their numbers are so few in our gardens that the damage is hardly noticeable. Though it can walk and fly it seemed unalarmed by my close proximity, so I flipped it over to get an undercarriage picture. I don't know if bugs can have expressions but in the flipped over stance this one seems to be expressing, "I've fallen and I can get up". After about 20 seconds he used his appendages to right himself and slowly walk away. Sometimes at Derwood we see get to see the Golden Tortoise Beetle, which is quite stunning. Strange looker #2 prize goes to this Treehopper. By the way, both the Tortoise beetle and this Treehopper were found co-existing on a potato plant. This one is pretty plain compared to many of his ilk. He is related to the leafhopper and will use this hind legs to spring away if you come too close. Treehoppers suck plant juice and although feeding damage is slight, honeydew produced by them supports the growth of sooty mold. If you can can catch them, they need to go in the soapy water bucket. The last strange looker I came across, is the Rhubarb Beetle and curiously enough it was found near the rhubarb patch. I love when they give you clues as to what they are. He is about 1/2 inch long and in the five years I've been at Derwood, he's only the second one I've ever seen. Let him be. The last bug of the day, and much more typically "bug" looking was also found on the potato plant leaves. It is a Three-Lined Potato Beetle. The stripes usually appear a little more yellow than on the one shown below. This one is becoming a more visibly damaging bug in the garden. It is often confused with the Striped Cucumber beetle or the Pigweed Flea Beetle. The last two are found in our little bug booklet and you can compare them. At any rate, all three are candidates for the soapy water bucket. Closing Comments: Lily and Bill Intern Kris wins the prize for the most environmentally sustainable and Bay friendly commute to Derwood! Noticing the early scapes, Bill gives an impromptu talk to the garlic curious. How’s your garlic?
From last week, Robin answered my ripeness question: In response to Bill's gooseberry ripeness question last week: I can usually tell by how much a berry gives between my fingers, and whether there is any residual sweetness yet. For my own Bethesda yard, my gooseberries are about a week away from ripeness at the green stage. But you can leave them a couple more weeks till they start turning kind of burgundy, at which point they will be considerably sweeter though still having a complex flavour including a tart edge. - Thanks Robin! So many ideas, so much energy! So much fun to be at the garden! Thank you all for making the garden what it is!
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