Monday, September 20, 2010

Bountiful Brookline Edible Garden Tour

Yesterday, from 1-4pm, we were part of Bountiful Brookline's first Edible Garden Tour, where they pulled together eight gardens from around Brookline and set up a self-guided tour (it was both fun and a fundraiser for them).

I hung out with Nathan and a Val, a volunteer garden ambassador for Bountiful Brookline, a freshman from BU, and talked with visitors about what we're growing and why.  Tracy and Noah helped out, too.  We had at least 38 ticket-holding tour members stop by to admire our handiwork, and there were plenty of other neighbors who stopped by to visit and ask questions, too.

One fun discovery we made while showing visitors around was a cucumber vine that had climbed into the maple tree next to the fence and extended at least 10 feet above the ground.  I also got to show a few interested women how to hand pollinate squash (plant sex right on the streets of Brookline!).

There are still plenty of plants growing, though we've taken out most of the cucumbers.  Fall snow peas are getting taller and will attach to the fence soon.

We also have some mini eggplants (they're supposed to be small):


and one hardy tatume squash that hadn't been picked yet:

I hope that some of the visitors who stopped by will volunteer to help out with next year's garden.  We set out a "Seed Fund" jar for donations, and picked up about $9.  Which will help (it costs about $65-$75 just to buy seeds for the garden).

Thanks very much to everyone who showed up to visit!