Thank-you for a Great Season.

Jenny and I got the garden cleaned up today with help from Ian, Cedar, and Hudson. We left in kale and lettuce so please help yourselves. 

Thanks to Yvonne for the tomatoes - they continue to be awesome. We couldn't have done the weeding without all your help: Laura, Max, Hannah, Christina, Ian, Pat, Noah, Roberta, LuraLee, Hudson, and Cedar. Thanks to Kevin and Nancy for watering. And thanks also to Joe and the Village at Brookline/WinnResidential for the use of their fence-line without whom we wouldn't have a garden. 

As always, feedback is welcome, as are suggestions and donations for 2013. (We are looking for a new hose reel in 2013)

Peas and lovage.

p.s. Tomatillo salsa is awesome. Next time I will use all the jalapenos! 

200' Fall Clean-up - Sat. Oct. 27@1:30 pm

Dear 200' Garden Blog Readers and Gardeners, 

I have both good and sad news. The sad news is that the 2012 garden season is coming to a close. All are welcome to come help put the garden to bed for the winter. Fall Clean-up begins Saturday October 27 @1:30 pm. We'll have some snacks and  apple cider.

We still have green tomatoes, salad greens, kale, and oregano. Here's a sampling of last weekend's haul. Can you say Tomatillo Salsa!? (Does anyone still have cilantro ...).

The good news is that it is time to plan for 2013. If you have suggestions for next year and/or  feedback on 2012, we'd love to hear from you (all feedback is welcome). For example, some people would like larger cucumbers and tomatoes. Got it! At National food day this evening I tried some sage lemonade and it was delicious! Sage is another one for 2013. Feel free to email me at 200footgarden@gmail.com.

Hope to see you Saturday!

Sunday Workday

Hello 200' Gardeners - the days are getting shorter (and this week they were wetter). Tuesday night got rained out before we could finish. Come on out this Sunday, September the 9, at 2 pm, for some more garden fun.We have tomatoes, cucumbers, kale, very spicy arugula, basil, and beans!! Hope to see you soon.

p.s. I forgot to give photo credits this week to H. Kennedy.

September in the Garden

As a newcomer to Brookline and the 200’ Garden, we have enjoyed getting to know our neighbors. We get tons of compliments and comments whenever we are out weeding, watering, and simply walking by. But not everything we hear is positive. Last week I was reprimanded because the tomatoes were not getting large. I tried to explain that we only (mostly) planted cherry tomatoes. The same person was upset about the small (pickling) cucumbers. Another person last week was upset that we picked a couple of small eggplant and told me that they were "too small". But by and large, what we hear is positive. It’s great to pass by and see people harvesting some veggies, to be told that their son found another cucumber. We even get people’s phone numbers. Here are just a few things people have said to us:

“This garden is my favorite part of summer”.

“My child only eats vegetables out of this garden".

“Thank-you so much for doing this. I don’t know why you do it. You’re a nicer person than I am.”

After a short visit, two people have said, “Hey, I just met you, this is crazy, but here’s my number, call me maybe.” 

Is it odd that two people are called “Maybe”?

Is July 15 too early for cukes?

If Roberta has tomatoes ready, then I suppose it's OK to have cucumbers! Thanks to Laura, Christina, and Hannah who weeded and collected the last of the peas last Tuesday. Regular worknights are winning the battle against the weeds. Yahoo. Special thanks to Hudson for watering all 200'.

The First Strawberry!!

Look who is loving this weather:

 p.s. Please eat the peas and the lettuce and arugula.

Midsummer 2012

As promised, here are a couple of photos of the garden, about an hour after the summer solstice. Plants are super thirsty. Hopefully not too stressed with the >90F week! Summer is here. See you next Tuesday.
 

Arugula, red lettuce, and peas (all ready to eat)



Strawberries, tomatoes, and peas (less thirsty now)



Tuesday Work Nights

Tonight marked the first weekly worknight. We're going to go with tradition and continue to meet Tuesdays at 7 pm. Regular maintenance is keeping the weeds down (phew!). Let's keep it that way.

Unfortunately I left before taking photos of the lettuce and arugula (I did taste them - yum!) but given that it will be over 90F the next couple days, I'm pretty sure that I will be back to water. Stay tuned for photos. If you are passing by, the peas are also ready to be enjoyed.

This Thursday we'll also give a drink and some support to the tomatoes. We ran out of time (and materials) tonight. Special thanks to the amazing micro-weeder Max from Olympia.

Happy Summer Solstice to all (Wednesday June 20th, 7:09 pm)

The Peas, the garlic, the strawberries oh my! 

The 200' Garden is off to a great start! Thanks to all who helped plant the peas and garlic (Pat, Roberta, Laura, LuraLee, Ryan, Cedar, Hudson, and Noah). We picked up a few herbs from the BNAN perennial swap and also planted some unconventional veggies, aka fruit. The nice folks from 20 Webster (Nancy and Kim) have planted a plethora of goodies down at the south end and Bountiful Brookline has some chives and raspberries coming our way. Yvonne reports that the tomatoes are doing great! We'll plant those next on June 2nd... Hope to see you there! Simone & Jenny

Spring has sprung!

The 2012 Season is Officially Here

Welcome to the 2012 growing season for the 200’ Garden. The 200' garden this year is being coordinated by Simone Smith and Jenny Molina. Our FIRST GARDEN PLANTING (and prior weeding) will be taking place this Sunday, April 15th at 2 pm. Please feel free to bring your favorite garden gloves and trowels. 

We are excited to be coordinating the garden this year and look forward to seeing you there. As always, volunteering your time and/or ideas is always welcome.

A bit about this year's coordinators:

• My name is Simone and I am excited to be a part of the 200’ garden this year. We are new to Brookline and are recent neighbors to Pat and Tracy. My husband Ryan, and I moved here last September from Kitchener (Ontario, Canada) with our 2 boys (Cedar and Hudson). We have many years’ experience gardening in our 200’ backyard. Previously, our biggest challenges were the squirrels. The boys learned at a very young age to chase them out of the garden. But as soon as they started attending school, the squirrels took notice, and most of our seeds.
• My name is Jenny Molina and I am stoked to be a part of the 200’ garden this year. I have been involved with various farming initiatives through the Boston Natural Areas Network Master Urban Gardener (MUG) Program. Still, most of my gardening takes place in containers on my front porch. I am currently doing a Master’s in Urban Planning and my focus is on food systems and environmental health. I grew up close to Boston but I’ve been away for 8 years, busy seeing the world while playing soccer for Mexico.

p.s. If you’re missing Pat’s eloquent words, this summer you’ll find him at the Pen and Pepper Farm.

We look forward to meeting you on Sunday!

Looking for a New Garden Coordinator

Tracy and I are going to be farming a 1/4 acre incubator plot with the New Entry Sustainable Farming Project in Lowell this season.  As a result, we won't have the time to run the 200 Foot Garden this year.  We're actively searching for a new garden coordinator.  (Just to be clear--there's no pay--the whole garden operates on a volunteer basis.)

The coordinator would:

• decide what gets planted
• buy seeds/seedlings or arrange volunteers to grow seedlings
• lay out the planting plan (in terms of placement and timing)
• deal with fertility issues (order compost or get bagged fertilizer)
• set up planting and work days (for watering and weeding)
• communicate with volunteers for the planting and watering schedule
• oversee the signage
• update the blog  (VERY easy)
• communicate with the management company that owns the property.

This sounds like a lot, but it's not super complicated because the garden is small and quite self-contained.  In the past, we've ordered a couple yards of compost, but it might be all right without that this year, just put in some bags of composted manure.  The planting is usually done over only a few short sessions.  (Lots of hands make it go quickly.)   The signs are already up, though some will needed updating. 

The position doesn't require a huge amount of gardening experience--just someone who is energetic, organized, and a good people person.

Having done this for the past three years, I can say it's a tremendously rewarding project.  I'm going to miss it.  I've done a lot of work that generates public feedback (I'm a playwright for my day job), and I have to say this is one of the projects that comes with the most positive response.  Every day we work in the garden, people come up and tell us how grateful they are for the garden, not just for the vegetables to eat (though they do like to eat them), but also for its beauty and for the way it adds a bit of vitality to the neighborhood. 

If you're interested, I hope you'll send me an e-mail at pat@gabridge.com.  If you know someone who might be a good fit, I hope you'll pass along the info.

Thanks!

Garden to Bed

I was just looking at the blog and realized that I never posted that we did indeed put the garden to bed for the season.  Tracy, Hannah, Yvonne, Noah, Keff, and I all worked to pull up the last few plants, scoop up the leaves, and close up shop for the year.  We had a great season and very much appreciate all the help.

There are some big questions about the garden for next year.  I'll be in a farm training program in Lowell, MA, over the summer, growing a small 1/4 acre farm and selling to a cooperative CSA and at some farmer's markets.  So I'll be looking for someone else to take over management of the project.  With any luck, it will continue over this next season and for many years after that.