200 Foot Garden

Garden to Bed

2012-01-11T21:45:00.004-05:00

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.

Winding Down (not quite)

2011-09-28T09:37:00.000-04:00

We didn't have our regular Tuesday work day last night, because we just don't have enough daylight left at 6:30 anymore. Plus, the fall is so busy with back to school, it's hard for anyone to find the time. However, Keff and I did hit the garden yesterday around lunch time. It was such a gorgeous day, I couldn't stand to be at my basement desk for one more minute.

This late in the season, we don't worry much about watering anymore. Instead, we spent time weeding and pulling down the old cucumber vines and fallen leaves that are starting to collect. The series of 40-degree nights we had a couple weeks ago put a definite end to most of the cucumber and watermelon action. The tomatoes are actually doing better than I would have thought. I did find a cucumber buried in the leaves, and it was still lovely. Here's neighbor and 200 Foot Garden supporter, Pearl, with the cucumber.

Though we planted a lot more tomatoes this season, it seems like we never got to see many red ones on the vines. I've gotten reports (from Pearl and others) that people have come to the garden to pick green tomatoes by the bag full. I'm not entirely pleased about this. Though the garden is meant for everyone, it's also meant for everyone to share. And I really, really want to see red tomatoes on the vines. I'd hoped that planting more tomatoes would make it so no one person would take too many. (That said, the late season weather was also kind of weird for tomatoes.) Maybe the solution is to plant more cherry tomatoes. We tried putting up signs encouraging people to not pick the fruit until it was ripe, but I don't think it helped.

The good news is that there are still some tomatoes on the vines, and some might ripen. But I noticed about a week or two ago, that all the big fruit had been stripped from the vines in just one or two days.

The tomatillos are producing, but having a hard time due to damage from Hurricane Irene. Still, I picked a couple pounds yesterday and plan to make some green salsa this weekend.

(Tomatillos. The actual fruit is inside the paper shells.)

Being out at lunch gave us lots of chance to talk to passersby, who had many questions about tomatillos, peppers ("Did that big plant come from just one seed?"). For me, half the fun of this garden is getting to talk with people about the garden and how vegetables grow.

For now, we've got the garden cleaned up a little bit, so it looks nicer. And we've still got a month left of veggies to harvest. The greens--chard, collards, dinosaur kale, and mustard--are all still going strong. There are peppers yet to come, along with a few tomatoes and tomatillos.

It even looks good

2011-08-20T22:31:00.000-04:00

The other day, Keff and I were harvesting from the 200 Foot Garden, and he put together this basket from what we picked, to give to the folks who own and manage the property that we use, as a way of saying thanks (and to show them that we really do produce veggies from little speck of land).

Now the tatume squash are all about done, but cucumbers are still producing, and the tomatoes are teasing us. There are hundreds of them, waiting to turn red. We just need a little bit more patience. (Though there are some ripe yellow perfection tomatoes in there, if you hunt a little.) The Matt's Wild Cherry tomatoes are turning red, but getting picked so fast, I almost never even see them orange.

The watermelon vines are longer than we've ever seen, but no fruit yet. I don't know if we'll see any or not. Maybe next year.

The basil and chard and kale seems to be getting picked regularly, which is good. They like it.

harvesting and working (and those darn SVBs)

2011-08-08T08:40:00.000-04:00

We lost yet another work day to thunderstorms last week, but Keff, Noah, and I did get some work time in on the garden on Wednesday. We weeded, trimmed yellow leaves off tomatoes, cut off leaves with powdery mildew, tied up drooping tomato stems with twine. I also discovered that our tatume squash have squash vine borers (SVBs), which are one of my least favorite pests. The SVB moth lays her eggs on the young plants, and when they hatch, the larvae promptly burrow into the stems and grow there. You can cut them out, but the cure often kills the plant anyway. We lost about half our squash plants to SVBs. We'll have to try harder next year to keep them away (it's not easy).

The good news is that we did manage to harvest a bunch of squash and cucumbers.

Here's a photo of the cukes:

The lemon cucumbers are simply fantastic--crisp and light.

The tomatoes are just starting to turn red this week, and I think this rain we're getting with both the tomatoes and the cucumbers (and keep people away from the tomatoes long enough to let more of them turn red). I picked a lovely red tomato on Thursday from the garden, and it was delicious. The tomatillos are also starting to set fruit--I love their little paper lantern husks.

Tomorrow is our regular Tuesday workday (maybe the storms won't rain us out), and we'll put up some new signs and keep tying up tomato plants to give them some more support as they sag from all the fruit.

rant from YA author John Green about lawns

2011-07-26T15:54:00.000-04:00

I love this video blog from one of my favorite YA authors, John Green, about the silliness of lawns and his desire to have lawns converted to vegetable gardens.

good work day

2011-07-19T22:09:00.000-04:00

We had a good work day at the garden this evening. Keff, Yvonne, Tracy, and our daughter, Kira, were all there. Lots of hands helps spread the work around nicely. We did some weeding, watering, and I spent more time tying up tomato branches and trimming tomato plant leaves off the ground (we want to avoid blight).

The garden looks truly amazing. All the plants are vigorous at the moment. The squash and the cucumbers are reaching up towards the top of the fence. We've had a little bit of powdery mildew, but not too bad, and some blossom end rot, so we put down some crushed egg shells around the tomato plants.

I think people have already picked the first tatume squash and cucumber. I had my eye one one of each yesterday, and today they were gone. Neither was quite ripe--I'm tempted to put up a sign that says "please don't pick the cucumbers until they're round at the bottom." The cucumbers are blooming like mad--if a good fraction of them set fruit, there will be plenty of cukes to go around.

The mustard is enormous. I'm talking to a group of senior citizens at the 99 Kent Street apartments tomorrow, so I think I'll pick some mustard greens and bring them with me to hand out. I wish I was going to have more to give out, but the big stuff isn't quite ready yet. I think we've got at least one more week until the tomatoes are ripe. The good news is that there are easily more than 100 tomatoes on the vines right now, and with 7 cherry tomato plants there will be lots of snacks for passersby.

the peas are gone, here come the cucumbers and squash

2011-07-09T15:56:00.000-04:00

On Tuesday, we had a busy work day, taking down all 180 feet of snow peas off the fence. Tracy and I snipped the vines at their base, so that we could leave the roots with their nitrogen-rich nodules in the ground (as natural fertilizer). We hauled the vines into a big pile, where Noah, Keff, and Yvonne helped remove the last few pea pods (we got at least another 1-2 pounds). Hannah was a first-time volunteer, and she helped me water while Tracy joined the others in sorting through the rest of the peas.

We ended up with a huge volume of spent vines, a pile almost as big as a car. Luckily, Yvonne has access to a large compost pile, and I was able to take two loads over in the back of the Subaru that we have the summer, to add them to the pile.

Here's Keff near the pile of pulled vines. This was just the start--the final pile was TWICE this big!

Some of the lovely, sweet snow peas. (These are actually some we picked on July 2nd.)

Here's some of the chard that's growing in front of a row of cucumbers (and you can see the old peas in the background, too).

I was over at the garden today, and spent about two hours tying up tomato and tomatillo plants to the fence--they're already so big, they're starting to need some extra support. We have lots of tomato blossoms and some small tomatoes already growing. I've seen a few tiny tatume squashes already forming, and the cucumbers are starting to march up the fence and setting out plenty of flowers. We had some rain last night, which is helping everything continue to put out some very large, healthy leaves.

Many people stopped by while I was working today, to express their gratitude for the garden and to chat about it. One young guy visiting from Michigan said it was one of the high points of his visit to Boston so far. That kind of feedback certainly makes working in the hot sun a lot more enjoyable (though I'd do it anyway).

I wonder how long it'll be before the first cukes, squash, and tomatoes are ready to pick?

work day today

2011-07-05T08:50:00.001-04:00

We'll have our regularly scheduled work day at the garden today at 6:30pm. Today we need to take out the snow peas, to give more room and light to the cucumbers, squash and tomatoes. Plus the snow peas are almost done, anyway, because they don't like this heat.

If you're in Brookline tonight, please stop on by. We could really use the extra hands. (I promise you'll leave with some delicious snow peas.)

Here's a photo of us all hard at work on the June 21 work day--lots of weeding that day. You can see the snow peas climbed all the way to the top of the fence and beyond:

and here's a closer look at some of the snow peas (from a few weeks ago):

No Work Day Today (but we'll be back on July 5

2011-06-28T09:39:00.000-04:00

Due to a number of scheduling conflicts, we won't have a 200 Foot Garden work day today, but we'll be back on our regular Tuesday schedule next week on July 5.

There are lots of snow peas on the fence, so if you're in the neighborhood, make sure you get some while they're still around. (We'll need to start taking some of the vines down over the next few weeks, to make room for cucumbers and squash vines.)

(We're still looking for folks interested in watering on a weekend watering team. If you're interested, please e-mail me.)

Hope to see you next week!

Patrick

good stuff

2011-06-22T21:52:00.000-04:00

We had a great work day yesterday. The weather was perfect and the work went quickly, with Keff, Nathan, Tracy, Noah, and me all hard at work. We weeded, watered, planted a couple tomatoes and marigolds, and we also thinned out the chard, kale, and mustard greens. The mustard greens sprouted really well, and we picked a big bag that we split up between us. I had them in a salad for dinner tonight, and they were delicious. Incredibly tender and mild, and taste just like the start of summer to me. Noah picked more than 200 snow pea pods, and I'm sure between altogether we picked well over a pound. We brought more than half a pound home with us, and with the rain we're getting, there will be plenty more (as long as we keep them picked) on the vines soon. The pea plants are reaching high above the top of the fence, as tall as my head now.

next work day is Tuesday, June 21

2011-06-20T22:05:00.000-04:00

Just a quick post to say that our first "regular" work day will be tomorrow, Tuesday, June 21, at 6:30 pm. So if you're in Brookline and want to get your hands dirty in the garden, come on down to 99 Kent Street and help us out for a little while. We'll be doing some weeding, planting of marigolds, watering, and picking some snow peas (which are now about 4 feet tall!).

peppers and peas

2011-06-05T15:48:00.000-04:00

On Friday, I got to make good use of our enhanced watering tools--a 100' hose and caddy, which means we'll be able to get water on the garden a lot easier this year.

Nathan put in about ten peppers earlier in the week, and they look great. We have five sweet peppers and a variety of five hot pepper plants. (And we might do more.) The seedlings look good--even the watermelon and squash have sprouted. The tomatoes look terrific.

(one of the new peppers)

The snow peas are blooming fast now, and the plants have reached the top of the fence. We're going to have a LOT of snow peas. I hope they'll keep blooming for a while--I'm at a playwrights conference in Idaho for two weeks, so I fear they'll be gone by the time I get back. Tracy will handle coordination of watering and volunteers while I'm gone (we need lots of help). I imagine the garden will look quite different in two weeks.

(snow peas to the top of the fence)

Good news (we have water)

2011-06-01T22:14:00.000-04:00

Our planting day on Saturday went well, though planning a work day on Memorial Day weekend might not be the wisest move, if we want lots of hands. Noah and Keff helped haul seedlings and water, while Tracy and I planted 46 tomato and tomatillo plants, followed by lots and lots of seeds.

The bad news was that we couldn't get any water from the outdoor spigot, so we had to fill watering cans from the bathroom in the main building. This meant that we couldn't water the seeds, just the seedlings, and just enough to keep them alive in the hot dry weather.

We watered the tomatoes every day this weekend, from the bathroom sink, and felt we could skip watering yesterday, since it wasn't quite so hot.

Today was hot and sunny again. We thought we'd get a storm around 6pm, but it blew by with lots of thunder and lightning, but no water. So Tracy and I went over to water, and discovered that the spigot had been fixed. Having water was excellent news--we brought out a hose caddy that we found in the greenhouse and a new 100' hose that I bought on Monday. With various other hoses connected, we were able to get water all the way to the first 30 feet of the garden. We'll still need the watering cans, but the whole task will go much faster now (we don't need to use the wagon anymore).

(Of course since we watered, a second storm has blown through, with rain this time.)

Equally exciting was the fact that, despite the lack of water, the cucumbers, mustard greens, and dinosaur kale had already started to sprout (just 4 days after planting--the soil was quite warm this past week). And the snow peas are now blooming. Now that we can water a lot easier, I think we can have a better harvest than ever.

planting day this Saturday, May 28, 10am-noon

2011-05-25T23:03:00.000-04:00

The snow peas have come up very well along the fence and are more than a foot high and attaching themselves nicely to the fence itself. They should start blooming very soon. Finally the weather is cooperating enough for us to give them some company. Keff and Yvonne have been raising tomato seedlings that are ready to go in the ground, and we also have some seeds to plant (and weeds to pull). We'll have our first big planting day this Saturday, May 28, from 10-noon.

Nathan's been raising pepper seedlings, but they aren't quite ready yet. So even if you can't make it on Saturday, there will be plenty of other chances to get your hands dirty.

I hope you can join us. (The garden is right near 99 Kent Street in Brookline, in case you've never been.)

NY Times article on community gardens (with cool numbers)

2011-05-20T14:14:00.000-04:00

Back on May 1, the New York Times had a fun article about community gardening in New York CIty. I loved that they figured out that 67 community gardens on 1.7 acres grew 87,700 pounds of vegetables, including 29,682 pounds of tomatoes, and 5,505 pounds of chard.

Someday, we're going to have to figure out how to measure how much produced we grow at the 200 Foot Garden. Maybe a scale and a notebook hanging on the fence? Who knows. For now, our exact amount will have to remain a mystery.

quick update: we've had a long stretch of cool rainy weather, which has been good for the snow peas, which are now starting to climb up the fence. The weather has also kept us from planting the tomato and pepper seedlings that Keff and Nathan have been growing, and from getting new seeds in the ground. Right now, we're planning a planting day for Saturday, May 28, to get more seeds and plants ready to go.

Peas are up (and sidewalk getting replaced)

2011-04-28T22:08:00.000-04:00

As you can see from the thin green line snaking up along the fence, the snow peas that we planted have sprouted and are doing quite well. We've got nearly 180 feet of snow peas, ready to climb. The weather has been damp and warm, which has suited them well so far. A sunny weekend will help out a lot, too.

The soil is still pretty mounded pretty high, and we'll need to smooth it out before we can plant more seeds, but we'll need to wait another week or so, to make sure that we don't bury the snow pea seedlings.

It turns out they're replacing the sidewalk at the bottom 20 feet of the garden. So far, it looks like the workers have done a good job at not trashing this section of the garden, but it's hard to know how careful they can be when they have to pour the new concrete. It seems likely we'll lose the snow peas in this section, but since they're hitting it early, hopefully we won't have any big disruptions like this for the rest of the season.

Ground Ready to Go (and watch for peas)

2011-04-11T22:57:00.000-04:00

We had good weather for our first workday of 2011 on Saturday. Tracy, Kira, Noah, and I were joined by Nathan and Keff to help move the three yards of compost to the garden and dig it into the soil. Sarah joined us to help plant snow peas.

(a family that shovels together, sticks together, right?)

We only had one wheelbarrow and three shovels, so it took a while. Keff brought down a trash can that we could load on the back of his electric wheelchair, to carry additional compost.

We all noticed that the soil has greatly improved since we started gardening the site in 2009. I remember when we turned it over for the very first time and there were almost no earthworms. On Saturday, we saw plenty of worms (and lots of grubs, too, for some reason).

Once we got the soil worked, Nathan, Sarah, and I (plus a two-year-old girl who stopped to help) planted half a pound of snow pea seeds--it was just enough to seed the entire fence line, all 180 feet of it. If they all come up, we'll have a serious crop. I think it'll look really cool. I wonder how long it'll take before they sprout?

Plenty of people stopped by to say how glad they were to see the garden back again. Some had questions and were curious about the project. (A few had critiques, as well.) I hope we'll see some of them on future workdays. Lots of folks are looking forward to a productive harvest this year.

Compost is Here

2011-04-08T17:32:00.000-04:00

Our three yards of compost arrived today. This is something we'll need to do, year after year, because the soil is fairly poor, and we take a lot out of it every season. We'll be moving the compost onto the garden tomorrow morning (Saturday), from 10am-Noon. We've just got one wheelbarrow, but plenty of shovels for turning the compost into the soil.

(I already got a head start on shoveling this morning, because part of the pile was blocking the driveway, so I had to move it. Gave me a good excuse to get out in the sunshine. I also had a chance to trim the trees by the garden a little, so we won't bump our heads on the branches, and we'll get a tiny bit more morning sun on those blocks.)

And here's how the garden looks in early April. Not much now, but just wait a couple months.

First Work Day of 2011: Saturday, April 9, 10am-Noon

2011-04-06T14:04:00.000-04:00

It's time for us get back to work at the 200 Foot Garden. I just placed an order for three yards of compost, which should be here Friday morning. On Saturday, we'll gather at the garden from 10am-noon, to spread that compost out along the garden and turn it into the ground, so the soil can be ready for planting. (We may even plant some snow pea seeds.)

If you can make it, we can definitely use your help.

One other thing to consider--we do need help in paying for the garden this year. We received a generous donation from the management at 99 Kent Street, as well as from some other neighbors, which will cover the cost of the seeds and some of the supplies. But the compost delivery will cost about $150, and we'll spend another $70-$85 this season on hoses and tools. If you feel like making a donation, look at the right hand column of this blog--there's a "donate" button there that allows people to contribute. Every little bit helps.

I hope we'll see some of you this Saturday. Thanks very much for your support of the garden in the past. We've got lots of exciting plantings coming up soon.

The seed orders have arrived, so I'm hoping to get some of those started in trays this weekend, and then we'll start looking for volunteers with sunny windows to help plant-sit them until they're ready to go in the ground.

Getting started on 2011

2011-03-28T20:18:00.000-04:00

Okay, well, it's almost April. And the garden doesn't look like this anymore (thank goodness). We had a very snowy winter here in Boston, with almost 80 inches of snow, almost double our normal amount. It's still very much chilly and blustery March here, but we've had touches of warm weather, and the crocuses are already up and the daffodils are just waiting for a few warm days to really let loose.

I'm a little slow in getting started this year, for our third season at the 200 Foot Garden, mostly because I've been busy with other various projects. I don't know if we'll have use of the greenhouse this season--the new property manager at 99 Kent is checking out the possibilities of installing a fan. Without a proper fan, the greenhouse is just too hot to be practical. My guess is that we won't have it for this season, but maybe next year.

In the spirit of spring, I ordered a whole bunch of seeds for the garden on Saturday, from High Mowing and Victory Seeds. Here's what we've got coming:

Tendergreen Mustard Greens
Vates Collards
Moon and Stars Watermelon
Tatume Summer Squash
Toma Verda Tomatillo
Mountain Princess Tomato
Moskovich Tomato
Rose de Berne Tomato
Matt's Wild Cherry Tomato
Yellow Perfection Tomato
Lemon Cucumber
Green Finger Cucumber
National Pickling Cucumber
Marketmore 76 Cucumber
Mammoth Melting Snow Pea
Genovese Basil
Oregano
Thyme
Golden Chard
Lacinato Dinosaur Kale
Early Jalepeno Pepper
Jupiter Pepper

Twenty-two different seeds. Not bad for a long, narrow little garden. We're actually not growing as many types of vegetables as last year--we're not going to grow pole beans or eggplant this year. The Rainbow Chard didn't do so well, so we'll just do Golden. And no standard kale, just dinosaur.

I love that this garden lets me experiment with new varieties. All the tomatoes are new to me, as are the peppers. I don't know how the melons will do, but we'll give it a shot.

Once the peas arrive, I'll put the word out to our volunteers (come join us!) and we'll plant snow peas along the fence. They like the cool weather, and they'll be finished by the time the tomatoes are ready to go in the ground.

I still have a bunch of planning yet to do--need to order compost, rustle up some more donations (after spending $85 on seeds), and get volunteers lined up. We're going to try a different watering system this year, too.

So much ahead, but that's the fun of it. The good news is, with the seeds ordered, we're officially started.

Final work day of 2010

2010-12-06T16:33:00.000-05:00

On Saturday, we got a little bit of sun and a few hours of slightly warmer weather for our last work day. Actually, our work day (for me, Nathan, and Tracy) only lasted about 45 minutes, because by now most of the remaining plants were completely dried out and there weren't too many leaves to collect (I imagine they blew away).

The really good news was that we actually harvested a few greens from the garden, for a final harvest. We were able to pick a handful of chard leaves, and a couple dinosaur kale leaves. There were two tomatillos still buried in the husks of their bushes, too. We left the green plants, the chard and kale, to see how much longer they'll stay alive.

Here is Nathan picking a little chard (it probably finally froze last night):

and Tracy with the wagon and bags of leaves (and Noah with his scooter). It all looks so brown and bare now, but we'll have it plenty green by May/June.

Last work day of 2010, Saturday, December 4 (and good news for 2011)

2010-12-03T11:32:00.000-05:00

I know it's December, which is not exactly a month that conjures thoughts of gardening, but every garden needs a little bit of tending before winter truly descends. Tomorrow (Saturday) from 11am - noon, we'll be at the garden, pulling out old plants and bagging leaves. It shouldn't take us very long, but an extra hand or two will make it go even faster.

As some of you know, the Village at Brookline, which owns the property on which the 200 Foot Garden sits, got a new property manager, Joe, this fall. I met with him earlier this week, and he's fully supportive of the project continuing. So the garden will continue to grow for at least another year. The roof on the greenhouse has already been repaired, and Joe is checking into the possibility of installing a ventilation fan that would make it possible for us to more effectively use the greenhouse in the spring (without a new fan, the greenhouse is actually not usable for us anymore).

Thanks to all the folks who have supported and helped the garden this year. This winter will offer us some chance to reflect on what changes to make for next year and to start studying seed catalogs when they start to arrive in the new year. I hope to see some of you tomorrow and very much look forward to working with you next spring when it'll be time to start the seeds for the third year of the 200 Foot Garden.

(P.S. Our main source of funding for seeds and fertilizer is our own pockets. If you want to help us pay for seeds for next year's garden, you can hit the donate button on the right. Every little bit helps. Thanks!)

Last Cucumber of 2010

2010-11-02T10:16:00.000-04:00

On Sunday, Noah, Tracy, and I headed over to the garden to start the end of season cleanup. The clumps of tomato and tomatillo plants were still green and alive, though the weather's too cold for the tomatoes to ripen. We took down some of the tomato plants and pulled old vines off the fence, until we ran out of bags.

I was surprised to find a few more mini-eggplants still on the plants. We also picked some green tomatoes (there are still some out there, if you're interested). The biggest surprise, however, came when I started pulling down the cucumber vines that had grown up into the maple trees by the garden. At the end of one vine, was a big cucumber, probably 8-10 inches long, and still good. We had it for dinner last night, and it was delicious.

We'll head out again in another two weeks, with more bags this time, and pick up the autumn leaves and take down the rest of the tomatoes and most of other plants. The dinosaur kale still looks good and should make it all the way until Thanksgiving.

My son, Noah, should win a special award this year--he came to the garden to help probably as much or more than anyone else (and often willingly).

Season winding down

2010-10-06T23:03:00.000-04:00

We're at the tail end of three days of rain. (Where was all that rain when we needed it, this summer?) But the temperatures continue to be fairly mild, and I don't see any frost in the 10-day forecast for Boston. So the garden will continue to stay green for a few more weeks. The greens will keep growing and will actually like this cool weather, especially the dinosaur kale. The peas I planted got a bit fried by the hot, dry weather a few weeks ago, so I don't think they're going to produce. There are still a few rogue cucumber vines that are still alive (especially the ones climbing in the maple trees), but we won't see any cucumbers from them. The same is true for the summer squash plants. We still have some green tomatoes on the bushes, but I don't think they're likely to ripen very much, though I saw an orange cherry tomato there yesterday. I'm curious to see if the rain followed by some sun and slightly warm weather might give us a boost in a few of the plants.

I'll try to post some photos soon, once the rain finally starts.

I found out that the building complex has a new property manager, so we'll see what impact that has on the project. Too soon to say.

Bountiful Brookline Edible Garden Tour

2010-09-20T13:37:00.000-04:00

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!

more watering, more picking

2010-08-29T13:14:00.000-04:00

Noah and I watered today, trying to beat the heat, as we start another heat wave with 4 days predicted to be above 90 degrees. The water we had last week was great, but we're back to drought again, with no serious rain in the 10-day forecast. Lucky thing we have a couple weekend team people still on board, plus our Monday team, plus our Wednesday workdays.

We did pick a bunch of green beans, two lovely lemon-apple cucumbers, two stunted lemon cucumbers (which I ate anyway, on the spot, and were just the snack I needed), and a lovely pickling cucumber. Oh, and an actual red tomatoes. A small brandywine tomato had escaped detection from all passersby, as well as all the folks who keep picking the tomatoes green (please, please, please let some turn red).

We were out there for a while, but people weren't very chatty today. Usually, people stop to comment or ask questions, but today people were trying to beat the heat, I guess, or thinking about the start of school.

The eggplants are looking good. The fruit actually is starting to look like eggplant now, which is exciting. And the snow peas that I planted have sprouted. I'm considering planting more, but I'm waiting for the cucumbers to definitely quit, and they don't quite seem ready to give up the ghost yet.

Rain, Rain, Rain

2010-08-24T19:54:00.000-04:00

We had a quiet work day last Wednesday, with just me and Noah there. We've been watering a lot lately, to try to keep the plants alive despite the drought we've been having.

I did finally come to understand why we aren't seeing many ripe tomatoes--people are picking them green to fry them. I bumped into a woman picking some, and got reports of other people doing so, too. Which is fine. But I wish they'd leave some to ripen all the way, just so we could have a little bright red on the wall of green.

The eggplants are starting to develop nicely. And the cucumbers are struggling along, despite being decimated by powdery mildew. We've picked off a lot of crispy, powdery leaves, but really got started too late.

The good news is that the drought has given way to some serious rain. It's rained a lot over the past two days and is likely to rain more tomorrow. It'd be nice if it'd get spaced out a little, instead of all at once, but I think it's likely to help the plants get through the next few weeks a lot better. Plus, the peas that I planted on Saturday should sprout a lot easier now.

Perfect Lemon-Apple Cucumber

2010-08-11T20:01:00.000-04:00

We had a lovely night at the 200 Foot Garden tonight. Noah and I went to work and water and were joined by Leslie and Tova, and Elizabeth and David and their two sons, Sebastian and Isaiah. The watering went fast with so many hands, though it's clear that the plants just aren't able to produce as much as we'd like because of the drought and heat. I wish that we were able to water more often, and am thinking about trying to make sure we can get over there every day for a week or two and see if the productivity will rise.

As we were leaving, I checked along the back of the fence and found two lemon-apple cucumbers. This one in particular is just perfect--orange and yellow, dense but with delicate skin. I think it'll be my lunch tomorrow.

Word Day today

2010-08-11T17:30:00.000-04:00

We have a work day this evening at 6:30 pm at the garden (99 Kent Street). Last week, we had a great turnout with about a dozen people (half of them children). All those extra hands made the watering go fast. The weather has been tough--so hot and dry--but the plants are still growing strong. Like a lot of vegetable gardens, we're fighting powdery mildew and had to take out some of the cucumber plants. With any luck, it won't get too bad.

We'll be picking cucumbers, green beans, and maybe some tomatoes (though tomatoes don't last long).

Visiting Students

2010-07-26T19:10:00.000-04:00

This morning three high school students taking part in a Bountiful Brookline teen summer program came with BB intern Marianna, to take a look at the 200 Foot Garden. They were good listeners, as I explained the philosophy of our garden and walked them through all the plants. We even picked and ate a couple ripe lemon apple cucumbers.

(left to right: Pema, Jamie, Dexter, and Marianna)

Very cool worm composting site

2010-07-23T15:04:00.000-04:00

I'm trying to pack up and make sure I'm ready for tomorrow's PlanetHugger-Boston expo (I'll be giving two talks on vermicomposting (worms) and two on the 200 Foot Garden). In looking for cool web sites about worms, I found this one:

http://www.redwormcomposting.com/

This guy is amazing. Talk about someone who is thoroughly exploring and experimenting. If you're thinking about doing worm composting, check out this site.

Making Worm/Compost Tea rawutah.com

2010-07-23T07:13:00.000-04:00

A lot of people have asked about how to make worm tea. Here's a video from YouTube that lays it out pretty well. I saw this and started following his process, almost exactly. It seems to be working pretty well so far. One thing to be cautious about is letting it sit without aeration for too long--it'll start to ferment and get smelly. You can buy expensive gadgets that'll do this same thing (for hundreds of dollars), but you can set this up for about $20.

Another good workday

2010-07-23T07:05:00.000-04:00

On Wednesday, we had another productive work day at the garden. Jeff and I were there (along with my son, Noah) to water and feed the plants. We were joined by a Carleen, a neighbor on her way home from work, who pitched in and helped me get worm tea on the plants and haul water, while Jeff tied up the cucumbers to the fence to keep them off the peppers. One of the things I like most about the 200 Foot Garden is chatting with neighbors and having people just jump in and help.

We picked a few beans, but not many. The cucumbers are looking good, as are the squash. If we get enough pollinators in, I think we could have quite a crop.

Come to PlanetHugger this weekend

2010-07-20T21:47:00.001-04:00

At the World Trade Center this weekend in Boston, you can come check out the PlanetHugger Boston event, which is:

PlanetHugger Boston 2010 is dedicated to educating, inspiring, and empowering children and adults, individuals and families, urbanites and small town folks to come together in their communities and workplaces to create a more sustainable planet for future generations. This year’s PlanetHugger Boston festival will be held at the Seaport World Trade Center on July 24th and 25th.

I'll be there on Saturday, talking about the 200 Foot Garden and leading a few workshops on composting with worms. There will be all kinds of speakers, including Ed Begley Jr. and Tom Chapin, and lots of booths and exhibits.

Could be fun and informative. Plus I'm sure there will be green swag.

Come check it out. (And be sure to come say Hi.)

great article on a teen who's farming her yard

2010-07-15T20:58:00.000-04:00

My friend Tina, sent me info on this article in the NY Times about a Michigan teenager who is farming her yard and has set up her own CSA. (Of course, it helps if you have a yard enough to dig up a half acre of it for a garden. A half acre! That sounds like a dream come true for me.)

Slightly Wet Work Day

2010-07-14T22:27:00.000-04:00

Despite the drizzle this evening, Jeff and I put in some time for our regular work day at the garden. Today our big focus was on tying up tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash that were flopping over on the short front row of peppers and eggplants and smothering them. But some twine will help train everything back up to the fence. And the tomatoes are looking great--nice thick stems, lots of leaves and fruit. It should be an excellent harvest in a few weeks.

Speaking of harvest, we did pick two perfectly lovely lemon apple cucumbers. Absolutely gorgeous. Jeff kept one and we gave another away to a man who gardens at the local Korean church--he'd never seen a lemon apple cucumber before, but we assured him it really was a cucumber (he was skeptical). We also found one red cherry tomato, and picked a few handfuls of beans. The beans don't get a lot of sun (they're on shady fence blocks), which is probably suppressing the harvest.

The rain over the past few days has really been a boon for the garden. The leaves on the plants are green and huge. The eggplants look especially promising. We fed some of the plants with my high-powered worm tea, though the tea had been sitting without aeration for all of today, and you could smell that it was beginning to ferment, sort of like a mead or worm beer (okay, that's a little gross, I know, but I'm hoping the plants will love it). It's been nice to have a break from watering, but the 10-day forecast shows lots of hot, sunny days ahead, so it'll be time to get the watering cans back out soon.

More Harvesting (and lots of watering)

2010-07-10T14:07:00.000-04:00

We're getting sprinkles right now, but no serious rain. We haven't had more than a quarter inch of rain at a pop for more than a month. Luckily, we have a core of volunteer waterers who keep helping keep the plants alive and thriving.

Yesterday, I watered the whole garden in the evening. Of the three lemon apple cucumbers I'd seen on Wednesday, only one was left. So I picked it. It's a beauty, and I think we'll have it in our salad tonight. I heard that there were some red cherry tomatoes, but they had been picked. Someone had harvested some of the dinosaur kale, too, which is great.

Kelly was planning to water this morning, and I asked her to pick pole beans while she was at it. As long as we keep up with them, they'll keep producing.

I need to get over there with some twine this week and start tying the tomato plants up to the fence--they're starting to smother the peppers and eggplants. And some of the cucumbers are really working their way towards the sidewalk, too.

I saw a bunch of friends while watering last night, and also met Barbara, a resident of the nearby apartment building. She was happy to chat and informed me that she was 82 years old . I picked her a bouquet of golden chard leaves and told her how to give them a quick stir fry with olive oil and garlic.

If we can pick up a moderate amount of rain, the plants will really surge, even more. I look forward to sharing more veggies with the neighbors. (Note to self: I need to update our signs.)

Good Work Days (stuff is growing!)

2010-07-03T19:53:00.000-04:00

I've been remiss in reporting on progress at the 200 Foot Garden. Two weeks ago, Leslie and Tova brought some friends to help out on our Wednesday work day, and we watered and did some weeding and picked snow peas. This past Wednesday, Jeff and I were there for the work day, and we watered with some of my new high powered worm tea, and we also took down the snow peas, which were mostly finished for the season. Taking them down gives some light and room for the squash behind them to start growing and climbing. In the process of taking them down, Jeff and I each were able to harvest a good amount of pea pods. (I cooked ours up for dinner tonight, and they were delicious!)

Here are some photos from this week's work day. Here you can see that it's greened up nicely. Here we have squash about to hit the fence and cherry tomatoes in front, with a scattering of marigolds.

Here is our best looking dinsoaur kale, with more to come soon. This one started in the greenhouse. The tomatoes, some of the kale, and the eggplant all seemed to have survived the greenhouse experience pretty well. The cucumbers and squash did better being started outdoors, from seed.

Here is some of the golden chard that's thriving. (It also started in the greenhouse.) For some reason the rainbow chard hasn't done as well yet. A mystery.

Behind the chard, you can see pole beans starting to work their way up the fence (they're already producing beans).

The tomatoes are setting fruit very nicely now. Eggplants are starting to finally leaf out, with the hot weather. The cucumbers, especially the lemon cucumbers, are also really starting to hit their stride. I think we've got two or three more weeks until we start harvesting much of anything besides pole beans (and even that isn't much).

Right now our biggest challenge is water. There's no rain in the forecast for a while, and the spigot we were using got so leaky that they capped it. Hopefully they'll repair it. For now, we have to use the bathroom at the apartment building, which is just a little bit tougher. But we'll figure it out.

We're at the garden every Wednesday at 6:30 pm for watering, weeding, and picking, so please come join us.

Wednesday Work Days start tomorrow

2010-06-08T20:42:00.000-04:00

We've decided to have a regular work day every week, so we can get some weeding, harvesting, watering, and other chores done. We have some watering teams in place for other days, but the Wednesday work days will have a bigger variety of work and make sure we're always at the garden at a regular time. I think that'll make it easier for new people to find us (we'll put up a sign telling people to show up on Wednesday at 6:30pm if they want to help out).

So--if you're free tomorrow, I hope you'll come on by the garden and help out. (I won't be there--Allison will be running the show.) There's not much weeding to do, but we do need to water, and there are a lot of snow peas that should be picked--so come get yourself some crunch, sweet snow peas.

lovely snow peas

2010-06-04T23:11:00.002-04:00

Alexis took this fabulous photo of the snow peas in the garden. Tracy and I walked by today on our way to scrounge some mulberries, and picked a good handful or two. Leslie and Tova were there watering and had talked a few passersby into helping. Thanks to everyone for pitching in!

new flowers and more peas

2010-06-03T12:42:00.000-04:00

Alexis picked up a flat of marigolds for the garden (thanks, Alexis!), so yesterday afternoon, Alexis, Nathan, and I planted about 50 marigolds along the sidewalk. These will form sort of a colorful border row that alerts pedestrians to watch their step. And the added color will be lovely.

We also picked a good handful of snow peas. Very sweet. We gave some away to a few residents of 99 Kent Street, too. They really like the rain, and it looks like we might get a thunderstorm tonight, which is great. By the end of the week, we should have a lot more snow peas. So if you're walking by, be sure to pick a few. They're so crisp and tender we ate everything we picked before getting more than a hundred yards from the garden.

First Harvest

2010-06-01T22:24:00.000-04:00

Yesterday afternoon, I helped water the garden with Nathan and Alexis, and we got the first fruits of the garden. We found a few small Northeastern Pole Beans ready to pick. Very fine beans. More to come soon.

The first bean plant has climbed to the top of the fence, by the way. The rest are lagging pretty far behind, but it's good to know we've got one lead bean.

And today, on my way home from a meeting, I sampled two snow pea pods that were perfectly sweet. (The ones picked were a little bigger than this one.)

Everything is in the ground

2010-05-30T21:38:00.000-04:00

We had another great planting day yesterday. With the help of Noah, Leslie, Tova, Harriet, Kim, Jen, Brian, and Alexis, we brought everything down from the greenhouse and put all the rest of the seedlings in the ground--habernero peppers, serano peppers, bell peppers, blue squash, melons, hansel eggplants, beatrice eggplants, sage, black forest vining zucchini. And we also planted some seeds--bull's blood beets, fennel, more dinosaur kale, cucumber seeds between the seedlings (the seedlings look like they might be permanently stunted), and maybe a few other things.

And if that wasn't enough, then we watered and watered and watered. (Here's Noah with a full wagon load of water.)

It looks good, and gives a nice sense of the kind of green density that we hope to see in about 3-5 weeks, or so.

I've been going to the greenhouse daily (or more) since March. I'll miss it--the quiet and the possibility of it. Though it also brought a lot more challenges and frustrations than expected. We did the best we could this year, and next year, we'll see if we can get the temperature to be better controlled (or else we'll have to come up with a pretty big plan B).

Next we need to figure out a good watering plan/teams, so we can keep all these plants alive and growing (a good soaker rain yesterday afternoon helped a lot--I didn't get over there to water today, but I think it'll be all right). And there are other chores, like more weeding and re-doing the signs, but for now it's nice to just admire the long neat rows of seedlings.

One More Planting Day--Saturday May 29, 10am - Noon

2010-05-26T06:21:00.000-04:00

We still need to get the rest of our seedlings in the ground--we have a whole bunch of peppers, eggplant, squash, and other plants that are ready to go. So please come join us this Saturday morning, from 10am to Noon, at the garden (99 Kent Street). If you have a spare trowel, please bring it.

I hope we'll see you there!

great planting day last week

2010-05-25T22:27:00.000-04:00

I've been slow to post, just because I've been busy with the other part of my working life (the playwriting part), so I've been lax in saying thanks to everyone who helped out last Thursday when we put a few hundred more plants in the ground. Thanks very much to Keff, Jeff, and Noah, for helping ferry down more than 20 trays of seedlings from the greenhouse. We were joined by Laurie, Neal, Kira, Alexis, Allison, Yvonne (who brought us some heirloom tomato seedlings), and Tracy. With all those available hands, we got the plants in the ground very quickly. (The planting went faster than carrying them down and sorting them.)

I'm happy to report that the plants seem to have handled the transition very well. The tomatoes in particular (with the exception of one) seem pretty happy. The cucumbers still have yellowish leaves and I"m not sure they're going to grow very much. The greenhouse might just have stressed them too much.

Laurie sent these photos of the afternoon:

Allison and Alexis all smiles after the hard work of digging in the plants.

Neal and Yvonne

and the way it all looked when we finished:

Just give it another six or seven weeks, and the whole fence will be green.

Planting Day Thurdsay, May 20, at 5:30pm

2010-05-19T09:29:00.000-04:00

We're going to try to get as many cucumbers in the ground as possible tomorrow afternoon/evening. We'll be meeting at 5:30pm at the garden (I might be there a little earlier), to plant, plant, plant. Warm weather is finally about to return and the seedlings need to get out of the greenhouse.

The plants that are in the ground seem to be doing well. The peas are starting to attach themselves to the fence now, and the poles beans are just starting to do the same. I saw the first collard seeds sprouting today--these were the ones planted by the first graders who came for a visit.

We have TONS of plants to get in the ground tomorrow, so if you're around and want to help, I hope you'll stop by. (Bring a trowel if you have one.

Worm Tea Party

2010-05-12T12:26:00.000-04:00

Last night we had lots of folks on hand to help prepare and feed worm tea to all the seedlings in the greenhouse. Thanks so much to Keff, Allison, Mike, Jen, Leslie, Tova, Noah, and Alexis (who has also taken some fabulous photos that she's put up on Facebook) for helping pick worms from the pile of castings (thus saving them to do more useful work), and straining and watering and washing. It was a lot of fun, and the plants will benefit enormously. The upcoming weather looks pretty cruddy, so the seedlings might be in the greenhouse for another week or two, and they need nutrition.

Worms are our friends. Really. Mike, Allison, and Jen help sort them out.

Tova enjoyed the hunt for red wrigglers. Noah wasn't so sure.

Keff and Jen finish prepping a batch of tea.

The 200 Foot Garden diet

2010-05-12T12:16:00.000-04:00

Just had to mention this:

When Tracy and Sarah were planting seedlings this Sunday, a woman came up to them and said that her kids love the 200 Foot Garden. They'll now eat vegetables, but only the ones that grow in our garden. (I'm assuming she meant types of veggies, not only vegetables that are actually grown there). Now, that's influence.

(Last year, that only gave them squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, and green beans. This year, their palates are going to expand, I guess, because we'll be adding eggplant and peppers and a whole lot of other stuff.)

First Grade Field Trip (our first field trip)

2010-05-10T22:59:00.000-04:00

This morning, we had our first official school field trip to the 200 Foot Garden. Twenty-four first grade students from Ms. Frye's class at the Lawrence School visited and planted and watered.

I really like first graders. They're eager to learn, to help, and to be silly. All very important parts of an education and life in general. They were very good at answering my questions about what plants need to live (water, soil, and sun was their answer. Air is a fourth ingredient often overlooked.) And they were good listeners, too, as I explained a bit about what the garden would be growing this summer.

We split them up into three groups. One set helped plant rainbow chard seedlings. They did a particularly good job--they focused hard on the task and took great care with the young plants. (I just hope the plants survive tonight's potential frost.)

Another group handled watering duties. We had a handful of watering cans lined up, ready to go, to help settle in all the new seedlings from this morning and yesterday.

And the third group sowed a row of collard seeds, under the guidance of their student teacher, Ms. Cadwell. Collard seeds are tiny, but so are first grader fingers, so they seemed like a good match.

After a group photo, they walked to the park across the street for snack and playtime, which suited them all perfectly.

I had a great time showing off our garden to such eager learners, and I hope they'll be back in a few weeks, when there are a lot more plants and the peas and beans have started to climb the fence, and the chard they planted today is bright read and orange.

When I picked my son, Noah (he's in 4th grade at Lawrence), from school today, the class had already made a lovely thank you book, with a message and decoration from each of the students. What a delight!

Here are a bunch of students, eager to get started planting chard seedlings.

Collard seeds are very small.

Heavy watering cans require a group effort.

Our eager gardeners. Who knows, maybe there are a few future farmers in there, too.

Planting Day on Mother's Day a success!

2010-05-10T17:43:00.001-04:00

We had a good work session Sunday morning, with Tracy, Noah, Kira, Keff, Sarah, Kelly, and Leslie and Tova (who was 10 years old but an experienced planter. We planted beans, chard, kale and collard seedlings outside, but decided the cucumbers will have to wait for warmer weather.

We got the outdoor planting and watering done pretty fast, so we headed up to the greenhouse and repotted everything that needed it and enjoyed some very yummy bread from When Pigs Fly Bakery in a little bit warmer environment.

We're actually in pretty good shape at the moment--we just need it to warm up a bit so we can put other plants in the ground. I think it'll be two weeks, at least, until most other things can be transplanted.

Keff and Noah used their wheels to carry the seedlings and water. (It was sunny, but very cold and windy.)

Tracy and Sarah were super fast at transplanting the seedlings.

Here's Kira (my daughter), hard at work transplanting pole beans.

Tova worked hard at transplanting seedlings in the greenhouse.

Rain, rain, rain (and thunder)--planting day moved to Sunday

2010-05-08T07:42:00.000-04:00

All the rain this morning will make it impossible for us to have our planting day today, so we'll have to move it tomorrow (Sunday). I know it's Mother's Day, so we'll see if we get anyone to show up. (Come if you can, please.) We'll be planting from 9:30am-11:30am, and will have tasty snacks from When Pigs Fly Bakery.

The good news is that we're well-prepared. I went in yesterday and sorted all the plants, moving all the ones ready to be planted to one side of the greenhouse and all the ones staying to the other. I even took a complete inventory (this takes a while), so I have a good idea of what we've got and what we're missing (not as much as I feared). I bought six trowels. I made a map and copies of the map. Ready to roll.

Once we clear out some space, we'll actually need to do a bunch of repotting--the tomatoes and peppers need bigger homes. But at the moment, the greenhouse is too stuffed to really make that happen. I'm a little concerned that it's supposed to get kind of cold tomorrow night, but if we have the hands to plant tomorrow, it might be worth trying. Otherwise, the schedule gets problematic.

So, sorry we can't do it today, but if you have some free time and energy tomorrow, we sure would use your help. (We have a field trip coming on Monday, so I'd sure like to make sure they have stuff to see.) We have 288 seedlings that will go in the ground tomorrow.

join us for planting this Saturday, from 9:30 am to 11:30am

2010-05-04T15:29:00.000-04:00

On Saturday, from 9:30-11:30 am, we'll be planting seedlings at the garden. We can definitely use help, if you're available. We'll have snacks, too--When Pigs Fly Bakery is donating some loaves of bread to keep our strength up. (and it's very yummy stuff!).

Stop and by, we'd love to see you. Bring a trowel if you have one.

Good mulching yesterday

2010-04-30T20:37:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Noah, Allison, Mike, Nathan, and Alexis for coming by and helping spread a couple inches of mulch over the whole garden. (And thanks to Donna/99 Kent and the Chavalis for the wheelbarrows.) The garden looks spiffy and neat now, and the mulch will keep down weeds and help reduce our watering needs. Normally, I'd prefer salt marsh hay or similar mulch, but since this is so public, it makes sense to use the cedar bark mulch. And a huge thanks to Donna and the property for giving us the mulch!

(Here's Alexis hard at work.)

Tea Party (and we're mulching tomorrow, Thursday, at 5:45pm)

2010-04-28T18:45:00.000-04:00

Jeff and I worked in the greenhouse to have a little tea party for the seedlings. Worm casting (worm poop) tea, actually. The seedlings are doing the best they can in the tough environment of the greenhouse, but they needed some food (the signs are that their color is off and their leaves are too small). A cup or two of worm castings in a bucket of water makes for a good organic fertilizer. I've found that straining the tea is important, to screen out excess cellulose fibers from the newspaper bedding.

We'll see how it goes, but I predict we'll see them green up a bit in a few days. If not, we might need to give some more in a few days.

It seems like they've been handling the cool nights pretty well--it got down to 45 in the greenhouse last night (with the heat on).

Tomorrow, Thursday, we'll be spreading mulch on the garden itself, starting around 5:45pm (I think it'll take an hour or so). If you're in the area and want to hang out and get a tiny bit of a workout, please stop by.

Peas are up!

2010-04-26T16:38:00.000-04:00

I'm back from vacation (the kids were on spring break) and was very happy to see that the snow peas are up. They're just an inch or two high, but they look good. We were supposed to have rain today, but it's waiting, waiting. (I'm probably the only person in Boston hoping for rain.) A little rain will help a lot. Right now we have four 10-foot blocks of peas. Once they're done, we can replace them with squash or melons.

The plants are still plugging away in the greenhouse. The harsh environment has been tough on them, but I think the plants will come around once they get in the ground. We'll have a planting day on May 8th, for some of the plants (beans and chard). The tomatoes and peppers and squash will have to wait until later in May.

Successful Repotting Today

2010-04-17T16:43:00.000-04:00

Our dedicated crew worked hard in the greenhouse today, repotting several hundred seedlings. Despite the chilly temps in the greenhouse (about 50), we had Allison, Keff, Jenn, Alexis, Nathan, Tracy, and Noah (when we could get him away from the Ninentdo DS and the piano) working hard to give our seedlings a little growing room.

It looks like we've got another two nights of pretty cold weather, with temps in the 30s, and there are too many plants to move now, so we've just got to hope the heater can keep the temps from dipping too low. After Monday, I think we should have pretty clear sailing, weather-wise. I'm going to be gone all week, but our greenhouse team of Keff, Jeff, Allison, and Nathan will have everything under control.

Here are a few photos from today:

You can see we've mostly filled the benches: (here Alexis, Jenn and Allison are working hard)

It was a gloomy, cold day (even in the greenhouse, but we had fun anyway). Here are Tracy and Keff. You can see the blue tarp we've got up, now that a big part of the roof blew off. It kept us dry and seems to be keeping the plants just warm enough.

Nathan hard at work:

Full Benches (we had to leave one patch blank, because there was cold water running off the traps covering the hole in the roof):

Now let's just hope all the plants make it through the next few days of cool weather.

Potting Day tomorrow (Saturday) from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.

2010-04-16T14:00:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow morning, from 9:30am-11:30 am, we'll be working in the greenhouse, putting seedlings in pots. Our order of 500 4" pots and 50 6" pots arrived on Wednesday. I also bought four big bags of potting soil, which I hope will be enough. Some of the seedlings are already too big for even moving to the 4" pots (which, it turns out, are a little shallower than I expected. Bummer.). The pole beans are crazy.

The damage to the greenhouse has made for a tricky week. But we've had some plastic up over part of the roof to keep the rain out, and I put up two blue plastic tarps today that I think will both help keep the rain out--which is important for this next stretch of cool weather, so we can keep the blower for the heat dry--and the warmth in, since it's going to be in the 30s every night for the next four or five nights. Moving the plants in and out is about to get a lot harder--I think tomorrow we'll repot at least 200 plants, which means we'll double the number trays from 20 to 40, at least. I'm hoping that the tarps won't block out too much important sunlight, but this week is going to be about tradeoffs.

Anyway, if you'd like to help out tomorrow, we'd love to have you. The front door to the building will be locked, but you can call up and we'll send someone down to let you in. (It helps if you e-mail me to let me know you're coming.)

Here are the seedlings yesterday:

Here's just some of the pots we'll be using:

Should be fun!

Big Bad Blustery Day

2010-04-07T21:53:00.000-04:00

Today was one of those weird days where a lot things didn't go quite right. There was no wheelbarrow at the building for me to spread out mulch after I planted peas. (Though I did plant four 10-foot rows of peas in the garden today.) The outside water isn't turned on yet, so I had to get a few watering cans filled from the restroom, which took some extra work. It was unbearably hot (it hit 90 here today). The tops all blew off the flats that I'd taken out of the greenhouse, because even with the vent wide open, it was 97 degrees in there at noon today. I hope the plants didn't get too dried out in the wind.

Ah, the wind. That was the cause of the really big problem today. I got a whole series of messages from Jeff and Keff this afternoon when I remembered to turn on my phone, informing me that the panel of windows that opens to vent the greenhouse (20 feet long) blew off today. Apparently it was hanging on my a few pieces of metal and maintenance had to come get it down.

Luckily no one was hurt. And it didn't cause any other serious accidents. But definitely not a good thing.

I got over there around 6 (after getting the peas in) to check out the situation. The panel is actually in better shape than I expected. It's not twisted or sheared in any way, so it can probably go back up, if we can figure out a way to make it more secure. I've looked at the panel a bit, but I'm not quite sure how we're going to reattach it and get it to stay.

In a way, having the panel broken and off is better for the plants than having it screwed completely shut. We can heat the greenhouse enough, even with the panel off. But with the panel on, it was impossible to cool the greenhouse enough to keep from cooking the plants, on even a slightly warm day.

Ultimately, we're going to have to figure out a solution that will work to keep a roof on the greenhouse. Fairly soon, I suppose. I'm not sure with what money this will happen. My sense is that there's no budget at the apartment complex for major repairs to the greenhouse. (So if you're a big donor out there, looking for a project to fund...)

The funny thing is that this morning I ordered 500 4" pots and 50 6" pots, and 35 trays, to prepare for repotting next week. So I guess we'd better find a way to keep making this work. (I love the internet. I got 4" pots for less than a penny each at plasticflowerpots.net.)

Onward!

(I don't have any photos of the roof or panel, but here are how the seedlings looked this morning:

The pole beans are crazy big already. We need to get them in pots very soon. (Note to self: we need potting soil.)

Great Work Day Monday

2010-04-07T09:59:00.000-04:00

Thanks to everyone who showed up to work on Monday for our last-minute digging session. Nathan, Sarah, Benjamin, Yvonne, Allison, and two BU students, Liz and Amanda, all helped spread compost and turn over the soil one last time. Tracy worked hard up in the greenhouse taking inventory and replacing seedlings that had died (from the heat) and planting seeds that had gotten missed in the planting frenzy.

In addition, we were able to get the top row of vent windows open on the greenhouse. That should make a huge difference for temperature control. The only downside is that I have to get up on the ladder to open it, manually, every sunny morning, and get up there again to close it every night.

I'll have more photos soon. The seedling mostly look great, though the heat has been tough on them. Next weeks should give them some gentler, steadier growing conditions. Keff and Jeff and Allison have been keeping a close eye on the plants and watching the temps and trying to keep everything alive.

Last minute workday today

2010-04-05T06:39:00.002-04:00

We've been waiting for a stretch of dry weather to put some finishing touches on the soil of the 200 Foot Garden. Yesterday, I was able to spread out some lime on the garden, to balance the pH a bit. Now we need to spread out the rest of the compost (since the extension isn't going to happen) and then dig it and the lime into the soil. We need to get this done soon, so that we can get the mulch on (and suppress weeds) and get the peas planted.

So, we're going to have quick workday today, from 5:30pm-7pm. I know the announcement is last minute, but if any of you have the time and want to get a little after work time in the sun and fresh air, I hope you'll stop by. (Bring a shovel if you have one.)

Thanks! I hope to see some of you there. (We can show you the seedlings in the greenhouse, too.)

Game On! (the seeds are sprouting)

2010-04-02T10:27:00.000-04:00

So some of what we did last weekend in the greenhouse must have worked, because yesterday morning the seeds started to sprout. We have chard, cucumbers, thyme, oregano, and even a winter squash, all starting to grow.

Now comes the tricky part, trying to make sure we don't fry them in the greenhouse. Once the sun is up, it really bakes in there. The good news is that we have two residents of the apartment complex keeping a close eye on it, and Allison and I both get over there. But yesterday temps peaked as high as 109, for short while. We won't be able to have that happen very often. I think we can pull this off, but it's going to take constant vigilance.

I went over there twice yesterday, because I just couldn't resist seeing the new plants again in the afternoon. Hard to believe that in about 4-5 weeks, we'll be putting all these in the ground. I think it'll be both a very short and very long time to wait.

Here are the first chard sprouts:

Extension Foiled!

2010-03-28T06:47:00.008-04:00

So I had this big plan to extend the garden farther down the fence, towards the T. There would be an extra 60 feet of garden on the opposite side of the fence, on top of the slope, and then an additional 70 feet, on the inside of the fence (the sidewalk side), where the fence is pretty grungy and bowed. That extension #2 would be easy to plant, but is shaded by brush that's grown up on T land, so we'd have to cut back the scrub a little bit.

On Thursday afternoon, Nathan and I showed up to start digging a strip along the fence, knowing (from last Saturday's work day) that there were some bricks buried under there, but I thought it wouldn't be too bad. However, the more we dug, the more it became clear that the bricks were a more serious problem than we thought. It's not a just a few bricks in the fill, we actually discovered that there is some sort of massive brick retaining wall bracing the hill that carries the sidewalk.

What that means is that my fairly simple plan isn't going to work at all. Other options would be to build raised beds (too complex and expensive) or to do container gardening, or perhaps use woolly pockets or some other grow bag type solution. Containers or bags might work, but we don't have the budget for them at the moment and I'm not sure we can guarantee they wouldn't walk away.

I'm disappointed, because I'd had a grand vision for a 350 foot long stretch of green fence, as you walk up the hill from the T. (Tracy pointed out that I'm already over committed from too many projects, so maybe a big extension wouldn't have been smart.) But we already have quite a lot of plants going in to the regular 200 Foot Garden space, and that'll do for now.

Seed Planting was a Hit!

2010-03-27T18:36:00.000-04:00

We had our seed planting session this morning as planned. It was cold outside (in the 20s), but plenty warm in the sunny greenhouse (about 70).

The turnout was excellent (and enthusiastic, despite the early hour)--we had Alexis, Mike, Sandra, Allison, Tracy, Keff, Nathan, Noah, Suzie, Isobel (Noah's 4th grade classmat), and Fiona (Isobel's little sister). In addition, two journalism students, Liz from BU and Jenn from Emerson, came to check out the project, but also ended up lending a hand and planting seeds themselves. All those hands made the work go fast, and within an hour we'd planted and watered 18 flats (about 650 seeds).

On the night before the planting, Tracy and I spent some time going over the seed list and working up a chart that showed exactly how many of each type of seed needed to be planted and how deep. We then attached a copy of the list to each seed packet, with the relevant information highlighted. This made the work go much faster. (Though next time, we need to make sure that all our wording on the sheets is super clear--we confused a few people.)

Here is Alexis planting a flat (I think it was peppers), using the sheets to her left as a guide.

We had a very nice mix of people with some experience and people who were planting seeds for the first time. Everyone jumped right in and we all had fun--Tracy and I ended up doing more talking and answering questions and organizing than actually planting seeds ourselves.

The next big challenge will be to figure out how to manage the temperature in the greenhouse. When I went back at 4pm today, the temp was in the 90s (it had gotten over 100), and the trays had mostly dried out already. I had to water again and open the window and leave the door open. We'll figure it out, but it's going to take some work (and serious planning) on our part.

Here's Nathan watering seeds with a spray bottle. The spray bottles work great when starting out, but I discovered this afternoon, when I had to water 18 flats, that they're too slow. I'm going to need to bring a spray attachment for the hose.

Thanks very much to everyone who helped! We're going to have quite a bounty when summer gets here.

Here's the flats, all soaking up the sun. We're using humidity domes to keep the soil moist. If the greenhouse was in optimal condition, these wouldn't be necessary, but right now we're unable to control the humidity effectively, so the domes will help.

Nice Pics in the Brookline TAB

2010-03-26T16:59:00.000-04:00

The front page of the Brookline TAB featured a very nice photo of Nathan, Tracy, and Dorothy, from last weekend's workday. There are other photos, too, on the Wicked Local Photo Gallery site.

This Saturday--plant some seeds with us

2010-03-24T14:16:00.000-04:00

Work, work, work. That's springtime in the garden. This Saturday morning, from 9 am to 11 am, we're going to have another workday. This time we'll be in the greenhouse, planting seeds. Lots and lots of seeds (about 600, if we have enough time). If you're interested in joining us, please send me an e-mail at pat@gabridge.com, so we know you're coming and can work out the details. We'll be at 99 Kent Street, on the third floor, so if you're not there right at 9 when we get started, you'll need to give us a call so we can send someone down to let you in and bring you up to the greenhouse.

It should be a lot of fun (planting seeds in flats allows for lots of social time).

Successful Work Day--the compost is in

2010-03-22T20:45:00.000-04:00

On Saturday we had our first work day of 2010. From 8:30-10:30 our small crew worked hard at moving and spreading compost across the length of the garden. Besides me, Tracy, and Noah, we also were joined by Nathan, Dorothy, and Alexis. Not only did we get the compost spread, but we even got it all turned into the soil. The weather was fabulous--ideal for getting some exercise and talking with neighbors.

We still need to find some lime to spread out before getting a load of mulch put on. We're hoping to do a little planting of seeds in the greenhouse this weekend--just confirming a few details first.

This is what it looked like before we started:

Here's Noah getting started loading the wheelbarrow, while I talk to Nathan and Dorothy about a plan.

Tracy and Dorothy worked at raking off the old mulch before we could put on the new compost.

Nathan dumps yet another wheelbarrow load of compost:

It's hard to see, but there are a few worms poking their heads up here, as we're turning over the soil. In almost every shovel I turned over, I saw at least a worm or two. This is a marked difference from last year--when we started the garden there were no worms--the soil seemed almost dead. We've managed to do something right with the soil.

And finally, the compost was all turned in. Not much to see yet, but it's clean and full of potential.

The Compost is here (and so is our first work day--this Saturay, 8:30am)

2010-03-17T16:26:00.001-04:00

So we got our load of compost today, about 3 yards of it. It'd be nice to be able to use even more, but because the soil is so close to the level of the sidewalk, there really isn't room for more than about 2 inches of additional material.

Now that it's here, we're going to need help spreading it all out. So if you're in Brookline, please come help out at our first work day of 2010. We'll meet at the garden, 99 Kent Street, this Saturday (March 20), from 8:30am-10:30am. (Rain date is Sunday at 8:30 am). If you have a shovel and/or wheelbarrow, please bring them along. Our goal will be to spread the compost along the entire garden and dig it in. If we have enough hands, the work will go fast.

lists, lists, lists

2010-03-14T17:11:00.001-04:00

Planning a garden, especially a big one like the 200 Foot Garden, take a lot of planning. Lots of lists and spreadsheets, so we know what to buy, what to plant, when, where, etc. Tracy spent a couple hours on the spreadsheet last night (for all four of our family's garden projects) and I've spent a couple more today, trying to piece everything together.

I think I've got a pretty good list put together for the garden now, enough to make a shopping list for seed starting materials and seeds. Right now it looks like we'll have at least 32 different varieties of plants at the 200 Foot Garden this year (not counting the extension blocks--I haven't done the planning for those yet). We'll be putting in about 600 plants total, with most of them starting by seed, in the greenhouse. We've definitely got some big work days ahead of us.

Now I'm off to order the seeds that we're still missing--I need to order two kinds of chard, eggplant, cherry tomatoes, peppers, new kinds of squash, and more pole bean seeds. (I'll be ordering from Seeds of Change, Johnny's, and High Mowing, at the very least.)

Our load of compost is set to arrive on Wednesday. Lots to do, but it won't be long until we've got green stuff growing, and that makes it all worthwhile.

Greenhouse intro

2010-03-12T15:38:00.004-05:00

Allison (our new volunteer coordinator and partner in this project) and I had a good meeting Wednesday morning at the site with the property manager, Donna, and the resident services coordinator, Iris, and three residents (including one who is a serious gardener and botanist). We'll have a lot more involvement this year from the folks in the apartment complex right next to the 200 Foot Garden, as well as additional support from the management.

And we'll get to use the greenhouse.

Yep, there's a greenhouse up on the third floor, attached to the community room. You can see it from the park where I sometimes bring my dog and where my daughter plays soccer. Well, now I've actually been inside. It hasn't been used for a long time, which I already knew, so the condition was about what I expected. The good news is that there is water and lots of light and the heater works. The bad news is that a few of the windows are broken and the top louver system and thermostat is all in disrepair and not fully functional.

The tricky part about greenhouses is temperature control. Ideally, you want a system that will automatically open the top vents so the hot air can escape when the day is warm. Otherwise you just cook the plants. When we opened up the greenhouse, it was over 90 degrees inside (it was about 50 outside). We turned off the heater and opened some windows, which helped a lot.

At first, I thought it meant we can't use the greenhouse this season, but I think we can make it work, with help from the residents. We'll need to have someone check the temp a couple times a day, while we're starting seeds. The good news is that there's tons of sun, which puts us way ahead of where we were last year, trying to start everything in our basement under a couple of grow lights.

Now that I have a sense of what's up there, I can put together a shopping list of trays, covers, seed starter mix, etc. I already have a bunch of seeds, but we'll need to order more.

Last year was great fun, but I'm even more excited for this year and our chance to get an early start.

If I had more time on my hands, I'd take on the full restoration of the greenhouse as a project (but I don't). It'll take many many hours (and potentially quite a few dollars, though it's hard to know), to get the greenhouse back to its original glory. But we'll just get started with baby steps for now.

Okay, off to make that shopping list.

2010 Getting Started

2010-02-13T18:48:00.000-05:00

Even though it's still cold and a tiny bit snowy out (the blizzard fizzled earlier this week), we're getting started on the 200 Foot Garden already. Last week, Tracy and I ordered seeds (for the 200 Foot Garden, plus our other garden projects) from the High Mowing Seed Company. They're already here.

We won't start everything from seed, we might end up buying some seedlings or get some plants donated. This year we're expanding what we're growing--doubling the number of plants, actually--by adding a row of vegetables between the sidewalk and the fence. These will be shorter, obvious pick-me kinds of vegetables, like peppers, eggplant, cherry tomatoes, and some herbs.

I also had a terrific meeting with a friend this afternoon. She's interested in working on the project as a whole, and especially in serving as outreach/volunteer coordinator. I'll announce more details on this as the situation develops, but it should help a lot as we try to get more people involved from the neighboring apartment building and the rest of the neighborhood. Plus we're talking about some ideas I have for possibly expanding farther down the fence, and maybe to other sites within Brookline. Lots and lots to think about. Luckily, we have time before it's time to start planting.

I don't mind winter, but the thought of getting started growing makes me especially eager for spring. And I know it'll be here soon.

New Ways of Looking

2009-12-08T14:02:00.003-05:00

The garden is done for the season. Last week, I stopped by to look at the few scraggly bean plants on the fence and spied a few bean pods still hanging on. Surprisingly, they were still green. A woman from the nearby apartment complex came up the sidewalk as I was picking, and said, "How do you see those? I walk right by and see the plants, but I don't see anything to pick."

And that's the fun thing about having a garden. You learn to look at the world in new ways. Experience with plants and growing things makes a gardener look at a big mass of green leafy vines entirely differently from someone who isn't a grower. And I still consider my self a beginner-intermediate gardener. I like going into gardens with the real experts. Their eyes are fully trained to spot problems and opportunities, where I still see almost nothing.

One thing I like about the 200 Foot Garden is that it's a way to impact a whole lot of people who are walking past the garden, who before might not have looked twice at plants growing on a fence, but over the course of this year, and our future years, they'll learn to see in entirely new ways. They'll learn to spot the beans and cucumbers, they'll know when the garden needs rain, they'll pay attention to the seedlings starting to climb up the fence. And their relationship to the world and the earth will change, ever so slightly.

Still Blooming

2009-11-05T13:13:00.002-05:00

The growing season is really pretty much over. Today it's cold and gloomy outside. I walked past the garden on the way to the T, and the few bean plants left on the fence, though still green, look forlorn. Still, on one Scarlett Runner plant a few orange blossoms waved in the breeze, a wispy denial of the oncoming winter.

Very soon, it will be time to start getting serious about planning for next year. (And we need to add compost and mulch to the garden in the next few weeks.)

Urban Homesteaders League Meetup

2009-11-01T20:15:00.003-05:00

Tracy and I attended a Meetup of the Urban Homesteader's League today in Cambridge, organized by Lisa Gross. We met a lot of very interesting people (including folks with real farm experience and lots of garden experience), and also had a chance to learn about Lasagna Mulch, helped build some raised beds (which housed said mulch), and also helped build a tiny hoop-house for a 4x6 raised bed. (Tracy wrote about the projects in more detail at Beyond Dinner.)

I'm sure some of these techniques will come in handy in the future in several of our garden projects, including the 200 Foot Garden. I'm hoping that we'll have a Urban Homesteaders Meetup in the spring at the 200 Foot Garden to show off our project and share some of what we've been learning about vertical and commuter gardens.

Fall Clean Up Day

2009-10-26T17:17:00.002-04:00

We had a successful fall clean up at the garden yesterday, with me, Tracy, Sarah, and Alexis all pitching in. Four pairs of hands made the work go by quickly--we pulled vines off the fence, raked leaves, picked up a little trash, and filled four big paper yard waste bags. Yvonne stopped by and said we could dump them in her compost bin a few blocks away, so I used my granny cart to ferry the bags over once we were done (and the Patriots were done with Tampa).

One pleasant surprise--we found two large cucumbers and two smaller ones buried under the leaves along the fence. There were also at least a pound of green beans to be picked (we had our share for dinner last night).

We pulled all the spent vines, but decided to leave a few of the greenest pole bean plants still attached. It just seemed a shame to pull them while they're still alive and kicking, and they provided a luscious contrast to the vibrant yellow maple trees dotting parking lot by the fence. In a few weeks, they'll die back and we'll go back and pull them out. We left the signs on the fence for now, but we need to print some new ones that will be more appropriate for the winter months. Next year, the new planting scheme of doing ten-foot blocks of the same plant along the fence should make clean-up a lot easier.

We had several people stop by and thank us for the garden (one woman went away with a cucumber and a handful of beans). We made sure to mention that we could use more help next year--I hope they'll follow up.

It was a perfect day to spend outside and a great reminder of why this whole project is worth doing.

Work Day on Sunday, October 25

2009-10-19T16:14:00.001-04:00

We're planning to have a work day on Sunday, October 25, starting at 11am. It'll be time to clean up most of the vines from the fence and rake up leaves and pick up trash. Shouldn't be too tough. There's a chance we might have some bags of compost to add to the soil, but I'm not sure we'll have the resources to get them in time.

If you're in Brookline and want to meet some fellow gardeners and help with the project (and chat), please come on by. (99 Kent Street)

Green Brookline Expo, 11am-3pm, Oct 18

2009-10-17T22:22:00.002-04:00

I'll be at the Green Brookline Expo at Brookline High School tomorrow from 12:30-3pm, helping staff a table for Bountiful Brookline, and also there to talk to anyone who's interested in the 200 Foot Garden project (trying to recruit more helpers for next year). If you're at the Expo, I hope you'll stop by and say Hello.

Cool Nights

2009-10-06T22:26:00.002-04:00

The cool nights seem to have put an end to any thought of additional squash, but there are still cucumbers on the vines. I counted at least five, though I suspect they'll be growing very slowly. There are still lots of green cherry tomatoes (can they be fried?) and plenty of pole beans that need picking. The rain this weekend was helpful, and we're expecting more tomorrow. I was actually surprised that the vines still look as good as they do, despite the chilly weather. We'll probably see the first frost in another week or so, which means it'll be time to clean up the die-back soon. For now, I'm enjoying the green we've still got.

beans, beans, beans

2009-10-01T22:03:00.003-04:00

Last Friday, I picked and gave away four bags of beans, which was fun, as well as a few cucumbers. This week, I've been crazy busy and haven't had a chance visit very often. I know the beans need picking and there are a few cukes almost ready. The weather's gotten cold enough now that I don't think we'll see any more squash.

I had my first negative comment about the garden last week, when I was picking beans. An older Russian woman came up to me and said (in a heavy accent), "I hope you're not going to eat those."

me: "Well, maybe. Or else I'll give them away."

The woman went on to say that it wasn't healthy for me to eat these vegetables because it's close to the street and that heavy metals from the cars get in the veggies. I tried to reassure her that we'd had the soil tested and that the plants are safe. She continued to press: "What sort of degree do you have?" I told her that I was trained as an engineer, but that I have a degree in humanities.

"Vat kind of degree?" she demanded. "Bachelors? Masters?"

"Just a bachelor's degree, from MIT."

"I have two masters degrees," she claimed. "In engineering."

I told her that I disagreed with her assertions. She said she liked the garden, that it was beautiful, but that she didn't want me eating the food. I told her to show me some studies proving that the plants were taking up harmful amounts of heavy metals, and I'd believe her. She walked away, muttering about how crazy I am.

So, does she have a point? I don't think so. The soil tested clean. The air is the same air she's breathing in her apartment. The street sees traffic, but not huge congestion, and the garden isn't right up against the street--there's a sidewalk and a whole parking lane between the plants and traffic. She's probably more in danger from directly breathing the car exhaust than from eating plants from the 200 Foot Garden. And even if it was possible for them to take in metals from the exhaust, no one eating from the garden consumes more than a handful of produce from it. Not enough to even fill your belly, let alone kill you.

Oh, well. You can't please everyone. Interesting.

On the same day, however, another old Russian lady was going on about the garden as I showed her the plants and the veggies. "I was thinking about moving away," she told me, waving at our project, "but now I'm going to stay."

Still Going Strong

2009-09-24T16:10:00.004-04:00

I watered again today and could probably stand to do it again very, very soon. We continue to be short on rain. It's been so dry these past four weeks. Earlier in the week, we trimmed off some of the old leaves reduced to crispy-yuckiness by powdery mildew and drought, but most of the plants are still growing strong. Gave away four cucumbers this morning and ate a couple green beans (along with my friend Jessica, from NYC, who also enjoyed a cucumber). I need to get back to pick beans very soon before they get too big. There are still quite a few green cukes on the fence, and I also found a small tatume squash and a tiny lemon apple cucumber. As long as the weather stays moderate, we'll continue to have a lot of cukes growing and getting picked. If we get lucky, we might get some rain on Sunday, which will do the most towards keeping us going for another few weeks.

On Sunday, Tracy and I are off to visit a real farm near Amherst, MA, that's growing grain and beans. We're supposed to help sew grain bags. I'm eager to see the farm and talk to the farmers about how they get it all done.

Picking Beans

2009-09-16T22:47:00.004-04:00

The rain this past Saturday was a huge help to the garden. Today, I went by to water (no rain in the forecast for a while to come) and there are plenty more cucumbers growing. I also picked three small ziploc bags of green beans and gave away two. I left one bag on the fence--I hope someone took it.

Yesterday, I was making dinner and needed a cucumber, so Noah and I ran over to the garden, and I picked two small green cukes and one small lemon apple cucumber. I also gave away another cucumber and some beans. In talking to people around the garden over the past few days, I have a sense that a lot more people are now picking vegetables than I thought. There are very few squash left at the moment, though there were a bunch growing last week. I'm glad that folks are feeling comfortable picking now.

We're losing more plants to powdery mildew right now. This is a common problem in all gardens, especially at the end of the summer, start of autumn.

We were pretty lucky when it came to insect pests this year. My theory is that we had very few beetle or aphid problems because this spot hasn't been a vegetable garden before. The cucumber plants in the 200 Foot Garden are huge and vigorous compared to what we had in our Roxbury community garden plot, where we had a problem with cucumber beetles. The powdery mildew will take a few more plants, but hopefully it won't have too severe of an impact. (I need to get over there with a bag and pick off the diseased leaves ASAP, but am having trouble finding the time.)

Our green bean production is low at the 200 foot garden, but I'm not sure why. It may just be because with the alternating planting that I did, the cukes and squash take up a lot of space and crowd out the beans. Next year, I plan to plant in a different scheme, with 10-foot blocks of single crops. For the beans, this should be a big help. In our Roxbury plot, we've been picking 2-3 pounds of beans (Blue Lake pole beans) twice a week, from 8 square feet of beans. And that's been going on for more than a month now. Next year, I'd love to have that sort of production from the 200 foot garden.

Do A Rain Dance

2009-09-10T09:56:00.003-04:00

Looks like the rain got pushed back to Friday night/Saturday morning. I sure hope it gets here. This is my favorite time of year, but sometimes we get these stretches of extended dry weather that are torture on the garden. I watered again yesterday, but I know I can only get the plants just enough water to survive, not really to make progress on making those vegetables grow larger. We desperately need a good soaker. We haven't had rain since Saturday, August 29th (that's 12 days of no rain for those of you who are counting).

My neighbor Maeve helped me water a bit yesterday (and was rewarded with a cucumber for her efforts). And I picked a handful of green beans. As always, people said hello and thanks--one woman said it really brightens up her commute every day. There are at least half a dozen tatume squash almost ready to pick. The cucumbers are growing very slowly now, with the cooler, very dry weather. I did see a few lemon apple cucumbers trying to get started, so maybe the weekend's rain will give them a boost.

More Watering and Picking (my first lemon apple cucumber)

2009-09-07T18:53:00.003-04:00

Tracy and I watered on Saturday morning and the soil looked pretty dry, though the plants seemed to be thriving. The big lemon apple cucumber I'd had my eye on was gone--someone found it before I could get to it. But we did pick a small one on Saturday and ate it--even though it looked like a cross between a lemon and an apple, it pretty much tasted just like a cucumber ( a very good one). The lemon apple cucumbers do not seem to be thriving--I don't know if many of the initial plants survived the rabbits.

We gave away one or two more cucumbers, plus a handful of green beans, and we brought home a small tatume squash to have in our dinner.

We passed by the garden on our way home from the Harbor Islands on Sunday (where we had fantasized about having a big garden on top of the North Drumlin on Spectacle Island--it'd be the garden with the best view in Boston). Some of the vines appeared damaged, either through vandalism or rough handling (my suspicion tends to go with rough handling--it takes a lot of searching through the vines and leaves to find the veggies, and if you're rough, it's easy to pinch or break a vine). Also, the powdery mildew took out a plant or two.

I went back and watered again on Sunday, because it all looked so dry (this definitely gives me a solid workout, hauling all the water by hand a couple hundred feet). I gave away a big tatume squash to an elderly woman who lives in the main building, plus cucumbers to a grandmother walking with her small grandkids. Basically, if someone comes and talks to me while I'm working, I try to make an effort to get them something from the garden (that's half the fun, actually).

I really don't have a good idea of how many vegetables we're producing, because I don't know how much people are picking when we're not around. I don't think they pick much (there hasn't been a lot for them to take yet, though I know folks aren't shy about picking the cherry tomatoes), but they definitely pick some. Working with this garden is a challenge to my inner control freak, because people pick stuff when I'm not there--so I can't count it, I can't make sure they're being careful, I can't try to make sure it goes to people who really appreciate it, and I can't make sure people don't take too much. I just have to let it go and relax. I'm getting there, though it's taking some practice.

We're A Go for 2010

2009-09-07T18:48:00.002-04:00

I had a meeting with Donna the property manager for 99 Kent Street on Thursday, and she agreed that we can continue to garden the strip of ground again next year. In addition to growing a vertical garden, we're also going to put in another row of plants closer to the sidewalk. She'd like to see some herbs in there, especially perennials like lavender and rosemary. I'd like to put in some colorful peppers and eggplant and other veggies that say "pick me."

Once the current growing season is over, in addition to working on the soil, I also need to sit down and work out a budget for all these additional plants, and also figure out how many volunteers we'll need to make it all happen.

Lemon Apple Cukes growing and I picked our first Tatume Squash!

2009-09-01T19:32:00.011-04:00

After being away for the weekend, I finally got down to the garden to water and weave today (I take wayward vines and thread them through the fence). I also had a chance to poke around through the plants and see what's there. I picked two large cucumbers and a few small ones--I gave all but one of them away (I kept one of the big ones for dinner tomorrow) to folks who stopped to talk with me about the garden. We should have a lot more cucumbers by the end of next week.

I did find one lemon apple cucumber that's not quite ready yet, but maybe in a few more days. I can't wait to see what they taste like.

The beans aren't ready yet, but soon. I did pick and eat two beans, but that's about it.

Most exciting was that I picked the first tatume squash. It was probably about five inches across and looked a lot like a round zucchini. We had it for dinner, with basil, lemon, and Parmesan cheese over pasta, and it tastes just like zucchini, too. Great stuff. There are quite a few growing on the vines now, and with any luck we'll be giving them away by the end of next week (or sooner).

One big question is how much people will be willing to pick through the vines to find the produce. Right now, everything is pretty close to the ground and hidden under large leaves. You really have to search if you want to find anything. My hope is that soon we'll have more vegetables growing higher up on the fence where they're more visible, so people will take them.

I'm also not sure how this will work with green beans. Will people take just one or two? Or will they come back and pick enough to help make a meal (which would make the most sense)? I might put a basket out and put already picked beans (and other stuff) in there, if it seems that people aren't taking it.

The transformation of the garden has been pretty incredible over just the past few weeks. This is what it looked like on August 11 and what it looks like now:

I need to reattach all of our signs. They must have blown down in the big storm on Saturday. Someone was kind enough to wedge them into the fence, but I need to attach them more permanently (and maybe make a couple new ones).

Today the weather was perfect to just hang out and water and chat with passersby. A perfect way to spend part of the afternoon.

More Cukes

2009-08-27T10:17:00.003-04:00

While watering with Yvonne yesterday, we gave away two more cucumbers--one to Dorothy, who helped us plant the garden in July, and another to a family whose kids go to the same school as my kids. There are a few squash and lemon apple cucumbers starting to show fruit now, though they're still very small. We talked with lots of passersby about the project.

Looks like we're supposed to get a tropical storm this weekend, so nature will handle the watering while I'm out of town.

Next week I have a meeting with Donna, the property manager, to talk more about next year and what sort of things we might plant. Once I know what's permissible, I also need to give some thought to how much labor all of this will require and try assess how many volunteers we'll need (and if we can get enough). There's lots of additional potential for this little spot of ground.

Scarlet Runner Pole Bean Blossoms

2009-08-25T20:37:00.000-04:00

There are really brightening up the fence.

First Give-Away

2009-08-24T20:27:00.004-04:00

This morning Noah and I were over at the garden taking photos, when a dad and his two daughters, Hannah and Julia, walked up and told me how much they enjoyed the garden. They've been closely watching the progress of the plants (and the dad said he's going to try to get the girls to join him in a little weeding). I told them a bit about what we're growing and hunted around under the leaves for a cucumber. I found a pretty good-sized one and gave it to them. They were delighted, and I was glad to find something readily available to share.

The whole fence row is full of blossoms, and we'll have plenty for passersby.

First Cucumber

2009-08-21T20:58:00.003-04:00

The garden is continuing to thrive. There are tons of bean, cucumber, and squash blossoms. Tons of tiny little cucumbers are starting to grow. And even a few round fruit--either Tatume Squash or Lemon Apple Cucumbers--are starting to from. In poking through the leaves, I found one cucumber that was a few inches long and ready to pick. So I did. (And it was delicious.)

I'm not counting on harvesting much for our family out of the 200 Foot Garden. The idea is share all of this with everyone. But I won't complain if we do end up getting a few things to taste (and cook).

I need to look for a basket to attach to the fence for excess vegetables that should be picked but we still want to share with passersby. Though I'd prefer for people to pick their own. Part of the fun of a garden like this searching through the wide leaves of these plants and finding a surprise.

Work Night and Mystery Manure

2009-08-20T16:16:00.002-04:00

Last night we had a brief work sessions. Besides me, we had Luralee, Jose Pablo, Yvonne, and Ilana. Thanks very much to all of them for helping weed and water. We ran out of daylight, so we didn't get to finish all of the weeding, but we got off to a good start.

There were also three half-full 40lb bags of composted cow manure waiting for us. I'm not sure who they were from, but thanks! I laid the organic matter down as top dressing at the start and end of the garden, where the plants are having the most trouble. We finally got about 15 minutes of heavy rain today, so that'll help work the nutrients into the soil (and give us all a day off from watering).

Work Night Tonight--7pm

2009-08-19T17:31:00.003-04:00

Tonight (Wednesday) we're meeting at 7pm to weed and water as a group. Anyone interested is welcome to show up. I think with even a small core of volunteers, it'll go quickly.

With the current heat wave, we've been watering at least once a day, and that seems to have helped. The heat is supposed to last for a few more days. Even tonight at 7pm, it'll still be hot. Still, as long as they're not drying out, the plants are happy with the heat.

Our First Donation!

2009-08-16T18:41:00.003-04:00

The little donation button on our blog (look to the right) actually works. Last night we got our first donation from Robert Jay Kaufman, who was walking by and was impressed with what we've been doing. Robert is a fellow author, and a guy who actually wrote a whole book about coming across things while walking around neighborhoods. At Turning Corners Press, he publishes his book Blockology, an offbeat walking guide to lower Manhattan (he's walked every single block below 14th Street).

Thanks, Robert! (It's all going into the fall soil amendment fund. Think compost and mulch.)

Yes, We Have Sharing (of Tomatoes)

2009-08-13T22:03:00.004-04:00

The 200 Foot Garden has shared its first vegetables already! I got this e-mail today from a woman who stopped by the garden with her ten-year-old daughter.

Hi

I read the Tab article a few weeks ago and my daughter and I have driven past a few times on our way home.

Sunday, we went for a bike ride and she was excited to be able to stop and check out each plant! She picked 2 red tomatoes (well, almost red, but they ripened a few days later!) and tried her best to re tie the tomato plant and get it through the fence as it was sagging a bit!

Thanks for the interactive garden and we look forward to checking it out some more this summer!

Maura

One thing I like about this project is the way it can involve young gardeners in a low-key way. I'm thrilled that we're already sharing garden produce with people passing by as part of their normal day. (Thanks to Cathy Neal of Bountiful Brookline for donating those tomato plants on our planting day.)

Back in Brookline--the garden is thriving

2009-08-12T19:42:00.007-04:00

We're back after our long summer vacation (we didn't do any gardening while on our trip, but did get to a farmer's market and an alpaca ranch in Estes Park, Colorado). I checked out the garden yesterday--it looks great! Thanks very much to Yvonne, Alexis, Caroline, Shelly, Sarah, Maeve, and perhaps a few others, who all helped weed and water while we were gone.

Despite our fairly poor soil quality, the heat and careful watering have helped the plants grow well. The cucumbers, especially the Marketmore 76, are already flowering. Some of the pole beans have reached the top of the fence, and the Tatume squash have leafed out nicely. I think we'll have cucumbers in just about two weeks. We'll see how the rest of the plants perform. If the weather continues to cooperate, I think it'll turn out well.

We're seeing a few weeds sprouting, since the mulch we have isn't very thick, but it's nothing a few hands can't handle in 30-60 minutes.

I watered yesterday, with bucket and watering can. Doing it by hand makes it easier for passersby to approach me with questions or comments. People are still extremely enthusiastic, about both the concept and the aesthetic transformation that's already occurring on this piece of ground. It'll be even prettier once we see more blossoms all along the fence line. Last night's rain provided a good soaking that will really help boost things along when the hot, sunny weather returns.

(on the right above, you can see the Tatume Squash has large leaves after just 3 1/2 weeks in the ground and is starting to vine into fence.)

And here is a cucumber starting to bloom. I think it looks healthier than my cucumber plants in our community garden plot, which had some beetle problems.

Rabbits. And off on vacation.

2009-07-28T22:52:00.002-04:00

It was hot here today and it's been two days without rain, so I got some water on the garden. Most of the plants look pretty good, but many of the very newest bean seedlings are now missing their leaves. The stems are still there, but the cotyledons and freshest leaves are gone. I suspect rabbits or other rodents. Luckily they've left the more mature plants alone. And they don't seem interested in cucumber seedlings either.

We're about to head out of town on vacation for almost two weeks. Luckily, we've got volunteers lined up to handle the watering while we're gone. I'm not sure how much rain we'll have--the forecast looks a bit on the dry side (just scattered thunderstorms, and those too unreliable to count on for young plants).

I'll very much miss the gardens while we're gone. But the one good thing about going away in the summer is that when you get back, the plants have jumped ahead with new growth. I'm very curious to see what the garden looks like when we return.

Inspiration: The Urban Homestead by Erik Knutzen and Kelly Coyne

2009-07-27T20:29:00.006-04:00

A lot of people ask where we got the idea for the 200 Foot Garden. It came from a number of sources--lots of time working in community gardens, writing about them and their issues (including in my short play, Pumpkin Patch). Plus we've been reading a ton of books on agriculture, food, and farming (and really like Michael Pollan and Joel Salatin).

Erik Knutzen and Kelly Coyne's book, The Urban Homestead: Your Guide to Self-sufficient Living in the Heart of the City, came just at the right time for us. As we read it this spring, its section on guerrilla gardening really got us thinking. That's when I saw the spot for the 200 Foot Garden. They also publish a terrific blog, Homegrown Evolution, on urban agriculture and homesteading. (And they even posted the story and video about our garden.) The book is one that we first got from the public library, but then decided we needed to own a copy. The blog is both fun and interesting (I like the post with the chicken coop made of IKEA parts). The post that mentioned our garden generated a whole discussion about Scarlet Runner pole beans--and I learned that the blossoms are edible! I can't wait until we have some.

Budget and funding

2009-07-26T14:56:00.005-04:00

At the moment, this is still a very small-scale project. As I mentioned in an early post, I received hundred bucks on Father's Day that I decided to put towards this project. We've gone through that cash, plus a little bit more. We've spent a little more than $160 so far, which includes signage ($16 just on laminating), seeds, pots and potting soil, soil testing. We were able to get compost donated and the lime at a discount. Volunteers have been extremely generous about sharing their tools, wagons, and supplies (and even tomato plants).

One of the best things about gardening is that it can be low-cost, and if the budget for this project stays small, it will be easier to replicate and modify for other venues and sites.

While I was at the garden today, a woman asked if she could donate to the cause. I'd been considering adding a "donate" button to this blog, in case people are interested. She said she could give me cash right there, which caught me by surprise (and explains why I'll never be rich... a sensible person would just have said, "sure" but I just stumbled around and said, "well, if you go to the web site, there will be something there...").

As this project expands, and I hope it will, we will have the need to spend more for plants and seeds, tools, mulch, additional soil testing, and soil amendments. So, for now, I've added a "donate" button to this blog, where people who are interested can contribute money towards the project. (And next time someone offers me money on the street, I'll be sure to take it and put it in my "saving for seeds" jar).

Small Work Day

2009-07-26T14:38:00.002-04:00

We did just a little bit of work this morning--weeding, staking tomatoes, and replacing damaged signs. There were five of us--me, Tracy, Yvonne, Ilana, and Lura Lee, which was plenty of hands for the work that needed to be done. Next year, if we grow a lot more plants, or we extend the garden (all the way to the T would be interesting, and would make for a VERY long garden, with lots of different challenges), we'll need more people. But for now, a few hands at a time does great.

(Noah, with Yvonne and Ilana pulling weeds, and Tracy fixing signs.)

mini-work day on Sunday 10 a.m.

2009-07-25T16:29:00.002-04:00

We're going to have a mini-work day tomorrow (Sunday) at 10 a.m. If you want to help out or just want to talk to us about plans for the garden, please come on by.

There won't be much to do--a tiny of bit of weeding, maybe some watering, lots of admiring seedlings and plants, put new signs up, and chat. I'm sure we'll be there less than an hour.

Walked by the garden at lunchtime today everything looked good. A couple new lemon apple cucumber seeds have sprouted. I don't think any of the Tatume squash are up yet, but I'm not sure.

New Beans Have Sprouted

2009-07-24T15:07:00.003-04:00

We had extremely hard rain last night and this morning, enough to flood parts of the Muddy River near our house. Our 200 Foot Garden is on high ground, but I did wonder if how our plants would handle the deluge.

I checked them out around noon, just as the rain stopped and it looks like they all made it through pretty well. Some of the cucumber plants look a little beaten up, but they'll recover. The mulch made a huge difference in terms of keeping the soil in place.

And, even better, a whole lot of the bean seeds have sprouted. I'd realized late last night that I didn't check to make sure that the new mulch wasn't too heavily covering the seeds we planted. The beans are strong enough to push through, but I went along pulled back some of the mulch so the less muscular cucumber seedlings will be able to push their way through. It looks like both Scarlet Runner and Kentucky Wonder seeds have sprouted. If we can get a few warm days with sun, they'll be catching up the the plants we put in no time.

(you can just barely see the new sprouts to the left of the bean plant)

200 Foot Garden Video (from the Brookline TAB)

2009-07-23T15:03:00.001-04:00

The Brookline TAB story also has a video from our planting day. Check it out: