Arugula with a message

The 2013 Garden Season is in full swing! I have lots of good news and some less good news to share. Good news goes first.

Thank-you to Bountiful Brookline for the seeds. Seedlings are on my porch and ready to go in.
Special thanks to Valerie and the GreenThumb Growers at 99 Kent! The greenhouse is bursting at the seams  and they've provide dozens of plants that are in the garden already.

The spicy arugula from 2012 self seeded and it's doing fantastic. It needs to be harvested. Take your scissors and cut it right at the base. Help yourself but be warned, it's got some kick.

The chives are doing great! Those too can be harvested anytime and they will keep growing. Bring your scissors and cut 1/2" from the ground.

WWW: Waterers and Weeders Welcome
We need your help! The garden needs weeding and watering. Tomatoes need staking.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
July 1st, my family is moving to Maryland. That means we are losing 4 critical volunteers. If you were waiting for the right time to step in and get your hands dirty, now is the time! If you didn't like the shape the garden was going and you want to change things, now is the time. If you want to coordinate volunteers but don't want to get dirty, now is the time. Feedback on the 200'Garden is wonderful. Tons of passers by compliment the gardeners whenever we are out. It would be wonderful to keep the garden in tip-top shape. Please email me if you want to help or take charge.

Email to follow shortly as we'll be setting up a regular weeding-watering night.

Thank-you for a Great Season.

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

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

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

Peas and lovage.

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

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

Dear 200' Garden Blog Readers and Gardeners, 

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

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

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

Hope to see you Saturday!

Sunday Workday

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

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

September in the Garden

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

“This garden is my favorite part of summer”.

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

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

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

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

Is July 15 too early for cukes?

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

The First Strawberry!!

Look who is loving this weather:

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

Midsummer 2012

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

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



Strawberries, tomatoes, and peas (less thirsty now)



Tuesday Work Nights

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

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

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

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

The Peas, the garlic, the strawberries oh my! 

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

Spring has sprung!

The 2012 Season is Officially Here

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

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

A bit about this year's coordinators:

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

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

We look forward to meeting you on Sunday!

Looking for a New Garden Coordinator

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

The coordinator would:

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks!

Garden to Bed

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

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

Winding Down (not quite)

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

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)

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

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

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

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

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):