Season winding down

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

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

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

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

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

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

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)