Hello Everyone,
I know I pretty much disappeared for the summer after my community garden got raided. I have to be honest, it bummed me out and took some wind out of my sails. I still gardened over at my plot and it was not a bad season, but I didn't feel like talking about it. I know this won't last. I know I'll be ready for next year's garden and this bad taste in my mouth will be gone.
Some good things came out of the situation, though. A couple of the residents who lived right by the garden helped me keep people out of it. Allen, an elderly gentlemen who liked to come out and talk with me while I gardened, made sure my "Please don't pick my vegetables" sign stayed up and was easy to see. The elderly lady across the street told me she shewed some people out of there. She saw how hard I was working in the garden and hated to see people take things they didn't work for. She also told me she did care what they had to say. She 84 years old. She's not afraid of anyone. She know's people, you know! I wish I could remember her name. I liked her.
Well, I do have an announcement. The 38th Street Gardener blog is coming to an end. That's because we're moving! The name just doesn't fit anymore, so I'm changing the name/site up. It will be a more general city-themed name, so when next time we move, I won't have to do this again.
I'm hopefully meeting with some friends soon to help me make a new blog. Something more unique. It should be fun working on this new blog with them. They're friends, so I think the payment will be food and beer while we work on it.
Sorry again for not being diligent with the blog this year. I have a feeling it will be better next year. I'll have one more blog at this site. It will be announcing the new blog site. I hope everyone had a great gardening season! Time to start planning for next year!
Sincerely,
Rafael
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Unfortunate Garden Post
Hello All,
I hope everyone's garden is doing well and you're enjoying this beautiful summer. The weather this year is way better than last year, for sure. It's definitely cooler.
I have to share some sad garden news. It happened this past week at my community garden. Mrs. 38th Street and I were going to tidy up the plot in preparation of a tour of the green spaces in the Mapleton Fall Creek area of the city. It was put on by IndyTilth and sponsored by Sun King Brewery (thanks for the free beer!) and Nicey Treet (thanks for the free Thai Coffee ice cream bar!).
Last Wednesday, we arrived at the garden after work. I told Mrs. 38th Street that our Corn was getting close to ripe, so we need to check it. We also had some Tomatoes and Peppers that were close to turning, plus some Cucumbers that were ready to pick now. As we walked up to the garden, I noticed something looked different. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that some of the corn was gone. Then I looked closer and noticed about 8 or so ears of Corn were pick and they broke 3 Corn stalks in the process. I also saw that they picked a portion of Tomatoes AND walked through the middle of the Tomato plants, breaking 3 of them! The Cucumbers that were ready were gone. They pulled up a third of the onions and just left them laying on the ground! Some of the jalapenos were gone, too.
The garden was raided. I don't know by who, but it had happened sometime during the previous two day. All this was very disheartening. I was felt deflated. Mrs. 38th Street told me this might happen. I didn't want to think about that so I hoped for the best. Unfortunately, she was right. I was hoping the people in the neighborhood would be cool and let all the gardens be, but they proved that wasn't the case.
I was feeling this combination of defeat, sadness, and anger all at the same time. We had put so much time and money into this labor of love, then to see it robbed by someone in the neighborhood. I didn't know what to do as I stood there with my head down.
Mrs. 38th Street came over, gave me a hug and gave me some encouraging words to try to cheer me up. She said she was going to take me out to dinner. Pick any place I want and she'd pay. So we went to the Aristocrat. I love my wife. She was there to pick me up when I was down and she again showed me how much she loves me. A little dinner, a couple beers; it did help.
We garden because we want fresh, organic, healthy food. We want to be as self sufficient as possible and have less chemicals in our bodies. We did the community garden because of our housing situation. We didn't put all of our time, money and sweat into the garden just to have people rummage through, destroy and ruin it because of WHATEVER reason they had. I don't mind giving away some of the harvest. I don't. I even told Mrs. 38th Street that one day, I wanted to have a garden big enough I can donate some of the harvest to food kitchens to help feed the less fortunate. I don't want to do it like this, though. This was wrong. It was inconsiderate and not a neighborly thing to do. Didn't their Mom's teach them the Golden Rule?
Mrs. 38th Street did have a good point though. She commented that maybe some of the people in the neighborhood are misunderstanding the name of the garden. The spot is called the "Broadway Community Garden." She says they may be thinking that this belongs to the "Community" and it's for the "Community" to harvest and take what they want. This could be true. I can see people not knowing what the community garden is all about.
So when I get home from work today, I will be putting a sign in the garden that says, "PLEASE DON'T PICK MY VEGETABLES." I hope that's easy to understand. We want to enjoy some of the harvest from this year.
I really try to see the good in people. I will give you respect until you show me you're not worthy of respect. I want people to treat people like they want to be treated. It's a simple thing to do. If people lived life this way, communities would be a little nicer in general. It's not hard. I do hope everyone learns this at some point in their lives. Karma's a bitch. That sh*t comes back around in one form or another.
Alright, I've said my two cents about all this garden raiding. I'm done. I hope everyone had a good weekend. I'm ready to go grill something, myself, with a beer.
38th Street Gardener is outta here!
I hope everyone's garden is doing well and you're enjoying this beautiful summer. The weather this year is way better than last year, for sure. It's definitely cooler.
I have to share some sad garden news. It happened this past week at my community garden. Mrs. 38th Street and I were going to tidy up the plot in preparation of a tour of the green spaces in the Mapleton Fall Creek area of the city. It was put on by IndyTilth and sponsored by Sun King Brewery (thanks for the free beer!) and Nicey Treet (thanks for the free Thai Coffee ice cream bar!).
Last Wednesday, we arrived at the garden after work. I told Mrs. 38th Street that our Corn was getting close to ripe, so we need to check it. We also had some Tomatoes and Peppers that were close to turning, plus some Cucumbers that were ready to pick now. As we walked up to the garden, I noticed something looked different. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that some of the corn was gone. Then I looked closer and noticed about 8 or so ears of Corn were pick and they broke 3 Corn stalks in the process. I also saw that they picked a portion of Tomatoes AND walked through the middle of the Tomato plants, breaking 3 of them! The Cucumbers that were ready were gone. They pulled up a third of the onions and just left them laying on the ground! Some of the jalapenos were gone, too.
The garden was raided. I don't know by who, but it had happened sometime during the previous two day. All this was very disheartening. I was felt deflated. Mrs. 38th Street told me this might happen. I didn't want to think about that so I hoped for the best. Unfortunately, she was right. I was hoping the people in the neighborhood would be cool and let all the gardens be, but they proved that wasn't the case.
I was feeling this combination of defeat, sadness, and anger all at the same time. We had put so much time and money into this labor of love, then to see it robbed by someone in the neighborhood. I didn't know what to do as I stood there with my head down.
Mrs. 38th Street came over, gave me a hug and gave me some encouraging words to try to cheer me up. She said she was going to take me out to dinner. Pick any place I want and she'd pay. So we went to the Aristocrat. I love my wife. She was there to pick me up when I was down and she again showed me how much she loves me. A little dinner, a couple beers; it did help.
We garden because we want fresh, organic, healthy food. We want to be as self sufficient as possible and have less chemicals in our bodies. We did the community garden because of our housing situation. We didn't put all of our time, money and sweat into the garden just to have people rummage through, destroy and ruin it because of WHATEVER reason they had. I don't mind giving away some of the harvest. I don't. I even told Mrs. 38th Street that one day, I wanted to have a garden big enough I can donate some of the harvest to food kitchens to help feed the less fortunate. I don't want to do it like this, though. This was wrong. It was inconsiderate and not a neighborly thing to do. Didn't their Mom's teach them the Golden Rule?
Mrs. 38th Street did have a good point though. She commented that maybe some of the people in the neighborhood are misunderstanding the name of the garden. The spot is called the "Broadway Community Garden." She says they may be thinking that this belongs to the "Community" and it's for the "Community" to harvest and take what they want. This could be true. I can see people not knowing what the community garden is all about.
So when I get home from work today, I will be putting a sign in the garden that says, "PLEASE DON'T PICK MY VEGETABLES." I hope that's easy to understand. We want to enjoy some of the harvest from this year.
I really try to see the good in people. I will give you respect until you show me you're not worthy of respect. I want people to treat people like they want to be treated. It's a simple thing to do. If people lived life this way, communities would be a little nicer in general. It's not hard. I do hope everyone learns this at some point in their lives. Karma's a bitch. That sh*t comes back around in one form or another.
Alright, I've said my two cents about all this garden raiding. I'm done. I hope everyone had a good weekend. I'm ready to go grill something, myself, with a beer.
38th Street Gardener is outta here!
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
I'm So Excited! And I Just Can't Hide It!
YES!!!
I AM so excited, and I just can't hide it! It's not just a great Pointer Sisters' song, it's how I feel. Since my last visit to the community garden, which was on July 10th, the garden has made another big step. I visited yesterday, July 15th, and everything looks even better! More Tomatoes everywhere, Peppers of every variety are multiplying, Cucumbers keep coming, Onions bulging, and I now have ears of Corn!
LOOK AT THIS!!!
Every year that I've been gardening, their is one plant that I get really excited about and this year is most definitely CORN! I mean, come on, how cool is that?! I am a Hoosier, so I guess this is only natural. When I got the garden plot at Broadway Community Garden, I knew I wanted to try to grow corn. It's probably about 7ft tall now. Check it out:
This picture of myself cracks me up and the caption I want to put on this would be... inappropriate. Funny, but inappropriate.
Here are some more great picture updates from the community garden:
I got 10 Jalapenos from the garden yesterday. I put one and a half in some pico de gallo I made. It was so frickin hot! Wheeeoooow! I have a ton of tomatoes everywhere. I'm hoping they start turning soon. I'm ready for some fresh tomatoes. It puts me in a great mood when we pick veggies from OUR garden and cook with them. Amazing.
Now I'm not growing greens in the community garden, but in our garden box at home. We are almost done with all the greens. They were great. I love picking greens out of the ground, washing them and then eating them 30 minutes later. I hope everyone does this at some point in their lives. It feels great that you know what you're putting into your body. Well, at least you have a better chance to knowing what you put in your body, anyway.
Ok, back to work, everyone.
38th Street Gardener OUT-Y!
Friday, July 12, 2013
Post Wedding Garden Update!
[Cue wedding march]
Hey Everyone!
There is now a Mr. and Mrs. 38th Street Gardener! The wedding and all the preceding festivities were great. The honeymoon wasn't too bad either ;)
Sorry, no wedding photos here. You'll have to talk to us about those. What I do have are a bunch of community garden photos. Let's be honest, which would YOU rather see, huh? I know you want to see more gardening goodness, right? No? So... you'd rather see the wedding photos? Oh, ok, well...
Tough. I'm showing you a bunch of garden goobaleegook and it's going to be awesome!
Here is a shot of the corn the day before we left for the honeymoon on July 1st. Mrs. 38th Street is looking beautiful, of course. I don't know if you know this, but Mrs. 38th Street is 6' 9". So that corn in the picture is like over 7' tall!
Then Mrs. 38th Street and I were off to Aruba for our honeymoon! After a lot of sun, sea and adult beverages (not necessarily in that order), we came back to ol' Indiana very happy and relaxed.
Maybe a little hung over, too, but who cares! It was freakin awesome!
Here's low down on the Broadway Community Garden as of July 10th. Everything looked great. I was happy to see we had some rain while we were away. No draught hit and killed everything. I did have a lot of weeds, but I expected that. Check this out:
I did remember to walk-off the garden length. It is 25' x 3' plot.
I can't wait to see some ears on these suckers.
The first veggies harvested from the community garden! I did have a small Cucumber before we left for the honeymoon, but I didn't pick it. I hope my Cucumber plant still produces even though I let this guy turn yellow. I read that that is a no-no.
I have Cayenne Peppers popping up everywhere. I love it! If all goes well, we'll have some fresh crushed red pepper for our meals.
Jalapenos are looking good. I like to let them start to turn red a bit before I pick them.
I am pleased the Marigolds are still doing well. They really make the garden look nice, I must say.
Tomatoes!!! I think these are the Black Krim.
Holy crap, we're going to have a ton of Blondekopfchen Tomatoes! Look at all those little flowers. Now, I didn't see any bees while I was there, but I'm hoping they make some regular visits.
Romas. You can never have too many of these. Well...
All in all, not a bad looking garden. I'm happy with everything.
I did discover that I have TWO Cucumber plants instead of one. I thought I had one Sugar Baby Watermelon in the mix, but I was wrong. Hey, it's OK. I'm down with more Cucumbers. After I did some weeding, I hit everything with some leftover Garden Tone fertilizer and some liquid fish fertilizer. I hope that gives everything a little boost. It just needs a good rain now.
There is a nice old man who lives next door, which would be the house behind me in the picture above. His name is Allen. Pretty nice guy. He sure doesn't like the gas company or the KKK. I can't blame him on either one. I told him I'd hook him up with some tomatoes if all goes well. Allen seemed pretty happy about this. I hope I can deliver!
Back to work!
Mr. & Mrs. 38th Street Gardener OUT!
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
I Have Straw in Places Where There Should Never Be!
Hello Gardening World!
The month of June has been pretty good for the gardens. We have had a good amount of rain and my gardens have loved it. Both plots are doing well. I just pulled two more heads of lettuce out of the garden box, as well as some more Arugula. I made a salad for Ms. 38th Street and I made completely from greens from the garden. I love it!
I was gone for the weekend up in Angola, IN. When I came back to check on the Broadway Community Garden on the yesterday, I was happy to see it was doing well. I did have a fair amount of weeds, too, but I pulled most of them. I slapped on some more straw, too. I had straw EVERYWHERE. I mean EVERYWHERE (You know what I'm sayin, but I'm not sayin. Tryin to keep this puppy clean, you know).
OK, maybe I should get to work. Slow day today, though. One of those days when you're just waiting for people to get back to you so you can move along.
Adios!
38th Street Gardener is OUT!
The month of June has been pretty good for the gardens. We have had a good amount of rain and my gardens have loved it. Both plots are doing well. I just pulled two more heads of lettuce out of the garden box, as well as some more Arugula. I made a salad for Ms. 38th Street and I made completely from greens from the garden. I love it!
I was gone for the weekend up in Angola, IN. When I came back to check on the Broadway Community Garden on the yesterday, I was happy to see it was doing well. I did have a fair amount of weeds, too, but I pulled most of them. I slapped on some more straw, too. I had straw EVERYWHERE. I mean EVERYWHERE (You know what I'm sayin, but I'm not sayin. Tryin to keep this puppy clean, you know).
The tomato jungle is starting to form. I always put those darn plants too close together. Oh well, I'll hope for the best. Man, I love the way the tomato plants smell after you brush up against them!
Hey! Check out the corn! I'm really liking the way this is looking. It's around 4ft tall!
I have my mish-mosh of vines on the trellis. They are going up! That's great considering how this section started. I have the one Cucumber, one Cantaloupe, one Sugar Baby Watermelon.
I added the Marigolds for a little decoration and a little protection. We'll see if they help. Most of the flowers are looking good, though.
The Spanish Onions are doing OK. I was a little skeptical about buying these transplants. So far, so good!
SIDE NOTE
I found these trellis ideas I want to share with the people, el gente. Ms. 38th Street might have given this to me, actually. Either way, I think these are great ideas. I also saw a good trellis idea from Skippy's Vegetable Garden blog. I don't know if I should swipe a photo from her blog to show you, so maybe you should just check it out. It's a great blog. She is trellising her tomatoes.
OK, maybe I should get to work. Slow day today, though. One of those days when you're just waiting for people to get back to you so you can move along.
Adios!
38th Street Gardener is OUT!
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Can I Get a Bag of Lettuce on 38th Street? Yes, You Can!
Hey, Hey,
I pulled two heads of lettuce out of the garden box this morning. One of the Mantilia, and one of the Merveille Des Quatre Saisons. I haven't tried them yet, but they are all clean and ready to go. Thank you Salad Spinner!
I have already pulled out the Arugula and that turned out great. I just can't keep up with it. I have some that have bolted. I might have planted too much of that. The Tatsoi that I planted, which I haven't tried yet, has been totally devoured. So, it looks like I won't be trying that this year. The Spinach is not doing well. It has been partially eaten and just not very big. Oh, and the squirrels destroyed some of it. The squirrels were lucky, though. They got in the garden when Chui was napping. He's really good at napping.
38th Street Gardener. Back to work!
I pulled two heads of lettuce out of the garden box this morning. One of the Mantilia, and one of the Merveille Des Quatre Saisons. I haven't tried them yet, but they are all clean and ready to go. Thank you Salad Spinner!
I have already pulled out the Arugula and that turned out great. I just can't keep up with it. I have some that have bolted. I might have planted too much of that. The Tatsoi that I planted, which I haven't tried yet, has been totally devoured. So, it looks like I won't be trying that this year. The Spinach is not doing well. It has been partially eaten and just not very big. Oh, and the squirrels destroyed some of it. The squirrels were lucky, though. They got in the garden when Chui was napping. He's really good at napping.
38th Street Gardener. Back to work!
Monday, June 10, 2013
Work Day at the Community Garden
Hello Broadway Street!
I had my first group meeting with the members of the Broadway Community Garden. It was pretty much a maintenance day. Weed and cover the path, clean up your plots and clean up the remaining unclaimed plots. There were 6 of us there this meeting. The Organizer, Sarah, gave us some direction, dropped off a few waters and some donuts and she was off. So, the rest of us got down to it and knocked it out. Rachel, Josh, Isaac, and Angela are my gardener community. Everyone was cool and not afraid of some work.
Side Note: Sarah was pointing out who had what plot and she said some nice things about my plot. I believe she said "beautiful." Why thank you. Ego boost!
The Path got knocked, as you can see. That's a lot of cardboard and wood chips, everyone.
After all the community stuff was finished. I back to garden business. The garden had a few casualties. Only one of the four Cucumbers I planted lived. So, I bought a Cantaloupe plant and put it in between the Cucumber and the Watermelon (I have a problem this time of year. I can't stop buying plants!). Then I added the trellis for the bunch to grow up.
The Tomatoes are looking fine. Once the hot weather starts, they should all pick up the pace. We got to Mexi this joint up! I need my tomatoes!
Well it getting late, just like every time I write. I need to get my ass to bed and dream of tomatoes, corn, peppers and melons, and Miss 38th Street's melons. Ha, Ha! Just kidding! Kinda.
38th Street OUT!
I had my first group meeting with the members of the Broadway Community Garden. It was pretty much a maintenance day. Weed and cover the path, clean up your plots and clean up the remaining unclaimed plots. There were 6 of us there this meeting. The Organizer, Sarah, gave us some direction, dropped off a few waters and some donuts and she was off. So, the rest of us got down to it and knocked it out. Rachel, Josh, Isaac, and Angela are my gardener community. Everyone was cool and not afraid of some work.
Side Note: Sarah was pointing out who had what plot and she said some nice things about my plot. I believe she said "beautiful." Why thank you. Ego boost!
The Path got knocked, as you can see. That's a lot of cardboard and wood chips, everyone.
After all the community stuff was finished. I back to garden business. The garden had a few casualties. Only one of the four Cucumbers I planted lived. So, I bought a Cantaloupe plant and put it in between the Cucumber and the Watermelon (I have a problem this time of year. I can't stop buying plants!). Then I added the trellis for the bunch to grow up.
Hey, look at that Corn! This the first time I've attempted Corn and they are looking great! I'm excited about this. The Corn smells awesome.
What's that saying? Knee high by the 4th of July? Well, we're looking good, 38th Street.
The Tomatoes are looking fine. Once the hot weather starts, they should all pick up the pace. We got to Mexi this joint up! I need my tomatoes!
Here's the whole schabang. Pretty nice. I need to add a little more straw. I have a few bare spots. Those darn weeds kept on coming.
Well it getting late, just like every time I write. I need to get my ass to bed and dream of tomatoes, corn, peppers and melons, and Miss 38th Street's melons. Ha, Ha! Just kidding! Kinda.
38th Street OUT!
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