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).

 

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!

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!

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.

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!

I Don't Garden Naked

June 1st!

Summer is moving right along.  I paid my weekly visit to my community garden plot at the Broadway Community Garden.  It is weed city over there!  Every time I go over there, it looks like I never weeded.

Today I hit Lowe's and Habig's to get some garden supplies.  I picked up some Garden Tone, a bottle of fish fertilizer, a couple bamboo stakes and some straw.  I did my weekly weeding then gave every plant a side dressing of Garden Tone.  They need watered so that fertilizer can take effect.  It better rain soon.

Then I covered the entire garden with straw to do two things:  keep the weeds down and keep the moisture in the bed.  Lastly, I put tomato cages and stakes around as many of the tomatoes I could.  I lost track of how many tomatoes I have.  Whoops.  Maybe I should take inventory, huh?  But hey, look at these lovely pics!

I tell you what, with planning a wedding, mixed with my full work schedule and the normal life stuff, I haven't been as attentive to the garden as I normally am.  Plus, I do have the garden box here at the house.  It's doing ok.  I got about 10 good Radishes.  They were nice in our salads.  The Arugula is bolting.  I thought it would have been bigger, but this is the first time I've grown them.

Well, that's it for now.  Man, I can't wait till I can eat some tomatoes and peppers from the garden!  And yes, it's true.  I do not garden naked.  That sounds like a terrible idea.  I think my friend Leah told me there was a national naked gardening day.  This will not be happening on 38th Street or any other street for that matter!  Unless I'm reeeeeaaaalllly drunk and decide it's a great idea to go work in the garden.  Oh please, let Miss 38th Street stop that before it happens.

38th Street Gardener.  Out.