Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Baby Pumpkin

It's getting to be the time of year in the garden where you realize some plants are just not going to make it. We're pretty sure our pumpkin plants are in that category now.

We planted them in our Fairy Tale garden, along with beanstalks for Jack and lots of flowers. We thought Cinderella would appreciate having a coach for the ball. :)

The vines grew well for a while, but there is only one pumpkin--and you can see from the picture that it is pretty small. Even these hot days can't help it catch up! In addition, the leaves are now covered with powdery mildew (click here for more info). At this point, we are considering pulling out the whole plant to keep other vegetables from getting infected. Sometimes that's the hard-knock life of gardening!

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Cucumbers!

We picked these delicious cucumbers and ate them at our program on Tuesday evening!

Cucumbers (and many other vegetables like summer squash) are often tastier and more tender if they're picked when they are small. But sometimes we don't get out to the garden soon enough, and that's okay too!

We grew our cucumbers on the ground this year since we had so much room in our garden plot. Another option is to place the vines on a trellis of some sort and grow them vertically.


Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Have a Green Garden!

While it's true that most (successful) gardens have a lot of green in them, there are ways to make your garden more green--that is, earth-friendly! Using compost instead of commercial fertilizer and collecting rainwater for watering are two great ways to bring an environmental emphasis to your garden.


We'll have hands-on demonstrations of both compost and rainwater capture tonight at our Have a Green Garden program! We'll also be taste testing our harvest--everything from basil to tomatoes and watermelon to flying saucer squash. It will be fun for the whole family--don't miss it!

7PM tonight (Tuesday) at the Library's plot in the Squaw Creek Community Gardens, 2 blocks south of 4th Street on S. Maple Ave.: Have a Green Garden!


Thursday, August 15, 2013

How Does Your Garden Grow?


Our garden is looking pretty good, considering how dry it's been this year. We've had a lot of help keeping it well watered, and the hay mulch helps preserve the moisture. You can see our watermelon growing in the bottom right corner, and our marigolds are still going strong, too. We're harvested lots of cherry tomatoes and cucumbers! We have lost a pepper plant and all of the kohlrabi though due to hungry deer.

How is your garden doing, now that it's mid-August? Leave us a comment!

Monday, August 12, 2013

Time to pick the onions


August in the garden means the end of some crops. Sometimes by this time, squash vines have died completely. Some of our gourd plants have died, possibly from a squash borer (more info here) that crawled into the vine and ate it, or possibly from a deer stepping on it. Can you find the deer print in this photo?

Other crops are simply ready for harvest, like these onions. Onions are special because you can eat the green stems (above the ground) and the bulbs below the ground, too! When onions get brown and fall over, they're ready to harvest. (Find more info about onions here.)

How do you like to eat onions? I like mine fried for a long time until they get caramelized and a little crunchy. Often I cook them with zucchini, somewhat like this recipe, only I use a LOT more onion! Try it and see what you think!

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Watermelon!

Our watermelon plants are growing very well. They have started to creep into the areas where other vegetables are growing! How many different colors of green can you see in this picture?

Monday, August 5, 2013

Cherry Tomatoes: Biggest hit of the garden


We have a few cherry tomato plants, and they are typically the biggest hit at our garden programs. Tomatoes taste especially amazing when you eat them right off the vine, warm from the sun. Many people who don't like "regular" tomatoes from the store enjoy these!

**Join us at the garden this Tuesday at 7PM for "Watch What You Eat," a program on food safety and gardening. This program is for the whole family and will feature education, activities, and freshly-harvested food from the garden. (The Library garden is at the Squaw Creek Community Gardens, 2 blocks south of 4th Street on Maple.)