Seedlings

I planted the rest of the seedlings today. In the South bed I planted tomatoes, brussel sprouts, and peppers. In the North garden I planted broccoli and onions. 

I turned the compost pile which was starting to smell (lots of recent additions). The baby robin was gone so I checked on all of the new EcoHouse plants which are fine. 

Funny thing is that I meant to buy wintergreens at Outback but I was charged for winterberries (same price so not a big deal) except that now I'm not sure if all of my plants are wintergreens. So I have to call Outback tomorrow and figure out what's what. 

I met with the Lily Fellows briefly today and gave them a tour of the garden so they may be volunteering by weeding and harvesting which will be fun. 

Saturday we're building new platforms for the rain barrels so they'll be raised 3 feet and add a little to the water pressure.

very long update...

I think I'm going to commit to updating AT LEAST every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday. That way I'll at least have three updates a week and won't be so far behind. 

Okay.. since I planted raspberries...

Last Friday I planted a couple of the onion plants and the surviving rosemary plants. It's been so hot that not a lot of them are making it. Getting them in the ground will hopefully better their chances, but this is just one of those tricks of gardening you can't account for all the time. 

When I came back to water later that evening, there were bean sprouts!

These are them as of yesterday, doing very well I might add!

Tuesday I decided to put a bunch more seedlings into the ground. I set up two beds in the lower bed of the North garden (it's a little too big to reach, so I made a couple divisions so it's more accessible). I planted four or five rows of tomatoes and two rows of onions. They're settling in fairly well, but it's still very hot so time will tell. I've been watering regularly and hopefully that will help. I mulched them all with compost, so hopefully those nutrients will leach down and make everything a little better.

I still have my work cut out for me though. There are still plenty of seedlings that need to go into the ground. Each seedling is wrapped in newspaper which will give it some protection, but now that they're in the ground the newspaper should decompose. I ripped it a bit around the edges so that if the roots do need to expand, it isn't so hard.

I turned the compost again (I did filter out a large chunk of it to use as mulch) because it's been running fairly hot. Compost piles will naturally get fairly heated, because of the decomposition activity that takes place, but if they get too hot, it can kill the bacteria that are necessary. Turning it will lower the internal temperature and also give it air. Usually you can tell that a compost pile is ready to use when the temperature reaches a consistent level, but when you're continually adding to it, it's more of a sight trick. But if you're using the sifting method as I have been, you need to be consistently checking for mold. It should be easily avoided if you're composting correctly, but you can never be too sure and putting mold on your vegetables can be devastating. 

Yesterday I had intended on putting the rest of the seedlings into the ground, but first I had a meeting with Suzanne from the Sustainability Office. We talked a bit about my role as gardener and what else I might be working on this summer. After I get the seedlings into the ground, my job will mostly be weeding, watering, and harvesting. (I wish the there was a W word for harvesting, then I could call it the three Ws... alas). Anyway, that's not enough to fill up 20 hours a week. 

Most of what we talked about is the EcoHouse garden, as a project that needs to happen soon. The backyard of the EcoHouse is out of control in that it is almost entirely weeds. Now the only reason I haven't pulled them yet is because I'm concerned about the soil washing away if there isn't anything there to hold it in place. Fortunately Suzanne was able to allocate some funding to buy new plants for the garden. She and I went on the DNR website to look up suggestions they had for shade gardens (which has been the biggest problem the yard has faced). With those recommendations I went online to the outback nursery website to see if they even had those plants available. My friend Maars and I drove out that afternoon to Hastings to pick out some plants. We bought three Maiden Hair Ferns, Two Blue Cohosh plants, Two Jacob's Ladders, A bronzeleaf Diervilla, Four Winterberries, Two Shagbark Hickories, and an American Plum tree.

Maiden Hair Ferns do WONDERFULLY in the shade, so we'll probably plant these in the darkest part of the hard. Hopefully they'll spread too, which will be very good for ground cover.

Blue Cohosh was apparently used by American Indians as a kind of contraceptive or to induce labor. It's also associated with abortion... interesting things you learn on wikipedia. It does say not to take the herb if you're pregnant... Anyway, it does well in the shade and has pretty blue berries.

Jacob's Ladder does well in the shade and has pretty purple flowers. No fun facts about this one except that it does well in the cold.

Bronzeleaf Diervilla does well in part shade and is good for erosion control and massing. So very good for the back yard.

More on winterberries later, I need to look into something.

Shagbark Hickory trees prefer full sun to part shade, so they'll go on the edge of the hard to create a border where they can get enough sunlight. One of the great benefits of these trees is that they have edible nuts. Asa had recommended them as additions to the sustainable forest so this was a great find.

American Plums need full sun, so this is a tree we're hoping to plant in the front yard in place of the viburnum that... died. But anyway it doesn't need that much water which is good and it produces fruit. I'll call that one a win. 

So that was my day yesterday, aside from a rather embarrassing moment where I found a baby robin wedged between two of the plants I'd bought, apparently hiding. Thinking I'd move it somewhere safer (BAD IDEA) I must have terrified it (it had been sitting so placidly until this point!) because it starting crying... and then I was attacked by a mother robin. It chased me. Across three yards. So. Lesson learned, don't mess with the will of nature. 

Today I'm planning on planting the rest of the seedlings, I'll head over to do that this afternoon when the sun isn't directly overhead. 

Raspberries

Today I planted raspberry transfers. I planted about four sprouts where the wintergreens had originally been planted, about five where the juneberry had originally been, two next to the strawberries, and about five on the other bed next to the stairs. Reed says they have a tendency to spread very well, which is good to a certain extent. Future residents of the EcoHouse will have to keep an eye on them. 
Unfortunately they're transfers, and some of them don't look like they're doing so well. They're a bit wilty, which is to be expected since they were dug up and removed from their home plot. Still, we mulched them with compost and watered them so they're in a good position to settle in. 
I watered the beds twice today, once in the morning and once at night. We've been averaging 75 degrees every day, so the beds are drying out pretty quickly. 
I harvested more arugula today, but the leaves are getting bitter so it's probably on its last harvest.
More pictures!

The new raspberry plants along the stairs

The other side of the stairs












(there's a false indigo plant at the top that fixes nitrogen, then runoff benefits all the plants below)

Replacing the old juneberry

I'm gonna make rhubarb pie.












I think mulching tomorrow, but definitely a lot of research on new plants for the permaculture forest.

Permaculture (and why someone should be living in the EcoHouse year round)

Fail about updating yesterday.


So even though I've been waiting until it was shady I think I've been watering too early because the soil's still been very dry. So last night i didn't water until just before sundown, and I dragged my lazy butt out of bed to go water before nine this morning. I'll do the same tomorrow.


Yesterday was again fairly straight forward. I didn't do anymore planting because I'm waiting for the seedlings to mature a little more. I turned the compost (someone in one of the language houses has been putting A LOT of oranges in the pile... big no no). I'll probably take some of the finished compost and put it around the seedlings once I've got them planted. The way I'm going to do that (since a lot of the pile is still big chunks of organic matter) is by sifting it through the chicken wire used to contain it into a wheel barrow. Then I'll take the unfinished bits and make a new pile out of them. 


One of the big things about the EcoHouse is that it has a permaculture garden surrounding it. Now since the entire garden went in at once, a lot of the plants didn't make it because they just weren't receiving enough attention. As it is, however, most of the garden is intact. There is a rhubarb plant on the south side that it settling in nicely, several ostrich ferns at the West as well as some wild ginger, and three large elderberries on the North side. There's also scatterings of Mayapples, yarrow, anise hissup, and other edibles or nitrogen fixers. The East side, however, is fairly barren.


I met with Asa (the original designer or the garden and also the original MULCH summer gardener for the current location) who gave me a full tour of the garden and explained each of the benefits of the plants. According to Asa, most of what the garden needs is remulching (and I can get woodchips from facilities), weeding, and filling. Since some of the original plants have died, they should be replanted. Wintergreens, New Jersey Tea, and False indigo are good plants to try to reinstate. Also, when all else fails, yarrow is a dynamic accumulator (a plant that pulls nutrients from deep in the ground) and is a good idea to plant. Also, he suggested planting a cranberry viburnum at the edge of the property. Asa said he got most of the plants that he bought at Outback Nursery in Hastings, MN. Apparently, Outback Nursery specializes not only in native plants, but the native genotypic strains, aka the specific plants adapted to survive in Minnesota. So that's pretty great, if I find funds for replanting I'll definitely try to go there.


In terms of fixing the East side of the house, there's not a lot of options. It's a pretty shady area,  though it's gotten better. Asa had planted quite a bit, but now it's been mowed quite a few times and a lot of things didn't survive. Still, there's three hazelnut plants, an elderberry, several yarrow plants that are spreading, and anise hissup (which tastes a bit like liquorish and can be made into tea). He suggested planting ground clover as a cover (that will also served to hold the soil in place). The biggest issue is that right now it's a weed bed, but because it's sloped it the soil risks being washed away. I've had several people suggest to me that I make a rain garden out of the lower bit, which might be a possibility, but it would be getting A LOT of water. Also, I'll have to sink it a big, which is tricky because the pipes from the solar panels to the EcoHouse run right through that area. So I'll have to see if I can get someone to flag all the places I'm not allowed to dig so I don't... die. 


Tomorrow I'm going to harvest some arugula, see about mulching, and plant some raspberries that my friend Reed is transplanting from his garden, yay!

More lettuce

Today was pretty straight forward. I stalked down a couple dandelions that I must have missed yesterday, but given that the lawn is riddled with them, I'm sure I'll never win the battle. 

I planted today! That was pretty exciting. I planted bronze arrowhead lettuce and slobolt next to the spinach that I planted yesterday. Also, next to the Arugala I planted more mesclun salad and kaleidoscope premium. Over next to the rhubarb on the South side of the EcoHouse I planted some strawberries. It's decently sunny overthere, but not so sunny that the soil will get too hot I think. 

I trimmed down the sage (which was beginning to overtake the chives) and thinned out some of the volunteer flowers (which were just plain taking over). I watered everything pretty well and checked on all the seedlings. 

Tomorrow will probably be more of the same. But I have pictures!

The Herb bed

The South Bed

The lower North Bed

Some of the Seedlings

The Elder Tree 

The battle of the dandelions: First day in the garden

I tried to get to the garden early today so I could water before the sun came up, but sleep was WAY too appealing, so I'm going to head back over in about 30 minutes or so and finish the job. 

When I got there I started off with some simple projects. I weeded the South bed, thinned out the gooseberry bush, and harvested some arugula and lettuce. There wasn't enough to sell, so I think I'm going to plant some more so that future harvests can be sold. I also trimmed the currant bush a bit, but it's flowering so I decided to leave most of it.

I'd been reading a whole lot about herbs and how great they are, so I decided to plant some more herbs in the herb section of the South Bed. There's already plenty of mint, sage, and parsley, but I added more cilantro, then planted dill, cumin, and fennel. 

I planted spinach and nasturtium (an edible flower) next to the mixed lettuce bed, but I'll plant more lettuce and spinach tomorrow I think. Today was mostly a surveying/ maintenance day.

I checked on all the seedlings at the North bed and made sure they're still moist enough. I'll be planting them starting next week, I think.

A lot of people don't know that Dandelions are edible. But few people choose to grow them, and they're a bit particular about how you can eat them. And since they are ultimately choking plants that kill desired vegetables, they have to go. Today was an epic battle. The MULCH shed was devoid of any of the weeders I'm used to (and are particularly good for getting at the roots of the weeds) so I used a small potting shovel instead. Crude, but effective. I remain unconvinced that I got all the dandelions in the beds, but for now, all visible plants are gone from the North bed, the South bed, and the EcoHouse beds. 

My friend Reed came to help for an hour or so. While he was here he helped prune one of the elderberry bushes (it's really more of a tree now) over by the EcoHouse and thinned some of the flowers over in the South Bed. 

I turned the compost pile over by the German House, it was looking a bit dry. I added some greens to it. I'll start bringing over my coffee grounds in the morning to add to that. I also turned the bin, which is looking a little too wet so I added some browns. 

Using some of the leftover seedling sale money, I bought two weeders, a pair of pruning shears, and some strawberry seeds. I'm going to try to get them to grow next to the rhubarb by the EcoHouse. Also, Reed is going to check and see if he can transplant a couple berry bushes. I'm not sure of the logistics of that, I guess I have some research to do. 

Reed and I made a list of things we'd like to see happen, if cost weren't an issue. First of all, we need to fix the fences around the beds. If that means putting up more steaks as a quick fix, then it's a good investment. They're falling down and seemingly ineffective, which is really too bad. I'll see what I can do with them this summer. We'd also like to get to work on a rain garden for the lower part of the back EcoHouse bed (which is currently unplanted). It's sloping, so there'd be a good amount of water reaching it. We'd like to see more berries in the perennial garden (and hopefully those strawberries will take!). And finally, we'd like to be growing something in ALL of the beds. Hopefully that will happen, I do have 3 months to get to work.

Tomorrow I plan on thinning and planting. Also, hopefully I'll have some pictures to post!

Intent to find a Purpose

Most students at Macalester College (the liberal arts school in Saint Paul, MN I attend) do not know that we have a vegetable garden. They probably also don't know they're allowed to work in it when they want, and would be surprised to learn that it provides some of the food at Café Mac, our one and only cafeteria.

I was one of few students who learned about the community garden within my first week here. That didn't inspire me to do anything with it. I was already VERY busy and never saw any postings about meetings... so the garden slipped from my mind. Come April of that same Freshman year, I found myself hired as the summer gardener. 

Why? Because community gardening matters, to put it simply. But why did I want to do this job? Because I'm an Environmental Studies major living in the school's EcoHouse next year. And I felt the need to spend the summer away from home. So here I am, in charge of a beautiful garden, nestled between the Spanish and German culture houses. 

What I would like this blog to be is a documentation of what I've been doing in the garden, and if I'm good about keeping it up, a documentation of what I'm doing in the EcoHouse next year. I'm sure that once I've gotten the hang of this whole blogger thing, I'll know what exactly what this is.