It's HOT here in Philadelphia!

The tomatoes are pouring in, the sunflowers are towering over us, and we're fighting with the bugs and fungi for control of our crops.

We've got 60-70 plots in our community garden, and I try to make my rounds whenever I'm there to say hello and see what's happening in the garden. The yellow raspberries are ripe with their second crop of the season. The figs still have a week or so to go, but I'm checking them almost every day. The grapes are ripe and beautiful on the arbor.

Hi Carrie. your community garden and your weather sound much different than here. We have perhaps 15 active plots at our garden with space for about that many more. It is about 8 miles out of town but it is a pleasant ride and I never mind the trip. The potatoes are doing well and the peas are blooming. I harvested my first produce today. three radishes!! I also cut some collards and fixed them for supper.
I would love to have a tomatoe. I said I was going to grow tomatoes and my friend said "You better have two green thumbs" Well, I have a sweet 100 in a bucket and if it lives long enough to bloom. I'll bring it inside and still hope to get at least one tomatoe. Meanwhile, I'm thankful for the chance to be working in the dirt and talking to other gardeners.

Congratulations on the radishes Beth! Yummmm...

It's about 95 degrees here this week. My community garden is about 3 blocks away. A 5 minute walk. And I still drive it sometimes. Occasionally for good reason. Lately the A/C in the car has been a temptation. Even though I have to get out of it to garden.

Last night I harvested cherry tomatoes, some other tomatoes whose name I don't remember, string beans, two cucumbers, a few small carrots, and some basil. I also cut some sunflowers to bring to a friend's for dinner. The cucumbers have been attacked by some type of cucumber bug, and the tomatoes have suffered (and more or less survived) fussarium wilt and mites. Nevertheless, they keep producing.

My aunt in Sutton/Palmer, AK has the most amazing soil and the cabbage gets gigantic! Is your soil super-rich as well? Our garden is on the lot of a formerly abandoned school lot. The school was demolished, but we've got big chunks of construction material and cement under significant portions of the garden. The soil needs constant ammendment in order to produce.

How long is your growing season? I don't suppose there are winter crops in AK. Radish (and lettuce and parsley) are cool weather crops for us here. I bet you can grow lettuce now, huh?

Carrie

Well, I am still on the waiting list, but hope by next year, maybe before, to have my two plots 10X30 each. I have spoken to two of the members of the local community garden that I am waiting to join.

I was discouraged for a while, hearing that there didn't appear to be much community feeling or structure of this 70-80 plot community, but this maybe just hearsay and decided not to make any judgements. Besides, nothing ever remains the same and they haven't met me yet ;-)

So, in my head I am planting my plots... deciding what I will be doing with the land and from what I am told it's rather heavy in clay, but from what I read on the soil forum.. that's not a bad thing.. but will cross that bridge when I get to it.

I have some member numbers to call at the local garden community, need to get more information, because the senior apartment complex that I will eventually be moving into, approx. 150 residents are intrested in doing a garden project within the apartment community, using this local community garden.

I volunteered my services to see what I could arrange, aside from my own plots, guess this will keep me busy until I can get planting and then some... :-) It sure will be a good learning experence and a great way to meet others interested in gardening. :-)

How are you dealing with the heat... it's been over 100 degrees here lately.. does everyone water everyday? I am lucky, my plots will be just a mile away, but some folks have to travel miles to theirs... and I am wondering ... it's been so long since I had a garden that I have forgotten... don't laugh, please... do you water everyday?

Marilyn,

Glad to hear that things seem to be moving in the right direction! Remember that it's the people that make the community, and your presense at the garden will help to shape it into something that you want to be a part of. Keep the faith!

I water some of my smaller containers every day, when they look a little wilted. But you're in California and I'm in PA, so you'll probably have to water some plants more than I do.

At the community garden, during the hottest driest days, I water every two to three days. I try to amend my soil with plenty of compost, and then to mulch with a good thick layer of salt marsh hay. Between the moisture-retentive compost and the mulch, it stays pretty moist.

CarrieB

HI Marilyn and Carrie and all others. I am still wishing for some heat here. It is not supposed to get HOT here but it is not supposed to be this chilly all summer either. It looks like I will get a good crop of potatoes but not much hope for anything else. Maybe some kale if there is an "indian summer"
My garden is about 7 miles from home and it seems that weekends are the main time that others go out to tend their plots. The soil is wonderful, nice and sandy also a good bit of volcanic ash. It was a pasture for years so it is rich but also well seeded with weeds. I love going out there as the setting is so beautiful and peaceful. Things do not grow nearly as well here as in Palmer even in a good year. We tend to have cooler and wetter summers here. We also have much warmer winters. Maybe a low of 10 degrees here compared to about -40 there. Not much need to water here if the weather is "as usual". We keep a few 5 gallon pails out there to water the new transplants but that is about all the watering that is usually needed. When I lived in MD I needed to water almost every day.
Lots of pretty fruit this summer. Salmon berries, blueberries raspberries and both red and black currants. We made a lot of nice jelly. The currants are a beautiful hedge/windbreak down the side of the community gareden plot.
Marilyn, it sounds like you have a great project there to work on. Best wishes. Beth

Hi Beth, Carrie and Lurkers,

I can just picture the serenety of your garden Beth, doesn't matter what's growing I'd go just for that, but of course gardening is second up. :-) I can also taste the jelly , use to live in Northern Calif. and pick wild blackberries, everywhere, especially along the road where I lived.. buckets full and of course I made jam and jelly.

Question: In the community gardens are you allowed to build trellis for grapes and berries to grow on, didn't see any in my community. I notice that in my community there doesn't appear to be anything separating plots other then plants, but I didn't look that closely.. can one build fences of sorts.

Beth, what kind of potatoes are you growing? I have been thinking about starting some in a container, but have never done that before, although heard of people that have.

I am excited about the new project, I really think it's a great idea. This senior complex is for low income seniors and many of them are interested in supplementing there food supplies and also having some fun while doing it. We have been talking about the community garden for a while now, just have to think about how it can be organized and how many people we will have, plots we will need... etc. I have a call into the president of the community garden... waiting to hear back from her. :-) So much fun...LOVE GARDENING!

Question: In the community gardens are you allowed to build trellis for grapes and berries to grow on.

In our garden, several people have built structures for cucumbers, pole beans, etc. Also, some people have erected fences (mostly low, some maybe as high a 4 or 5 feet) between their plot and others.

I think that in our garden the only rule about that is to be respectful of neighbors. For example, if you are going to build something fairly tall, and have plants growing up it, will it cast shade all afternoon on your neighbor's tomatoes?

Marilyn, gardening with seniors sounds like SO MUCH fun. Also a challenge and rewarding. Good luck!

Carrie

OHHHThe peas have also done well. it has taken them all summer but the are so yummy.and,last but not least, i have a zuchini. That's right "A" zuchini. One, and it might get up to about a half pound if the weather stays warm a few more days. Warm, being above 55 degrees. When i lived in Md, zuchini was so prolifis that there was always a pile of it in the compost heap. What a difference!A few of the gardeners have done well with carrots and i saw a couple of very pretty Red Beets. Cauliflower and brocoli did not do as well as i expected. The collards are doing great to. No cabbage worms. In fact, not many bugs of any kind. There are slugs, but they are not insects and were not nearly as bad at the community garden as at home in my flower bed.

Hi everyone,
Now it's September, but I have to report on what's happening in my/our gardens. My garden is a home garden, but I'm a community garden coordinator, so I have contact with lots of community gardens. Our frost free dates in zone 5 are May 15-Oct 15. My own personal garden is my worst ever! It has been a hot and dry summer, and I haven't been able to give it the time it needs. However, fortunately, plants are stong and tolerant. I also need to move my fruiting crops to a new spot, as my garden is getting taken over by trees shading it. Tomatoes are my main crop this year. I have 4 Brandywine heirloom tomatoes, 2 Sweet 100, a couple of "black" paste tomatoes (heirloom), and an unidentified cherry-type heirloom tomato. Tbe Brandywine are incredibly delicious sliced, no salt or pepper needed. The other tomatoes are performing well, also. I have made wonderful cream of tomato soup, gazpacho, salsa, and a couple of delicious sauces.

My peppers and eggplant are performing very poorly this year--I guess it's the lack of sun. I had to be very conservative with water, as we are in a drought. Right now many of my plants are wilted, but I cannot water. Next year I'm getting "city water", and will be able to use my well water for the garden!

I grew the long asian asparagas beans, and they were poor quality--not meaty--perhaps because of lack of water. My pole beans--purple, yellow & green were delicious. My cukes got taken over by one bottle gourd plant that has produce 4 very fine large gourds....so what am I going to do with these????? Okay...it was the joy of discovery....

I also grew asian stir fry greens, and they were very productive and delicious. As for the community gardens...the challenge has been keeping up with watering this year. Some gardens have no water source at all, so gardeners must carry water...or suffer. Other gardens have sources at the garden, and they look great! The community gardeners are the most wonderful people, and are growing so many very cool veggies and fruits. I LOVE visiting their gardens. Sometimes I end up with a handful of cilantro, a yummy eggplant, sweet & beautiful tomatoes...I always leave with a smile because I know how much fun they are having playing in the dirt, and growing beautiful stuff.

Shelly

Here's the report from my little corner of Philadelphia. It's been my first year at the community garden, and my first time growing vegetables beyond a few tomato and basil plants. People at the garden tell me it's been the worst year in many. Drought and day after day of excessive heat hurt the tomatoes and the veggetable crops in general.

People are planting their fall crops and hoping that the fall is more productive than the summer has been. But the garden looks beautiful. The sunflowers are huge, the asters are starting to bloom, and everything seems lush. The PA Horticultural Society's Harvest Show is this weekend and gardeners are discussing their personal entries and determining what we should enter as a community. I've never been and am looking forward to seeing what it's like.

Our monthly meeting was Monday, and next Monday is our monthly "Sippin Under the Stars". Each of us brings a beverage and/or food to share. Sangria and figs are the favorites so far. It's usually a fairly small group that comes to monthly "Sippin", but we light the candles and have a grand old time.

Here is a link that might be useful: Harvest Show

Howdy,

I am a few weeks closer to getting my community plots, even though it probably won't be until next year when I'll actually get it.

I have to admit that last week I was happy, when the temps reached 115+ degrees, that I wasn't out their making ground preperations.... while everyone was and things were wilting.

My Senior Community Garden Project is moving "very" slow, but I am gathering information. I spoke with a board member and they are going to help look into some possibilities within the local community garden, but their anual meeting isn't until January. That's good, because the 150 unit senior complex won't be completed until about that time anyway.

I also contacted The Common Ground Garden Program at USC@Davis, got some information back from them today. I understand that here in California, we have a Master Gardener Volunteer Training Program and that some Community Garden people have been know to work along with them to help with their educational progarms as volunteers. I wonder if that's only in California?

The board member from my local communtity garden was going to get back to me on this, she was telling me about an adjacent piece of property that could be developed for additional plots in the future if the need was there.

This UCCE Master Gardners Educational Program, doesn't start until March 8th 2003. So as you can see, it will be a long term project in the planning stages, but still it does have significant merit I think.

This program trains volunteers in the basics of gardening so they can volunteer in the opportunities that UCCE has... I just hope being the novice I am this isn't something more then I need for my small Senior Community, or that I can handle. I do have time to research it, to see exactly what it entails, requirements and exactly how many of these seniors are interested, what they think and want from this project.

Anyway, just wanted to checkin... hope you are doing well and getting ready for your new planting season. What will you be growing?

Marilyn

Does anyone know how to get rid of wild asparagas?

It is my first outdoor garden ever. I grew radishes carrots (which took for ever to grow) and lettuce, abundantly. Now I have tomatoes and cucumbers and Okra. The leaves are drying on the tomato plants that have plenty of green tomatoes but they seem to be taking a long time ripening - is something wrong that they are taking so long? I got a few ripe tomatoes earlier. I got four cucumbers, so far. I think my neighbor got two (of mine), but I don't see too many blooms on the vines. My collard greens are starting to come up nicely. they will be the last harvest of the season.