Summer is Heating Up! Wednesday, July 20th

Well, it's definitely that time of year - the dog days of summer have arrived! It's heating up at the gardens and veggies are growing like crazy! The pumpkin and squash are taking off as are the corn and beans! These are all good things! We'll have a great harvest come Fall!

The weeds are still out of control and it's often disheartening to go over to the gardens and see all the weeds taking over everything. The more we pull and knock them down, the bigger they seem to grow. It's a never-ending battle that we all face. Luckily, Matt and Brad have been knocking them down with the lawn mower, so that helps a lot! Thanks, guys!

With all these veggies coming up, what in the world do we do with them? Well, there's loads of options, and we have a few suggestions here for you! We've been making some yummy vegetarian meals with quinoa and beans right on the grill so you don't have to heat up the kitchen! These Mediterranean Stuffed Bell Peppers are light and easy and fun to make!

2 cups quinoa
1 cup garbanzo beans
zucchini
pappadew peppers
Red Bell Peppers - halved and cleaned
1 TBSP lemon juice
basil
feta cheese

cook the quinoa until done and then add the zucchini and pappadews and cook down slightly - remove from heat. Add salt, lemon juice and basil to taste. Stuff the bell peppers with quinoa filling and top with feta cheese. Put the peppers on the grill just before you're ready to eat and cook to your liking - then, enjoy! This is a great meal to sit outside and enjoy a glass of wine and the cool night air before the sun sets!

If you have an abundance of any veggies, you can also take them down to the local food bank, where those less-fortunate from the community can enjoy the bounties of your harvest as well!

Finally, we are starting to talk about plans for next year's gardens! We have included a link to "Starting a Community Garden" on the right for ideas, and we are welcoming new members for the coming year as well! Tell your friends and come on out and join us for another great season of gardening!

Happy Gardening!

Let it Rain! Let it Pour! Wed, July 13th

Well, another rain storm passed by last night, and graced us with moisture from the sky! All the rain here in Northern Colorado is very unusual for sure, but it is also a blessing! Our veggies are looking really good so far! The pumpkin patch that we had difficulty with at the beginning of the season is now coming back. The seeds are even sprouting; though, these plants may not give us any vegetables, it was good to see that they were sprouting and we had just planted them a little early previously.

One thing that the rain has also brought is a growth spurt in the weeds! The weeds have literally taken over some of the gardens, and we have been trying to keep them under control by hoeing and laying down mulch, but some of these weeds are very stubborn. Another great thing about the rain is that the weeds are more easily pulled out of the ground, and organic gardening also means weeding!

The picture I included with our blog is from Bath Nursery. It shows what Lady Bug Eggs look like, and I have seen an increase in the number of Lady Bugs around the garden, which is wonderful! Lady Bugs eat some of the bad bugs that feed on our vegetables, so if you see these eggs on some leaves, let them be so that we can have a garden full of these beautiful creatures!

Otherwise, we're in the middle of our growing season and some plants are flourishing, putting on fruit and getting ready for harvest in another few weeks! Flowers are coming out and getting ready to bloom. It's about the end of the season for our leafy greens, and we'll be replanting leafy greens for a fall harvest in a few weeks.

Otherwise, all is well at the Gardens on West Vine, and we hope that you, too, are having a fantastic gardening season!

Bug Off! - July 6, 2011

Hoping everyone had a perfect July 4th! We spent less time in the gardens this weekend, but we are back at it this week! This time, we are working on those pesky little critters that keep eating at our plants! Bugs!

One of our Community Garden Members, Shannon Harker, sent over a good and informative article on controlling bugs with household formulas in an environmentally safe way. After looking over it, we will put this up on the blog as a reference site for all of our gardeners in the years to come! Take a look and let us know what you think! www.finegardening.com

I'm not sure if I mentioned it before, but there was also a good article in Amish Land Seeds, too, about starting seeds. So, I hope that you'll check that one out as well!

This week will bring us lots of weeding. Organic gardening is anything if it isn't a constant challenge to weed the invasive plants out. It's supposed to be a rainy week, so it will be nice to have things a little cooler, but it won't control the weeds any!

See you out in the gardens!

Replanting - July 1, 2011

Well, with all the rain we've had in June, our Winter Squash plot didn't do anything. The seeds rotted in the ground, so it's time for replanting! We got two pumpkin plants, an acorn squash, and a spaghetti squash plant, and put them in the ground two days ago. We had a bout of good thunderstorms yesterday to get them set up, and we planted them with some Happy Frog Organic Fertilizer. The wind whipped them around quite a bit, but they seem to be doing well.

Most of the seeds planted didn't get established like we hoped. They rotted from overwatering with the rain at the beginning of the month. It's a little late to plant some things, but we are getting ready to plant a few new seeds for the fall at the end of the month including spinach, lettuce, and some other fall, late season plants.

Our perennials are doing great! The Hops are going wild, the strawberries are starting to perk up, and the sage is loving its new home. We're still waiting on the rhubarb and asparagus to show themselves, and the thyme will hopefully perk up as well...

Finally, we are going to be conducting some soil tests over the next few weeks as well. We want to have a fantastic 2012 season, so we want to get a jump start this fall my amending the soil as needed and getting the beds ready for the spring. We'll do some tilling in the fall, turn everything over, amend the soil, and cover with mulch. If anyone wants to plant garlic, we will have the opportunity to do that in October. We will be ready for the spring to get onions in the ground by St. Patrick's Day, and to get any bulbs in the ground early on in the spring as well. We will do another till in the spring and make any other amendments that are needed before getting our seedlings in the ground by Mother's Day!

That's all the updates for this week! We are happy for the rain this week, and hope you have happy gardens this year, too!

June 2011 - Planted and Ready to Go!

The Community Gardens on West Vine at The Meeting House are well underway for the 2011 season! We all have our plots planted, and we even have four "experimental" beds as well! We have planted a bed of winter squash, a bed of sweet corn, a bed of dried beans, and a bed of perennials that includes rhubarb, strawberries, asparagus, hops, sage, and thyme. Our own personal beds are all filled with yummy veggies that have started to sprout because of all the wonderful moisture we have had this season!

If you are interested in reserving a plot at the community gardens, contact Kristina Brown at krisbrown2011@gmail.com. We will get you started with a plot and you can plant your late-season veggies for the fall!

Spring is Here!

Spring is here, and we are busily getting ready for planting! We ordered seeds and split them up for planting. Most of us have started our plants indoors and will transplant them outdoors in the next few weeks. The weather in Colorado has been windy, but nice enough to get the gardens started.

Shannon and Matt have purchased the chickens for the garden, and they are living in their basement for now until we get the pen built and set up. We will be working on this in the coming weeks. If you want to help participate in the building of the pen, let us know so that we can ensure that you are on the list!

We'll have some dirt delivered in the coming weeks, and we will all be out getting our plots ready and planting for the coming growing season!

Chicken Plan Passed!

The Chicken Plan was approved by the Friends Meeting on March 14, 2010. We are looking forward to getting started with our chicken plan, which will include building a chicken run and coop, getting the chickens, and beginning the care rotation. Shannon and Matt have graciously offered to help with the young chicks and to care for them in their home until they are big enough to put outside.

A few additions to the chicken plan include providing hay for the chickens to keep the smell down. We will also be getting the youth from the Friends Meeting to help participate as much as they want. What a great way for families to be a part of the community!

The Garden is almost completely full! We have two more families from the community that will be participating! We have also set aside a plot to plant some perennials like asparagus and strawberries from which we will all share! We have ordered some plants and some seeds, so we are getting ready for the warmer spring days so that we can get our gardening started!