Log+Book

Thank you to all of the garden captains for helping make our first year so successful! The garden is thriving and producing due to our collective efforts! Your notes are much appreciated as well and will be used as a piece of reflection to make year two of Karen's Garden even bigger and better! [|click here] Thanks again!

EAT

Our zucchini did not survive. The peppers are very small and have a lot of holes.The leaves of the green beans are full of holes and there are no beans. We need some advice for next year and it looks like Matt has found someone to help us out.--Karen 9/04/07 -Picked over 20# of tomatoes this am. So far the kitchen has recieved at least 60# form the garden. There is a problem with small worms eating into the tomatoes. I have had to throw some away. I tried putting out plates with beer and flour, to kill the slugs. This morning some of the plates were empty and part of the plates had been eaten. Students picked an additional 10#, bringing our total to 70#. 9/11/07---I picked 3 bags of tomatoes this morning. I understand that Kip picked some last week. Our total now stands at 150#.---Karen 9/18/07---The second graders have been busy planting flowers, herbs anf grapes. They did a wonderful job. I picked 10# of tomatoes bringing our total to 160#. 9/24/07- Picked about 5# of tomatoes this morning. Radishes and carrots are starting to show some progress. I watered all of the new plantings. Karen ||
 * __**Date**__ || __**Garden Captain**__ || __**Notes**__ ||
 * Week of 27 || Karen Reimer || 8/31/07 No need to water this week. I picked tomatoes on Monday and Thursday. The kitchen is using them and will reimburse the garden project. I have given them about 25-35# so far. I'm sure there will be more next week.
 * Week of August 20 || Hannah Reimer || 8/23/07 - A torrential downpour this morning. With Matt pruning and tending the overgrown plants and all this rain, I somehow signed up for the easiest week to tend the garden! //- Hannah//

8/22/07 - More RAIN! I removed lots of slugs today:) and made a red sauce with the dozen or so tomatoes I picked on Monday //- Hannah//

8/21/07 - My nephew and I did a little maintenance work in the garden today...we pruned quite a few of the low hanging branches on the tomato plants. We also tied up some of the branches that were laying over on the ground. We pulled slugs off of some of the fruits and we picked close to 15 tomatoes (they taste great by the way!) We have many, many large green fruits that will be ready when students get back to school next week! //~Matt M//

8/20/07 - There was a whole lot of rain Saturday, and Sunday and Sunday night and again early this morning, so no watering today //- Hannah// || 8/03/07-Matt and Kip were out yesterday and did a lot of pruning and stringing up twine to control our burgeoning tomato plants. It also appears that something large has fallen on our tomato cages and bent them,hmmmm.Kim and Matt were out this morning just tidying up and getting ready for next week.It hasn't rained yet so I did a lot of watering. Looking good! Kim takes over on Monday. Karen ||
 * Week of August 13 || Steve Villeneuve and Chuck Taft || 8/14/07 - We had a big rain Monday night so things were looking good. I watered a little more and did just a little weeding...not much was needed at all! Another group of tomatoes are getting big and ready to "redden up" any day. ||
 * Week of August 6 || Kim Merrill || 8/16/07-I met Kim at the garden today and we planted some lettuce and spinach. Last week, Kim planted radishes and zucchini. The original zucchini is not looking good. It almost looks like it is rotting.Too much water? Also, some critter is eating the leaves on the green beans. Any ideas? The tomatoes look fantastic. We picked the tomatoes that were very ripe or had dark spots. There should be a lot more in the following week. Karen ||
 * Week of July 30 || Karen Reimer || 8/01/07-Would you believe it? Peppers from our garden! Everything is looking great. We are going to have a bumper crop of tomatoes. This is an extremely hot week so I have spent a lot of time watering. The beans are up but the carrots are struggling. I'm thinking of planting some spinach and lettuce on Friday. Thanks to all of you who have taken such wonderful care of the garden all summer.It is finally paying off. Karen
 * Week of July 23 || Linda Lak || 7/27/07 - Delivered Alterra Coffee coffee grounds, Whole Foods coffee grounds, and two large barrels of scraps from the Sendik's Bayside produce department to the compost bins. I added a little more wood chip mulch to the last two un-mulched beds. Everything looks pretty good...I think we're ready to harvest some of the green peppers! Watered and added more finished compost to the worm bins. Gary will water the beds on Saturday...thanks, Gary! //~Matt//

7/26/07 - The rains seem to be falling everywhere but USM so I watered everything......of course, the rain began to fall before I passed the North Gate. Weeds have sprouted, they don't take long to find their way. It was very easy to pull them out because the ground is so loose. The squash in the trellised pot is looking better, I've continued to tuck and weave the runners. What a pleasure to care for such a beautiful garden! -Linda

7/25/07 - Those "flowers" in the blocks are beginning to look like carrots. Do they need to be thinned out? The peppers look ready to enjoy. No color on the tomatoes yet. -Linda

7/23/07 - Gave everything a good soaking today. The tomato plants are gorgeous, filled with blossoms! Much new growth needed to be tucked into the cages. The block bed has sprouted, I'm guessing beans with flowers around the perimeter? The squash in the trellised pot looked forlorn so I sorted out the leaders and threaded them through the trellis. Not a weed in sight, thanks to Cheryl, Kristian and Sengyeon! -Linda ||
 * Week of July 16 || Cheryl Vaughn, Kristian Vaughn and Sengyeon Lee || 7/21/2007 - Pruned the tomato plants so the bottom leaves wouldn't be touching the dirt. I also spread out some shredded newspaper and wood chips as mulch in a few of the beds. Hopefully the mulch will help the soil retain moisture a little better. //~Matt//

7/20/2007 Drenched the plants today, they were parched. Weeded some in the beds and walks. A potted plant appeared today. It looks to be a vegetable vine plant. I watered it and dead headed it, assuming someone wants it to grow.

7/18/2007 Much watering today - 45 minutes worth. Very little weeding needed. The garden is thriving.

7/16/2007 A supportive soul had watered the plants over the weekend as the soil was moist when we arrived today. Other than a few smaller tomato plants that seem to be struggling, the others have firmly taken root and are thriving. We spent the majority of our time pulling out the encroaching weeds on the inside of the fence line - about four wheelbarrows full. Pulled some weeds along the pathway and dumped a few loads of wood chips on the walkway. ||
 * Week of July 9th || Ward Ghory || 7/15/2007 We continued to have good growing weather for the rest of the week. Lots of sun, mild temps, occasional rain. I was able to water and weed regularly through the weekend. The peppers seem to need more water than the tomatoes!

7/11/2007 Watered in the morning and tended the tomato plants to keep the branches inside the frames. I noticed how dense the soil is and how it is mounded around the base of the plants. As a result, the water quickly runs to the edges of the planters. In my garden, the soil is much more friable so the water soaks in quickly to the roots. I also trench in a circle around the base of my plants to hold the water so it won't run off. Temps in the low 70's today. Gorgeous gardening weather!...Ward

7/10/2007 Lucky me. It rained again today, temp in the low 80's. I have to compliment the garden captains who have come before me. If I wanted to weed, I would probably have to work outside the fence because everything so neat inside....Ward

7/9/2007 We got a real soaking in mid morning, both a downpour and a lighter, more steady rain. Here I am in my coat and tie, so I gave things a once-over visually and will get down and dirty tomorrow!...Ward ||
 * Week of July 2nd || Chuck Taft and Matt Montagne || 7/8/2007 - Even hotter today. I made it out to the garden around 10:30 am and watered in the beds. I added a little soil to cover the exposed roots on some of the plants. I noticed that the bean plans in the back of the garden sprouted up today. The zucchini plants look very good. On my bike ride home I stopped by the community garden plots alongside the bike path by the Urban Ecology Center. It seemed like gardeners of these plots mostly had brandywine tomatoes planted--they were incredibly huge in comparison to ours. I did notice that they spread wood chips on top of the soil all around the plants-I'm not sure what the benefit of this is, but I'm guessing it might be helpful in keeping the soil moist and keeping it from washing away. Some of the beds also were covered with a thin layer of hay. We'll have to try to talk to some of the gardeners down there to see what their secrets are. Over-and-out...//Matt//

7/7/2007 - Hot...hot...hot. Temps in the early 90s and quite humid. The soil appeared dry in the garden, but I pulled back the top layer and it was still quite moist which is good. Today I watered, pulled some more rogue weeds, and delivered 10 gallons of Whole Foods coffee grounds to the compost area...//Matt//

7/6/2007 - Temps in the mid to upper 80s and dry. The soil was quite dry, but I think that it still had some moisture down below the surface. I watered for the better part of 45 minutes. It was cool to see that several of the tomato plants are sporting fruits! One of the pepper plants has a pretty good sized pepper as well. The transplanted peppers seem to be doing OK. The small tomato plants in the back of the garden seemed to like the added layers of top dressing that we supplied earlier in the week. I'm not sure if we'll get production out of these plants, but they're hanging in there. The zucchini squash plants look really, really healthy. Many tomato plants still have exposed roots and I covered up the roots the best I could with the extra soil we have. I also pulled several rogue weeds that are hanging around the stems of the plants. Over-and-out...//Matt//

7/5/2007 - The plants were givven a much-needed drenching this afternoon. The soil was quite dry since Tuesday, but the plants looked to be in fine shape. I watered the new bed in the back, including the carrots in the cinder block holes. Hopefully we will get a little rain over the next few days to keep the soil moist! Weeds were a non issue .. //Chuck//

7/3/2007 - Temps in the mid to upper 70s-overcast and a continued dry spell. I met Kip up at the garden this morning to do some remediation work on the beds. We had 4 yards of a garden soil mix (top soil, sand, manure) delivered and Gary once again came through by moving the dirt into the garden with the front loader. We used the soil to build up the beds so the roots weren't so exposed. Kip transplanted several of the pepper plants so they had more soil to grow in. We built a small concrete block raised bed--we planted a row of pole beans in this bed. We also planted some carrots around the perimeter of this new bed. We watered everything as well today...the forecast is calling for some rain, which should definitely help the garden out over the next few days. We also spread two buckets of coffee grounds from Whole Foods in the new compost heap (and we watered the compost). All-in-all, we got a ton of important work done today! Hopefully some of the plants that have been suffering will make a little comeback due to the work we did today! Over-and-out//...Matt//

7/2/2007 - Kip stopped up to the garden and did the watering Monday night. He also picked up the scraps from Sendik's Bayside for our newest compost pile. On Tuesday we have dirt being delivered so we can fill in some of the trouble spots in the garden. //~Matt// ||
 * Week of June 25th || Kathy Choren and Todd Schlenker || 6/28/07 - Today the temperature dropped to the low 70's. The plants were clearly breathing more easily compared to yesterdays sweltering 90 degree ugh!!! They thanked me personally for watering them as well as thanking the phantom weeders who clandestinely uprooted the invading rascals who somehow think they have some divine right to take over Karen's house. I DONT THINK SO! I put down about ten wheelbarrells of mulch on the paths and that cardboard is almost entirely covered. Hopefully tomorrow I can finish it up. The soil is not bad for year one, and with time and more TLC it will improve. Until next time, I bid adieu....

6/27/07 Mmm, a little hot out there on the weeding duty! Todd had already had the soaker hoses on during the day so the weeks came out with minimum effort. Thanks Todd! I noticed that the tomato plants in the front plots are really strong and healthy(I'm guessing we will be having lots of red sauce in fall!). The ones in the back seem to have had a little less attention. Everyone notices those plants in the front, it seems. They get more than their share of attention---watered and weedless. I think I pulled as many thistles from the paths as weeks from the beds. Next time I'm bringing leather gloves! Depsite the late afternoon heat, the garden provided a peaceful retreat for the end of the day.

6/26/07 - Again, the soil was moist today. I suspect a phantom watering can comes alive at night and quenches the thirst of Karen's new little creatures. I moved on to weed the second bed of plants since someone finished weeding the first bed yesterday; again, another mystery in the mystery garden. More cardboard is invading the walking paths, so I'll have to dump more mulch tomorrow since I ran out of time today. Things are looking good, and mother nature has plans for nitrogen fixation tonight. Hold on to your hat!

6/25/07 - This morning the soil looked very moist so I did not water. Some cardboard was poking through the paths so I put down about five wheelbarrells full of mulch on the north side. I weeded about half of one of the boxes, but I did not notice a need to tie up any plants. Everything looks good, and they're predicting rain for Tuesday night, so I don't think I'll need to water. (Respectfully submitted by this emerging green thumb, Todd.) ||
 * Week of June 18th || Kip Jacobs || 6/19/07 - The garden is in great shape. The tomatoes and peppers look strong and healthy. There are buds/blossoms appearing on both of these plants. The zucchini seeds that Sengyeon planted last week have sprouted and the first leaves are above ground. Charlotte Lange has been helping me this week do a bit of weeding early in the morning. We received some much needed rain last night. One piece of equipment that would really be neat is a rain gauge. Knowing how much water we receive in a storm will allow us to make decisions on when and how much water to apply to our growing crops. The garden yard has been cleaned up a bit. This week has been filled with beautiful weather, Sunny and high 70's. The plants are loving it! Bricks at the front gate entrance and some additional wood chip spreading are in order for the rest of the week. ||
 * Week of June 11 || Matt Montagne || We had a great week taking care of the garden this week. It was great that so many students, teachers, and staff were able to make it to the garden to help out. Leanna from Growing Power also stopped out to check on our progress-she was quite pleased with our progress. On Monday, June 11th we had a reporter come out from the Journal Sentinel to talk with students, faculty and staff who were working in the garden. Sengyeon, Sarah, Kevlyn, Kip, Chuck and his daughter, Karen and Sahitya out at the garden this week. Karen's daughter and Karen's two grandchildren stopped by as well. Kurt from the Village of River Hills delivered several more yards of wood chips for spreading in the garden. This was generally a very dry week with temps in the 70s and 80s. I was out watering several days and Chuck stopped out one day to do the watering as well. Kip took charge of building the gates and entrance to the garden-he did a great job and this turned out really nicely. We have a short little [|YouTube video] of the sign going up. On Monday Sengyeon planted the zucchini squash. I was out at the garden on Monday, June 18th just checking it out and I noticed that all three squash plants have sprouted! In general, the tomatoes really took off this week and look fairly healthy and strong. Some were blown over in the wind-this is due to the fact that they weren't planted quite deep enough when we put them in (this is an important note for next year). By the end of the week the tomatoes were as high as the first ring on the cages. On Saturday, June 16th my wife and I delivered 10 containers (each container holds 3-5 gallons) of coffee grounds from Alterra Coffee to the compost pile. We also dropped off several bags of chaff and some over roasted beans and grounds by the compost area. ||