Here are some more pictures of our garden a few weeks back, of the hose and hose bib manifold generously donated by Browne Lumber, our beautiful irrigation system provided by the San Juan Masonic Lodge # 175, the pretty and healthy squash starts provided to us at a very good price by the Ellisons. We removed sod with a big blue sod remover from the great folks at Harbor Rental. The garden is looking great!
Also pictured from a few weeks back are Tim McGee, garden advisor and his able young assistant; garden Mother Marion Melville infusing the garden with goodness; garden workers Lucy and Sophie, with Lucy doing the job of making good wishes for each squash plant after their transplant, as Sophie gives them a good drink for a good start; and Land & Sea co-leaders, planters and weeders Maureen & Linda, with Marion.
Our garden supervisor Albert Strasser has been careful irrigating and watching over the plants as they grow. Now our sunflowers, and the marigolds that line the short sides of the garden, are beginning to bloom. The potatoes have been flowering for weeks. Squashes and squash blossoms are peeking out from under enormous green leaves trailing across the furrows.
We've been spraying the beans with a mix of egg and water (stinky!!) to keep away the deer.
When the school year starts, we will make the garden available for field trips from the kitchen classes, and will make a section available for herbs and other plants to be planted during those trips, and used later by Chef Andy and Liz in the kitchen.
The Land & Sea Slow Food Chapter Garden is completely independent of the SJISD School District, but we welcome participation by students of the schools for Slow Food Land & Sea sponsored workshops and activities, and we donate all usable produce we grow to the community or school!
(photos by Linda Degnan Cobos, group photo by Susan Williamson)
Planted currently are: Ozette potatoes from Baker Creek Seeds, sourced from Neah Bay, rows 1 & 2; Haida, Sucia, and Maria Cheeks Ozette potatoes sourced from the San Juan Islands - gathered and donated by biologist Madrona Murphy - row 3; mixed sunflowers, row 4; bush beans and black beans mixed with a few sunflowers and basil, row 5; and mixed winter squash, row 6.
Due to the presence of wire worms, which love potatoes and like to make tiny holes on their surface, we aren't sure how our first crop of taters will turn out, but we do know that they will be a great at breaking up the soil for us, and we will work to try different solutions to the wire worm problem, and post info about our progress here and at the site. A suggestion we heard from Margaret and Joel Thorsen is coffee grounds. Tim told us it takes about 3 years to clear wire worms out. We will try the coffee grounds - good for everything!
One of the beneficial insects we've seen a lot in our garden lately is the lovely ladybug.
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