Back to the Future...

A new home... a new land... a new garden... updates coming soon,

And Two Weeks Later...

As we continue succession planting, our first seeds from two weekends ago are popping up all over the place. This weekend, we are planting pole beans ("Helda" and "Kentucky Wonder") in between our corn plants, and next week, we will plant squash around both of them. For those that don't know, this combination is called the "Three Sisters." The beans fix nitrogen from the air into the soil, feeding the roots of the corn. The corn, in return, provides a trellis for the viney beans to grow up onto. The squash, planted last, has huge leaves that shade the soil, retaining water for all the roots' benefit, as well as keeping down weeds. Here are some pictures of our lovely seedlings:
Beans and a sunflower in Jesse and Paloma's Love Bed!











A watermelon seedling that was started under grow lights.











Corn babies, they grow up so fast!

Planting Party!

THANK YOU!!!

to everyone who came out for the planting party on Saturday, May 16th, the day after our average Last Frost Date!!!
This includes a lot of neighbors in the 923 block:
Jesse & Paloma
Kevin
Travis
Nick (who skipped some class to be there)
Sahara and Surya who offered some moral support!!


AND some awesome kids who went out of their way to be here:
Jessie
Tim
Chelsea
It was so wonderful to see everyone, and we got so much more planted than I expected. Kudos to you all!
It should also be noted that the planting party continued all day on Sunday, with many people coming back just cuz they're so awesome. Special thanks to Jessie for the delicious cookies!

An Exciting Time!

Hello Everyone! As many of you who already garden know, this is an incredibly exciting time of the year! I'm not sure if our previous posts have really conveyed all the things we have goin on in our own little plot here on the west side of Olympia.

I just took a bunch of pictures of some of the exciting growth happening in the "Monster Garden," and I want to share them, so without further ado...




Above is a picture of some Bluebells that just bloomed this past week. They are pretty ubiquitous around this area, but beautiful nonetheless. Below are a few pics of our first Strawberry blooms of the year. These pink flowers are on an "ornamental" strawberry. We were told that it wouldn't produce fruit, but it does anyway. We are also growing some other strawberries in hanging baskets. We got those plants for free from a kind soul in the community, and we're not sure exactly what kind they are, but they have white flowers.





























Next up, we've got pictures of our new babies this year. Here are images of some of our Tomato (a flat and an individual), Eggplant, and Asparagus seedlings respectively. These guys were seeded on April 5.

And next we have some Peas...On the left, there is one of many that were seeded outside on President's Day (February 16). Below, this is a pea patch that Kevin and I planted outside on March 9.
























.......And here are some of the other vibrant plants we already had in the garden (listed in order): Lupines (planted early summer 2008), Spinach (planted November 2008), Rosemary, blooming and attracting fuzzy bees! (planted more than 3 years ago), and Spanish Lavender, on the verge of blooming! (planted more than 2 years ago).

And last, but not least, we have some native and naturalized plants. In the overhead view of the garden, you can see on the left side there is some area not divided up into beds. Last year, that whole area was overtaken by Himalayan Blackberry. After cutting down the blackberry and digging up the roots, we intentionally left the site as undisturbed as possible to allow some of the natives already growing there some peace. So far, we've been greatly rewarded! The green fluffs that you see on the left side in the overhead picture are Comfrey plants. Comfrey (Symphytum officinale) is a very useful plant. It sends its roots deep into the ground, bringing up nutrients from the subsoil and depositing those back onto the topsoil when it sheds its leaves. Comfrey leaves can be harvested 2-3 times per year, and the plant just grows right back like nothing ever happened. The leaves can be used for mulch or in compost, where they provide a big dose of nitrogen, potassium, and other nutrients. Comfrey is also known to be a pretty potent medicinal plant, but I must confess, I have not yet explored any of its medicinal properties. Comfrey is not originally from the Pacific Northwest, but I have seen it growing all over the place in the wild.
Our Native patch also is home to a FOREST of Bracken Ferns, the first of which are just starting to unravel, Trailing Blackberry, a Red Elderberry, and many others. The following pictures are of the Bracken Fern (the second one shows Comfrey in the background), as well as our own li'l Elderberry friend.

What we would like to do...

So, we would like to take this chance to speak about some of our goals.

First of all, we must admit, we are involved for ourselves. Who would not be? I can think of few things better than a hot meal on my plate that was just pulled from the garden.

Other than combating our own hunger, we are seeking out a way to combat the hunger of other people.

We are setting aside roughly 20% of our space to grow food for those who may need some.

During the course of the events to come, our third major goal is education. We are teaching ourselves and each other new things everyday. Each of us has begun to develop new skills, discuss important issues, and find out how the goodness of people really can change the world one home at a time.

We are trying to explore the ideas of permaculture, local food production, community networks, active individual involvement (doing what one can do, when one can do it), becoming more self-sufficient, reducing our impact on the environment, ending hunger (in a more cultural context than a physical one), re-using resources and reducing the volume of our waste stream, and many many more.

Throughout the summer we will be having work parties, dinners, discussions, and events that seek to explore the variety of ways in which a person can be involved in the food production process... whether it is letting someone use an old shovel, growing a few starts for a friend, pitching in five bucks for the cause, making art for your favorite garden, or growing just one plant to grow food for those in need.

Whatever your interests and whoever you are, we believe that if you want to promote food security there are many ways in which you can participate. Let us know what you'd like to do or what you can do, and let's see what we can do together!

Have a glorious day!

Nicholas Wooten
Emily Driskill

Checking in...

So... it has been a while, but a busy while it has been for us!

We would like to start off by saying THANK YOU to everyone who came out and supported this effort! With the support of the community we have gathered enough resources to build ALL of our garden beds!

Second to that I would like to say thank you to everyone else who has come out and helped us put in the wood chip pathways! We had a wonderful time, you have all made this a special occasion in my life, one that I will remember for the rest of my days.

Other than that, here is what has been going on...

Our starts are doing well! (we'll be posting pictures in the next few days!)
We are on the soil mixing and garden bed installment phase of our garden building effort!

A more in depth posting will be made in the next few days, however, we have finally had time to let you all know what is happening!

See you soon!
Nick

Planting Time is Here!!

Hi everyone, on Sunday, April 5, I planted our first official seeds of the season, with the much-appreciated help of Kevin and Sariah (sorry if that's spelled wrong). Here is the list of what we started:

• Asparagus (Asparagus officianalis) "Purple Passion"
• Eggplant (Solanum melongata) "Dusky"
• Tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum) "Oregon Spring," "Northern Delight," "Green Zebra,"Pineapple," "Black Cherry," and "Yellow Pear"
• Peppers (Capsicum Anuum) "Candlelight," "Early Jalapeno," and "Little Bells"

We set up our two four-foot fluorescent light ballasts. In one of them, we have the standard Ace Hardware 48" light bulbs, they come about $2.99 for the pair. In the other light, there are two bulbs that were labelled specifically "plant and aquarium," and they were about $12.99 EACH...so we will see if one performs better than the other. We can fit two flats under each light, so we have four planted at this time. We've been keeping the lights on 12 hours per day.

In the meantime, progress continues on the walkways in the expansion area of the garden. Due to the efforts of Nick, Anna, Kevin, and Tim, two main paths have been cut with keyholes radiating out from them. This is so exciting!! All of our planning efforts are really coming together in a tangible way right now. On that note, please tell everyone you know about our fundraising dinner on Sunday, April 26! Donations from the dinner will be used to purchase topsoil to fill in the raised beds we have planned. Due to technical difficulties, we don't have any pictures at the moment, but very soon we'll get that fixed, stay tuned!

Started building a retaining wall in the upper left corner. Making the pathways has created quite a bit of sod and I thought this a good use for it. Things are coming along really well, as long as things get worked on... the ever-lasting battle between the time we have and the things we want.

In other news, we have placed an order for two, four foot long lights. They'll take two forty-eight in bulbs each and will be a most excellent tool to have at our disposal. Also order some more seed and a few more plants... we're gonna be getting some more radishes, a couple of passion fruit vines, and two varieties of HoneyBerry.

Lots more stuff on the way!

Grow a Smile!

I would like to announce our 'Grow-a-Smile' program!

We will be asking fifty people to sponsor one pumpkin or squash plant!

Here is the scoop... you grow one plant, from a start that we will provide. That's it... stick it in the ground, water it occasionally, and try to make sure no other plants or critters kill it.

Pumpkins or Squash grown by YOU will be given to children to paint in Autumn!

Our goal is to help create smiles, would you like to be a part?

For details please contact GrowaSmile@gmail.com

or

Visit Grow a Smile at www.growasmile.blogspot.com

Let us see what we can do!

"Grow a Smile!"

Yester- and Today...

Yay! This is the work that we completed yesterday. In the upper left hand corner is the newest, most high grade, more level Sod frame...

This is our new cover design, a massive improvement over the first design... It is far more tight and all the rails are on one side, much to our advantage. Emily came up with this design using her 'wicked' Canvas making skills...


Condensation on the inside of our new Cold frame! It works and last night was the very first night! We can't wait to put our lil' lettuce starts out there!

Forward Ho!

This is the result of yesterday's labor. I have begun to cut the main pathways for the new garden area and I am using the Sod to build some raised beds that will also provide us with cold frame and hot house space!





This is what the Sod frame looks like when it is almost done... there is a lip on the top layer of sod... that is where the cover will sit.

This is the first finished product... compared to the Sod frames I built today and the cover that Emily and I built... this one is a disaster, but it is functional.

More posts and pictures to come... Enjoy the new slideshow!

Initial Post...

Hello!

We are currently in the process of GREATLY expanding our community garden and would love to have you join us on our adventure. Over the coming days and weeks we will get this whole blog thing straightened out, post lots more information, and post some more videos and pictures of everything we have going on.

Be in touch soon!

Nick