The Day I Filled Out My Garden Bed and Began a List of Lessons Learned

It's Tuesday, May 22, and the temperature is in the high 60s in southwest Connecticut. Waterlogged plants have a few hours to dry out before rain starts again. During the past few days rain was persistent enough to postpone and then cancel the Greenwich Community Gardens social I had been hoping to enjoy. I'll develop other ways to meet neighboring gardeners.

Blogger Diane Morello

On Friday I stop by the garden, which is looking semi lush. Radishes are filling out, arugula -- which I have waited for weeks to see -- is growing (and tasting delicious), string beans are starting to pop up and curl, and the bell peppers are doing well. The tomatoes stand straight, even the runt I worried about last week. Kneeling on my knee pad, I place a poblano pepper in block 2-1, two cucumber bush seedlings in block 2-2 and several mounds of patty-pan squash seeds in blocks 3-3 and 4-3. As the sun peeps out, it will warm the soil and encourage the patty-pan seeds to sprout.

Dick and Pauline
at Bible Street Community Gardens

Two community gardeners, Dick and Pauline, have worked the Bible Street branch of Greenwich Community Gardens before. We discuss which plants do well where and when. Pauline's radishes flourish, and she is in the process of thinning them. Notably, she plants radishes along the edge of the plot, making them easy to pluck and to surround with other leafy vegetables. Her experience with patty-pan squash, however, was not promising. Gulp. 

After every visit to the community garden, I imagine what I will do differently next year. The list is short but growing, and it will help newbies like me:

• Use compost and topsoil early in the game. I was so eager to get started this year, I leapt over key steps that experienced gardeners use, such as composting.
• Plant herbs and lettuces along the rim. I planted large parsley in the middle of the bed, and I have a devil of a time reaching it without squashing other plants. Note to self: Stick to the edges.
• Add fish- and lobster-based material to the tomatoes. Experienced gardeners say the material fuels organic tomatoes. Community gardeners, have you tried the fish and shellfish material for tomatoes? What do you think? 
• Lay out the garden bed differently. Recall that I laid out my plot in twelve blocks of 24 by 16 inches. As I walk through the community garden, I see many garden beds laid out in rows. Another gardener's plot is laid out concisely in square-foot blocks. I need to think more methodically.

I leave shortly to visit Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks in Wyoming. Amid the hiking and animal watching and picture taking, I will keep my eyes open for spring plantings, fresh vegetables and farm-to-table menus that I can share with you. Meanwhile, I depend on the kindness of community gardeners to water my garden bed while I am out west. Ciao for now!  

The Day I Harvest the First Greens from My Community Garden

On an overcast Wednesday in southwest Connecticut, May 16, I head to my garden plot in Greenwich Community Gardens in the woods of Cos Cob, Greenwich. It's 9:30 in the morning, and I am alone at the garden. 

Rain drops fall as I kneel by the garden bed. The vegetables look green and healthy. The honey drop cherry tomato, which I wrote off as dead last week, appears this week to have revived and grown (see "The Day I Learn That Some Vegetables Thrive, Others Wither -- Don't Take It Personally”). 

As I look around, I realize I have enough greens here to start harvesting. 

• Carefully I pick my first vegetables from the garden -- young radishes, arugula, fresh parsley, scallions.
• I twist off the still-tasty leaves from my "bolted" bok choy, toss the leaves into my bag of mixed greens, then toss the leggy stalk in the compost bin.
• At home I rinse the bitter greens, including the radish tops, and put them in a bowl with balsamic vinegar and EVOO. A tasty treat. 
• When I launched my community garden experiment two months ago, I could not imagine how happy I would feel harvesting my first crops. What a thrill!

I re-examine the other plants. Out of the twelve blocks I laid out, three blocks have room for new vegetables. Patty-pan squash is destined for one block, but it's too early. The weather continues to swing twenty to thirty degrees in a day. The seed packet suggests placing the patty-pans in the ground two weeks or more after the last frost date. I'll plant the seeds a couple days before Memorial Day. 

In other news, I got my assignment for community garden service this morning. I am now a member of the beautification team. During the season the team keeps the common areas free of weeds and vines, maintains and organizes the tool shed, spreads wood chips to prevent weeds and keeps the Welcome Garden in shape. We also plan to launch a garden project to complement the new shade structure being planned (mmmm, shade ... yes, please). Teams across the community garden keep things working properly, and the time we put into the teams count for our community service hours (eight hours to go for me).

I'll be back with more after I meet the beautification team at the community garden social this weekend. Ciao for now! 

The Day I Learn That Some Vegetables Thrive, Others Wither -- Don't Take It Personally

On a sunny Friday, May 11, I stop by my garden plot at the Bible Street community garden in the woods of Cos Cob, Greenwich, in southwest Connecticut. It's a stunning day, in the mid-70s.

I am the only human being at the community garden. The area is quiet, only the wind and the sound of critters scurrying in the leaves. Suddenly I hear a shriek. My head whips around as I try to identify the frightening sound. I hear it again: A wild turkey loudly gobbling in the woods, letting the females know its intentions.  

From the garden's front gate I see my garden plot, my peacock ornament sparkling from afar (see "The Day I Saw Green in My Community Garden Plot"). I snap a few pictures so you can see the garden I see (that's my hat shadow at the bottom). 

• Radishes pop, arugula clusters emerge, beets slowly peek out, and green beans take hold. Only one cucumber climbs out of the dirt among several I planted.
• Bok choy grows and flowers. (Is the flowering good or bad, anyone know?)
• An early Jalapeño plant in block 2-1 shows signs of illness. I remove it from the garden and place it in a container at home.
• When I check my tomato plants, three plants thrive, but the fourth, a honey drop cherry tomato in block 3-3, shrivels. I mourn the little red tomato that will never pop into my mouth. But I learn a valuable lesson: Plants thrive or wither. Don't take it personally! Try again, plant something new. 

With my honey drop tomato literally dying on the vine, I plan to use the space to plant cucumbers and patty-pan squash, both of which I will train to grow vertically. I will enjoy their sweetness during the late summer and fall.

A final note: The social spirit of the community garden begins this month. Saturday, May 19, marks our first community garden social. We introduce ourselves to other community gardeners and share beverages and snacks. We even have an opportunity to adopt plants that have been grown in the community garden greenhouses and now are ready for a plot of their own. 

The lessons I learn and the community spirit I see are the chief reasons I decided to participate in community gardening at Greenwich Community Gardens. I am a "yes" for the social spirit. In fact, I can't wait. More to come this week.

The Day I Saw Green in My Community Garden Plot

Finally! The community garden is greening! On an overcast Sunday, May 6, I head over to the Bible Street branch of Greenwich Community Gardens in the woodsy neighborhood of Cos Cob in Greenwich, CT. I visited the garden last Thursday, and I quickly learned that visiting in full sun in the middle of the day is a no-no for me. (D'oh!) Today I do things differently. Spurred by the overcast sky, I pack coffee, cold water and my new camera, then go check on the plot.

As soon as I get to the garden, I know my whispers of "grow, little ones, grow" were heard. When I look around, I see green sprouting all over. My spirit rises. Seven gardeners (a first) rest on their knees using trowels, planting seeds and pushing soil. I introduce myself, chat and wander. Some people build trellises for beans, others plant basil, a few lay out arugula and others pick beautiful flowers from their plots.

I pull a carton from the trunk of my car. Inside it are Tavera bush bean seedlings from home, four tomato plants from Garden Education Center of Greenwich and a six-pack of sweet peppers and parsley greens acquired at the Armstrong Court plant sale. My job is to plant everything today.

My garden plot when
I arrive today

In my 8x4-foot plot, green is popping across three columns and four rows. In block 1-2 (foreground, center), the radishes thrive. In blocks 2-2 and 2-3 (second row, center and right), vegetable cuttings grown at home -- celery, bok choy, endive and scallions -- are getting taller. In block 4-2 (back row, center), Blue Lake bush beans are peeping out, looking strong. (For more on my garden layout, see "The Day I Checked the Progress of My Community Garden.") 


Let's talk tomatoes for a moment. Some people say it's too early to plant tomatoes. I check the weather through the last frost date (i.e., May 15) and see overnight temps of 50s and 60s, and only  one night possibly at 48 degrees. I think I am safe. I dig four deep holes at the back of the plot for four tomatoes -- Rutgers, Mortgage Lifter, Super Sweet Cherry and Honey Drop Cherry. I'll check them this week to determine whether I need to bury them more deeply. As an aside, my husband, PJ, is planting the same set of tomatoes in our yard at home, and through the season we plan to compare the progress of the tomatoes -- mine grown in full sun, his grown in our sun-dappled yard. We figure, with twice the plants, we can have twice the BLTs.

The back end of the plot (row 4) is in the foreground

In front of the tomatoes (blocks 3-1 through 3-3), I plant sweet peppers, Tavera bush beans and parsley. I borrow some wire contraptions for the tomatoes and the beans, replace the shovel and head back home -- a productive visit on a perfect overcast day. In an hour, the garden looks green. 

How is your community garden going? What are you planting? 

  

The Day I Learned About Composting at the Community Garden

On a sunny Sunday, April 29, Greenwich Community Gardens teaches the secrets of composting. I admit that I was leery: I stayed away from the composting bins for weeks … big, smelly, strange. During the class I learned why composted soil is so valuable and why gardeners call it black gold. 

Simply put, composting transforms vegetable scraps and garden waste into nutrient-rich soil. The dark, rich, productive soil enriches tired soil and creates a foundational building block of a sustainable planet. 

Anitra gets us on board!
Photo source:
Miranda DeSantis 

The Sunday composting session, taught by Anitra Brooks Kocyba, makes the composting process straightforward.

Step 1. Bring kitchen and garden scraps to the community garden and deposit them in the appropriate compost bin. (In our community garden, that's bin 1, where the decomposition process begins.) What scraps are allowed? Egg shells, lettuce leaves, vegetable parings, cauliflower stems, coffee grounds, fruit rinds, garden trimmings, summer plants and fall leaves. No dyes, labels, meats, dairy or avocado pits.

Step 2. Once the kitchen and garden scraps are deposited in the bin, grab a pitchfork and turn over the ingredients. As Anitra turns over the ingredients in the bin, steam rises. Anitra plunges a large thermometer into the pile, and within seconds we see the temperature gauge rise 20-plus degrees over the surrounding air temperature.

Step 3. If the scraps include sweet fruit and thick rinds (e.g., cantaloupe, bananas, avocado), cut them into smaller pieces to make the turning-over easier. As summer arrives, take an extra step and layer the sweet scraps with leaves to discourage yellow jackets.

Black gold!
Photo source:
Creative Commons

Step 4. By the time the material reaches bin 3, it is a fine mulch-like soil. It's this fully composted soil that generates the nutrient-rich soil, the black gold that fuels sustainable gardens. It smells earthy, not spoiled or rotten. Anitra suggests we filter the material through a grate to separate items that have broken down from those that have not. We want the former.

Step 5. What about bin 2? Magic happens in bin 2. The composting team determines whether ingredients are decomposed enough to move from bin 1 to bin 2 or from bin 2 to bin 3. 

Being a convert to composting means I need to switch my kitchen habits. Instead of tossing away scraps, I need to save them (preferably in an odor-suppressing container). If the scraps I bring to the community garden can help produce black gold, increase my success with vegetables and help to build a sustainable planet, I'm all in. 

Still wondering whether soil and compost matter to our planet? Check out the April 18 cover story in the New York Times Magazine, "Can Dirt Save the Earth?"