Summer Greens Emerge at the Community Garden

It's a gardener's delight this time of year! Community gardens that were bare two months ago are now rich with greens, vegetables, herbs and sunflowers. I am back from a 2+ week culinary tour of Florence, Tuscany and Rome -- more on that below -- and I am eager to see how the garden fares. I drive to Bible Street Community Garden in Cos Cob, CT, with my almost-five grandniece, Ceci. The dirt road is quiet, and we hear only sounds of turkeys and the rustle of hidden fawns. 

I am thrilled to see my garden plot is flourishing. 

The garden goes green, zucchinis blossom,
lushness takes over. Mini-gardener Ceci has a ball

• Arugula heads fill out, mutant radishes call for picking, fresh scallions grow tall, cucumber vines spread, basil takes hold, zucchinis blossom, and tomatoes and peppers reach skyward. 

• Crouching at the edge of the garden bed (the hill towns of Italy took their toll on my knees), I cull weeds, stake the peppers and cucumbers, place metal spirals around the tomatoes and tie up zucchini so stalks grow upward. 

• This is my first year of zucchini, and they are starting to spread and grow blossoms. One zucchini, about four inches, peeks though the stalks. My first! So proud. 

• This year I mixed seedlings bought from the community garden with seedlings grown at home and seeds sown directly in the plot. The community seedlings -- tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini -- are a foot taller than others and looking mature. Home-grown seedlings are not as tall, but they are healthy and catching up. Seed-planted basil stand tall enough so as not to confused with weeds.

I roughly plot out my plantings

The community garden hosts an array of herbs, lettuces, vegetables and flowers. Some gardeners' have tomatoes already forming (yellow flowers show up on mine, so there's hope). Others have sunflowers shooting up (July is the month for sunflowers), bean towers spitting out tendrils, and dill weed running riot. A few gardeners plant their vegetables in crisp rows, like soldiers. Other gardeners plant vegetables wherever space opens up. I am part of the latter camp: I track the items in a rough layout so I can remember what grows where. 

Using my vegetable bag I collect the first crop of the season. I harvest fresh arugula, scallions, basil and radishes and I savor them with freshly milled olive oil and balsamic vinegar brought back from Ravagni in Anghiari, Italy. Delicious! 

Diane and PJ Morello 
in Talamello in Emilia-Romagna

A final note: Our late-spring trip to Italy was filled with cooking classes, pasta making, bread baking and dessert making. For six days we visited hill towns in Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna and Les Marches. We learned how to make tortellini, stuffed olives (to die for), pizza, wine, prosciutto, gelato, olive oil and truffle paste. Best of all, we met other foodies who enjoy cooking, sipping, tasting and traveling as much as we do. If you want to take a culinary trip like this, check out Rustico Cooking for their Italy culinary trips. Micol and Dino are wonderful chefs and trip arrangers. 

Back to community gardening: How are your gardens doing? What veggies are new in your plots? Which veggies or herbs are starting to flower and mature? What's ready to harvest?

Ciao for now! 

-- Your intrepid garden blogger, Diane Tunick Morello 

The Day My Garden Gets a Late Summer Report Card

Hello there, gals and guys, it's mid-August in southwest Connecticut. Two weeks ago the garden was popping with red tomatoes, but as I walk through the plots, I can see the garden in its final ballyhoo. Tomatoes ripen, some so ripe they have dropped on the ground, and the plants appear to be losing green and going gold. Some gardeners are clearing out their plots, leaving tomato vines. 

My 2018 garden plot is a grand and fun experiment, with many highs and many lows. Creating the blog to chronicle my success is a high, but the results in the garden fall short. This week I give my garden a mid-year report card. I discover I am a tough grader. 

• Overall, B
• Effort, A
• Results, C

April through May, grade B

I start eagerly in April. I set up my plot weeks before anyone even arrives at the garden. I string out oblongs of 16 by 24 inches so I have a plan for the seeds, and I scribble the layout on graph paper. I put in radishes, beets arugula, beets, parsley, carrots and beans. 

By mid-May I harvest my first red globe radishes and crisp green arugula. After that, however, neither comes back. What I do not learn at the appropriate time is the urgency of mixing the old soil with newly composted soil and black-gold before planting, something that a beginner’s gardening program could have solved. By the time I discover how important compost is, green seedlings are already starting to surface in my plot.

• Parsley and radishes, B
• Arugula, C
• Beets, carrots, beans, F

Lessons learned from this period in my garden: 

• Only after I lay out the string plot and plant the first seeds do I learn that I should have turned over my garden with black-gold soil before planting.   
• A mentoring program for new community gardeners would be valuable. Otherwise, first-year gardeners fly by the seat of their pants. A mentor would underscore the necessity of using composted soil before planting.

May through end-July, grade C

From mid-May through early June, I plant the vegetables I want. I add four tomato seedlings to my plot and find two other cherry tomatoes growing as volunteers. I add six bell pepper plants and one poblano, which yield fruit quickly, then stop. My cucumbers blossom and produce three pickle-size cucumbers, then stop. My bush beans start out strong, then get overshadowed and stop. My four patty-pan squashes blossom beautifully, but yield nothing, nada, zilch. Meanwhile, a nearby plot overflows with patty-pans. As for the carrots, the fronds consume too much space and the carrots that I test are anemic and chemical tasting, despite being non-GMO organic seeds. I lack the patience for carrots, I suspect.

• Tomatoes, A
• Peppers and basil, B
• Cucumbers, D
• Carrots and patty-pan squash, F

Lessons learned from this period in my community garden: 

• Two of six tomato plants are full size tomatoes. Of the full tomatoes, one variety yields gnarled, mutant fruits and the other yields perfectly round fruit. I will exchange cherries next year for full size tomatoes. 
• The tomato plants become a Hydra, with vines and branches growing in all directions and encircling and overshadowing beans and peppers. 

First half of August, grade C

The most conspicuous aspect of August 2018 is rain — torrential downpours and late-afternoon storms. The gardens are soppy and messy, and the vegetables take poorly to rain and clouds. I head to the garden at least every other day, returning with fresh basil and tomatoes both big and small. Cherry tomatoes are tart, and their skin start to split. The full-size tomatoes are delicious, and I bring home more than a dozen. I want more. 

I stare at the garden plot, wondering what I can do differently. I yank out carrot fronds, replant arugula and radishes, and try a few bean plants, the last of which quickly succumb to insects. My last visit two days ago suggests that the full tomatoes are nearing their end. Whether the green fruit will ripen remains uncertain.

Lessons learned from this period in my community garden: 

• Reconfigure the garden so the vegetables -- in my case, peppers and beans -- do not get overshadowed by the tomatoes.  
• Swap out cherry tomatoes and bring in more full-size tomatoes.

Community spirit experience, grade B

Community spirit is a big reason to join a community garden. Everyone I meet in the garden is invariably kind, but I meet comparatively few people over five months, despite nearly ninety neighboring plots. Community service hours, visiting horticulturists and potluck dinners help to get people talking, but only if they happen frequently and with greater involvement. 

A couple ideas come to mind to increase community spirit:

• Schedule (bi)weekly drop-in sessions between new and experienced gardeners to analyze progress during the season. 
• Pull together small mentoring teams to meet regularly throughout the season to jump-start successes and increase camaraderie.
• Share vegetables and herbs among gardeners. Yes, many gardeners give vegetables to food banks, but I am more interested in food swaps with other gardeners to taste new vegetables and learn what works.
• Think about a community spirit ambassador to experiment with the ideas.   

Final comments

• I am looking forward to my 2019 community garden plan. Besides tomatoes, I plan to plant peppers, herbs, radishes and arugula. Of the vegetables that got an F grade, I need to identify which ones I want (cucumbers, yes, carrots, no) and what else I should try (zucchini, eggplant).   
• What should I be planting now for fall or spring? I hear about garlic, leek, onion and scallion. Ideas?

Fellow community gardeners, how do you grade your 2018 community garden? What vegetables got top grades? What do you wish you did differently? Share your best tactics or lessons learned in the comments section.

Ciao for now, Diane Tunick Morello