Dabney Garden Blog

http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~garden/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

I’ve been on hiatus this month until now, but I’m totally going to get some work done this weekend. Anyone who wants to help should do so. This is what we need to get done:

1. Pull out those poor dead squash plants. Kill the fungus-infected leaves with fire.
2. Cardboard and mulch a larger part of the garden. (Operation is cardboard-limited.)
3. Then compost and plant all of that new area. I’ll bring the seed beans when I come, maybe grab some extras from the Kentucky Wonders if we’ve got extra.
4. Remove the impenetrable arugula forest that has taken over the wall bed, saving seed if possible. That will also enable us to take a look at the beans and see if anything needs to be done there.
5. Shear the garlic (this helps the bulbs develop). I’ll take the scapes home, but if anyone else wants some they’re welcome to ‘em. I’m sure there will be plenty.
6. Take a picture of that weird little nightshade with the tiny purple berries. Maybe someone can figure out what the hell it is.

Again, anybody’s welcome to come out and help. I’ll be there either Saturday or Sunday, but you don’t need me there to get work done.

New developments:

• Trash can for the coffee grounds is here. Eric is taking it to Pedro Luna right now.
• We cardboarded and mulched probably 9 to 12 m^2 on the west side of the main garden patch yesterday. Would’ve done more but we ran out of convenient cardboard. Once this is layered with coffee, more mulch, and compost, it’ll be ready for planting. It might be a good idea to put in raised-bed borders, but maybe not until we’ve prepared the whole area.
• Also, we put in a nice straight deep ditch for drainage, running south along the west border of the main patch and draining into a holding pit south of the grassy area. When we got there the sprinklers had turned the whole area into a swamp. A guy from Operations came and turned it off for us though; apparently it was just stuck on.
• Scott Hersey said he could help on weekends.
• One of the bean strings fell down off the porch. Someone should fix this.
• People should eat tomatoes; they’re tasty.

If you have some free time and are interested, I could use some help in the garden:

• We have mulch! the bale of straw. If someone could spread it out around plants it would helpwith moisture retention and weed control.
• The compost needs turning. This is awkward at the moment ’cause it’s full of branches
• We have money. MHF approved. I need someone to look into ordering things.

Additionally, I could really use a person or two to watch over things and make sure the plants are getting watered, harvested, etc (and to save enough of each plant for seed next year) over the summer, as I’ll be gone from late June until next year.

Alex

Short:
* If you have 5 mins please review the MHF proposal due tomorrow: https://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~alexr/garden.pdf
* If you want garlic shoots or lettuce, feel free to pick some. We have far too much lettuce and a decent amount of garlic
* If you have 30-45 minutes please help by thinning the kale patch/moving plants around to good spacing.

Elaboration:
* The proposal is almost complete. Only changes will be adding a statement from Tom and changing the bursar’s account number to a real account. Anything else needs changing, please let me know ASAP. Constructive criticism/suggestions appreciated
* If you have experience gardening, even if you haven’t/don’t plan to help much with the garden, please send me a few sentences/paragraph to
put in. The MHF wants to see we have knowledgeable people on board the project.

* Trim garlic shoots that you take leaving hte plant about 4 inches to work with. Trimming like this encourages bulb development.
* Try to take the lettuce flowers along with leaves. Even if you don’t eat them it will encourage leave growth.

* The kale in the white rectangle should be in two rows about 1 ft apart. Plants in a row should be 2-3 in apart

Cheers,
Alex

Thanks to many people’s help, we have finished two beds. The first contains tomatoes (of many varieties), butternut squash, and cayenne peppers. All but the peppers had already sprouted, I just put the peppers in today.

The second, by the wall of the Hovse, contains Kentucky Wonder pole beans and dwarf grey sweet peas (a combination of seeds and seedlings), and two types of lettuce (seedling)

Right by where I have planted either seeds or a plant small enough that it could be missed, I have put a single wooden marker in the ground. There are also two sticks (sometimes tied together) on the soaker hose, those have no meaning, just there to keep it in place.

Depending on how sore I am I will be working again either tomorrow or Tuesday. Poke me if you’re interested in helping. In particular I can use the help of strong people for taking up sod and tilling the land.

Tom has mentioned that he might be able to get some rototilling for us, which would be great, so hopefully he’ll lettuce know if this ends up happening.

Alex