Local Delicious

I grew a beautiful plump head of cabbage and was waiting for the mood for soup to strike before harvesting it. However, before I could get there, it was stolen from my community garden plot. They planned ahead and seemed experience. They’d brought a knife, and it was a clean slice that took only the head and left the outer leaves.

If the individual in question was truly hungry, I’m happy to have my cabbage go to a good cause — though apparently even the starving don’t like Brussel sprouts, as these remained untouched.

I had a tarp go missing as well. My thought is that if someone is truly hungry enough to take a cabbage, then maybe they are exposed to the elements on a daily basis and the tarp will aid in keeping them dry.

That’s my hope, anyway.

The tomatoes are happily enjoying the heat wave and ripening at a delightful pace.

The rhubarb, not so much (top middle of photo, completely wilted leaves).

The marigolds never skipped a beat despite the mid-heatwave transplant — I think they’d survive a nuclear attack.

When I planted what has turned out to be my transitional garden earlier this year, in addition to the many vegetables, I also planted a variety of flowers to attract bees and other pollinator types.

Now that I have a more local plot, I decided to move some of them into the city to brighten up my new garden. In addition to half a dozen, bug-repellent marigolds interspersed among the brassicas, I transferred a few snap dragons, and a couple of fuschias.

I also brought along 3 sweet pepper plants that have not done well in the big garden’s climate, a clump of rhubarb, a lemon thyme perennial, and a giant pot containing 2 tomato plants.

We’re in the midst of a heatwave, and the rhubarb is decidedly unhappy, having made it’s displeasure known immediately. I’ll give it a few more days to see if it rallies, but it’s not looking good. The clump of pink snap dragons were looking a bit wilty, but haven’t given up just yet. As for the rest of them, they all look pretty happy to be in their new home.

I have sprouts! Again, the radishes are the first to make a move.

Before I planted this time, I spoke with a farmer at Kits Farmers Market who said my first radishes probably bolted because the sprouts were too close together. If you don’t catch them in time and thin them right away, they get stressed and bolt.

This time, I seeded them really far apart.

Despite the late start in the season and with some encouragement from my fellow community gardeners, I’ve decided to try seeding a few things in the newly launched plot.

I tried radishes, beets, carrots, spinach, lettuce, and a number of other items in my temporary garden earlier this year (when I didn’t think I’d be getting a spot at 16 Oaks Community Garden), but they just never took off, for whatever reason. Or, as in the case of the radishes, they took off running and completely bolted!

I’m hoping to have better luck this time. It will help that the community garden is in close proximity to where I live so I can check on it more regularly — in contrast to my first garden attempt, which is located in a friend’s backyard a half hour’s drive away.

When transplanting the nursery seedlings I bought, I left 2 open spots for seeding, one on either side of the box. This time I’ve seeded 2 kinds of radishes, 2 kinds of beets, some lettuce and some spinach.

Gotta go, it’s time to water my seeds again…

It’s a bit late in the season to be starting a garden, but since we just got our soil, such is life. I figure it’s one giant experiment for this bumbling gardener anyway, so it’s all good.

While waiting a few weeks for the soil to arrive, I went to a few nurseries, found the last dregs of potted veggies, and bought a little of everything I could find: broccoli, sad looking cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, some fruit-laden tomatoes, a few cabbages, a cucumber, zucchinis, and a couple of sweet peppers. While at the Kits Farmers Market I also found some kale (hurrah!) and sprouted lettuce to complete the mix.

During the wait I also had the good fortune to find 3 very tall, perfect, bamboo poles someone left near the garbage bins outside my apartment. With the addition of some inexpensive netting, they proved to be the perfect solution for my sprouting peas. I also scavenged some granite counter/tile leftovers from a friend’s backyard. She had scavenged them from someone else for some kind of garden feature that was never quite realized.

With my treasures and a warm summer evening to play in the dirt, my garden has finally come together! The snow pea “teepee” is a big hit, as are the granite stepping stones which will help ensure I can water and harvest plants in the middle of the garden, as well as from the edges.

Let the watering begin!