Journal: 7/4/12

At the community garden:

• finished prepping former garlic beds
• planted first round of fall carrots
• laid some more cardboard
• tied up all but three of the tomato plants

At home:

• transplanted very wilted blackberry started I got from a friend - we'll see if he makes it
• peeled and sorted garlic
• mulched around perennial flowers in home garden
• spread coffee grounds where garlic was grown

journal: 6/28/12

At the community garden:

• harvested the garlic
• dug paths next to the garlic beds (the only paths I couldn't dig last winter, because they were planted)
• laid down cardboard and mulch (wood chips piled by the garden gate by the park service - yay!) on the newly dug paths
• spread coffee grounds over the garlic beds - still could use more, and must be harrowed and leveled
• weeded onion bed
• watered basil, carrots, celeriac, peppers, cucumbers, squash, watermelons, parsley
• filled Alaska-sized pothole in side drive with wood chips

At home:

• weeded, mulched, and watered flower bed near E's fence
• cut down volunteer trees and vines near driveway
• got N to mulch front flower bed
• watered back flower bed, asparagus box, and back lawn
• mulched under raspberries
• harvested garlic

We've really not been getting enough rain, but that's pretty typical for this time of year.  I'm really enjoying the rain barrel this year.

Journal: 6/21/12

I've been working, I swear!  I just haven't been writing it down!

At the community garden:

• pulled pea plants from the front bed
• dug/scraped broken-down mulch from path next to the pea bed and dumped it on the bed
• replaced cardboard and mulch on that path
• dug coffee grounds (3 big bags) and broken-down mulch into former pea bed
• transplanted summer squash seedlings 
• planted 3 summer squash (1 yellow and two tromboncino) from seed to replace seedlings that didn't come up or didn't survive
•  weeded here, there, and everywhere
• pulled yellow leaves from tomato plants
• sprayed tomato plants with neem oil to suppress fungus
• sprayed eggplants with neem oil to suppress flea beetles
• picked a few things here and there

At home:

• finished planting back flower bed (finally!)
• watered back flower bed and back lawn
• planted two pumpkins in home garden

Journal: 6/5/12

At the community garden:

• cleared the broccoli bed
• moved mostly-rotted wood chips from piles at the back of the park to add about a 1" layer to the broccoli and pac choi / spinach beds
• added blood meal and 1/2 bag of coffee grounds to the broccoli bed, dug in
• harrowed and leveled the broccoli bed for planting
• weeded around tomatoes and potatoes, collected more mulch for edges of tomato plastic
• transplanted one eggplant seedling from nursery to round out the bed
• transplanted the rest of the marigolds into open spots around the garden
• picked the rest of the lettuce and a lot of peas

At home:

• transplanted many more plants into the back flower bed: 4 mallow, 3 balloon flower, 1 mystery plant, 1 blueberry bush, 2 "pony tails" grasses, 3 daylilies and 1 soapwort
• processed 12 pints of strawberry jam (plus two half pints that are unsealed in the fridge).  N helped me do the first two batches and R helped with the last.  the strawberries, of course, were from Larriland Farm

Journal: 5/30/12

At the community garden:

• hoed now-empty pac choi and spinach beds
• hoed part of path in front of potatoes, put down more cardboard*
• weeded carrots and asparagus
• picked lettuce and peas

At home:

•  composted extra chili plants
• watered everything**
• tied up tomato plant, pulled off some bad leaves...sigh

*this was the section of cardboard I put down first, around mid-January, I think.  several of the paths are starting to sprout a weed or two here and there.

** I used the rain barrel water to water all the new transplants in the back flower bed, the asparagus bed, all the stuff that's still in pots, the seeds that haven't come up yet, and the garlic bed; it was very full, a pleasant surprise because I thought it appeared to be leaking at the tap, however the pressure was still pretty low, barely enough to push it through the long hose I had in the shed; it was still more than half full after all that watering!

Journal: 5/28/12

At the community garden:

• finished staking the tomatoes (still need to mulch more around the edges of the plastic, as mulch becomes available)
• weeded the garlic and onions
• picked spinach (last few plants), lettuce, peas (lots of those coming in right now!), and the rest of the broccoli
• hilled up the potatoes, probably for the last time this year

At home:

• pulled a lot of irises out of the front flower bed, still need to do some more and then mulch, maybe stick in a couple balloon flowers up there
• removed new growth from the stumps by the back flower bed

Journal: 5/24/12

At the community garden:

finished laying plastic over tomato beds
staked all but five tomato plants (sigh...ran out of cages)
picked remaining broccoli, pac choi, lots of spinach and peas
removed second cover from broccoli bed
weeded carrot bed

At home:
planted seeds for watermelon, yellow squash, zucchini, pumpkin, and tromboncino squash

Journal: 5/18/12

At the community garden plot:

• mulched most of the pepper plants (those not surrounded by other crops) with coffee grounds and grass clippings
• weeded the tomato beds
• put down two leafgro bags as plastic mulch, caged first five tomato plants (need more plastic)
• mulched more paths
• killed first potato beetle and a few small cabbage worms; there're some other beetles out there, shaped like lightning bugs, that make me nervous
• fertilized the onions and garlic with fish emulsion

Journal: 05/16/12

I'm already slacking on this journal thing.  I'd meant to record all my good deeds as they occurred, but I'm sure I did things last week that aren't on here.  Here's a lame attempt to catch up.

At the community garden:
weeded the lettuce, spinach, carrots, onions (it's so unfair that this only takes up one line when I write it!)
gathered grass clippings from the path and mulched the onions and asparagus, and about 1/3 of the paths
uncovered the end of the broccoli bed that was under the curtain because it was hard to monitor under there; removed a cabbage worm (a new kind I've never seen before!) and many eggs
harvested lots of stuff

At home:
edged around the backyard garden
weeded around the peas and garlic
pulled LOTS of ivy from the front yard, thinned irises by the front door
mulched the new flowerbed, most of the front right-of-way


There's still of lot of mulching to do at home, and almost every bed is overrun with weeds.  Also the Shasta Daisies are wildly out of control, everywhere, and the irises need to be thinned, too.  Anyone want some Shasta Daisies or irises?  I warn you, they're outcompeting the raspberries, which is saying something!  I think I'm going to trim the weeds by the fence at the community garden tomorrow, and mulch and stake the tomatoes.  If the soil is dry enough I'll also try to get some planting done.

Journal: 5/08/12

At the community garden:

• hilled up the potatoes
• transplanted two more garlic from home to fill out the last bed
• weeded the onion bed
• picked a lot of spinach
• thinned and weeded the bak choi seedlings
• gathered some grass clippings and spread on my garden paths
• uncovered some of the broccoli plants

Journal:05/03/2012

Yesterday at the garden:

• weeded the front pea bed
• watered the carrots - it looked like something was coming up, but i thought carrots took a long time to germinate?
• pulled a broccoli plant that didn't look good; its color was off, it was much smaller than the rest, and a cabbage worm was munching it (under the cover, darn it!)
• hoed some extra soil around the asparagus plants
• watered the tomato seeds and transplanted peppers
• potatoes are looking great!

Today at home:

• dug grass from left half of new flower bed
• removed old stump
• added wheelbarrow full of half-rotted compost
• planted blue crop blueberry, two shasta daisies, one ornamental grass (not looking so great, though), one soapwort and two mallows
• wood chips from the city arrived
• sprayed herbicide on the poison ivy, vine plants near neighbor's fence and cedar tree, a few plants just over the fence in the back 40
• dealt with a massive winged ant swarm on the back porch