This week, as all of us residing in the continental US know, was a scorcher. Luckily both the garden and I survived. The summer squash must especially have loved it, because they’ve yielded their first fruits!!
So very cute!
Monday
After a mere two days gone from the garden, I was taken aback at the size of our squash! The leaves are bigger than my head and the flowers blooming all over. Who knew the last thing we put in the ground would be the first to flower?
I printed out some signs that Paula and I have been putting together that explain what the garden is all about, so that anyone visiting the garden will know what we are doing all the way up on top of Prospect Hill. I laminated the information about the free space and the no till plot (laminating is a little scarier than you’d think) and they will soon be stapled to posts in the garden for everyone to see.
Tuesday
Several summers ago, garden interns Reesha and Crystal bought three windowpanes from Re Store, an organization in Springfield, MA that recycles used home improvement supplies by accepting donations and selling them for low prices. They had planned to build cold frames with the windows. They must’ve run out of time doing all of the other wonderful improvements they brought to the garden, and the windowpanes remained simply windowpanes. So this year Paula and I are venturing to continue their legacy and build those cold frames!
I planted dill and the remaining kohlrabi in our free space Tuesday morning, then headed over to Re Store in the afternoon hoping to get the wood I needed for the box part of the cold frame. I found that it has been re-named “EcoBuilding Bargains”, and was a warehouse of treasures. Next door is New Growth Gardens, run by a fellow named Pete Mezerbacher who coincidentally lived in the house last year that I am subletting this summer! We continue to receive mail addressed to him. Small world, plenty of gardeners. He gave me some pointers on building the cold frame, and I realized I had not yet planned out the dimensions to safely buy the right wood.
Wednesday
Wednesday morning was the first day of delivering kale!
Here I am holding some winterbor:
And it took quite a while. Our kale had grown monstrous! I snapped the outside leaves off from the bottom of the stem and stuffed those bunches into plastic bags. After only a few rows and several full, large kitchen bags, I hauled them down to dining services.
Thursday
Paula returns! And with her younger sister Cam, a soon-to-be freshman at Suffolk University in Boston next fall. It was sample day at the market, so we harvested some of our extra kale and stir-fried it up for customers. They seemed to enjoy it! We also sliced some radishes for people to try, even though we had none left to sell. Other goodies sold that day included cilantro and basil. It was definitely the hottest market day yet, but with plenty of water and company we survived.
Friday
We harvested MORE kale today. It’s true that many hands make light work, and we were finished much faster than when I had ventured to do it alone.
Thanks for checkin’ up on us, more coming next week!
Enjoy the sunshine,
Ingrid
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