Wed. May 20

I arrived at the garden and was delighted to see Jen and Michael St. James already hard at work weeding a plot. More workers drifted in behind me. Della and Debbie created a bean arbor and Della and Mae Lee planted beans beside it. Della and Ryan planted a row of beans along a fence panel. Geri and Debbie planted 3 rows of tomatoes in the fenced area after Kathy put in a huge effort prepping the plot. Patricia C. helped on that project, too. Geri cautioned us not to over water that area due to the hardpan so close to the surface. We are being more careful to give the tomatoes plenty of room, planting them farther apart and not along a fence. We will try making cages with hog wire. It is sturdy but has big enough holes in it to harvest the tomatoes. Linda brought herbs from her garden and planted them in the north raised bed.

Kocha was dealt a solid blow when Suzanne and Linda teamed up by the entrance and pulled roots and all. On the other side of the garden Amber and Erin and their crew of kids and Patricia C. tackled the kocha with the Rogue hoes. There was some watering done. Michael C. was the official photographer for the day. We harvested radishes and spinach from our late winter plot.

ATTENTION OFFICERS / BOARD MEMBERS! Meeting at the garden this Sat. May 23, 11 AM

Sat. May 23

We welcomed Steve back to the garden and he and Ron mowed the mustard in Jan and George’s yard. They took turns mowing the rest of the kocha. (FYI- a certain leaf hopper walks around on the mustard blossoms, picks up a virus and then flies over to our sweet baby tomato plants, then they have the virus and their leaves curl and turn brown. Last year we pulled almost half of our GH tomato plants) Suzanne watered the greenhouse and checked the plots to see if they needed to be watered. We were glad to see Bethel back in the garden recovered from her foot surgery. She prepped and planted more beans along the fence panels. Debbie did shovel therapy all over the garden. Geri planted more tomatoes in the caged area and I painted plot signs. It was a lovely day to garden.

What we need to do next

Let’s make some trial tomato cages out of hog wire. We need to decide where we will plant chiles. The padrons could go in the plot by the back trees, Deb has already begun to prep a plot by the fish tanks. There are several open plots in the circle; however, they are flat and mostly below the surface. We will have to see how they might work for chiles. There is a fence panel in the caged area that could be set up for a divider. Pretty soon it will be time to harvest garlic. Can’t wait! That job is almost like recovering artifacts in my student archaeology days.
Every work day the garden changes, see you there! jjh

Contact Felipe Otero at (505)615-4663. He has 2000 stabilized adobes stacked and ready to go at 225 El Cerro Loop, Los Lunas, NM 87031.

We had 1/2 inch of rain on Tuesday night so there was no need to water Wed. May 13. Suz Taylor got there early and planted carrots. Two of the 3 plots that were planted this spring got weeded and cleaned up by Linda, Geri, and Amber. They look great. The 3rd plot with leafy spinach and radishes needs the same treatment. Della, Michael, and Willie came back from a field trip and helped, too. Ingrid and Deb, with Mae and Samson’s help, transplanted a dozen tomatoes from the Greenhouse into the no-till fenced area which had the cover crop of wheat. The wheat was clipped close to the ground and the 12 tomatoes were planted in amongst the clippings without disturbing the roots. By not tilling we don’t disturb the microbes in the soil. The area around the plants will be continually mulched. This keeps the wheat from returning in addition to building up the soil. An experiment in no till. Let’s see what happens.
For Saturday we need to plant beans along fences and maybe make a tunnel in one of the plots for beans to grow on. We also need to mark out the chile patch and start making rows for planting. The 2 raised beds in the Circle are ready for planting. How about herbs? Good rain on Thursday so we may or may not have to water.
Take more milkweed seeds home to scatter for the Monarchs. And throw some kochia on the compost piles – a combo of green and brown leaves will speed up the compost. Debbie

While Suzanne and Joyce were busy at the garage sale, Ron and Steve got the big pump working and started the blue hoses. They also worked on the new tomato patch and watered it along with a few other beds on the greenhouse side of the garden. Deb, Michael, and I worked together with the blue hoses. We leveled and watered the new corn patch (old tomatoe patch).  We also watered the spinach, potatoes, fruit trees, and everything else along the fence line as well as the garlic beds and the old Padron pepper and eggplant patch. Some areas may have received a little too much water. Geri and Willie planted in the flower bed, watered the green beans, and tended to the greenhouse. We need to water the enclosed bed (peas, kale, etc..) by the shed next time, unless someone took care of it after we left. We also received an interesting visit from a woman who was promoting the concept of victory gardens. Continue reading →

What we did Sat

I brought in my 4×8 raised garden bed and we laid it out as two beds, one on each side of the trellis in the circle. They will be shallow, 6″ high. Suzanne and I cut in the edge of the plot for the boards and turned the center. Della and Amber dug up the other plot. We think we want to plant herbs in the raised beds. Molly was busy restoring another circle plot on the eve of her trip to Spain. Ron and Steve were busy with the pump.

What we need to do on Wed.
Continue work on the raised beds. Someone can restore another circle plot. We will need to water and weed, as always. I think we can also start working inside the enclosed plot on the north side. Continue reading →