Throwback Thursday

Here's a tour of Michele's community garden from the end of March. It's amazing how much grows and changes in a garden in just four months time!

Note to Caroline: 2017 Season Start, Portland, OR

Dear Friend,

It looks like we are going to start gardening this year at the same exact time. This is not great gardening news for me since in past years I have been able to get going months ahead of you. But as we have noticed in previous years, you always catch up because your summers in Maine are so much warmer.  I heard on the news that it has been none stop rain since October.  This is more rain than even us Portlanders are used to. They also said that it was in the 80's this time last year. I don't know what has happened to our much milder spring weather. I can remember starting in February or March most years. This year I have not planted much of anything and it will soon be May.

View of the Community Garden

Sensing that this year could be a challenge, I decided to start a lot of seeds indoors,  hoping I would get a better start. So now the challenge is that the seeds have sprouted, but are not growing at all since they got their first set of leaves. I am starting to feel that I am going to lose all my seed starts. I had to move the seedlings outside on my porch on some shelves covered in plastic because they were getting too leggy and there was too little light. Maybe it is time to invest in some indoor lights and shelves for a better indoor seed starting set up.



First Spring Bulbs

Some of my gardening activities have involved making a new bed at my home for a cut flower garden, preparing the "gorilla gardening" space at the back of the property for planting, and getting the raised beds at my street's community garden ready. I love the raised beds because I can get them ready and plant all in one day.

Lettuce starts at the Community Garden

This year I am concentrating on flowers and herbs. For the past couple of years I have been blogging about vegetables. One reason for this is that I want to have a "Cut Flower Garden". I would love to be able to fill my home with flowers, and have some extra flowers to make  bouquets to give away.  I have been learning about growing cut flower gardens from these two books: Cut Flower Garden by Erin Benzaken and The Flower Farmer by Erin Benzken. Both authors are growing cut flowers to sell, but the information is invaluable for just regular gardeners. I am planning to review both books soon for our blog.

Community Garden after the grass was mowed

One other goal I have for the 2017 gardening season is learning how to arrange  the flowers. I am thnking of ordering this book The Flower Workshop by Ariella Chezar. I have also been watching flower arranging video channels on You Tube, such as this one on how to make a hand tied Wedding Bouquet.

Another post I will be doing this season is a review of these channels. I want to also post each arrangement I make on our Instagram account. If you are reading this note and are a reader you can sign up for our Instagram account here Sprouts Blog Instagram. We will also be taking photos of our gardens, product reviews, etc.

Potted Roses

Yesterday I received  the stackable planter with internal slow drip watering system from GreenStalk
that I will be reviewing in a few weeks. My initial impressions are very positive. It holds 25 plants. That is a lot when you think about it, and you are not using a lot of space.  I am thinking of just growing all my herbs and most of my vegetables in this one planter which will free up a ton of space for flowers.

Different view of raised beds before weeding

I am so glad that we agreed to free up more time this gardening season to accept more requests to review gardening products and do more posts. If  you are a business and would like us to review your
product, be sure to contact us ASAP, so we can pencil you in our 2017 schedule. Also keep in mind that we like to see how the product works in both our gardens, Maine and Oregon, so you need to send us two of whatever you want us to review.

One of the David Austin Roses that I planted this spring

Lastly I want to apply some of the bio dynamic gardening methods I read about last season in the
Biodynamic Gardening Book. I think you remember that they garden by the phases of the moon. They have some simple fertilizers made from weeds and other garden by products I want to try.

So what is new for 2017 in your Maine Garden?

Michele

Community Garden Update: Weeds, Eastern Bluebird and Lettuce

I arrived at my community garden plot to find mostly weeds. We haven't been over in a couple weeks due to rain. It was too many weeds to deal with today, so we will return tomorrow morning with tools to tackle the weeds. After we weed, we'll be putting on some seaweed and straw mulch to fertilize and keep the weeds down in the future.

Today we saw a little drama going on at one of the bird houses. A Sparrow was protecting her nest from an Eastern Bluebird. She was so flustered and kept chasing that Bluebird off. I wish I had brought my telephoto lens to catch a good photo for you. I know Blue Jays can be aggressive, but was surprised to see an aggressive Bluebird. If anyone knows anything about these birds, I'd love some insight as to what was going on.

 The lettuce at the community garden is doing well. I planted a mixed pac of seeds so have many varieties.

I think this one is iceburg lettuce. I've never tried growing this before. I think this one looks a bit like a green rose.

A few peppers are already producing, however, something is eating some of the leaves. Last year we had no problems at all with the peppers. Any idea what it could be?

Response to Caroline: Progress in the Garden

Today was beautiful in Portland and we broke records for one of the warmest days in April. It was up in the 80's, just like the weather you have been having in Maine for the last month. I heard on the news that a cold snap is due this week where you live. What will you do with all the plants that you put in over the past couple of weeks? It seems like our weather is always opposite. This is our last day of warm weather. It is back to reality with average temperatures in the high 50's.

Thought you might be interested in this restaurant that I pass by on my walk to the community garden. I took a photo of it because like most businesses here, sustainability and green practices are very common.Notice in the second picture that the water from the roof downpour spout is being used to water some kind of roof top planters.

Below is the park that is attached to my garden. I have to walk through the park to get to my garden.

 I spent my whole two hours in the garden mulching pathways to keep weeding to a minimum. This is the mulch that the community garden provides. It isn't really the best.Only wood chips, but it is better than nothing. I think your son got the same sort of free chips from your city down there or was it better stuff?

The Rhubarb I started from seed last year is doing really well.Notice how large the leaves are getting and the stalks look like they are ready to harvest now. You know I am not a great cook, but I made a nice Apple & Rhubarb crumble pie last year. We used Rhubarb a great deal when I was growing up in England. 

Here is one of those fancy lettuces that survived the winter and is now going to seed.

Another plant that has gone to seed. I can't tell what it was, but I probably should pull it before the seed pods release their seeds.

 Chives with their pretty purple flowers

 One of my garden neighbors gave me some winter and summer squash starts.I put them in the ground although I think it is a tad early. Another neighbor started a tomato plant.I know it is way early for tomatoes, but it might be a good idea to get a few in if we don't get a cold snap. One hassle I have been experiencing is getting rid of the rye cover crop. I don't think any

kind of grass cover crop is a good idea if you have to get rid of it by hand. I like how the cover crop worked ,but this fall I am planting what everyone else does here-Crimson Clover.

Note to Caroline: My Portland Community Garden is put to bed for winter

Hi Caroline, hope all is well with you and your gardens. Here is a photo of one of two pumpkins that grew in the garden this year. At least it is orange. The other one that is not pictured is just huge, but it is still green. News here is that our first frost might be here this week.

As you know I have been closing or "putting my garden to bed" as people here like to call it. Basically you can garden here all year, but like me many people want to take a break. Since winter means rain, rain and more rain, one priority here is to protect any nutrients in the soil washing away. I did leave a few plants to over-winter. The Chard and Rhubarb are still in the ground in addition to a couple of Broccoli plants.

Here is a bed that has been put to rest.

It does not look to pretty, but underneath the hay is a layer of hops, veggies and leaves. The goal is to remove the hay come spring and have rich soil underneath.

I added burlap coffee bean bags(popular here) to the pathways and put down mulch over it to try to prevent weeds. They don't seem to die here with the mild weather. I added a cover crop (Crimson Clover & Rye) to the rest of the beds, again to suppress winter weeds and to cut down soil erosion from the rain.

I pulled out and composted the rest of the the tomato & squash plants. Here is a photo of one of the heirloom tomatoes that just did not ripen here. Hope to hear from you soon. I can't believe the Holiday Season is right around the corner, but I can hardly wait for the new seed catalogs to arrive.

Summer finally here at the Portland Community Garden? Maybe

Here in Portland, Oregon we have had an unusually cool summer. One of the coolest on record resulting in only four 80 plus days so far. This has really slowed down the growth of our Summer crops.

Squash just being to trail over the straw mulch.
Borage
My Rhubarb is just beginning to show some promise. We must have grown a different variety in England because our Rhubarb was much bigger.
Chard was easy to grow from seed and is doing well. I have just begun to harvest the leaves before the leaf miners eat them.
Strawberry Spinach. I tried some this week. The leaves were good, but I did not find the fruit tasty. I did think the flowers would look good in a arrangement.
More Onions. Can you see the wasp on it?
Lavender and Rosemary grow in large clumps here
Another good grower here are Artichoke

4th of July at the Portland Community Garden

Warm weather finally. Here is a picture of the flower "Stock"

This is the garden cat. I don't know where he comes from or his name, but when I arrive at the garden he shows up and often watches what I am doing. Once in a while he will catch a garden mouse. I thought he was a kitten, but he looks the same size this year as he did last year.

Cornflower. From a half packet of seed only one plant grew

Photo of one of our community planters with one huge Rosemary Plant

Portland Community Garden Photos June 29th

It was overcast in the garden today. Our first hot weather in Portland this year is on the agenda for this weekend. My Tomatoes look pathetic. Add the Peppers and Egg plants to the pathetic list. Just not enough hot weather and too much rain to warm the soil and get things going.

Here is a neighbors Artichoke plant. They seem to grow really well here because they are growing in many of the community garden plots.

Here are some of the Peas that I harvested today.
I don't have too many plants, but was able to harvest enough to fill four 1 gallon bags. Plan to harvest more in a few more days.

Still harvesting Lettuce. Some of my other Lettuce is bolting so I need to get more aggressive at harvesting as it seems like everything seems to go to seed really fast here. I also was able to harvest Chives and more Radish today.

The Chard is growing well in the cool weather

The Beans sprouted quickly and is doing well although the slugs have found them

Lovely edible Nastrium flowers

Not sure if these are Marigolds or Calendula

One of my neighbors is using milk jugs to protect his summer crops. Seems funny that we are still using this kind of protection in June. Many gardeners have some sort of protection over their summer crops.

Note to Caroline- Portland Community Garden Manager

Dear Caroline, remember I mentioned that our Garden Manager resigned? Well, the latest news is that I am taking over for her this year. Because it is so late in the season and so much needs to be done I was placed in the volunteer position this year, but every fall the gardeners vote for who will be the Garden Manager.

As you can guess I am very excited, but at the same time worried about what I am getting myself into. From the job description basic responsibilities include organizing work groups, orientating new gardeners, tracking who is working their plots and who is not and basically answering questions and resolving conflict. All the 37 community gardens in Portland are also part of the "Plant a Row"Program to fight hunger.

I think I told you that our garden is unique because we have one of the only children's gardens left. We also have a Thai rain collection cistern. It collects rain water which we use to fill our watering cans, rinse our hands, etc. Well, I am sure that I will have more to share on the garden later.

Portland Community Garden Update June

Here is an June update of my Portland Community Garden. Here is what everyone is up to.

Lettuce and peas. This is turning out to be a great combo as the peas are growing over the lettuce and providing protection from the hungry snails that have gobbled up my other lettuce
Overall view of part of the shared area of the community garden.

Another view of the garden. In the background you can see the school that the garden is attached to.

My neighbors strawberry patch. She seems to really know what she is doing.

We have a few perennials at the garden, but most of the planting beds are devoted to vegetables.

A pretty bunch of chives at the garden.

I think these are the onions that Caroline is growing in her garden.

I think these are buttercups. They are growing in a pathway.