5 weeks earlier than last year, getting ready for squash and cucumbers

Dear St. Mary’s Garden Follower: Thank you for following our simple news messages. We are doing our best to serve our neighbors at the St. Joseph’s food pantry with freshly grown food from our garden. Please enjoy our news and stay in touch. Please note our wish list toward the bottom of this message if you would like to donate to our cause.

Production totals so far:

Our approximate value so far is $363. 

The most productive plant so far is cilantro. 

We also had a fair amount of spring onions delivered to the pantry. 

We harvested 5 weeks earlier this year. Our first recorded harvest in 2021 was on May 5.

The light green leaves are the first lettuce harvested this season thanks to Deacon Sega’s beautiful plants.

Next work day: 

Monday 5/2 at 6pm

We will prepare beds for seeding squash and cucumbers. We may do some weeding, tidying, and compost spreading. 

Last Monday we had a busy day:

Our workers were Olivia, Loren, Maisie, Martha, Walter, George, Father Pontian, Jason.

We planted many peppers and basil plants.

Weekly picture: 

The pepper seedlings are straight ahead in bed #4. We probably planted close to 75 pepper seedlings. We planted basil in bed #2 straight between the rows of tomatoes. We also added a basil bed in the back.

Compost tumbler malfunction: 

Jason S. was turning the compost tumbler on Tuesday morning and the door clips did not hold. All of the compost contents dumped onto the ground. We will discuss our next move at the Monday work day. 

We may go ahead and spread this partially composted mess into a growing area. We might refill the tumbler with some new debris. We will discuss our options on Monday.

Wish List Update: 

-We need leaves and shredded yard trimmings for compost and mulch (no sticks, no herbicide)

-Landscape fabric for a future compost setup

-Cash donations can be made to St. Vincent de Paul Society (St. Joseph Food Pantry)

Please mention the St. Mary’s Community garden in the comment section of the donation page.

We do not need any seedlings at this time.