Pests + Harvest and Delivery Procedures
Rodents
Brother Rat digs up and eats our corn before the seeds germinate. We have three traps out. He knows how to spring traps and avoid getting caught. I suspect Brother Rat also likes to eat tomatoes. Here are some of our first ripe victims:
Some creature obviously ate the insides out of these tomatoes.
Harvest Whenever You Are Able
You have two options:
-Bring the harvest home and store it until delivery at 9AM Wednesdays. Please note that the St. Joseph’s Food Pantry is closed until July 20.
-Bring your harvest to the base of main chapel by the social hall. Deposit in the bins and give one of us a call. We will store the harvest in the cafeteria until delivery.
Again, the St. Joseph’s food pantry opens again on Wed., July 20. You are welcome to enjoy your harvest, share it with a friend, or turn it in at the social hall as described above. We will deliver harvests to parishioners for a donation.
Tomatoes and peppers are OK at room temperature. Cold temperatures are not good for tomatoes.
Squash and beans can go in the refrigerator.
You can contact any of us.
You can find these baskets just outside the social hall underneath the main church building.
Watch for our seed saving markers when you harvest tomatoes
If you come across tomato clusters marked with orange twin or pink yarn, please keep those tomatoes separate. We want to save those tomatoes for seed. If you harvest ripe tomatoes that have orange twine or pink yarn, please contact Jason S. so that we can save that seed.
We have a seed saving project happening in our tomato bed. In order to make sure our tomato seeds are “true to type”, we deployed “blossom bags” to avoid cross pollination with wild and volunteer tomatoes in the area. Now that the fruits are setting, we removed the blossom bags and “tagged” the clusters with orange twine or pink yarn so we will hopefully find the same fruits that will set fruit that is “true to type”.
Can you spot the orange twine that marks off this tomato? Probably the Brother Rat ate this tomato already and pooped out our coveted seed!
Greetings St. Mary’s Gardener: Thanks for keeping up with our news. We work hard to serve our neighbors at the St. Joseph’s food pantry with freshly grown food from our garden without depleting our soil resources. 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.
Work Days
Monday, 7/4: Please come harvest and do a little work on Monday, but the normal 6PM work day is canceled to celebrate Independence day. I plan to go down there sometime in the afternoon or later. I plan on moving okra seedlings to open spots on the row. The target spacing is 2’ between plants. Let me know via text or phone if you want to join me. We always need to weed. Don’t forget to turn the compost tumbler.
The St. Joseph’s food pantry is closed this week. We will not make a Wednesday morning delivery. You may either keep your harvest or deliver to storage according to the harvest instructions above.
With the excessive heat, please work wisely. Bring lots of water and work for short periods of time. It would be best to work with a buddy.
Harvest squash, peppers, and tomatoes any day of the week. Basil does not keep for long, so you can save it for just before delivery.
Here’s the procedure:
-Weigh the basket empty and record the basket weight. (The small white baskets are 0.25lbs)
-Harvest into a basket.
-Load up like vegetables into the basket. Note the final weight and subtract the basket weight. Record the vegetable weight in the notebook by the correct date.
I updated this chart after making a few corrections from last week. I mis-read the data from last week.
Wish List
-We need leaves, shredded yard trimmings, and straw and grass clippings for compost and mulch (no sticks, no herbicide)
-We are trying to build more than one Johnson-Su Bioreactor (an interesting composting method). We are looking for the supplies listed on their site: How To Build Your Own Bioreactor.
Please let us know if you want to volunteer to lead the Johnson-Su Bioreactor project!
Here’s the list of bioreactor supplies. I am sure that we can find most of these locally.
These supplies are for one reactor. We hope to make multiple reactors.
Landscape cloth (woven, minimum 5 oz.): Piece One: 13’ x 6’, Piece Two: 6’ x 6’, Piece Three: 6’ x 6’
One standard, sturdy shipping pallet with dimensions of approximately 40” x 48”
Wire re-mesh (6” x 6” x 10-gauge wire), used to create a 5’ x 12’ 6” supporting wire cage. This type of remesh is normally used for reinforcing concrete. Be sure to use re-mesh as horse fencing or other similar wire fence products have insufficient vertical strength to hold the cage in position as you fill it.
Four 10’ lengths of perforated, bell-end, 4” septic system drain field piping
Tie wire (normally used to tie rebar together)
-If you wish to make a financial donation please mention the St. Mary’s Community garden in the comment section of the donation page at St. Vincent de Paul Society (St. Joseph Food Pantry) .
We do not need any seedlings at this time. But we can help you find a home through our network of growers.
