Mini Tour + Lavender fest + work days
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.
Thank you to those who donated supplies and funds we received a soil multimeter this week. The meter can test soil moisture, pH, and light.
I made an initial purchase using funds from the Pope Francis Charitable Trust Fund. We found our new harvesting bins very useful. I am especially impressed with their stickability. We received some of our new weeding tools. We will test them out next week. Next I plan to purchase some seed.
Work Days
Lavender festival garden visits: Feel free to stop by the garden and visit with our neighbors who want to learn about our garden and our mission. Friday-Sunday, 6/17-6/19.
Friday: 1-4
Saturday: 3-6
Sunday: 1-4
Monday, 6/20 ~6PM we will hoe weeds in pathways, hand weed between plants (or try out our new tools), plant some more okra, check on our corn, and maintain the tomato trellis.
Tuesday, 6/21 Evening harvest ~6PM. Please get in touch with Jason if you plan to help.
Wednesday, 6/22 Morning harvest and delivery ~845AM. Please get in touch with Jason if you plan to help.
Of course we welcome gardeners who want to work at any time. Please let me know if you have any questions. Feel free to give Jason S. a call or a text and we can think through a small project that will make a difference in the garden.
The are approximate price values assigned to each crop so that we can compare quantities: Herbs $2/bunch, squash and peppers are $3/lb, and all others are $3/bunch.
MINI TOUR! Here’s a quick late Spring tour. We expect to harvest a lot more greens and basil this coming week. Peppers and zucchini are starting. Soon we will have green beans and tomatoes.
Kale in our east edge bed
Healthy squash plants in bed #1.
Happy tomato vines in bed #2. Basil grows down the middle of the row. We have a special seed saving project happening in this growing bed.
Beans growing up our bean tee-pee in bed #3. We have a lot more beans in this bed. Also, I am fairly sure that I took care of those weeks on Monday evening.
Delicious peppers in bed #4.
Our first okra seedlings in bed #5.
We planted our corn under this row cover hoping that this will deter the creature that seems to eat up all of our seed. We had four lucky plants that made it. We expect a lot more than that soon. Maybe we should collect those seed since these four were able to thwart the culprit! We will plant out the remaining parts of the row in a couple of weeks.
First Peppers! and the Lavender Festival Tour of Gardens
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.
Thank you to those who donated supplies and funds we received some weed cover and a small pallet recently.
I made an initial purchase using funds from the Pope Francis Charitable Trust Fund. We just received new harvesting bins. In the next few days we will receive some new weeding tools to try. Next I plan to purchase some seed.
Work Days
Monday, 6/13 ~6PM we might replant corn, hoe and weed pathways and under plants, maintain the tomato trellis, and maybe plant some more okra.
Tuesday, 6/14 Evening harvest. Please get in touch with Jason if you plan to help.
Wednesday, 6/15 Morning harvest and delivery. Please get in touch with Jason if you plan to help.
Of course we welcome gardeners who want to work at any time. Please let me know if you have any questions. Feel free to give me a call or a text and we can think through a small project that will make a difference in the garden.
The Lavender Festival Tour of Gardens
Next Friday 6/17 from 1-4, Saturday 6/18 from 3-6, and Sunday 6/19 from 1-4 we will have visitors in the St. Mary’s garden for the Lavender Festival Tour of Gardens. Let’s work hard on Monday to make the garden look nice. If possible, please volunteer to be in the garden just for fun during the tour. Please brag about your involvement and our mission!
Deacon Gary Sega was cleaning up lettuce when he was presented with our first three peppers of 2022!
This is not a record week, but our greens look healthy. They will continue for a few more weeks. By then we will start to have some tomatoes and peppers. The values on this chart represent approximate cash value of each unit that we harvest. For example, $12 of collards at $3/bunch means that we harvested 4 bunches. Basil and cilantro are $2/bunch. Everything else is $3/bunch.
Wish List
-We need leaves, shredded yard trimmings, and straw and grass clippings for compost and mulch (no sticks, no herbicide)
-Work gloves for little people and children
-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
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.
Harvest Goals, Pope Francis Grant, Lettuce Spacing
Upcoming work days
Monday, 6/6/22, ~6PM -start planting okra and maybe some more corn, plant the last of the beans, replant cucumbers if necessary, maintain tomato trellis, control weeds in beds and pathways, decide on harvest plan.
Change to harvest plans: Please contact Jason via phone/email/text if you are available to help on Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning. He will communicate the harvest goals on Monday evenings. This week we will harvest-mostly greens, some lettuce, turnips, beets, carrots, and maybe basil.
Tuesday evening harvest, 6/7/2022, ~6PM.
Wednesday morning harvest, 6/8/22, ~845AM.
Please communicate with Jason to be added to the St. Mary’s Community Garden Oak Ridge Google group.
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.
Thank you to those who donated supplies and funds. I received news this week that the St. Mary’s garden will receive some funding through the Pope Francis Charitable Trust Fund. We will use the financial donations to improve our harvest handling equipment and cultivation tools. We may need to make some shed and fence repairs in the near future. Thank you!
Our last work day
It was Memorial day! We installed the tomato trellis lines. We hoed the corn bed. We planted most of the Kentucky Wonder pole snap beans. Our next jobs will be to start planting the okra in bed #5. We will finish planting all of the pole beans. Thank you to our volunteers who exemplify service by committing their Memorial “day-on” to helping feed our neighbors.
It’s hard to tell from this photo that the tomato and pepper plants are getting larger! Pretty soon I will post another virtual garden tour.
Here’s an image from February for comparison!
Harvest for the week of 6/1/2022:
Thank you for the extra help. We harvested a large amount of greens and lettuce, some carrots, beets, and turnips. We had some extra helpers, so we planted some marigolds in various places. The flowers will be exciting.
We had another record harvest for this year! I predict that the greens harvest will exceed the lettuce harvest in about 3 weeks. Remember that these are approximate dollar values. A bunch of cilantro is $2. Most of the other items are listed as $3/unit. So $60 of Butterhead lettuce is really 20 bunches of lettuce.
Three heads on the left that were planted really close together. One head on the right that was given more space to grow. But it’s so hard to space the small lettuce seeds. How can we hand the small seeds for proper spacing? We propose early “thinning” harvests for beds that receive broadcast seeding.
Wish List
-We need leaves, shredded yard trimmings, and straw and grass clippings for compost and mulch (no sticks, no herbicide)
-Work gloves for little people and children
-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
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.
Look for Google Group Email + We need harvest help this Wednesday, 6/1
Greetings St. Mary’s Gardener: Thanks for keeping up with our news. 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.
Look for the Google Group Email
Those who receive our updates and notices via email will start to receive emails directly from a new Google Group called St. Mary’s Garden Oak Ridge. Please check your spam folder and “un-spam” these messages so you do not miss our news.
Google Groups gives you complete control over how you receive message from St. Mary’s garden. You can unsubscribe at any time by scrolling to the bottom of the email.
If you get text messages from Jason, you will still receive those texts. Please let him know if you want him to remove you from text messages by replying directly to him.
I hope that you continue to enjoy the St. Mary’s news!
Next Work Days
Monday, 5/30 ~6pm, Memorial Day - weed management, corn planting, compost turning
Wednesday, 6/1 ~8:45AM (after mass) -weekly harvest and delivery to the food pantry, lettuce, kale, collard, cilantro, beets, turnips, carrots, radish
SPECIAL Monday, 5/30 ~930AM at the Isidore Maria Garden - planting winter squash and butternut. Please reach out directly to me for directions.
Work Day Reports
YES, RAIN! Our crops are loving this rain especially the tomatoes. It was too rainy to work this past Monday. We will most certainly have a lot of weeding to do this coming week.
Crop Value Estimates
This week lettuce takes a clear lead. We will have more lettuce to harvest next week. Collards and kale will soon dominate the harvest totals.
The value estimate is a rough “price” assigned to each item. For example, a large head of romaine lettuce is assigned $3 compared to a bunch of 5 beets at $3. The smaller items like a bunch of cilantro have a $2 value. We can use our harvest data pivot tables to evaluate the productivity of each crop based on each crop planted area.
We harvested about 13 bunches of collards this past Wednesday. I expect more will be ready for this coming Wednesday with all of the extra rain that we have had recently.
Wish List
-We need leaves, shredded yard trimmings, and hay for compost and mulch (no sticks, no herbicide)
-Work gloves for little people and children
-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
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.
More Lettuce; Isidore and Maria Update; Bioreactor Wish List
Greetings St. Mary’s Gardener: Thanks for keeping up with our news. 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.
Next work days:
Monday, 5/23 at 6PM
Wednesday, 5/25 ~845AM (after mass)
We will start routines for Saturday harvest when the summer crops come in a few more weeks.
Last Monday work day:
Volunteers and Master Gardeners planted a zinnia bed and sunflowers. We did a lot of weeding. Children picked peas. It got hot, so we did a lot of resting as the sun went down. Thank you, Lord, for all of the helpers.
The garden is looking a little dry on Friday, 5/20. Irrigation is down for an unknown reason this morning, but I have been told that it’s working again now.
Next work day:
We will weed the southern side of the garden outside the fence.
We will continue hoeing and weeding main beds.
It might be time to add some tomato trellis lines.
We will do a second corn planting.
We may need to re-seed the cucumbers and squash that have not emerged.
If the peas are done, then we’ll be ready to plan more beans in their place.
Our teenage volunteers planted this first planting of pole beans. The beans have started to emerge!
Harvest Totals:
We had a $200 harvest on Wednesday! We had a record 47 heads of lettuce that we delivered to the pantry and to friends and staff at St. Mary’s. Next week we should have another good harvest. We also delivered greens, beets, turnips, and cilantro. Thanks to Walter and Deacon Gary for helping out.
Value estimates are based on these “prices”: Greens, lettuce, beets $3 and cilantro $2. This chart only shows the last two weeks of harvest and the year-to-date total.
Four beautiful bunches of beets.
Wish List
-We need leaves, shredded yard trimmings, and hay for compost and mulch (no sticks, no herbicide)
-Work gloves for little people and children
-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
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.
Update for the Isidore and Maria Garden on Dutch Valley Road:
We’ve tilled, covered, and installed irrigation. It was hard work! We plan to grow long season winter squash and sweet potatoes in this space donated by Alice Lay. If we can provide winter storage crops, then we can feed our neighbors longer into the winter. We plan to plant butternut squash varieties and sweet potato slips by the first week of June for a September/October harvest.
Friday, 5/13, Tom Thornton using his John Deere garden tractor to knock down the weeds.
Tom is nearly finished with the job.
Kathy Hackworth, Walter Dykas, and Jason Schmidt spread ground cover and installed irrigation lines on Tuesday, 5/17 before the weeds could grow back.
Collards, Lettuce, and Wednesday Harvest Help
Greetings St. Mary’s Gardener: Thanks for keeping up with our news. 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.
Next work days:
Monday, 5/16, 6PM
Wednesday, 5/18, ~845AM (after mass)
Father Pontian and William Gwin planted these collards!
I have already started harvesting collards for the pantry. They are very tasty. I hope we have a lot more to come!
These are delicious collards!
Help! We have a lot of lettuce:
Take a look at this lettuce! Please come help us harvest some of this lettuce on Wednesday for the pantry. Our neighbors tell us that they like our lettuce!
This picture was taken last Tuesday. These romaine lettuce heads are much larger. I hope that they can make it until this coming Wednesday.
Last Monday review:
We planted cucumbers, zucchini, straight neck yellow squash, and 1/3 of the corn bed. In a couple of weeks we hope to plant more corn. We did lots of weeding.
Photo from last Monday:
We also spread a lot of cardboard to help keep weeds down in the pathways.
Next Monday:
We need to keep weeding. In fact, you are welcome to come weed whenever you want to work. Our number one weed problem right now is nutsedge. You might want to do some research on the best ways to remove nutsedge. Please do not spray herbicides on or around the food crops.
The grass-like weed is nutsedge. I usually have some success uprooting it with my fork. But you have to be careful not to disturb the basil!
Cotton?
We had a cotton seed donation so we got busy preparing this bed to try some cotton just as an experiment. I did a little bit of research. I expect that we can plant seeds about 4” apart in rows spaced about 30” apart. There’s one major problem: we may not be “allowed” to plant cotton due to ongoing efforts to control the boll weevil. I have a question about cotton growing restrictions at the Anderson county extension office. I hope that we hear back on Monday.
Crop Value Totals:
We passed $600 already.
Cilantro is still in the lead with $172, but it is slowing down. Lettuce is already a close second with $159. Lettuce will win out next week for sure!
Wish List
-We need leaves, shredded yard trimmings, and hay for compost and mulch (no sticks, no herbicide)
-Work gloves for little people and children
-Landscape fabric for a future compost setup
-Financial donations can be made to St. Vincent de Paul Society (St. Joseph Food Pantry)
If you donate 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. But we can help you find a home through our network of growers.
The Holy Spirit, Loving God and Neighbor, Children in the Garden, a Quick Tour
Sorry! This posting was originally meant for 5/6. Something went wrong and it did not stay online…I think it was something I clicked. So I’ve re-posted as much as I was able to recover. Please stay in touch. Don’t forgot our wish list near the bottom.
Here’s a story about the harvest delivery this week:
Sometimes I wonder if our neighbors at the St. Joseph’s food pantry enjoy the harvest that we share with them.
Normally when I deliver the harvest to the pantry and I see our neighbors in line I give a wave or a nod to say hello. But today I was in a rush so Walter D. delivered the harvest on his own.
As I ran through the parking lot a lady to the left of me yells out, “Hey! I really love the vegetables that you bring to the pantry. I made a salad with them the last time I was here.”
Then from my right a bearded man with a little dog speaks up, “Yes. I can really feel the love that you put into growing those vegetables for us. I can tell that you put love into the soil. You need to have fun with that.”
I thanked the lady and the man. And I told the man that his words were clearly inspired by the Holy Spirit. And he smiled and said, “The Holy Spirit is in you, too. It’s in all of us!”
I hope you enjoyed my little story.
Please remember that our garden work helps fulfill Jesus’ commandments to love God and love our neighbor.
Love for God!
Special thanks to St. Lucy's Guild for helping express her love for God with this flower bed right next to the small chapel at St. Mary’s:
Every color planted by Pat Niemann! People were nearby talking about all of the flowers in every bed.
Loving our neighbors!
I forgot to take a picture this week, but I do have an estimate of crop values to date. I truncated this snapshot to include only the last two weeks of harvest though the grand total is year-to-date. Please contact me if you wish to have access to all of the harvest data.
The total harvest estimate to date is $465. These fictional prices are as follows: A bunch of cilantro is $2, a bunch of lettuce, kale, collards, mixed greens, beets, carrots, turnips or walking onions are $3 each. These fictional prices help put the quantity of the different harvests on a similar scale. I try to “price” the units a little bit lower than a typical farmers’ market quantities. In the main season, a pound of tomatoes or peppers will be $3. A pound of summer squash will be $2.
Children in the Garden
Thank you to whoever donated all of the kid-sized tools. We now have at least three small shovels and one small hoe. Please bring kids gloves if you have some!
We welcome children in the garden. Sometimes children come to the garden and work a little bit. Sometimes they just go enjoy the playground with friends. Sometimes they eat vegetables directly from the ground. We are still learning how to help the children get involved. Please bring children to the garden so that our ministry will have a strong future.
Children who helped this week: Katelyn (First time volunteer! I hope I spelled her name correctly), Olivia, Luchi, Ceci, and Geordie.
Teenagers who destroyed the weeds in the pepper seeds this week! Loren, Maisie, and Martha. I wish I had a picture of them doing their work…next time…
Adults who helped this week: Kathy H., Jason N., Tom T., Walter D., William G.
Master gardeners (who talked a lot this week): Bev A., Karen W., Linda G., Jason S.
Garden Tour
Here’s a quick garden tour from east to west in the garden. Each image faces southward.
East fence line bed: This is a narrow bed that grows cilantro, kale, and collards. During the hot season we will transplant extra plants and seed flowers in this area.
Bed #1 with a killed cover crop: During the main season, this bed will have squash and cucumbers. We plan to plant these next week or the week after.
Bed #2 Tomatoes and basil: As the tomatoes get taller, we will string a weave-style trellis to support the vines.
Bed #3 Peas and lettuce: During the main season we will transition into successions of pole beans on these trellises.
Bed #4 Peppers. The teenagers destroyed every trace of weeds in this pepper bed. We have jalapeno, sweet banana, and bell peppers planted here.
Bed #5: Beets, carrots, collards, kale, cabbage, lettuce will transition to okra during the hot months.
Bed #6: A hairy vetch cover crop that we terminated will make way for several successions of sweet corn that we will plant next week. Also visible in the distance to the right is our perennial asparagus and crawling onion patch.
Wish List Update:
-We need leaves and shredded yard trimmings for compost and mulch (no sticks, no herbicide)
-Work gloves for little people and children
-Landscape fabric for a future compost setup
-Cash donations can be made to St. Vincent de Paul Society (St. Joseph Food Pantry)
If you donate 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. But we can help you find a home through our network of growers.
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.
Transplanting summer crops: peppers, basil on 4/25
Reminder: This Thursday is the UT Organic Farming and Gardening Field Day. You can register on-site. Call 865-974-7201 for more info.
Transplanting summer crops: Last week we had a smaller crew, but we transplanted 48 Roma tomato plants that we had planned. We potted up the leftover plants and donated them to the St. Mary’s school plant sale. If we have extras I will let you all know.
The Roma seedlings in the black tray were our contribution to the plant sale. We hope it helped raise some funds for the garden club at St. Mary’s School.
Next week we will transplant peppers and basil at 6pm on Monday, 4/25. We also need to help maintain the mulch pile. If you go work on the pile, please try to make sure that the mulch gets piled onto the wooden pad. We are trying to keep the grasses from growing up into the pile.
We need to help shape the pile so that it rest completely on the wooden pad.
Here are some pictures of the garden:
Our weekly picture of the garden.
Baby radish seedlings.
News from Ss. Isidore and Maria Garden: Tom and I hitched up a John Deere garden tractor to my old truck and rode over to Alice’s house to till up the garden one last time. Our plan is to put down some ground cover to control weeds. We will install drip irrigation on top of the ground cover. Then we will seed butternut squash and sweet potatoes for late summer storage crops for the food pantry.
Thanks also to Walter and Kathy for stopping by and helping us plan out our next steps.
This is Tom’s John Deere garden tractor on a borrowed trailer on the back of my truck. The freshly tilled garden is in the background.
Wish List Update:
-We need leaves and shredded yard trimmings for compost (no sticks, no herbicide)
-Landscape fabric for a future compost setup
We do not need any seedlings at this time. We have peppers and basil on the way.
Good Friday update
Good Friday St. Mary’s garden update: Thank you for helping support St. Mary’s garden! Our mission is to feed hungry neighbors who come to the St. Joseph’s food pantry.
UPDATE Organic Farming and Gardening Field Day on Thursday 4/18. Pre-registration is open online until 4/18, but you can register in person. Lunch will be served. This sounds like a cool way to get acquainted with the Organic Crops Unit of the East Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center.
Last Monday we had work crew that thinned carrots, weeded beds, and worked on some flooding problems. Some of us planted some radishes where other plants did not survive. Here’s what the garden look like this week. Thanks! Ceci, Luchi, Olivia, Erin, Walter, Tom, Kathy, Jason N., Maisie, Martha, Jason S.
Seedling news:
Special thanks for Kiersten and George for donating the remaining cool weather seedlings to the gardeners. We may some good use of those. St. Mary’s, First Presbyterian and Scarboro gardens benefitted from these cool weather seedlings. We look forward to the tomatoes and peppers on the way.
Next Monday:
This coming Easter Monday, 4/18 6pm we will work on weeds and tidying. If the mulch is delivered we will work on pile maintenance and pathways. If we get very industrious, maybe we will do some compost pile maintenance or compost innovations. Please bring a shovel or pitch for just in case.
Wish List Update:
-Leaves and shredded yard trimmings for compost
-Landscape fabric for the compost setup
-T-posts or rebar (5-6ft long) for trellis supports, used and rusty is OK
-Stirrup hoes or collinear hoes like these at Johnny’s: https://www.johnnyseeds.com/tools-supplies/weed-control/hoes-cultivators/
Harvest totals:
Everything that we are harvesting right now is a survivor of our winter. Next year we need to plant more spinach! We have a lot of cilantro growing back for a weekly harvest.
Here is our total so far:
These totals are an underestimate of the dollar values based on farmers’ market prices. Some of these vegetables are taken home by the gardeners.
Compost update:
We are we taking on different methods to figure out what works best for our garden.
-Compost tumbler: It’s full and we turn it daily. It never heated up, but it is decaying. Earth works from the garden are propagating inside. Sadly we have a small fire ant population in there, too. Tumbling is not what we hoped for…yet. We will keep trying.
-Big turned pile: We have a big pile of mixed material. It was turned once or twice. It did not heat up. It is irrigated with drip line. Maybe we will turn it this week. We will monitor this pile as it ages.
-A “static” option: Some if us are exploring various forms of bioreactor, passively aerated compostering vessels that will not need to be turned. Soon we will settle on a design and assemble it.
New time 6pm, Free seedlings, Irrigation, wish list #1
FREE SEEDLINGS: Kiersten and George successfully cared for and donated cool season greens seedlings to St. Mary, First Presbyterian, and Scarboro gardens. We have some seedlings left over. If you want some they will be inside the St. Mary’s garden at 6pm on Monday until supplies last. Please bring your own containers in case we run out. Seedlings include: Georgia Southern collards, variety kale, variety mustard, romaine lettuce, black-seeded simpson lettuce, and maybe some others that I cannot remember.
Here is a sneak peak at the summer seedlings that Kiersten and George are tending for St. Mary’s, First Presbyterian, and Scarboro gardens: tomatoes, peppers, and basil.
HARVEST TOTALS: We harvested and delivered onions, cilantro, kale, spinach, and carrots for the St. Joseph food pantry. Below are the totals so far this season.
This is an approximate dollar value of the produce harvested. Most of this produce goes to the food pantry. Sometimes a few of the items go to pantry workers, parish employees, and gardeners. All of these vegetables overwintered. The greens are kale and spinach. The herb is cilantro. The onions are walking onions. The root crop is carrot.
WISH LIST: Walter D. suggested that we share a regular wish list for our garden. If you have donations or suggestions, please contact me.
We need:
Kid-sized tools especially watering cans, gloves, and various hand tools
Metal t-posts (5-6 foot long preferred),
Plain cardboard (for covering pathways and weeds),
leaves and grass clippings (no sticks, rocks, trash)
mulch (please coordinate with Jason Schmidt)
cool weather cover crop seed: cereal rye, oats, hairy vetch, Austrian winter peas, clover
monetary donations to purchase things that we need (see Deacon Sega or Jason Schmidt)
Stirrup hoes or collinear hoes like these at Johnny’s: https://www.johnnyseeds.com/tools-supplies/weed-control/hoes-cultivators/
We do not need seedlings. So far we have this covered for St. Mary’s, First Presbyterian, and Scarboro.
NEW TIME NEXT MONDAY: On Monday, 4/11 we will officially start at 6pm. But you are welcome to come early. If you need the shed combination, please contact Jason S. The notebook should be mostly up-to-date.
We will weed and tidy and harvest carrots.
LAST WEEK we assembled the drip line irrigation. We weeded and tidied. We even planted a few more seedlings. Our work crew was Luchi, Olivia, Kathy, Tom, Walter, Kiersten, George, William, Ben and son, James, Jason N., Jason S. I hope that I did not forget anyone.
It might be difficult to notice the drip line installed on all of the main beds and the side beds, too. This year we have a special water line running on the south bed to irrigate along the far fence line thanks the some fancy thinking!
Tidy up and Irrigate Update 4/2/2022
Work day: We plan to work on Monday, 4/4 starting at 5pm. Our goals are the following:
assemble and test the irrigation
tidy up the garden (de-cluttering and weeding)
Last week: We had a productive crew who planted more than 100 seedlings. The lettuce and brassica seedlings are doing fine, but they need watering every day.
Crew list: Kiersten, George, Maisie, William, Tom, Walter, Father Pontian, Kathy, Jason N. and Jason S.
Welcome to Jason N.! First time in the garden at St. Mary’s
It’s hard to see the little seedlings that we planted last Monday.
Small harvest: I was able to make a deliver a tiny harvest of cilantro, spinach, and kale to the pantry on 3/30. This harvest is about 1 month earlier than last year from herbs and greens that survived the winter. Next week we should be able to deliver a few small bunches of carrots and more cilantro. I harvested this delicious carrot last week. We do not have many carrots, but these few carrots serve to prove our ability to provide vegetables earlier in the spring.
This carrot and the bed in the background survived the winter without cover in our Oak Ridge garden.
Saints Isidore and Maria garden: In our goal to feed the hungry, we will soon begin work on a satellite garden on Dutch Valley road. The SS. Isidore and Maria garden will grow long season, storage crops like winter squash and sweet potatoes in order to increase the food that we can supply to our hungry neighbors at the St. Joseph food pantry deeper into the winter months. In the coming months we will install irrigation and weed control barriers. We plan to plant butternut squash and sweet potato slips in late May or early June. More news soon…
Facts:
growing area is 36 feet wide x 47 feet long
plan for 6 rows spaced apart 6 feet
in-row spacing will be 3 or 6 feet depending on variety of squash, sweet potato
plastic “weed shield” will help on the rows
drip line irrigation planned underneath weed shield
cover crops are planned for pest and weed control and nutrient retention
potential deer management complements of neighborhood dogs
Walter and Alice standing by SS. Isidore and Maria garden.
Update 3/25/2022 Time to transplant
Bright green lettuce seedlings that are almost ready to transplant. We will plant these deeply on Monday if the weather allows.
If all goes well, we will transplant seedlings on Monday. I hope we can start at 5PM and work until the sun sets. If the weather cooperates, it will be a cool evening followed by a couple of warm afternoons and maybe some rain later in the week. This will be just right for seedlings. And according to the “Tennessee Home Fruit and Vegetable Garden 2022 Calendar” Monday, March 28 at 5PM is the early transplant time for cabbage and broccoli in East TN.
If you want to learn more about seedling planning and hardening off of seedlings, you can read “Garden Planning, Plant Preparation and Planting”. Kiersten has done a good job meeting the seedling preparation requirements.
Monday 3/28/2022 work plan:
—transplant lettuce and greens
—weed areas that have not been weeded.
—Fork bed #6
Probably we will not have much time for anything else.
Last Monday we had a large crew working from 5-7PM:
We hoed and forked the south edge bed.
We forked beds 1, 2, and 4.
We hand-weeded the cilantro and the onions.
We planted some onion bulbs by the cilantro and among the peas.
We finished installing the row cover on bed #5.
All present: Maisie, Martha, Walter, William, Kathy, Kiersten, Father Pontian, Deacon Sega, and Jason
Special Thanks to Janice Klein for working on the Limelight Hydrangea. Here is a before and after:
Kiersten and George continue to care for seedlings. The above pictures show some basil, tomatoes, and peppers that we will hopefully transplant in late April or early May.
Update 3/18/2022 Weeding and forking, surviving the snow
On Monday we had a good crew working on preparing our beds for Spring plants. To prepare each bed we hoed the weeds and used the broad fork to loosen the soil down deep.
Our next organized work time will be Monday, 3/21 at about 5pm.
We also set up our new compost tumbler. We filled it up with weeds and brush. If you go to the garden, give the crank three big turns just for good measure.
The row cover successfully protected our turnip seedlings.
Next up:
—Hoe and fork the south edge bed
—Hoe and fork beds #1, 4, 5
—Add more compost to beds
—Get ready to transplant seedlings
Our crew was Maisie, Kathy, Tom, William, Walter, George, and Jason. Luchi, Cora, and Robyn helped out, too.
The Agribon-19 row cover held up to the weight of the snow. The turnip seedlings underneath survived undisturbed. Pea seedlings did not need cover under the snow.
This compost tumbler is full of organic matter from the garden. I try to give it at least three full turns every day. If you stop by the garden, feel free to turn it three time. Normally I turn it clockwise.
Compost tumbler, plants should be ok
Seth Mintz donated a find compost tumbler to the St. Mary’s garden. Special thanks to Kathy Michalzo for connecting us to Seth.
We might be prepared for the cold weather this weekend. The peas and cilantro should survive. The turnips are under row cover. Let’s hope that snow doesn’t collapse the cover!
We have a work evening planned for Monday, 3/14 at about 5pm. Now the compost tumbler is added to our to do list.
Please see my previous posting for things that we plan to do.
Thanks, Jason
Rain delays, making progress anyway
We had rain on our normal Monday workday, but things are still happening in the garden. I went last night and took some pictures so you can see what our good work set in motion.
These are some good things that happened even when we could not get together:
Over the weekend, Walter chopped the cover crop.
Jason hand weeded the cilantro and the endive/escarole, peas, carrots, and beets (but he left little piles of weeds that need to be cleaned up).
Kiersten and George are tending to the new seedlings.
Dr. Elaine Bunick donated a first aid kit that is located in the foyer of the church office. We should be able to access it even when the office is closed.
If you want to work in the garden on your own you can do these activities:
Hoe pathways and growing areas around the edge of the garden.
Fork the edge beds, fork beds 1 and 6
Carefully weed by hand the onion patch and the asparagus area on the west edge of the garden
Remove screws from board (Bring a hammer or use the sledge hammer in the shed. Please wear gloves)
Move little weed piles to the larger compost area in the back corner
When we get together again we will do these things:
Finish out the row cover
Amend and turn compost
Add compost to various beds
Finish hoeing and forking growing areas
Plant cool weather seeds in edge beds: radish, spinach, onion, chard, cabbage and other little bits of seed.
Carefully label each planting area
These are pea spouts coming up. We planted these at the end of February.
Hundreds of turnip seedlings emerged. We planted these on Monday, 3/7.
Images: Cilantro that was carefully hand weeded. Escarole and endive carefully hand weeded. Cover crop that was chopped two weeks ago. Freshly chopped cover crop.
Images: Kale, romaine, cabbage, broccoli rabe, mustard, komatsuna, leaf lettuce, and collards are all growing well in Kiersten’s and George’s basement seedling factory.
Update 3/4 Row cover, seedlings
Dear St. Mary’s gardener:
Last Monday we built our row cover for season extension. Underneath we planted some beets, cabbage and turnips. We have some more space to build out the cover where we plan to transplant lettuce and greens from our seedling project.
Our beets are “Detroit dark red”. The cabbage is “Super red” and “Gonzales” (this seed was old so we might have to reseed). The turnips are “Purple Top”.
Tom finished shredding the larger debris in the outer garden. We will put away the shredder for a while and take out the tiller for the outer bed.
We were a good crew:
Ashley, Maisie, Martha, Kathy, Tom, Jason
Monday 3/7 we plan to work, but it might rain. If you want to try and work this weekend. These are some things to try:
-Hoe pathways and edge beds
-Remove screws from wood boards (sledge hammer is in the shed. Wear gloves!)
-Walter plans to finish chopping the cover crops (beds 2,4) on Saturday.
If we get to work on Monday we will:
-Finishing out the row cover
-Weed/hoe pathways and edge beds
-Amend and turn compost
-Fork edge beds
-maybe plant small amounts of cool weather seeds in edge beds for experimentation (radish, spinach, onion, chard, cabbage, and maybe some other bits of seed that we have)
-label the seedlings carefully
Thanks for your help!
Jason
We used bamboo in the corners and strung baling twine between the posts to hold up the Agribon-19. We weighed the edges with boards and bricks.
These lettuce seedlings emerged on 2/27 in our seedling project in Kiersten’s and George’s basement. I can’t wait to see how much they have grown by now.
Update 2/25
Dear St. Mary:
God gives us wet weather in order to focus our attention on little things that need to get done before the main season. We will work on Monday evening. You may work independently on Saturday.
Seeding flats: We started seeding some flats with cool weather crops at Kiersten’s house. We have some more to do. Let me know if you want to be involved.
Get some “Pro Mix” from Knoxville Seed and Greenhouse in order to seed some more flats.
Chop the last of the cover crop (beds 2, 4, one area on the fence line—Walter is on this!)
Turn compost on the far end (Jason is on this!)
Season extension row cover experiment (Work on this Monday 2/28 as a group)
Seed some beets, brassicas, and lettuce under the row cover (Monday 2/28 as a group)
Chip/shred materials (Tom is on this!)
Till the outer garden (Chris and/or Tom are going to do this.)
We need help putting together a good first aid kit.
When the soil dries up a little: continue forking fence line beds and beds where the cover crop is chopped.
If you don’t want to get wet and muddy: You could bring an electric screwdriver and use the old screws to make convenient tool hooks in the shed.
Other things in the works: I am reading more about compost and trying to figure out how to best approach community composting in this garden. There are so many different ways to do it, so please share your ideas.
Last Monday we finished the trellis, planted peas, fixed the chipper/shredder, and started chopping the cover crops. I already saw one pea seed germinated this morning!
Please come by on Monday ~5PM to get involved. Feel free to leave a message on the contact form.
Here’s a picture of the garden from last Tuesday morning: The finished pea/bean trellis is on the left. A chopped cover crop bed is on the right. The cover crop in the middle will get cut soon.
Update for 2/18
2/18/2022
If you want to work tomorrow, Saturday, 2/19. Here’s a list of things to do. We will work on Monday ~5PM.
Finish setting up a bean trellis in bed #2. (Requires at least two people)
Plant some peas in bed #2 (seeds are in the shed or bring your own)
Plant some cool weather crops in bed #5. (seeds are in the shed or bring your own)
Weed whack cover crops and fork those beds. (bring your own weed whacker and roll back drip line!)
Turn compost up front.
Set up new compost area. (I plan to bring mulch and leaves to help with the new compost area.)
Save these next items for Monday because they require some cooperative thought and problems solving:
Set up some row cover in bed #5.
Finish chipping Fall debris.
This is bed #5 that was weeded and forked. It might be ready to plant with cool weather crops: beets, carrots, lettuce, kale, collards, cabbage. Feel free to try things out, but be sure to label what you planted.
This is the unfinished trellis is bed #2. This bed was weeded. The areas under the trellis are forked. The forked areas would be good for peas.
Tomato Seed Saving Project
We are going to grow a lot of Roma tomatoes this year because we hope they will be the perfect tomato for neighbors at the St. Joseph’s food pantry. We also hope that Roma tomatoes will have good growing habits, taste, and storability for our humble garden procedures.
We have access to resources for sharing seeds through the Oak Ridge Public Library Seed Library.
Here’s a great publication about growing tomatoes published by UT Extension “Growing Tomatoes” (W 346-H)
So here’s where we will document our project. Feel free to follow this link to piece together what’s next.
Thanks!
Oak Ridge Tomato Project Shared Document
