Rained out Strawberry picking

Unfortunately, we are going  to get rained out for Strawberry picking. The rains move in around 10:00 tonight and don't really let up again until Monday. They've already posted a flood watch from Saturday 8:00 am until Sunday 8:00 pm.  Boo hoo hoo.....

Magnifiers to the rescue

 

Sometimes you just need a little extra help to see those pesky spider mites, insect eggs, or to determine, yes those are black aphids in my spinach, not just dirt splashed up from the ground.

 

We now have two small magnifying glasses in a green box in the shed that you can use. And they are right above the yellow sticky traps that you can also use to help monitor if you are developing pest problems in your bed.

 

 

If you don't have a trellis or a metal stake in your bed, just get a stick that has a twig sticking out and you can attach your yellow sticky trap to the twig. (But don't forget to actually push the stick in the ground in your bed!) Lou and Ryan have done that and it seems to be working out just fine for them.

Weekly Calendar May 3 - May 9

Friday May 3 & Saturday May 4
10:00 - 5:00
Root House Plant Sale
Sale of heirloom vegetables, ornamentals, and more

Saturday May 4
7:30 am
Meet at garden if not raining
Strawberry Farm Field Trip

NO Gardener on Duty Saturday

Tuesday May 7
5:00 - 7:00 pm
Gardener on Duty
Azamax spray available if not raining

Wednesday May 8
5:00 - 7:00 pm
Azamax spray available if not raining

Thursday May 9
9:30 am
Garden meeting at the garden

Poison Ivy Pullers

Along with the greening up of all the wonderful trees, shrubs and flowers that we like we also have the greening up of that hateful but wonderful native plant - poison ivy. Because the garden was built in an area that had been left to run wild, we have a poison ivy problem.

Inside the garden we've about got the old poison ivy vines removed. Outside the garden, behind the shed and along the back fence, there is still lots of old poison ivy that is leafing out. However, there are still a lot of seeds in the soil and the birds keep depositing more seeds. When you weed under the pecan tree, weed with caution.

Poison ivy does have its uses (gorgeous foliage in the fall, beautiful flowers in the spring and it is a favored source of food for birds)  but it does tend to grow where you don't want it. We've come a long way with getting rid of the poison ivy in the garden, but it still pops up from time to time.

The best way to deal with poison ivy is with respect and caution. I believe in pulling and discarding poison ivy because dead leaves can still cause poison ivy for those who are highly allergic. If you use an herbicide on the plant, it kills the leaves but then the leaves fall off and are in the leaf litter. When you rake up leaf litter/debris, those dead poison ivy leaves are still in there waiting to cause misery.

Hairy Rope - Don't be a dope

Leaves of three - Leave it be

Pulling poison ivy will transfer the oils in the poison ivy plant onto your gloves. You can always use plastic gloves but I much prefer newspaper or bread bags. It is one way to recycle that unending stream of bags. Using the bag method, I'm protected up to my elbows and I've got something to put the poison ivy in after it has been pulled.

If I know I'm going to have really long pieces of poison ivy, I have grocery or garbage bags to stick them in. This protects me as well as the garbage men who deal with my trash.

The leaves on seedling poison ivy are not as big and can be confusing to recognize because the poison ivy doesn't quite have the same kind of leaves that go with the poison ivy sayings below. If you don't know what poison ivy looks like, memorize these sayings until you do.

Leaves of three, leave it be.

 

Hairy rope, don't be a dope!

In other words, if you don't recognize the plant and it fits one of those two sayings, don't touch!

 

This is baby poison ivy. It doesn't quite have 3 leaves

yet and looks very similar to other desirable plants.

If in doubt, leave it be.

 

There are lots of good plants that have three leaves or have hairy vines. Don't destroy them until you know what you have. You could be tearing out a highly desirable native plant.

If you want to learn to identify poison ivy on your own, just ask, we can show you many great samples of poison ivy in the woods and the hairy rope as well!

Special thanks to Kitty for being my assistant with these photos.

Pestiferous Wild Onions

The wild onions we have in the garden are pestiferous to the max.

We are going to experiment with several new ways of getting rid of them but in the mean time, the best way to get rid of them is to dig down to the very bottom of the stem and gently extract the onion bulb and all its bulbils.

If you don't, you leave the big bulb and all the baby bulbs  behind to resprout. It does take longer to get them all out but if you do you are rewarded by not having to get mess with them in the future.

We have new neighbors!

We now have another nest to watch at the garden. Last week I noticed a Carolina wren nest had been built in the corner of the ventilation window on the side of the shed. It actually is a really good place for a wren nest because it has a cool breeze, is totally protected from the elements and has a wide ledge for the nest to sit on.

Wren nests are very hard to peer into to count how many eggs are there. Cavity nesters (bluebirds and American kestrels) and birds such as osprey, great blue herons and peregrine falcon's that nest repeatedly in a particular place, are much easier to observe.

Even though bluebirds nest in boxes, you can wire the boxes with a nest cam and see all the activity in them. Last year my husband and I were addicted to watching an American kestrel nest cam in Boise Idaho.

Nest cams are video systems that you set up to live stream all the activity that occurs at the nest location. Most nest cams only work during daylight hours but some use an infrared camera so you can watch all night.

There are many local nest cams (just search for nest cams in Georgia). One that I know will be active for at least another month is in downtown Atlanta.  The peregrine falcon nest is on the the Sun Trust Plaza building, approximately 50 stories up. Since the nest is on a tall building, it is well lit so it can be seen in the sky. It certainly makes it easy to watch this nest 24/7.  Peregrine Falcon Nest -Downtown Atlanta.

Cornell Lab of Ornithology in New York has two nest cams and links to others (Cornell University Nest Cams). This year they have links to 2 osprey nests, a red-tailed hawk and a great blue heron.  The American Kestrel Nest Cam just went live so there will be activity for the next 2 1/2 to 3 months for that box.

On the Green Meadows Bluebird Trail we have Carolina Chickadees, Eastern Bluebirds, Tufted Titmice and Tree Swallows nesting in the boxes.  There aren't any nest cams on those boxes but here is a link to the Bluebird Blog Nest Cam post if you want to watch bluebird nest cams.

Saturday Workday Fun

We lucked out and had beautiful weather for Saturday's work day- okay it was beautiful because it didn't rain and it wasn't cold! In fact, as of 8:30 Saturday night it still hadn't rained.

The Bluebird Fundraiser was a resounding success. Mike and Sue did a wonderful job preparing the food for the Bluebird Blue Plate Special . If you weren't there, you really did miss out on some delicious food! And you missed out on getting to just sit and chat with your fellow gardeners while at the garden.

Everyone was already a winner after eating that delicious lunch but went home as double winners after the Bonanza Door Prize Drawing.

The garden looks 200% better than it did at noon on Monday. Spreading a huge pile of mulch, moving a huge pile of dirt, tilling up a huge sections of weeds besides digging weeds makes the entire garden look new and fresh. Yes!

There are still a couple of sections of the main paths that still need work before the next load of mulch gets delivered.

 













Above: The sunflower border after the first 2 passes with the tiller. To the right: The sunflower border after the tilling has been completed. Quite a difference, isn't it!  Thanks Denny for tilling it for us and Mike for using his truck to bring the tiller to the garden.

Everyone is hard at work at some task or the other

 

Chuck spend all morning moving sifted soil back and forth. Either to the sunflower borders or into the compost bin while Jennelle and Susie sifted, sifted, sifted... Jennelle was very happy to use the gloves she had gotten as a door prize after a previous workday. Susie wished she had some. Lucky her, she managed to snag a new pair of gloves at today's Door Prize Drawing!



















        Team 1 - aka The Blues Sisters                                                   Team  2 - Mary & Carol

 It was sad work removing all the fruits and flowers from the apple, pear and plum trees but it had to be done. The trees will be much stronger now that they can devote all their energy to making roots versus making fruit while their roots aren't established yet.

Field Trip to LCCL Strawberry Farm!

Mike and Sue go to LCCL Strawberry Farm every year to pick strawberries. Last weekend they did a trial run up to see how many berries were on the plants (lots even though it was early in the season.)  The strawberries they brought back with awesomely delicious.

Now that the strawberries have come in, it is time to plan a field trip to get some!

When: Saturday May 4th

Time to meet: 7:30 am

Where to meet: Green Meadows Community Garden Parking Lot

Destination:   LCCL Strawberry Farm in Rome Georgia to pick strawberries.

We will probably only be gone about 3 1/2 hours. But if you want to stay longer to pick more feel free to.

Ariel Hardy the 1st has spines

 

Ariel Hardy the 1st and her daughters have beautiful foliage. They look very soft

and wonderful to touch but beware........

If you touch the tops of the leaf you are fine. If you grab a handful of the leaves and stroke you will get lots of spines to pull out of your hand. They now have warning signs in front of them to remind us to be careful.

Ariel the 1st survived her move from Jane's bed - even through several hard freezes right after she was moved. Her two daughters are struggling a bit since it has been warm and sunny since they got moved. It will be interesting to watch them grow and hopefully produce artichokes.

Workday and Bluebird Fundraiser are still on!

We are still going to have the workday and the Bluebird Fundraiser today. Looking at the radar it looks to be mostly rain free from 10:00 am onwards. Be sure to come out and join us!

Better Seed Storage

You bought seeds, you planted 5 squares of carrots, 2 squares of radish, 6 squares of lettuce and now what are you going to do with the remaining 600 seeds?

How you store your seeds determines how viable the seeds are the next time you want to plant that variety.  (Viable just means how well they germinate.)

To test the germination rate, get a damp paper towel, put 10 seeds in it, fold the papertowel over and put it in a ziplock bag. Let it sit for a few days (actually, as long as the germination time listed on the seed packet). Then you check and see how many sprouted.  If only 30% (3 seeds) sprouted you might as well just get another packet of seeds. Seed Germination video link

The way I've been storing my seeds is to open the seed packet, pour all my seeds into a tiny plastic bag - you can find them at the Plastic Bag store and the craft stores in the bead sections. I label my tiny bags and then put them back into the seed packets.

You need an air tight, dark, cool spot to store the seeds. If you have an old ceramic canister with a seal (like those used to store flour and sugar on a counter top), you can use that. If you don't have one, just go to Goodwill and you can find them for a very good price. That is where I got mine when I decided I needed a better way to store my seeds last year.

Anywhere in your house is a good place to keep the seeds because we do heat and cool to keep it comfortable for us. The nice thing about using a ceramic container it is much harder to put the seeds in a safe place where you can't find them next time you want them.

Thursday was a Gorgeous Day

The weather for Thursday was absolutely gorgeous! You couldn't have asked for better for a workday. Pollen was bearable, temperatures were perfect and it was sunny. We made a dent in the list of tasks to do this month but there is still plenty more to do.

Almost a third of the garden has had a fresh layer of mulch spread on it and it is starting to look really nice. Another couple of piles of mulch and we'll be weed free - except for pesky onions and the occasional intruder. Thanks to everyone who came out Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday AND Thursday to help spread the mulch.

Bridget working hard on the mulch

Please come out to join us on Saturday!

With lots of hard work all week from many dedicated
people and the mulch crew on Thursday, this is all
 that was left of the huge pile we got on Monday.



Vicki weeding, weeding weeding

Lisa and Bridget moving and spreading mulch

Digging for Gold!
Actually, sifting the dirt pile and removing
earth worms before moving the dirt over
to the compost pile to finish composting.

Carol and Sandra doing hard labor planting
rose bushes around the sign.

 

Weekly Calendar April 26 - May 2

April 27
10:00 am to 12:00 noon
Saturday Workday
Details for Saturday workday

12:00 noon to whenever
Bluebird Fundraiser Details

April 30
5:00 pm to 7:00 pm
Gardener's on Duty

"Hilling" your radish and carrot seedlings

Last fall I learned about "hilling" dirt up around my carrot seedlings. I'd forgotten that tip until I heard Denise mention it to someone at the garden last week. My carrot and raddish seedlings aren't big enough yet but these Dalita's radishes definitely need some "hilling".

Hilling is just pulling up some soil to cover the exposed root. If you don't cover up the exposed carrot or radish root you end up with green shoulders, a bitter taste and a vegetable that really isn't as good as it could be. Or...you end up with no raddish or carrot because it never really got seated in the soil properly.

Generally speaking, you have to pull soil up over the shoulders of carrot and radish seedlings two times.  But if you notice they are getting exposed again, pull a little more soil up.

Look at the first row of radishes - notice that there are varying amounts of red radish sticking up out of the ground. The 3rd one back isn't sticking out as far but it too needs to be covered up.

This is the same row of radishes but now all but one of the radish plants has dirt snugged up next to them.  But don't worry, as soon as the picture was taken the last radish plant got dirt around it as well.

Luckily for me, Dalita was willing to wait to put dirt around the radishes so I could take all the pictures I needed with the proper light. Thanks!

Local Farmers Markets

We are lucky to be living in Cobb County because there are so many local Farmers Markets available to visit. Even better, they aren't all in operation at the same time. There is bound to be one somewhere near you which is open on a day and time that works well for you.

Farmers Markets vary in what they offer. They run from offering only food  to  the opposite end of the spectrum where they offer food, plants, art, craft work, live chickens & rabbits, soap,  cooking demonstrations, music, etc. Each market is unique and fun to visit.

The Granddaddy of them all (locally) is the Marietta Square Farmers Market  It is open Saturday year round (9:00am to 12:00pm) and also has Sunday hours April through November (12:00 to 3:00 pm)

Photo provided by Marietta Square Farmers Market

Many other communities offer Farmers Markets besides the ones I've provided links for here. Just search online and you'll find many more. If I'm traveling, I always try to see if there will be one open where I'm going because I always find something interesting.

Acworth Farmers Market
Friday (7:00 am - 11:00 am)   Opens May 24 - Closes Oct 25

Kennesaw Farmers Market
Tuesday (7:00 am - 1:00 pm) Opens May 7 - Closes Oct 29

Paulding County Farm Bureau Farmers Market
Friday (3:00 - 7:00 pm) Opens April 6 - Closes end of November.
They also have Tuesday night hours during the middle of the growing season.
They are at the intersection of Hwy 92 and Dallas Hwy, across the street from Stars & Strikes There location is just a couple miles west of the garden.

Spreading Oaks Farm at the Paulding County Farm Bureau Farmers Market

(Photo provided by market)

 

Dallas Farmers Market
Saturday (8:00 am - 1:00 pm)  year round weather permitting 

Mableton Farmers Market Thursday (8:30 am - 12:30 pm) Opens May 23 - Closes Sept 5 Typical scene from any farmers market - this one is from the Paulding County  Farm Bureau Farmer's Market (photo provided by the market)   If you are interested in finding U-picks and farms that sell to the public, here are several other resources you can use. Local Harvest A great site to find local farms and farmers markets that sell meat, eggs, produce, etc to the public. as well as U-pick's, CSA's, etc. Pick Your Own.org I've used this site quite a few times to find places locally and nationally as well. Farmers & Consumers Market Bulletin You can subscribe to the Georgia Farmers & Consumers Market Bulletin. I've found some wonderful plants and items through it.

Saturday Workday with Door Prizes and Bluebird Fundraiser

This Thursday, April 25^th and Saturday, April 27^thare our April work days. Thursday is from 10:00 to 12:00 and Saturday is from 10:00 to 12:00 also.  So far, here is the list of things we've come up with that needs to be worked on.

· Weeding (ongoing and forever)

· Weed pollinator beds before mulching

· Mulch pollinator beds with mini-pine nuggets

· Spread free or purchased mulch in garden common areas

· Move the compost/dirt pile and sift it as we move it

· Round-up along outside of fence (Thursday only)

· Till the sunflower border area (Saturday only)

· Plant sunflower border area (Saturday only)

· Weed eat/cut onions and Round-up remaining stems

· Weed around sign and plant 4 or 5 Caldwell Pink roses around the GMP sign

· Plant 4 Celeste figs in 1 gallon containers on the upper terrace

· Give the shed a good sweeping and cleaning

· Remove blooms & fruits from the fruit trees (Saturday only)
    (The fruits need to be removed so the trees develop a good healthy root system the first year in the ground)

 

As you can see there is a lot to do and we probably won’t get it all done on Thursday and Saturday unless YOU come help us.   Even if you can only come out for an hour, your contribution of time and effort will be greatly appreciated.

 

On Saturday after the workday is over at 12:00, we will be having a Bluebird Lunch Fundraiser for the Bluebird Trail.  Mike and Sue will be providing a delicious selection of food.  For further details, check the link to the Bluebird Lunch Fundraiser post.

Friends of a Feather -Bluebird Fundraiser

On Saturday at the end of the workday (12:00 noon), there will be a lunch fundraiser for the Bluebird Trail.

The baby blue birds are hungry and your support is very much needed.

We will be providing a delicious selection of food including several salads. We will be doing it like a Bar-b-Que plate fundraiser taking donations for each plate.

Help us help the mother blue birds feed their young.

Mike & Sue

Lavender Lemonade

Hey Everyone,

Just the hint of the 80 degree weather last week had me thinking about planting the lavender.  This is one of my favorite recipes for the long hot days of summer.  
Simply delightful!

Lavender Lemonade – Cooking Light Magazine

Does this not scream, plant me?

Ingredients:

4 cups water, divided

¼ cup chopped fresh lavender leaves

2/3 cup sugar

1 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (about 6 – 8 lemons)

Lavender stems and/or flowers

Preparation:

Using a small saucepan, bring 1-cup water to a boil.  Pour boiling water over the chopped lavender leaves, cover, and steep for 30 minutes.   Strain the lavender mixture through a fine sieve into a pitcher; discard the used leaves.

Combine 3 cups water and sugar in a medium saucepan.  Bring the mixture to a boil, and cook 1 minute or until the sugar is completely dissolved.  Mix the lavender water, sugar syrup, and lemon juice in a pitcher.  Cover and chill. 

Serve over ice.  For a special touch, garnish lemonade with lavender flower stems or freeze lavender flowers into ice cubes.   Another nice touch is to add just a couple drops of food coloring.  Blue & red make purple or simply green is beautiful.

Hope you enjoy,

Denise, Beds 25 & 29 

Medication Disposal Day

picture from the CobbLine Newsletter

If you don't subscribe to CobbLine, the weekly eNewsletter that is sent out, you miss out on hearing about important community efforts. This weekend - Saturday only between 10:00 am and 2:00 pm they are having a Medication Disposal Day.

Everyone needs to weed out and purge medications - over the counter and prescription as well as vitamins.  But how do you properly dispose of them. Tossing them in the trash is unsafe. Flushing them down the toilet is also unsafe and bad for the environment when it gets into the rivers and water table.

The best way to dispose of unwanted medications is take them to one of Cobb County's Medication Disposal Day's. You just drive up and hand it over. You don't even have to get out of the vehicle. The first time I went I took stuff from my house, my mom's and my sister's.

If you have time this Saturday I hope you take advantage of this opportunity to purge your medicine cabinet in a safe way. Mother Earth will appreciate it.



Another Mulch Pile!

Another HUGE mulch pile was delivered today. Yippee....though I must admit it was more of a tired yip after awhile.

Carol, Rita, Kitty, Denise and Vicki worked very hard weeding under the pecan tree waiting on the mulch to be delivered.  A lot can be achieved during a 2 hour wait.

Once it was delivered Vann and Mark joined us in moving and spreading mulch around the sections of the garden that had been completely weeded.

Obviously we didn't finish because this pile is what was left after we'd mulched the ground around three rows of beds as well as a big chunk of one of the community paths!

Now is the time to rush to the garden to weed  around your bed and then spread mulch around it. Hopefully your energy and enthusiasm lasts long enough to help spread mulch in the community areas that have been weeded as well.

I don't know what it is about mulch piles, but they must send subsonic signals out to Mark because every single pile we've had he has helped spread.