What a long, strange summer it's been! I have a photo journal of the Community Learning Garden in its first and second year - what a marked difference!
Last year was our first full season of growing and experimenting. The Learning Garden was created from the Department of Environmental Protection Environmental Education funds with the purpose of providing various garden beds and compost bins for the community to see and actively garden. This freedom of learning and experimenting with different garden setups and composting bins is a great way to try new things and observe results before implementing them in our own gardens at home.
Successes:
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| Three Sisters Garden with corn, pole beans, and squash - 2012 |
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Pak Choi - great greens when sauteed with garlic and olive oil in a pan!
Grown in a handicapped accessible raised bed- 2012 |
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| Blue potatoes growing in a recycled tire - Marie Antoinette thought the flowers were so beautiful she would wear potato blossoms in her hair - 2012 |
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Fingerling eggplant in a cedar bed - long lasting wood without chemical treatment - 2012
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| Jack-Be-Little pumpkins (over 80!) in the concrete block bed - 2012 |
Along with our successes, there were many learning curves...
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| I have yet to find the correct formula for the tunnel system that will enable cold crops (spinach, greens) to grow during our winters |
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| Carrots did not like growing in the straw bales |
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| Neither did radishes |
So we press on and try new things. Some new growth is food we have never dreamed of eating. Some growth, like the carrots and radishes, found their garden bed to be too hot and didn't survive. What if we put a floating row cover on the tunnel system? What herbs should we try this year? How about Dragon pole beans instead of traditional green beans? So we tried some new things in 2013 and have met with reasonable success -
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Basil from seed grown under our indoor grow lights!
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| Ever-bearing strawberries from our Seedling Sale! We are still harvesting them! |
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| Jack-O-Lantern pumpkins in our concrete bed! |
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| Various tomatoes in our straw bale beds - they love the heat from the straw! |
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| Four varieties of grapes grown in true vineyard fashion - Steuben, Concord, Fredonia, and Niagara |
Stop by the garden.
Enjoy the colors from our harvest and new Butterfly Garden.
Look us up in the building and ask your questions or for a tour!
