January is a good time to start thinking ahead...

January's drippy days often find me thinking ahead to Spring and what I want to sow in the soil.

Now is a great time to think about what you have grown and whether or not you need to plant cover crops or amend the soil for next year.

One resource that I fall back on time and time again is the Seattle Tilth Maritime Planting Guide. I think I picked up my last copy at Portland Nursery but here is the link just in case you haven't check it out.

http://www.seattletilth.org/get-involved/gardenstore

Are you new to gardening and not quite sure what to do?  Try a class at Portland Nursery or through East Multnomah Soil and Water.

http://portlandnursery.com/events/january_events.shtml

https://emswcd.org/workshops-and-events/upcoming-workshops/

If you are a teacher and are struggling to find avenues to bring the garden into your classroom check out this link to Oregon State Extension Services-

http://extension.oregonstate.edu/nep/garden_nutrition/

Vestal Spring Fling was an amazing success.

Great Photos of Vestal Spring Fling. 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/41430185@N08/sets/72157653683068826

MARK you Calendars for 3rd Annual Spring Fling

This year's Spring Fling Celebration is going to be very special. Mark your calendars Saturday, MAY 30th, from 12pm- 3pm.

Our school will dedicate the SUNflowers that are being installed around the exterior. There will be food, games, Master Gardener demonstrations, and stations where you can build your own garden salad planter, paint pots, a bicycle tuning station, summer camp sign up, and music from Vestal's Marimba and String instruments.

Help us celebrate Vestal turning a new leaf with their SUN program and plant seeds for the Fall Harvest.

April 11th Work Party

Hi Gardeners.

Reserve the date.  There will be a work party to prepare the vacated plots for new gardeners.  The work party will be on April 11th from 1:00 to 3:00.  Plan to be there if you can make it.  A flyer for the party is posted on the toolshed.

The water has been turned on.  The water is traditionally turned on around April 1st, after the threat of a hard frost has passed.

I was over to test the temperature of the beds today.  The temperature of the raised bed is 60.  This is warm enough to sprout all but the most heat loving seeds.  Raised bed 2A (next to the fence) has been reserved for Produce for People.  If raised bed 1A is not assigned by early May, we can use it for an additional P4P plot. 

The temperature of the ground level P4P bed is 55.  Not quite warm enough to sprout many seeds, but certainly warm enough to take starts.  I started some lettuce seeds for P4P, and will put the starts out on the table next week.  I'm hardening off the starts this week, so they'll be ready to plant next week.

See you in the garden,

Paul.

Garden harvest

One good thing about Indian Summers is the harvest! Go Vestal school gardeners. 

Back to School And back in the garden.

The diehard gardeners of Vestal having been coming out to help cleanup and harvest food.  Official clubs will start soon.  Thank you green thumbs for all your hard work! 

Companion Planting : Tomatoes & Carrots

Vestal Community Gardener Caitlin Clark's advice for Companion Planting: Tomatoes & Carrots

Companion planting is a wonderful way of gardening that incorporates beneficial plants with unlikely partners who not only keep pests away, but also increases pollination, a must for any garden.

Tomatoes are a delicious and popular plant with a number of edible companion plants: cucumber, carrot, chives, onion, garlic, nasturtium and parsley. Marigold is a favorite companion flower for tomatoes, but opinion is divided about how beneficial the flower really is.

Did you know that all plants of the brassica family such as kale, cabbage and broccoli (and more!) actually repel tomatoes and shouldn’t be grown together? It’s okay if they’re in your plot, just keep them apart. Tomatoes also dislike growing near potatoes and fennel. Keep corn and tomatoes at a distance because they both attract the same pest and together they’re too much of a good thing for the corn earworm a.k.a. tomato fruitworm.

Asparagus and tomatoes are great friends and will enjoy being grown together as they both deter each other’s pests (nematodes and asparagus beetle).

If you’re planning to grow carrots near your tomatoes, go ahead and plant some onions or leeks nearby. All of these are friendly with each other. The onions and leeks repel the carrot fly and a number of tomato pests; rosemary and sage will also deter the carrot fly. Bush beans, pole beans, peas and lettuce are also beneficial to carrots.

Resources: Carrots Love Tomatoes by Louise Riotte, http://www.zenfulneps.com/CompanionPlants/, http://www.tomatodirt.com/companion-plants.html

Photo Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/colemama/9473457079

Second Annual Spring Fling Saturday, May 17th from 11-3

Our second annual Spring Fling will happen Saturday, May 17th from 11-3.  We will have Strawberries, Raspberries, mint and garden signs for sale.  There will also be many craft stations and games to play including: mini frisbee disc golf, hay bail treasure hunt, paint-a-pot, and sack races. 

We hope to see you there. 

Vestal Community Garden Orientation April 19th 1-2

Things are beginning to grow in the garden. Always a good sign that spring is here. Various plots in the  community garden have been assigned to new gardeners. Welcome new gardeners. 

There will be an orientation for new gardeners (and anyone else interested) on Saturday April 19th from 1-2 pm followed by a work party from 2-3:30. Anyone interested can join us to discuss plans for the Produce for People plots at the work party.

A load of wood chips has been delivered and we now have a pile for general use. Please use them for covering the pathways around your plot.

Getting ready for Spring planting!

Come rain or shine the garden club at VESTAL was out digging up the dirt getting the garden plots ready for spring planting. Look at all these hard workers!

Scarecrows and Parke Diem

O.                            

I

Oh the time has come to scare off the crows and put the garden to rest.

Planting bulbs, finding bugs, and harvesting !

Twenty six reasons why our garden grows!!! Thank you for all your hard work today:)

TIps and Tools for Waterwise Gardening

Tips and tools for waterwise gardening

Here at Vestal Community Garden, we frequently hear from gardeners who are looking for new and better ways to save water while keeping their gardens green and healthy during the dry summer months.

And we have good news: the Regional Water Providers Consortium—a group of 20+ local water providers plus the regional government Metro—has some great, no-cost resources to help you do just that.

First, the Consortium provides a “Weekly Watering Number” on their website (www.conserveh2o.org) -- which you can sign up to have delivered straight to your e-mail inbox. Based on the weather in your zip code area, the Weekly Watering number advises how many inches of water your lawn and or garden will need for the upcoming week.

Second, the Consortium will offer free outdoor watering gauge kits from July 1 - August 10. The kits include a water gauge and timer to help you measure your sprinkler’s water use and ensure that you’re giving your lawn and garden the right amount of water. Kits are available while supplies last—one per customer—to metro-area residents who receive water service from one of the Consortium members (visit www.conserveh2o.org/about to confirm your provider).

To receive a free kit, call 503-823-7528 or email RWPCinfo@portlandoregon.gov. Please include your mailing address, water provider name and how you heard about the offer.

Finally, here are the Consortium’s “Top Five” waterwise tips for your garden:

1.     Water lawns and gardens early in the morning (before 10 am) or later in the evening (after 6 pm) when temperatures are cooler and evaporation is minimized.

2.     Adjust your sprinklers so that they are watering your lawn and garden, and not the street.

3.     Water in several short sessions rather than one long session to allow for better absorption and to prevent run-off.

4.     Adjust your mower to a higher setting. A taller lawn provides shade to the roots and helps retain soil moisture, so your lawn requires less water.

5.     Group plants with similar watering needs together, as different plants require different amounts of water.

Happy gardening!

From Parking Lot to Produce: Vestal Then and Now

Green grows the Vestal Community Garden.

Ladybugs and earthworms and smiling friends and neighbors mingle. Students, teachers, leaders, and volunteers tend the ground, gathering up those little ribbons of soil beneath their fingernails.

Do you recall the way this blazing hot car park transitioned to growing thick with edibles? As I've tended my own plot over the years, I've watch the garden and the community grow around me.

August 2009: Depave hosted their largest project of the summer, removing 6,000 square feet of asphalt from the Vestal Elementary School parking lot.

Photo Source: Depave http://depave.org/vestal-elementary/

Early Spring 2010: I remember well the thrill of hearing I'd been granted a half plot for the first season of the Vestal Community Garden.

April to June 2010: The Garden Takes Shape. By April, I'd added amendments and compost to my garden beds, built a few little bamboo trellises for peas, and planted herbs, strawberries, and a few flowering things to entice the neighborhood pollinators. The school garden beds were framed but empty, waiting for the students to come out and play.

April 2010: First Signs of Life

June 2010: Greens and peas and more...
And school garden sprouts beyond!

Summer-Fall 2010: Order and color in every direction. Hoses and sprinklers and buckets... Strawberries and Swiss chard and summer squash. Neighbors took time to build raised beds, compost bins, and raspberry trellises, and harvest time brought smiles and satisfaction.

Season 2011: Perennial plants grew a little taller. My neighbor's artichoke continued its growth spurt, and my favorite rhubarb kept plugging away, inching toward the rootstock and stem growth that would yield a fine pie someday...

I shared tips on Planning Your Kitchen Garden, growing more excited at the thought of planting a new generation of Violet Podded Stringless Beans, harvested from last year's crop.

The best joy? My husband and I brought our sweet little neighbor Penny to the plot, and she helped plant violets and pansies, water the tomatoes, harvest leeks, pick strawberries and gather gorgeous poppies to take back home... 

 

Season 2012: No photos.... In 2012 my good friends Allison and Luke tended our garden plot while we spent a year abroad. I'd receive email updates from time to time, though, and the best news came at the end of 2012 when Allison and Luke let us know they were moving to Oregon City to start a farm after tapping into so much inspiration at the Vestal Garden!

Season 2013: Back from overseas, ready to reunite with my garden patch, I donned my rubber boots and braved the March chill to come to the spring kick-off meeting. Joined by a couple dozen eager community gardeners, we reviewed garden protocols, volunteer tasks, and reports of the upcoming season's events.

At the time of the spring meeting, we hadn't yet found housing in the neighborhood after our travels. Profoundly, my little 10' x 20' plot of garden land was the most tangible patch of earth I had to call "my own."

After a little post-winter cleanup and transplanting of volunteer lettuce, garlic, and herb starts, I smiled at the sight...

...and a bit later this spring, I carried on the search for more starts and seeds.

 

May 2013: Kids in the garden; plots full of springtime promise.

Vestal Community Garden, Growing Strong in 2013

And Now...? My biggest grin still comes from finding little grandchildren descended from my little friend Penny's originally pansies planted in 2011... 

Little Penny has since moved to Colorado with her family, and I've been around the world and back, but here at my plot of earth atop a once-barren bed of asphalt, Vestal soil proves deep and rich enough to sustain the threads of life that tie our common history, weave generations together, and promise great things for the future...

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Bethany Rydmark is an eighth generation Oregonian, a landscape architect, and a proud Montavilla resident and Vestal Community Gardener. She blogs about equitable, meaningful food at SustainableFoodforThought.com.
If you have Vestal Community Garden stories to share on the blog, send her a note or drop a line at the Vestal Community Garden Facebook page.

AVID kids help at Spring fling !

Well today was a windy one but that didn't stop AVID kids from helping out! Thank you everyone for a successful day:)

Our Second Annual Spring Fling

Vestal School Garden Club is hosting a Spring Fling celebration of gardening and creativity to raise money for garden supplies. 

The Spring Fling is Saturday May 10th, from11-3.  

There will be demonstrations, garden tours, crafts, games, and plants for sale.

Vestal Garden Club turns a utilitarian worm bin into a piece of art!

Making our rolling composter

Vestal students are making a rolling composter. It has taken a few sessions, but it is starting to come together.