The garden is being watered Tuesday evening, so it will be too muddy to work in tomorrow morning. I guess we can knock out some hours across the street instead.

Cyndi

In light of the heat and youth pear picking tomorrow evening, should we gather to harvest and weed Wednsday morning instead of evening?

Cyndi

Recipes

I have added recipes to the right. Please email me your recipes and I will add them. I believe the consensus was to continue harvesting as possible on Monday nights, Wednesday nights, and Saturday mornings. There will be some more items that will need to be harvested all at once (like the tomatoes and corn). When this is the cause, everyone will be notified. We pickled over 100 pints of pickles and relish yesterday. There are still a lot of cucumbers left. I believe the plan is to get together again on Friday (possibly at Wilders) and pickle some more.

Harvest News!

We will be gone for a week, but here is our assessment of what is going on at the farm (what we know about any way). We wish we could stick around to help.

Canning Day: I am planning on having a canning day at my house a week from Tuesday, August 11th. We will start at 8am. I hope we will be able to can some more beans, pickles, and pickled squash. I have a lot of cucumbers at my house that the kids harvested today. There are plenty more.

Harvest give away: We were discussing what to do with our abundance of food at our last canning day. It was suggested that we allow the children to give food to those in need or as gifts to others. Anyone that wants to can try to sell them.

Beans: There are more bush beans to harvest. (The beans that are by the peppers). These should be picked to can. These are the beans that were too small to pick last time. I would hate to see those go to waste. If someone can pick them, we will plan on canning them next week. There are also pole beans to harvest. (The beans that are inbetween the potatoes and corn.) We can pick those to can or to eat fresh. The pole beans will mature over time, so they are for good for eating fresh or canning.

Zucchini and Yellow Squash: The zucchini plants need to be harvested every few days if small vegetables are desired. We harvested a LOT of large zucchinis today. Cyndi has them at her house. Katherine said the squash can be cut and frozen for later if desired. There are still more zucchini plants and yellow squash to be harvested.

Potatoes: I harvested almost a full row of Red Chieftain potatoes today - two bucket fulls. (Cyndi has these at her house). (The Red Chieftains are the ones in the middle of the potato patch - about half of the rows. They are the shorter plants that are inbetween the Russets and the variety potatoes.) They are beautiful and there are about 6-10 potatoes from each plant. We can leave these in the ground until we want to eat them (unless they start to get too many white spots which indicates too much watering). The green leaves on the top will help pull some of the water out. The best thing would be to decrease the watering on the red potatoes, but we can not do that selectively so we can leave them in the ground for now and just watch them. If anyone wants potatoes, you can just go dig them up as needed. The Russets won't be ready until about the middle of September. They store better than the reds and can be kept in a dark bag throughout the winter.

Peppers: We didn't harvest any peppers today. They can be harvested at any time. They can be cut and frozen. Katherine has instructions on how to do this.

I have harvested several more pounds of yellow squash. I will bring them to the garden on Saturday morning. I know there is more lettuce to harvest as well. Perhaps some tomatoes will be ready also? If you can't make it Saturday morning, and you want veggies, let me know.

Cyndi

Harvesting

We propose that we gather every Sat. morning @ 8:00 to harvest. That would make distribution easy. If you can't make it, you could ask another family to pick up your produce. Summer squash and lettuce are coming on strong, and maybe a few tomatoes.

Janet, is there a way to list in one place on this blog all that we have learned so far about gardening? It would be nice to record findings as we go, before we forget them.

Steve and Cyndi

Compost and Lettuce

We started a compost pile in the middle of the garden by the tomatoes. Rick has done some research and found that the weeds work great in a compost pile. If you leave it long enough, the seeds will all die.

Also, the lettuce needs to be harvested before it goes to seed. You can just cut off the lettuce leaves an inch or so above the root and it should grow back and be able to be harvested later.

Should we meet again and talk about how we will go about harvesting? Where and when would be a good time.

The garden is looking great! Thanks for all your effort and time!

Watering Schedule

Pete talked with John Neilsen about the watering. The ideal days for us to water will be Tuesday and Thursday because those are the days which the pump is running so we will maximize our watering. We will also be watering on Saturdays in the evening. There will not be as much pressure on Saturday so we water longer - also because it will be the longest between watering days. This will also allow us to get and work in the garden on Monday evenings and Saturday mornings which seem to be the best times for everyone.

WATERING SCHEDULE: (to be overseen by Pete and Larry)
Tuesday am
Thursday am
Saturday pm (For 2-3 hours)

White Bucket

I took a white bucket to the garden today. Inside is a laminated plan for planting which includes the families in charge of each area. Also, taped to the inside of the lid is the list of contact information for everyone. There are also some stakes and tape for labelling the plants.

Update on planting

I planted the bush beans and the peppers this morning, fertilized with some Miracle Grow, and then turned the water on. We will be turning it off tonight before Stake Conference.

I will be going out Monday morning to start the soil preparation for the potaotes. We are hoping to get out Monday evening at 6:00pm to plant those and the pole beans. So if anyone wants to join us that would be great.

I have Katherine's Mantis if anybody else needs it. I will be using that Monday morning. Thanks, JAN

What kind of Peppers do you want?

What kind of peppers would everyone like? I purchased a variety of sweet bell peppers today, but I wasn't sure if anyone wanted some hot peppers and if so, what varieties?

The Garden Shop over on W Main by Thunderbird still had some seed potato and some other great plants if anyone needs anything else.

JAN

Seed Potato

I checked with my brother in Idaho and he has 2 boxes of Norcota Russett Seed for us. Leslie Fernandez' new brother-in-law will be bringing them when he comes for the wedding next weekend. I also ordered a box of red potato seed from Klamath Falls that should arrive on Friday. With the father son campout this weekend and then Stake Conference we won't be able to do anything at the garden this weekend. Our plan is to go and do some planting and/or preparing for the potatoes and beans next Monday night.

Is the water up and running? How do the pumpkins look?

Lighthearts

Please check your contact information

Please make sure your contact information over to the right is correct. Also, if you will post what you do and learn from your area, I will add a link over to the right so we can see the progress by family.

Any questions or if you need help getting on to the blog, let me know. JAN

Minutes from meeting

I will also send this out as a word document to your emails.

Medford Gardening Project
Minutes from meeting
May 12, 2009, 8:30pm at Fernandez’s

Summary of Activity
1. Water: A review of what is going on with the water was presented. See details below.
2. Condition of plants: A review of the condition of the plants was presented.
• The peas are doing well.
• The sugar pumpkins that were covered with frost blanket after they were planting are mostly doing well. The other pumpkins all died (after planting two full flats at different times.) The Blues replanted these and they are looking okay. John Neilsen suggested that the plants were in too much shock when they were planted. They not only had transplant shock but also shock from not being left outside overnight before they were planted.
• Some of the Butternut squash are doing okay, but will be replanted with starts and seeds.
• The Cantaloupe did not make it.
• The onion starts are hanging in there

Planting and growing suggestions:
1. STARTS:
a. Allow the starts to have more sun as they grow
b. Leave the starts out progressively more each day so they can become accustomed to being outside. They should remain outside throughout the night and recover before they are planted at the garden.
2. TOMATOES:
a. The tomato plants were left in the window that received the most afternoon sun.
b. Fertilize Tomatoes with Miracle Grow to improve growth.
c. Some of the tomatoes were transplanted into bigger containers to help growth. This may or may not have helped.

Tomato Plants: We have two different leads on receiving some tomato plants:
1. Larry Carpenter has about 30 plants that he would like to give us. He started growing them in sun boxes in January. He is asking that we just document which plants do best. He is trying to determine which tomato plants do best in this area. Rick will be following up on this.
2. The Wilders and Arnés have an acquaintance that also has about 30 starts that we can have. Lou will be following up on this.

Needs
1. Hoses
A. Steve and Larry will be bringing hoses, if more are needed Paul will purchase some
2. Tarp for Soil
A. Lighthearts to bring
3. Soil from BioMass
A. Paul to borrow Lou’s truck and deliver on Saturday
4. Mantis (Wilders/Hamblins) for preparing rows
A. Contact Katherine or Lynne to borrow the Mantis if you are planting
5. Bucket for papers
A. Cyndi will bring a white bucket for papers, clipboard, and other needs
6. Roll for plans
A. Charles will get a tube to put the plans in

Watering:
1. Instead of a watering schedule, Larry and Pete will be taking care of all the watering. John Neilsen suggested that it would be good to have only one or two people in charge. Thanks to Larry and Pete for taking on this venture.
2. Pete gave a review of what he has done to the sprinklers
a. After speaking with John Neilsen, they concluded that a different type of sprinkler would be better for the garden.
b. Pete looked through the Pear Farms supply of odds and ends of sprinklers and changed out some of them.
c. Not all of them where functioning properly so he has purchased some new sprinkler heads to see if they will work.
d. The sprinklers on the outer sides have been switched to only rotate 180º instead of 360º. This will allow us to water the garden without watering the grass areas around.
e. Because of this, the sprinklers on the outside will need to run half the amount of time as the inside to ensure even coverage.
f. This also allows us to turn the sprinklers on and use the hose bib near the pumpkins without getting wet.
3. Pete should have the water up and running today or tomorrow.
4. It was suggested that a log be kept of the amount of watering done.

Responsibilities:A suggestion has been made to have a person or two in charge of specific aspects of the garden. The following is a tentative schedule for this. If there are any comments or suggestions on these assignments, we can work them out.

The idea behind this would be if there are specific questions about these areas, the person responsible should be contacted. This way, hopefully duplication won’t occur. For example, if your area of the garden looks like it needs to be fertilized, you would contact the person in charge. They will coordinate the fertilizing and if necessary purchase the fertilizer in mass quantities instead of small, more expensive packages. The actual work would be done as a group or by the family in charge of the specific area.
• Watering: Pete Blue and Larry Wilder
• Planting: Paul Anderson
• Fertilizing: Rick Fernandez
• Pesticides: Ken Lightheart/Steve Cannon

Assignments:
The garden has been divided up by plants and has been assigned to different families. These families are in charge of the following concerning their plants and area surrounding the plants:
• Planting (any remaining planting)
• Weeding the area surrounding the plants
• Placing stakes with information of type of plant and other pertinent information
• Fertilizing (research and application)
• Pesticide (notification and application)
• Any other needs for the plants: researching, applying poles or trellises, etc.

Note: the plans also has the name of the family responsible for each area. These plans will be left at the garden at all times.
Family Responsibility Needs Other
Anderson
Cucumbers: Plant starts
Potatoes: Obtain seed and plant
Zucchinis

Arné
Watermelon: Make 30 hills and plant seeds (in 2-4 weeks) A suggestion was made to plant half in 1-2 weeks and the other half in 3-4 weeks.
Herbs

Blues
Watering
Pumpkins

Cannon
Squash:Replant starts & seeds
Spring Garden
Strawberries

Dockreys
Corn

Fernandez
Cantaloupe:Planted on 5/9
Peas

Hamblin/Wilder
Tomatoes: Plant on 5/23

Lightheart
Beans:Plant from seed (no top soil needed)
Bell Peppers: Purchase starts and plant
Assist with potatoes and corn

Remember that you are assigned to the area. This does not mean you need to do all the work yourselves. If you need help with something (such as places trellises, planting, etc.), please contact the rest of us.


Other:
• If anyone is interested in using a section of the garden that is not being planted to grow something on their own, they are welcome to do that.
• We are okay on money currently. Make sure you turn receipts into Paul for reimbursement so that we can have an accurate record of expenses.

Lighthearts Pumpkins

Day 1 (4/6): Planted Pumpkin Seeds and watered
Day 5 (4/11): Seeds started to sprout
Day 6 (4/12): Removed lid
Day 7 (4/13): Plants about 4-6 inches tall
Day 9 (4/15): Watered (1/4cup each plant)
Day 10 (4/16):









Day 13 (4/19): Watered (about 1/4C each)











Day 19 (4/25): Watered plants - third leaves started growing

The pumpkin plants ended up being very leggy and difficult to separate to plant. This is possibly due to lack of sunshine. We don't have a great place to put the plants outside due to the deer, so I'm not sure if that is why they were leggy or if was still too early in the season to plant.

Day 21 (4/27): Planted one flat
We planted one flat and watered them with buckets. We checked on them on 4/28, they still looked good. On 4/30 we checked on them again and by that time they were all wilted. I think because of lack of water and also because they weren't real healthy to start with.

Day 24 (4/30): Planted other flat
We planted the second flat and watered with the sprinklers after they were planted.

Day 29: (5/4): Plants didn't survive. The consensus was it was probably too much of a shock to be transplanted and also have the cold night air.

Meeting Tonight

Meeting tonight 8:30 at the Fernandezes. See you there.

Cannons

Email from Pete

I went out to the garden on the way home from work today. Most of the starts that we have planted have died. I think it is mainly the sprinklers are to large of a stream and it damages the plants. I have talked with John and I have some different sprinkler heads that he had and I will change them out on Saturday. Hopefully that will solve that issue. I don't have everyones email addresses so could you forward this to them so they know we can still plant what we have on Saturday and still have some hope that the new plants will survive...


Thanks,

Pete

Watering Schedule

WATERING SCHEDULE: (If you can't make it to the garden your assigned day, you can talk to another family about trading for that week or having them cover for you when you can't be there)
Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Thursday: Lighthearts
Friday: Cannons
Saturday:

I am taking the initiative and starting a watering schedule. I thought we could each take a day to check up on the garden and water if needed. We went to check on the plants that we planted on Monday. The pumpkins that we planted and didn't cover with a frost blanket had all dried up. We had covered the sugar pumpkins and some of the plants in the front. They look okay - I think partly because the frost blanket kept the moisture in. We removed the frost blankets and watered. We only watered for about 2 hours. I think it will need to be watered again tomorrow. If you have any questions on how to turn the water on, you can talk to Rick, Paul, or me.

Cyndi and I were talking and also thought it would be good to assign a part of the garden for each family to be responsible for weeding. When they go on their day to water, they can focus on their area of the garden.

I hope this is okay. If there are any other suggestions, or ideas, please let us know. Should we meet as a group at some point to work out some details?

Happy Gardening!
JAN

Family Home Evening

At the end of our great work day on Saturday, we talked about getting together for Family Home Evening tonight at 6:00pm to work on some more mounds and planting. I can't remember who all was there when we talked about it so I thought I would get the word out to whoever wants to join us.

Saturday, April 25th

I believe the plans are as follows:
10am Rick, Paul, and Larry were planning on going out to the garden to prepare for some planting and work on the lettuce and (what else?)

1pm Blues and Lighthearts will be there to help plant corn and do whatever else is needed. Rick and or Paul will be there to help direct us.

Do I have that right?
JAN

Welcome to the blog

I have granted those who have signed on administrative privileges. That means you can edit the posts, customize the settings, and add side bar items. I thought we could each keep track of our own plants at home on the side bar as a
"TEXT". If anyone needs help with the blog or have any questions on what to do on a blog, let me know. I would truly be happy to help. It's what I like to do.

I also added each of your emails to notify you when a post is made. If you want your email removed, you can do that in Settings or let me know and I can take care of it.
Thanks, JAN

The peas are planted

Even though we found out that it's probably a bit late, we got them in the ground. Bro. Neilsen came by and helped with the water. Instructions are below. He explained what happened with the rototilling. They got it done the first time - they were planning on going over it again, but the rototiller broke. The soil still is not great, but it sure was better after rototilling the other day. It looks like we'll need to do each section with the hand rototiller before we plant.

Rick worked on the water situation. He is adding a hose bib before the valve on the north end. He went to do that and found out there was a crack in the brass fitting, so he will be fixing that on Monday.

Bro. Neilsen said the best way to prepare the soil would have been to rototill it twice, and then water the soil real well, then wait two days and then plant. Maybe next year.

Instructions for Watering

Paul, can you read over this and make sure I got the info right? Thanks, JAN


You can click on the picture to the left to enlarge.
To water the garden using the hose bib:
1. Attach the hose to the hose bib (that will be connected at the valve at the north end of the garden). No valve needs to be turned on, because the upper valves should be open (If they are not, follow the directions below).

To water the garden using the sprinklers:
1. GREEN VALVE Turn on both valves located at the west side of the garden. This will activate the sprinklers on each side of the garden. They are spaced uneven on each side to allow for proper coverage.
2. Turn the valves back off when the desired amount of watering is complete.

If the water does not turn on when the valves at the garden are turned, then the follow steps need to be taken.

1. RED VALVE Check the valve in the center of the pear farm (the red valves). There are three white tubes sticking up out of the ground. There will be a red "T" in one of the tubes. The red "T" needs to be moved to the center tube. This is the line that goes down to the garden. To turn the valve on, you need to turn the "T" a quarter turn to the left ("righty tighty" turns the valve off, "lefty loosy" turns the valve on).

2. If the center valve is already on and there is no water at the garden, or if you turn it on and the water doesn not start running, then you need to check the water at the pump house.

3. BLUE VALVE To turn the water on at the pump house, you need to enter the pump house and locate the valve closest to the door. This is a small green wheel that you turn until it is all the way on (turning to the left). If you have to take this step, take note to see if any sprinklers inadvertently have switched on. If this happens, you need to locate the valve for those sprinklers and turn them off. (There are three other lines that run of this same line - if you need help locating them, you can call Paul, Janet, or Bro. Neilsen.)

4. If none of these steps work, then there is probably something else going on and Bro. Neilsen needs to be contacted.

Brother Neilsen plans on leaving the valves open for us. If for some reason the valves are not on, then here are the instructions on how to turn them on.

We need a name!

We need a name for our blog. Is there a specific name for our group? I'd love to hear some suggestions!