Today we totally transformed the garden where the garlic was growing into a new space for parsley, cilantro and the next wave of cucumbers. After harvesting the garlic yesterday, we tilled the soil to mix in the leaf mulch and to kill the weeds that were growing. Then we re-formed the beds and planted parsley and cilantro seedlings and cucumber seeds. When one crop is harvested and another crop is planted in its place, it is called "succession planting" and it is one of the ways to maximize your garden's yield. Ideally, the crop to follow should be a different type of crop. For example, you could plant a leaf crop like lettuce followed by a root crop like carrots because different types of vegetables deplete the soil of different nutrients.
A group of us were able to get the dried oregano into storage and then put the sweet basil that was drying on racks into the dehydrators. So far, we've really been able to keep up with herb harvest, drying and storage! We also started harvesting from the dye garden. Today we picked Dyer's Coreopsis flowers that will be used as a source of natural gold dye by our handwork teachers who teach our first graders to knit using the hand-dyed wool yarn. -Celia
Looking Back:
"I had lots of fun. I heard noises that were scary and Tamara and Carly said it was a ghost. I love picking flowers and watering the strawberries. I caught a fly named Fred and helped him out." - Trinity
"Where's the rain?" - Julia
"The sun gets brighter every day" - Carly
"Willie is a lover, not a fighter" - Edward
"Who ate the chips?" (Willie did) - Karen
"A broken hose turned into a slip 'n slide" - Willie
"We are still in search of the great organic, all-powerful, non-chemical pesticide!" - Colin
"Water fight!!" - Tamara
"My favorite memories of the day were seeing Willie gleefully running through a spurting leak in the irrigation and seeing Tamara and Trinity walking around arm-in-arm" - Celia
Carly harvests Dyer's CoreopsisA group of us were able to get the dried oregano into storage and then put the sweet basil that was drying on racks into the dehydrators. So far, we've really been able to keep up with herb harvest, drying and storage! We also started harvesting from the dye garden. Today we picked Dyer's Coreopsis flowers that will be used as a source of natural gold dye by our handwork teachers who teach our first graders to knit using the hand-dyed wool yarn. -Celia
Looking Back:
"I had lots of fun. I heard noises that were scary and Tamara and Carly said it was a ghost. I love picking flowers and watering the strawberries. I caught a fly named Fred and helped him out." - Trinity
"Where's the rain?" - Julia
"The sun gets brighter every day" - Carly
"Willie is a lover, not a fighter" - Edward
"Who ate the chips?" (Willie did) - Karen
"A broken hose turned into a slip 'n slide" - Willie
"We are still in search of the great organic, all-powerful, non-chemical pesticide!" - Colin
"Water fight!!" - Tamara
"My favorite memories of the day were seeing Willie gleefully running through a spurting leak in the irrigation and seeing Tamara and Trinity walking around arm-in-arm" - Celia
Trinity with her pet fly, Fred
Carley, Karen and Tamara harvest all the flowers for dye
Stripping the dried oregano off the stems
Willie uses his shoe to measure one foot between parsley plants!
Working to transform the garlic beds into a new garden with cucumbers, cilantro and parsley.
Notice how we worked around some beautiful volunteer sunflowers instead of pulling them out.
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