Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Try and keep up...

I try to keep up but always seem to end up playing catch up. There is more planting to do... Always, it seems. Weeding is something that can be done in little bits daily - raised beds are nice from that point of view, as they tend to not be overly weedy.
I was happy to see these lilies starting to bloom last week! Love that deep, almost black red.
Here's our corn farmer Evan:)
We recently planted another batch of corn by his house. The earlier plantings are doing great.
This rain we are having now should make them all 'oh s0 happy!' The variety is called "Country Gentleman" - it's a shoe-peg corn... ? I'm curious about it. We also planted a craziness of melons and winter squashes on the rest of the land - in no particular order, as they crawl everywhere anyway. And to challenge my need for order:)
Foxglove is almost done blooming. So pretty!
Here's a view of the CSA mornings - on Wednesdays and Fridays my wheelbarrow gets loaded up - sometimes twice, then all the produce is divvied up, sometimes washed and then bagged.
I don't USUALLY wash the produce, since we don't have adequate refrigeration, and tender greens don't keep too well when they get soggy and are not refrigerated.

There are some green tomatoes on the vines outside already, even though the plants are still pretty small. Peppers are starting to bloom...
Our CSA may end up having a week here and there with only tiny offerings between the abundance of greens, tomatoes, then greens again. I hope ya'll don't mind.
Happy rains:)

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Planting ideas...

Last Friday STARworks Garden hosted a planting workshop for Star Elementary First graders!
Oh boy, the energy, questions and enthusiasm!
Huge thanks to Adam and Tony for helping me out. Adam has posted a great blog entry about all we did and more HERE.

There had to be lots of "wiggle releasing" in addition to planting flowers and herbs that I started in the greenhouse, and cotton and sunflower seeds...
After planting we had a little arts and crafts session, where every kid painted a little sign for their garden at home. Yesterday I dropped their dried signs along with a "mystery seed" packet at the elementary school and received lots of hugs!


As always we talked a little bit about recycling, composting, growing your own food and eating vegetables! We identified carrots, onions, cooking greens and some herbs, like basil and chamomile.
We love having kids in the garden!

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Plant Sale and more

I also wanted to mention that Jim Joyce donated some fruit trees to STARworks Garden! There are some peaches and Nectarines on them already!
Plant Sale on Friday went well! Hugh has a sweet set up for selling his plants - a LOT of work has gone into labeling everything and thinking it through! Hugh will be selling his heirloom tomato plants at Asheboro Farmers Market some weekends, so please consider visiting him there and purchasing some of his plants!
STARworks garden still has more plants left - lots of cucumbers, some tomatoes, basil and perennial flowers - contact me and I will hook you up!
And just for the contrast - update from the garden at home - everything has at least doubled! (and that picture was taken last week...)

Time is Chugging Along...

So much to do - so little time!
Just a quick update on what's growing in the garden...
Chamomile is blooming like crazy - I keep picking the flowers to dry them for winter teas, but can barely keep up with it!
Borage and Yarrow next to each other. Love this color combination - that happened by accident.
First strawberries - picked yesterday. We only have a few plants, so not enough to go around...
My kids ate those for dessert last night.
Foxglove is blooming! I love Foxglove! The few plants that are in the garden this year were started from a tiny seed last spring - and they made it!!! Unfortunately they're pretty much in full sun, so probably will not reach their fullest potential, but I'm happy to see just a few blooms! More Chamomile on the left, and bunch of garlic in the background.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

STARworks Garden Open house and Plant sale


STARworks Garden invites folks for an open house, plant sale and enjoyable afternoon outdoors on April 23, from 2 to 6 p.m. Light refreshments will be available.

STARworks Garden plants for sale will include perennial flowers, basil, cucumbers and more.There will also be a selection of potted herbs in pots produced by local potters. Proceeds from the plant sale will benefit the programs at STARworks.

Hugh Martin of Uwharrie Heirlooms in Biscoe will join us for this event. He has an assortment of heirloom tomato, herb and flower plants.