Squirrels in the Garden!

From A.O.:

Everyone,

I spent a few minutes on the internet and found the following about keeping squirrels out of the garden. Let me know your thoughts. -AO

Here are some remedies for discouraging squirrels from eating your tomatoes.

1. Put mothballs down around your plants. Matter of fact we have some tool and garden sheds that are about 1 foot of the ground and every year I buy a trunk load of it (or so it seems). This discourages them from the git-go and even keeps out stray cats and other critters.

2. Hang rags soaked in vinegar and stapled onto small wooden stakes or dowels near you plants. Most rodents hate the smell even when dry. Re-soak each rag in about a week.

3. Should you be a coffee drinker who brews it up using coffee grounds then empty your coffee filter around the base of your tomato plants and that should help you. Should you be fortunate enough to live by a Starbucks go and ask for their used coffee grounds as they have been known to give away 5 and 10 pound bags to anyone who asks for it.

4. You can also mix up some regular cheap liquid soap with some ground red hot chili pepper powder and pour that around the base of your tomato plants. I would do some out about 2 inches and then another ring out about the same distance as your widest leaves on your plant. You may want to keep your eye out for those big jars of chili powder that go on sale once or twice a year in discount markets and stock up to use at the base of your plants by just sprinkling it on the ground. It is supposed to work also.

5. Then there is the old chicken wire with the smallest mesh. You can wire or staple it to stakes and drive them deep into the ground. You can use 36” or wider chicken wire and bend them over your tomato plants or they will use the wire as monkey bars to get in.

6. For those of you who live in the country and do not mind guns then you can fire at them or up in the air and they should take off into your neighbor’s garden. (Please do not send me an email about this suggestion.)

7. For those of you who have a squirrel problem and who happen to have big spendable income budgets and also love these long tail rats then buy lots of squirrel feeders, put them away from your vegetable garden or tomato patch and keep those feeders full. The squirrels might appreciate your largess enough to keep out of your tomatoes.

8. Get some blood bone meal and sprinkle it around the base of your tomato plants and this will also work.

July in the Garden

From A.E.R.:

Today is PICKLE DAY. I have a big pot of salked cuke slicees, onions, and peppers in the fridge, and I'm about to start the cooking process. Fun! Everyone was at the garden this morning, so it was good to see things coming along.
Here are some images of the garden's progress as of the first week in July:

Tomato-Basil Soup Recipe

From Sarah G.:

Tomato-Basil Soup

Ingredients:

3 pounds ripe plum tomatoes, cut in half lengthwise
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons good olive oil
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
2 cups chopped yellow onions (2 onions)
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 (28-ounce) canned plum tomatoes, with their juice
4 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1 quart chicken stock or water

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Toss together the tomatoes, 1/4 cup olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread the tomatoes in 1 layer on a baking sheet and roast for 45 minutes.

In an 8-quart stockpot over medium heat, saute the onions and garlic with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the butter, and red pepper flakes for 10 minutes, until the onions start to brown.

Add the canned tomatoes, basil, thyme, and chicken stock.

Add the oven-roasted tomatoes, including the liquid on the baking sheet. Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered for 40 minutes.

Pass through a food mill fitted with the coarsest blade. Taste for seasonings. Serve hot or cold!

It's Time to Harvest

From A.W.:

The weeds are under control, thanks to some of you who have been over there working the last couple of weeks. I was just over there, and someone has been working on the peppers down on the bottom tier, and it looks really good. Thank you to whoever has been weeding so diligently. I was able to paper and mulch most of one of the rows, and I will get over there to finish the mulching the peppers either tomorrow afternoon or later this evening. IT'S TIME TO HARVEST!! Can we start this week? Wednesday and Saturday mornings at 9:00 (We can make it earlier if you all want to). I'll be there by 8:30 Wednesday.


We have zucchini, cucumbers, and yellow squash already. By Wednesday okra will be ready; there are also zinnias and please plan to take a good bunch of basil. If we do not get another good rain this week, I will make sure everything gets watered some time this week.

Thanks. I'll see you Wed.
- A.W.

Harvesting & Expenses

From A.E.R.:

Hi all,

I'm about to head to Italy until the 22nd, so just a few things:

1) Harvesting

Last year we harvested on Saturdays and Tuesdays at 9 a.m. If you're there at picking times, you get to divvy up what is available. If the group would like to work out something else that will include all participants, please reply-to-all and discuss. [Ed.: This was changed to Weds. and Sat. for the first part of the summer, then moved to 3 days in late June.]

There are already green beans ready for picking. Cucumbers, a few jalepenos, and a few zucchini will be ready in a couple of days. There was a flower on one okra plant - so I'm sure it will be going crazy in a week.

2) Settling Up

Our costs so far work out to $40 for each family involved this summer. You can put a check or cash in campus mail. The costs include seeds, potting mix, organic fish emulsion fertilizer, the roll of wire mesh, and a few other small items. There may be additional costs as the
summer continues. If you spend money, please let me know. We aim to keep the summer costs to under $60 per family.

3) Ongoing Work

Thanks again to all who have weeded, weed-whacked, mulched, caged, and staked. Things are looking really good. We need you to keep coming out and taking on a project! The person "on duty" will communicate additional needs. Upcoming tasks include:

- Tie tomato vines to stakes
- Secure wire cages as needed
- Weed lower level (peppers, eggplant)
- Mulch remaining paths and beds

See you soon,
- Abbie

June in the Garden

From K.H.:

Good Morning,

Just a reminder that even if it is not "your week," the garden still needs you! Thanks to Lynn for weed-eating between the rows and the different tiers. Things are looking great up there. I was able to paper and mulch one of the three rows of peppers. We need to get the other two rows mulched and papered asap! It would not be a bad idea to throw some mulch between the basil plants, either. I don't think we have enough space between them to paper. Newspaper is in the playhouse.

In any event, we were able to get another load of mulch yesterday, so Ann and I completed the papering and mulching of the okra. Tier three is almost complete! Tier two is looking great except for the cucumbers. They need to be weeded and mulched. The Ann and Abbie wire cages look great, and we can use the additional wire to stake the tomatoes.

I'll be out of town all weekend, but I'll be available to work in the evenings next week. Call me if you're heading over there and need the company. Please go ahead and pick any small vegetables, too, to encourage new growth. We want to hurry the harvest along! I used my last two bags of frozen tomatoes from last summer's garden last night. Time to re-can and re-freeze.

See you in the weeds,

K.H.

2010 Plant List

"God almighty first planted a garden. And indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures."-- Francis Bacon

In my world, Spring begins twice: on the vernal equinox and again when school is out for the summer. Both are wondrous beginnings, points at which I revel in what will become. In this post I'm just recording some images of the garden as of the beginning of June, and the list of plants for 2010.


In my world, Spring begins twice: on the vernal equinox and again when school is out for the summer. Both are wondrous beginnings, points at which I revel in what will become. In this post I'm just recording some images of the garden as of the beginning of June.

Lower tier: basil, peppers, eggplant and tomatoes:

Middle tier: zinnia, squash, and melons:

Upper tier: hot peppers, cucumbers, peas, beans, and okra:


2010 PLANT LIST:

Basil: Genovese (50), Lettuce Leaf (50)

Peppers: Tequila Sunrise (8), Chocolate Bell (16), Mole (10), Emerald Giant (18), Yellow Monster (10), jalepeno (10), chili (2), habanero (2)

Eggplant: Snowy (12), Listada de Gandia (6), Louisiana Long Green (2)

Tomatoes: Rutgers (13), Early Girl (13), Tennessee Green (13), Yellow Pear (7), Roma (9), Cherokee Purple (12), Yellow (6), Nebraska Wedding (6), Volunteer Cherry (2), Sweet 100 (2)

Zinnia: many (Purple, Lavender, White, Multi)

Zucchini: Costata Romanesca (4 hills)

Squash: Yellow Crookneck (4 hills), White Scallop (4 hills)

Melon: Ali Baba (12 hills), Emerald Gem (9 hills), Old Time TN (6 hills), Green Machine (6 hills)

Bush Beans: Blue Lake (two 6' rows)

Cucumbers: Snow's (8 hills), National (8 hills), Armenian (4 hills)

Okra: Dwarf Green (30), Clemson Spineless (30), Burgundy (30)

Peas: Oregon Sugar Pod (20' row), Sugar Ann (two 6' rows)

Onion: sets, two 6' rows