Garden Reminders & Mentors

Best part of the community garden is seeing what others grow and in this case how they show it off.

I went back to the community garden this morning to water. I water potatoes and tomatoes once a week and everything else twice a week. This is per the Smart Gardener reminders that I receive by e-mail each week. Without them I wouldn't know how often to water or when to harvest certain veggies.

After mentioning yesterday that there are never any people at the garden, I counted about 10 at one point. Then appearing out of nowhere was Jan, the garden mentor from the Master Gardener's program. She told me one of the empty weed plots is up for grabs. This would be a free tilled plot to plant fall/winter veggies. 

When I said in yesterday's post that I was not ready to plan a fall/winter garden, what I really meant is that despite planting  a few chard last fall I have no clue what to plant. So I stared at the plot and could only picture the fava beans that I tried over winter and never ate.

I'm sure that after I ponder it a day or two the plot will be taken. But, now my brain is scrambling to come up with a list and a plan for that plot.

Since Jan stopped by my plot I asked her to look at the shriveled tomato plant. She wasn't familiar with flea beetles and none were in sight since I just sprayed them last night. She took a couple of photos and sent them to the other Master Gardeners so I may get an answer to that question. She did know where I could find Neem oil here in town. I've been using organic insecticidal soaps because I couldn't find the oil. She also suggested that I apply the soap I've been using directly on the soil. I hadn't thought of that, even after reading that the beetle larvae are in the dirt and can damage plant roots. 

Luckily my other tomatoes are healthy and full of green tomatoes.  I'm most looking forward to the yellow pear. Last year I had a red pear tomato and they were easy to snack on.

Yellow Pear

Big Boy

After watering and talking to Jan, I gathered up my bag and hook and moseyed around the garden snapping a few more photos, even though I'd packed my phone back into my purse and my hands were full. I passed up a great shot of an arthichoke just before blooming a couple of weeks ago so I figured I should take the photos when I see them. Think I'll save those for another post.

It wasn't until I was home that I realized I'd left my zucchini sitting next to the plot. Maybe Smart Gardener can come up with a reminder for that.