Last call

Temperatures will drop in the next few days marking the end of most of our garden plants. Today, at the Aptiv garden, we picked a seven  gallon bucket of beans plus lots of red and green tomatoes, chard, kale, and peppers. Excess produce goes to WAFER.

There are still many tomatoes, red and green, including sweet cherry tomatoes, to pick over the weekend at Aptiv. Pick some if you want. In the tomato department, everything must go!

We will still have chard, kale, and broccoli, and possibly some herbs, as things cool off. 

We will plan to schedule a garden clean up for City Hall and Hogan in the next few weeks. Check back for details.

If you'd like to be involved in planning gardens for next year, please email, call or text!

Still ticking!

Amazingly, the victory gardens are still producing lots of "summer vegetables" on October 4. 

Our garden hour at Aptiv today provided a big bag of green beans (and there are still many more for you to pick), lots of tomatoes, broccoli, chard, kale, lettuce, beets, parsley, peppers, and carrots. 

City Hall is winding down but there are still greens, peppers, and occasional squash. 

 Hogan has produce as well, including the (in)famous tromboncino squash which can be used like butternut once they are mature (just before the first frost). 

If you have questions or want to help when we clean up the gardens later this month, please contact us!

Come 'n' get it!

Hogan garden, 19th & Mississippi

The gardens are all producing good, clean, fresh produce that needs to be picked! At the same time, some "first crops" are now done and we are replanting with other veggies that will be ready in fall.

At all gardens you should find greens, especially chards and kale, beans, cucumbers, and tomatoes. Summer squash can be found at Aptiv and City Hall (pick the round "8-Ball" zucchinis when they're about as big as a large soft ball). Peppers and eggplants are coming in now, too. At Aptiv and City Hall, we have herbs as well. 

There are still potatoes at Hogan and Aptiv. Most have been dug at City Hall, though we did find a few escapees when we were replanting the potato bed recently. If a spot looks blank, it's probably got, or will get soon, seeds for turnips, beets, lettuce, spinach, and other vegetables that should be ready in late September. It's always a gamble, but worth a try!

If you pick your own, take what you need for a meal, but, if you can, leave some for the next person.

If you need help knowing what to pick when, come to a group garden time or contact us and we can meet you at a garden to answer questions. As always, we welcome more volunteers at our group garden times.

• Aptiv (3300 South Ave) - Fridays at 8 a.m.
• City Hall (EAST side of building) - Tuesdays at 5:30 p.
• Hogan (between East Ave & 19th St. on Mississippi) - Wednesdays at 8 a.m.

Potatoes!!

We dug the remaining potatoes from the main bed at the City Hall garden yesterday. They are under the black bucket near the potato sign. Take what you need. Soon, we will plant a fall crop of greens and root crops in that bed. 

There are lots of potatoes at the APTIV garden still! We are there every Tuesday and Friday morning, so come and get some!

If you go on your own to pick at any of the gardens, please watch for newly planted sections. As we harvest one thing, we are trying to plant more, so be aware and try not to disturb those areas (they will be marked with sticks or sticker labels).

Beans, Cukes, & Zukes

The gardens are starting to produce mid-summer goodies now. Cucumbers are available at all gardens, along beans (pole & bush). Potatoes continue to be ready. Cone to one of our group times to get potatoes since we don't want to leave them out to dry out.

Herbs at City Hall include Basil, tarragon, oregano, parsley, sage, and more. We will be planting the late season carrots, lettuce, beets, etc. Soon.

If you don't feel comfortable picking on your own, come when we can help you:

• Aptiv on South Ave: Fridays at 8 a.m.
• City Hall: Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m.
• Hogan: Wednesdays at 8 a.m.

If these times don't work for you, call, text, or email to arrange another time. MinisterOfBeans@gmail.com or 608-315-2693.

The BEANS of summer!

 

It's not really summer, to me, until you start getting BEANS! So, we are happy to announce that the beans are ready to pick at both Aptiv and City Hall. At both gardens, we have pole beans growing vertically (on the center hoop at City Hall) and bush beans covering long beds at both. Most of the bush beans are green - Jade and Red Tail - and very prolific. At the City Hall Garden, the north five feet or so of the bean bed has Dragon Tongue yellow wax beans. They are ready when the beans are big and yellow with purple streaks.

Please pick the beans so they will keep producing, but if the plants are wet, please wait so we don't spread blight!

If you want advice about picking beans, harvesting potatoes (they are ready, too!) or anything else, please come to one of our group garden times. But, if you can't make it, feel free to pick what you need from the garden.

Group garden times:

• Aptiv = Fridays at 8 a.m. (we will add Tuesdays at 8 later this month)
• City Hall = Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m.
• Hogan = Wednesdays at 8 a.m.

Rain and peas!

Welp, it's raining again during our City Hall (CH) garden work time! The coordinator will be at the garden Wednesday morning, July 3, at about 9:15 a.m. But you don't need a group to pull some weeds! 

So, go any time to pick some chard, kale, and peas, and pull weeds from the paths.

We hope to spread chips there in a week or two. Watch this space for updates.

Things are ready to pick at all gardens - chard, kale, herbs, lettuce, and peas at Aptiv; greens and radishes at Hogan; pease, kale, and chard at CH.

There are also little potatoes at Aptiv and CH. We may pull some plants soon, but you can feel around just under the soil to pick a couple of baby potatoes for dinner if you want.