Community Garden Update

There's a garden where the peppers

Were all growing on the vine,

The tomatoes and the pumpkins

And the string beans very fine.

Harmony had been so perfect

In this garden where they grew;

And the sunshine and the showers came to nourish them, they knew...

~

Gertrude Tooley Buckingham

The Community Garden is in full swing this time of year, producing a continual harvest of organically grown vegetables and flowers. Basement grow lights enabled me to start the Cherry Baby and Big Beef tomatoes from seed in April, ready to plant in our parcel the end of May after danger of frost.  The cucumbers, Marketmore 76, resistant to a variety of diseases, were seeded directly into the ground. I usually direct-seed the beans, but had good results this year from little nursery-grown starter plants.  The lettuce is a slow-bolting crisphead variety that is resistant to the heat, called Superior 1.  

In addition to the above vegetables, I planted Spanish onions, red onions, hot banana peppers, sweet bell peppers, beets, eggplant, carrots, dill.  The flowers in our parcel include violas, zinnias, stock, marigolds, milkweed and cornflowers to attract butterflies and bees.