After a long, hot, dry summer, we finally received all of our rain in one dreary week. The garden has been untouched for the past weekend, as its watering needs have been taken care of. I did, however, visit the State Fair agriculture building this weekend! The vegetables had perfect uniformity and even beauty (an odd word for a vegetable) that I had to document them with a blog post. The care taken to grow these perfect vegetables is truly inspiring. 2021's largest pumpkin was grown by Chris Brown of Nowthen. He explained the genetics of the pumpkin; he had bred the pumpkin for large size as well as for the classic pumpkin appearance. This lovely specimen weighed 1104.5 pounds. I was especially impressed by this Savoy cabbage--definitely a variety that I would like to grow in the future! The diversity of fruits and vegetables grown is impressive, ranging from grapes, plums, figs, and pears to hot peppers, cucamelons, and colorful tomatoes to artichokes and giant pumpkins.
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We are receiving some desperately needed rain this morning--good news for the thirsty plants and for our rainwater collection system, which we use to collect water from a warehouse roof and pump water all across the 12 beds of the garden with! While I am writing from indoors this morning, I would like to showcase some of our recent harvests from the past few days, beginning with Friday's harvest of cucumbers, tomatoes, kale, tomatillos, peppers, shallots, a pie pumpkin, butternut squash, and a basket of white potatoes. On Monday, we harvested more butternut squash, pie pumpkins, kale, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, and onions as well as a few acorn squash, honeynut squash (a cross between the classic butternut and the sweet buttercup squash), watermelons, beets, zucchini, turnips, and broccoli.
Today's harvest was quite possibly the most satisfying harvest of the garden's short history. We harvested acorn squash, cabbage, pie pumpkins, tomatoes, onions, tomatillos, cucumbers, peppers, and, in the spirit of summer, five watermelons. Melons are one of the more tricky fruits to grow in Minnesota, as we have a shorter growing season with unpredictable weather, as well as clay soil in the garden. In my opinion, it is also difficult to determine when the fruits are ripe. My struggle with this can be seen in the following two photos of an unripe watermelon (white) and a peach-colored but not very flavorful cantaloupe. I believe it is important to document these mistakes in order to learn and grow. Thanks to these learning experiences, today's watermelon harvest was a sweet success. A sixth melon was cut open for me to ensure ripeness and collect seeds, which will be saved for next year. The watermelon was exceptionally sweet, juicy, and very satisfying! We harvested five more watermelons to complete our donation.
This Monday morning, we gathered yet another colorful August harvest! Tomatoes, cabbage, kale, celery, beets, zucchini and summer squash, peppers, onions and shallots, cucumbers, potatoes, and many winter squash were harvested. The potatoes harvested today were of the Goldrush Russet variety, and we still have many rows of potatoes left. We are also growing the Red Pontiac potato and the Magic Molly potato. The winter squash harvested today include butternut squash, acorn squash, sugar pie pumpkin, and one Jack Be Little pumpkin.
On Thursday, we harvested the garden's 300th pound of produce in the early morning rain! This may be one of my favorite harvests of the summer; it displays the biodiversity and the rainbow of vibrant colors in the garden. Thursday's harvest consisted of tomatoes (cherry, San Marzano, and an unknown donated heirloom), bell peppers, cayenne peppers, banana peppers, red and yellow onions and shallots, potatoes, sweet corn, butternut squash, acorn squash, broccoli, cabbage, and cucumbers.
Today marks the garden's first large winter squash harvest! After a long, hot summer, some winter squash are ready to harvest. Pictured are today's Waltham Butternuts, Sugar Pie pumpkins, a Jack Be Little pumpkin, and an acorn squash. I love the bright orange of a ripe pumpkin! More beets, turnips, kohlrabi, kale, celery, peas, and a large basket of cucumbers were also harvested today. The cucumber plants have proven to be incredibly prolific this year; we seem to harvest a few large baskets a week. The varieties we are growing this year are Spacemaster 80 and Straight Eight. Even in the heat of August, we are planning and preparing for the fall and winter seasons, in which we plan to create cold-frames and grow cold weather crops such as broccoli and cabbage well into the winter. Visit the Community page to learn how to help us prepare!
It's only been a week, but August has been highly eventful at People's Patchwork Community Garden! Many plants have been very productive in the late summer heat--especially the tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash. On Monday, we began the month of August with a colorful harvest of kale, onions, shallots, rhubarb, acorn squash, kohlrabi, corn, cucumbers, turnips, celery, tomatoes, chili and pimento peppers, beets, and zucchinis. Finally, we gathered a quick harvest today consisting of acorn squash, cucumbers, summer squash and zucchinis, tomatoes (Beefmaster, San Marzano, Lemon Boy, and a few unidentified heirlooms), and the season's first pumpkin, a petite Jack Be Little!
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AuthorHello! I'm Calista Swensen: gardener, environmentalist, student, volunteer, and aspiring botanist. Archives
July 2022
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