Lexington Interfaith Garden

by Amy Swanson

Our crew came from Follen and Hancock: Carla, Mark, Harriet, Susan, Keith, Lu, Roger, Marie, Amy

Journal observations:

• Looks like we are running about one week behind vs. last year…both in terms of what we are planting as well as signs of growth on returning plants
• Soil tests on small garden came back…deficient in nitrogen, so Carla added urea and cow blood (?). Also planting peas which will add even more nitrogen back.
• No signs of asparagus soldiers yet…still hiding out under the composted manure.
• First rhubarb knobs can be seen.
• Garlic is looking good. Was visible 2 weeks ago when I last worked, and even more so today.
• Amazingly, I miss the garden paths?! I was so used to them last year, keeping my big feet off the plants. With so little planted as of yet, they really haven’t been necessary. Soon tho! (Memo to self: bring newspaper next time I work to add to Carla’s supply for creating paths.)

What we did:
• Cleared straw off of strawberry beds
• Installed heavy metal stakes which will be the first step of a fence for the peas
• Removed stump from old boysenberry bush
• Planted spinach and bok choy
• Brought out the rosemary plant that wintered in the basement of the barn. Harriet did an excellent job of pruning it back.
• Planted peas in the small garden along its fence. As noted above, the peas will help the nitrogen problem.
• Tried to coax the new chickens out….shy critters, so far!
• Cleaned off stakes so they were available to reuse to identify new rows planted.
• Set up seedling pots for future planting using 50/50 of potting soil and composted manure

Ahead for Tues:
More planting of onions, leeks and lettuce.

by Amy Swanson

Rich Composted Manure

This early in the life of the garden, it’s all about the prep work to ensure wonderful, colorful, healthy food later.  So today was all about the manure, the composted manure. As promised, a big truckful was delivered from Great Brook Farm. If you are not familiar with this wonderful fertilizer, let me tell you that it is not stink, not stick and not as heavy as you think, despite being nicely moist.

Today, the goal was to spread about 4 inches on the small garden and the asparagus beds.  And then the garden will be rototilled, after which I bet there will be more manure to spread.  Despite the delayed start of warm weather, it is not too cold to start planting next week.  Carla has pea and lettuce seeds that will do just fine this time of year.

By the way, the garden is temporarily chickenless.  They went south for the winter!  (While Carla was away, a neighbor across the street- on the south side of Mass Ave- took them in.)  But rumor has it that some new residents are on the way and a familiar clucking soon will be heard.

Spreading Manure

Carla & Janet Prepping the Garden

by Amy Swanson

Welcome!

Getting ready

The Red Sox have their opening day, and so does the Interfaith Garden!  Our opening day was scheduled for Tues, March 22^nd.  However, on Monday afternoon, the 21^st, I sat at my desk looking out the window and saw my backyard disappearing under a white layer.  Hard to believe we were scheduled to start working at the Interfaith Garden the next afternoon.  But Carla knew her garden and said she was planning on it happening, so Tues was on.

Four of us showed up to work with Carla on this raw day– representing First Parish, Islamic Center of Wayland and Hancock.  Later we met Maria from First Baptist who stopped by to visit for the first time!  We were all met with the blackboard and its familiar message of welcome.

The garden looked pretty barren, but actually it has not been so dormant after all. Carla showed us the Austrian sweet pea that came up after the last harvest.  That will be rototilled back into the soil, adding good nitrogen.  In another corner, garlic was starting to come up.

Here are some of the tasks we did today:

• Cleaned and oiled some of the tools.
• Cleared the asparagus beds
• Took soil samples from the small garden to be sent away for testing
• Carla sprayed the blueberry bushes with mineral oil to ward off the winter moth.

Tomorrow the garden gets roto-tilled and perhaps on Saturday we will be ready to spread composted manure.  One of these days the scarecrow needs to get dressed.  His clothes are newly washed and ready to go.

Historically, faith communities have fed the less fortunate by organizing food pantries, soup kitchens, and other programs to combat hunger. Recently, we have broadened that work by planting our interfaith garden and donating the food we grow to the Lexington Food Pantry. Many people are just beginning to realize that growing food in this way also helps us to address climate change.

“When we think about global warming, we think about transportation, we think about how we heat our houses, but in fact, how we eat has just as big an impact on climate change.”  Michael Pollan, from the film Nourish

About one-fifth of climate change pollution comes from the food industry. That’s more than from all transportation combined.

Now’s the time of year when prudent green thumbs curl up with their favorite seed catalogs and plan their springtime gardens, selecting from a huge variety of vegetable seeds for sale from an equally large number of seed companies. Many companies commonly offer heirloom and organic seeds, but what sets these varieties apart from the rest?

What makes an heirloom tomato different from a hybrid?

Heirloom versus hybrid seeds

The big difference in vegetable seeds is whether they are heirlooms or hybrids. Heirloom seeds are those that are open-pollinated, and passed down from generation to generation. Seeds from heirloom vegetables are true to type, meaning that you can save the seed from a certain plant and expect to get the same thing when you go ahead and plant those seeds again next season.

Hybrid vegetable seeds are created by artificially crossing two or more varieties of a certain plant. Hybrid vegetables are what one typically sees being sold in the your local grocery store: those rows of bright, uniform tomatoes, carrots, and peppers are probably grown from hybrid seeds.

One big disadvantage with hybrids is that you cannot save the seed: resulting seeds may be either sterile or produce a plant totally unlike its original. Although hybrid plants produce fruit that ripens at the same time and may be more resistant to pests or diseases, they’re not selected for their taste. They are typically selected for appearance and shelf life. Hybrid seeds are typically more expensive than heirlooms, too.

Home gardeners will likely be more satisfied with heirloom vegetable varsities for the flavor they deliver, and the sheer variety of vegetable types that are available. Blue potatoes, purple carrots, and orange tomatoes are not unusual among heirloom varieties. And perhaps best of all is that gardeners can save the seed from their heirloom vegetable plants, and continue to grow them year after year, and pass them on the family and friends well into the future. The same simply cannot be said for hybrids.

To learn more about saving seed and heirloom vegetables, visit Seed Savers Exchange.