Chester Case, Editor
Jackie Gardener, Publisher
Reva Basch, Copy Editor and Webmaster
TCH
works up the Steering Committee Report from the Minutes of the
Steering Committee in order to bring highlights to the Gardeners.
The actual meeting minutes are available from
This report covers the March and April 2004 meetings. Steering Committee did not meet in February.
Present
at the
Treasurer Wink Franklin reported a beginning-of-the-season balance of $6200, which includes a carryover from last year of $1000. We’re in good shape, he said.
A
work party was planned for
Say,
things are getting organized around here: a regular Steering
Committee meeting time was set. Third Friday of the month at Del
Mar Center,
With that, your fellow Gardeners adjourned.
Meeting
at the Del Mar Center on
Now
that planting is in full swing, the Committee noted, all of us
Gardeners need to be very attentive to the Planting Plan, the
weekly chore book, planting techniques, and watering. New
Gardeners need to be educated on “
Tom
observed that our goal of planting all that should be planted by
the Summer Solstice, June 21, could be accomplished. Ken Holmes
then led off an extended discussion of the planting schedule. He
ticked off all the plants now in the ground or in the Greenhouse,
and the list is impressive. All nodded at the impressive
coordination and propagation rates in the Greenhouse. Editor:
There is a Master Planting Plan and Schedule. Ken Holmes leads in
its painstaking development, with input from the Planting
Committee, Greenhouse, Steering Committee, Day Leaders and
Gardeners. It is an impressive document in spreadsheet format and
well worth a look.
Ralph reported on the meeting he and Tom had with Kelli Mason, Executrix of the Baker Estate, earlier this month. She said the Estate is not in a position to make a counter-offer to The Garden’s offer, which was declined. Ralph and Tom will meet with her again soon, and also with the Community Manager. The road through the Baker property remains closed to all Garden traffic except for delivery of materials.
Ralph
reported on an exciting and impressive initiative by new Gardener
Colette Coad. She is already hard at work to bring the Posh
Squash Cookbook into production. Day leaders are urged to tell
their crews about the book, and appeal to them to speedily send
to Colette recipes using the produce of the Garden.
Have you noticed the nicely varnished wooden device leaning on the fence near the Forest Path Gate? It is actually an old bedstead headboard Ben scooped up at a Gualala Arts Rummage Sale. Aha! He visualized it vertical, varnished, hinged and swingin’. Not only that, Jim Grenwelge displayed a very professional, artful pencil sketch of a squash blossom, vines and leaves by Genny Wilson. Ben said it will be painted in color on a plaque and mounted on the new gate.
The Compost Heap prevailed upon Planting Coordinator Ken Holmes to muse on how we come to plant what we plant in the Garden. Easy-going Ken makes it seem just another Garden chore, but when you look closely, you see the work he and the Planting Committee do to set the stage for the drama of growing. It all takes a lot of time and thought, experience, intuition, and the true Gardener’s eternal optimism. Editor.
by Ken Holmes
Ever wonder how the Garden decides what to plant? Wintertime, the Planting Committee sits and ponders the question: what seeds to select for the coming season? Selection is guided by committee members’ gardening experiences in our coastal marine climate, by the Garden’s peculiar soil and growing conditions, and by expectations of nature’s ever-varying bounty of predators and bugs that affect the health of our plants.
In late December or early January, one or two of the gardeners on the committee take inventory of seeds remaining from the last growing season. Then, by mid-January, a seed selection group gets together. Selection was made this year by Sally Skibbins and John Horn, our most experienced gardeners, aided by MA Brauer, Greenhouse Manager, and Ken Holmes, Planting Coordinator. With this year’s seed catalogues in hand, they come up with what to nurture and coddle into production in the greenhouse, starting in late January. Minds reeling with tempting possibilities and visions of bountiful crops, they pore through the fascinating catalogues, study descriptions, and calculate numbers of seeds per package. Flower Goddess Dianne Rasmussen and Lettuce Head Brigitte Micmacker give important input. Day leaders solicit input from their gardeners as well.
Finally, an order is written and sent to the seed company. We have favored an outfit specializing in organic seeds. This year’s order added up to a little over $300.
For the most part, there are no large changes made from year to year. Given the amount of work involved in preparing and tending a bed, we are cautious. We select types we are relatively confident will succeed. Everyone probably has a favorite crop we don’t even attempt any more. Since I’ve been gardening (eight years), we tried twice to grow okra, one of our bolder experiments. Neither time did the garden bless us with a crop. Same with eggplant. Gardeners from time to time request corn and potatoes. Corn seems to take up too much space for the number of ears it produces, but potatoes, fresh from the soil, have been praised by several of our newer Gardeners and may be tried next year in one of our raised beds.
This year, Brigitte Micmacker volunteered to manage the lettuce crop with help from a small crew. The 35 or so varieties of lettuce and mesclun seeds she selected should make for a very interesting, colorful and tasty assortment of greens for our salads. She will be coming around to Day Crews to talk about the care, watering, and harvest of different lettuces.
Gardeners can help the Planting Committee in its seed selection by entering comments in the Planting Book. Give us comments about quality and quantity of produce as well as all pertinent information regarding the nurturing and cultivation that you do on the various beds. This is very useful input.
Let us be worthy of the provisions of the earth, sun, and water.
Happy gardening!
Gardeners will be treated to more workshops this season. Using broccoli as an example, Rich Hersh visited day crews last month to demonstrate transplanting techniques for brassicas, as well as other greenhouse-raised seedling. More generally, he discussed soils, feeding, natural pest control and other gardening topics. Brigitte Micmaker, who has adopted our lettuces and similar greens, is visiting day crews this month to talk about the wonderful variety of greens she has introduced this year, their planting, care and feeding. She will demonstrate harvest techniques which, as all Gardeners know, are not the same for all lettuces. Pam Zimmerman’s interest in gourds has spread to other Gardeners. More gourds have been planted this year, at Gardeners’ request. She will visit soon to talk about gourds and their artistic possibilities. Flower and Herb Goddess Dianne Rasmussen will visit to describe the variety of plants now growing and planned, as well as such neat things as companion and beneficial planting, and biodiversity in The Garden. John Horn is coaching new Gardeners on watering techniques. More workshops to come. Ideas for topics? Something you would like to teach us, or be taught? Tell your Day Leader.
As fastidious and neat as it was, the pruning of tips of new raspberry shoots by the deer who invited itself into the Garden…. well, no, thank you. Down beyond the burn pile at the northern boundary, a gap opened in the rather flimsy fence. Ever-present and always curious, a deer or deer(s) poked through. Even though the place reeked of people, in it (or they) came. Maybe all the modestly deer-protecting netting and Reemay sent it (them) over to the raspberries. Not wanted either, but not always within our ability to control: turkeys, quail, gophers, moles, voles, not to mention the varied insect populations, and the molds, mildews, fungi. Well, we share the Garden, don’t we, in the great scheme of things? Actually, this is reminder to be ever-vigilant on our various gates – in other words, keep them shut -- and to keep an eye on our decrepit fences.
Colette Coad, new to The Garden this year, but not new to gardening, is leading the charge to get a new Posh Squash Cookbook written and published this summer. She and Linda Warnock have gone over the recipes collected so far to find ones that have at least one Garden crop as an ingredient. She sends out an appeal to Gardeners for favorite recipes, as follows:
Hello fellow gardeners,
I am delighted to tell you
that we are gathering some of the most mouth-watering recipes I
have ever seen. I am finding that there are so many
delicious ways to prepare the bounty from our garden that I can
hardly wait for harvest time to begin.
I wanted to update you on a
couple of things including the news that Genny Wilson's rendition
of the Posh Squash will grace the first page of the
cookbook. It will really add to the beauty of the book.
There are still several
categories within the cookbook and a number of fruits, vegetables
and herbs that await your recipes. We can really use
recipes as follows, so please look in your cookbooks and recipe
files:
We need Appetizers and
Beverages. Beverages are challenging, but think Mint
Juleps, Mojitos, Rosemary or Basil Martinis. We are pretty
good on soups, but could still use a couple more. We also
need Vegetables and Side Dishes. I thought that we would
have dozens too many, but we can use all you have. Main
Dishes are also a little thin. We are desperate for Breads
and Rolls. Who has recipes for Rosemary Bread, Strawberry
Scones, Foccacia or other herb breads and rolls? Desserts
need some help too. We have some of the usual suspects in
Strawberry Rhubarb Pie, but nothing that uses mint as garnish or
an ingredient. As you can imagine, Cookies and Candy
has a lot of room for more recipes. Zucchini cookies,
Raspberry Bars, or ???
We have no recipes using celeriac. Some one must have cooked with it before. It is our only totally missing vegetable. We could use recipes for just about everything else that we grow. We have sorrel recipes in almost every category and we are OK with carrots, except in the desserts and bread categories. We could really use bush beans, Bok Choy, broccoli, fennel, leeks, mustard greens, peas (both snow and snap), radishes and shallots.
Please send your recipes to me at ccoad2002@yahoo.com or mail them to me at P. O. Box 404 TSR, or fax
them to me at 785-9615, or call me at 785-2414 and I will pick
them up. The project is on a tight deadline, but please send
me those essential recipes even after the official due date of
April 30. We would love to have 100% participation from our
current gardeners.
Thanks for all your support.
Colette
The Posh Squash Cookbook will sell for $15 and, with the publishing arrangements Colette has made, there will be a nice fundraising profit for the Garden. We echo her informative, enthusiastic and well-written appeal.
Updated info and corrections will be posted to our
website as we receive it. In fact, check out the website in
general (www.jereva.com/PoshSquash) for back issues, including
photos and timeless tidbits about the Garden.
Bed 38 and
Bed 40, side by side, were both planted with healthy, hearty
cabbage seedlings from the Greenhouse. Both beds prepared the
same, drippers installed (before planting; thanks, Rich), planted
similarly, wood ash spread around the plants’ bases, both
covered with netting. Both got going good. Then Bed 40 faltered
while Bed 38 thrived. Side by side. Soon, plant after plant in
Bed 40 keeled over. Bed 38 thriving. Prime suspect: the insidious
cabbage root maggot. But side by side? Well, Bed 38 was
over-winter mulched with straw and Bed 40 was not. Or, maybe it
isn’t Mr. and Mrs. Cabbage Moth propagating their species
via worms from eggs that chomp the roots. Maybe it’s
something else. Guess this is a tale with an inconclusive ending
until someone figures it out. Probably the maggots.
Treasurer Wink Franklin will reimburse Gardeners for authorized (by Tom and/or Steering Committee) purchases made for the Garden. He has put a brown envelope on the bulletin board in the Shed. Put in the receipt and, in a while, a check will appear.
