St Nicholas Community Garden Growing Season
12th June 2018 to 25th September 2018  (shorter by 6 weeks than 2018 season which ran 5/21/17 to 10/10/17)

406 Pounds  (7% more than last season)

Biggest Crops by Pounds
25%   103 lbs      TOMATOES
13%  54 lbs         LETTUCE, CHARD, KALE, GREENS
13 %  51 lbs        BEANS
13%  51 lbs         CUCUMBERS
4%     15 lbs        EGGPLANTS

Other crops included: beets, radishes, carrots, peppers, herbs and a variety of greens.

WEEK FIVE (June 27 & 29)

WEEK FOUR (June 20 & 21)

WEEK THREE (June 13 & 15)

WEEKS ONE & TWO (May 21 & 29)

And so starts the 2017 planting season! Gardeners from St.Nick's put in the first of our cold crops: green lettuce.  About 100 romaine and green lettuce seedlings were planted, and a dozen or so parsley plants, too. Also lots of marigolds to keep smaller garden pests like mice and voles away and cosmos to attract pollinators. 

Where is all that food going?

To our neighbors at the Scarborough Food Pantry!

"I haven't had these in such a long time, they are so expensive." (talking about just-picked fresh green beans)

"Wow, that all looks really nice. It's great for someone like me - I'm a vegetarian." 

"Thank you, gardeners, you keep on growing. It's wonderful what you are doing. I'm diabetic, and I'm trying to eat right."

"The kids really love these." (talking about cucumbers)

"Having a recipe is really helpful. I haven't tried that before." (talking about kale)

"This must be really fresh; it still has some dirt on it!" (talking about beets just pulled from the garden)

WEEK TEN  July 26 & 28, 2016

WEEK NINE: July 19 & 21, 2016

WEEK EIGHT: July 14, 2016

WEEK SEVEN: July 7, 2016

This is our second season of growing for the community, and we're pleased to report that thanks to an abundance of great compost, helping hands, and an earlier start, we were able to harvest before Memorial Day, a full month earlier than last season.

We've had a few ups and downs along the way: we had just spread about six yards of locally made 'surf'n'turf" compost, laid down some paths, and planted our early cold crops of spinach, kale, and peas...then oh, no! Snow!  A few weeks later, we were celebrating the awesomeness of our spinach and lettuce harvests. What do they say about pride? Just as we were anticipating a second crop of lettuce, a wiley invader snuck in and ate it all up. All of it. Every. Single. Head.

But on the whole things have been good in the garden. There are more herbs, which do a lot to wake up a meal that starts from a box or can. We've added new crops like bok choy, leeks, and garlic - the scapes are fantastically artful as well as tasty. It's now mid-July, and we're at week 9 with a dozen or so harvest days. Cold crops like spinach are giving way to summer treats like basil, peppers, and just-picked-can't-getter-better-than-that green beans. There is joy, too. Lots of joy.

WEEK SIX:  JUNE 30 & 28, 2016

WEEK FIVE: JUNE 21 & 23, 2016

WEEK FOUR: June 14, 2016

WEEK THREE: June 7, 2016

WEEK TWO: May 31, 2016

WEEK ONE: May 24 & 26, 2016

Thank you, Jane, Linda, Sabra, Becky, Pam, Elizabeth and Steffi -- volunteers planted tomatoes, broccoli, peppers, beets, beans, lettuces, bok choy and Asian greens, herbs and flowers, too!

Thank you, Mark, Chris, Cathy, Jane, Becky, and Chris! We raked all the compost and set the paths, even planted spinach and lettuce! Aren't those rows neat!? Also we love our new coconut mat paths. We also had a visit from Kate Irish Collins of the Current-- you can read the article here (PDF).

Spring snow on our newly planted spinach!  No worries...it's a hardy early crop!

Today Dennis from Jordan's Farm delivered 6 yards of organic compost "surf & turf" which is locally produced. This, along with the soil amendments put in last fall, will set us up for a great growing season. A few days earlier Chris roto-tilled the seaweed and shredded leaves which were put on as we put the garden to bed last fall. Look what he found: a beet and a carrot! And Jane spied the first garlic scapes coming through.

WEEK THIRTEEN: September 29, 2015

WEEK TWELVE: September 22, 2015

WEEK ELEVEN: September 15, 2015

We've had good luck with the weather to get our first seeds to sprout - and soon we'll be thinning the lettuces and kale. Look along the fence, the first beans are coming up, too.