2011 July 22: students, harvest, and garden work

On Friday morning, 2011 July 22, Bruce and Lance and a class of
VBS 4th and 5th graders:

transplanted 6 lettuce plants into bed AB10;
pulled some weeds;
harvested about 20 carrots from bed A4,
some chard from bed E2,
some collards from bed B3,
some zucchini summer squash from bed B3,
some pattypan squash from beds B3 and AB7, and
a few tomatoes from various beds;
rinsed the carrots;
and delivered the harvest to Jody Michalik of Open Heart Kitchen.


   On Friday afternoon 2011 July 22 Bruce, Lance, Ron, and Ruth
(alphabetical)

* transplanted in bed AB10 more lettuce (details below)
* planted bean seeds in beds F1 and F2 (details below)
* planted a few carrot seeds in bed B2 (details below)
* watered lettuce, recently-seeded carrots, volunteer pumpkin/squash
  in bed AB10, and volunteer plants (squash? melons?) in a new bed at
  the east end of the garden
* treated powdery mildew on a couple of summer squash (details below)
* did some weeding.

Details for transplanting lettuce into bed AB10:

The following varieties of lettuce were transplanted, from east to
west, into bed AB10:
10 Green Oakleaf
4 "Red leaf" (the identifying tag was lost)
6 Bunte Forellenschluss
6 Forellenschluss
5 Gold Rush
3 Webb's Wonderful
10 Australian Yellow Leaf
5 Tennis Ball

   This includes lettuce plants transplanted by students in the morning
and volunteers in the afternoon.  These transplants were placed west
of lettuces occupying roughly the east half of bed AB10, and east of
various squashes growing in the west end of bed AB10.

Details for planting beans in beds F1 and F2:

11 Rattlesnake locations in the northern corn patch of bed F1
   near "Sugar Buns" and "Earth Tones" corn,
11 Romano Musica locations in the southern corn patch of bed F1
   near "Painted Mountain" corn,
11 Scarlet Runner locations in the northern corn patch of bed F2
   near "Stowell's Evergreen" corn,
11 Rattlesnake locations in the middle corn patch of bed F2
   near "Double Standard" corn, and
11 Romano Musica locations in the southern corn patch of bed F2
   near "Sugar Buns" corn.

   Since bed F1 is north of bed F2, the patches are listed in
north-to-south order.

   Two bean seeds were planted per location.  In each corn patch, 5
locations are in the east side of the patch and 6 are in the west side.

   The corn patches are separated by patches of Waltham Butternut
squash.  Beans, corn, and squash constitute a "three-sisters"
traditional Native American garden.

Details on the carrot planting:

   A few carrot seeds were planted at the west end of the third-from-
north row of bed A2.  This is an experiment to presprout carrot seeds,
intended to help them sprout faster and more reliably.  We suspect a
few mistakes were made in the pre-sprouting process, but hope for some
useful results.  The variety is Bolero Nantes (seed inventory #82).

Details regarding powdery mildew:

   Two summer squash plants in bed B3 appear to be suffering powdery
mildew.  We tried to treat them by applying a sodium-bicarbonate
solution, as explained in "Gardening When it Counts", by Steve
Solomon.  We dissolved a quarter-teaspoon of the chemical in a cup
of water, added a little detergent so the solution would not run off
the leaves, and treated much of one plant, and one leaf of another
plant.  Results are not yet known.  We do not want to continue this
exact treatment for long, as excess sodium is somewhat toxic in
garden soil (salts build up).