Guided Work Party - Aug 10

A nice cool day for gardening. We started off with a discussion on weeds in the garden. Dock and bluegrass are two that need to come out! Art mentioned that the weeds in the soil are partially a remnant of the park's soil, partially from the soil we had trucked in over 6 years ago, and partially from what we have or have not weeded out over the years. Buttercup and bindweed are two that we never seem to be able to rid ourselves of! Then we got to weeding around the garden.

There were also many blueberries to pick. Arugula, carrot tops, lacinato kale, and beans from our citizen seed trial were plentiful. We left the Purslane as someone from the Farmer’s Market wanted to come by and forage it later! We also cut the flower tops off of the basil. Apparently basil is actually a perennial!

Jan

Top: Art discussing history of the soil at RPCG; Alex pruning flowers off of our perennial basil!

Bottom: Purslane in the garden; harvesting variegated arugula

Guided Work Party - Aug 7 2022

Angela and Alex talked about the profusion of weeds and other plants springing up in the veggie beds and also some seed boxes, and deduced that it was our compost that was to blame, which does not get hot enough to destroy weed seeds. We discussed ways to avoid so many weeds, from putting weeds into the weeds bin as opposed to general compost; firming the soil after removing weeds to prevent new weed seeds germinating; leaving compost materials to dry for longer in the Collection Bay and shaking seed heads to remove seeds before adding to compost bin.

It was agreed that purslane (Portulaca oleracea) could be left as it would act as ground cover and also provide a harvest for those who like to eat it, and it is easy to remove when necessary.

Angela

Good harvest today.

Picking blueberries

Weeding the red Orache bed

Weeding the seedling boxes

Digging the Potatoes