MLK Day Success!

This year the Pea Patch hosted volunteers to celebrate MLK Day on January 17th. MLK Day is a national holiday dedicated as a day of community service; "A day ON not a day OFF." We invited volunteers to brave the January weather, don some work gloves, and help us get the garden ready for spring. Much to our delight, we had a great crew show up! Students from Port Townsend High School designed and built a mini greenhouse/big cold frame while Ellen and a a volunteer from the Food Co-op laid down sheet mulch and wood chips to expand the garden paths. The rain stopped just in time for our 10am start and it turned out to be a very pleasant day in the garden! If you missed out, we'll be starting regular work days in the next few months, so there will be ample opportunity to lend a hand!

Happy New Year from a Frozen Garden

That's right. The ground is frozen, and has been for the past few days. The garden is about as lifeless as can be in the first few days of the new year, but nevertheless, it's time to start thinkging ahead and planning for springtime.

This week I sent out plot renewal forms to our current gardeners, who can choose to sign up for another year of growing in the Pea Patch or not. This year there is also the option of choosing a half plot. While it may not sound like much, half of a plot (5'x10')is the perfect amount of space for a little kitchen garden, and plenty of room for herbs, greens, and other green goodness. If tending a whole plot seems like too much to swallow, team up with a friend and split it! By late February, the remaining plots will be opened up to new gardeners, which is also exciting. It'll be fun to invite some new faces, energy, and experiences into our little garden! We'll have an initial meeting to make sure everyone gets introduced with eachother and with the ins and outs of the garden.

If you just can't wait to get your hands dirty, PLEASE come out and help on the first work day of this year! To celebrate MLK Day, the Pea Patch is hosting a group of community volunteers on January 17th from 10-2. The volunteers will help with projects like clearing some space for a picnic area, laying out some new paths, harvesting the last of the beets for the food bank, and painting a few new signs. Hot drinks will be provided, but please dress for the weather! Hope to see you there!

Winter Comes to the Garden

The snowstorm that hit Quimper Peninsula just before Thanksgiving took everyone by surprise, including the last of the plants still growing in the Pea Patch. The arugula and some of the kale is still soildering on, despite the snowcover and there are still some beets in the ground that can continue to be harvested throughout the winter months for the food bank.

The snow and chilly temperatures make it ever more evident that our food bank plots would really benefit from a few solid cold frames. A cold frame is a small, basic "greenhouse" that keeps vulnerable plants warmer and more insulated by trapping passive energy (i.e. sunlight) rather than using electricity to generate heat as many big greenhouses do. This month I'll be constructing two coldframes with the help of Sean Austin who works with 4-H and Sunfield School. We're going to try to do it as cheaply and simply as possible, and then teach a workshop to other interested winter gardeners when we master the design. The workshop will probably happen in early January, but keep your eyes peeled for more details!

Change is in the Air!

It's official: The season has shifted from fleeting summer, and the smell of fall is in the air. And with the change of seasons, there are a lot of changes happening in the garden. Perhaps the biggest change is that Cali, the very dedicated garden coordinator who has been with the Pea Patch almost since its inception in 2009, has left, and a new Americorps volunteer has come to take her place. Ellen moved all the way from northern New England to take the Americorps position at the Pea Patch, and is very excited to put her community garden and farming experience to the test in the Northwest!
To contact Ellen, send her an email at esabina@olycap.org or call her at (360)302-1221.

Work Party - June 19th

What: Work Party at the Pea Patch

When: Saturday, June 19th, 10am—1pm

Where: OlyCAP Pea Patch
10632 Rhody Drive, Port Hadlock

What to Bring: Gloves, water bottle, clothes to garden in, and a smile.

All ages welcome.

For more information, e-mail ckeck@olycap.org or call 360.302.1221.

March in the Pea Patch

The old saying describes March weather as, “in like a lion, out like a lamb,” however we had the opposite this year. Unseasonably warm February weather continued into March and the gardening bug bit everyone.

March Milestones:

Eleven additional plots were added to the Garden. John Gunning tilled to get the soil ready for us. On March 20th, volunteers installed irrigation to our new plots. The following weekend, we built the fence around the new plots. Teamwork paid off, and the fence went up in a few hours. Plots are getting snapped up quickly, though we still have a few available.

Fence Building Work Party, March 27th.

March also marked the return of harvestable veggies in the garden. The over-wintering broccoli is producing side shoots, as well as the kale and cauliflower. I’ve harvested 20 pounds of produce so far this spring, and I’m eyeing the rhubarb. Speaking of fruit, a dozen strawberry plants, five rhubarb, and five artichokes were donated to the garden this month. The rhubarb and artichoke are in a plot that wasn’t utilized last year, and the strawberries are on the hill next to the raspberries. Potential, thy name is Pea Patch.


The New Raspberries.

As March wound down, we were the focus of a front-page article in the Peninsula Daily News, featuring a color photo above the fold of the paper. Hooray! I brought out our new sign and it looked great for the picture. Unfortunately, two days after the article came out, a storm pulverized the sign and washed its beautiful paint job onto our newly tilled dirt. Big time bummer. To read the entire article, visit http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20100331/news/303319983

February Happenings

Ack, February is already over. What did I do, what did I do? I know, I pulled weeds. Well to say I pulled weeds undervalues the rejuvenative effects of bringing an abandoned garden back from the brink. As our garden plots are in stasis, my attention has focused on the overgrown herbs adjacent to the Pea Patch. This month, I discovered two established rhubarb plants. Two! This brings our rhubarb patch up to seven big glorious plants. With less weed competition and more mulch, all are expected to thrive.

Speaking of fruit, we got raspberries! We had a couple little canes from back in the day and their fruit was much cherished, though 3 berries a day isn’t going to make a pie for anyone. One afternoon, our Food VISTA, mentioned seeing raspberries on FreeCycle, so I tracked them down. After an initial disappointment, (showing up at the garden on bicycle only to find an empty yellow bucket) I got a call back for the second round of plants. The raspberries at the Christian Science Church Community Garden in Port Townsend did very well, and they donated their extras. We now have 40 plants, both everbearing and summer bearing. I dug out the sod on the hill beside our herbs to create the raspberry patch. This spot gets good morning sun, as well as makes use of a slope that would otherwise not be utilized. I also created steppes between the canes to reduce run-off and make harvest easier. These canes were fertilized with worm castings from the worm bins that were donated to the garden last year.

Gardening in December

Ah, December, my sweet friend. You froze our plants, broke a few water fittings, locked vegetables in the soil and then to add mess to anxiety, doused us with rain. But I know your game. I know its all a strategy to make us truly appreciate the few extra milliseconds of sunlight you bless us with each day. Thank you. I look forward to the day when millisecond becomes minute. The dark is leaving us.

This month I partnered with a local high school art teacher to have a sign painted for our gate. He has four students interested in painting in exchange for community service hours. I found a board and paint, and delivered both to the high school before winter break. The colors are to be a jumping off point as I gave the girls artistic freedom after that. I look forward with excitement to see their creation.

A volunteer and I cleared out the wild weed patch between the garden and the store in anticipation of a communal herb patch in the spring. Blackberries don't look so big in the middle of winter.

Additional Gardening Info near PT

I recommend these groups for up to the moment gardening info in East Jefferson County.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ptcommunitygardens/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JeffcoFoodandGarden-Forum

(No worries if you're not inclined to subscribe, I share relevant info here at The Green Bean.)

Winter Crops: Tasty Morsles

Winter Crops: What do I do with them?

Composting Basics

Helpful Titles for Gardening in the Northwest

The Maritime Northwest garden Guide by Seattle Tilth

Winter Gardening in the Maritime Northwest by Binda Colebrook

The Gardener’s A-Z Guide to Growing Organic Food by Tanya L.K. Denckla

Four Season Harvest by Eliot Coleman

The New Organic Grower by Eliot Coleman

Organic Gardening by Christine and Michael Lauelle

Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades by Steve Solomon

Food Bank Plot Plan

This is my tentative schedule for our Food Bank Plots.

Gardening Guide Example

In my plannings for the Food Bank plots, I put together this handy guide of Northwest hardy plants with an emphasis on late harvesting. I divided it into sections (brassicas/roots/other) for a simple crop rotation guide.

Sow Inside: Start seeds inside your house.
Sow Cloche: Start seeds in a cloche or under Crop Cover.
Sow Outside: Start seeds in the ground.

Most of this information came from Seattle Tilth's Maritime Northwest Garden Guide. Its $15 at The Food Co-Op, or I have a copy to lend.