GARDEN LOG

• May 2-6: I learned more about the garden and was given a plot.

• May 8-13: I filled out my garden plan, prepared my garden, and started planting.

• May 15-20: I planted and watered my garden.

• May 22-27: I planted, watered, and started making a sign for my garden.

• May 28-June 3: I finished my sign and started weeding my garden.

• June 4-10: I was unable to come to the garden because of sickness and a prearranged absence.

• June 11-17: I weeded my garden and started putting down straw.

• June 18-24: I harvested radishes, spread some straw, and weeded my garden.

• June 25-July 1: I helped lay down more straw, harvested more radishes, weeded, and spread fish guts all over my garden.

• July 2-8: I picked zucchini, weeded, watered, and helped lay down the last rows of straw.

• July 9-15: I picked zucchini and squash, weeded, and watered my garden.

• July 16-22: I picked some lettuce, weeded, watered, and also picked some more zucchini.

• July 23-29: I picked zucchini, lettuce, squash, and a very small onion, as well as watering, weeding, and helping lay down bark chips.

• July 30-August 5: I picked beans, onions, zucchini, squash, zinnia, dill, lettuce, and lots of weeds as well as watering.

• August 6-12: I picked, watered, and weeded a little.

• August 13-19: I picked lots of veggies, watered, and weeded a little.

• August 20-26: I picked all the onions and carrots in the rows with the most weeds, watered, and weeded.

• August 27-September 2: I watered a bit but I spent most of the time picking carrots, beets, peppers, beans, squash, and zucchini.

• September 3-9: I picked carrots, squash, tomatoes,beans, peppers, and beets, and I also watered a little.

• September 10-16: I was sick this week and could not come to the garden.

• September 17-23: I picked and watered a little.

• September 24-30: I helped clean up, pick, water, and roll up hoses.

GARDEN PROJECTS

1.Project One

Question/Problem(s) Proposed: Why are we putting straw and paper on the garden (what does it do)? 

What other things could we use ?

Answer(s) I found: In our gardens, we cover our beds with a layer of paper and straw (except directly over the plants, of course) to suppress weeds and help the soil retain moisture. First we lay out a layer of brown paper and newspaper in between the garden beds, then we cover it with a thick layer of straw. Then we spray water over our straw and paper to help it lay down and not fly away. I heard a story of one year where they decided not to lay down straw, and the weeds overcame them, proving that the straw was very effective in stopping (most) weeds. Unfortunately, this does not completely eliminate the need to weed, but it certainly helps!

If we chose to use another material instead of straw and paper, we would have several things to choose from. At my house, we use cardboard and wood chips. When leaves fall off of our maple trees, we either leave them where they are or rake them over to areas we most need mulch on. Grass clippings are also an option. Among the more natural organic mulches, there are some plastic mulches that we could also use, but they don’t decompose or help replace the garden’s nutrients. Overall, I think using mulch is a great idea, especially organic mulch.

URL Reference: https://extension.oregonstate.edu/sites/default/files/documents/12281/gardeningwithmulch.pdf

2. Recipe

Name: Beans and rice with peppers

Vegetable Used: peppers

Ingredients: Five cups mayocoba or pinto beans, three cups white rice, water, and some peppers. We have a big family, so we used a lot of beans and rice. If you are not planning to serve more than twelve people, you might want to do half the recipe or less. My pepper was small, and I only put it in my bowl, so I’m not exactly sure how much you would do for this recipe, but I might hazard a guess at three or more full size peppers.

Steps to Make it: Using an Instapot, measure the five cups of beans in, add water to the max fill line, turn the settings to beans/chili, and press start. In a medium sized pot measure three cups of white rice and six cups of water. Bring to a boil, then down to a simmer for twenty minutes. while the beans and rice are cooking, cut up the peppers into small chunks (exact size depends on your personal preference). When the rice and beans are done, scoop rice into the bowl, scoop some beans in as well, and then sprinkle (or dump) some pepper chunks on the top. I have not said exactly how much of each thing to put in each bowl because I think that should be up to the person making the dish. After that, add preferred amount of salt, mix, and enjoy!

Opinion: I liked this recipe. I think that maybe in the future if I were to publicize the recipe or let friends use it, I should figure out how to do it without the Instapot and use a different method that more people have access to. I would also probably add more peppers than I did this time, because I couldn’t taste them very well. I also used the mayocoba beans because I think they have more flavor (and we didn’t have pinto beans in the house at the time).

3. Another Project

Problem (question): What does the Food Bank do?

Solution (answer): They help people by providing food and other necessities to people that are not able to provide these things for themselves at the moment.

Test/Activity: Our youth garden group drove to the Food Bank for a tour. We were shown around and had the process of food delivery and distribution explained. The Food Bank gets food from our garden as well as some big companies. They take the excess or anything past the expiration date that is still okay to eat. During Covid they got a lot more food than they do now, and they are hoping to get more food and a better place for their work than they have now.

Results: I think that the Food Bank is helping a lot of people by what they do. I am really glad that I get to be a part of their work and that I get to help provide produce for the people that need it.

MONTHLY GARDEN SUMMARY

May: Days Worked ___13__ Days Off __0___ Extra Days Worked __0___ Days Late__1_____ Total Produce(Pounds):_0___

June: Days Worked __8___ Days Off __4___ Extra Days Worked ___0__ Days Late__0_____ Total Produce(Pounds):__3.8__

July: Days Worked ___11__ Days Off ___1__ Extra Days Worked __0___ Days Late___0____ Total Produce(Pounds):__58.6__

August: Days Worked ___12__ Days Off __1___ Extra Days Worked ___1__ Days Late___0____ Total Produce(Pounds):__213.9__

September: Days Worked __4___ Days Off __0___ Extra Days Worked ___0__ Days Late___0____ Total Produce(Pounds):__30ish__