St Francis Sustainable Garden: Insect Alert

Hello Everyone,
 
We need your help (all volunteers) with the onslaught of flying Japanese beetles (often in pairs) on the raspberry bushes/brambles.  These little creatures are munching holes(and mating) in the leaves.
 
Please flick/catch/drop these little critters into the soap water containers that are now located on the ground in front of the raspberry brambles  in the Peter Garden.  They don't bite, but they are a bit fast.  If everyone checks on their assigned day and puts as many of them in the soapy water as possible we may break the cycle of them informing others beetles in the area.  There is also a second clear lidless container with soapy water (drying us) and bodies that can be replenished from the white lidded one and placed directly under leaves for you to flick them into it.
 
I know an odd, maybe uncomfortable request.  Ann Marie and I delivered a couple dozen to a watery grave today.
 
On a positive note lots of flying beneficial insects are pollinating native plants in the gardens.  They are generally harmless except the bumble bees that need to be directly provoked to be problematic.  Please enjoy their activity which is good for the new vegetable blossoms, too.
 
Thank you for helping with pest control,
Erich
734.771.8511

St Francis Sustainable Garden today: Peter and Francis Gardens

We harvested raspberries, squash, and the first pole beans.  We spread mulch under the rhubarb after watering and removal of yellow/brown leaves.  We deadheaded geraniums, coreopsis, daisies, verbena and lilies.  Selected red and black raspberries canes were trimmed.  Using rain barrel water, we watered daisies, verbena, geraniums and the pepper and eggplant pots in the main garden.  Weeding was done sporadically, not thoroughly throughout Peter and Francis.
 
Lastly we set out 2 containers of soapy water (a white one covered to keep from evaporating) under the red raspberries and flicked/drowned numerous Japanese beetles off the leaves.  I have to get a note out to other volunteers to do this activity this week.  The process of capturing them is to keep the beetles from flying to others and alerting/notifying/bringing them back to the plants.

 
Best,
Erich

Fwd: Thursday Harvest

HARVEST:
A couple of ounces of both red and black raspberries.
A couple of zucchini and yellow squash   I left some smaller ones that may be ready for harvest on Monday.
Start checking the tomatillos, I harvested a couple that were ready.
I also harvested three cucumbers and left one that will be bigger on Monday. There are more coming and you have to look below the plants as well.

The bush beans are really growing!!!

I looks like something cut/bit leaves off the pole beans.  This is near where the peas once were. I don't know if they were trimmed by human or if something got into the garden and nibbled them off?

Hopefully the hot weather this coming weekend and maybe into next week will help the tomatoes ripen.  It was too cool last year for them.

Have a great weekend.

Rose

St Francis Sustainable Garden Update 13 Jul 2015

Hello,
 
Summer is going by fast, and thanks to all of you the sustainable gardens are looking terrific and are well cared for.  Produce production has expanded and going very well. 
 
Today Ann Marie and I harvested another pint of black raspberries and 1/2 pint of red raspberries which will be delivered today with the garlic cloves that have been curing at our house.
 
The Marie garden bed has:

1. Totally cleared
2. Prairie Dock, Tall Coreopsis, Tall Black Eyed Susan and Spiderwort have been rescued/kept in the bed on the east end.
3. 30 bags of top soil were poured onto the west end of the bed and 40 more bags have been ordered
4. Canadian Anemone (n = 3) has been temporarily planted on the west end of the bed
5. Plants will be relocated as a design plan with existing plants is developed.
6. Additionally as plants are moved (depending on continuance of this wet cooler weather) within the bed and from Paul; they may be split and potted for future fund raising spring sales of native plants OR used on other parts of the church property.
7. We are also considering signage for the bed as well as the individual plants for identification and education purposes.
8. Note:  If interested, please continue to weed this bed and help is welcome when the next bags of top soil arrive and need to be dispersed, raked, and/or shoveled into the existing soil

 
Regards,
Erich Jensen
734.771.8511

St Francis Sustainable Garden Update Part 1 or 2 Today

Date: Mon, 6 Jul 2015 14:39 PM   Subject: Garden Update

Hello All.

We hope that y'all had a wonderful weekend.
Patrick and Rose stopped by the garden this morning and did the following things:

1) cut out the pea plants on the end of Luke that had been eaten off and were not going to produce much and then planted pole beans in their place. Hopefully these will have enough time to come up and give us some beans before it gets too cold in the fall.

2) Firmed up the string supports for the cucumbers and tied the plants to the strings to train them to grow up.

3) Patrick also pruned the lower blossoms and stems. This is order to force the fruit growth on the top of the plant rather than along the bottom on the ground.

We are hoping that the rain predicted for tomorrow will be sufficient for this week's watering.

Rose & Patrick

Date: Mon, Jul 6, 2015 at 3:10 PM Subject: Garden Update  St Francis Sustainable Garden Update Part 1 or 2 Today

Dear All,

 
1. Garlic was harvested and will be cured for 2 weeks before delivery.
2. Remaining (?) peas and black raspberries harvested and delivered.
3. Garden looks healthy and VERY neat/cleaned up.
4. Tue, Wed and Sat teams, please check pots on inner perimeter for dryness and need watering.  They were watered today.  Also note the rectory rain barrel hose was changed for easy fill up watering cans.  Longer hose does not seem to work well.
5. Thurs and Friday teams, please use the overflowing rain barrel near parish office.
6. More than half of Mary has been cleaned and top soil has been delivered to begin raising soil level in bed this week.
 
Regards,
Erich and Ann Marie Jensen and Susan Bass
 

Garden Donors Thank You Notes

We Thank Our Donors:

Turner's Landscaping, Ann Arbor (734) 662-8058

• turnersannarbor.com/

and

Downtown Home & Garden, Ann Arbor  (734) 662-8122

• www.downtownhomeandgarden.com/

And, we especially thank:

Foundations Preschool, 3770 Packard Road • Ann Arbor

• Phone: (734) 677-8130

• www.foundations-preschool.org/

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Garden report for Friday

Hi Everyone

Yesterday (Thursday), we planted bush beans in Matthew where the asparagus used to be.
Also, we put some straw in Mark around the squash, but maybe more should be added so that the layer is thicker.
The carrots, onions and beets in Paul were weeded and the beets were thinned out.
We also put twine up to support the cucumber plants as they grow.

Today we harvested 14 oz of kale and 7 oz of peas.

Luke should be weeded more thoroughly among the peas. (currently, under that half of the bean structure, weed anything that doesn't look like a pea plant.)

Thursday Patrick removed three rogue potato plants that were growing in the peas, sneaky, sneaky.

Patrick & Rose