August

We continue to work at both gardens and have been planting new seeds in places once inhabited by other plants. The kitchen staff at 108 St. visited E 111 St. a few weeks ago. We continue to bring our produce to the kitchen staff at 108 St. and they incorporate them into the meals served there. Natalie Brickajlik went to the Farmers Market at Union Square and bought two lavender plants and two mint plants for the garden at Morris Ave. This week we harvested:

Morris Ave. 8/20/14

Papalo- 1 bunch
Epazote- 1 bunch
Borage- 1 bunch
Baby yellow pear tomatoes- 3/4 lbs.
cherry tomatoes- 1 1/2 lbs.
cucumbers- 2 1/2 lbs.
arugula- 1/2 lb.
red Malabar spinach- 1/2 lb.
black krim heirloom tomatoes- 1/2 lb.
red Russian kale- 1 lb.
mustard greens- 1/2 lb.
shiso- 2 oz.

111 St. 8/24/14

Concord grapes- 1 1/2 lbs.
sunjewel melon- 1 1/2 lbs.
costata Romanesca zucchini- 3 lbs.
slicing cucumbers- 3 1/2 lbs.
Carmen peppers- 1/2 lb.
cherry tomatoes- 1/2 lb.
Butternut squash- 3 lbs.
acorn squash- 3/4 lbs.
dinosaur kale- 6 oz.
sorrel- 3 oz.
collards- 1/2 lbs.
red Russian kale- 3 lbs.

Finally, Natalie made pesto with olive oil, garlic, walnuts, basil and kale. Goodbye

August 2014

We continue to maintain the farms by weeding, watering, planting and harvesting. Worker Johnny Blackmon was nominated for Tenant of the Year 2014. We are all so proud of him. Johnny is hard working and motivated so he is fun to work with. All plants are growing at the expected rate with the exception of the tomatoes which are taking a long time this season. Only a few tomatoes have turned red thus far in the season. Our gourds are doing well this season as we have harvested pumpkins, patty pan squashes, zucchini and butternut squashes.One day last week Dorothy made baked tomato chips.
This week we harvested:

E. 111 St. 8/11/14

Parsley- 1 bunch
Cucumbers- 7 1/2 lbs.
Eggplant- 1/2 lb.
Zucchini- 8 1/2 lbs.
Radish-  1 lb.
Patty Pan Squash- 5 1/2 lb.
Curly Kale- 1/2 lb.
Oak leaf Lettuce- 1/2 lb.
Collard Greens- 1 3/4 lbs.
Dinosaur Kale- 1/2 lb.
Red Russian Kale- 5 lbs.
Butternut Squash- 3 1/4 lbs.

Morris Ave. 8/13/14

Cucumbers- 1 1/2 lbs.
Red Russian Kale- 1/2 lb.
Collard Greens- 1 1/4 lbs.
Basil- 2 oz.
Red Malabar Spinach- 1 lb.
Yellow pear tomato- 1 oz.
Cherry tomato- 1 1 /2 lbs.
Arugula- 1 lb.
Sage- 1 lb.

111 St. 8/18/14

Collards- 1 lb.
Red Russian kale- 5 lbs.
Dinosaur kale- 1/2 lb.
Patty Pan Squash- 5 1/2 lbs.
Carmen Sweet peppers- 1/2 lb.
Concord grapes- 1 bunch
Thyme- 1 bunch
Flat leaf parsley- 1 bunch
Cherry tomato- 1/2 lb.

Also, Natalie has been making fruit smoothies mixed with vegetables weekly and they have been delicious. Goodbye.

August

We continue to work at both gardens. We are weeding and watering daily to keep the gardens productive. We cleaned out the greenhouse and sprayed a fish and kelp fertilizer on the base and root of all the plants in the garden. We continue to harvest and anticipate a visit from Sydell and the kitchen workers next week at one of the garden sites. Both gardens are growing nicely and our famous tomatoes should be ready to begin harvesting later this month and definitely next month. This week we harvested:

Morris Ave. 7/30/14

Pumpkin-14 lbs.
Red Russian kale- 1/2 lb.
Baby collards- 1/2 lb.
Shiso- 1/2 lb.
Red Malabar Spinach- 1 lb.
Cucumber- 3 lbs.
Basil- 1/2 lb.
Epazote- 1 bunch
Papalo- 1 bunch
Borage- 1 bunch
Sorrel- 1 bunch

Morris Ave. 8/6/14

Borage-1 bunch
Cucumbers- 7 1/4 lbs.
Red Russian Kale- 1/2 lb.
Sage- 1 bunch
Shiso- 1/4 lb.
Basil- 1/2 lb.
Papalo- 1 bunch
Pepper- 1 small bell pepper
Oregano- 1 bunch
Thyme- 1 bunch
Red Malabar Spinach- 1 3/4 lbs.
Baby Collard Greens- 1 3/4 lbs.
4 okra

So, as you can see the gardens are producing vegetables. See you next week.

2014 pictures

                                         (Greenhouse with mid summer garden pic)

                                         (Bee eating a sunflower)

                                         (Kale)

                                                      (Caroline)

2014 Pictures

                                                      (Red Malabar spinach growing up trellis)

                                         (Herbs hung up to dry)

                                         (Team with Natalie Brickajlik)

                                          (Cucumbers and sage surrounding shiso)

                                                      (Produce being weighed)

                                                      (Purple Cabbage)

                                         (Bee eating a sunflower)

2014 Pictures

                                         (Greenhouse with early garden pic)

                                         (The team at work)

                                         (Greenhouse with mid summer garden pic)

                                        (Pumpkin)

                                         (Garden pic)

                                         (Johnny & Stacey)

                                                      (Mervon)

                                         (Mary and Caroline harvesting marigold seeds)

2014 Pictures

                                         (Team with Goldman Sachs workers building raised beds)

                                        (Lunch with Goldman Sachs workers)

                                         (Goldman Sachs workers)

                                         (E. 111 Garden)

                                                      (Making seed bombs)

                                                     (Natalie with client at Iyanna House)

                                         (Seedlings in the greenhouse)

2014 Pictures

We continue to work at both locations and are beginning to upload pictures from early in the season with some recent pictures.
On 7/21 at  E. 111 St. we harvested:
Dinosaur Kale- 1 1/2 lbs
Red Russian Kale- 5 lbs.
Curly Kale 4 oz.
Collards- 4 lbs.
1 small eggplant
6 purple potatoes
a handful of sorrel

On 7/23 at Morris Ave we harvested:
Cucumbers-2 lbs.
Basil- 3/4 lb.
Shiso- 3/4 lb.
Red Malabar spinach- 1 lb.
Collards- 1/2 lb
Red Russian Kale- 1 lb
Sage- 1 bunch
Papalo- 1 bunch
Epazote- 1 bunch
Thyme- 1 small bunch
Marjoram- 1 small bunch
Oregano- 1 small bunch

Pat Callahan visited us at Morris Ave. on Wednesday and took pictures. Finally, we cleaned out the greenhouse.

2014 Pictures

Here are some pictures from 2014.

                                         (Mervon and Johnny working)

                                         (Natalie and Goldman Sachs workers)

                                         (Natalie and Goldman Sachs workers)

                                         (Goldman Sachs workers)

Late Post for Garden 2014

Garden 2014 began in April with some new ideas and some new goals for this season. Our goal this year is to provide food for our kitchen at our main headquarters on 108 St. in Manhattan. Also, we decided our choice of vegetables, fruit and herbs based on our chef's preference and our team's preference. Our team this season is our largest ever with 13 workers. Since we built a greenhouse 2 off seasons ago we decided to start almost every plant in the greenhouse and it was successful with hundreds of seedlings sprouting in the late winter/early spring. In the Greenhouse we planted yellow summer squash, heirloom great white tomato, Greek oregano, butternut squash, German winter thyme, red cabbage, radicchio, violas, summer crisp lettuce, collards, oakleaf lettuce, spicy mustard, brussel sprouts, stevia, early jalapeno, red malabar spinach, celery, lavender, Japanese eggplant, chamomile, golden purslane, dinosaur kale, papalo, pac choi (red) arugula, sweet bell pepper, heirloom purple Cherokee tomato, basil, bright lights Swiss chard, patty pan squash, sungold cherry tomato, sorrel, red Russian kale, mache, diva seedless tomato, cilantro, green tiger tomato, pink bumble bee tomato, lucky tiger tomato, purple bumble bee tomato, blush tomato, pink tiger tomato, honeybear winter squash, black beauty zucchini, marjoram, chile negro, microgreens, sunjewel melon, carmen sweet pepper, biscayne sweet pepper, jambalaya okra, yellow pear tomato, and beefsteak tomato. We direct seeded penelope shelling peas, sugar snap peas, harukei turnips, gold beets, purple haze tomatoes, baby carrots, mustard greens, amethyst radishes, French d'avignon radishes, saltwort, sugar baby watermelon, sunjewel cantaloupes, nasturtium(edible flowers), cabernet red onions, garlic(last fall), spinach, purple potatoes, beauregard sweet potatoes, chamomile, borage(edible), flat leaf parsley, cilantro, sunflowers, snowball pumpkins and v'in d'etampes pumpkins. Early in the season we sprouted mustard, broccoli and mung beans in a germinator and then ate the sprouts. Our peach tree is infested with ants but is growing peaches which the squirrels have been eating. Our concord grape vine at E. 111 St. has grapes but we are waiting for them to turn purple. Our fig tree has not produced figs this year. Once again we did companion planting, pairing plants like tomatoes and basil together in the same general area. Once again we had Goldman Sachs volunteers come and help us in the garden . They worked with us for a day and helped us to install raised beds at E. 111 St. and they also donated tools to us. Finally, we planted flowers to attract beneficial insects.  Both gardens are growing well and soon we will be posting pictures from early in the season onto the blog so you can see the progress we have made. Season 2014 looks like a success already.