June 5, 2017

All the rain has done the garden in Harlem lots of good. The salad greens, sunflowers and peas grew a lot in two weeks. However, we also discovered a serve aphid problem on the side of the building – the kale and some of the chamomile were covered in tiny bugs. We decided that the plants couldn’t be saved, unfortunately, so part of the team got to work digging up the kale and bagging it so that the rest of the garden wouldn’t become infested with aphids. Once the area was clear, we decided to plant marigold seeds to help keep the bugs away.

Another group started harvesting the salad greens, red romaine lettuce, oak leaf lettuce and radishes for the Bridge kitchen. We also cut some roses for centerpieces in the Bridge cafeteria.

The other major project was tending to the pole beans. They have been growing well and it was time to put in the trellises so they can grow up, which helps them produce more beans. And, of course, there was the usual weeding, cleaning and checking leaves for bugs.