June 19, 2017

It was another busy day in the garden at 111. At 111, there are a few really lovely rose bushes growing along the back wall. However, they have gotten pretty big and are bending over because they have gotten so top heavy. This wouldn't be a problem, except they are bending over a few of the raised beds, preventing anything from growing there. So a few of us, very carefully, tied the roses to the fence so that they aren't in the way of the raised beds anymore. We got a few thorn pricks, but no serious injuries.

We also replanted and thinned out our basil plants. A few sneaky basil plants were found throughout the garden, so we carefully dug them up and replanted them in our main basil patch, while spreading out some of the basil plants that were already there. We also thinned out the carrots and the beets, which is especially important since they need extra room to grow in the soil.

On the harvesting front, we picked radishes (there are always more radishes), sugar snap peas (which were delicious) and broccoli rabe. We also planted some new squash plants. The grape vine on the back fence of the garden is doing well, too!

June 14, 2017

At Morris today we had to tend to the tomatoes. With over 40 tomato plants, there is a lot of work to do. A few of the plants had what look like aphids, so we had to go over every plant and rub away the bugs and their eggs. While we were at it, we picked off the tomato suckers, which will hopefully make the plants produce more fruit. On the other side of the garden, we thinned out some of the kale and spinach plants so that they will grow better.

After working in the garden, we hit the kitchen to make lemonade. We harvested spearmint from the garden to add to it, which was enjoyed by the group, even if it wasn't as hot outside as it was last week.

June 12, 2017

Today was the hottest day yet in the garden — over 90F! But that didn’t keep us from getting to work. We took stock of what changed in the garden since last week, including the fact that the peach tree has been losing fruit. We’re not sure why, but hopefully we’ll still have some peaches to pick later this summer. We also found that the chamomile on the side of the building was covered in a powdery coating, so we dug it all up to prevent it from spreading to the rest of the garden. There was more lettuce and radishes to harvest, which were delivered to the Bridge’s kitchen. We also tended to the beans, which are already producing pods, and spread out some kale and beets that were growing too clos together.

The other big project was digging up all of the plants in one bed that the squirrels had gotten to. Once the bed was clean, we planted zucchini. We also dug up several tomato plants that were growing around the garden from last year and put them in their own bed.

After all that work in the heat, we ended the day inside and made fruit smoothies!

June 7, 2017

Today was another short day, but we still managed to get a lot done at Morris Avenue. There was lots of weeding to be done, and we planted some peppers and separated some tomato plants that were growing too close together. Then we put some compost around the peppers, tomatoes, pumpkins and kale growing in those rows.

We also tended to the herb patch — weeding, cutting back some of the spearmint and planting some parsley near the lavender. And the mustard and salad greens we planted last week have already sprouted.

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.

May 31, 2017

We were lucky today that the rain stayed away while we were in the garden. But it had rained overnight, so the snails and slugs were out in force. We started the day by taking stock of how everything was growing in the garden — the tomatoes and pumpkins are doing especially nice. Then it was on to weeding and cleaning up the garden. Some of us tended to the lettuce and planted mustard greens in one half of the garden. Others worked out front, weeding the flower garden and picking up trashing around the trees.

May 22, 2017

Hey! My name is Maria! I'm a volunteer with the Bridge's Horticulture program and I've taken over the blog.

May 22 was my first day, and unfortunately, it was raining pretty hard today in Harlem, but that didn’t stop the horticulture team. Everyone put on their ponchos and got to work in the garden. We started by walking around the garden and looking at how things changed from the week before and identifying the plants that are growing. Then we got to work weeding all of the beds. Because of the rain, we made it a short day.