Blog Archives
Accessible Gardens in the Demonstration Garden
I haven’t written very much yet about our Accessible Garden area because it was still in the process of getting underway. This area is being cared for by residents of Via Christi Village on Ridge and the Master Gardener Horticulture Therapy Committee.
This area has the tiered raised bed and several smaller planters. Here’s the map for the tiered raised bed. The tomato varieties are both super compact container type tomatoes. One of the residents really wanted to have a cantaloupe, so they are going to be growing the ‘Honey Bun’ variety that we tried a few years ago.
Here’s what that raised bed looks like right now. The shorter tiers are a good height to sit at and the taller one is perfect for standing and gardening.
This is the larger of the two barrel planters. Right now it has a couple of potatoes in it as well as the remainder of some spinach. There was spinach in the raised bed until this morning, but it was starting to bolt and was covered in aphids (and ants that were farming the aphids). The spinach in this planter is still looking okay.
Our wheelchair accessible container garden has a bell pepper and onions planted currently. The third pot will be basil once it is a little bit warmer.
The smaller barrel planter is planted to green beans. I know, it’s not a very “space wise” thing to do, like I preach all the time. But…part of this area is therapeutic, so high yields aren’t necessarily the first priority.
I suppose I should have posted this at the top. This is what the interior of the barrel planter looks like. We have a publication that has more details and a plan for building the planters: Wheelchair Accessible Gardening.
I’ll keep you updated on this garden area throughout the summer along with the rest of the garden.
Easy Roasted Vegetables
Use your oven to bring out the sweetness of vegetables with this simple recipe. It may even get “Mike-y” to eat all his vegetables!
Per Serving: $.34
Ingredients:
- 5 cups assorted vegetable pieces cut in chunks (potatoes, sweet potatoes, winter squash, turnips, carrots, onions, mushrooms)
- 1 tablespoon vegetable or olive oil
- 2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Directions:
- Heat oven to 425 F.
- Line a 9×13 pan with aluminum foil.
- Spread vegetables in pan. Sprinkle oil on vegetables. Stir. Sprinkle with seasoning, pepper, and salt. Stir.
- Bake uncovered 45 minutes. Turn every 15 minutes.
- Serve while hot.
Cooking Tips:
- Roasting brings out the sweetness of vegetables.
- Use thyme, basil, or rosemary in place of dried Italian seasoning.
- Save energy. Roast veggies in oven with other food or right after other food is done.
- Use veggies that your family likes. Leftovers are great.
Friday PhotoEssay
This week has been something of a whirlwind, and with the garden at something of a standstill, thanks to the crazy weather this summer, I feel like not much has changed in the last week to show you. I did find a few things to share, though.
Isn’t this an interesting sight? The heat has definitely NOT been kind to our strawberry patch this summer. Between the leaf spot diseases (you can see some in this picture too), and the heat and drought (the berries don’t have irrigation, ugh!), the plants have thinned out quite a bit. You can imagine my surprise when I saw these berries yesterday! Apparently the marketing was somewhat accurate for these, because this fruit did set during late July when it was so hot. Of course, I had to eat it, and it was surprisingly good, considering the circumstances.
Can any of you smart gardeners out there tell me what this is, growing in the shade of our okra plants?
If you guessed potato, you would be right! Apparently, we didn’t quite find every potato when we dug them earlier this summer. There are a couple of sprouts coming up. I guess we’ll just leave them and see what happens. The shade from the okra is probably making this spot a little more hospitable than it might otherwise be.
The okra are starting to develop buds…slowly but surely. I was hoping these plants would hurry up and start flowering/producing, partly for the pictures, but also so I could do a post about harvesting okra. Oh well, I guess we’ll have to wait until the time is right.
This is a bitter melon that was growing in one of the plots at the Juniper Gardens Training Farm. I love the color! Unfortunately, at this stage, it is a little bit past the “tasty eating” point.
Do you see what I see? Let’s take a closer look!
Now do you see it? This little Praying Mantis was hanging out on one of the bell pepper plants. He eats other insects, so I wonder what he was finding to eat?
Have a great weekend!
Changes in the Family of 4 Garden
Things have changed drastically in the Family of 4 Garden in the last 2 weeks. The cabbage are gone (except one), the potatoes and onions are gone, the peas and lettuce are gone. We have planted seeds for squash, cucumbers, melons, and okra to take their place.
The onions aren’t as big as we’d like to see, but they still look great!
The okra and melons are going to take over this area by the end of the summer, even though they are getting planted later.
Family of 4 Harvest Report:
2 lbs Red Onions @ $1.20/lb =$2.40
2 1/4 lbs Yellow Onions @ $1.20/lb =$2.70
3 3/4 lbs White Onions @ $1.20/lb =$4.50
1/3 bunch beets @ $3.00/bunch = $1.00
10 lbs Yukon Gem Potatoes @ $1.20/lb =$12.00
1/4 bunch carrots @ $2.00/bunch = $0.50
Weekly Total: $23.10
Year to Date: $141.04
Friday PhotoEssay
Another week flew by, with lots of changes in the garden. I apologize for fairly light blogging, but the summer continues at a crazy pace. Yesterday, we had a bunch of kids from McConnell AFB here for a Garden Day camp, so we had a lot of fun, but obviously no blogging got done.
The ‘Marmande’ tomatoes are the first heirlooms to set fruit, and by almost unanimous consent, the kids yesterday said they looked like green pumpkins. They do, rather.
We harvested the leeks on Tuesday to make room for our summer, heat-set tomatoes. Some of the leeks were developing almost garlic-like bulbs, which is an interesting phenomenon. (Technically, elephant garlic is a type of leek, so I guess it isn’t too surprising.)
The squash, cucumbers, and melons are doing a great job vining themselves up the trellises. I expected them to take a little more training than they have so far. Even so, I’ve got some clips ordered to help with the trellising, because I expect we’ll need them later.
This “bug” is hanging out in our purple kale. It actually is of the Order Hemiptera, which are commonly called “true bugs,” so this is one insect that is correctly called a bug! This a Harlequin Bug, which is a pest of cabbage, horseradish, and other members of the cabbage family, which makes sense why it is on the kale. The “Insects in Kansas” book helpfully states, “some people might consider it a beneficial species when it feeds on Brussels sprouts and broccoli.” Gee, thanks! I’m not too worried about the presence of just one harlequin bug, but we’ll keep an eye on it.
Here’s the Family of 4 Garden before we harvested the onions and potatoes with the kids yesterday. We had a lot of fun digging in the dirt to find potatoes. We could have gotten bigger potatoes by waiting another couple weeks, but it was too much fun to pass up!
Have a great weekend!
