Garden Update and Work Day

There have been some great new improvements to the garden as of late!

The herb garden now has an attractive mulch in the bed and a brick pathway.
Bricks are laid out throughout the east plot waiting to be dug into the soil so we will have permanent planting beds and prevent soil compaction from people walking around the garden.
A miniature fence in the west plot marks off where gladiola bulbs will soon erupt from the soil, and the squash plants behind them are sprouting quite nicely (and will soon need thinning).
The compost is decomposing nicely and has an instruction sheet on top, while there is a signpost with garden explanations and the garden wishlist posted in the garden.
More signs have been painted and are waiting to be attached to posts and placed in the garden.
The tomatoes and eggplants are growing profusely and still need to be staked, while some lettuce and many spring onions await harvest.

For those of you in town, Friday morning there will be a trip to Riverside Park to pick up mulch--email rmd2154@columbia.edu for the time--and Saturday will be a work day for working on the above tasks as well as planting seeds for fall crops!

Also, check out this interesting article about urban professionals making the switch to organic farming.

Garden Notes and Eating Out

Ready for Harvest:
The radishes are now gone, as is the lackluster arugula, however the bunching onions are arriving in great fashion. Particularly, the He-Shi-Ko onions are quite flavorful—you needn’t even pull the bulb, simply snip off a section of the green tops, chop it up, and throw it into whatever you’ll be eating over the next few days…Pico de gallo? Cream cheese? Stir-fry? Omelet? At least try a bite next time you’re at the garden. Also, feel free to pluck some lettuce, as its ready and there for the taking. Be careful not to step on the neighboring lettuce and kale seedlings, planted in rows adjacent to the mature rows of lettuce.

Volunteer call:
The masonry shop canceled last Friday, but I’ve rescheduled to pick up bricks from them Wednesday at 1pm. If you are available, please come help me move the bricks from masonry shop, located beneath Pupin Plaza (down the main Dodge gym steps and then down the smaller staircase to the left), to the garden.

Also, I received notice from NYC Parks and Rec. that there is a pile of woodchips at 92nd Street and Riverside Drive that we are free to take. Liz A. also notes there are piles of woodchips at 88th Street in Riverside Park. Please, please, please, if you are available, pick-up a bag or two of the woodchips to bring to the garden (take the bus, even a rolling suitcase could be useful…). Free mulch is great, but only if volunteers—you—help bring it to the garden. By laying mulch around plants, the site will be more attractive and the mulch will suppress weeds and prevent water evaporation, which means less work in the long run.

With mulch and bricks, we will have a work party Wednesday, 5:30-7pm. Please come by and help make paths, and lay mulch. Bring your compostables.

If you aren’t available then, stop by any time to weed, stake tomatoes, and rake the west plot (around the plants, and squash hills).

We now have signs but nothing to put them on. If you have a hammer and nails to affix signs to posts then people will finally know what’s happening at the site!

Take note: Colin planted gladiola bulbs along the front edge of the west plot. They will look beautiful soon, but for now be careful not to step on them, as that will compact the soil.

Eating out tonight? Check out this list of restaurants that purchase food from NYC Greenmarkets: http://www.cenyc.org/greenmarket/chefswhobuy