S is for Spring!

S is for SPRING, which though not here yet, is on its way. Nina is ordering seeds this week for the garden, so if you have any specific requests as far as varieties go please email those to gjmainstreetcommunitygarden@gmail.com. We are also putting in an order for compost this week and will be scheduling a date for compost spreading soon.  We will also be getting out an email with dates for greenhouse seedlings, spring cleaning, garden tilling, irrigation running, and direct seeding of early crops. Keep checking in for updates! 

(PS the garlic is sprouting in the back bed, parallel to the strawberries as you can see here!)

Do NOT touch the water system!

Attention!!! As we've said before PLEASE DO NOT ADJUST ANY PART OF THE WATER SYSTEM! (Unless you are Trish!) Someone turned it on this weekend and created some leaks as the pressure is too high. This takes volunteer time and money to fix. No matter how much you want to touch the system, DO NOT! Thank you!

Coconut Curry w EGGPLANT!

Wondering what to do with all of that amazing eggplant from the garden?  Our garden member Laken made this yummy coconut curry for the potluck last night. 

Coconut curry recipe from Laken:

1/2 c unsalted butter
1 yellow onion
1 TB curry powder
1 c unsalted chopped cashews
1/2 c shredded coconut
2 c unsweetened coconut milk
2 c vegetable broth
8 baby eggplant ( I also used tomato. any veggies really)
1 cinnamon stick
1 dried red chile( I used a small green chili, red pepper powder and chili powder)
lemon juice and mint for garnish

1. melt 1/4 c butter in large pot. add onion ad curry. cook til soft.
2. add nuts, coconut and milk, and broth. simmer 15-20 mi
3. chop eggplant into small chunks ( I also added tomatoes). place in deep skillet with remaining 1/4 butter. and cook until charred and sticky
(it then says to puree the nut/ milk mixture but I didn't)
4. Pour milk mixture over eggplant, simmer 15 min with cinnamon stick and chile.
5. garnish with lemon juice and mint to bring out flavor. salt to taste. put with naan or rice!
Enjoy!

First August Garden Session

We are on tonight for garden session! Bring your weeding fingers (and toes if you are that dexterous!), we've tons of weeds to address! After a solid hour of weeding (and thinning carrots & baby chard as needed) we'll move onto harvesting all of the ripe: beans, tomatoes, TOMATILLOS, squash, cucumbers, eggplant, and peppers. We'll need to go through the tomato vines to find them all. Then harvest your own greens: kale, chard, arugula, herbs, radishes, beets. Finally- at 7 we'll wrap it up so we can enjoy a fun potluck social! See you all for a fun evening!

First Community Garden Potluck of the Season: Next Tuesday!

Join us for our first potluck at the garden on Tuesday, August 6 after the work session! Feel free to join us even if you cannot make the work session from 5:00-7:00.

harvest on July 30

Invite your families and friends including anyone who might be interested in the community garden! Bring a dish to share, a chair, and your own plate/utensils.

Week of 7/30

Happy Tuesday! That means it's garden night! Join us this evening from 5:00-7:00PM!

There are still a lot of weeds! Weed in the rows, between the rows, under plants (especially the squash, it's getting to be quite the jungle over there; pull out any beans under the squash. These are volunteers from last year and and are contributing to the jungle), even pull weeds in the driveway and around the edge of the garden.

Check for squash bugs!

Also check for aphids on the kale

Harvest anything that MUST be harvested, i.e. green beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, tomatillos (things that will get too big if we leave them)

From the things that will be fine as long as we let them grow (i.e. chard, kale), harvest for your own personal use


As a reminder, there has been a group meeting on Saturday mornings at the garden as an alternate work session. Feel free to join them or to work on your own time!

Tomatillos

Crookneck squash and cucumbers

Different varieties of basil

Tomatoes and Eggplant harvested last week

Tuesday session: new activities!

Happy Tuesday! It's garden session tonight! To do: weed (pull put grass in the back beds by hand and shake off as much of the good soil as possible so we don't throw it away!), hoe up mounds of dirt around the potatoes in the front bed (leave about 6 inches of plant above the soil), stake and sucker tomatoes, and harvest! For harvest pick all the beans; look for 6" plus eggplants, 6" yellow crook necks and plump cucumbers; pick any basil tops that are flowering; and harvest your own personal handfuls of greens. Please make sure all tools make it back into the shed at the end of the night and last person to leave locks it! And once again, please do NOT adjust any watering! And have fun!