DHS Community Garden

Turning under clover

2011-04-03T21:47:00.002-04:00

December greens

2010-12-12T15:04:00.002-05:00

U of F Student Agricultural Plots

2010-12-05T22:17:00.000-05:00

sign

info kiosk

garden rules

plot contract

plot layout

some plots

bat houses beyond

bat houses

bat info

Gator Organic Garden Cooperative

2010-12-05T21:59:00.000-05:00

From Gainesville, Fla, October 23, 2010

sign

entry gate

outdoor sink

plots

composting citrus rind

composting bins

manure rules

compost etiquette!

plots

an arbor

a faucet for each 4 plots

fenceline plantings of blueberries, scuppernongs and muscadines

some ornamentals

Asian gardening technique

toolshed

organization

contact lists

chore list

workday notes

announcement at info kiosk

Pics from Oct 9 workday

2010-10-10T21:56:00.007-04:00

Building a new plot

Watering the plots

Taking a short break..

Planting lettuce & broccoli...

Planting more lettuce...

The supervisor checks in on our work...

Everything looked fine, so it was time to water...

Harvest

2010-10-03T21:44:00.002-04:00

Spent some time working the lower beds this afternoon. To my delight, the sweet potatoes I planted several months ago produced were ready to be dug up. Here's one of them.. many were about 8-10" diameter - huge!

Fall plantings

2010-09-24T08:42:00.003-04:00

This weekend will be a great time to plant, since we have showers moving in Sunday & Monday. Hopefully Dekalb will have delivered more compost by tomorrow, but we should have enough leftover from the Spring to plant these:

There are three varieties of lettuce, 36 cauliflower and 36 broccoli plants. I have some potato seedlings on the way, and plan to sow Alaskan winter (sweet) peas, and more leafy veggies.

See you tomorrow!
Adria

June 3, 2010 garden update

2010-06-03T23:11:00.004-04:00

It was time to mow back the kudzu & weeds around the garden, and clean up fallen limbs from the storm...

After:

Next, rows were laid in the bottom plots:

Future pumpkin patch?

The upper plots are coming along nicely...

Clean and tidy...

The rasberry and blackberry vines are loaded.

Keep up the great work - hope to see you Saturday!

1 more plot

2010-04-24T21:30:00.000-04:00

Denise Chiavetta and family helped prepare the last remaining plot before the rain really got going this morning, and the garden is in good shape for late spring. Clover is tall, the bees were very quiet (light rain & cool), bluebird peeked out of the birdhouse, and one huge new mound of horse manure. Senior prom has been in evidence at my house - much excitement there! Spring fever all around....

Bees, clover...

2010-04-18T18:06:00.000-04:00

Wow, both hives were buzzing this afternoon, and both crops of crimson clover are looking good. A carpenter bee was working the blueberry bushes, and the grapes are budding out nicely.

Bees, potatoes and the sinkhole

2010-03-28T11:12:00.002-04:00

I stopped by the garden this morning for a couple chores.

The big sinkhole by the sidewalk was filled with another layer of rock & brick, then covered with 4 cubic yards of topsoil, and one cu. yard of compost. The topsoil & compost needs to be spread out after the concrete blocks are put back in place.

A half-row of potatoes has been planted in the lower plot. I marked the plantings with pieces of red brick.

I may have missed an earlier post, but what happened to the bees? I saw one come out of the hive a little over a month ago, but today - none were seen coming or going from the hive. Hope they were temporarily relocated.

The garden is looking GREAT!

Garden Party Pictures

2010-03-28T11:03:00.006-04:00

Spring has sprung!

What's left of the mulch pile...

New garden shed:

Lunch is served!

Putting down landscape fabric under mulch, to prevent weeds and provide a clean surface to walk on.

Preparing the hot-house...

Garden party

2010-03-21T14:45:00.000-04:00

We had a great time yesterday, and got lots done. It was very good to get together with everyone who made it, and Anna Rose dropped in with a great kale-beet-carrot salad that was delish.

Thanks to the Jones family for helping organize the get-together. When should we have the next party?

Accomplished: moving the cold-frame, weedstopping & mulching the plots (a huge task), brick removal, setting up the toolshed, running the waterline out to the new barrel location, and some organizing, eating and s'mores at the fire. I'm sure somebody took some pictures....

Hive inspection March 7

2010-03-08T15:57:00.000-05:00

Cassandra reports:

The bees are doing really well. The queen is laying profusely, they have lots of stores left from the winter and they were calm for the inspection. Two of the garden families joined me for the inspection.

Winter wonderland

2010-02-13T16:04:00.003-05:00

While running errands I stopped by for a few pictures of the garden...

In just a couple more months this should be bright green & brown.

I was surprised to see a bee come out of the hole and fly away.

Sinkhole!

2010-01-29T13:13:00.000-05:00

We'll see about filling this in - in the meantime the Jones can take another plot by their other one (in a safer spot!)

2010-01-16 Farmer Adria's Report

2010-01-16T12:46:00.007-05:00

Happy New Year!

We met at the garden this morning to prepare several existing plots and turn the "back 40". Weather was cold and cloudy, and eventually rainy. My feet are still cold!

Lots was accomplished today, and we're looking forward to our next workday at the end of the month.

DHSCG meeting Tuesday Dec 1!!!

2009-11-30T16:50:00.000-05:00

We will have a strategy meeting with Ms. Wade to discuss DHS CG issues
and need for you to come if at all possible. We'll meet Tuesday Dec 1
at 4PM at the outdoor classroom at the garden, under the trees below
the fields. Please bring any concerns, hopes, solutions with you.
Bees, tractors, compost, plots, fields, grants, toolshed and so on.

November 7th workday pictures

2009-11-10T21:24:00.005-05:00

Photos from the first of November

2009-11-10T21:18:00.005-05:00

Cheap clover seed - it lives!

2009-10-31T18:10:00.004-04:00

I put out a few handfuls of the clover I bought last week two days ago - it's looking good so far!

Still have at least 48 pounds of seed left. :o)

Fire ants

2009-10-25T22:28:00.010-04:00

I almost stepped in this mound of fire ants at the garden today.

We used to not have these pests in Georgia, but they've slowly made their way here from Alabama and Texas.

Fire ants were introduced to the States sometime during the 1930's by hitching rides on freight ships from South America. Eighty years later, the species is widespread throughout the southeastern US.

A well-known predator of this aggressive stinging and biting ant is the South American Phorid fly.

It's halloween right? Ok... So the phorid fly lays its eggs on the thorax of fire ants. The tiny larvae enters the ant's body and wiggles to the ant's head where it feeds on muscle and nervous tissue. Gives me a headache just thinking about it! Eventually the larvae releases an enzyme that breaks down the membrane attaching the ant's head to its body. Yep - the ant's head falls off! Gross huh? The fly larvae remains in the severed head for another two weeks before emerging.

From South American Biological Control Laboratory:

Needless to say, the phorid fly is a friend to gardeners throughout the southeast.

Here's a short Youtube video about the Phorid fly and it's affinity for fire ant brains:

Honeybee hives are at risk from fire ants, according to the Texas Department of Agriculture.

A few pictures from earlier today

2009-10-25T21:57:00.008-04:00

First of all, does anyone know what plant(weed) this is?

Our rye is starting to come in nicely.. this is 10 days after planting:

One of the trees by the outdoor classroom...

Beekeeping demonstration, September 13, 2009

2009-10-24T10:32:00.029-04:00

Last month Cassandra and John offered a beekeeping demonstration at DHS Community Garden. This was the first time I'd ever been so close to so many bees (without quickly running away!) They stepped through disassembly and inspection of the bee box (aivery) and answered our many questions.

Without further adieu...

The strap is to prevent the box from coming apart should a strong wind blow it over.

Preparing to disassemble the box:

Using a hive tool to separate the frames.

This hive was very gentle. Cassandra didn't need much if any smoke to calm the bees down as she carefully took apart their 'home'. The bees didn't seem to mind us one bit.

Offering a few pointers on taking apart a hive...

John samples the honey...

Most of the hive are female (workers). A few males (drones) are kept around, and they do not have the capability to sting.

Taking apart the second level...

Honeybees are actually relatively clean insects. They do not use the bathroom in their hives - they wait till they are away from the box, like on my finger. This drone demonstrates:

Honeybee combs are made of beeswax, which is excreted from the underside of worker bees.

This frame weighed quite a bit...

Reassembling the hive:

And finally, topping off the nectar bowl on the top of the hive:

After closing the hive, dozens of bees fanned their wings near the entrances. Honeybees like to keep their house at a steady temperature and humidity, and they control this by moving air in and out of the box.

That's it for now -- if you'd like more photos from the demo please let me know. (I have 40 more).

2009-10-24 Farmer Adria's Report (with pictures!)

2009-10-24T09:31:00.010-04:00

Here are a few pictures I took Thursday & Friday...

5 days after planting rye grass on the bottom terrace:

8 days after planting:

In a few more weeks the entire bottom terrace should be thick with rye. Their roots will extend deep into the soil, helping break up the clay hardpan.

Oh, does anyone have connections with the school landscape team? Could we ask them not to mow the actual garden area? The rye will grow tall and it may look like it needs to be cut, but we want to let it go till year. :o)

Here is the third terrace in between the square-foot plots & bee aivery. We'll put down clover here next week sometime. Hopefully it will take hold and keep the ground covered (and bees happy) till spring planting.

The terrace was chock full of stones, iron pipes and large chunks of asphalt. Most of the big pieces have been removed, but before next spring we'll have to pick out a few more.

Here's the top terrace after students planted last week. They decided to section off the area instead of using traditional rows, and added foot paths to walk around.

That's it for now - have a great weekend!

2009-10-22 Farmer Adria's Report

2009-10-22T20:37:00.003-04:00

First, the gardens are looking good! Great job on getting the top terrace planted - hopefully the seeds will germinate & grow quickly!

So this afternoon I began preparing the last terrace for this season -- the long strip below the square-foot plots and above the bee boxes. As soon as our clover comes in we'll plant that and hope for the best. Some clover is already coming in on the plot furthest away from the road (under the pecan tree).

The rye I planted in the bottom terrace last week is just starting to turn green. The rain we had washed some of the seed into little piles, but there should still be enough there to get plenty of coverage.

I'm pretty excited about learning to keep bees. And maybe a little anxious.. I've only been stung by a honeybee once, but that was enough to learn not to irritate them (like by sitting on one while wearing shorts!).

2009-10-13 Farmer Adria's Report

2009-10-13T20:36:00.003-04:00

We received over 2 inches of rain yesterday and the weather forecast is calling for that much if not more tomorrow. So, I drove by Ace & picked up a back of winter rye and spread out on the lower terrace late this afternoon. Hopefully most of it will stay in place during the storms tomorrow.

Rye is an annual grass with roots that can extend several feet below the surface - just what we need to help break up the clay below the plow tip. With a little sunshine after tomorrow, the lower terrace should be bright green by this time next week.

We've talked a little more about adding red clover to the garden in other areas, so it may be worth our while to try and sow more of it in the smaller terraces below the concrete block plots (after we mix in a little of the compost to help feed the clover).

That's it for now -- hope to have bee pics posted in a few days. :o)

Some of Farmer Adria's friends

2009-10-13T12:57:00.000-04:00

2009-10-11 Farmer Adria's Report

2009-10-12T20:35:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone,

Well I figured the ground would be a tad wet for garden work today, but since it looks like we will have a lot more rain next week I drove the equipment over and made the best of it. The ground was a bit damp, but dry enough to work. I spread about 30 cubic yards of compost on the top terrace and another 20 yards on the bottom half.

I'm not sure if these will come through embedded or as attachments.. Hopefully there are pictures below!

Oh -- when I got there this morning someone had just planted 7 strawberry plants on the top terrace, and there were a few stones lined up in a circle. I didn't see any seed stakes, so I moved the rocks to the side for the time being. I also carefully dug up the plants (which were still in the peat pots) and put them to the side. I re-planted the strawberry plants after I finished up today.

So, after spreading the compost I used the bottom-plow to turn it under. The bottom plow cuts anywhere from 12-18" deep. It's important that we introduce organic matter deep below the surface, since we don't want the soil to return to the way it was before (clumped together and as hard as some of the bricks we've picked out). Also, adding compost will provide lots of yummy nutrients for plants as their roots grow down.

Here I've spread the compost out about 4" deep across the top. The blue plow folds the compost over and pulls more clay up on top.

After turning the compost under I used a heavy-duty roto-tiller to mix the clay & compost together.

I'm thinking of using rye grass as a cover crop on the lower half. Rye is great since it grows well in in the cold, and its roots extend very deep in the soil -- deeper than I've plowed. The more we break up the hard clay underpan the better. Next spring I'll turn the rye under and introduce more compost prior to planting. I love the clover that's been planted on the terrace slope and elsewhere, so that's an option too.

The top terrace is ready to be used now, though it could use a little more compost next year before spring planting begins.

Here are the replanted strawberries:

Morning dew...

So -- that's it for tonight. If the pictures didn't make it through, you can see them all (and a few more) here: http://s162.photobucket.com/albums/t274/queen_of_spodes/A%20Girl%20and%20Her%20Tractor/DHS%20Community%20Garden/ I'll try to have a more formal blog set up soon. :)

Adria

2009-10-05 Farmer Adria's Report

2009-10-05T20:38:00.000-04:00

Bruce,

After you left [Sunday afternoon] I got a bit more work done before
calling it a day. I finished spreading the first layer of compost on
the top 40, then turned it under. It now looks like we didn't spread
out *any* compost, but it's all there tucked under the clay. Your
idea of spreading another 30 yards makes good sense. After that's
mixed in you could either plant rye or other cover, or sow leafy
veggies like kale, chard & spinach. Ace on Scott blvd still had lots
of plants for sale when I was there two weeks ago.

I smoothed out the bottom half closest to the dumpster & made a first
go with the plow. It was starting to sprinkle a little so I didn't
have time to pick out all of the bricks but I did get some. The
pile of wood chips by the dumpster is spread out to cover the open red
clay & to make room for the new load of compost. I also spread out
the pile of chips by the sidewalk to make it easier for the dump truck
to back in.

Oh -- I've been looking at bedder attachments for my Yanmar, and I
think I'm going to go ahead and purchase one. Bedders are sometimes
called "hillers" because that's what they do -- two discs pull dirt up
into a raised row for planting.

Bedder:

I have tomorrow off and hope to swing by and take a few more photos of
the work we did today. I still need to put up the bee pics (which
came out great btw!)

Thanks for your help today -- I'm really excited about how the garden
is taking shape!

- Adria

2009-10-03 Farmer Adria's Report

2009-10-03T21:30:00.001-04:00

So our first batch of compost has been spread out and mixed in on the upper terrace. The lower terrace has been bottom-plowed and is ready for its first load of compost.

I happened to be at the garden this morning when Dekalb County arrived to deliver a new load of compost. Here are a few pictures and a short video:

Upper terrace, after mixing in the first batch of compost. It's there, but turned under a layer of clay. We'll continue spreading & turning over until we have adequate amounts of organic matter in the soil to prevent it from clumping together and forming a big brick.

The lower terrace, after initial plowing (no amendments added here yet - hence the bright red color)

About this time I heard the beeping of a Dekalb country delivery truck... Black gold had arrived!

The load was steaming hot.. and will remain that way until it's spread out.

The steam comes from CO₂ and thermal heat - products of the breakdown of materials by bacteria and fungi (decomposers) in the compost. Products resulting from decomposition of rotting grass clippings, leaves, manure, ect include proteins, amino acids, and humic matter (the leftovers of fully decomposed plant matter). All the stuff plants love and need to grow. The humic matter will also help change the red clay into something more desirable.

Oh, one more thing: heat is not only good for breaking down material, it also kills weed seeds.

It's very important that we only use properly aged compost in our gardens, since adding fresh manure to a garden will cause our plant roots to burn among other things. So don't scrape up your chicken litter & toss in the garden.. Pile it up and let it sit for at least a year before mixing into your garden.

2009-09-13 Farmer Adria's Report

2009-09-13T21:13:00.011-04:00

We finally had a break in the rain so I drove by the DHS Community Garden to see how the clover Bruce planted was taking hold.

The soil isn't in the best condition now, so it's no big surprise that the cover wasn't taking root and growing as vigorously as we'd hoped. If we didn't touch this ground again for a few months, it would be right back where it was last month before we prepped -- hard as a brick! So, it is important that we continue working the soil by adding as much organic matter as possible. This will help provide nutrients for our cover crops later this year.

Here's the "back 40" :o)

This is the terrace below the existing raised bed plots. There are lots of rocks and brick still buried in the dirt in this plot.

Clover sprigs in the lower terrace (poking up between the bricks, metal poles, concrete blocks, pipes, ect :o) )

Looking up from the schoolyard entrance:

The reason why we created several terraces is to protect the soil from eroding during hard rains. If you've ever walked through the woods and wondered why there are so many evenly spaced ridges, or berms.. it's simple! Those woods weren't there 50 years ago. My grandparents owned a farm in what is now Hapeville - they grew a large garden of veggies, raised pigs and chickens and even had a cow. Where we see malls & shopping centers now, used to be pasture and fields of corn, beans and cotton. Farmers have used terraces (or berms) to conserve soil for as long as we've been farming.

Red clover in red clay!

Poor clover. Yes, the soil needs our attention. Hopefully we'll have compost delivered soon which we can begin working into this clay.

2009-08-16 Farmer Adria's Report

2009-08-16T13:31:00.000-04:00

Here are a few pictures from our work on Saturday.

We had a lot of big helpers!

2009-08-15 Farmer Adria's Report

2009-08-15T20:49:00.001-04:00

This weekend was a big step forward for the DHS Community Garden. After discussing the creation of a larger open garden plot, we ultimately decided it would be best to clear the entire area of kudzu & brush, and put in several terraced plots.

So on Friday, I began work on clearing the lot. By Sunday I had worked over 16 hours and finished up just before a rain storm moved in.

Below are a few pictures and Youtube videos of the work being done. Hope you enjoy!

The machine I'm using here is a ASV RC-85.. it's a wonderful invention. This ASV is not quite as heavy as the equipment you see working on roadways, and has rubber tracks instead of the heavy steel pads on the bigger machines. But it can do jobs that smaller tractors wouldn't dream of completing. It's pretty easy to switch out the bucket attachment for the brush grapple (which I'm using in these pictures) or other tools. So they are pretty versatile too.

After the top layer of dirt & kudzu heads were scraped aside, I used the grapple rake to break up the hardened clay in the areas were the gardens would go. Even with a 5 ton, 85 horsepower track loader - breaking up the hardpan was very difficult. Imagine using shovels and picks to do the same work!

And a few Youtube videos: