Some Like it Hot!


If you're anything like me, you've suffered during the horrible heat wave of 2012. You've sweated profusely, drinking water or gator aid constantly, and hibernating in the great air conditioned indoors as much as possible. The garden, however, didn't have a choice.  It had to take the heat.

I'm happy to report that some plants like it hot.  Beans, eggplants, okra, squash, tomatoes, and peppers thrive in the heat, as long as they receive adequate water. These are all short season, hot weather vegetables.  In fact, some of these veggies won't thrive until the temperature starts to rise.  Squash and melon seeds will not germinate if the soil is too cool, and can be planted as late as the fourth of July.

I managed to plant most of my summer garden and am watching the tomatoes, peppers, and beans grow by leaps and bounds. The weeds are also growing like -well - weeds and sometimes getting ahead of me.  (More on that in my next post.)  I'm watering and fertilizing often, eagerly anticipating the taste of my first ripe tomato, which I intend to eat in the garden, with the juice dribbling down my chin.  Sigh...I'm glad that some vegetables like it hot.

-Christina Scheltema, aka Brookland Garden Lady        

Gardeners enjoy beautiful weather for the June cleanup!

After an evening of torrential downpours Friday night, the skies parted on Saturday and the sun came out for a perfect-weather cleanup workday!  Lots of gardeners came out to work together on:

* maintaining our community compost bins
* building the 9th (and final!!) raised bed
* weeding our new rain garden
* weedwhacking & general maintenance
* rebuilding the woodchip pathways
* inventorying our communal tools

and then joined with the Neighborhood Farm Initiative to share a garden-themed potluck!

Thanks everyone who came out to work

Travis Jones Leads Troop 524 in Installing a Demonstration Garden at Mamie Lee!

When the Mamie Lee Garden was granted funds from the National Park Foundation in order to improve our garden infrastructure, the goal was always to simultaneously enhance community relations, resulting in a high-visibility model community garden in the nation’s capital, offering interpretive educational and outreach opportunities, and encouraging interaction with the park from both adult and youth members of the ethnically diverse and vibrant community living adjacent to our garden.

 

     The Garden in October 2008,                                               Same view May 2012 after
         before any improvements                                            installation of fence & planter beds

Last summer, Suzanne Richardson of Abbey Gardens landscape design and garden installation services began designing us a beautiful series of raised beds and a beautiful garden entryway, which included a fruit tree espalier, banana tree, and 3 whimsical animal topiary forms to welcome everyone into the garden.  However, one of the challenges of gardening on public land is of course getting the proper permits and approvals for every aspect of every project, and unfortunately most of the design was returned to us as being non-compliant with Park regulations. Suzanne was brilliant to work with, and she back to the drawing board and returned a new design featuring a variety of perennial non-woody native flowers and grasses, herbs, and annual flowers.

About the same time as we felt the specific varieties of proposed plants had been shown to so many employees that approval must be imminent, I was contacted by Rock Creek Park's Volunteer Program Coordinator, Scott, who had received a phone call from Ms Anita Jordan about her son who wanted to do his Eagle Scout project with Rock Creek Park, but near Fort Totten.  Her son, Travis Jones, is a member of Boy Scout Troop 524 under direction of scoutmaster Mr. Jamil Smart, and he was hoping to finish his project in time to achieve Eagle Scout honor at the next court of honor later this summer.  It seemed like a perfect match, so I met with Travis after our first garden cleanup back at the beginning of March to discuss the project.  He was eager to get started as soon as possible, but we were still waiting on the permit for construction of the raised beds. As time went on, we were both grew worried about meeting our deadlines, but thankfully the Rock Creek Park employees worked with us to expedite the permitting process (thank you all again!)


We worked for 11 hours on Saturday and finished up with a 4-hour workday on Sunday, with many Boy Scout moms and dads joining in to work alongside their sons.  



The final product is something we are all really proud of, and have gotten a lot of compliments already from many passersby on the pedestrian pathway.

 

June 2011 saw the first fence posts being installed    Same view May 2012 after completion of 
                                                                                                         fence & planter beds

Travis Jones and Troop 524 who installed the planters                      Proud mothers of Troop 524

It's also really gratifying to see the students from Mamie Lee School with their teachers out enjoying the new planter beds!  Suzanne had specifically chosen varieties of plants that have peculiar “sensory” qualities, so that the students can enjoy interacting with the planter beds as horticultural therapy.  Thanks to Ms Lechner for all your work in the garden, and for these photos!

                   Mamie Lee students enjoying the new planter beds

spring has sprung

It's early spring, but some plots in the garden are full of green (and purple and yellow and red, too). Most of the plots have been cleared of debris and tilled -- and a few gardeners have already planted and started to see the fruits of their labor.

I took a few pictures this week and plan to take more as the plants grow. Already we can see lettuces, tomatoes, eggplant, artichoke, onions, and lots of herbs.

swiss chard

wild mint (which grows plentifully all over the garden)

variety of lettuces

baby beets

More pictures from the garden this week can be seen here. (I'm not sure what all of them are -- so please leave a comment below if you're able to identify any.)

Introducing our bloggers...

Hello gardeners!  My green thumb is itching! Is yours?  I'd like to introduce myself and the team of Mamie D. Lee Garden bloggers.

I am a lifelong gardener, and this is my second community garden. Sadly, the Brookland Community Garden, which I helped to found, closed so that the property could be developed. I was thrilled to find the Mamie D. Lee garden four years ago. Since then, I've renovated the soil in my plot, grown artichokes, tomatoes, eggplant, all kinds of peppers, and red sunflowers. I'll be writing on a variety of garden related topics.

Here's the rest of the team:

Sara Brown tends the compost and will be writing about that and other things.

Salem Pearce is an experienced blogger who will be writing on various topics.

Patricia Florescu will be interviewing gardeners and taking photos of the garden throughout the growing season.

Bea Trickett, blog creator, urban farmer, and garden manager extraordinaire writes on a variety of topics.

Please let us know if you'd like us to write about a specific topic. Happy gardening!

Christina (Chris) Scheltema aka Brookland Garden Lady      

First gardener meeting of 2012

Thank you to everybody who made it out to our rescheduled spring meeting on Saturday March 10th!  We got a head start on digging up the pathways, rearranged the toolshed area, sifted and sorted materials in the community compost piles, and some industrious gardeners even got started weeding and tilling their plots.  This warm early spring weather has us off to a good start for 2012!

Introducing....your row captains!

Monthly Garden Row Competition

In 2012, the Mamie Lee Garden Executive Committee is introducing a friendly garden row competition – the purpose of this contest is to provide incentive for gardeners who actively follow the rules and cultivate productive garden plots.  By naming 8 teams (known as “Garden Rows”), each consisting of a wide range of gardener backgrounds and skill levels, the committee’s goal is to foster team spirit and community connections while introducing friendly competition and rewards to the gardeners who are able to work together to make their row the best gardens possible!

On or about the 15^th of each month throughout the growing season (March-November), a quorum of the Executive Committee will conduct a walk-through of the garden and score each of the 8 rows on their compliance with garden rules.  Gardeners who belong to the row which receives the highest number of points in a given month will receive a small prize!  At the end of the season, the Row Captain whose row has received the most wins throughout the season will win an additional prize to thank them for their leadership.

Here are the overall rules as they apply to the Garden Row Competition:

·         A row will be named the winner once each month.

·         There can only be one winner per month.  If there is a tie, the tie breaker will be decided by counting the number of plants that are growing in the Row Captain’s garden.  The one with the most plants (excluding weeds) wins.

·         There is no limit to the number of times the same row can win the monthly competition.

·         The contest is intended to be kept light and friendly – no purposeful malice toward other garden rows will be tolerated.

The Executive Committee will calculate the winning Garden Row by using the point system below.  A row can earn bonus points or lose points.

Points will be awarded in these categories:

+        10 points for 80% or higher of the plots in the row are up to garden code

+        10 points for 50% or higher participation on cleanup workdays

+        10 Points for 80% or higher number of plots planted according to the minimum plot planting deadlines (By May 50%, by June 1 90%, etc.) refer to garden rules set by executive committee.

Bonus Points:

+        20 points if 100% of gardens in the row are up to code

+        20 points for 100% participation on cleanup workdays

+        10 points for donating 5% of a garden to non-profit food bank (i.e., Food and Friends)

+        10 points for tilling/preparing a senior’s garden who needs the assistance

+        10 points for each gardener in the row who has put in at least 3 hours/month on the Tool, Compost, and/or Fundraising Committees

Points will be deducted for:

-          5 points for each code violation in the row

-          5 points for leaving hoses in walkways

-          5 points for community tools left out in garden plots

-          5 points for debris in garden that is not organic, basically bottles, cans paper…litter in general.

-          10 points per garden plot along whose edges the gardener fails to maintain clean walkways – defined as wood chips with minimum weeds (more chips than crabgrass)

Please contact your Row Captain or a member of the Executive Committee with any questions!

Here are your captains for 2012:

Row 1: Phil Cristano
Row 2: Terry Chang
Row 3: Sarah Shoenfeld
Row 4: Harry Bell & Tim Schwab
Row 5: Michael Lamm
Row 6: Steve Horwitz
Row 7: Cathy Anderton
Row 8: Kristin Georger

Welcome back!

February 1, 2012

Dear Mamie D. Lee Community Gardeners,

Spring is fast approaching and as we enjoy some warm days, we are reminded that we have garden business to attend to.  The Executive Committee will be collecting gardening fees and membership contracts this month.

If you are planning on returning to the MDL garden please read and sign the membership contract, and return it along with your payment by February 15 to secure your plot. If you do NOT want your garden plot anymore, please reply as soon as possible so we can turn it over to a new gardener.


 Here is a list of important dates for this garden season - unless otherwise stated, events are at10am at the garden:


Saturday March 3 (rain date March 10th):               Mandatory Annual Meeting andFirst Garden Cleanup


Saturday April 7 (rain date April 14th):                     Garden Cleanup Workday

Tuesday May 1st:                                                     GARDENS SHOULD BE CLEARED AND                                                                                                TILLED BY MAY 1ST

Saturday May 5 (rain date May 12th):                       Garden Cleanup Workday

Saturday June 2 (rain date June 9th):                        Garden Cleanup Workday

Saturday July 7 (rain date July 14th):                         Garden Cleanup Workday

Saturday August 4 (rain date August 11th):            Garden Cleanup Workday

Saturday Sept 8 (rain date Sept 15th):                      Garden Cleanup Workday

Saturday Oct 6 (rain date Oct 13th):                           Final Garden Cleanup Workday

Friday November 30th:                                               Garden season ends.  Gardeners who                                                                                   wish to continue gardening during the period                                                                                   between the first day of December and the                                                                                   last day of February should inform the                                                                                   garden manager.


Please contact a member of the Executive Committee with any questions or concerns.  Thanks in advance for your timely return of the contract and payments.


Please note that checks will not be cashed until we receive a signed gardener contract to accompany the payment.


We’re all very excited about the 2012 gardening season, and look forward to seeing you at the garden on March 3rd!