Garden Update, August

Costata Romanesca Zucchini*

The plants sown in our church garden this spring and early summer are on their last legs. There are still some tomatoes and okra growing, and the basil, oregano, and lemon balm remains vital, but everything else is pretty well tuckered out. This is probably the last week we'll have flowers and peppers; the tomatoes will be done in the next ten days or so.

Our water bill for the past 30 days broke two hundred bucks ($200). This is a shocking amount and is evidence that 1) it has been really hot, and 2) we need to discover and then implement ideas that will help us more effectively conserve the precious water we use. The drip system we installed earlier in the year (with Dave Stice's great help) made a dramatic contribution to reducing gardener labor, but it also seemed to waste some water as well: every place one pipe or value connects to another pipe or value leaks at least fractionally, and sometimes more. We'll have to come up with a solution.

As you know, we are interested in the garden's economic performance in addition to its other contributions to our mission of Building a Community of Hope. For example, the current value of the remaining produce and flowers isn't equal to the cost of water so your gardeners have stopped watering all annual plants. Perennial plants, like the blueberries and apple trees, will continue to be watered because our investment in them is "long term" and the fruits of our labor will appear only after year three or so.

How will our garden pay for itself? Two cost-benefit strategies seem best suited to meet our obligation to operate an at least cost neutral garden. First, we'll need to plant higher value produce. To that end, we'll thinking about putting in a hundred or so asparagus plants. The draw back is that we'll need to wait a couple of years before the plants are mature enough to eat. But, asparagus is expensive and we think the pay off will be worth it. We'll also plant more flowers since they have been a "hit" and everyone seems to like and enjoy them.

Secondly, and perhaps counter intuitively, we need to expand the garden and plant more intensively than we have. Due to the inexperience of one of our gardeners, for example, we planted varieties of squash that simply took over space and crowded out other plants: we won't do that again. We'll also plant garlic, Swiss card, spinach, kale, and turnips this year as soon as it turns cooler; that way the garden will be productive at least nine months of the year.

We're also thinking about a much expanded Children's Garden located in the large sunny patch behind His House and the storage shed at the back of the lot. If we use the same "bed & tread" technique used in the main garden, the Children's Garden can be equally productive--and fun for the kids because there won't be a lot of weeding required after the first year. Preparation for next spring begins--of course--now.

Your Community Gardeners thank the members for their support of the church garden, and we thank God for His genius in creating such a lovely place.


*Photo by Therese Warmus, a gardener in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota where zucchinis grow by the bushel and have nary a foe standing in the way of explosive growth.