fotos from the garden

bird poop tomato. don't worry, it's still good!

zucchini-bonanza!

zinnia flowers, so pretty.

you avid readers, it has been awhile! I've been reflecting on only have 3 more weeks before my VISTA term is ended. the looming thought of unemployment makes me sad and a bit uncomfortable. But, while I truly enjoy this job, I also strongly want to move to Portland by the end of August. if I can both move & get a job in PDX, I will be very thankful indeed. to come, lists! 01. things to do in MI before moving 02. things to do in PDX.

it's zucchini season! hurrah! a gardener at Towar already harvested a bucketful of them & was so kind as to give me some. I will be making bread tonight. I think zucchinis are quiet cute in the way they grow from the plant (see 2nd foto above).

tah-dah! so, I finished the community garden tour poster early last week & it has since gone to the printer & into the windows of Lansing businesses. if you live in the Ingham area, you should come on out! details:

July 27, 2010 Bike Tour @ 5:30P Location: Letts Comm. Center
1220 W. Kalamazoo
Lansing, MI 48915

July 29, 2010 Bus Tour @ 5:30P
Location: Foster Resource Center
2401 Marcus Street
Lansing, MI‎ 48912

pest management: it works!
I have a hard time catching cucumber beetles, because they are smart & quick to fly away. i'm having great success with an oil & soap spray. the spray makes it harder for the bugs to fly away, so I can catch them and oil smothers the bugs anyways. I feel a bit destructive killing bugs, but it must be done. on that note, only use spray if you are sure there are destructive plant eating bugs. the spray is indiscriminate & will kill the bugs it comes into contact with.
recipe:

1T oil (I used canola)
1T biodegradable liquid soap
1C water

mix all ingredients in a spray bottle & give it a shake.
you're all set to defend plants from bugs!

a foto of our bug foe. you can see he has been sprayed from the bubbles on the leaf.

picked from Demo garden, raspberries with yogurt

late post, but lots to show. so, here is my piece of graph paper that shows how the food bank plot at Towar is laid out. the brown filled in areas represent the little pathways between each row of plants. the dates are: day planted to expected harvest date.

when i planted acorn squash, i had read that putting aluminum foil around the base of the stem deters squash borers. so far it seems it is working. the two fotos on the left show the aluminum and then the plant with its hole-free leaves. the foto on the right is from the row of hubbard squash i planted later and used as a control group to compare the acorns squash to. i have found lots of cucumber beetles (little yellow striped ones) and some CO beetles (orange heads, black stripe bodies) on the hubbards and no squash borers yet. today i made a mixture of water, dab of liquid soap, 1.5t of garlic powder, and 1t of cayenne pepper in a spray bottle. i have yet to spray the plants, but we'll see if it keeps away all the little munchers.

on tuesday, i sprayed the tomatoes, squashes, peppers (ryan's plot), and zucchinis (also ryan's) with diluted skim milk. the mixture prevents mildew from growing on the leaves. i'll have to take some fotos, but a plant is infected if you find a white dusty layer on the leaves. then the leaves shrivel up and die. mildew arises in poor air circulation, overcrowding of plants, or high humidity. you can also prune some leaves to help create better airflow.

in other news, apparently VISTAs don't get shirts like other Americorp members? Boo.