Winter fundraising!

We are so lucky to have been awarded two concession opportunities at Mayo High School girls' basketball games. The first one is Friday, January 23, and the second is Friday, February 6. We will need 4 or 5 students for each evening and the time commitment is approximately 5 p.m. to about 9 p.m. We will be able to earn some sweet moola for our garden next summer. We could even expand our plots to 3 and get some great plants and supplies. Keep these dates in mind and let us know if you'd like to help sell concessions at either of these two games. See you then, and let's keep in touch!

September gardening

Our garden is winding down as the days get shorter, and we get back to school. We picked peppers, tomatoes, onions, and corn today, with lots of tomatoes still ripening. We are nearly done with harvesting most of our crop. Next week and following weeks, we will finish the tomato picking and later clean out our spot and save fencing and posts for next year's garden. We hope to do some fundraising over the fall and winter to help make our garden really great next year.

Beautiful weather, beautiful vegetables. . .

Harvest time is here. . .

We finally got to pick some amounts of vegetables from our garden to share. We picked corn, potatoes, onions, peppers, basil, eggplants. We had to do some major weed control as well, with a lot of helpers. There are a ton of tomatoes still ripening and more corn in the weeks to come. A little rain would definitely be nice. Join us next week for more picking, and enjoy our dirty potatoes video below!

Vegetable picking

Let's get together today, Wednesday, August 13, to pick some things from our garden. Potatoes are ready, tomatoes might be ready and we should check on our corn. Be ready to weed as needed, also.

We will meet at 6 p.m. Be sure to call if you need a ride. No need to water today, with our nice rainfall yesterday.

I feel the need. . .the need to weed!

UPDATE: Wednesday, July 30. Due to family vacation and other committments, we will not be able to meet today. If it doesn't rain before the weekend, we may assess the garden and possibly water on Sunday or Monday, if necessary. Check back to our blog for updated information. Thanks.

The weeds are thriving in our garden, and this week we should concentrate on cleaning out as many as we can. We will meet at about 6 p.m. on Wednesday to weed and possibly water, depending on soil conditions. See you there!

First munchables!

Update: Wednesday, July 16. Due to the severe heat index today, we will not meet at the garden. We were able to assess the garden condition this morning and do a little tilling early, before 8 a.m. The garden is not dry and weeds are mostly under control. Chances for rain look good this week, and we will try for next Wednesday. Zucchini are also ready from our garden.

We enjoyed our first edibles from the garden on Wednesday, kohlrabi, and if you've never tasted these crisp old world treats, you should! Our family garden always had them, and I remember many times picking them, but never arriving home with them intact.

We also watered, which proved the perfect charm to draw the nice rain shower we had today. The corn is about 2 feet high, and the tomatoes all have fruit on them. Rina helped us water, but we'd like more students out in the garden next week. Now that school is out, we miss you, and we'd like to get together in the garden. There are always weeds, and if necessary, watering. We'll get back to our regular Wednesday schedule now that the holiday is past.

Watering/weeding--July 9

Hopefully everyone had a great time over the holiday weekend watching fireworks and hanging out with family and friends. The small rain shower we had yesterday helped our garden a little, but there are many hot days ahead. So we will water and weed tomorrow at about 6. Plan for about an hour, with some juicy watermelon and cool drinks after we finish working. If you need a ride, be sure to call. See you there!

Garden Fence June 30

One more time. . .

OK. . .here's the deal. We will meet Monday, June 30, at 6 p.m. to finish the fence, have a little cookout, and celebrate the end of summer school and the Fourth of July. We will be out of town the rest of the week, and we won't be able to meet at our usual Wednesday time. We'll tidy up the garden, maybe till a little, have some fun, and get things ready to rest a little while. The rain has helped the watering situation, and hopefully, a little more rain will fall this coming week.

Remember to call if you need a ride, and sorry for all the rearranged plans the last few days. Again, 6 p.m. on Monday, June 30 for one last meeting in June before the holiday.

Saturday fence making

Update: Saturday morning, 8:20 a.m.--As you can see by the weather conditions, we won't be able to build our fence this morning. We will try again tomorrow morning, June 29, at 10 a.m., instead of 9.

See you then! Call if you need a ride.

Weeding and watering Wednesday

After a blisteringly hot week, our beautiful plants were thirsty for water. We had a great group helping this week. Thanks to all who helped! Seven students, four of which were first-timers, helped weed and water the garden. It is starting to look great, and the beans and radishes that we JUST planted last Wednesday are up. However, some rabbits are already munching our tender new beans, so a fence is a must ASAP!

A fence-building session with some tilling is planned for this Saturday morning, June 28 starting at 9 a.m.--to beat the heat of the day. Also, we will have a little tailgate picnic with some hot dogs and chips, so everyone is welcome. Work, visit, and enjoy the beautiful weather and our awesome garden. Remember to call if you need a ride. And hope, hope, hope for rain!

Watering Wednesday, June 25

Let's try for a later start on Wednesday, June 25. Maybe 6 p.m. would be better--hopefully it will be a better time schedule for most people, and the heat might not be quite as oppressive. Check back Wednesday for an update.

Watering and row planting

As wet as it was a week ago, our garden is already starting to get dry. So today we watered about 40 gallons of water from our tank. At right Raho and Farhiyo are amongst our beautiful tomato plants that have grown immensely since we planted them only 3 weeks ago. The wet rainy weather gave them a great headstart.
The rows we added today are radishes, carrots, beans, and lettuce. Our garden area is complete now, and we can concentrate on weeding and watering. Our fence is still not up, but hopefully that will be finished before next week. Now all we hope for is rain, rain, rain.

Tilling and weeding

Update: Wednesday, June 18--Join us at 5 p.m. today at our garden spot. We will have gorgeous weather to add some extra plants, a couple of seeded rows and most importantly, make our garden fence. Please call if you need a ride. We will meet participants at Marion Road apartments at approximately 4:45. See you there.
We did get out to the garden on Saturday, but only to till and weed for a while. We still need some help for the fence, but the garden plants are coming along wonderfully.

Here Jody and Farhan hoe some corn. All the seeds we planted are up--corn was about 3 or 4 inches high already. Potatoes were bushy and full. Tomatoes are healthy and strong.

On Wednesday, June 18, we will try to get our fence up at our usual time of 5 p.m. Please let us know if you want a ride. We will also be planting a few more rows of seeds.

Rained out again. . .Let's try for Saturday!

The weather has not been cooperating with our Wednesday schedule, but we really need to get in the garden and weed the rows and make the fence.

We will try to get to the garden on Saturday, June 14. We will aim for 1 p.m. Plan to spend a couple of hours. We will have plenty of work to do, and we can pick you up if you need a ride.

See you on Saturday, weather permitting. Cross your fingers!

Wednesday, June 4

Update: Wednesday, 2:18 p.m.--the weather looks clear for now. We will probably meet at the gardens to assess conditions, but cut some grass and measure for fencing, for sure. See you there at 5 p.m. Call Jody or Angie's cell for rides.

Due to the heavy rains since our last meeting, the garden is quite wet, which is good and bad. It's good because our newly planted seeds and plants need the rain, but bad because it's not good to walk around in the muddy soil and pack it down. Rainy weather is forecast again for Wednesday, June 4, so please check back on this blog website tomorrow afternoon ( 4:00 p.m.) to see if we will head over to cut grass or work on starting a fence. Last week's hail did not appear to damage our seedlings at all. Thanks! Remember, you can visit our garden any time, just be respectful of our plot and other plots around ours.

Planting slideshow

Our garden is in

We had a successful and fun first meeting at our garden plots. 7 students, 2 Master Gardeners, Jody and Jaime Hernandez, and Angie Yetterboe met and got most of the garden planted. We planted 2 types of sweet corn, 35 tomato plants, pumpkins, zucchini, eggplant, potatoes, onions, kohlrabi, sage, basil, and a large variety of peppers. Plants and seeds were all donated and our garden is ready waiting for rain.

Next week the Wednesday meeting will include a few more row plantings, watering and weeding. We will have the assistance of Master Gardeners for the first few weeks. We will always need help weeding and watering all summer. Check out our spot, #127 and 128. Let us know if you can donate fencing materials.

Planting Day--May 28

If you want to help start our plants, be at the Zumbro Park Community Gardens at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, May 28th. Our spaces are #127, 128. For a map to the gardens click here. We will review garden rules at the garden site.

We will bring tools, plants, seeds and any other necessary equipment. We will need helpers to plant and organize rows. We'll bring beverages and a light healthy snack. Plan to spend an hour or so working on Wednesday.

Welcome to our garden!

We are a group of English language learners from Mayo High School in Rochester, MN. Our goals are to learn new gardening methods, learn about plants and crops native to SE Minnesota, and to use healthy food that we grow in our daily diets. We will be meeting weekly at the Zumbro South Community Garden spot, off Mayowood Road. Please check back soon for updates on meeting times, directions to the garden, and how-to videos and photos. We'll be seeing you!