A Taste of Fall!

The City of Columbia went all out in presenting A Taste of Fall from the NOMA garden on Sunday, November 6, 2011. The rains could and did not dampen the spirit of comradery and cooperation felt by all.

The food was fantastic! The Platinum Pomegranate provided and served, Eggplant Tapenade, broccoli salad, vegetarian collard greens, sweet potato soup, turkey vegetable soup, tomato soup, and sweet potato soufflé.

Chocolate cake, carrot cake and brownies, with and without nuts, were provided by the High Heeled Homemaker.

Ed Brogdon of Back to Eden wowed us all with Blueberry, Strawberry and Rainbow Vegetable smoothies.  You really did not know you were drinking your vegetables! He also brought some smokin’ Stand Up-In-It chili that was awesome.

The food was great, the fellowship was priceless. Allison Baker expressed the City’s thanks and its pleasure in our garden and the City Community Garden program as a whole. Sarah Watson, the Richland County representative of The Greater Columbia Community Relations Council, pledged to take news of NOMA and the City’s Community Garden program back to the Council and seek ways to encourage the Council to become involved in this effort. Jacqueline Williams gave us a brief history of the development of the City Community Garden program and a encouraged us to look to what we should be working towards next year. Fred Monk spoke on behalf of the NOMA Garden and expressed the pleasure we all have discovered in our gardening experience.

We also had visitors. Friends of our gardeners came by, families stopped by with their kids, senior couples dropped in, and people who were walking or driving by, stopped and strolled through. Gordon was there too! The people I got to speak with were amazed at the gardens and all asked how they could participate.

The media was there, not only taking pictures and interviewing people, but joining us in the Feast and festivities as well.

This event was enjoyed by all and the city is looking forward to presenting A Taste of Spring!

Fall Crops Doing Well!!

We have been working so hard in the garden.  We finished planting our fall crops.  Collards, turnips, red, green and savoy cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts and of course, 4 types of lettuce!  Except for a bout with Cabbage Loopers, all is growing well.  Picures to follow!

Second Planting!!

Our garden is doing GREAT!!!!  We lost a few lettuces, collard and cabbage plants but... we have replaced them and look forward to a plemtiful and abundant harvest.

Bed 2, red sails and romaine!

The Lettuce should be ready in the next two weeks and if they are anything like the spring, I cant wait!!! Behind what looks like a tree at the back of the bed, we will plant some Mesculn lettuce mix.  The 'Tree"  is an African Blue Basil Plant that has attracted every 'BEE' in Columbia to our garden.

Red cabbage, Basil and Watermelon, OH MY!!!

 
The Collards, broccoli, Brussels sprouts will be ready for Thanksgiving.  I will begin posting recipes for healthy, but good, Thanksgiving dishes soon.

The Watermelons will not have time to fully ripen before the frost so... we will be pulling them up.  Don't fret, We will plant more Collards, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, OH MY!!!!

We also want to plant spinach and Swiss chard and stagger the planting of our greens so that we will have them through the new year!

Check out our salad dressing page for delicious, healthy dressings and and if there are any late eggplant or peppers, check out that recipe page and FIRE UP THE GRILL!!!!!

Year Round Vegetable Gardening Symposium 2011-1

Ed

 

 

Ed's front yard, year round  garden!

 
Our Partner, Ed Brogdon of  Back to Eden, held a Symposium on Year Round Vegetable Gardening on September 17 at the North Main Library. 

 Ed planted the seeds to put us in the mindset to plant and harvest year round!  He also left us with a wealth of knowledge concerning soil, fertilizers, spring and fall crops and doggonit, we just had FUN!

We will be at his next Symposium and if you missed this one, you should make plans to be at the next one too!!

More Lettuces and a "Stray"

The cool weather is GREAT for our lettuces!

Buttercrunch, Red Buttercrunch and a "Stray"

We added 8 Red Buttercrunch plants and 4 "stray" Buttercrunch on August 7 (our "stray "was accidentally left in the trunk of the car on the 5th.  It was perky and unharmed!) 

Red Romaine

We added more Red romaine plants!

  All plants were watered and all are looking good!!!

Starting to Plant For Fall!!

Fall planting!!!  We plan to have 2 ½ beds of lettuce and we will fill the rest with veggies!

Bed 1 Buttercrunch, Red Sails and Tat Soi

On August 5th we planted Buttercrunch, Red Buttercrunch and Red Sails Lettuce.  We also planted the Tat Soi seeds we saved from the lettuce we planted last spring. 

Romaine and Red Romaine

We also planted  12 lettuce 9 Red Romaine Lettuces.  We will fill out this bed with Mesclun lettuce mix.  We look forward to lettuce by the end of September. 

Bed 3 Four Georgia Collards up front. 

 Linda Planted a bed of lettuce form the seeds we saved from the spring plantings.  We also have four of our Georgia Collards planted in the front of the bed. The two green plants on the middle right and the left rear corner are "Volunteers" left over from Spring!!

Bed 4 Broccoli Collards up front, Georgia Top Collards in back

Along with the Lettuce we planted two types of collard greens

Bed 5 Brussels Sprouts and Broccoli

We have 16 Brussels Sprouts plants and 8 Broccoli.  Can't wait for the first Roasted Brussels Sprouts... YUMMMMMM!!! (The tall plant in the back is our Okra.  It is still producing and we hope to have Okra until the first frost.) 

Bed 5 Close up of Okra Plant

Bed 6Basil bush, Red and Green Cabbage, Watermelon

The Basil and the watermelon grew like wild fire after we prepped the beds with "Compost" material on August 6.  The Red and Green Cabbage are in the rows up front. We plan to plant more Cabbage and Brussels Sprouts when we take the Watermelon Vines up.  

Bed 6 Crimson Sweet

Bed 6Missouri Heirloom Yellow Watermelons

We will be planting more throughout September, look to hear how we are doing on Monday!!

Let's Catch Up!

I know it has been a long time and so much has happened.  Spring planting went well.  Our lettuce bed was spectacular!! Black Footed Simpson, Buttercrunch, Red Romaine, Winter Density and Tat Soi made for a wonderful salad mix.  Made believers out of us! The lettuce was so good; I refused to put store bought salad dressing on it! I just cannot bring myself to buy lettuce in the bag again. 

Our tomatoes were , hummmm, just OK.  We Had Ed Brogdon, of Back to Eden, help us out.  He let us know that we did not have enough compost so our tomatoes were mal-nourished, the yield was scant.  The Sun Gold Cherry tomatoes were somewhat prolific and we had a few Cherokee Purples and Green Zebra’s.  The ones we had were delicious and all were good enough to plant again next year!

We don’t want to talk about the squash.  After having beautiful, lush green plants with bright yellow blossoms, the squash began to turn yellow and wilt.  We fell prey to the Squash Borer.  That is a nasty little varmint that literally sucks the life out of the plant.  It seemed they between the Squash Borer and the Squash Bug, none of the gardeners had a decent squash crop.  We will either plant very early next year or not at all. 

The white and green Cucumbers were wonderful, again the yield was off due to poorly augmented soil, but this was a learning experience for us.  

None of the beans did well, but that will not deter us from planting again next year.

 Ed put us in touch with the Bright Morningstar Horse Ranch in Blythewood, SC.  Ranch manager, James Smith arranged for us to scoop some poop!  On August 6, Gordon’s Gardeners went out to the right Morningstar Ranch in Blythewood, SC and we up three pickup trucks full of poop to augment our soil for our fall planting.  We can’t thank Ed, James and the Bright Morningstar Ranch enough!

We loaded six beds with our bounty.  Three weeks later, the Okra plants had grown at least two feet and the scrawny little basil plant is a bush.  The African Blue Basil covers the entire bed!  We are so excited for the fall planting!  

Our partnership with Azeez Mustafa, the first and largest African American organic farm in the state of South Carolina had given us some creds!   We are now producing members of SCF Organic Farms, a cooperative of farms based in Sumter SC.   We look to be certified Organic before the end of the year. 

We Are Garden of the Month for May

Thank you NoMa Community garden!!!  We are such proud veggie parents and we thank you for naming our lettuce as your first  Garden of the Month.   A special thanks to Azeez Mustafa and his wife for believing in us and for providing us with some Killer Lettuce plants!!!

The Latest from our Garden!

Cucumbers and African Blue Basil

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 These are the latest pictures of our Gordon's produce.  We are excited about our pending harvest!  Please check out our recipe pages for new ways to use our veggies!

The basil is so fragrant, I have used it in my spaghetti sauce and it was great!  Can't wait to use it with our tomatoes!
The cucumbers are awesome.  Check our recipe page for a twist on cukes and vinegar

 

Green Zebra, Black Krim, Cherokee Purple, Sun Gold and Mortgage Heirloom Tomatoes

The tomatoes...what can I say!  
The Heirloom Sun Gold cherry tomatoes are off the chain!! They are the sweetest cherry tomatoes I have ever had.









 Our Heirloom Black Krim tomatoes promise to be a real treat.  This tomato is originally from the Isle of Krim on the Black Sea in the former Soviet Union.It will be a gem!  This rare, and outstanding tomato yields a slightly flattened dark-red (mahogany-colored) slightly maroon, beefsteak tomatoes with deep green shoulders. Green gel around seeds. Fantastic, intense, slightly salty taste (which is great for those not wanting to add salt to their tomatoes).

Green Zebra tomatoes

Our Heirloom Green Zebra's  are unusual and exquisite tomato.   The 2-inch round fruit ripens to a yellow-gold with dark-green zebra-like stripes. The flesh is lime-emerald green in color and has an invigorating lemon-lime flavor. A great tomato for brightening up salads and other tomato dishes

Bush Beans and beets

Our beets have not rooted.  I pulled up one plant looking for beets... alas there were none!  I did use the tops in my salad!!

I have already had a handful of these beans.  I love beans, I eat them raw!  I blanched these, added some lemon juice and tossed them in a salad  (made with our lettuce of course!)  They were delicious!  Recipes for healthy green bean dishes will be found on our Recipe Page!

Green tint and white patty pan, crook and straight neck and zucchini squash

I fried up two of the crook neck squash from our garden along with three Straight necks from Ed's garden and they were delicious!  

Seems like nobody had heard of or had Patty Pan Squash...I am waiting for two more Patty Pans so I can fry them up as well.

Pending Harvest!!

 

Look what was hiding under the cucumber vine!

     

Terry, Linda, Sarah, Donald and I were at the garden on Sunday evening.  We weeded, watered, planted yellow and red watermelons and two additional Sun Gold cherry tomato plants.


It is time for some new recipes for our harvest! Check our recipe page for delicious ways to use our squash and cucumbers.

Look at the bush beans at the top.  They are doing GREAT!!  We should have bush beans before the end of the month.

So Much Has Happened!!

  So much has happened!!   Time and circumstances has not let us get to the garden as much as we would like, but Look at what has happened!

First of all thanks to Linda, Annette,  Terry, Donald, Sarah and  all others that have helped us water and weed! For a while there it looked like the weeds would win, but we conquered for now.   We are so proud of being named Garden of the Month.  We are blessed with an awesome team who God uses in a mighty way! 

The has been much speculation about the almost five foot tall flower in Bed 33  We think it is a Sunflower, but it looks like something out of the Invasion of the Body Snatchers.  If it starts dropping pods, I'm gonna RUN!!!!!!!

Our FIRST Purple Cherokee tomatoes!

The garden is doing really well.  We have fruit on the tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet and hot peppers and squash.  Our lettuce is still going strong!  We are all enjoying salads.  Our fellow gardener, Andrew watered our lettuce for s for the few days we could not get to do it.  Thanks Andrew, and I hope you enjoyed your lettuce!!
 

Our FIRST Green Zebra tomatoes

Our FIRST cuke!!

Linda "accidentally" ate our first cherry tomato yesterday.  She said it was the sweetest tomato she had ever had!  She said  we need to plant more Sun Gold tomato plants.   I will swing by Woodley's and get a couple today.

Look at  the size of those squash leaves?  They are HUGE.  We have lots of blossoms, and we fear the squash will be squished.  Linda will be thinning them out today, replanting some of the smaller squash in one of our other beds.

Bush beans and beets

Bed 5 on April 26

Bed 5 on May 18

We will be planting our last bed today.  Small yellow meat watermelons and Crimson Sweets, and carrots!  We have a plethora of seeds, so will also plant a little bit more of this and a little bit more of that. 

Well, I think we caught up on everything, more pictures will follow (can't find my camera cord), will post more tomorrow.

WLTX Meets Gordon's Gardners!

Lauren Talarico, WLTX Producer,  came out to the garden last week and did an excellent story on the community garden.  A 'breaking news story' prevented it airing that night, but it did air yesterday.  She took lots pictures and interviewed several of the gardeners.  

Auntie Karen and Gordon's Garden got some air time too!! Here is the link to the interview,  WLTX News Story            

Our First Harvest, Gordon's Lettuce Mix

Annette, Sarah and Joan hauled two 40 lb bags each of mushroom compost and peat moss to prepare Gordon’s fifth bed on yesterday evening.  We raked all of that organic material into the soil along with plant food to get the bed for planting.  Annette and Joan planted a half row of white cucumbers and a half row of bush beans while Sarah was a weeding Wonder, weeding the entire lettuce bed.

Linda joined us and we all took a final look at the back half of the green and beet bed.  The general consensus was that we either did not plant anything there or, what we planted was NOT growing.  So we turned to soil over and re-planted it with Lima beans.  Linda and Annette re-staked some of our tomatoes, they are growing taller everyday!

Weeding Wonder, Sarah continued her prowess and weeded the tomato bed.  The basil is sprouting up all over the tomato bed and Sarah  planted the marigolds n the tomato beds as well.   

Annette harvested our first lettuce.  We picked a little of each, Winter Density, Black Seeded Simpson, Buttercrunch, Red Romaine and Tatsoi.  If we keep the bed watered, we should have lettuce through May!

SIDEBAR:    Linda dropped a bag of Gordon's Lettuce Mix off for Karen.  When I talked to Karen she raved about how good it was!  

 
I had a Gordon's Lettuce Mix salad for lunch today.  I added some spring onions (from Azeeze's organic farm), feta cheese, grilled salmon and I topped it with a homemade, Strawberry Vinaigrette dressing (see recipe page)  The homemade dressings are so flavorful.  They make a perfect topping to our fresh picked lettuce!

We ended our evening by watering all of the babies and toddlers. 

Out, darn'd weeds! out, I say!

Thanks to Tractor Supply Co. in Irmo for their donation to the garden.  We got 12, 6 foot bamboo tomato stakes, a garden fertilizer sprayer and three packages of seeds, 2 marigolds and 1 Chives.  We must name a bed for Tractor Supply Co.and make sure they get pictures.

Thanks to Priscilla, Mr. reed and JC at the Lowe's in Harbison.  Lowe's donated 2 bags of peat moss, 3 bags of mushroom compost and 12 pair of garden gloves.  We can finish bed 5 and start on bed 6 thanks to them.  Another bed, named for Lowe's!

Gordon met a new friend, Dean Chanter, last evening!  Dean was out tending his garden when we got there.  He is known as the Food Dude in Cola, FoodDudeincola@gmail.com.  He is a personal chef and he is interested in working with us, cooking with the kids and recipes!  We have video, but…  I need a few minutes to figure out how to post it!!  Thanks Dean!

 

Annette, Barbara and Sarah, tat soi on the ground

Annette, Barbara and Sarah weeded the lettuce and squash beds last night.  The weeds proliferate... we need a concentrated effort to get rid of them this weekend.   Look at that beautiful  tat soi on the far end!  I braised some for dinner last night and boy, was it good.  Can't wait for our harvest!!

The lettuce will be ready to harvest this weekend.   Have you tried one of the dressings on our recipe page yet?

Heirloom Sun Gold, Green Zebra and Cherokee Purple

The plants we got from Mr. Mustafa have come alive.  Ingenuity was the keyword to our ‘staking’ process! Bamboo, knitting yarn… you can imagine the rest!   We need to finish the job this weekend.  

Heirloom Green Zebra and Cherokee Purple

Some of our tomato plants are at least a foot tall.  The sun Gold cherry tomatoes are full of blossoms!   Some of our Heirloom indeterminate plants were bending over.  We MUST get some cages or we are at risk for losing them.    

Heirloom Rutgers

Our Heirloom Rutgers, determinant tomatoes, are blossoming as well..

Growth Spurt... Reaching Toddler-Hood

Boy, when I said rainwater was an elixir, I didn't realize how potent it could be!  Our garden is lush, green and growing!  Sarah and I were there on Thursday evening.  Things looked really good so, we didn't water.  We didn't get to the garden on Friday or Saturday.  Sunday, were we SUPRISED! 

The tomato plants are no longer babies, they have reached toddler-hood!  They grew at least 3-4 inches taller and have grown fat little stems since Thursday.  Both the cherry tomatoes and the determinant tomatoes have blossoms! 

Sad news, we lost three sunflower plants.  We also lost two tomato plants and two are struggling but all others look good.  The toddler tomatoes really NEED some Fish Emulsion,($11.00 at Lowe's) and  If the tomatoes continue to grow at this rate we will also need at least 10 tomato stakes and 14 tomato cages very, very soon!

The sweet and hot peppers have grown 2-3 inches and all are bright green and bushy!

The squash beds are growing.  The cukes are coming along.  The beets are still little slow but new leaves sprout through every day! 

The lettuce and tat soi bed is full, Lettuce soon!!

Thanks to Linda and Lisa for watering the babies last week! 

Thanks to Uncle Donald!  He called today and offered to get into our watering rotation.  He also wants to help us plant out last beds.  Speaking of beds, we are still in need of 6 bags of Mushroom compost to finish our prep work. 

Is Your Fairy Status In Jeopardy!

Linda, our Morning Water the Garden Elf, checked yesterday and the garden was still moist from the previous day's watering.  The cool weather is somewhat reducing our workload.  Elf Linda reports the babies are fine, growing like weeds... I mean plants! 

We are still in need of a Fairy Godmother or Godfather to help us with the materials to complete our last two beds.  Are you about to lose your Wish Granting Fairy status? Are you in jeopardy of having your Wand revoked and your Fairy Dust suspended?  Are there any Fairy Godmothers or Godfathers out there who need Good Deed Continuing Education credits in order to keep their license to wand?

We would be glad to help you keep your Fairy status in tact and your wands spewing dust!  5 bags of mushroom compost, a bottle of Fish emulsion and a few tomato cages and stakes, are high on our list.  Any contribution will bring you current on your dues.   

If your wand has already been suspended, come and help us weed, rake, hoe and plant.  You may earn enough Containing Education credits to restore your privileges.  

Leave a comment and one of Gordon’s Gardeners will contact you.   

Gordon says THANKS!!

Meet Our Lettuce!

Every time we miss a day, things seem to shoot up overnight!  We won't get out to the garden again before Sunday so, I expect the beds will be in full bloom! 

Ahhhhh, rainwater, natures garden elixir!  Nothing is any better then God and Mother Nature tending your garden for you!  Thank you Lord, for the RAIN!!

The lettuce is looking good... The rains will probably make them ready for a harvest some time next week.  Since we are not in the garden today, let me take the time to introduce you to our Lettuce bed.  

Winter Density

Winter Density is heat and frost tolerant for an all season selection.  It has dark green leaves and heads that are tightly folded and rounded in when mature.  The texture is a cross between a Buttercrunch and a romaine with good flavor throughout the season.

 

Buttercrunch

Buttercrunch Holds into the fall without bolting, and as the weather turns cool, it gets even sweeter!
It is similar to bibb types but with thick, juicy green leaves and a small tight head. You'll appreciate Buttercrunch maintaining its sweetness during summers' heat without turning bitter.

Black Seeded Simpson

Black Seeded Simpson withstands a lot of adverse conditions including some drought, frost, and heat.  It

is an old favorite, both because of its flavor and because of its earliness.

Tat Soi

Tatsoi has sturdy emerald spoon-shaped leaves with a sweet, earthy, mustardy taste.The stalks are sweet and almost creamy. The texture is similar to mache, but much heartier. This green is popular in spring mix/mesclun mixtures.

It is low in calories yet high in minerals, vitamins, and health-promoting antioxidants.  Tatsoi is high in beta-carotene and Vitamins A, C, and K; they also have good amounts of calcium, potassium, phosphorous and iron.
Mix with lettuces and other greens; drizzle with dressing or vinaigrette. Steam, wilt, lightly stir fry or sauté and serve as an accompaniment to chicken, fish, or other proteins or as a cooked, chilled salad. Toss in soups for flavor and texture or use as a bed or garnish. Substitute for basil in pesto. Use quickly after harvesting.

Red Romain

Red Romaine, a colorful romaine lettuce with leaves in shades of red, bronze and green. Flavor is somewhat tart and spicy. Best color and flavor are achieved when grown in the cooler parts of the growing season.

We will be ready for salad soon. To keep it healthy, check out some of our homemade salad dressings on our recipe page!  

Everything is growing...Including the WEEDS

We are looking good! Sarah and Joan watered the beds late this afternoon.  Everything is growing, including WEEDS!!   We pulled the grassy looking ones, BUT virtual gardener that I am, I can't tell if the others are weeds or not.  Can anyone help a virtual gardener out!!

We still need mushroom compost to finish our last beds.  we need mulch and fish emulsion for the tomatoes.  We need a new 75 ft, lightweight hose.  Right now, we are fighting Godzilla the hose!  He is old, tangled and hard to manage.  Check our wish list page for our other needs and donate if you can.

Gordon Needs a Hand

Sarah, Terry and I stopped by the garden after we went to the Earth Day event at the museum. We watered all of the beds.  The squash are poppin' up all over the bed and the beets are multiplying!  There are cucumber sprouting up where there was dirt yesterday.  It seems things grow overnight. 

The tomatoes need food, they like Fish emulsion.  Does anybody want to sponsor, Feed a Tomato Plant? We will name the plant after you!!

The lettuce and tat soi look good.  We may have a harvest in the next two weeks.  Check out the homemade salad dressing recipe page on the blog for some delicious alternatives to store bought.

We are hoping for rain,  hope with us!

Our last two beds need to be planted by Friday.  We need 6 bags of mushroom compost and a bag of peat moss to complete preparing the beds. We also need some help planting the last seeds.

Sarah, Barbara, Lisa and I will not be at the garden on Saturday.  We will be at a workshop on the Scf Organic Farm in Sumter.  If you can work on Saturday, contact me and let me know.

Cherry Tomato Plants Are Blooming!!!

Sun Gold

Sarah and I watered the beds after the Press Conference.  I pulled the dead leaves and suckers off of the tomato plants. Suckers are the branches of a tomato that grow out of a leaf axil, where the leaf meets the stem.  A leaf AXIL is the angle between the upper side of a leaf or stem and the supporting stem or branch.  (Not bad 'Mater language for a city girl!)  

Isis Candy

The lettuce and tat soi are looking good.  We will probably have a lettuce harvest in the next two weeks!  

Green Tint Patty Pan Squash

The Green Tint and White Patty Pan squash are coming up. 

Crosby's Egyptian Beets

The beets are peeking through

  Green Bush Beans 

               

                                                           

The green Bush Beans are awesome!  We will plant more in our last two beds!

Keep checking in!  We have to prep and plant out last two beds by FRIDAY!  Any new gardeners out there want to help?