Planting Peas in March

Today some of us adult volunteers planted pea seeds in the garden.  We planted the heirloom varieties Lincoln(shell pea) and Cascadia(snap pea).  They do not need staking since they only grow to about 3ft tall, they support each other.  We planted them three inches apart intensively.  Intensively means three inches apart on all sides, not in rows.  They will be ready to harvest in about 70 days.
Peas have enchanted humans for thousands of years.  Dried peas were found in 7000 year old burial sites in Europe.  They originally were cultivated in the Eastern Mediterranean.  They were a standby of the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans.

Free Garden Clinic Saturday July 30th- Organic Pest Management

Save the date for Parkdale Community Garden's second gardening clinic. On Saturday, July 30 at 9:00 a.m. at Parkdale Elementary School (park in the Girard Avenue parking lot and walk around back to the garden), Gayle and Mike Thorpe, owners of Thorpes' Organic Family Farm, will give a presentation on organic pest management. Learn how Gayle and Mike battle bugs, weeds, fungus, and other pestilence using organic methods.

Free Garden Clinic Wednesday May 25th 6:30pm

We’re excited that Ken Brown, long-time host of WBEN's The Home Garden Show, former Cornell Cooperative Extension Agent, and owner of Field of Dreams Farm, a cut-your-own Christmas tree farm in South Wales, has agreed to teach the PCG’s first community gardening clinic. The clinic will run from 6:30-7:15 during the open house. Ken’s topic is “gardening fundamentals” and will cover: Soil fundamentals and amendments, Garden planning and planting and Garden maintenance. Look for future community garden clinics on organic pest and weed control and food preservation.

Parkdale Community Garden Awarded $2000 from Lowes

We just received fantastic news! Lowes is giving the Parkdale Community Garden $2000 to start a school wide composting program! We are soo thrilled. The science and ecological lessons to be learned from composting are incredible.

How to Harvest Popcorn

Pick the popcorn when the stalks have dried out. The kernels should be hard and nearly dry. Strip away the dried husks. Cure the corn in a warm dry place (like strung up over the heaters in the classroom) for 4-6 weeks. You could also store them in a mesh bag or nylon stockings in a warm dry place.

After 4-6 weeks of curing wear gloves to protect your hands and grasp the corn at both ends firmly. Twist your hands in opposite directions until the kernels pop out. Once the kernels start falling off they will come off more easily. Pop immediately or store in an airtight container for up to 4 months.

Harvesting Sunflower Seeds

Sunflower seeds are highly nutritious and a kid friendly snack. Harvest the seeds when the back of the flowers have turned brown or yellow then bring the sunflower heads indoors to a dry airy place. Once the seeds have totally dried they will easily fall from the head when rubbed with your hand. Soak the seeds overnight with salted water. Drain them the next day and roast in a single layer on a cookie sheet for a couple hours at 150-200 degrees Fahrenheit. Store the roasted seeds in an airtight container set in a cool, dry place until ready to eat.

To save seeds for next year put the dry(not roasted) seeds in paper envelopes and label them. They will be ready to sow next June by our students again!

Powdery Mildew

Yuck, powdery mildew has devastated our squash and pumpkin efforts. This common fungus first started in our cucumber patch in late July, we didn't catch it early enough and then the air born spores migrated their way to our zucchini plants. We still were able to harvest a substantial amount of zucchinis but it definitely cut our season short. By mid August the powdery mildew ravaged our blue ballet squash and small sugar pumpkin plants (part of our Iroquois Three Sisters Garden). The fruit of the squash and pumpkin plants are still hanging on but we are not sure for how much longer. We were hoping to harvest the squash in mid October but we might have to pick it sooner in order to save it. We will try to "keep" it for as long as we can so the second grade can use it in their Harvest celebration in November.

We treated the effected leaves by spraying them with a mixture of baking soda(natural fungicide) and water. This seemed to slow down the spread but next year if this happens we will start our treatment earlier and more aggressively. In the meantime we will look into ways to prevent this from happening next year.