Update: March 10th, 2009

Hello Everyone.

The freeze last week hurt some of the plants, so for those of you who are holding off because of the weather, that was a wise move.  We lost a basil plant, and it’s still to be determined whether or not the three tomato plants will bounce back.  A marigold was damaged, but I think it’ll be okay.  Lots of the green beans sprouted, then something wreaked havoc on them (I don’t know what), so we’ve got only 4 or 5 plants that I think will actually do well, which means that I need to plant some more.  Most of the carrots have sprouted, and everything else seems to be doing okay.

There were initially lots of people expressing interest in the garden, but only two families have actually planted something – my family, and the Johnsons.  Is it just that everyone’s waiting for the weather to warm up more, or has everyone suddenly found themselves too busy?  We do still have the entirety of the higher raised bed available, and half of one one of the smaller beds.  We have the material to build more, but we’re going to hold off on that, until we definitely have more interest and know that the new beds will be used.

So, if you’re interested, please write me (Chris) and let me know!

Update – Feb 18th, 2009

It’s been a week and a half since we built the first planting beds, and they’ve generated quite a lot of buzz, especially among the teachers watching the kids in the playground by the garden.  Two and a half beds are claimed, which means that we’ve got one and a half left to be claimed.  Sonia and I have started planting in one of them.  James Johnson and his family have claimed one, and the Elshires have claimed half of another.

Here are some pictures of what Sonia and I have planted.

Marigolds help to keep bugs away.

Swiss Chard adds more color to the garden, and it tastes great.

Once the weather warms up, these basil plants will be huge and fragrant.

In addition to marigolds, chard, and basil, we’ve planted three kinds of tomatoes – one of them is Brandywine, an heirloom variety, cucumbers, strawberries, two kinds of green beans, bell peppers, jalapenos, carrots, onions, cilantro, parsley, and chives.

On Square Foot Gardening

Because we’re using a fairly small amount of space for our garden, we’ll be using the Square Foot Gardening method.  This is a technique popularized by Mel Bartholomew, who wrote a book called Square Foot Gardning (surprise!).  The way it works it that you have planting beds which are divided into grids consisting of one foot squares, and you treat each square like a separate crop.

For instance, you can plant a bunch of carrots in one square, and two weeks later, plant more carrots in the square next to it.  This will ensure that you have a constant supply of carrots.  Once you harvest the first square, you can work some organic material back into the soil and plant something else there.  Managing small plots means less weeding, watering, cultivating – less work.  You’ll be surprised at how much you can produce in such a small space.

To read more, look at the links section on the right side of this page – especially the link regarding plant spacing.

Restarting the Garden!

Well, after an unexpected interruption in the garden, brought about by Ike, it’s time to get back to work on the garden.  I’ve been encouraged by the number of people who have been asking me about when we were going to get started again, and I’m excited about what this garden could do for St. Tim and for the community.

With winter on its way out, we need to break ground, and build some raised beds.  We can already be planting a few vegetables, like onions, spinach, and peas – and if you’ve never had raw sugar snap peas straight off of the vine, you’re missing out.  And in only a fewf weeks, it will be time to plant LOTS of stuff – broccoli, beans of all kinds, cucumbers, carrots, lettuce…

I’ll be looking to nail down a ground breaking day very soon, but I need to know what days and times are best for those of you who would like to be involved.  Also, how do you feel about having work days on Sundays after church?  Please submit some feedback on what would work best for you, and keep watching the site for updates.

Putting The Garden On Hold (?)

Due to Hurricane Ike, it looks like we need to put the garden on hold for now.  Many people are still without power, and many people (including myself) are still busy cleaning up the mess, either at their own homes or at other people’s homes, and lots of that will be occurring on Saturdays.

Now, having said that, we can still work on the garden on an individual basis, if you have the time to do so.  Remember that there has been some money donated towards purchasing materials for the garden.  If there are a sufficient number of you who are able to put some work into getting this started up, please let me know.  We need to begin by either creating some raised beds or simply tilling up some areas.

I had a dream last night about a garden full of herbs (I remember seeing lots of basil, in particular).  Could that have been God telling me to go ahead and plant herbs?  Would God care about something like that?  Absolutely!  It’s His Creation!  Could it have been merely a dream?  Of course.  Whatever the case, it doesn’t take much time to create some areas in which to plant some herbs, so, again, if you’ve got the time, let me know, and I’ll make sure the property is open for you to get in.

As I anticipate that I will be too busy over the next few weekends (I’ll be helping people in Baytown this weekend, and at a conference next weekend) to organize anything regarding our garden, I won’t be organizing any work days, but this is one way that using a web site can help us out.  If one of you want to organize a work day or two over the next few weeks, post a comment here on the site, and others can also respond via comments.

I will update the site again in a couple of weeks, and I’ll keep you posted on any work days that get planned.  Thanks for your patience as we get things cleaned up from the storm.  I hope that all of you are okay.

Breaking Ground!

The Fall planting season is upon us and it’s time to get stuff in the ground, so this Saturday (the 13th) at 9:30, we’re going to see if we can accomplish a few things.

• Using the palate of bricks we have, create 4 4×4′ planting beds
• Fill them with dirt and get some seeds/plants planted
• Till or otherwise create an area for the kids in the school to plant sunflowers
• Place mulch or gravel around the planting beds or along paths

I’ll be happy if we can just get the first two accomplished this weekend.  It will be a slow buildup at first, small steps at a time, and I’m hoping that as people see things happening, more people will get on board and get enthusiastic about what we’re seeking to accomplish.

So again, to reiterate….

WHEN:  Saturday, Sept 13th, 9:30 AM until noonish
WHERE:  St Tim, by the school playground
BRING (if possible): Clothes you can get grubby, a spade, shovel, hat, wheelbarrow, sunblock
ALSO: Bring plants or seeds you’d like to plant.  Please post comments here about what you plan to bring.

Even if you don’t have any of the tools, please come anyway.  The more the merrier.

See you there!

First Planning Meeting Scheduled

When: Saturday, Sept 6th, 10:00 AM

Where: @ St Timothy

Who: Anyone interested in helping out with the initial design and planning phases of the garden.

What: I’m hoping to accomplish at least three things.

1. Plan the basic layout of the garden
2. Decide what we’ll start off with (How many planting beds, just vegetables, just ornamental, etc…)
3. Decide whether or not we can have a pumpkin patch as a fundraiser for gardening supplies.  We’d obviously not be able to grow our own, which means that we’ll have to find somewhere to buy them inexpensively and then re-sell them.

Welcome

This is a new venture, one which we are just beginning here at St. Timothy, and we’re just in the initial planning stages, so it will be interesting to watch this thing unfold and evolve.  For now, this site will be primarily a means of communication between those of us who are involved in getting our garden going.  To find out more about where we hope to go, please look at the About Us link above.