Corn at Myers Middle School is getting near as high as the proverbial elephant’s eye.
We will keep our garden going and growing well into the cool days of autumn at Myers Middle School. In fact, we have started a few things already after Crem Dias and I made some plans about what would go where and when. We try to rotate our planting based on what was most recently planted in a given bed and what does and doesn’t grow well together.
We are planting now to have certain vegetables at their peak when the students return in September and will soon start vegetables that we plan to overwinter in our greenhouse or under hoops.
So below are some notes about what has been going on in our garden since late July. The bed numbers correspond to those on a plot plan we developed to help us keep track of what we plant where. We will post an image of this plan soon. But here is a guide for readers who have visited our garden: The first five beds are nearest to the trees in the garden and the homes on Kelton Court. Bed 1 is closest to the strawberry patch. Beds 6 through 10 and 11 through 15 are in successive rows moving toward the greenhouse.
On Tuesday, July 22, we planted in
- Bed 1 already had leeks and lettuce. We added seeds in rows of carrots – Scarlet Nantes, Cosmic Purple, Red Cored; beans – Yellow Pencil Pod, Yellow Bush; and Beets Cylindrical, Gold, Detroit Red.
On Tuesday, July 29, we planted in
- Bed 2 already had kale, kohlrabi, and dill. We added starts (or seedlings) of peas, red cabbage, and broccoli. These were left from last spring and managed to stick around long enough for us to plant them.
- Bed 5 started with some cucumber starts then added seeds of beans – Provider Bush; lettuce – Red Oak Leaf, Nevada (green), Red Planet Mix; and radishes – Cherry, French Breakfast.
- Bed 6 a couple of parsley starts
- Bed 10 some celery starts
- Greenhouse planted starts of curly kale, Dinosaur kale, red cabbage and parsley
We’ll keep you posted on more planting this month and next, along with some green manure or cover crops for the five beds we moved this spring to get them ready for next year. Of course, we’ll be putting in garlic in October.
Until then, stay tuned.
–Carolyn Keene
