Walk the Beet was a tremendous success with 25-30 people plugging in along the way to see how our gardens grow. I know I learned a lot!
At SARAH’S: We got to see how she is protecting her strawberries from the birds and her leaves from slugs and snails. Also how she and Bill battled the bamboo and won! After we toured all the gardens, Sarah also entertained us with a lovely lunch and some delicious gin and tonics! If you like, send an email to Sarah, as she still has some starts to share:
Slicing cucumber
Golden beets
Purple spinach
Green spinach
Red cabbage
Red heirloom lettuce
Snap peas
Shelling peas
Red radishes
Broccoli
Bush beans
At PATRICK’S: Ok, at first we could not find the veggie garden among the lovely perennials, but as we descended the slope into the ravine, an entire farm emerged! This garden is huge, phenomenal, and Patrick is a font of knowledge on everything from growing potatoes, to composting successfully, to using rain water to make your garden grow.
At NANCIE’S: These are three beds and a rockery on a severe slope - simple 18″ retaining walls have allowed me to even the planting field and put in more food than I ever thought possible. Today, I planted my 25th tomato start! And we are already eating mesclun and baby lettuces, butter head, giant radishes and baby scallions. Peas, beans, beets, peppers, parsley and patty pans are on their way….the theme here is “tri-color” - every veggie in assorted colors! Here are the starts available here if you’d like them (email me):
Oregano, Spearmint,Chocolate Mint, Chives, Lavender ( much, much of this!), Calendula, Chard, Bush Beans: Dragon’s Tongue, Bush Beans: Yellow Haricots Scott brought from Amsterdam!, Bush Beans: Tri-Color, Heirloom Sugar Pumpkins, Tri-Color Patty Pans and Zucchinis, Tomatillos
At ANNE’S: Anne’s is the most mature parking strip veggie garden we know - she (and Terry!) have been doing this for years. Their support structures, multi-seasonal approach, and general knowledge in this arena is amazing. Anne proposed at the end of the day that we institute a mentoring program, and we all agreed. Folks are welcome to contact any of us for one on one support, at your site or by phone or email, to help get your hands truly dirty and your green thumb to grow like a radish start….
At MARISA and JOHN’S: This is the place for extreme beauty of structure and cleverness of systems. The watering system, fruit, pea and tomato support structures, and crop affinity planning here is amazing. Swing by and see this at 4 West Raye. Welcome Marisa and John!
So there you have it. A positively blissful experience in which we all shared our inspirations, aspirations, confusion and knowledge. We hope to do it again toward harvest time, so we can all see what became of those lovely gardens we visited together this weekend . . . and enjoy some of their bounty, too.
Thanks for being there!
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