Flowers and veggies

 Leftover plants and herbs from the spring plant sale were planted in the community garden this year.











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Several gardeners planted sunflowers.

Marigolds line the corner plot.

Our NNR grant was renewed this year.

Okra and sunflowers.




It's our best vegetable harvest ever this year.

One potato, two potato

The 2014 harvest is well underway. Master Gardeners had planted a large section of the community garden in potatoes last spring and started harvesting last month on Thursdays. Then, last week they decided to dig up the rest, producing a 109-pound bounty to be donated to local food pantries.

Betsy found a potato shaped just like a duckling, complete with little wing and an eye.

The grandson of one master gardener found an arrowhead in the potato patch.

In all, the community garden produced 260 pounds of vegetables for donation that one day.

Plant Sale June 26

Master Gardeners will offer for sale their own home-grown plants as well as divisions from Mountain Valley Park. The sale will take place during the Thursday night market on the Square in Hayesville.

Community Garden plows ahead for 2014

 

While out in the midst of a long workday in the garden, we learned that our Nourishing North Carolina grant had been renewed. Great news!

We emptied out the shed, took it apart, and put it back together on a firmer foundation.

Individual plots were roped off. We have 20 plots available this summer. Fewer pathways means slightly larger plots this year.

We cut apart seed potatoes to be planted across the "back 40" of the garden.

Potatoes were planted in a depression about one foot apart and covered slightly. Once the potatoes sprout, we will go back and add more soil over the tops.

Extension agent Silas Brown used a tractor to push back the weeds and level a spot for the shed.

Master Gardeners dig for the plant sale

Master Gardener Volunteers Debbie Foster and Nancy Meldram divide Siberian iris for the plant sale on Saturday, May 10 and again on May 17.

Debbie Greenspon is dividing an unusual type of hosta, Stiletto, for the plant sale.

Over 100 plants were divided and potted up for the sale which will be held on square in Hayesville.

Other perennials dug from Mountain Valley Park are canna, evening primrose, chrysanthemum, blue salvia, and starts from the yellow jasmine vines.

A discovery: Ground Cherries!

The garden was thriving in August. The scouts' plot has been producing tomatoes, and peppers. We discovered that an unusual plant had volunteered in their plot and several others: ground cherries. It's a tiny treat in a husk that isn't expected to grow well in the South.

How Our Garden Grows!

The community garden has sprouted again with new folks taking plots this spring. It is fascinating to see the different methods employed in the new gardens...

Will this guy scare off the crows that plucked out the corn seedlings last summer?

Beans and corn planted together- the vines will climb the corn stalks.

Different weed barriers this year. Carpet does the job here.

Purchased landscape fabric is a good choice.

Others are using newspaper and/or cardboard under hay mulch.

Raised beds are great when the soil gets soggy from excess rain.