Friday, August 14, 2009

The Fruits of our Labour

The Landless Gardeners are in the gardens with fervour! Our tasks mostly consist of a little bit of weeding and harvesting! Veggies are popping up everywhere these days. We are enjoying new potatoes, huge beats, lettuce & kale, peas, & beans. The carrots are still growing... trying to plump up to a decent size. Our onions are beginning to peep out from the ground and our tomatoes tend to ripen one at a time amongst the huge clusters of green fruit!

Harvesting some of the potatoes on Tuesday (once the flowers have bloomed and died, you can harvest potatoes. At this stage they will be small and thin-skinned. Potatoes can be left in the ground to grow further and get their thick-skins)we decided to try out using "crop residue" (the organic material that builds soil) to help nourish our soil. Crop residue can also help prevent erosion. So instead of composting the leafy green part of the potato, we spread it out over the top of the now empty rows to decompose and makes its way back into our soil that has been working so hard to produce those delicious potatoes.

We also took time Tuesday to talk about future plans and upcoming events that the Landless Gardeners are looking to be a part of. So look for us in the coming weeks and months (more details coming)as we share food and spread our name at a Fredericton block party, the Concervation Council's 100 Mile Dinner, and collaborating with some other Fredericton groups to host a presentation by Jon Steinman of Deconstructing Dinner (www.deconstructingdinner.ca)here in Fredericton for the public. We'll keep you posted!

Until next time, keep diggin'

--The Landless Gardeners