March 2023
Tuesdays seem like a bad day for rain. Last Tuesday’s (21st) storm left its mark with blown down signs and the bee house…plus a lot of water. We’ll wait for things to dry out and repair the damage. Fortunately all the main structures (shed and green house) made it through OK. At least we know that they can withstand a bomb cyclone.
We are recovering from all the rain (I never thought I’d think we were getting too much rain) and getting ready to prepare the beds for the coming spring planting: getting seedlings started, cutting back the cover crops, laying down compost, repairing some of the beds, working with our food partners to see what they would like us to grow the year.
Judy was mentioned in a nice article in the Independence Mar 2 edition concerning her work as a Master Gardener.
We received a letter from the Culinary Angels thanking us for our 2022 harvest. They placed a value of $3,200 on our contributions. Thanks to Elizabeth and Ed Boyd who pick up our harvest for the Culinary Angels. They donated their outside table to Clare’s Food Garden which we were happy to place next to our shed for help in dealing with our harvests. Thanks also to Michael Eloia of the Lucky Garden in Dublin. He donated a number of special potting soil bags to our garden which are very useful for starting our seeds for the spring and summer crops.
Our winter vegetables -varieties of kale, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Bok choy, spinach, and Brussel sprouts are growing well and we harvest them on Saturdays for the Culinary Angels.
Our cover crops in three large beds are also growing nicely which is important to help improve the soil. We have planted an area of fava beans, another good
February 2023
Work days in February will be Saturday, the 4th, the 11th, 18th, and the 25th.
Our heavy winter rains washed away some of the mulch we had spread all around the garden and the rain resulted in several large puddles. Fortunately, the garden beds and the raised beds did not suffer from all the rain and wind. Our small greenhouse was impacted by the wind and we will be repositioning it. Our winter vegetables -varieties of kale, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Bok choy, spinach, and Brussel sprouts are growing well and we harvest them on Saturdays for the Culinary Angels. We have also planted a lot of garlic and onions.
Our cover crops in three large beds are also growing nicely which is important to help improve the soil. We have planted an area of fava beans, another good cover crop, and from those plants we will be able to harvest leaves and the young beans for the Culinary Angels.
January 2023
The rains are over for now and we’re drying off. No damage, just a lot of puddles. We did get a nice note from Culinary Angels thanking us for our food contribution. It translates to $9790.97 monetarily.
January sure came in with a splash(!) with huge amounts of rain over the first two weeks…and more expected. While we in California are always appreciative, I wish Mother Nature would dial it back for a few weeks so we can get back into the garden.
December
Clare’s Food Garden 2022 Report Judy Matthew Jennifer Whitehouse
This has been our garden’s second year and we have seen an increase in our food production for La Familia and the Culinary Angels.
2022 was a busy year for Clare’s Food Garden:
- We produced 2,738 pounds of food including tomatoes, winter and summer squash, potatoes, onions, garlic, sweet potatoes, micro greens, fava beans, pumpkins, and a variety of herbs, peppers and winter vegetables from collard greens to cauliflower.
- The gardeners who tend to the church land give us all the leaves they gather around the church and mowed grass which are both beneficial for our compost production.
- Kathy Oliver and Shirley Eastman worked with Home Depot to get a discount for a greenhouse for our garden. The Livermore Amador Velley Garden Club also gave us a $100 donation to help us meet the greenhouse cost. We have set the greenhouse up next to one of the church’s sheds.
- During this year we added 10 raised beds to the garden to increase the area for growing food.
- In October we planted cover crops in our 4 large garden beds to help increase soil organic matter, leading to improvements in soil structure, stability, and increased moisture and nutrient holding capacity for future plantings.
- Now the winter vegetables in the raised beds include kale, collards, broccoli cabbage, cauliflower, Bok choy, spinach, Brussels sprouts, garlic, onions and fava beans.
- In April and in October we have received two loads of StopWaste compost for use in our garden beds and in the pollinator garden.
- We have added four fruit trees to our orchard area. This included 2 apple trees donated by a church member, one orange tree and a white guava tree donated by Jennifer Whitehouse.
- With the help of Sarah Lee, a succulent expert, we have created a long bed of succulent plants next to the sidewalk. This section of the garden will require minimum water. Some succulent plants will grow flowers to help our pollinators and some plants will produce edible leaves for harvest.
- We have improved our pollinator garden with the addition of new plants, some donated by church members and Jennifer Whitehouse.
- We have produced 4 large batches of compost from our compost bins which we add to our soil to improve its quality and to save water by helping the soil hold moisture.
- The garden has received furniture and a nice variety of important tools donated by members of the Livermore Amador Valley Garden Club and St. Clare’s church.
- Shelving for the greenhouse was an Eagle Scout Project by Yash Troop #908
Clare’s Food Garden 2023 projects include:
- Work on our irrigation system to improve it so that we do not waste any water.
- A better production of pumpkins for the church school kids.
- Growing string beans and more cucumbers for an increased food production for the La Familia group.
- Increasing the total amount of our harvest to benefit the Culinary Angels and La Familia.
Clare’s Garden has settled into winter, which means cover crops and winter vegetables. They are all growing well and we continue to harvest for Culinary Angels
You don’t expect marigolds in the winter, however we have found one, Mexican Bush marigolds (Tagetes lemmonii) which seems to be doing very well and is still flowering and attracting pollinators
Our winter vegetables -varieties of kale, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Bok choy, spinach and Brussel sprouts – are growing well. We have also planted a lot of garlic and will be planting onion seedlings later this month.
Our cover crops in three large beds are just beginning to sprout. They will increase soil organic matter; improve soil fertility and they also raise our soil moisture holding capacity. We have planted an area of fava beans which are another good cover crop and from those plants we will be able to harvest leaves and the young beans for the Culinary Angels. We have harvested a little more than 2,000 pounds of vegetables this year from May to November. We are glad to help La Familia and the Culinary Angels.
Special thank you to Lydia Roberts who donated an impressive variety of gardening tools and items to Clare’s Food Garden.
November
Here’s something I came across. I think it describes gardeners pretty well.
We finished up our summer crops today by pulling out the rest of the tomato plants (lots of green tomatoes and the last 4 red ones) and harvesting the sweet potatoes from the hugelkulture bed. Now we’re putting in some alliums and cover cropping the beds. All told, we grew and donated 2029 lbs of produce this year–May 7-November 2.
La Familia is hosting a Dia de Muertos event at the Civic Center Library, 1188 S. Livermore Ave in Livermore on Nov 5th from 12:00 – 3;00. Call Lupita Barratino at 925.273-4220 for more information
Today a Master Gardener friend of Judy, Patti Joki, donated to Clare’s her 10 year old special compost bin. She also gave us a nice stack of big cardboard pieces. Judy and her husband put the cardboard next to the palm trees. Then they placed the compost bin next to our 3 wooden bins. It’ll be fun to see how we can make compost in this rotating special bin.
October
We are near the end of harvesting tomatoes, peppers, squash and a variety of herbs for La Familia and the Culinary Angels. In a few weeks we will be removing these vegetables and planting cover crops to help increase soil organic matter, leading to improvements in soil structure, stability, and increased moisture and nutrient holding capacity for future plant growth. We will also be planting winter vegetables in several raised beds.
We have started to plant winter vegetables in our raised beds. They include varieties of kale, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Bok choy, spinach and Brussel sprouts. Garlic and several onion types will also be planted soon. We are preparing our 4 large garden beds for cover crops to help increase soil organic matter leading to improvements in soil structure, stability, and increased moisture and nutrient holding capacity for our future plant growth.
We were happy to host the TVGC Edible Garden Group today (22nd). We had a great talk by Diane about everything you ever wanted to know about raising chickens (who knew they were good to meditate with!). Bill also talked chickens, as well mulching strategies, and led an interesting discussion about SB1383 which requires all jurisdictions to provide organic waste collection services to residents and businesses. While is is good, it does have a downside because it disallows individuals from composting themselves.
The Livermore-Amador Valley Garden Club is hosting a presentation by Vernon Lewis, Ph.D. this Thursday (OCT 13) entitled “Good insects and bad ones–how do I tell the difference?” The Zoom meeting is scheduled to start at 7:00. For more information, visit www.lavgc.org
Judy has had really good luck with these perennial sunflowers
We have decided to turn an area along the Clare’s Garden front next to the sidewalk into a succulent garden. Some of these plants produce flowers which attract a wide variety of pollinators. They are drought resistant plants and many are hardy easy plants to care for with unique shapes, sizes and colors. Also important to us, is that some varieties of succulents produce edible leaves which we will add to our harvest. Our friend, Sarah Lee, a knowledgeable succulent gardener, will be helping us establish this special area.
With help from Sarah Lee, we have established a special succulent garden in the area right next to the sidewalk. Some of these plants will produce flowers which attract a wide variety of pollinators. The succulents are drought resistant plants and many are hardy and easy plants to care for with unique shapes, sizes and colors. Also important to us, is that some varieties of succulents produce edible leaves which we will add to our harvest for the Culinary Angels.
Clare’s Food Garden gets a nice visit from many birds. Our pollinator garden has a variety of native plants which local birds love because they provide a great food source year-round including berries, seeds, and nectar. We do not prune the dead flowers off of the plants – such as sunflowers and scabiosa because they contain seeds that attract the birds. Yesterday we received a unique gift from a neighbor – a pretty container of bird seeds with a nice note. Thank you.
We had some extra help today from a church member and her daughters.
September
Our garden has very nice summer harvesting for La Familia on Wednesdays and the Culinary Angels on Saturdays. The harvest includes tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers and a variety of herbs from purslane to lemon grass. We just received a very nice set of shelves for our greenhouse as an Eagle Scout project by Yash Sheler. Our hügelkultur bed is once again proving to be a very productive location for plants. Pumpkins and sweet potatoes are growing extremely well there.
10 cubic yards (that’s enough to bury a small car) of compost from Stop Waste delivered
The compost bins continue to crank out compost. It was 150o F in the middle
There was a good article https://www.latimes.com/lifestyle/story/2022-09-01/gardening-helps-mental-health in the LA Times about how gardening can extend your life and reduce stress. It’s basically a paean to gardening by the author and references studies showing cortisol reduction in people after spending 10-20 min, 2-3 times a week in a garden or woodland
August
LVAGC Annual Tomato Tasting this Saturday, Aug 27 at the Creekside Barn next to the Eden Garden at Crosswinds Church in Livermore
Zoopoop delivery Saturday. Thanks Rob.
Claire's Food Garden 