P-Patch Harvest Banquet

So Saturday was the P Patch Harvest Banquet. I was a little wishy washy on whether or not I wanted to go; it was all the way down in Jefferson Park, I wasn't feeling motiviated, I had homework, blah blah blah.  At the last minute I got a ride, so I whipped up another impromptu salad (where I ponder what I have on hand and then at the last minute thrown a bunch of stuff in a bowl and call it good).  Got a ride with a p-patcher named Jamie, and headed on down.  She was on the setup committee so we went early and I helped set up.

It was fun; I immediately found a lovely little older lady who was having problems cutting out tags, so I took over the scissors, she took over the folding, and we made short work of it.

I then helped to set up the flowers on the tables; filled jars with waters, made little arrangements...

Dahlias!

We had a big ol' banquet dinner, with everyone bringing the fruits of their labor.  Lots of veggie dishes, lots of desserts...

Banquet table...salads galore, potato and pea curry, sweet & sour, potato salad, kale salad, sticky rice, vinegary beets, and so much more than I can remember

Dessert table; while I'm not generally a dessert girl, there was a delicious apple crisp. 

I partook of a LOT of it.  Mmmmm.....

And even though I'm not a big dessert girl, I do like apple crisp and I LOVE whipped cream.  So there is a little piece of apple crisp under this pile of whipped cream.  NOMS!

After dinner there were some videos and speakers, including City Council Member Jean Godden.  :)

All in all it was a pretty good turnout with lots of South Seattle P-Patchers.






I also came home with a butt-ton of seeds!  All kinds of cukes; burpless, english, pickling:  some radishes; watermelon and black:  kitchen herbs, flowers, and who knows what else.  Got some organic fertilizer and leek starts.

It was a nice relaxing/productive day that partly counted toward my volunteer hours for the garden (bonus!), and I got to bring some of the flowers home with me!  :)

























 

Saturday at the P-Patch

I took a break from rates, principles, and interest problems on Saturday to go plant my starts in the p-patch before they died from lack of oxygen and light in my car trunk.  When I got there, I met a woman named Julie.  Julia is a couple of years older than I, has friendly blue eyes and a spark of vitality that I am very drawn to.  She is enthusiastic about the garden and developing the more social/community aspect of the place and I am ALL OVER that kind of stuff.  So we chatted quite awhile, she gave me a jalapeno pepper, and I gave her my card and said if you ever want help, let me know, I'm here and rarin' to go!

Julia was accompanied by very handsome chocolate lab named Johann. And while he is mostly a refined gentleman of about 7 or 8, sometimes his enthusiasm gets the best of him.  And of course, no dog on earth (or at least no lab, chocolate or otherwise) can resist the wiles of my knees, so naturally he made a dash for them and proceeded to lick them, much to my utter dismay and barely suppressed revulsion. I managed to calm myself down, however, and get the upper hand (somewhat), and get the bugger off my knees and to a more manageable area of the body like my extremely outstretched hand.  Once we got to know each other a little more I calmed down, he calmed down, and he charmed me with his love of broccoli. I've never heard of such a thing, although apparently this is not uncommon. 

Anyway, after a little schmooze I went to my own little p-patch to plant my starts:  white russian kale, gourmet lettuces (including one called "freckles," I think), and some chard du suisse.  :) 

My Starts.  Lettuces on the lower right, chard lower left, kale top left, sage top right.
Starts.  Notice I went clockwise; that's because in school I'm working on the unit circle and the circle
goes that way.  Sage in Quadrant I, lettuce in quadrant II, Chard in Quadrant III, Kale in Quadrant IV.  ;O)
 


Everybody's planted  and water, in two straight lines, like Madeline.  








After that, Julia came to look at my garden and say goodbye, and then I went home to do more homework. And that is the story of the P-Patch for Saturday, October 6th.

Abandoned Plot?

So I went up to the patch last night, as promised, to help Bo weed the plot she's taking care of for her friends while they're out of town.  But, no Bo.  So I went ahead and helped myself to the huge, brown mounds of dry, dusty, crusty, dead plant matter, and managed to fill up a whole bag of it, hopefully freeing up  some room for the existing green, healthy plants to stretch their little limbs and grow.

Watered my plot, it's looking a little healthier.  The starts that my neighboring gardener are about 1/2 successful, I think; of course it was coming dark so when I planted them I was in a major hurry, so I think I did the best I could.  Next weekend I will need to get some garden soil and some starts from Sky Nursery.  I called them yesterday and the lady said they just got a new shipment in:

• spinach
• kale
• lettuces
• onions
• swiss chard
• pak choi
• arugula
• mustard
• beets
• artichokes

Of course I was so excited I could just plotz!  I can't wait to go up there.  Need a little more cash first though.  I figure I'll pick up some kale, chard, and dirt and that should get me going nicely.

I think I will refer to THIS source for some kale growing tips:

http://gentleworld.org/kale-an-easy-beginners-guide-to-growing/

I met a lady there, her name was Tammy.  She's one year older than I and also recently experienced a breakup.  She and a friend of hers have been visiting the garden periodically, and have been doing some community gardening.  She told me a story of one plot that is overgrown with weeds and not very well maintained.  Apparently, the woman that was in charge of it is a women who is in her 90s and was taking the BUS to the plot!  Now her tomatoes are ripening and all sorts of stuff is going on in there, people are throwing their detritus in there, and they haven't seen her for quite awhile, so they have been working to clean up her patch.  We are going to try and get hold of the p-patch coordinator and find out what happened to this poor lady, and see if maybe we can harvest some of her veggies and bring them to her.  I'll meet up with her tonight; and if she's not there, I'll just get in and do some weeding.

Thus continues the saga of the P-Patch. 

Time and Space

So Monday night I went up to the garden and watered the living crap out of it.  We are having temps in the 80s and dry weather as far out as the weather people are willing to predict, so I want to make sure everything has a chance.  So there was watering, raking, trench-digging, soaking, etc. 

Last night I decided to go up and make sure my plot didn't need another drink.  I wasn't sure that I would spend any time there; after all, nothing's really growing yet, the seeds haven't had time to germinate, weeds haven't had time to grow; and do you know I STILL managed to stay til dark?  My friend Trish said "it'll suck up as much time as you let it," which I find absolutely perfect.  I decided not to water since the ground still looked a little damp, but will definitely go give it a drink tonight.

I didn't meet anyone new but I pulled the yellowing leaves from the plants that are there, pulled up a couple of the green leafy whatever-it-is to try and cook, and picked some more dead plant debris from the dirt.

And remembered to take a picture of one of these little guys.  They grow in my garden as well, and though I'm sure they are not good for it, they sure are beautiful.  :)

Garden snail on my knee

A New Garden, A New Chapter

So this past month has been tough.  It's been very discouraging, sad and tough.  But, in an amazing stroke of luck, fate, providence or what have you, I got a 200 square foot plot in the Jackson Park P-Patch.  :)  What a wonderful way to deal with the hurt and the grief.

First view of the patch

So I got the wonderful news on the 11th of September and I was so excited I couldn't stand myself.  

"Hello your name just came up on the  Jackson Park Patch wait list.

Jackson Park  is located on 13049 10th Ave NE.

Everybody got your bearings? Ok if you’re interested in a plot please contact me right away, and I will let you know the next steps to organic gardening bliss!

You can either email me or call, info at the bottom.

Deadline to respond= 9/14/12"

I think it took me a whole 8 minutes to respond!  On Friday the 14th, I met with the volunteer coordinator, who showed me my plot, introduced me to a couple of p-patchers, and showed me around.  Here was my first view; dry as a bone, plants gone to seed, etc.   It was a pile of weeds, but it was MY pile of weeds!  <3

In quick order, I had the pile pulled and ready for dispatch.  I got some yard waste bags but managed to compost most of the greenery, then on Saturday I got the ground kind of raked and watered.  

Cleaned up!

In the time it took me to clean this up, I did not think about the recent circumstances of my life; I felt peaceful and calm and happy.   Gardening is a truly wonderful thing.

Abandoned turnips!

I was excited to see that the previous gardener had abandoned some turnips!

Behind the p-patch

Behind the patch is a beautiful forest.  The sun shines through so beautifully, and this picture doesn't even do it justice.

So I have been there 3 times now since Friday.  It's Monday.  :)  I met several p-patchers, and one of them gave me some of her asian veggie starts.  I am hoping that they are going to do well.  I also planted some seeds; hopefully they'll take.   Lettuce, radishes, beets, radishes and cabbage.   I want to plant some kale as well.

I am looking forward to springtime, when I can fill my plot with all kinds of wonderful things. Perhaps I will plant some tulips and other spring bulbs.  

Tonight when I was there I saw 2 bats, met 3 new people, and got 2 mosquito bites along with my incredibly dirty hands.  It was a great evening.