Hi Interns & Gardeners!

It's official--we have BEES!  Thanks to Dr. James Wilkes, chair of Computer Science and owner of family-run Faith Mountain Farms, and Master Beekeeper, we now have a bee hive in our garden!!

And what a great place to find bee food:

YUM!

ASU Edible Schoolyard gardener Kenneth Kirksey said he had some critters that were munching his vegetables.  For your organic pest control needs we have in the garden shed: diatomaceous earth (see http://www.ghorganics.com/DiatomaceousEarth.html)--a fine powder, be careful not to inhale.  It is in a big 40lb bag.  We have Neem Oil Fungicide-Miticite-Insecticide spray to combat blackspot, powdery mildew, rust, spider mites, aphids, whiteflies and we have Serenade Garden Disease Control spray that helps control bacteria and bacterial leaf blight, bacterial speck, bacterial mold, black rot/black crown rot, botrytis, downy mildew, early blight, fire blight, gray mold, late blight, leaf spots, pin rot, powdery mildew, and scab.

Kenneth's Square Foot Garden:

We also now have a "punkin patch."  I've planted butternut squash, pie pumpkins, and hubbard squash.  If you'd like to add some more, we can expand the patch.  See it below.

I also want to urge you all to make use of our wonderful selection of herbs in the Edible Schoolyard.  We have oregano, lemon balm, several different varieties of thyme, sage, lavender, a couple of mints, borage, feverfew, valerian, and we will be planting a few more this week.

Let me, too, encourage you to share your recipes throughout the season.  I have a great recipe for a vanilla lavender cake that is scrumptious!  I'll dig it out and post it on the blog.

See you in the garden!!
- Debbie

2013 ASU ESY Garden - In the Beginning.....

Welcome ASU Edible Schoolyard Gardeners and Interns to our 2013 growing season!!!  I am so happy to have our adopt-a-plots all filled with such a diverse group of gardeners this year.

I want to start out with a few well-deserved thank yous:
A BIG THANKS to Staff Senate, University College, and the College of Arts and Sciences for their generous financial support of the ESY.  This support will make a tremendous difference in the garden this year.

Thanks to Mike Bauer (my hubby) and Dave Walker (ESY Intern) for volunteering their time and skills to put together and place our new cedar raised beds in the garden.  They look just great!  I look forward to seeing them all filled and flourishing.

Thanks to ASU Landscaping for delivering much needed topsoil, compost and mulch for the garden.  We'll probably need some more real soon for the rest of the raised beds.

Thanks to Monique Eckerd, Biology animal lab and fellow gardner, for bringing bunny poo to the garden AND Thanks to the Humane Society's SNIPS herb sale for a donation of leftover plants for the garden, which Monique also dropped off.

Thanks in advance for our three enthusiastic ESY interns this summer: Dave Walker, Eric Tise, and Katy Willis. I can't wait to get started with you in the garden and see what great projects you have in mind.


Thanks to Chip Hope, instructor for SD's Pest Control Management course this summer, who will be donating some vegetable and herb starts to the garden.

And thanks to all you wonderful gardeners for adopting a plot at the ESY.  If this rain will ever stop, we'll have a fantastic harvest!

Here's some photos of spring in the garden:

See ya'll in the garden!
- Debbie Bauer, ESY Garden Manager, 2013

August in the Edible Schoolyard

August in the ESY.  An exciting time!  The garden is in full production.  We are placing veggies in our "help yourself" basket almost everyday.  I've been canning bread and butter pickles, bread and butter squash pickles, salsa and marinara.  We are all are having a field day harvesting all the different tomatoes: sungold, blue indigo, cherokee red, chocolate stripey, black krim, black cherry, uglies, yellow pear, grape, and cherry to name a few. 
Fortunately I think all of us harvested plenty of tomatoes before the blight hit.  The plants are starting to look pretty ugly, but there are still quite a few tomatoes that haven't been affected.


Made a pot of some delicious kohlrabi (recipe below) and a gorgeous chopped salad topped with delicate nasturtiums.  Fresh salad almost every night!   I heard someone say that braised cucumbers were sublime.  Anyone have a recipe?

Kohlrabi (adapted from my German Grandma's recipe which really didn't have any amounts; it's kinda like cooking collard greens)
Remove the leaves and tough spine and tear or chop
Peel and slice or cube kohlrabi bulb
Dice one onion
Dice a few potatoes
Vegetable broth or chicken broth
Water
Apple cider
salt and pepper to taste

Cook the kohlrabi bulb in broth, water and apple cider.  For 2 large bulbs, I used about 2 cups of broth and a cup each of water and apple cider.  You may need to add some more broth or water as needed.

When the kohlrabi bulb is almost tender add the leaves and potatoes.  Cook until all is tender.

Eat!!!  Yum!!!

Here are some photos of the August garden:

 A nice big praying mantis on Ben's tomatoes

 

 Intern Ben

 Itty bitty cucumber

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Happy Harvest!