After two nights of rain and warm weather, everything grew exponentially in my #communityGarden plot.
After two nights of rain and warm weather, everything grew exponentially in my #communityGarden plot.
The side of the bed is richer and happier with rain.
I took this photo before I planted some green onions, too.
From top to bottom:
1. Coreopsis (Florida native)
2. Bitter melon vines
3. Roselle- Caribbean Sorrel
4. Rue
5. Milkweed (Florida native)
6. African Marigold
7. Sage
8. Thai chillies
9. Mexican Mint
10. Longevity spinach
11. New Zealand spinach
12. Green onion (not in photo)
13. Unknown basil seedlings (someone gave me the seedlings from their bed. They also don't know the variety. We will learn in a few weeks.)
A guy came to me and told me that I am not going to get anything from my experiment raised bed because I am doing it wrong. :) I think he didn’t understand the concept of experimenting. Well. I will keep trying till I succeed. Also, with each failure, I am learning a lot.
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An excellent resource from #EcoMaine!
"Did you know that almost a third of what we throw away is leftover or spoiled food? If Maine is to achieve a 50% recycling rate, we need to recover our food waste, too – it’s worth the weight!
"ecomaine added food waste recycling to our sustainable waste management solutions in order to help Maine reach its recycling goal. We continue to build food waste recycling capacity in southern Maine, serving as a central collection point for grocery stores, institutions, and participating cities and towns.
"Collected food waste is transported to #ExeterME’s #AgriEnergy [#AgricycleEnergy] to be de-packaged and anaerobically digested to produce sustainable power, organic farm #fertilizer, and cow bedding for the #Maine family dairy farm #StonyvaleFarm. Any packaging removed from the food waste is delivered back to ecomaine to be burned for energy—keeping all of it out of our #landfills!
"By making #composting, anaerobic digestion, and food waste recycling so easy, we encourage our communities to dispose of their waste responsibly.
"For more on compost that’s 'Worth The Weight,' check out our informational pamphlet!
#BackyardComposting
"Backyard composting is one of the easiest ways to keep organic material out of the trash. It also has some other great advantages:
- It doesn’t weigh your trash down as much.
- It doesn’t get into ecomaine‘s waste-to-energy plant, making our combustion more damp and less efficient.
- It’s easy – and “grass-cycling” (leaving clippings on the lawn) is better for your grass!
- It saves Maine’s towns money on collection and hauling.
- And it saves YOU money on trash bags!
"There are no trucks or driving involved – no carbon emissions! You just walk it out to your bin, and that’s it.
"In the end, composting produces rich #soil for flower and vegetable #gardens – without paying for it (again) at the store.
Drop Off Locations
"If you’re looking for a compost drop-off location, instead of putting it in your backyard, here are a few… If you know of one that’s not here, let us know! (Some facilities may be for residents only; we advise calling ahead if you’re not sure.)
[I've found that transfer stations are usually residents only...]
#BridgtonME Transfer Station
118 Sandy Creek Rd, Bridgton, ME, USA
#BrownfieldME Transfer Station
Pequawket Trail, Brownfield, ME, USA
#CapeElizabethME Recycling Center
10 Cooper Dr, Cape Elizabeth, ME, USA
#EliotME Recycling Center
468 Dow Highway, Eliot, ME, USA
#FalmouthME Community Park
Winn Rd, Falmouth, ME, USA
#FalmouthME Transfer Station
100 Woods Rd, Falmouth, ME, USA
#FalmouthME Village Park
22 Hat Trick Drive, Falmouth, ME
#FreeportME Recycling Center
100 Landfill Road, Freeport, ME, USA
#NorthYarmouthME Town Hall / #SamRistichNatureTrail, North Yarmouth, ME, USA
#PortlandME: #BoydStreet #CommunityGarden
2 Boyd Street, Portland, ME
Portland: #BrentwoodFarms Community Garden
Brentwood Street, Portland, ME
Portland: #Libbytown Community Garden
175 Douglass Street, Portland, ME
Portland: #NorthStreetCommunityGarden
195 North Street, Portland, ME
Portland: Parkside/King Middle School
In the back of the school near the Fitzpatrick Stadium parking lot
92 Deering Avenue, Portland, ME
Portland: #PaysonPark Community Garden
Dropoff located on Front Street.
Front Street, Portland, Maine
Portland: #ReicheSchool
Dropoff is on the Clark Street side.
166 Brackett Street, Portland, ME
Portland: #Riverton Community Garden
45 Verrill Street, Portland, Maine
#SacoME Dept. of Public Works
15 Phillips Spring Road, Saco, ME
Saco Parks & Rec
75 Franklin St, Saco, ME, USA
#ScarboroughME Public Works Facility
20 Washington Avenue, Scarborough, ME, USA
#SouthPortlandME City Hall
25 Cottage Rd, South Portland, ME, USA
South Portland Code Enforcement Office
496 Ocean Street, South Portland, ME
South Portland Golf Course Maint. Building
221 Westbrook Street, South Portland, ME, USA
South Portland High School
637 Highland Avenue, South Portland, ME, USA
South Portland Transfer Station
929 Highland Ave, South Portland, ME, USA
South Portland: Redback Community Center
95 Macarthur Circle West, South Portland, ME
#StandishME Transfer Station
150 Moody Rd, Standish, ME, USA
#SurryME: #ChickadeeCompost
Jill's Lane, Surry, Maine www.chickadeecompost.com
#VinalhavenME Transfer Station
178 Round the Island Rd, Vinalhaven, ME, USA
#YarmouthME Transfer Station
659 East Main Street, Yarmouth, ME, USA
Curbside Collection
And if you’re really not into the backyard thing, there are some companies who will pick it up for you!
- #WeCompostIt! (Greater Portland)
- #GarbageToGarden (Greater Portland)
- #ScrapDogs (Greater #CamdenME-#RockportME)
- #MrFoxComposting (Southern Maine & #NH)
- #ProjectEarth (Lincoln County)
- #ChickadeeCompost (All of #BlueHillME Peninsula, #DeerIsleME, #EllsworthME)
- #OneEarth Composting (#HampdenME)
- #AgriCycle Energy (Collection from businesses & organizations for anaerobic digestion – all over!)
Other Compost Resources:
Maine Department of Environmental Protection
207-592-0455
University of Maine Cooperative Extension
207-581-3188
Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions at the University of Maine – Food Recovery
207-581-3195
Maine Organic Farmers & Gardeners Association [#MOGFA]
207-568-4142
#WormMainea
207-831-3752
#MainelyWorm Bins
#UncleJimsWormFarm
1-800-373-0555
Source (with links):
https://www.ecomaine.org/food-waste-and-composting/
#SolarpunkSunday #Composting #WormBins #ReducingWaste
#Landfills #Maine #WasteToEnergy
Yesterday I found myself saying, “I love this time of year when the #tomatoes still have leaves.”
#gardening #communityGarden #GrowYourOwn #SeedToTable @gardening
@natureworks The shelter looks fantastic. I bet the Hope Garden looks a bit different now another month on too. Really well done. #CommunityGarden #ForestGarden
Picked some cherry tomatoes from the community garden.
Thinking of what Thich Nhat Hahn said about a flower. You can see the sunlight, the soil, the cloud, the insects - all within this cherry tomato. You can see the people and the librarians that maintain the seed library from which the seeds came from and the harvested seeds will go back to. You can see the folks that will eat it and live another day. You can see the people that those folks can help by their actions after being fueled by these tomatoes.
It's a small thing. And empty thing. A thing able to be filled.
A wonderful thing.
Today I harvested a load of seeds -flat leaved parsley, mountain sorrel, chives, a few poppy heads, the first of the sweet cicely- for the community seed library.
Harvested Broad beans, had some garden salad for lunch, was complimented on the veg patch by an allotmenteer (Yay!)
Tried to distract the pigeons and deer from the cauliflowers (Hmmm, time will tell)
And came home with a tick attached (boo!)
#Gardening #CommunityGarden
Can't wait to harvest more than the basil, cilantro, and mint I've grown so far.
The paperWasps are in the house!!!
(Click #WaspHouse for more info ;)
So very happy with these Lacinato kales!! *grateful*
9am is also too late to be out in the garden to work. Phew!
Pic1: Black eyed peas and cosmos are growing well.
Pic2: Planted new plants - Sage, Rue, Thai green chilies, and Caribbean sorrel. Too late to start from seeds.
Pic3: Firebush is in its glow-ry. I was trying to click the bee, but failed.
Are there any good #Mastodon servers out there for #CommunityGarden projects? (except social.coop, of course )
EDIT: doesn't actually need to be Mastodon. Any fedi platform will do.
Black eyed peas are popping! They will be the cover crop for one side of the raised bed.
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A sleepy bee in my garden.
I think it’s a California bumblebee and I think the flower is a Blue Field Gilia — it’s from a Bay Area native seed packet.
If you know the correct identification of either, I welcome the feedback!
#InsectsOfTheFediverse
#NativePlants
#Bloomscrolling
#CommunityGarden
I am full of fire ant bites right now. I have to figure something about it.
Day two!
I think I will blog about this journey because it is about much more than growing things. It is also about meeting people and learning from them. Today, I met a wonderful family.
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Fences keep out critters and make good neighbors but *parallel* fences are pointless and create an inaccessible safe zone for weeds (here, mugwort). Horrifying to watch and it's only been a week since these two gardeners put them up. #GrowYourOwn #CommunityGarden #allotment #garden #weeds #weeding #gardening #fencing #fences
At my garden plot — I think this is a female Valley Carpenter Bee. She was really big!